Law and Society Commons^™

As The Role Of The Driver Changes With Autonomous Vehicle Technology, So, Too, Must The Law Change, Nanci K. Carr

St. Mary's Law Journal

Getting a driver’s license is a highly anticipated rite of passage for most teenagers. Being alone behind the wheel, in control of a 3,000-pound machine, is an honor, a privilege, and a sign of adult responsibility. How will that change when driver’s licenses become licenses “to cause technology to engage” with the increased use of autonomous cars? Will driver’s education courses, with their focus on safety rules and defensive driving techniques, be eliminated if all a vehicle operator needs to do is push a button and the vehicle does the rest? While arguably autonomous cars are safer, they will not …

21 In The 21st—An Evaluation Of The Tobacco Regulation Trend, Casey Kellum

St. Mary's Law Journal

Tobacco regulation persists as a controversial issue both legally and politically in the United States. Throughout American history, states rely on local legislation to provide adequate protection to consumers of tobacco products, as “Big Tobacco” targets consumers for its addictive product. One of the most recent amendments in this arena is the state by state decision to raise the minimum legal sales age for tobacco to twenty-one.

Despite rigorous regulation of tobacco products in the United States, however, tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable deaths in the country. These “Tobacco 21” ordinances come at a critical time when the …

Beat The Heat: Texas’S Need To Reduce Summer Temperatures In Offender Housing, Mary E. Adair

St. Mary's Law Journal

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s lack of air conditioning in offender housing areas is a violation of the Eighth Amendment and deprives offenders of humane living conditions. Unlike most Texans, offenders housed in the TDCJ are unable to adequately protect themselves from the higher, prolonged summer temperatures. Most Texas prisons do not provide air conditioning or other types of cooling systems in offender housing areas, so offenders are at the mercy of the elements with little protection against heat-related illnesses. Several jurisdictions, other than Texas, have recognized extreme temperatures in housing areas can lead to constitutional violations because the …

Disappearing Act: Are Free Speech Rights Decreasing?, Michael Conklin

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

The Lasting Impacts Of Mass Consumerism And The Disposable Culture: A Proposition For The Development Of Plastic Shopping Bag Bans In Texas Law, David Brewster

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article addresses the developing state of plastic bag bans in Texas municipal and state jurisprudence. The Article recites the history of plastic bag bans and their impacts on the environment, the issues pertinent to municipal powers as regulatory devices, and analyzes the most recent case regarding bag bans in Texas, which is the Texas Supreme Court’s opinion in City of Laredo v. Laredo Merchants Association. The Article makes suggestions about how to move forward in developing municipal plastic bag bans for the benefit of the environment, and addresses the immediate impacts of bag ban litigation and legislation in …

Recognizing The Need For Mental Health Reform In The Texas Department Of Criminal Justice, Kara Mchorse

St. Mary's Law Journal

The ways in which mental health care and the criminal justice system interact are in desperate need of reform in Texas. The rate of mental illness in Texas is higher than the current state of mental health care can provide for. While state hospitals were once the primary care facilities of those with mental illness, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has taken on that role in the last few decades; and when the criminal justice system becomes entangled with mental health care, it often leads to “unmitigated disaster.” If Texas continues to allow the TDCJ to act as …

Strict Liability Upon Gunowners (Slug): A Proposed Balanced Approach, David Louis

St. Mary's Law Journal

Careless or apathetic gunowners, whose lost or stolen firearms are used in the commission of a violent crime, should be held strictly liable. Current tort law leaves victims of gun violence and their families without a mode of redress against an irresponsible gun owner whose actions played a pivotal role in the victim’s ultimate injury. Without effective liability principles to regulate gun ownership, gunowners are provided de facto immunity regardless of whether the harm suffered by the victim is intertwined with the gunowners careless behavior. This comment examines the efficacy of existing tort liability principles as provided in the Restatement …

