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Class Of 1995 Incoming Il Law Students, St. Mary's University School Of Law, St. Mary's University School Of Law

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Photographs of incoming law students for the St. Mary’s University School of Law, class of 1995

The International Law Of The Environment From The U.S. Perspective: A Case Study: The U.S. And Mexico, Robert Summers

Faculty Articles

The subject of public international law is vast, rich and varied, thus offering the potential to explore many interrelated topics ranging from the lofty philosophical precepts of positivist and naturalist thought to the technical intricacies of international business transactions. Many of these topics are also historically relevant to the long and often inclement history of Mexican-U.S. relations. These include the law of war, peace and neutrality, self-determination, territory, recognition, and diplomatic and consular privileges and immunities. Regrettably, the allotment of time and space for the subject of public international law in the Joint Venture Program does not allow discourse on …

Judicial Bias, The Insurance Industry And Consumer Protection: An Empirical Analysis Of State Supreme Courts’ Bad-Faith, Breach-Of-Contract, Breach-Of-Covenant-Of-Good-Faith And Excess-Judgment Decisions, 1900–1991, Willy E. Rice

Faculty Articles

Consumers are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the services and products that the American insurance industry provides. Correspondingly, they are filing an ever-increasing number of lawsuits against insurers in state courts. While courts have ruled equally in favor of insurers and policyholders, advocates for both consumers and the insurance industry strongly believe “judicial bias” or “judicial hostility” permeates state supreme courts.

Some United States Supreme Court Justices have argued that state supreme courts are hostile towards insurance carriers. Commentators have also viciously criticized state supreme courts for being biased against insurance carriers. The contrary view that state supreme courts are anti-consumer …

When “Special Needs” Meet Probable Cause: Denying The Devil Benefit Of Law, Gerald S. Reamey

Faculty Articles

Removing laws to pursue the lawbreaker may be well intentioned, but the result is that society is susceptible to the evils those laws protect against. The traditional Fourth Amendment safeguards--probable cause and warrants--have been abandoned due to the development of a reasonableness standard because of the presence of “special needs” that were used to justify searches. The adoption of this alternative approach to Fourth Amendment interpretation was signalled by the truly landmark case of Terry v. Ohio.

By adopting the “reasonableness” analysis, the Supreme Court altered the impact of the exclusionary rule without directly modifying the rule. After Griffin v. …

The Law Of Evidence And The Idea Of Progress, Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

To ask the question, “Does evidence law matter?,” is often to assume that some sets or groups of people believe it is important while others are challenging that view. However, another assumption regarding the nature of this question is possible—that the question is asked because legal academics believe that evidence law both does and does not matter, and that those academics also believe that these are irreconcilable beliefs. What is of particular interest is how legal academics reached this point and why they believe that evidence law both does and does not matter.

Consideration of these aspects of evidence law …

St. Mary's University School Of Law Annual Report 1992-1993, St. Mary's University School Of Law

Dean’s Report

No abstract provided.

From Righteousness To Beauty: Reflections On Poethics And Justice As Translation, Emily A. Hartigan

Faculty Articles

Both Richard Weisberg and James Boyd White are eminent figures in the academic field of law and literature. As lines between philosophy and literature blur, the stance of “judgment” becomes more like a reflective aesthetic evaluation than a critique through formal logic. Law is, as Weisberg and White agree, more art than science. Yet, for all their contributions to the study of law, including their ostensibly shared realm of mediation, the two create a combative, hierarchic tone of discourse by the near-total exclusion of women from their texts.

Law as conversation is not primarily war through or with words. Rather, …

Up In Smoke: Fourth Amendment Rights And The Burger Court, Gerald S. Reamey

Faculty Articles

When Warren Burger was appointed Chief Justice in 1969, he was expected to lead the Supreme Court away from its liberal, value-laden approach to constitutional adjudication. Indeed, a retrospective of the court’s work during the seventeen years Warren Burger served as Chief Justice reveals the expected conservative trend of the Chief Justice himself, as well as the Supreme Court generally. It does not, however, reflect wholesale rejection of the most controversial civil liberties decisions rendered by the Warren Court. It is also unclear that Chief Justice Burger was responsible for the Court’s retrenchment on civil liberties where it did occur. …

Modern Legal Times: Making A Professional Legal Culture, Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

Lawyers’ belief in their professionalism was fostered by the creation and development of modern legal institutions. Law schools, bar associations, organizations like the American Law Institute, as well as the system of legal directories, the regional case reporter system, and continuing legal education groups all contributed greatly to the making of a distinctly professional culture of law in America. These institutions prospered in part because of their ideological fit with the professionalizing ethos embodied in Christopher Columbus Langdell’s statement that “law is a science.”

