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Full-Text Articles in Law
Deboer V. Snyder: A Case Study In Litigation And Social Reform, Wyatt Fore
Deboer V. Snyder: A Case Study In Litigation And Social Reform, Wyatt Fore
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
On April 28, 2015, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for four cases from the Sixth Circuit addressing the constitutionality of state bans on same-sex marriage. This Note examines DeBoer v. Snyder, the Michigan marriage case, with the goal of providing litigators and scholars the proper context for our current historical moment in which (1) the legal status of LGBT people; and (2) the conventional wisdom about the role of impact litigation in social reform movements are rapidly evolving.
A Solution To Michigan's Child Shackling Problem, Gabe Newland
A Solution To Michigan's Child Shackling Problem, Gabe Newland
Michigan Law Review First Impressions
Detained children routinely appear before Michigan's juvenile courts shackled with handcuffs, leg irons, and belly chains. Once security officers bring a child to court in these shackles, the child usually remains in them for her hearing or trial. In Michigan, as in many other states, no statute or court rule requires the judge to decide whether shackles are necessary. This Essay argues that Michigan should pass legislation or amend state court rules to create a presumption against shackling children. Unless a child poses a substantial risk of flight or physical danger and less restrictive alternatives to shackling will not adequately …
Noontime Dumping: Why States Have Broad Discretion To Regulate Onboard Treatments Of Ballast Water, Kyle H. Landis-Marinello
Noontime Dumping: Why States Have Broad Discretion To Regulate Onboard Treatments Of Ballast Water, Kyle H. Landis-Marinello
Michigan Law Review
Ballast water discharges from shipping vessels are responsible for spreading numerous forms of aquatic invasive species, a form of biological pollution that leads to billions of dollars in annual costs. In the wake of inaction from the federal government and inaction from the shipping industry, several Great Lakes states are currently considering legislation to address the problem. Michigan has already passed a law to prevent ballast water introductions of invasive species. As states begin to regulate ballast water discharges from oceangoing vessels, such laws will likely face challenges based on the constitutional principles of the Dormant Commerce Clause and the …
County Home Rule: An Approach To Metropolitan Problems In Michigan, Stephen M. Silverman
County Home Rule: An Approach To Metropolitan Problems In Michigan, Stephen M. Silverman
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This note examines what seems to be the most viable solution for metropolitan problems in Michigan: county home rule, as authorized by the 1963 state constitution. Since the primary obstacle to the use of county- home rule as a vehicle for metropolitan reform appears to lie in the present statutory authority, the Michigan County Home Rule Act of 1966 (Act), considerable attention is given to the Act and to recent legislation proposed to amend the Act, Michigan House Bill 5464, introduced into the Michigan Legislature on June 21, 1971, and currently pending before the Michigan House Committee on Towns and …
Sturm & Whitaker: Implementing A New Constitution: The Michigan Experience, Walter D. De Vries
Sturm & Whitaker: Implementing A New Constitution: The Michigan Experience, Walter D. De Vries
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Implementing a New Constitution: The Michigan Experience by Albert L. Sturm and Margaret Whitaker
Constitutional Law--Police Power--Michigan Statute Requiring Motorcyclists To Wear Protective Helmets Held Unconstitutional, Michigan Law Review
Constitutional Law--Police Power--Michigan Statute Requiring Motorcyclists To Wear Protective Helmets Held Unconstitutional, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
The effects of the helmet decisions on the law in general may be substantial. On the one hand, if a helmet statute is held constitutional, inroads could be made upon personal liberty; the legislature might rely on similar strained and unproved relationships to the general welfare in order to justify regulations impinging upon other areas of individual conduct. On the other hand, to hold such a statute unconstitutional may require the judiciary to interfere unreasonably with the legislature's conception of public welfare. In light of these considerations, courts dealing with challenges to such regulations in the future should pay closer …
Mayers: Shall We Amend The Fifth Amendment?, B. J. George Jr.
Mayers: Shall We Amend The Fifth Amendment?, B. J. George Jr.
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Shall We Amend the Fifth Amendment? ? By Lewis Mayers
A Supplement To "Constitutionality Of Marketable Title Acts"-1951-1957, Ralph W. Aigler
A Supplement To "Constitutionality Of Marketable Title Acts"-1951-1957, Ralph W. Aigler
Michigan Law Review
An article bearing the title, "Constitutionality of Marketable Title Acts," was published in December 1951. It was there pointed out that such legislation, of which the Michigan act is an example, should be found to be within constitutional limits. It was recognized, however, that direct authority was scarce and that cases that might be deemed pertinent were conflicting.
