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Vanderbilt University Law School

1986

Civil rights

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Civil Rights Attorney's Fees: Hensley's Path To Confusion, Tim K. Garrett Mar 1986

Civil Rights Attorney's Fees: Hensley's Path To Confusion, Tim K. Garrett

Vanderbilt Law Review

Congress enacted the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Act (Fees Act)" to promote more vigorous enforcement of the civil rights laws by attracting competent legal counsel to represent civil rights plaintiffs. To achieve this goal the Fees Act allows courts to award attorney's fees to prevailing plaintiffs in civil rights cases.' The statute, however, entails an inherent tension: the Fees Act's primary aim of compensating prevailing plaintiffs' attorneys "'for all time reasonably expended on a matter' ,, conflicts with the desire to prevent windfalls to attorneys. This conflict is especially keen when a civil rights plaintiff only partially prevails," because the …


Human Rights In Africa: Observations On The Implications Of Economic Priority, Minasse Haile Jan 1986

Human Rights In Africa: Observations On The Implications Of Economic Priority, Minasse Haile

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Serious internal obstacles also block adequate realization of civil and political rights in Africa. The colonial legacy, rising popular expectations for a better life, subversion from abroad and the absence of strong national cohesion will engender political instability in African political systems that give free rein to the exercise of civil and political rights. Moreover, even if one assumes a democratic political system would be viable politically, that system may succumb to demands for increased consumption rather than promote adequate investment in infrastructure. In either event, democratic political systems will tend to be unstable, with the result that economic development …