Legal institutions, then, must be evaluated through the ideological lens which encouraged and fostered the notion …

Evidence Of Religion And The Religion Of Evidence, Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

When testimony about the religiosity of a victim is elicited, a jury will likely become aware of the religious affiliation of the victim. Any revelation to a jury of the religiosity of a victim can be an aid to the jury in assessing the punishment to be given to the defendant, since being religious and talking with people about religion is deemed a communal good. However, prescribing a harsher punishment to a defendant because of the religious affiliation of a victim is a form of religious discrimination which is unconstitutional. In light of this inherent difficulty of evidence of religion, …

Erisa: Anti-Alienation Superiority In Bankruptcy, George Lee Flint Jr

Faculty Articles

Both ERISA and the Bankruptcy Code consider the issue of debtor-participant’s interest in certain pension trusts when an action has been undertaken against the bankrupt debtor participant’s estate. Many jurisdictions have offered conflicting views on the handling of the interest. These conflicts create litigious interpretation and choice of law problems and place plan administrators at risk for breach of fiduciary duty depending on jurisdictional interpretation. Paying-out a bankruptcy trustee’s turnover demand could affect the tax qualified status of the pension plan, thereby hurting all plan participants. ERISA’s preemption provision was drafted to create uniformity among the states in interpreting employee …

The Lessons Of My Lai, Jeffrey F. Addicott

Faculty Articles

The spring of 1993 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the My Lai Massacre. As such, it is an appropriate time to seriously revisit the event and to reinforce the lessons learned. The antithesis of the conduct of the United States Military in the Gulf War, My Lai echoes back to a nightmarish event that most Americans would like to forget. But My Lai must never be forgotten.

To a large degree, from Grenada (1983) to Panama (1989) to the Gulf War (1991), the United States Military can take full credit for a commendable record in its adherence to the law …

Planning For Free Trade: Taking Advantage Of The Transition., John M. Vernon, Enrique A. Gonzalez Calvillo

St. Mary's Law Journal

After two decades of restrictive policies regarding foreign involvement, Mexico is transforming its legal and regulatory structure. The progression of foreign investment, technology transfer, and industrial property laws and regulations is revealing. The significance of the overhaul of the industrial property and technology transfer framework in Mexico is evident considering the historical context in which it developed. With these reforms in place, Mexico significantly improved the conditions for placing U.S. franchises across the border. Mexico decreased tariff rates, eliminated import licenses for numerous products, and divested over half of the businesses previously owned or operated by the state. It also …

Federal Income Tax Issues In The Organization, Financing, And Operation Of Maquiladoras., William R. Leighton, T. Richard Sealy Iii

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article principally considers various United States federal income tax issues in the formation, financing, and operation of maquiladoras. Mexico’s most successful means of attracting foreign investment is its Maquiladora Program. Mexico created the program to encourage U.S. and other non-Mexican enterprises to establish manufacturing facilities in Mexico. It spawned a domestic industry whose economic output is second only to that of Mexico’s national oil industry. In the 1980s, the maquiladora industry experienced explosive growth from 620 plants in 1980 to more than 2,000 currently. They employ approximately 500,000 workers earning an average wage of five dollars per day plus …

Legal Malpractice Committed While Working On Cases Which Result In Litigation Tolls The Statute Of Limitations For The Malpractice Claim Until All Appeals For The Underlying Causes Of Action Are Exhausted., Dina Bernstein

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

United States Customs Law Affecting The Movement Of Goods Into And Out Of Mexico., Robert T. Givens, Rayburn Berry

St. Mary's Law Journal

Trade between the United State and Mexico rose dramatically over the past decade. Several factors account for this increase in trade. These factors include the relative weakness of the Mexican currency, growth of the maquiladora industry, and increased Mexican production of exportable products generally. Other factors include Mexico’s 1986 accession to General Agreements Tariff and Trade (GATT), the resultant lowering of Mexican customs duties, and a good long-term working relationship between the two countries. If ongoing negotiations culminate in a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) the trend will accelerate.