Borrowing American Ideas To Improve Chinese Tort Law, Yongxia Wang

St. Mary's Law Journal

As China develops its modern jurisprudence it faces a choice between emulating the legal frameworks of civil law countries or common law countries. Thus far, the civil law path has allowed for a rapid expansion of Chinese tort law, but jurists have found difficulty in applying such generalized statutory schemes with the absence of supporting judicial interpretation. Cognizant of the differences between the public policy of common law countries and China, Vincent Johnson’s Mastering Torts (Měiguó Qīnquán Fǎ) provides this guidance through the lens of American tort law. The hornbook takes care to simplify the role of judicial …

Back To The Future: Marriage And Divorce Under The 2017 Tax Act, Mark Cochran

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Book Review, Roberto Rosas

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

Saving America’S Privacy Rights: Why Carpenter V. United States Was Wrongly Decided And Why Courts Should Be Promoting Legislative Reform Rather Than Extending Existing Privacy Jurisprudence, David Stone

St. Mary's Law Journal

Privacy rights are under assault, but the Supreme Court’s judicial intervention into the issue, starting with Katz v. United States and leading to the Carpenter v. United States decision has created an inconsistent, piecemeal common law of privacy that forestalls a systematic public policy resolution by Congress and the states. In order to reach a satisfactory and longlasting resolution of the problem consistent with separation of powers principles, the states should consider a constitutional amendment that reduces the danger of pervasive technologyaided surveillance and monitoring, together with a series of statutes addressing each new issue posed by technological change as …

Texas Landfills: The Need For Administrative Reform Of The Texas Commission On Environmental Quality’S Permitting Process, William Todd Keller Jr.

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Autonomous Doctrine: Operationalizing The Law Of Armed Conflict In The Employment Of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems, Peter C. Combe Ii

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

City Of San Antonio Presents Official Congratulations On The 50th Anniversary Of The St. Mary’S Law Journal, Ron Nirenberg

St. Mary's Law Journal

City of San Antonio Presents Official Congratulations on the 50th Anniversary of the St. Mary’s Law Journal.

Combatting The Opioid Epidemic In Texas By Holding Big Pharma Manufacturers Liable, Katherine Spiser

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Latino Education In Texas: A History Of Systematic Recycling Discrimination, Albert H. Kauffman

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Population Law And Policy: From Control And Contraception To Equity And Equality, Victoria Mather

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Texas, The Death Penalty, And Intellectual Disability, Megan Green

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

The State Of Texas Recognizes The 50th Anniversary Of The St. Mary’S Law Journal, Greg Abbott

St. Mary's Law Journal

The Honorable Greg Abbott, Governor of the State of Texas, issued a certificate in 2019 recognizing the 50th Anniversary of the St. Mary's Law Journal and their contribution to the legal profession.

The State Of Texas Concurrent Resolution 19r474, José Menéndez, Four Price

St. Mary's Law Journal

Joint legislative resolution recognizing the St. Mary's Law Journal 50th anniversary in 2019.

Making The Modern American Legal Profession, 1969–Present, Michael Ariens

St. Mary's Law Journal

The American legal profession has changed dramatically over the past half-century greatly due to the solution and problem of “scale.” This was most noticeable after the American Bar Association’s adoption of the Code of Professional Responsibility. The reputation of lawyers and the legal community would continue to evolve in the eyes of the public. As such, the demand for lawyers and large law firms who had the capacity and means to handle such vast and varied issues would present itself. The increasing demand from large law firms over the years led to unprecedented growth and impact to the way in …

Municipal Annexation Reform In Texas: How A Victory For Property Rights Jeopardizes The State’S Financial Health, Julie Polansky Bell

St. Mary's Law Journal

Municipal annexation is the expansion of city boundaries. The greatest motivator behind municipal annexation is maintaining and improving economic prosperity of the annexing authority. The issue of annexation involves a balance of rights between property owners and municipalities of the state. Historically, Texas cities had broad annexation authority under an involuntary annexation scheme. However, in recent years the power has shifted as lawmakers have given property owners greater control over the annexation process. This trend culminated in the passage of the Municipal Annexation Right to Vote Act (MARVA) by the 85th Texas Legislature, which severely limits annexation authority.

