Public Law and Legal Theory Commons^™

American Cities Held Hostage: Public Stadiums And Pro Sports Franchises, David Schein, James Phillips, Caroline Rider

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

No abstract provided.

Affirmative Action Invidiousness, Mark Strasser

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Editor, Alexandra Ellmauer

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

No abstract provided.

Capital Sentencing For Children In Virginia In The Wake Of Miller V. Alabama And Montgomery V. Louisiana, Julie Ellen Mcconnell

Law Faculty Publications

Recent United States Supreme Court decisions have declared it unconstitutional to sentence a juvenile to mandatory life in prison without an opportunity for parole. Virginia, a state that abolished parole in 1995, has yet to recognize the federally mandated prohibition against disproportionate punishment imposed on juveniles, particularly in cases where the mandatory minimum sentence is life without parole. This article proposes the General Assembly should amend current laws that reflect the unconstitutionality of these statutes as applied to juveniles.

Letter From The Editor, Katherine R. Schroth

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Letter from the Editor for the Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest 2015 Symposium Issue

Table Of Contents

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Table of Contents for the Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest Symposium 2015 Issue

Coase And The Constitution: A New Approach To Federalism, F.E Guerra-Pujol

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This paper proposes a new approach to the centuries-old question of federalism. In a word, we approach the problem offederalism from a Coasian or property-rights perspective. That is, instead of attempting to draw an arbitrary boundary line between state and federal spheres of power through traditional legal or semantic analysis of the constitution and previous judicial precedents, this paper proposes the creation of alternative 'federalism markets" in which governmental powers and functions would be allocated to Congress, the states, or even private firms through decentralized auction mechanisms and secondary markets. The paper is divided into five parts. Following a brief …

Coase And The Constitution: A New Approach To Federalism, F.E Guerra-Pujol

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

This paper proposes a new approach to the centuries-old question of federalism. In a word, we approach the problem offederalism from a Coasian or property-rights perspective. That is, instead of attempting to draw an arbitrary boundary line between state and federal spheres of power through traditional legal or semantic analysis of the constitution and previous judicial precedents, this paper proposes the creation of alternative 'federalism markets" in which governmental powers and functions would be allocated to Congress, the states, or even private firms through decentralized auction mechanisms and secondary markets. The paper is divided into five parts. Following a brief …

Table Of Contents

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Winter/Spring 2006 - Articles and Commentaries

The Government As Fiduciary: A Practical Demonstration From The Reign Of Trajan, Robert G. Natelson

University of Richmond Law Review

The Roman Emperor Trajan is justly celebrated as an author of several modern civil rights, such as the right to confront one's accusers. But he is most aptly remembered as the ruler who proved that fiduciary government was possible. Following the example of Trajan's reign could improve greatly the standards of American public law.

Rethinking Intervention In Environmental Litigation, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Intervention in Public Law Litigation: The Environmental Paradigm (Environmental Paradigm) substantially enhances understanding of intervention in federal environmental disputes. These controversies are a critical type of modern civil lawsuit and perhaps constitute the quintessential form of public law litigation. Professor Peter Appel comprehensively reviews the lengthy history of the intervention mechanism, scrutinizes the substantial 1966 revision of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24, and closely examines the phenomenon of public law litigation and intervention in it.

Professor Appel finds that federal district court judges liberally grant requests to intervene in these cases, although he asserts that some legal scholars have …

Editorial Notes, Robert D. Gehringer

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The Editorial Board notes the remarkable evolution of the American Presidency during the twentieth century.

Table Of Contents

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The American Presidency in the Twenty-First Century

Policy In Wake Of The Incident, Gerald Mccarthy, W. Tayloe Murphy, Gerald Winegrad, Joel B. Eisen

University of Richmond Law Review

The goal of this panel was to examine the policies formed in the wake of the Kepone incident: the environmental laws, the regulations and policies that are designed to safeguard our natural resources to ensure that incidents such as the Kepone incident do not reoccur and if they do, to hold those responsible for environmental damage accountable for their actions.

