Law Commons^™

Drug Law Reform—Retreating From An Incarceration Addiction, Robert G. Lawson

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Now, thirty years into the "war on drugs," views about the law's reliance on punishment to fix the drug problem are less conciliatory and more absolute: "[t]he notion that 'the drug war is a failure' has become the common wisdom in academic ... circles." Those who have most closely studied the results of the "war" believe that it has "accomplished little more than incarcerating hundreds of thousands of individuals whose only crime was the possession of drugs." More importantly, they believe that it has had little if any effect on the drug problem: "Despite the fact that the number of …

Performing Discretion Or Performing Discrimination: An Analysis Of Race And Ritual In Batson Decisions In Capital Jury Selection, Melynda J. Price

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Research shows the mere presence of Blacks on capital juries--on the rare occasions they are seated--can mean the difference between life and death. Peremptory challenges are the primary method to remove these pivotal participants. Batson v. Kentucky developed hearings as an immediate remedy for the unconstitutional removal of jurors through racially motivated peremptory challenges. These proceedings have become rituals that sanction continued bias in the jury selection process and ultimately affect the outcome of capital trials. This Article deconstructs the role of the Batson ritual in legitimating the removal of African American jurors. These perfunctory hearings fail to meaningfully interrogate …

Pfo Law Reform, A Crucial First Step Towards Sentencing Sanity In Kentucky, Robert G. Lawson

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The purpose of this article is to engage in some analysis and discussion of the part of this sentencing law that cries out loudest for reform (the state's persistent felony offender law), reform that in short order would begin to deflate the population that has our prisons and jails grossly overcrowded. In this analysis and discussion, there is some brief consideration of the justifications used to support repeat offender laws (Part I), a segment on the history and evolution of Kentucky's law (Part II), an examination of a selection of repeat offender laws from other states (Part III), a report …

Kentucky 2006 Judicial Elections, William H. Fortune, Al Cross

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article is a short report on the impact of Republican Party of Minnesota v. White on the 2006 Kentucky judicial campaigns and elections. The series of events leading up to the 2006 elections can be traced to at least 1988.

While the Kentucky Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee (KJCCC) cannot claim a great impact on Kentucky's 2006 judicial elections, the authors of this Article believe that the committee played a positive role. For the most part, judicial candidates campaigned in a dignified and ethical manner, and refrained from running on issues that might strike a chord with the electorate. Judicial …

Turning Jails Into Prisons—Collateral Damage From Kentucky's War On Crime, Robert G. Lawson

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The primary purpose of this article is to scrutinize Kentucky's ever-increasing reliance on local jails for the incarceration of state prisoners. This objective cannot be achieved without an examination of the problems that compel counties and cities to allow (and even encourage) the state to capture their jails for this use. The first half of the article (Parts I-IV) provides general information about jails (including some pertinent history), contains a detailed description of jail functions (including some that have descended upon jails by default), and concludes with a discussion of what the state has done over two decades to convert …

Kentucky Corporate Fiduciary Duties, Rutheford B. Campbell Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In this article I offer an interpretation of Kentucky's corporate fiduciary law. The article is positive, in that it attempts to explain our law by reference to certain principles. The article is also normative, however, in that it offers constructive criticism regarding parts of Kentucky fiduciary law and suggests changes, refinements, and clarifications intended to promote fairness and economic efficiency in Kentucky corporations.

Both the positive and the normative aspects of this piece recognize the importance of the common law developments in Delaware (and other states) and the importance of the law and economics movement. I suggest, however, that Kentucky …

Difficult Times In Kentucky Corrections—Aftershocks Of A "Tough On Crime" Philosophy, Robert G. Lawson

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The objective of this article is to cast some light on corrections system problems brought on by elevated (and possibly unnecessary) levels of incarceration, and especially on problems that trouble the Kentucky corrections system and threaten to undermine the effectiveness of the state's justice system. Part II describes how the country came to embrace sentencing policies and practices capable of producing "a penal system of a severity unmatched in the Western world.” Part III describes Kentucky's embrace of equally harsh sentencing policies and practices and the inmate population explosion that has occurred as a direct result of those policies and …

