Law Commons^™

Recent Developments, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

The fourteenth amendment provides that "[n]o State shall . ..deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."' The amendment thus explicitly forbids the state to engage in certain conduct, but places no express restriction on the acts of private individuals. Although the Supreme Court has consistently held that state action is a necessary element of a fourteenth amendment violation, the concept of state action was expanded to cover activities arguably private in nature to the extent that by 1970 the Court …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law--Due Process--Replevin Statutes Allowing Seizure of Property Without Notice and Opportunity for Hearing Violate Due Process Clause of Fourteenth Amendment

Constitutional Law--Right to Counsel--Absent Waiver,No Defendant May Be Imprisoned Unless Represented By Counsel At Trial

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure-Class Actions-Class Action Alleging Similar Injury by Separate Defendants Who Acted Similarly but Independently Allowed Under Rule 23(b)(3)

Securities Regulation--Securities Act of 1933-Access Of All Offerees To Additional Desired Information Required For Section 4(2) Private Offering Exemption

Torts-Joint Tort-feasors--Apportionment of Damages Among Negligent Joint Tort-feasors Based upon Relative Responsibility of Parties

Recent Development, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Prisons in the United States house approximately 220,000 felons,'95 percent of whom will eventually return to society Most state legislatures have delegated to prison administrative bodies the power both to establish regulations prescribing proper prison conduct and to impose sanctions for their violation. Prison administrators thus have been granted wide latitude in establishing the procedures by which prisoners are determined to be guilty of disciplinary infractions and punished. Frequently, prisoners who allegedly have violated prison standards are not afforded notice of their offenses, are judged by their accusers, and are awarded disproportionately severe punishment, such as solitary confinement or loss …

Recent Developments, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Confession of judgment procedures' have seldom received unrestricted legislative approval by the states--the vast majority of jurisdictions have enacted legislation either to eliminate the practice entirely or to limit severely its use. Unrestricted employment of the procedure in consumer transactions is prevalent only in the states of Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio, which account for a preponderance of the confessed judgments in the United States today. Although the constitutional validity of cognovit notes has been questioned on numerous occasions, the Supreme Court had never addressed this issue until its recent decisions upholding the use of these devices in D.H. Overmyer Co. …