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Museletter: November 1991, Muse Law Library Staff

Museletter

Table of Contents:

"Grand" Re-Opening?! Welcome to the All New and Improved William T. Muse Law Library

Carrels

Museletter: September 1991, Muse Law Library Staff

Museletter

Table of Contents:

Welcome Back!

New Library Hours

AT&T Computer Gift: A Huge Leap

What's Where? by Joyce Manna Janto, Deputy Director of the Law Library

Miscellaneous Stuff by Paul Birch, Computer Services/Reference Librarian

News Flash

Richmond Law Magazine: Summer 1991

Richmond Law Magazine

Features:

A Look at the Legal Education in Virginia, and the emergence of the Written Bar Examination

"In the Pursuit of Excellence" The George E. Allen Chair in Law

Certification And Civil Rights, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

In this 1991 article, Carl Tobias responds to Professor Arthur Miller's suggestion that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 should not be prematurely revised.

"Professor Miller's admonitions may convince some observers, especially those authorized to propose revisions in, or to amend, the Rule that there is little wrong with Rule 11's application and that the federal judiciary simply needs a few more years to refine the implementation of this new concept. Numerous problems, however, remain substantial and some may be intrinsic or even irremediable, while certain litigants, especially civil rights plaintiffs, cannot afford to wait. I trust that Professor Miller's …

Museletter: March 1991, Muse Law Library Staff

Museletter

Table of Contents:

When it does not work or something is wrong -- Effective Complaining: Photocopier Problems; Vendacards Problems; Building Problems; Reserve Items; Computer Problems; Vendacard Authorization Lists; Complaining in General)

Miscellaneous Stuff by Paul Birch, Associate Director for Public Services

Questions & Suggestions

News: Life in the Library: Missing, Hidden Books!!

Federal Court Procedural Reform In Montana, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Much activity related to civil procedure recently occurred that could significantly affect practice in the Montana Federal District Court. During October 1991, the Committee to Redraft the Uniform District Court Rules (Local Rules Committee), which is charged with considering revision of the local rules, issued an Interim Report that includes suggested changes in those rules. The Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Judicial Conference of the United States (Standing Committee) distributed in August 1991 preliminary drafts of proposals to amend in varying degrees eighteen Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Advisory Group to Implement the Civil …

Making Judicial Nominees Answer Senate Questions, John Paul Jones

Law Faculty Publications

Prof. Jones discusses the congressional powers to conduct investigations and compel answers from individuals versus the prospective judge's interest in impartiality in the of judicial nomination hearings.

Some Ethical Considerations For Judicial Clerks, John Paul Jones

Law Faculty Publications

Since 1875, new law graduates have served judges of federal and state courts as legal researchers, executive assistants, and professional confidants. In return, the best of the newest lawyers have gotten a chance to complement their classroom education with field study of bench and bar-from behind the bench. The ideal relationship which should develop between law clerks and their judges is symbiotic: the judges enjoying the energies and fresh perspectives of brand new professionals rated top among their contemporaries by law professors, and the law clerks obtaining tutorials by senior jurists regarded as among the best by their former peers …

Personal Jurisdiction And The Beetle In The Box, Wendy Collins Perdue

Law Faculty Publications

In 1980 in World-Wide Volkswagen v. Woodson, the Supreme Court described personal jurisdiction as "an instrument of interstate federalism." Two years later in Insurance Corporation of Ireland v. Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee, the Court back-pedaled and explained that personal jurisdiction "represents a restriction on judicial power not as a matter of sovereignty, but as a matter of individual liberty." Then, in 1985 in Phillips Petroleum v. Shutts, the Court explained that the purpose of personal jurisdiction is "to protect a defendant from the travail of defending in a distant forum." Three years later in Van Cauwenberghe v. Biard, …

Standing To Intervene, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The Supreme Court has rarely considered what applicants must show to intervene as of right under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2) since the Court amended the provision in 1966. This dearth of Supreme Court treatment has meant that primary responsibility for interpreting Rule 24(a)(2) has devolved upon the lower federal courts. Many of these courts and numerous commentators have recognized that it is very difficult to identify precisely what the Rule demands of those that seek to intervene of right. During much of the last quarter century, however, the federal judiciary agreed about one important proposition: Rule 24(a)(2) does …

Judicial Discretion And The 1983 Amendments To The Federal Civil Rules, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The first section of this Article briefly describes the developments which created the perception that the federal courts were experiencing a litigation explosion and which ultimately led to the promulgation of the 1983 amendments as one response to the perceived explosion. It also examines the substantive content of those changes, especially how the revisions enlarged federal judicial discretion. The second section evaluates the courts' implementation of the 1983 amendments and finds that this application has adversely affected numerous litigants, particularly civil rights plaintiffs, while providing some benefits, namely fostering more expeditious dispute resolution.