The Constitutionality Of An Executive Spending Plan, Paul E. Salamanca

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Operation of government in the absence of appropriations has become relatively common in the United States, particularly when projected expenses exceed projected revenue, making adoption of a budget a difficult task for the legislature. This Article focuses on the budget crisis in the Commonwealth of Kentucky from 2002 through 2003. In Part I, this Article recapitulates the history of the spending plan, including the action filed in Franklin Circuit Court to affirm its constitutionality. In Part II, this Article discusses certain theoretical, historical, and legal principles that inform analysis of the plan. In Part III, it considers certain deviations and …

Modifying The Kentucky Rules Of Evidence—A Separation Of Powers Issue, Robert G. Lawson

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

How do you modify laws that simultaneously exist as statutes and rules of court? For reasons that are described elsewhere and need not be repeated here, the Kentucky Rules of Evidence (K.R.E.) came into existence through concurrent enactment by the General Assembly and Kentucky Supreme Court and thus are endowed with all the attributes of both statutes and rules of court. So, how do you change them when the inevitable need to do so arises, a question made both interesting and difficult by the fact that there is no institutional mechanism for concurrent lawmaking by the General Assembly and supreme …

Interpretation Of The Kentucky Rules Of Evidence—What Happened To The Common Law?, Robert G. Lawson

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The Kentucky Rules of Evidence, which became effective on July 1, 1992, dramatically transformed the method by which lawyers and judges address evidence issues. Before the adoption of the Rules, the law of evidence consisted mostly of a vast collection of common law rulings, accumulated over two centuries and inaccessible to lawyers and judges for all practical purposes. In addressing an evidence issue, participants had to first deal with the problem of "finding" the law-distilling from a morass of conflicting common law precedents the ones applicable to the issue at hand, a task regularly producing contention rather than agreement and, …

Kentucky Law Survey: Family Law, Louise Everett Graham

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article addresses some of the family law developments occurring since the Kentucky Law Journal last published a Kentucky law survey. Space limitations preclude discussion of every post-1985 change. Instead, this Article focuses on general trends, significant cases, and legislative developments.

Inquiry into family law developments in Kentucky is timely, not only because of the social importance of family relations, but also because of other contemporaneous efforts at family law reform. The American Law Institute ("ALl") is currently considering a final draft of principles governing family dissolution. That draft, and the discussions that surround its ultimate acceptance or rejection by …

Kentucky Law Survey: Professional Responsibility, William H. Fortune

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article is a survey of recent Kentucky ethics cases and Kentucky Bar Association ethics opinions. The cases and opinions selected are those of general application but special interest.

Kentucky Law Survey: Taxation, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Certainly the most publicized development in Kentucky tax law during the last five years was the series of decisions in St. Ledger v. Kentucky Revenue Cabinet, striking down two of Kentucky's intangibles taxes. The St. Ledger decisions, however, were not the only tax law development to receive attention.

There were a number of legislative developments of some significance. Specifically, Governor Brereton Jones formed a Tax Policy Commission that comprehensively reviewed Kentucky's tax structure. Although the 1996 General Assembly did not fully embrace the Commission's recommendations over the last five years, the General Assembly did enact some significant legislation. For …

The Past And Future Of Kentucky's Fraudulent Transfer And Preference Laws, Douglas C. Michael

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

An important part of the law of creditors' remedies is the ability of creditors to recover property formerly held by the debtor, but transferred to others under circumstances that are considered to be unfair or inequitable. There are two principal ways a creditor can seek to have a debtor's transfer characterized as unfair in order to recover it. First, a transfer to another creditor or a third party can be fraudulent as to one or all of the remaining creditors, or may be deemed to be fraudulent because of the circumstances surrounding the transfer, such as a transfer made by …

Kentucky Law Survey: Evidence, Robert G. Lawson

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article is a survey of recent developments in evidence law. It focuses on specific issues, including statements for medical treatment or diagnosis, tape recordings, "probativeness" versus "prejudice," and others.