Constitutional Law - Due Process - Power Of Michigan One-Man Grand Jury To Punish Contempt, Stephen C. Bransdorfer S.Ed.
Constitutional Law - Due Process - Power Of Michigan One-Man Grand Jury To Punish Contempt, Stephen C. Bransdorfer S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
Petitioners were two witnesses called before a Detroit Recorder's Court judge sitting as a Michigan one-man grand jury to investigate suspected police corruption. During the hearings both petitioners were cited for contempt. An order to show cause why they should not be punished was issued by the judge. Subsequently, in open hearings, the same judge convicted and sentenced petitioners. The Michigan Supreme Court affirmed. On certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, held, reversed. To allow a judge who sat as a one-man grand jury to preside at a contempt hearing regarding the same witnesses violates due process. In …
Constitutional Law-Due Process-Restrictions Upon Advertising, Joseph M. Kortenhof
Constitutional Law-Due Process-Restrictions Upon Advertising, Joseph M. Kortenhof
Michigan Law Review
In its efforts to combat gasoline price wars and the fraud that allegedly accompanied them, the City of Pontiac enacted an ordinance designed to restrict the scope of gasoline advertising. It provided that: "No sign or placard stating the price or prices of gasoline other than such signs or placards as hereinabove provided [signs not larger than 12 by 12 inches attached to pumps] shall be posted or maintained on the premises on which said gasoline is sold or offered for sale." Defendant retailed gasoline; by combining hauling and retailing into one operation, savings of about four cents a gallon …
Constitutional Limitations On The Regulation Of Union And Employer Conduct, Charles O. Gregory
Constitutional Limitations On The Regulation Of Union And Employer Conduct, Charles O. Gregory
Michigan Law Review
This is a discussion of constitutional issues involved in federal and state regulations pertaining to labor. The importance of substantive due process has dwindled away, except in relation to picketing and Jim Crow unionism. The dominant issue has become the exercise of power, in a jurisdictional sense, to eliminate socially injurious practices. During the past half century the Supreme Court has taken almost all possible positions on these matters. Pursuing the ideal of a living document, the Court has retailored the Constitution to suit the political exigencies and the dominant interest pressures of any given time.
Labor Law--Federal-State Relations--Validity Of Michigan's Labor Mediation Act, R. L. Storms S.Ed.
Labor Law--Federal-State Relations--Validity Of Michigan's Labor Mediation Act, R. L. Storms S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
Plaintiff labor union called a strike against defendant auto corporation in May, 1948, without conforming to the prescribed state procedure. The purpose of the strike was to enforce demands for higher wages and the strike was conducted peacefully. To enjoin possible criminal prosecution the union instituted the instant suit in the state courts, contending that the Michigan labor mediation law, the much publicized "Bonine-Tripp Act," violated the due process and commerce clauses of the Federal Constitution. The Michigan Supreme Court reversed the decision of the trial court which had granted the injunction. On appeal, held, reversed. Congress has occupied …
Corporations-Restrictions On Holding Real Estate-Lnterpretation Of Michigan's Constitutional Restriction, W. M. Myers
Corporations-Restrictions On Holding Real Estate-Lnterpretation Of Michigan's Constitutional Restriction, W. M. Myers
Michigan Law Review
While it is now well settled that a corporation has the power to acquire and hold real estate, this power may be limited by the charter creating the corporation, by legislative enactments of a general nature, or by specific constitutional provisions. When such a limitation is imposed by constitution, a problem of construction arises in interpreting it in a workable way after the social conditions motivating it have changed or disappeared.
Apportionment Of Representation In The Legislature: A Study Of State Constitutions, Elizabeth Durfee
Apportionment Of Representation In The Legislature: A Study Of State Constitutions, Elizabeth Durfee
Michigan Law Review
This paper is concerned with the rules found in our state constitutions for apportionment of representation in the state legislature. It does not attempt to solve the problems of high-tension politics that are involved in the making and remaking of such rules; it goes no deeper than an exposition of existing rules. Even on this level it is not exhaustive. Since the constitutions exhibit manifold variations, from simple directions which are scarcely more than a declaration of policy to complex rules for the formation of districts, no attempt will be made to classify all the different types of provisions. With …
Abstracts, Katherine Kempfer
Abstracts, Katherine Kempfer
Michigan Law Review
The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.