Texas municipalities …

Happy Golden Anniversary, St. Mary's Law Journal!, Stephen M. Sheppard

St. Mary's Law Journal

Stephen M. Sheppard, Dean of St. Mary's University School of Law, congratulates the St. Mary's Law Journal on its fiftieth anniversary in this foreword to Volume 50.

The Impact Of H.B. 214: A Critical Analysis Of The Texas "Rape Insurance" Bill, Lucie Arvallo

St. Mary's Law Journal

Texas House Bill 214 (H.B. 214) is subject to challenge under the Supreme Court precedent protecting a woman’s right to choose. Passed in 2017, H.B. 214 regulates Texas insurance markets by prohibiting coverage for an elective abortion unless a woman affirmatively opts into such coverage through a separate contract and pays a separate premium. Similar restrictions on insurance coverage for elective abortion in other states have been met with mixed results in the courts. What sets H.B. 214 apart from other regulations of insurance coverage for abortion is that it does not include any exceptions for abortions in cases of …

An Oral History Of St. Mary's University School Of Law (1961–2018), Charles E. Cantú

St. Mary's Law Journal

Dean Emeritus Charles E. Cantú has worked at St. Mary’s University since 1966 when Dean Ernest A. Raba first hired him. He served as the youngest law professor in the nation at the age of twenty-five, and the first full-time Hispanic law professor. After a considerable tenure working at all three locations of St. Mary’s University School of Law and serving under four of the school’s most recent former deans, this article offers his personal recollections and observations of the history of the law school from the 1960s to the present.

This article is the culmination of a ten-hour oral …

Don't Delete That Tweet: Federal And Presidential Records In The Age Of Social Media, Gabriel M. A. Elorreaga

St. Mary's Law Journal

Statutes governing preservation of presidential records must be adapted to accommodate presidents’ evolving use of social media accounts. The Freedom of Information Act is meant to promote government transparency, and subjects governmental agencies to information requests from members of the public. However, as it relates to social media records, the problem is one of volume; are the means of preservation currently in place able to adequately address the vast amount of records created by a President’s use of social media? This Comment argues that they are not, although they do provide a useful basis for how to adapt record preservation …

St. Mary's Law Journal Fiftieth Anniversary, John Cornyn

St. Mary's Law Journal

Senator John Cornyn of Texas congratulates the St. Mary's Law Journal on its fiftieth anniversary.

50 Years Of Excellence: A History Of The St. Mary's Law Journal, Barbara Hanson Nellermoe

St. Mary's Law Journal

Founded in 1969, the St. Mary’s Law Journal has climbed the road to excellence. Originally built on the foundation of being a “practitioner’s journal,” the St. Mary’s Law Journal continues to produce quality scholarship that is nationally recognized and frequently used by members of the bench and bar. From its grassroots origins to the world-class law review it is today, the St. Mary’s Law Journal continues to maintain its prestigious position in the realm of law reviews by ranking in the top five percent most-cited law reviews in federal and state courts nationwide.

In celebration of the St. Mary’s Law …

Insurance Appraisal In Texas And Its Place In Coverage Litigation, Brendan K. Mcbride, William J. Chriss, Matthew R. Pearson

St. Mary's Law Journal

Insurance appraisal is a contractually agreed process for resolving a disagreement between the insurance carrier and the policyholder about the amount of a loss under an insurance policy. Appraisal clauses have been a feature of insurance policies in Texas for well over a century. Old Texas cases were uniform to the effect that appraisal was a method to establish the “amount” of the loss under circumstances where coverage was not in dispute, but a recent line of cases has allowed insurers to escape liability for breach of contract, attorneys’ fees, statutory and common law “bad faith,” and even liability under …

Health Care Referrals Out Of The Shadows: Recognizing The Looming Threat Of The Texas Patient Solicitation Act And Other Illegal Remuneration Statutes, Trenton Brown

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming