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Abandoned Mine Liability and the Good Samaritan Problem

Liability for an abandoned mine runs to owners and operators under the environmental cleanup statute and to anyone discharging pollutants under the water statute, without regard to who caused the contamination. A volunteer who improves conditions short of meeting water quality standards can become the responsible party for what remains. The federal reclamation fund, financed by a fee on coal production, pays for official work but reaches coal sites first.

6 min readFederal law

Immigration & Naturalization

Admission for Duration of Status and What It Leaves Open

Students, exchange visitors, foreign media representatives, and diplomatic and international organization personnel are ordinarily admitted for duration of status rather than until a fixed date. The admission lasts while the qualifying activity continues, plus any grace period the regulation allows. Because there is no expiration date, a violation is established by a finding rather than by the calendar, and that finding is made by the benefits agency or an immigration judge.

6 min readFederal law

Franchise & Distribution

Advertising Funds and How a Franchisor May Spend Them

System advertising funds take a percentage of gross sales and are administered by the franchisor, which reserves discretion over creative, media and geography. The federal rule requires disclosure of how the fund is administered, whether it is audited, whether franchisor-owned outlets contribute on the same basis, and how contributions were allocated between media, production and administration. The contract, not the rule, supplies the spending limits.

6 min readFederal law

Immigration & Naturalization

Advisory Opinions From the Visa Office on a Legal Question

The Secretary of State administers the visa laws except for the granting and refusal of individual visas, which the statute reserves to consular officers. Where a refusal turns on the interpretation of a statute or regulation rather than on the facts, the Department may issue an advisory opinion, and its determination on the question of law binds the officer. Findings of fact remain with the post, which is why an opinion resolves a rule without deciding a case.

6 min readFederal law

Mining & Mineral Rights

Annual Maintenance and How a Claim Is Forfeited

Every unpatented mining claim, mill site and tunnel site carries an annual maintenance fee payable before the assessment year begins. A claimant holding no more than ten locations nationwide may instead certify a waiver and perform assessment work. Failure to pay or to file is treated by statute as a conclusive forfeiture, requires no agency action or notice, and cannot be cured; the ground reopens to location by anyone.

6 min readFederal law

Military Justice & Veterans Appeals

Appellate Review After a Court-Martial

After trial the convening authority takes limited action, the judge enters judgment, and review begins. Sentences including death, a punitive discharge, dismissal or two years or more of confinement go automatically to the service Court of Criminal Appeals with appointed counsel; lesser cases go to the Judge Advocate General. Review then lies to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and, in cases it has reviewed, to the Supreme Court.

5 min readFederal law

Military Justice & Veterans Appeals

Article 15: Accepting Punishment or Demanding Trial

Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice permits a commanding officer to impose limited punishment for minor offenses without a court-martial. Except for members attached to or embarked in a vessel, the member may demand trial by court-martial instead. Non-judicial punishment produces no federal conviction, is capped by the imposing officer's grade, and is appealable to the next superior authority; a court-martial offers acquittal but also a punitive discharge and confinement.

6 min readFederal law

Art & Cultural Property

Artist Moral Rights and Works Attached to Buildings

Section 106A gives the author of a work of visual art the right to claim authorship, to prevent the use of the author's name on a distorted version, to prevent intentional distortion or mutilation prejudicial to honor or reputation, and to prevent the destruction of a work of recognized stature. The rights belong to the author regardless of who owns the object, cannot be transferred, and may be waived only by a signed writing identifying the work and the uses to which the waiver applies.

5 min readFederal law

Trade & Customs

Asking Customs to Rule Before the Goods Arrive

Under 19 U.S.C. 1625 and 19 CFR Part 177, Customs and Border Protection issues written ruling letters interpreting the customs laws as applied to a prospective transaction. A ruling binds every port and every officer for the transaction described, but only for that transaction and only until it is modified or revoked. A ruling in effect for at least sixty days may be changed only after notice in the Customs Bulletin and an opportunity to comment.

6 min readFederal law

Art & Cultural Property

Authentication Disputes and Why Experts Stopped Opining

Attribution is an expert judgment with an immediate and often total effect on value, which is why an adverse opinion draws claims for defamation, product disparagement, negligent misrepresentation, tortious interference and antitrust conspiracy. Defendants usually prevail, because a reasoned opinion is not a false statement of fact, but the cost of prevailing led several artist foundations to close their authentication boards.

5 min readState law

Immigration & Naturalization

Automatic Extension of a Work Permit on Timely Renewal

Where a renewal application is properly filed before the document expires, under the same eligibility category, and in a category the regulation makes eligible, employment authorization continues past the printed expiration date. The extension ends on the earlier of the end of the authorized period or notification of a denial. For verification, the expired document together with the receipt notice showing the matching category is what the employer records.

6 min readFederal law

Immigration & Naturalization

Automatic Revalidation for Short Trips to Canada and Mexico

Regulation permits an expired nonimmigrant visa to be treated as automatically extended to the date of application for readmission where the holder departed only to contiguous territory for thirty days or less, holds an unexpired admission record, has maintained status, and returns within the period. Students and exchange visitors may also use adjacent islands. Applying for a new visa while abroad ends the benefit, and nationals of designated state sponsors of terrorism cannot use it.

6 min readFederal law

Fields of law

This journal

All articles

Abandoned Mine Liability and the Good Samaritan Problem

Admission for Duration of Status and What It Leaves Open

Advertising Funds and How a Franchisor May Spend Them

Advisory Opinions From the Visa Office on a Legal Question

Annual Maintenance and How a Claim Is Forfeited

Appellate Review After a Court-Martial

Article 15: Accepting Punishment or Demanding Trial

Artist Moral Rights and Works Attached to Buildings

Asking Customs to Rule Before the Goods Arrive

Authentication Disputes and Why Experts Stopped Opining

Automatic Extension of a Work Permit on Timely Renewal

Automatic Revalidation for Short Trips to Canada and Mexico