Laws regulating the importation of merchandise into the United States …

Foreign Investment In Mining In Mexico., Rodrigo Sanchez-Mejorada Velasco

St. Mary's Law Journal

The object of this Article is to focus on the current legal provisions which regulate foreign investment in mining in Mexico. Legislation implemented in 1961 reduced foreign participation in mining to a minority position, and legislation implemented in 1975 further developed Mexican control over mining activities. The enactment of new foreign investment regulations in 1989, and new mining regulations in late 1990 allowed wider participation of foreigners in mining. Mining is one of the oldest economic activities in Mexico. Mercantilist economic ideas, in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, stressed accumulation of precious metals by states and saw American …

An Empirical Study Of Kent Style Juvenile Transfers To Criminal Court., Robert O. Dawson

St. Mary's Law Journal

Kent v. United States was the first in a series of majority decisions by the United States Supreme Court which fixed constitutional minimum requirements for the juvenile justice system. This decision follows case law establishing the adjudication phase of the process: a right to notice of charges, to confrontation and cross-examination of witnesses, not to be compelled to incriminate oneself, and to counsel. Shortly afterwards, the Court established the constitutional requirement the government must prove its charges in juvenile court beyond a reasonable doubt. Finally, the Court determined the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Constitution applies in the juvenile process. …

Peremptory Jury Strike In Texas After Batson And Edmondson., Alan B. Rich

St. Mary's Law Journal

In Batson v. Kentucky, the United States Supreme Court overruled that portion of Swain v. Alabama, which had imposed a “crippling burden of proof” upon a person who wished to vindicate his right of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment in the face of a racially motivated peremptory challenge. Under Batson, a defendant can raise an inference of discrimination and prove it using only evidence adduced at his own trial. Two fundamental questions needing resolution prior to involving the Batson procedures are: (A) who has standing to bring a Batson challenge; and (B) who must be challenged before the Batson …

The Case For A Texas Compulsory Unitization Statute., Paula C. Murray, Frank B. Cross

St. Mary's Law Journal

Compulsory unitization of oil and natural gas reservoirs would substantially enhance the welfare of the United States and of Texas in particular. The present regulated free market for oil production produces both inefficiencies and inequities. Consequentially, oil exploration is discouraged, oil production is unnecessarily costly and wasteful, and the private distribution of oil revenues can be arbitrarily unfair. Compulsory unitization would remedy many of these shortcomings which result from extant structures. Unitization means the cooperative development of an entire reservoir of oil or gas. Compulsory unitization in most states also contains a variety of substantive and procedural prerequisites to unitization …

God Is Dead: Killed By Fifty Years Of Establishment Clause Jurisprudence., Raul M. Rodriguez

St. Mary's Law Journal

In 1980, the Supreme Court in Stone v. Graham addressed the issue of whether a statute requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in all public school classrooms was an unconstitutional establishment of religion. Applying the Lemon test the Court found the statute’s purpose to be religious and ruled it unconstitutional. Yet, had the state required the placement of the following “secular commandments” in every classroom, it is unlikely the Court would have found an Establishment Clause violation. Stone illustrates what the Supreme Court’s Establishment Clause jurisprudence has become. The Court has misconstrued the meaning of the “establishment of religion” …

Reasonable Double Definitional Instruction Results In Abolishing Exclusion Of Outstanding Reasonable Hypothesis As Standard Of Review In Circumstantial Evidence Cases., John J. Lapham

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Unpublished Opinions Shall Not Be Cited As Authority: The Emerging Contours Of Texas Rule Of Appellate Procedure 90(I)., David M. Gunn