Implementing Custody Mediation In Family Court: Some Comments On The Jefferson County Family Court Experience, Louise Everett Graham

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The Jefferson Family Court's custody mediation service was developed as part of a larger program creating the first family court system in Kentucky. The mediation service's connection with the Family Court has influenced both practical and policy aspects of its development. Any description of the mediation project necessarily entails some description of the court system that created it.

This Article describes the structure of the Jefferson Family Court and the custody mediation process as it has developed in Jefferson County. A review of one community's approach to custody mediation may be useful not only as a blueprint for a system's …

A Primer On Kentucky Intestacy Laws, Carolyn S. Bratt

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Some form of inheritance has existed since ancient times. The biblical story of Esau, who sold his birthright to his younger brother Jacob for a mess of potage, demonstrates the long-standing recognition of inheritance rights. Although the United States Constitution does not explicitly guarantee to the owner of property a right to transmit that property upon death to another person, the United States Supreme Court has held that a total abrogation of the right of inheritance without the payment of just compensation is unconstitutional.

Every state has a system of inheritance created by statute and by case law. State inheritance …

Starting Down The Road To Reform: Kentucky's New Long-Arm Statute For Family Obligations, Louise Everett Graham

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Kentucky has long needed a comprehensive family law provision for its long-arm statute. Before the general long-arm statute was amended by the 1992 General Assembly, it addressed only a narrow class of paternity cases among its specific jurisdictional provisions, ignoring the need for long-arm jurisdiction in other domestic relations cases. A second long-arm statute provided jurisdiction over some nonresidents to establish or enforce child support obligations. In the contexts of divorce and child support, Kentucky's failure to claim constitutionally available jurisdiction deprived Kentucky residents of important protection.

Recent amendments to Kentucky statutes fill previous gaps and expand Kentucky's jurisdiction in …

Kentucky's New Rules Of Professional Conduct For Lawyers, Eugene R. Gaetke

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

On July 12, 1989, the Kentucky Supreme Court adopted its own version of the American Bar Association's 1983 Model Rules of Professional Conduct as the body of disciplinary law applicable to lawyers practicing in the state. These new rules constitute a major improvement in the state's law of legal ethics. Their adoption should be considered a victory for Kentucky lawyers and, more importantly, a victory for the people of the state, the ultimate beneficiaries of the regulation of the legal profession.

As with most victories, the adoption of the new rules was not unequivocally positive. Kentucky's version of the Model …

Self-Defense In Kentucky: A Need For Clarification Or Revision, Robert G. Lawson, William S. Cooper

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Recent prosecutions have pushed Kentucky’s concept of self-defense beyond the limits of tolerance for complexity and confusion. There is little doubt that there exists a critical need to clarify or to revise the Kentucky law of self-defense. A demonstration of this need and a description of its nature are the principal objectives of this article. To accomplish these objectives, it is necessary to provide some information about the recent history of homicide and self-defense in Kentucky and to describe some important recent interpretations of this law by the Supreme Court of Kentucky.

Family Protection Under Kentucky's Inheritance Laws: Is The Family Really Protected?, Carolyn S. Bratt

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Courts and legislatures always have granted widows some protection from the economic hardships that their husbands' deaths cause. At the earliest common law, a surviving wife was entitled to dower in the form of a right to remain in her husband's home along with the other heirs after the husband's death. Today, the states have enacted a variety of statutory devices that provide protection for families who might otherwise experience financial hardship upon the death of a spouse or parent. The older types of statutory safeguards take the form of homestead and personal property exemptions. Typically, the probate homestead exemption …

Kentucky's Doctrine Of Advancements: A Time For Reform, Carolyn S. Bratt

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The act of giving a gift is accomplished so easily that the legal consequences often escape the donor. Even when a donor stops to contemplate the legal significance of her or his act, a parental donor probably is unaware that a gift to a child may affect the child's inheritance rights in the parent's estate. Kentucky is among the minority of states which continue to presume that a parental gift is intended as an advancement to the child donee. Moreover, Kentucky is one of only two states which make the presumption irrebutable. The value of the gift is charged against …