The third section provides suggestions for the …

Rule 11 Recalibrated In Civil Rights Cases, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The United States Supreme Court promulgated the 1983 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure out of growing concern about abuse of the civil litigation process. The most controversial aspect of the implementation of these revisions has been judicial enforcement of amended Rule 11 (the Rule) in ways that disadvantage or "chill" civil rights plaintiffs and attorneys. As the federal judiciary enters its eighth year of implementing the Rule, courts apparently have improved their application of it by becoming more solicitous of the needs of civil rights plaintiffs and their counsel, in recognition of the important social function that …

Recent Work Of The Civil Rules Committee, Carl W. Tobias, Margaret L. Sanner

Law Faculty Publications

Congress reformed the procedures for amending the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 1988 by prescribing greater public participation in the rules revision process. Since that time, the Advisory Committee on the Civil Rules, which has primary responsibility for studying the Rules and developing proposals for change in them, has examined several important Rules and made controversial recommendations for modifying those provisions. Although the Committee has assessed and suggested controversial revision in summary judgment and discovery, this article analyzes recent efforts of the Committee involving Rule 11, a provision that was fundamentally amended as recently as 1983.

Montana Rule 11 …

Elixir For The Elites, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Tobias offers the editorial board tongue-in-cheek advice in the matter of law review rankings.

Foreword: Law And The Library, Timothy L. Coggins

Law Faculty Publications

A Foreword for the North Carolina Libaries Journal on "Law and the Library."

Richmond Law Magazine: Winter 1991

Richmond Law Magazine

"Welcome to the Class of 2012!" : A Look into the Next Century

Law School Launches Campaign

Law School Commemorates 120th Anniversary

Cambridge Program at Emmanuel College

On the Right to Die : Missouri's Attorney General William Webster

Special Problems In Civil Procedure - Complex Litigation, Francis H. Hare Jr., Judge Robert M. Parker, Gerald A. Connell, Mary Kay Kane

University of Richmond Law Review Symposium

"Organization and Presentation of a Complex Case" lecture given by Francis H. Hare Jr., a partner in the law firm of Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton, in Birmingham, Alabama.

"Judicial Management of Complex Cases" lecture given by the Honorable Robert M. Parker, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

"Complex Litigation in the Public Sector" lecture given by Gerald A. Connell, a member of the firm of Baker & Hostetler, in Washington, D.C.

"The Future of Complex Litigation" lecture given by Mary Kay Kane, academic dean and Professor of Law at Hastings College …

Wills, Trusts And Estates (Annual Survey Of Virginia Law, 1990-91), J. Rodney Johnson

Law Faculty Publications

The 1991 session of the General Assembly enacted legislation dealing with wills, trusts, and estates that added, amended, or repealed a number of sections of the Code of Virginia ("Code"). In addition to this legislation, there were six cases from the Supreme Court of Virginia and one from the Virginia Court of Appeals, in the year ending June 1, 1991, which involve issues of interest to both the general practitioner and the specialist in wills, trusts, and estates. This article analyzes each of these legislative and judicial developments.

Judicial Rationales In Insurance Law: Dusting Off The Formal For The Function, Peter N. Swisher

Law Faculty Publications

The purpose of this Article is to demonstrate that there is indeed a great deal of method within this apparent judicial 'hiadness" if one properly understands and appreciates the two competing theories of Judicial Formalism versus Judicial Functionalism in an insurance law context. And with a proper understanding of these two competing judicial theories, numerous apparent inconsistencies in insurance law decisions may be reconciled within each particular theoretical framework.

Accordingly, this Article will present a general overview of these two competing theories of American jurisprudence, and then discuss their conflicting applications in various insurance law decisions by utilizing a number …

Divorce Denied: Have Mental Cruelty, Constructive Desertion And Reasonable Apprehension Of Bodily Harm Been Abolished In Virginia?, Sylvia Clute

University of Richmond Law Review

In a turmoil of emotional distress and in fear of the outcome of an already deteriorating pregnancy, she fled the marital home with only her small son and a suitcase full of clothes. This woman's husband had publicly and privately bullied, berated, belittled and browbeat her throughout their marriage, but since she became pregnant she feared that his campaign to keep her in a constant state of emotional disequilibrium would also harm the child she carried. Her husband controlled her by keeping a tight grasp on the family finances providing her with meager spending money and forcing her to produce …

Recovery For The Wrongful Death Of A Fetus, Michael P. Mccready

University of Richmond Law Review

This Note traces the history and development of actions for prenatal wrongful death. It emphasizes the state of the law in Virginia and examines the rationale of various jurisdictions where courts have chosen to draw a line for imposing liability. After discussing the role of wrongful death statutes, this Note concludes with an analysis of the trends in the law and a prediction of the direction the law will take in the future.

