Fur Traders and Trappers in Utah

Though the explorers with their official reports did much to interest the East in the Far West, the fur men, who in most instances preceded the explorers, covered the Indian trails and trapped the beaver from the Rockies to the Pacific and added materially to our knowledge of the country. The story of the fur men is the earliest story of the white man in North America and from cavalier and Pilgrim days to the present, those who sought the furs were in the forefront of civilization

Jedediah Smith and His Travels in Utah

Jedediah Smith and his travels in Utah. Finding Aid for this collection can be found here: http://nwda.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv08605/

Fremont and His Explorations in Utah

John Charles Fremont, explorer, soldier and aspirant to the Presidency of the United States, was born January 21, 1813, in Savannah Georgia. Fremont\u27s great contribution to western expansion did not consist of exploration so much as a scientific mapping of the country

The Settlement of Cache Valley

The settlement of Cache Valley played a significant part in the tremendous efforts of Brigham Young to occupy and develop an extensive commonwealth in the Far West. As he led his tired but hopeful pioneers into the valley of the Great Salt Lake in 1847, it did not seem likely that one of America\u27s greatest colonial enterprises was in the making

The Perils of Unpublished Non-Precedential Federal Appellate Opinions: A Case Study of the Substantive Due Process State-Created Danger Doctrine in One Circuit

About 80% of federal appellate decisions are non-precedential. This Article examines the practical consequences for district courts and litigants confronting inconsistent appellate opinions issued by the same federal circuit. Specifically, this is a case study comparing the divergent binding and non-precedential opinions applying one frequently invoked constitutional theory within the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the state-created danger theory of substantive due process. The comparison demonstrates that the risks of non-precedential opinions are real. During the six-year interval between binding state-created danger decisions, the Third Circuit created inconsistent non-precedential opinions on the identical legal theory. Doctrinal divergence between the Third Circuit\u27s binding and non-precedential opinions has undermined the predictive value of precedential state-created danger decisions, creating an obstacle to settlement at both the trial and appellate levels. In turn, district courts\u27 unpredictable application of the non-precedential opinions has undermined the critical appellate functions of ensuring that like cases are treated alike, that judicial decisions are not arbitrary, and that legal issues resolved at the appellate level need not be relitigated before the district courts. The practice of issuing non-precedential opinions is justified on efficiency grounds, as a mechanism for overburdened appellate courts to manage their dockets. But doctrinal inconsistency between the Third Circuit\u27s precedential and non-precedential opinions undercuts the efficiency rationale because doctrinal divergences may have led plaintiffs and defendants to value cases differently-potentially leading to more litigation, fewer settlements, and additional need for judicial decision-making. This Article proposes several reforms to reduce doctrinal inconsistency between precedential and non-precedential opinions. Because an appellate court should weigh the same considerations in making each of its publication decisions, the Third Circuit should replace its amorphous publication guideline with specific criteria. The Article concludes by suggesting that, consistent with the common law tradition of empowering the applying court to assess the persuasive value of a judicial decision, the Third Circuit should no longer refuse to cite its own non-precedential opinions, and should follow several circuits in expressly according persuasive value to its non-precedential opinions

The Utah Pioneers

Eighty-six years ago the Mormon pioneer company under the leadership of Brigham Young entered this valley as the vanguard of a people who were to build their own civilization in the Great Basin and beyond. They were the fore-runners of a people admirably trained for the task of colonizing the intermountain valleys. The middle west was the proving ground for the Mormon movement. There they developed a missionary system through which they reached sufficient numbers for their far western venture

Survey of Cooperation Among Clinical, Pro Bono, Externship and Legal Writing Faculty

Recent surveys by a committee of the Legal Writing Institute (LWI) show that many legal writing faculty around the country are engaged in exciting and creative collaborations with their colleagues in clinics and in externship and pro bono programs. Faculty from these different programs work together around course and curriculum planning, on large and small teaching initiatives, and on scholarship. Whether the proper metaphor for this type of collaboration is collision or something more constructive, the inspiring fact is that these collaborations are taking place