Law Commons^™

Debating The Past's Authority In Alabama, Sara Mayeux

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

With some exceptions, the major project of civil rights litigators today is not forward movement but the work of preserving as much as possible the gains of the 1960s against legal and political battering.29 Meanwhile, and ironically, the rise of conservative progress metanarratives reflects the achievement of both liberal and radical scholars of forcing into mainstream discourse greater recognition of the evils of slavery and Jim Crow. Respectable conservatives now join in denouncing the most flagrant forms of racial terror running through the American past (pace certain allies of the Trump Administration). But doing so places them in a bind, …

Reconsidering Reprisals, Michael A. Newton

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The prohibition on the use of reprisals is widely regarded as one of the most sacrosanct statements of the jus in bello applicable to the conduct of modern hostilities. The textual formulations are stark and subject to no derogations. Supporters of the bright line ban describe it as a vital bulwark against barbarity. In the words of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the prohibition is absolute, despite the fact that the declarations of key states indicate residual ambiguity over the scope of permissible reprisals, particularly in the context of non-international armed conflicts. Reprisals are a recurring feature of …

Subjects Of International Law: A Power-Based Analysis, Guido Acquaviva

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In this Article, the Author challenges the definition of the term "state" that is commonly accepted in legal scholarship as the basis for assessing whether an entity is a subject of international law. By analyzing a number of cases that do not fit into the "traditional" model--including the Holy See, Napoleon, and the Confederacy--the Author reaches the conclusion that the only essential element of a subject of international law is its sovereignty. An entity is sovereign when it is able effectively to assert that it is not subordinate to another authority: territory and population are therefore not essential attributes of …

Point, Counterpoint: The Evolution Of American Political Philosophy, William H. Rehnquist

Vanderbilt Law Review

I would suggest to you that during the more than two centuries that have elapsed since the American Revolution, American political philosophy has been notable principally for the contrapuntal themes that rise and fall as the nation matures. Numerous commentators have pointed out that certain ideals have long been widely shared by Americans: individual autonomy, liberty, equality, and a belief in limited, decentralized government.1 But no one would be so bold as to describe the present government of the United States as embodying those ideals. We have a strong national government that, with occasional lapses, impinges more and more on …

Agency -- 1962 Tennessee Survey, Edwin R. Render

Vanderbilt Law Review

Two cases decided during the survey period dealt with the existence or nonexistence of the agency relationship. While the agency relationship frequently arises out of contract, a contract is not necessary to the creation of authority in the agent. Consent of the principal is the basis of the agent's authority. Generally, the existence or non-existence of the agency relationship is a question of fact for the jury; but in the two cases to be discussed, Tennessee appellate courts reversed jury verdicts on the ground that there was no competent evidence in the record to support their findings... The other two …

Book Reviews, Robert J. Harris, Wallace Mcclure

Vanderbilt Law Review

Freedom and the Law By Bruno Leoni Princeton, New Jersey D. Van Nostrand Co., 1961. Pp. vii, 204. $6.00.

reviewer: Robert J. Harris

================================

The Rule of Law Edited by Arthur L. Harding Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1961. Pp. xi, 89. $3.00.

reviewer: Wallace McClure

Agency To Make Warranties, Merton Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

What are warranties? How are they created? And, particularly, what kind of authority or employment will enable one person to make a warranty that will be binding on another person?

Let us first look at warranties broadly and note their function. When a sale is being made there is commonly a risk of some defect in the thing sold. And in connection with other kinds of transactions there is frequently a risk of loss that will occur if a certain fact exists or comes to pass. There is, for example, a risk that the horse being sold js not sound; …

Remarks On The Theory Of Appellate Decision And The Rules Or Canons About How Statutes Are To Be Construed, Karl N. Llwellyn

Vanderbilt Law Review

One does not progress far into legal life without learning that there is no single right and accurate way of reading one case, or of reading a bunch of cases. For

(1) Impeccable and correct doctrine makes clear that a case "holds"with authority only so much of what the opinion says as is absolutely necessary to sustain the judgment. Anything else is unnecessary and "distinguishable" and noncontrolling for the future. Indeed, if the judgment rests on two, three or four rulings, any of them can be rightly and righteously knocked out, for the future, as being thus "unnecessary." Moreover, any …