Law Commons^™

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

This Comment will explore the origin, evolution, and refinement of the common-law classifications, with particular focus upon recent decisions abrogating these distinctions in favor of a broader standard of ordinary care under the circumstances.

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The problem of defining a landowner's' responsibility toward persons who come upon his premises has been the subject of longstanding controversy. While some commentators have argued that the limited responsibility placed by the common law on landowners does not comport with modern principles of negligence liability proponents of the common-law standards have urged that the common-law scheme of entrant classes--trespasser, licensee, invitee--provides a workable approach …

Mr. Wade And Wade Torts, James H. Wildman

Vanderbilt Law Review

We, his students, have never called him "Mr. Wade;" nor have we called him "Professor Wade." These words do not sound even faintly familiar. Yet Mr. Wade can rightfully claim major responsibility for the causal connection between Vanderbilt law student and Vanderbilt lawyer. Indeed, in this connection, the sine qua non rule applies to Mr. Wade. To the older of us, much of the detail of his visage and style have doubtless been lost--the jabbing hand, the lanky, angular figure, the Abe Lincoln face, the outstretched arms with fingers intertwined, the hands thrust deeply into pockets jingling change, and the …

Products Liability And Choice Of Law: The United States Proposals To The Hague Conference, Willis L.M. Reese

Vanderbilt Law Review

Among Dean Wade's many accomplishments is his recent appointment as a member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Private International Law. One of the functions of this Committee is to render advice on what position should be taken by the United States on the various matters considered by the Hague Conference on Private International Law. The initial topic considered at the first meeting of the Advisory Committee attended by Dean Wade was what should be the choice-of-law rules for products liability. It seems appropriate that in these essays written in his honor there should be mention of the …

Some Implications Of The Constitutional Privilege To Defame, Robert E. Keeton

Vanderbilt Law Review

In this issue of the Vanderbilt Law Review we honor an extraordinary scholar, teacher, and Dean. It is a happy circumstance that the editors have offered us this opportunity at a time when we can confidently predict that Dean Wade will continue to serve us with great distinction in years ahead. The present article concerns some pending problems in the law of defamation that have already attracted Dean Wade's active interest. This seems a particularly fitting subject for inclusion in a symposium celebrating not only his distinguished past service but also a commencement incident to his release from decanal responsibility.

Variation On Libel Per Quod, Laurence H. Eldredge

Vanderbilt Law Review

During the nineteenth century it became settled common law in England and in the United States that in any action for libel, as distinct from slander, the plaintiff could recover damages without pleading or proving that he had in fact suffered any damages as a result of the publication. The American Law Institute accepted this as sound law. Volume III of the Restatement of Torts, published in 1938, stated the rule in section 569: "One who falsely, and without a privilege to do so, publishes matter defamatory to another in such a manner as to make the publication a libel …

Defective Products: Abnormal Use, Contributory Negligence, And Assumption Of Risk, Dix W. Noel

Vanderbilt Law Review

This article will attempt to analyze these three general kinds of conduct on the part of the plaintiff, giving attention to basic tort principles and to traditional distinctions. Special emphasis will be placed on the functions of court and jury in resolving questions posed by situations in which injury is caused both by a defective product and by the plaintiff's handling of that product. It will be shown that a court's choice of policy factors as a basis for strict liability may affect considerably its final decision.

Products Liability-Drugs And Cosmetics, Page Keeton

Vanderbilt Law Review

Much has been written by judges and scholars about abrogation of both the requirement of privity for recovery on warranty theories and the prerequisite of a finding of negligence for recovery on a tort theory against manufacturers and other sellers of all kinds of products.' As a consequence of this abrogation, the courts in some states have completed the change-over from a fault to a strict liability theory of recovery for harm resulting from unintended and latent dangerous conditions of products. Moreover, removal of initial restrictions limiting strict liability to users and consumers is proceeding apace, and the logical extension …

Limitations On Liability For Economic Loss Caused By Negligence: A Pragmatic Appraisal, Fleming James, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Even if liability for indirect economic consequences of negligence may in some cases be too broad and open-ended to be endured, care should be taken to see whether that is true in all types of situations; if it is not true, one must examine whether a rule may be fashioned to separate the wheat from the chaff. In this discussion it has been assumed that if the pragmatic consideration has any validity, it is in the field of indirect economic loss rather than that of physical damage. As one commentator put it, "only a limited amount of physical damage can …