All articles — page 7

The full archive in alphabetical order, across every field.

Rating Schedules and Why Combined Ratings Are Not Added

The schedule for rating disabilities in 38 CFR Part 4 assigns percentages representing average impairment in earning capacity, organized by body system and identified by diagnostic code. Multiple ratings are combined under the table in 38 CFR 4.25 rather than added: each rating applies to the efficiency remaining after the preceding one. Disabilities of paired extremities receive an additional bilateral factor, and the final combined value is rounded to the nearest ten percent.

5 min readFederal law

Immigration & Naturalization

Reading the Category Code on a Work Permit

Every work permit carries a category code citing a subparagraph of the regulation that lists the classes authorized to accept employment. Codes in the (a) family denote authorization incident to a status; the (b) family denotes authorization tied to one employer; the (c) family denotes classes that must apply and hold authorization only while the underlying case lasts. The code, not the date, governs renewal and what survives.

6 min readFederal law

Space & Satellite Law

Registering a Space Object and Why It Matters

A launching state must maintain a national registry of the space objects it launches and must furnish prescribed particulars to the Secretary-General for entry in the United Nations register. The state of registry retains jurisdiction and control over the object and any personnel aboard it, wherever it is. Where several states qualify as launching states they must jointly determine which will register, and no treaty mechanism transfers registration when an object is sold.

6 min readTreaty and international

Franchise & Distribution

Registration States and the Exemptions From Them

Registration states require a franchisor to file its disclosure document, audited financial statements and a consent to service of process, and to obtain an effective registration before offering or selling within the state. An examiner reviews the filing and issues comments; registrations lapse and must be renewed, and material changes require an amendment. Other states require only a notice filing, and both registration and disclosure obligations may be avoided by statutory exemption.

6 min readState law

Space & Satellite Law

Remote Sensing Licenses and Limits on Imagery

No United States person may operate a private remote sensing space system without a license from the Secretary of Commerce. The rules sort each proposed capability into three tiers according to whether substantially the same unenhanced data is already available from unregulated sources or from other licensees. Tier assignment governs which conditions may be imposed, temporary conditions must be justified and revisited, and a licensee must supply data to sensed states on reasonable terms.

6 min readFederal law

Art & Cultural Property

Repatriation of Remains and Objects Under NAGPRA

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires federal agencies and federally funded museums to compile summaries of certain collections and item-by-item inventories of human remains and associated funerary objects, prepared in consultation with tribes. Where cultural affiliation is shown by a preponderance of the evidence, the institution must repatriate on request from a lineal descendant or an affiliated group unless it establishes a right of possession.

5 min readFederal law

Franchise & Distribution

Required Purchases, Approved Suppliers and Rebates

Franchise agreements restrict sourcing three ways: purchase from the franchisor or an affiliate, from a designated supplier, or from any supplier approved against stated specifications. The federal rule requires disclosure of the restrictions, of the revenue the franchisor derives from them, and of the approval procedure. Tying claims mostly fail where the restriction was disclosed before purchase, leaving contract and state unfair practice law as the real constraints.

6 min readFederal and state

Antitrust & Competition

Resale Price Maintenance After Leegin

The Supreme Court in Leegin overruled Dr. Miles and held that minimum resale price agreements are judged under the rule of reason rather than condemned per se. Maximum resale prices had already moved, as had non-price territorial restrictions. Federal analysis now weighs the source of the restraint, its prevalence and the market power of the parties. Several state antitrust statutes retain per se treatment, so a national program can be lawful federally and unlawful by state.

7 min readFederal and state

Art & Cultural Property

Resale Royalties and Why the United States Has None

Droit de suite entitles the author of an original work of art to a percentage of the price on later resales handled by art market professionals. The Berne Convention treats the right as optional and conditions it on reciprocity, so an American artist gains nothing abroad while no federal right exists at home. A California statute creating a resale royalty was held preempted by the federal Copyright Act for sales after that Act took effect, leaving private contract as the only mechanism.

6 min readTreaty and international

Immigration & Naturalization

Reviewing a Naturalization Denial in District Court

An applicant whose naturalization application is denied may request an administrative hearing before an officer, and afterward may seek review in the district court where the applicant resides. That review is de novo: the court makes its own findings of fact and conclusions of law and, at the applicant's request, holds its own hearing on the application. A separate provision allows a court to take the case when the agency fails to decide within a set period after the examination.

6 min readFederal law

Mining & Mineral Rights

Sand, Gravel and the Common Variety Problem

The Common Varieties Act provides that deposits of common varieties of sand, stone, gravel, pumice, pumicite and cinders are not valuable mineral deposits under the mining laws, and directs them instead to disposal by sale. A deposit escapes the exclusion only if it has a property giving it distinct and special value, a test the Interior Board and the courts apply through a structured comparison with ordinary deposits of the same material.

6 min readFederal law

Trade & Customs

Scope Rulings and Circumvention in Trade Remedy Cases

Scope questions under an antidumping or countervailing duty order are decided by the Department of Commerce, which reads the order's language with the petition, the investigation and the determinations of Commerce and the International Trade Commission. Where those sources are not dispositive it applies criteria on physical characteristics, purchaser expectations, use, channels of trade and advertising. Circumvention proceedings extend an order to goods assembled elsewhere or slightly altered.

6 min readFederal law

Fields of law

This journal

All articles — page 7

Rating Schedules and Why Combined Ratings Are Not Added

Reading the Category Code on a Work Permit

Registering a Space Object and Why It Matters

Registration States and the Exemptions From Them

Remote Sensing Licenses and Limits on Imagery

Repatriation of Remains and Objects Under NAGPRA

Required Purchases, Approved Suppliers and Rebates

Resale Price Maintenance After Leegin

Resale Royalties and Why the United States Has None

Reviewing a Naturalization Denial in District Court

Sand, Gravel and the Common Variety Problem

Scope Rulings and Circumvention in Trade Remedy Cases