Reviving Participant Compensation, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Over the last quarter century, Congress has clearly recognized the importance of expanding public participation in federal administrative agency proceedings. It has expressly required that many agencies solicit citizen input and facilitate active public involvement in administrative processes while commanding governmental officials to consider thoroughly in their decisionmaking the views of all interests that might be affected. Congress has attempted to develop some mechanisms for promoting increased citizen participation in agency processes, but the legislative branch has been relatively unsuccessful in actually enhancing public involvement. Because citizen participants, such as public interest groups or individual consumers, have comparatively few resources …

An Independent Public Law, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

This Article analyzes the application of numerous Federal Rules in public law litigation to show how the resurrection of private law approaches and hostility toward public interest litigants serves to disadvantage public interest litigants. The assessment is intended to discourage such future enforcement of the Federal Rules and analogous judicial treatment in other areas of public law. The Article is also meant to foster greater appreciation of public law and the articulation of a larger complement of public law principles so as to facilitate the growth of an independent public law.

Protective Orders, Plaintiffs, Defendants And The Public Interest In Disclosure; Where Does The Balance Lie?, Alan B. Morrison

University of Richmond Law Review

It is a basic principle of the American system of jurisprudence that the courts of the United States are open. That includes not only the opportunity for the public to attend courtroom proceedings, but also the right to examine the documents that are filed in court. However, this principle of openness can sometimes come into conflict with other principles in our justice system. Everyone recognizes that there are some situations in which information should not be made public, at least not immediately. The problem is how to identify and limit those situations in which information is not made public so …

Public Law Litigation And The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The public interest litigant is no longer a nascent phenomenon in American jurisprudence. Born of the need of large numbers of people who individually lack the economic wherewithal or the logistical capacity to vindicate important social values or their own specific interests through the courts, these litigants now participate actively in much federal civil litigation: public law litigation. Despite the pervasive presence of public interest litigants, the federal judiciary has accorded them a mixed reception, particularly when applying the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Many federal courts have applied numerous Rules in ways that disadvantage public interest litigants, especially in …

The Letter Of Credit As Security For Completion Of Streets, Sidewalks, And Other Bonded Municipal Improvements, James P. Downey

University of Richmond Law Review

When approving a land development project, municipalities require assurance that developers will construct the required public improvements, and that in the event of default, the surety will be responsive, so that the project will be completed promptly, without risk to the municipal treasury. A form of guarantee sometimes used is the letter of credit. The case law involving public improvement letters of credit is sparse, yet the contingent liability to municipalities from defaulted land developments, with illusory sureties, should not be underestimated.

Rule 19 And The Public Rights Exception To Party Joinder, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The increasing number of "public interest" lawsuits suggests that federal courts increasingly will confront difficult party joinder questions posed by such litigation. These problems arise because entities not involved in the litigation may have interests that may be adversely affected by the litigation. The joinder issue presented by such cases is whether rule 19 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires that the suit be dismissed or whether the litigation can continue without joinder of the absent entities. Numerous courts have dealt with the question by creating a 'public rights exception," which permits the litigation to continue even without …

Virginia Should Open Its Courthouse Doors To Review Administrative Decisions Involving Public Assistance, Christopher Allen Stump, Jill A. Hanken

University of Richmond Law Review

Virginia's courts interpret the Virginia Administrative Process Act (VAPA) to prohibit judicial review of administrative decisions that grant or deny public assistance funds. Virginia is therefore one of only three states which fail to provide judicial review of such decisions. This article advocates judicial review of public assistance hearing decisions on the basis of principles of statutory construction and constitutional law. The article concludes that Virginia's minority status indicates a failure to meet traditional notions of fairness.