St. Mary's Law Journal

In Texas, worries of judicial overproduction have persisted throughout the twentieth century. Although the Texas Supreme Court began to use per curiam opinions more frequently around 1925, the flood continues. Texas now has more courts and judges than ever before, and history offers no reason to expect retrenchment. The present scheme in Texas creates two classes of judicial opinions, published and unpublished. Unpublished opinions are not supposed to count for purposes of stare decisis, while published opinions do. Texas Appellate Rule 90 regulates the issuance of opinions from the courts of appeals. Part (a) requires intermediate courts to issue written …

Capital Punishment: A Critique Of The Political And Philosophical Thought Supporting The Justices' Positions., Samuel J.M. Donnelly

St. Mary's Law Journal

Since Gregg v. Georgia, the Supreme Court has developed what could be described as a subparadigm for capital punishment. This subparadigm is now at a point of crisis for two enduring and mutually supporting reasons. The dissents by Justice Brennan and Justice Marshall represent the convergence of the better modern thought in regard to capital punishment. Even with the retirement of both Justices, the criticism found in their dissenting opinions presents a continuing challenge to the plurality’s position. Those using the plurality’s rhetoric are now split into two groups. Justices Blackmun and Stevens regularly vote against capital punishment, while focusing …

Wrongful Adoption: A Guide To Impending Tort Litigation In Texas., Fred S. Wilson

St. Mary's Law Journal

Texas has an opportunity to improve a necessary tool of family law by recognizing and advancing wrongful adoption. There is an underlying lack of recognition for the interests of adoptive parents in adoption law. Those who choose to adopt necessarily rely on the information provided by an adoption agency in making their decision. As such, adoptive parents are particularly vulnerable to misrepresentation about the pertinent history of the adoptee. Recent cases in other states demonstrate the progression of wrongful adoption as a tort, yet many inadequacies remain. The necessary progression of wrongful adoption calls for the imposition of a duty …

Maquiladoras: Will The Program Continue., Cheryl Schechter, David Brill Jr.

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article will discuss the industry and relevant aspects of the legal framework which evolved into the modern maquiladora operation. It will also analyze the possible impact of the ongoing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations on the Mexican maquiladora industry. In the late seventies and early eighties, Mexico plunged into an economic crisis brought on in part by its almost exclusive dependence on oil exports. The extreme drop in the international oil market forced the country to restructure its economy with a greater emphasis on manufacturing for export. Mexico’s maquiladora program played a key role in this aspect …

Transborder - Road Transportation., H.N. Cunningham Iii

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article is intended to serve as a primer for attorneys representing clients engaged in shipping, receiving, and transporting merchandise between points in the United States of Mexico (Mexico) and the United States of America. A “crazy quilt” of laws and regulations govern the rights, duties, and obligations of persons engaged in these activities. These laws include not only the constitutions and statutes of two independent nations, but also the laws and regulations of their various political subdivisions as well. Due to the breadth of this material, this Article’s treatment of the subject is general, providing an overview of the …

Heitman V. State: The Question Left Unanswered., Matthew W. Paul, Jeffrey L. Van Horn

St. Mary's Law Journal

In Heitman v. State, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals appeared to break with the court’s prior holdings to announce it would no longer “automatically adopt and apply” to the search and seizure provisions of the Texas Constitution “the Supreme Court’s interpretations of the Fourth Amendment.” The reaction to Heitman was immediate and striking. Heitman is obviously a significant decision that could impact Texas criminal jurisprudence for decades. Yet, the decision left many questions unanswered, including whether the search and seizure provision should be construed as placing greater restrictions on law enforcement than the Fourth Amendment of the United States …

Living In Limbo: Single Asset Reorganizations Within The Financially Distressed Fifth Circuit., Thomas J. Meaney

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Rose And Apple—Original Gifts?, Emily A. Hartigan

Faculty Articles

Carol Rose begins and ends her distinctive, wry commentary on gift and exchange with the idea that the only thing we really understand is larceny. Her presentation is delightfully grounded and lucid, with touches of humor to remind readers of her realistic context. The argument proceeds through ostensible game-theoretic musings, with hints of puzzles which she later turns into conundrums. The pace is even, clear, and inhabited by examples from property law which invite the reader along.

In Giving, Trading, Thieving and Trusting: How and Why Gifts Become Exchanges, and (More Importantly) Vice Versa, the title gives the agenda of …