Conflict of Laws Commons^™

Federalism As A Preventative Measure: Avoiding State Enforcement Of Federal Anti-Gun Legislation In 2013, Brielle Hunt

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

This comment will delve into this question, seeking to answer whether or not the Constitution allows states to refuse to comply with federal law. This analysis requires the application of a constitutional principle that reaches far beyond the scope of the Right to Bear Arms; it calls into play the vertical separation of powers and the rights belonging to state sovereigns described in the Tenth Amendment. The comment will proceed as follows. Part II will address the constitutionality of House Bill 2340, compared against other kinds of legislation and in light of case law. It will be argued that the …

Federalism As A Preventative Measure: Avoiding State Enforcement Of Federal Anti-Gun Legislation In 2013, Brielle Hunt

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This comment will delve into this question, seeking to answer whether or not the Constitution allows states to refuse to comply with federal law. This analysis requires the application of a constitutional principle that reaches far beyond the scope of the Right to Bear Arms; it calls into play the vertical separation of powers and the rights belonging to state sovereigns described in the Tenth Amendment. The comment will proceed as follows. Part II will address the constitutionality of House Bill 2340, compared against other kinds of legislation and in light of case law. It will be argued that the …

Symposium Transcript, Erwin Chemerinsky, Mary Ellen O'Connell, Jeremy Rabkin

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

An Uninvited Guest: The Federal Death Penalty And The Massachusetts Prosecution Of Nurse Kristen Gilbert, John P. Cunningham

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Irrelevance Of State Corporate Law In Governance Of Public Companies, J. Robert Brown Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Reexamination Of The Distinction Between “Loss-Allocating” And “Conduct-Regulating” Rules, Wendy Collins Perdue

Law Faculty Publications

The Louisiana choice of law code is an important effort to codify the best of modem conflicts understanding. I routinely teach it to my conflicts students even though few will practice in Louisiana. I think it quite possible that someday states that have followed more ad hoc judicial codifications may consider adopting the more systematic codification found in Louisiana.

The code's choice of law articles on torts incorporate a distinction, first developed in New York, between tort rules that are conduct-regulating and those that are loss-allocating. This rule is built around the premise that there are two fundamental purposes of …

The Sources And Scope Of Federal Procedural Common Law: Some Reflections On Erie And Gasperini, Wendy Collins Perdue

Law Faculty Publications

In this Essay I explore what traditional Erie cases would look like if we treated those cases just like classic federal common law cases. I conclude that such an approach is consistent with Erie itself and is also consistent with many of the holdings, if not the language, of traditional Erie cases. This unified approach to substantive and procedural federal common law might have some advantages. In addition to providing conceptual uniformity, this approach would offer an escape from current Erie doctrine, which is confused and unsatisfactory. Under the current doctrine, the Court appears to vacillate between the balancing test …

From Stockholm To Kyoto And Back To The United States: International Environmental Law's Effect On Domestic Law, Joel B. Eisen

University of Richmond Law Review

We Americans think we're so darned smart. We invented modern environmental law, developed its sophisticated "command-and-control" structure, got the public involved as never before in fighting corporate polluters, and achieved measurable successes by getting lead out of our air and bald eagles back from near extinction. We've even tried "second generation" tools such as emissions trading systems' and incentive-based regulatory flexibility approaches when we discovered our system's limitations. Not that we've got it all figured out, mind you, but we're inclined to think of ourselves as world leaders when it comes to environmental protection.

Conflicts And Dependant Sovereigns: Incorporating Indian Tribes Into A Conflicts Course, Wendy Collins Perdue

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Perdue describes her use of materials on Indian Tribes at the end of her Conflict of Laws course as a vehicle for examining the interrelations among choice of law, Jurisdiction, and recognition of judgments. Her goal is not to make students experts in Indian law, but rather to get students to reexamine assumptions about the nature of sovereignty and the role of choice of law, jurisdiction, and recognition of judgments as devices for recognizing and allocating governmental authority

Confidential Communication Privileges Under Federal And Virginia Law, Roger L. Williams

University of Richmond Law Review

This Comment focuses on the confidential communication privileges recognized under federal and Virginia law. The history of rule 501 of the Federal Rules of Evidence is discussed in order to illustrate the policies which Congress intended to further by enacting it and to shed some light on how Congress intended the rule to operate. Discussion includes an examination of various trends or approaches which recent federal decisions have taken in applying rule 501. Finally, specific privileges which have been recognized by federal courts and specific privileges recognized under Virginia law are enumerated.

Choice Of Law: The Abandonment Of Lex Loci Delicti--Should Virginia Follow The Trend?, Thomas J. Cavuto

University of Richmond Law Review

One of the great virtues of the common law is its dynamic nature that makes it adaptable to the requirements of society at the time of its application in court. There is not a rule of the common law in force today that has not evolved from some earlier rule of common law, gradually in some instances, more suddenly in others, leaving the common law of today when compared with the common law of centuries ago as different as day is from night. The nature of the common law requires that each time a rule of law is applied it …

Erie In Balance-Will Equity Tip The Scale?

University of Richmond Law Review

A significant consequence of a federal system of government is that its court system derives its law from both state and national sources. The effective resolution of the inevitable conflicts within that system is made increasingly important by the dramatic increase in interstate travel and commercial activity with the logical effect of increasing federal jurisdiction based upon diversity of citizenship. It is essential that litigants take note of a significant change in the federal court's approach to the rules applicable in diversity actions and modify their own judicial strategy accordingly.

The Assimilative Crimes Act

University of Richmond Law Review

An understanding of the Assimilative Crimes Act is necessary for any attorney who may one day find himself defending a client who has allegedly committed a criminal offense in an area under federal jurisdiction. At first blush, the lawyer may think that his client is clearly guilty and plan his defense around the creation of a reasonable doubt in the court's or jury's mind. However, in some instances, steps may be taken prior to a defense on the merits which would raise serious doubts as to the legality of the prosecution, and even if a conviction is forthcoming, objections might …

The Erosion Of Lex Loci Delicti: Toward A More Rational Choice Of Tort Law

University of Richmond Law Review

Man is a gregarious animal. As such, he has historically sought the company of other men. He has organized his world into innumerable units-each with its own boundaries, each with its own laws. Once, when immobility and relative isolation characterized his existence, few legal complications arose from the policy differences that had been translated into the laws of his governments. His choice of law rules were relatively simple, predictable, and rigid. But as technology made Cairo as accessible as California-made international communication almost as practical as local conversation-the consequences of human interaction involved in- creasing interstate and international elements.

Collateral Attack On Foreign, Ex Parte Divorce Decrees: A Virginia Case, J. Westwood Smithers

University of Richmond Law Review

Ten years ago it was reported that a bill had been introduced in the Nevada legislature to grant divorces by slot machine. "The divorce seeker would punch the machine once a day for 42 days, to establish residence, then insert 200 silver dollars. As the divorce popped out of a slot, colored lights would flash, wheels spin, and a jukebox would play America." The bill did not pass. But the liberality of existing divorce laws of Nevada and several other "divorce-mill" States has attracted many divorce seekers from all parts of the country, including Virginia. The "migratory divorces" so obtained …