From Pruett to Presley: The Long and Winding Road to Abrogation of Common Law Sovereign Immunity in Mississippi
45 Pages Posted: 28 Sep 2007
Abstract
The purpose of this Article is to provide an overview of the long and complex struggle to abrogate the court-created sovereign immunity doctrine in Mississippi. This review will include the decade-long effort of the judicial branch to overturn a doctrine it considered to be against modern public policy, while at the same time acknowledging the authority of the legislative branch to determine and define the public policy of the state. This Article will also canvass the slow evolution of the Sovereign Immunity Act of 1984, including an examination of the current legislative scheme for governmental tort liability established by the Act's 1993 amendments. Finally, this Article will briefly consider the possible future of sovereign immunity in Mississippi, focusing primarily upon potential judicial challenges to the current legislative scheme left open following the court's decision in Presley.
Keywords: Mississippi, sovereign immunity
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