Law Commons^™

Arkansas, J. Mark Robinette

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

There is very little to report in Arkansas this year. The 92nd General Assembly made no substantive changes to the law of oil and gas in Arkansas. In addition, the federal courts produced no significant developments In state court, there were two notable cases.

Teamwork Or Collusion? Changing Antitrust Law To Permit Corporate Action On Climate Change, Dailey C. Koga

Washington Law Review

In an era of apprehension about climate change and the future of our planet, private companies are increasingly recognizing their role in increasing sustainability and lowering carbon emissions. To address this growing concern, some industry leaders are taking unilateral action to implement sustainable practices, but other companies have made agreements to fight emissions together. However, the Sherman Antitrust Act forbids agreements in restraint of trade. Further, antitrust law traditionally has refused to recognize ethical or moral justifications as legitimate reasons to permit anticompetitive agreements. As society’s concern for the planet grows and elected leaders move slower than needed to address …

Notre Dame Lawyers Connect: December 2020, Notre Dame Law School

Notre Dame Lawyers Connect

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Sacred Places of Notre Dame

In Memoriam

• Patrick F. McCartan
• Thomas F. Broden

ND Law History: Strange-but-true ND Law stories

Networking & Events

Alumni Notes

• Stephen P. Wink
• Veenita Gupta
• Charles A. Weiss
• Caroline McIntyre

Covid-19 Reflections On Resilience And Reform In The Child Welfare System, Robert Latham, Kele Stewart

Articles

No abstract provided.

Illuminating False Light: Assessing The Case For The False Light Tort In Canada, Fraser Duncan

Dalhousie Law Journal

The false light tort has been the most contentious of the four privacy torts recognized in many US states, receiving criticism for its uncertain connection to privacy interests, its overlap with defamation and its chilling effect on free speech. While the tort has not previously received much judicial or scholarly attention in Canada, the recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Yenovkian v Gulian recognized false light as a cause of action in the province. This article cautions other Canadian common law courts against following suit through an analysis of the nature, history, and criticisms of the …

New Mexico, Sharon T. Shaheen

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

Under the Produced Water Act (“Act”) enacted in the 2019 regular legislative session, the New Mexico Legislature authorized the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division (“OCD”) and the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission (“WQCC”) to regulate produced water resulting from oil and gas drilling or production. The Act governs the transportation and sale of produced water, recycled water (also referred to as recycled produced water), and treated water (also referred to as treated produced water).

Ohio, Gregory W. Watts

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

In recent years, as a result of Ohio’s Utica shale boom, Ohio courts have confronted the issue of how to apply the Ohio Marketable Title Act. As with many statutes, there are generally two questions to answer: (1) does the particular statute apply to the particular facts of the case? and (2) if the statute applies in the first instance, how does a court apply the statute to the particular facts of the case?

Oklahoma, Mark D. Christiansen

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

In Naylor Farms, Inc. v. Chaparral Energy, LLC, the plaintiff royalty owners (collectively, Naylor Farms) contended that Chaparral systematically underpaid royalties on production from approximately 2,500 Oklahoma oil and gas wells by improperly deducting from royalty payments certain costs that the plaintiffs contended should have been borne solely by Chaparral under Oklahoma law. The district court granted Naylor Farms’ motion seeking certification of a class of royalty owners under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In the present proceedings, Chaparral has appealed the district court’s order granting class certification.

Oregon, Eric L. Martin

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

Even though no oil and only a small quantity of natural gas is produced in Oregon, the Oregon Legislature enacted bans in 2019 on hydraulic fracturing until 2025 and on using Oregon’s territorial sea for oil and gas activities. Beyond that legislation, though, legal developments in Oregon this year concerning the oil and gas industry focused on downstream issues.

Pennsylvania--Recent Developments In Pennsylvania Jurisprudence Related To Oil And Gas Leasing And Conveyancing, Ross Pifer

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

Pennsylvania is the largest producer of shale gas in the United States and is the second-largest natural gas-producing state overall. Owing to its strategic location atop the Marcellus and Utica Shale Formations, Pennsylvania’s position as a major natural gas producer is relatively new. Just a little over a decade ago, Pennsylvania ranked sixteenth among states in total natural gas production. With this rapid rise in the amount of natural gas development, there has been a corresponding increase in activity in courtrooms across Pennsylvania—both in state and federal courts. As a result, Pennsylvania oil and gas law has evolved within a …

Utah, Mark Burghardt

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

Oil and gas production continues to be an important sector of Utah’s economy. Following a 25% loss in production between 2014 and 2015, Utah’s production continues to slowly rebound. Crude oil production in 2019 appears to be slightly ahead of 2018 production. Monthly production averages slightly over three million barrels, placing Utah among the top ten states in crude oil production. Along with the continuing increase in production, the state’s legal framework governing oil and gas continues to develop.