Constitutional Law - Due Process - Notice And Hearing - Validity Of Statute Authorizing Seizure Of Property Illegally In Possession Of Pawnbroker, Wilbur Jacobs
Michigan Law Review
Complainant, believing his property to be illegally in the possession of defendant pawnbroker, obtained a search warrant, authorized by statute to be issued, on complaint under oath, by any magistrate who is satisfied that there is reasonable cause for complainant's belief. Although the statute required the property to be seized and delivered to complainant on his posting a bond for double the value of the property, the property was not in fact seized. However, actual notice to appear and be heard on a certain date was given to the defendant, even though such notice was not expressly required by the …
Council And Court: The Handbill Ordinances, 1889-1939, James K. Lindsay
Council And Court: The Handbill Ordinances, 1889-1939, James K. Lindsay
Michigan Law Review
The extent to which a municipality may regulate or prohibit the distribution of handbills and circulars on its streets and from house to house has been thoroughly considered by the courts in the last two years. These recent cases reveal one phase of a battle historically rich and presently important to the American people. It is the thrust of a principle-the right of free speech and press-against the encroachments of municipal governing bodies concerned with the practical problem of keeping their streets clean. The municipal official sees the problem thus: "One of the small but aggravating nuisances which most cities …
Evidence - Constitutional Law - Use Of Statutory Presumptions In Criminal Cases, Edward M. Watson
Evidence - Constitutional Law - Use Of Statutory Presumptions In Criminal Cases, Edward M. Watson
Michigan Law Review
The recent efforts on the part of state legislatures to increase the effectiveness of their criminal codes has resulted in extending the use of the statutory presumption to new fields of criminal law. The reaction which necessarily follows such an innovation upon traditional practice has appeared in the form of renewed attacks upon the constitutionality of the device, accompanied by the usual expressions of alarm concerning the "threat to liberty" that lurks in the use of this "mechanistic" instrument of "arbitrary oppression."
Garnishment - Full Faith And Credit - Nature Of Principal Judgment, John N. Seaman
Garnishment - Full Faith And Credit - Nature Of Principal Judgment, John N. Seaman
Michigan Law Review
Plaintiff, appellee, sued an Illinois insurance company for legal services, and on the same day sued out a writ of garnishment against a Michigan debtor of the insurance company. Two days later the insurance company was dissolved in Illinois under the provisions of the Illinois Insurance Code, and an Illinois liquidator was vested with title to all of the insurance company's property, wherever located. The liquidator intervened in this case, claiming prior title to the garnishment debt, by virtue of the Illinois statute and judicial proceedings. Held, the commencement of the garnishment suit gave plaintiff a lien on the …
Constitutional Law - Validity Of Sex Offender Acts, William K. Jackson
Constitutional Law - Validity Of Sex Offender Acts, William K. Jackson
Michigan Law Review
The sex offender has become an acute problem. Sociologists, psychiatrists, and lawyers sensing the imperative need for action have devoted much time and thought to the questions involved. Experience has shown that the sex offender is generally a recidivist; he has to be arrested and committed repeatedly for the same type of crimes. The point is graphically illustrated by the case of a man, fifty-nine years of age, arrested recently in Detroit for a sex offense involving a youth. An examination of his record showed that he had been arrested in 1899, when twenty-one years of age, on charges involving …
Constitutional Law - Trial By Jury - Waiver Of Absence Of Part Of Jury And Consent To Continue With Remainder, Malcolm L. Denise
Constitutional Law - Trial By Jury - Waiver Of Absence Of Part Of Jury And Consent To Continue With Remainder, Malcolm L. Denise
Michigan Law Review
The relator in this quo warranto proceeding attacked his previous conviction in a criminal trial on the ground that the verdict was void because rendered by only eleven persons. During that trial, one of the original jurors had been unable to continue, and the relator and the prosecutor had both consented to proceed before the remaining jurors. It was held that the right to be tried by a jury of twelve given an accused by the constitution of the state is a privilege purely for his own protection, and that he could legally waive this, just like any other similar …
Municipal Corporations-Standards Required In Licensing Ordinances
Municipal Corporations-Standards Required In Licensing Ordinances
Michigan Law Review
Defendant appealed from conviction for operating a used auto business without obtaining a license for such business under a city ordinance requiring same to be granted by the city commission if in its opinion applicant was a proper and suitable person, the place to be used was proper, having in mind the nature and character of the business and possibility of commission of crime, and the sanitary facilities thereon were proper. There was no specific legislative grant for passage of such ordinance. Defendant's application was rejected by the commission mainly because of lack of proper sanitary facilities. Held, standards …
Taxation - Constitutionality Of Chain Store Taxation
Taxation - Constitutionality Of Chain Store Taxation
Michigan Law Review