Pigeonholes In The Public Forum, Gary C. Leedes

University of Richmond Law Review

Streets, parks, and similar places traditionally used for purposes of discussion and assembly are public forums where people have liberty to communicate their thoughts. Persons lacking the status, money or charisma necessary to command coverage by the mass media often desperately seek access to the public forum. Once access is obtained, ideas can be communicated in a cost-effective manner. However, like other first amendment cases, public forum cases are not fungible. The varying weights of competing interests and the instability of ad hoc balancing tests have created a need for doctrinal structure. The Supreme Court's evolving public forum doctrine is …

Taking Precedents In The Tidelands: Refocusing On Eminent Domain, W. Wade Beryyhill, Susan S. Williams

University of Richmond Law Review

"Buy land, they're not making any more," Will Rogers supposedly once recommended. If he did, then Will had never taken a good look at the shore: Over the years, millions of acres of tidelands have been dredged and filled, many to provide new recreational facilities and vacation homesites.

Stream Flow Maintenance In Virginia, Timothy Hayes, Jeter M. Watson

University of Richmond Law Review

Increasing and conflicting uses of water have been widely heralded as one of the major environmental crises facing society. Below average rainfall in recent years has caused municipal water shortages in Virginia, particularly in the rapidly growing areas of the southeastern part of the state, evidence that water quantity problems are no longer a phenomenon peculiar to the western states. Generally, those in Virginia who advocate reallocation of water to areas of the state experiencing such shortages feel that the state has enough water, just not all in the correct places.

Liability Of A Possessor Of Premises To Public Officials For Physical Harm Caused By A Condition Of The Premises - A Rule For Virginia, Willard I. Walker, Marilyn K. Dunavant

University of Richmond Law Review

Although Virginia has established rules of liability for possessors of premises to trespassers, licensees, and invitees, the Supreme Court of Virginia has not addressed the possessor's liability for conditions on the premises causing physical harm to public officials who are lawfully upon the premises by virtue of a privilege and without the possessor's express permission or invitation. These officials include those who are authorized, but not required, by statutes or ordinances to be upon the premises, whether or not their employment requires it, e.g., firemen and policemen. Such officials are likely to be upon the premises at unexpected times and …

Virginia Laws Affecting Churches - Restated, J. Rodney Johnson

University of Richmond Law Review

Twenty-five years ago, the late William T. Muse, then Dean of the University of Richmond School of Law, observed that although there was considerable law in Virginia relating to churches this law was widely scattered throughout the statutes and the cases. To remedy this state of affairs, Dean Muse wrote a concise but complete summary of these laws. In the quarter-century that has elapsed since Dean Muse's article was published, Virginia has adopted a new constitution, many church-related statutes have been enacted and a number of church-related cases have been decided, some of which have refined established principles and others …

When Is It In The "Public Interest" To Authorize A New Bank?, David Parcell

University of Richmond Law Review

A 1977 article in this Review noted certain amendments to Virginia's Banking Act which introduced and defined the term "public interest" as the standard to be applied by the Virginia State Corporation Commission (hereinafter Commission) in regulating the expansion of the state-chartered banks and savings and loan associations in Virginia. That article summarized certain principles the Commission and the Virginia Supreme Court had applied under the former tests ("public need" and "public convenience and necessity"), and pointed out facts the Commission had considered significant in deciding those cases.

State Action And The Public Function Doctrine: Are There Really Public Functions?, William A. Diamond

University of Richmond Law Review

FlaggBros., Inc., v. Brooks is the latest in a series of cases pertaining to the issue of state action. In that case, the Court decided that "dispute resolution" was not a public function such that the actions of a private party must adhere to constitutional standards. Mr. Justice Rehnquist, in delivering the opinion of the Court, added that, when considering such functions as education, police and fire protection, and tax collection: "We express no view as to the extent, if any, to which a city or State might be free to delegate to private parties the performance of such functions …

Prison Inmate Marriages: A Survey And A Proposal, Jackson M. Bruce, John M. Claytor, Herman C. Daniel Iii

University of Richmond Law Review

This comment explores one facet of the issue of inmate civil rights: the right to marry. An analysis will be made of the current situation nationwide with particular emphasis on Virginia, including proposed guidelines for Virginia's Department of Corrections that reflect the current national trend with regard to inmate marriages.