The Second Amendment: A Study Of Recent Trends, Michael T. O'Donnell

University of Richmond Law Review

The second amendment of the Constitution of the United States reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." The interpretation of these twenty-seven words has generated considerable debate since they were first declared in force in 1791.2 Despite a growing argument over the true meaning of the amendment, the Supreme Court has been reluctant to provide a definitive interpretation of the second amendment and thus give it the recognition it merits.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Employment Law, Robert T. Billingsley, Thomas J. Dillon Iii

University of Richmond Law Review

This article surveys the judicial and legislative developments in Virginia employment law between June 1990 and June 1991. Developments in the areas of worker's compensation and unemployment compensation, each of which has its own distinctive body of law, are outside the scope of this article.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: The Virginia Limited Liability Company Act, S. Brian Farmer, Louis A. Mezzullo

University of Richmond Law Review

Since the passage of the sixteenth amendment' in 1913 and the income tax legislation adopted thereunder, the development of new forms of business entities has been driven largely by the desire to harmonize two goals: limited liability for the owners of the entity and pass-through treatment of the entity for income tax purposes.

Free Speech And The Mandated Disclosure Of Information, R. George Wright

University of Richmond Law Review

This essay focuses on one element of an important, unresolved question in free speech law. The broader unresolved question concerns how freedom of speech, as a legal and social institution, operates best or most efficiently. Our society has often debated how an economy, as a legal and social institution, functions best. On this analogous question, we have generally concluded that the national economy ought to manifest a mixture of at least minimally voluntary marketplace exchanges and appropriate forms of government regulation.

The Like-Kind Exchange Of Partnership Interests Under Irc Section 1031(A)(2)(D): An Historical Analysis Of Alternative Approaches, Vincent John Piazza

University of Richmond Law Review

Before the Tax Reform Act of 1984, general partnership interests were considered like-kind property which could be exchanged tax-free under Internal Revenue Code ("IRC") section 1031(a). Prior to 1984, the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") had tried unsuccessfully to convince the courts that the parenthetical clause of section 1031(a), which excludes certain exchanges of interests from the definition of like-kind property, encompassed all types of equity interests. Since the IRC did not specifically exclude partnership interests, judges were very reluctant to adopt the IRS's over-expansive reading of the statute. After making very little headway with the courts, the IRS and treasury …

The Limits Of Litigation - The Dalkon Shield Controversy, J. R. Zepkin

University of Richmond Law Review

The Limits of Litigation-The Dalkon Shield Controversy is a tightly written, interesting book. It takes the reader from the beginning of the litigation concerning the contraceptive device to the bankruptcy settlement for the claimants. Professor Ronald J. Bacigal provides insight into the competing perspectives of the litigants as these cases crawled through the courts. The book reveals how the physical and emotional injuries that were suffered by so many women placed great pressure on the trial judges to force a resolution.

The Threat Of A Second Constitutional Convention: Patrick Henry's Lasting Legacy, Jeffery K. Mitchell

University of Richmond Law Review

The Bill of Rights secured the individual freedoms that constitute the mainstay of American liberty. The Framers of the Constitution did not include these vital rights in the original version of the document. In fact, the first ten amendments were proposed by Congress to secure ratification of the Constitution and, more importantly, to prevent a second constitutional convention.

Virginia Law Of Products Liability, Thomas W. Williamson Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

When the history of Twentieth Century America's jurisprudence is chronicled, a prominent chapter will be devoted to the rise of product liability law. At the beginning of the century, a person injured by a defective product usually had no recourse against either the product's seller or manufacturer. By 1970, the barriers obstructing recovery had been dismantled and it was generally accepted that a seller or manufacturer of a product would be strictly liable to anyone injured by the defective condition of the product.

The Discourse Ethics Alternative To Rust V. Sullivan, Gary Charles Leedes

University of Richmond Law Review

Legal theorists in the United States should pay more attention to Jiirgen Habermas. His theory of discourse ethics provides us with an enriched understanding of the term "normative validity." Discourse ethics "is concerned ...with the grounding of normativity . . .; its central focus is the . . . specification of appropriate validation procedures."' Once participants in political discourse agree on validation procedures, they are then in a position to achieve a fully rational consensus about normatively right laws that are in everyone's best interests.