James Etienne Viator

Adams & Reese Distinguished Professor of Law
B.A., 1971, University of New Orleans; J.D., 1985, Louisiana State University.

Professor Viator joined the law faculty in 1990 after teaching at Texas Tech School of Law from 1986-1990. Prior to attending law school, Professor Viator worked as a professional musician and also as a foreman on livestock farms in California and Louisiana. He was the executive editor of the Louisiana Law Review and clerked for Judge Henry A. Politz on the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Professor Viator teaches courses in contracts, Louisiana obligations, Louisiana torts, American constitutional history, and constitutional criminal procedure.

E-mail: jeviator@loyno.edu
Office Phone: 504-861-5679

Publications

Books:

• "The Fourth Amendment in the Nineteenth Century," in The Bill of Rights, ed. by Hickok (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1991).

Articles:

• Book Review of Maxwell Bloomfield, American Lawyers in a Changing Society, 34 Wm. & Mary Q. 320 (1977).
• Note, “When Cause-in-Fact Is More Than a Fact: The Malone-Green Debate on the Role of Policy in Determining Factual Causation in Tort Law,” 44 La. L. Rev. 1519 (1984).
• “Federal Jurisdiction in the Fifth Circuit, 1985-1986,” 18 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 521 (1987).
• “The Critical Technologies Approach: Controlling Scientific Communication for the National Security,” 4 B.Y.U. Journal of Public Law 293 (1990)
• Book Review of Richard Kilbourne, A History of the Louisiana Civil Code, 33 Am. J. of Legal History 368 (1989).
• “The Losers Know Best the Meaning of the Game: What the Anti-Federalists Can Teach Us About Race-Based Congressional Districts,” 1 Loy. J. Pub. Interest L. 1-48 (2000).
• "Give Me That Old-Time Historiography: Charles Beard and the Study of the Constitution, Part II," 43 Loy. L. Rev. 311-420 (1997).
• Book Review. Gun Control and the Constitution: Sources and Explorations on the Second Amendment, ed. by Cottrol, 39 Am. J. Legal Hist. 245-247 (1995).
• Book Review. Rationing Justice on Appeal: The Problems of the U.S. Courts of Appeals, by Baker, 12 Fifth Cir. Rep. 701-704 (1995).
• "Not Another Constitutional Law Course: A Proposal to Teach a Course on the Constitution," with Thomas Baker, 76 Iowa L. Rev. 739-761 (1991).
• “The Fourth Amendment in the Nineteenth Century,” in Eugene Hickok, ed., The Bill of Rights: Original Meaning and Current Understanding (Univ. of Virginia Press, 1991).
• Book Review of Robert J. Cottrol, Gun Control and the Constitution, 39 Am. J. of Legal History 245 (1995).
• “The Original Understanding of the Veto Power,” in The Line-Item Veto, Report of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Senate Judiciary Committee (Washington, D.C., 1996).
• “Give Me That Old-Time Historiography: Charles Beard and the Constitution, pt. II,” 43 Loy. L. Rev. 311 (1997).
• Contributing Investigator, Dictionary of Louisiana Creole (Indiana Univ. Press, 1998).
• “The Losers Know Best the Meaning of the Game: What the Anti-Federalists Can Teach Us About Race-Based Congressional Districts,” 1 Loyola J. Pub. Interest Law 1 (2000).
• “The Social Dimensions of Law,” in The Oxford Companion to American Law (Kermit L. Hall et al. eds., 2002).
• “Marbury and History: What Do We Really Know About What Really Happened?”, 37 Revue Juridique Thémis 329 (2003).
• Book Review of Elizabeth W. Alexander, Notorious Woman: The Celebrated Case of Myra Clark Gaines (LSU Press, 2001), 23 Law & History Review 727 (2005).
• “Expérience de la Créolité et Politiques Linguistiques à l’égard des Minorités Créoles et Cadjins de la Louisiane,” Paul Valéry University Press, Montpellier, France (forthcoming 2007).
• "Give Me That Old-Time Historiography: Charles Beard and the Study of the Constitution," 36 Loy. L. Rev. 981-1022 (1991).
• "A Course on the Constitution," with Thomas Baker, 40 J. Legal Educ. 530-532 (1990).
• "Introduction," (The Federalist -- A Symposium) 21 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 2317-2325 (1990).
• "Bibliography to The Federalist Symposium," 21 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 2461-2480 (1990).
• "The Critical Technologies Approach: Controlling Scientific Communication for the National Security," with Valerie Fogleman, 4 B.Y.U. J. Pub. L. 293-394 (1990).
• Book Review. A History of the Louisiana Civil Code: The Formative Years, 1803-1839, by Kilbourne, 33 Am. J. Legal Hist. 368-370 (1989).
• "Federal Jurisdiction," (Fifth Circuit Survey) 18 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 521-548 (1987).
• Note. "When Cause-in-Fact Is More Than a Fact: The Malone-Green Debate on the Role of Policy in Determining Factual Causation in Tort Law," 44 La. L. Rev. 1519-1543 (1984).
• Book Review. American Lawyers in a Changing Society, by Bloomfield, 33 Wm. & Mary Q. 320 (1977).

Courses:

Contracts, Criminal Procedure I, Federal Jurisdiction, Products Liability, American Legal and Constitutional History, Torts I & II, Louisiana Obligations, Law and Poverty, Constitutional Law I, Entertainment Law, First Amendment.

Updated May 3, 2007