The plaintiff corporation filed a bill asking a permanent injunction against the enforcement of the Michigan chain store tax, which imposes a graduated levy, the amounts increasing from ten dollars per year per store for two stores owned, to two hundred fifty dollars per year per store for stores in "chains" of twenty-six or more. The plaintiff contended that the statute was unconstitutional under the "uniformity" clause of the state constitution and the equal protection of the laws clause of the federal Constitution. Held, the act is constitutional. C. F. Smith Co. v. Fitzgerald, 270 Mich. 659, 259 …
Rights In Land - Lateral Support - Statute Increasing Common Law Rights And Duties - Constitutionality
Michigan Law Review
Plaintiff sued for damages to his building which collapsed during excavating operations on defendant's adjoining land. A Michigan statute makes it the duty of land owners excavating to a depth of 12 feet or more below grade level to furnish sufficient lateral support to protect adjacent land and structures thereon from injury "due to the removed material in its natural state, or due to the disturbance of other existing conditions caused by such excavation," and imposes liability for injuries due to failure to comply with the act. The excavation on defendant's land, reaching a depth of 14 feet below grade …
Constitutional Law - Due Process - Fishing Rights In The Public Waters Of Michigan
Constitutional Law - Due Process - Fishing Rights In The Public Waters Of Michigan
Michigan Law Review
The Ne-Bo-Shone Association, Inc., is an Ohio corporation which owns property on both banks of the Pine River for some distance. Following the decision of the Michigan Supreme Court in Collins V. Gerhardt that the stream is navigable and public, the complainant association was ordered to remove obstructions in the stream which hampered the free use of the stream by the public for fishing purposes. Thereupon complainant sought an in junction against certain public officials from taking action to remove these obstructions, claiming that it has the right to exclude the public from this portion of the Pine River, and …
Intoxicating Liquors -The New Michigan Amendment
Intoxicating Liquors -The New Michigan Amendment
Michigan Law Review
The people of the State of Michigan at the last general election ratified an amendment to section 11, Article 16 of the state constitution, the so-called prohibition section, to authorize the legislature to establish a liquor control commission and to impose an excise tax on liquor sales. In accordance with constitutional provisions this amendment went into effect on December eighth last. As the new amendment is drafted it leaves unsettled at least three important matters: (1) The present law in Michigan on the subject of intoxicating liquors; (2) The powers vested by it in the legislature and the liquor control …
Presumptions - Constitutional Validity Of Statute Establishing Proof Of Reputation As Prima Facie Evidence Of Commission Of Crime
Michigan Law Review
The rise and sway of the gangster as a menace to American social and economic security has led, of late, to the employment of unique means of combating lawlessness. Faced by a tremendous increase in the difficulties lying in the path of those seeking the conviction of professional criminals for major crimes, the police and prosecutors often turn towards a means of fighting crime originally devised to make life uncomfortable for petty off enders. The enforcement of the pistol laws and the vagrancy statutes against millionaire gangsters, and repeated arrests on suspicion, have been resorted to as a means of …
Constitutional Law-Statutory Prohibition Of Possession Of Liquor
Constitutional Law-Statutory Prohibition Of Possession Of Liquor
Michigan Law Review
The Michigan court has recently declared the state statute prohibiting the mere possession of liquor to be constitutional. People v. Burt, 236 Mich. 62, 210 N. W. 97. The court does not enter into any: discussion as to the constitutionality, but relies on a previous decision, People v. Stambosva, 210 Mich. 436, 178 N. W. 226. This phase of the case is stressed, however, in a vigorous dissent by Chief Justice Bird, who denies that the Stambosva case is controlling. That case held the statutory provision in question to be valid, as not violative of due process, but …
Sterilization Of Mental Defectives, Burke Shartel
Sterilization Of Mental Defectives, Burke Shartel
Michigan Law Review
In 1923 the legislature of Michigan passed an act "to authorize the sterilization of mentally defective persons". This act has recently been sustained in its main provisions by the Michigan supreme court in a case brought to test its constitutionality. Probably the United States Supreme Court will also have an opportunity to pass upon the validity of this law, but the Michigan decision, although not final on the question whether the sterilization of defectives is violative of the "due process clause" of the Fourteenth Amendment, is nevertheless very significant. It is the first instance so far as the writer can …
The Effect Of Martial Law Upon The Soldier's Liability To The Citizen
The Effect Of Martial Law Upon The Soldier's Liability To The Citizen
Michigan Law Review
The recent case of Bishop v. Vandercook, 228 Mich. 299, raises a group of problems of grave importance, seldom discussed in the courts. Can martial law ever exist under our constitutional form of government, so that a soldier becomes privileged, for the time being, to invade the interests of private citizens in a way which the ordinary police powers would not warrant? When may such extraordinary law and extraordinary privilege exist? Is a soldier ever justified in acting under orders given by his superior under supposed martial law when martial law for some reason is not in force?