This Article examines recent changes in Utah statutes and regulations along with new case law developments involving the oil and gas …

Circumventing The Crime Victims' Rights Act: A Critical Analysis Of The Eleventh Circuit's Decision Upholding Jeffrey Epstein's Secret Non-Prosecution Agreement, Paul Cassell, Jordan Peck, Bradley Edwards

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Whether crime victims have rights before formal criminal charges are filed has recently come to the fore in one of the most publicized criminal cases in recent memory. For more than twelve years, victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking organization have attempted to invalidate a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) entered between Epstein and federal prosecutors. The victims have argued that because prosecutors deliberately concealed the NPA from them, the prosecutors violated the federal Crime Victim’s Rights Act (CVRA). On April 14, 2020, a divided panel of the Eleventh Circuit entered a surprising ruling, rejecting the victims’ argument. The panel refused to …

Antitrust And Competition Issues, Jorge L. Contreras

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This Chapter offers a broad overview of the impact of U.S. antitrust laws on IP licensing and transactions. A basic understanding of antitrust law is critical to the analysis of IP licensing arrangements, whether concerning patents, copyrights or trademarks. This chapter offers a summary of the antitrust doctrines that arise frequently in IP and technology-focused transactions — price fixing and market allocation, resale price maintenance, tying, monopolization, refusals to deal, standard setting and pay-for-delay settlements, with coverage of the major cases and enforcement agency guidance. Antitrust issues also play a role in the analysis of joint ventures, which are discussed …

Federata Dhe Konfederata, Vanesa Rexhepi

Theses and Dissertations

Procesi i formimit të shtetit si organizate shoqërore ka filluar që në fazën e diferencimeve brenda shoqërisë falë shfaqjes së tepricës në shoqërinë jo-klasore, pra rritja e forcave prodhuese, që ka rezultuar me fillimin e dallimeve pronësore dhe dallime të tjera të cilat pasojnë në bazë të kësaj. Në këtë kohë veq se fillon dekomponimi i shoqërisë jo-klasore, i elementeve të organizimit të ri të shoqërisë duke e quar në fillimin e lindjes së shtetit. Në këtë punim tema e cila do të trajtohet në vijim ka të bëj kryesisht me trajtën e rregullimit të shtetit ku si pike kryesore …

A Historical Note On The Assignment Of Pesticide Common Names, Jorge L. Contreras

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Thousands of pesticides, herbicides, and related chemical products are used today to control disease-bearing insect populations and enable large-scale agricultural production that feeds much of the world. This short note traces the history of one small but important aspect of this industry—the assignment of common names to pesticides and related products. The little-known history of pesticide common names is illustrative of a few important points. First, it demonstrates the trend exhibited in many fields for the development of standards to migrate from a governmental agency to a US-based standards organization to an international standards organization. Second, it evidences the concern …

Family Law By The Numbers: The Story That Casebooks Tell, Laura T. Kessler

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article presents the findings of a content analysis of 86 family law casebooks published in the United States from 1960 to 2019. Its purpose is to critically assess the discipline of family law with the aim of informing our understandings of family law’s history and exposing its ideological foundations and consequences. Although legal thinkers have written several intellectual histories of family law, this is the first quantitative look at the field.

The study finds that coverage of marriage and divorce in family law casebooks has decreased by almost half relative to other topics since the 1960s. In contrast, pages …

The New United Nations High Seas Treaty: A Primer, Robin Kundis Craig

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This short Insights piece provides an introductory overview to the United Nations' developing Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) treaty, which would add a Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to allow for biodiversity protections (marine protected areas) in the high seas.

Migratory Birds And The Administrative State, David A. Strauss

University of Chicago Law Review

Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v United States Army Corps of Engineers,¹ a case in which Judge Diane Wood wrote the opinion for a unanimous Seventh Circuit panel, addressed important questions about both the Commerce Clause and the Clean Water Act² (CWA). The Supreme Court reversed the Seventh Circuit’s decision by a vote of five to four. To read the Supreme Court’s majority opinion side by side with Judge Wood’s is to see a contrast that does not, to put it mildly, make the Supreme Court look good. Judge Wood’s opinion is lucid, careful, and measured; …

Death As Divorce For The Abandoned Spouse: Davis V Combes And The Cautious And Gender-Sensitive Judiciary, Saul Levmore

University of Chicago Law Review

No abstract provided.

Colorado--The Changing Landscape Of Land Use Law And Regulations Impacting The Colorado Oil And Gas Industry: From The Colorado Oil And Gas Conservation Act Of 1951 To Senate Bill 181 Of 2019, Ralph A. Cantafio

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

When Colorado Democratic Governor Jared Polis approved Senate Bill 181, this new law significantly redirected the historical focus of Colorado oil and gas regulation. This provided a significant delegation of land use related authority to local government for the first time since the passage of this Act in 1951. This new law moved away from the traditional notion of statewide regulation based upon exclusive jurisdiction by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (“COGCC”). While this change of legislative focus is significant, this latest direction is probably a natural continuation of a general trend that has been emerging in Colorado …

Michigan Oil And Gas Update, Joshua D. Beard

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (“EGLE”), formerly the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, is in the process of seeking primary enforcement responsibility from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) for its Underground Injection Control (“UIC”) program for Class II wells pursuant to Part C of the Safe Drinking Water Act (“SDWA”).

Montana, Stephen R. Brown

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

In 2018, Montana produced 21.5 million barrels of crude oil and 93.2 million cubic feet of natural gas. Nationally, Montana ranked thirteenth in crude oil production. Through August 2019, crude oil production declined by 587,000 barrels, and natural gas production increased by 5.5 million cubic feet when compared to the same period in 2018.

North Dakota--Dealing With Dubious Contracts For Conveying Land Statute Of Limitations Or Reformation For Mutual Mistake?, William P. Pearce

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

The topic of this Article arose from a recent opinion by the North Dakota Supreme Court: Western Energy Corporation v. Stauffer. The case dealt with how the law handles changes in ownership of property, specifically land including underlying mineral interests, that come into dispute after substantial periods of time have passed, resulting in a need for the parties involved in the dispute to turn to the courts for a solution. The passing of a substantial amount of time often becomes the issue in resolving the dispute in these types of situations.

The opening paragraph in the Court’s opinion in Western …

Survey Of Selected 2019 Texas Oil And Gas Cases And Statutes, William D. Farrar

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

Texas courts and the legislature were quite active in 2019 concerning oil and gas issues. Texas courts decided many cases involving everything from deed interpretation to lease repudiation to farmout interpretation. The Texas Supreme Court has granted several petitions for review from the courts of appeal. The legislature enacted or amended statutes concerning so called “royalty leases,” the Mineral Interest Pooling Act, and others. The following are summaries of some selected cases and statutes that will be of interest to those involved with Texas oil and gas law.

An Unfair Cross Section: Federal Jurisdiction For Indian Country Crimes Dismantles Jury Community Conscience, Alana Paris

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, federal jury pools must reflect a fair cross section of the community in which a crime is prosecuted and from which no distinct group in the community is excluded. The community in which a crime is prosecuted varies widely in Indian country based on legislative reforms enacted by Congress to strip indigenous populations of their inherent sovereignty. Under the Major Crimes Act, the federal government has the right to adjudicate all serious crimes committed by one American Indian against another American Indian or non-Indian within Indian country. American Indian defendants under …

Contents, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

School Of Law Faculty And Staff, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Journal Of Food Law & Policy - Fall 2020, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Private Farms, Public Power: Governing The Lives Of Dairy Cattle, Jessica Eisen

Journal of Food Law & Policy

It is widely assumed that laws governing dairy productioninclude substantial protection of animals’ interests—that in some way the state is regulating the treatment of farmed animals and protecting them against the worst excesses of their owners’ selfinterest. In fact, across jurisdictions in Canada and the United States, the standards governing farmed animal protection are not established by elected lawmakers or appointed regulators, but are instead primarily defined by private, interested parties, including producers themselves. As scholars of animal law have noted, this has contributed to weak and ineffectual legal protection of the interests of farmed animals. The present study will …

Can Small Farmers Survive?: Problems Of Commercializing The Milk Value Chain In Pakistan, Erum Sattar

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Milk in Pakistan is infused with the self-understanding of a nation. British colonial administrators laid the modern-day foundations of the country’s structure through land grants to small farmers. In an agricultural country where nearly forty percent of the population remains food insecure, rearing animals is a way of life in the rural areas where milk remains an important source of animal protein. Selling the daily surplus that families don’t consume is a significant source of earnings for cash poor families – and here an unprecedented change is taking place within dairy management and milk procurement systems. The scale of this …