Apportionment In Kentucky After Comparative Negligence, John M. Rogers

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Adoption of comparative negligence gives juries the task of allocating fault between a plaintiff and a defendant when both were negligent and both caused the plaintiff's injury. A logical corollary must be that juries are theoretically and practically able to make such an allocation. If so, it follows that juries are able to make such an allocation among multiple defendants, each of whom was found to be both negligent and a cause of the plaintiff's injury. The judicial adoption of comparative negligence in Kentucky therefore requires a reexamination of the rules applicable to multiple tortfeasors. Cases decided since the adoption …

Why Kentucky Should Adopt The Aba's Model Rules Of Professional Conduct, Eugene R. Gaetke

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In 1983, after six years of drafting and lively debate, the American Bar Association adopted the Model Rules of Professional Conduct as its most recent statement of the ethical norms of the legal profession. Shortly thereafter the ABA forwarded the rules to the states for consideration and possible adoption as binding ethical principles. As of this writing, a number of states have adopted the Model Rules, in full or in substantial form, and several more have proposals for such adoption pending before their supreme courts

The Kentucky Supreme Court presently awaits the state bar association's recommendation regarding the Model Rules' …

Modernizing Kentucky's Uniform Commercial Code, Harold R. Weinberg, Louise Everett Graham, Thomas J. Stipanowich

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In 1958 Kentucky became the third state to enact the Uniform Commercial Code promulgated by the American Law Institute and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. The General Assembly stated that this legislation was intended to modernize, clarify and simplify the law of commercial transactions. Enactment of the Code also evidenced the legislature's intent to make Kentucky commercial law uniform with that of the other states. Subsequent General Assemblies further implemented these policies by enacting substantially all of the uniform amendments to the Code proposed by the ALI and NCCUSL through 1964.

Unfortunately, these enactments represent our …

Using Formulas To Separate Marital And Nonmarital Property: A Policy Oriented Approach To The Division Of Appreciated Property Upon Divorce, Louise Everett Graham

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Over the past ten years every writer venturing to discuss domestic relations must have been tempted to emphasize the importance of his or her work by opening with mention of the growing number of divorce cases confronting the court system. Beyond its numerical impact upon the judicial process, however, divorce litigation provides an important opportunity for the study of property rights and the institutions from which those fights are derived. Divorce cases increasingly involve difficult and complex questions concerning the marital property rights of the marriage partners. The importance of marital property cases is broader than the individual rules that …

Kentucky Law Survey: Property, Carolyn S. Bratt

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Law students, and probably practitioners, are often perplexed by the multitude of topics covered under the rubric of property law. Unfortunately, this Survey article does nothing to dispel the impression of property law as a hodgepodge of unrelated topics. This Survey of recent decisions in Kentucky discusses topics ranging literally from "a" to "z"-adverse possession to zoning.

Kentucky Law Survey: Criminal Procedure, William H. Fortune

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Many important criminal procedure cases were decided by the Kentucky appellate courts during the Survey period-too many to permit meaningful comment on each case. The author has selected those criminal procedure cases he feels are most significant and has not attempted to comment on penal code cases, most of which involve matters of criminal law.

Kentucky Law Survey: Domestic Relations, Louise Everett Graham

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The following article presents a survey of domestic relations law in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. During the survey period, the Kentucky appellate courts faced a series of cases that involved not only the usual problems relating to property division, post divorce support obligations and child custody, but which also implicated a number of federal statutory attempts' to regulate areas long considered solely the province of state regulation. The presence of new federal legislation in these areas represents Congressional attempts to solve some major difficulties in the domestic relations area. Few persons would argue, for example, that the battle for jurisdiction …

Kentucky Law Survey: Insurance, Richard H. Underwood

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Survey will examine recent Kentucky decisions on insurance law issues, and comment on the latest crop of cases relating to the application and construction of the Kentucky Motor Vehicle Reparations Act. In addition, this Survey will discuss proposed unfair claims settlement practices legislation, which is once again generating interest in the Commonwealth.