Courts Commons^™

The Unimportance Of Precedence In The Law Of Federal Courts, Michael L. Wells

Scholarly Works

Part I of this Article asserts that the Supreme Court pays little attention to precedent in federal courts law. My examples in support of this claim are taken from important areas of federal courts doctrine, where two major upheavals have taken place in the past thirty years. First, the Warren Court rewrote the law to expand access to federal court. then under Chief Justice Burger, the Court undid many of the changes wrought by its predecessor. The discussion in Part I of prominent departures from precedent is not offered as decisive proof that stare decisis is less important in federal …

The Impact Of Substantive Interests On The Law Of Federal Courts, Michael L. Wells

Scholarly Works

The thesis of this Article is that substantive factors exert a powerful and often unrecognized influence over the resolution of jurisdictional issues, and have done so throughout our history. The chief substantive factors at issue are the government's interest iin regulating behavior on the one hand, and the individual's interest in enforcing constitutional restraints upon government on the other. Part I of this Article examines the relationship between jurisdictional rules and substantive consequences, Part II describes the Court's conventional account of federal courts doctrine in terms of jurisdictional policy and institutional roles, and Part III shows that the reasons set …

To Defer Or Not To Defer: A Study Of Federal Circuit Court Deference To District Court Rulings On State Law, Dan T. Coenen

Scholarly Works

Federal courts of appeals often grant special deference to district court rulings on matters of state law. This practice is important. It is also ill-conceived. This Article explores this "rule of deference." Section I considers the roots and reach of the rule. Together with the Appendices to this Article, it seeks to detail for practitioners, commentators, and judges the way the rule operates in the courts. The remaining sections of this Article consider the wisdom of the rule of deference. Section II argues that the rule lacks a sound rationale and Section III urges that the rule has bad effects …

Is Disparity A Problem?, Michael Wells

Scholarly Works

Part I describes aspects of the historical and doctrinal background of judicial federalism. Part II examines the Court's treatment of the parity issue and shows how the Court's ambiguity permits both sides of the debate to avoid revealing their true objectives. Part III demonstrates that some, but not all, of the allocation doctrine can be explained in terms of a conflict between the plaintiff's litigating interest and the state's interest in maintaining the integrity of the state judicial process. A significant body of cases, however, does not fall within this framework. In these cases the Court seems to prefer state …

A House Of Lords' Judgment, And Other Tales Of The Absurd, Alan Watson

Scholarly Works

In this paper I want to look at four approaches to deciding a case in different societies-contemporary England, uncodified civil or 'mixed' law systems (with an example from 17th century Scot-land and another from early 20th century South Africa), 19th century France after codification, 15th century Germany with a glance at 13th and 14th century Spain-where the attempt is made each time to reach the correct decision by applying the mental process thought most appropriate. None of the approaches examined here is result-oriented, and to outsiders, especially to lawyers brought up in a different legal culture, the mental process seems …

Why Professor Redish Is Wrong About Abstention, Michael Wells

Scholarly Works

Most critics of the Supreme Court's abstention doctrines have attacked the substantive merits of rules that channel constitutional litigation away from federal courts and into state courts instead. In a recent article, Martin Redish raises an interesting objection to abstention from a different perspective. He addresses the institutional legitimacy of the rules and contends that whatever their merits, rules like these should be made only by Congress and not the Supreme Court, for they contravene Congress' intent to grant federal courts jurisdiction over constitutional claims against state actors. Part I of this article describes the context in which the choice …

Litispendence Between The International Court And The Security Council, Theodoor Jh Elsen

LLM Theses and Essays

The exception of lis pendens is an objection against the admissibility of the claim. The general power of the tribunal to hear the claim is not contested, but the special situation that a claim on the same cause of action is pending before another forum is alleged to preclude the tribunal from asserting jurisdiction. This essay focuses on the exception of lis pendens raised before the International Court of Justice or the United Nations Security Council when both organs are simultaneously engaged in the settlement of the same dispute.

The Role Of Comity In The Law Of Federal Courts, Michael L. Wells

Scholarly Works

Considerations of comity often require federal courts to defer to state courts when federal issues could be raised in state proceedings. Contexts in which such deference is required include Younger abstention, habeus corpus exhaustion and procedural default, and Pullman and Burford abstention. In this Article, Professor Wells demonstrates that the Supreme Court's opinions fail to make a distinction between cases where comity requires restraint and those where it does not. The Court's motive in invoking comity is not to decrease access to federal courts, but instead to strike a compromise between the individual's interest in a federal forum and the …

Preliminary Injunctions And Abstention: Some Problems In Federalism, Michael L. Wells

Scholarly Works

Suppose a federal district court faces a challenge to state action that presents an unsettled issue of state law, a federal constitutional issue, and a plaintiff who will be irreparably harmed if the state is not immediately enjoined. May the court abstain from a decision on the merits, remand the case to the state courts for resolution of the state law issue, and yet grant a preliminary injunction against the challenged state action? Does it follow from the paucity of reported opinions coupling such interim relief with abstention that such a procedure is inconsistent with the policies underlying the abstention …

Hawkins V. Town Of Shaw: The Court As City Manager, C. Ronald Ellington, Lawrence F. Jones

Scholarly Works

For over one hundred years Congress and the federal courts have pursued the goal of racial equality in the United States. In areas such as voting rights, public accommodations, and housing, Congress and the courts have interacted closely, with broad judicial interpretations upholding major remedial legislation. Moreover, when confronted by official state sources of racial discrimination, courts have traditionally responded to the clear command of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment without awaiting congressional action. Brown v. Board of Education stands as perhaps the best known instance in which a court has, on its own, ordered the elimination …

The Federal Anti-Injunction Statute In The Aftermath Of Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, John Daniel Reaves, David S. Golden

Scholarly Works

Last Term the Supreme Court rendered its decision in Atlantic Coast Line Railroad v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. This case involved the present anti-injunction statute, section 2283 of Title 28, which forbids federal court injunction of state court proceedings. Mr. Justice Black, writing for the majority, traced the roots of the statute's predecessor into the "fundamental constitutional independence of the states and their courts." He hinted that the act grew out of concern for constitutional inviolability of a state court's adjudicative process. Mr. Justice Black went on to announce that the anti-injunction statute is absolute; no judicially created exceptions …

Judicial Opinion Analysis, John J. Daley

LLM Theses and Essays

The aim of this paper is to suggest a method of judicial opinion analysis. This method has five essential aspects: 1) form; 2) procedure; 3) precedential value; 4) authority; and 5) substance. Observation of these aspects in judicial opinions should broaden legal and jurisprudential perspective and cause critical analysis of case dispositions.

The Power Of District Judges And The Responsibility Of Courts Of Appeals, Paul D. Carrington

Georgia Law Review

FOR some years, the most prestigious commentator on federal practice, Charles A. Wright, has been expressing concern about the apparent evolution of the relation between trial and appellate courts, particularly in the federal judicial system. With his distinguished colleague, Leon Green, he has deplored the fact that "the appellate courts have drawn unto themselves practically all the power of the judicial system."  Although sympathetic with the desires of appellate judges to achieve right results in cases coming before them, Professor Wright urges that this desire has too often been permitted to predominate, that our appellate judges have too often failed …

Appellate Court Opinions And The Remand Process, Griffin B. Bell

Georgia Law Review

THE disposition of a case is an essential and important part of any appellate court opinion. Absolute precision is required in stating the disposition, particularly where there are to be further proceedings on remand. What is to be done on remand? If there is to be a new trial, what is to be its scope? Are the issues on retrial to be limited? Are there to be findings in connection with some specific questions? Will the trial court understand the mandate? These are matters for consideration; and absent a careful approach, the opinion may lack that degree of clarity which …

Recent Decisions

Georgia Law Review

Colleges and Universities-STUDENT RIGHTS-SEARCH AND SEIZURE-Search of Student's Dormitory Room Without a Warrant When Believed Necessary to Preserve Order and Discipline on Campus Not a Violation of Student's Fourth Amendment Rights. (Moore v. Student Affairs Committee, M.D. Ala. 1968) . . 225 Constitutional Law-JURY-Imposition of Death Penalty by Jury from Which Jurors Are Disqualified for General Objections to Capital Punishment Violates the Constitutional Guarantee of Trial by an Impartial Jury. (Witherspoon v. Illinois, U.S. 1968) ........... ....................... 234 Tors-MENTAL SUFFERING---Plaintiff May Recover Damages for Emotional Shock and Accompanying Physical Injury Upon Witnessing the Tortious Death of Her Infant Child. (Dillon …

The Appellate Judiciary Of Georgia And Contempt Out Of Court, D. Greir Stephenson, Jr.

Georgia Law Review

TO state the obvious, contempt of court is a broad topic, and this article is not the place for an exhaustive treatment of the various types of contempt-civil and criminal, direct and indirect. Instead, the focus is on one variety of indirect or constructive contempt: that arising from criticism of a judge, spoken or written outside the courtroom. To limit the subject in such a way precludes discussion of other inter- estng aspects of contempt law, but perhaps the advantages gained from sharp perspective and clear concentration more than offset the disadvantages incurred from a narrowed concern.The law of constructive …

Recent Decisions

Georgia Law Review

Contributory Negligence-SEAT BELTS-REFUSAL TO INSTRUCT ON PLAINTIFF-PASSENGER'S FAILURE TO USE AVAILABLE SEAT BELTS NOT ERROR ABSENT EVIDENCE OF CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PASSENGER'S INJURIES AND FAILURE TO USE SEAT BELT

Criminal Law-HABEAS CORPUS-HABEAS Corpus Is AVAILABLE To TEST THE VALIDITY OF A SENTENCE TO COMMENCE in Futuro EVEN THOUGH THE PETITIONER WOULD NOT BE ELIGIBLE FOR RELEASE OR PAROLE IF THE WRIT WERE GRANTED

Federal Income Taxation-TAX BENEFIT RULE-RECOVERY OF PROPERTY PREVIOUSLY C.AIME' AS CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTION IS INCLUDED IN GROSS INCOME AND TAXED AT RATE PREVAILING IN THE YEAR OF RECOVERY

Labor-Management Relations-UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES-SHOWING ANTI- UNION FILM DURING ORIENTATION OF …