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Full-Text Articles in Law

Consideration In The Anglo-American Law Of Contracts, Hugh Evander Willis Dec 1932

Consideration In The Anglo-American Law Of Contracts, Hugh Evander Willis

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Quasi-Contracts - Statute Of Frauds - Right To Restitution Of Money Paid On Oral Land Contract Dec 1932

Quasi-Contracts - Statute Of Frauds - Right To Restitution Of Money Paid On Oral Land Contract

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff paid $1,000 on an oral agreement for the purchase of land. Defendant admitted receipt of the money but alleged he was ready, able, and willing to comply with the terms of the agreement and convey the land. Held, that since the contract was void under the statute of frauds, plaintiff might recover. Reedy v. Ebsen, (S. D. 1932) 242 N. W. 592.


Equity--Fiduciary Or Confidential Relations--What Constitutes, George W. Mcquain Dec 1932

Equity--Fiduciary Or Confidential Relations--What Constitutes, George W. Mcquain

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.


Suretyship - Interpretation Of Surety Contract Dec 1932

Suretyship - Interpretation Of Surety Contract

Michigan Law Review

A bank sued to recover on a surety bond for loss sustained because of fraud practised by one of the vice-presidents on a customer. The bond provided that performance was subject to certain conditions and limitations, among which was one to the effect that the bank should notify the surety within ninety days of the default. The surety was not notified until the trial four years later. Held, notification is a condition precedent to liability, even though the surety was not prejudiced by lack of notice. National City Bank v. National Security Company, (C. C. A. 6th, 1932) …


Contracts - Anticipatory Breach - Effect Of Election Dec 1932

Contracts - Anticipatory Breach - Effect Of Election

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff leased a lot to a development company and the latter agreed to demolish the present buildings and begin the erection of new ones by April 1, 1934. The defendant was surety on a bond executed to insure performance. The development company was adjudged bankrupt and, on February 11, 1931, the trustee expressly repudiated the contract. On February 24 the plaintiff notified the trustee and the bankrupt that he refused to accept the disaffirmance of the contract and would hold them to performance. The plaintiff later brought suit on the theory that the action constituted an acceptance of the …


What Is A "Contract" Under The Contracts Clause Of The Federal Constitution?, Paul G. Kauper Dec 1932

What Is A "Contract" Under The Contracts Clause Of The Federal Constitution?, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

The case of Coombes v. Getz, recently decided by the United States Supreme Court, raises in a crucial way the question of what is a contract within the meaning of Article I, section 10 of the Constitution, forbidding States to pass laws impairing the obligations of contracts. A provision of the California Constitution in force at the time the plaintiffs brought this action in the state court below made directors of corporations jointly and severally liable to the creditors and stockholders for all moneys embezzled or misappropriated by the officers of the corporation during the term of office of …


Assignment Of Money Claims (Particularly Wage Claims) - Restraint On Alienation Dec 1932

Assignment Of Money Claims (Particularly Wage Claims) - Restraint On Alienation

Michigan Law Review

If a contract has been performed on one side so that all that remains is an obligation to pay and a right to receive money, can the parties by agreement effectively prevent the assignment of the claim? The Illinois Supreme Court had this question before it for consideration in the case of State Street Furniture Co. v. Armour & Co., where the plaintiff was the assignee of wages due to an employee of the defendant, the employee having agreed not to assign his wages without the written consent of his employer. The court decided that the restrictive agreement had …


Specific Performance - Chattel Contracts Performable In Installments Dec 1932

Specific Performance - Chattel Contracts Performable In Installments

Michigan Law Review

The refusal of a court of equity to decree the performance of a contract relating to personalty is not based on any intrinsic. difference between land and chattels. Any distinction between them is entirely subordinate to the question whether an adequate remedy can be afforded at law. Yet constant repetition has imparted such a degree of rigidity to the rule that courts have been prone to forget the reason on which it rests. Nowhere is this fact more evident than in the field of installment contracts.


Contracts - Executed Modification - Consideration Dec 1932

Contracts - Executed Modification - Consideration

Michigan Law Review

A and B in 1912 entered into a written contract of separation in which B, the wife of A, gave up her marital rights and A promised to pay to her $75 per month thereafter. Six years later B orally agreed to reduce the payments to $25 per month. B accepted the reduced payments for a period of twelve years. B then brought suit for $10,000, asserting that there was no consideration for the modified agreement. Held, that the modified agreement was executed and would not be disturbed for want of consideration. Vigelius v. Vigelius, (Wash. …


Consideration In The Anglo-American Law Of Contracts, Hugh Evander Willis Nov 1932

Consideration In The Anglo-American Law Of Contracts, Hugh Evander Willis

Indiana Law Journal

This article is revised and reprinted from the Pennsylvania Law Review with the permission of the editors of that periodical.


The American Law Institute's Restatement Of The Law Of Contracts With Annotations To The Washington Decisions, Committee Of Washington State Bar Association On Annotations To The Restatement Of The Law By The American Law Institute Nov 1932

The American Law Institute's Restatement Of The Law Of Contracts With Annotations To The Washington Decisions, Committee Of Washington State Bar Association On Annotations To The Restatement Of The Law By The American Law Institute

Washington Law Review

Covers Chapter, 3, Formation of Informal Contracts, from Section 27, Auctions, Sales Without Reserve to Section 74, Time When and Place Where a Contract Is Made.


Contracts-Assignment-Liability Of Assignee For Non-Performance Of Delegated Duties Nov 1932

Contracts-Assignment-Liability Of Assignee For Non-Performance Of Delegated Duties

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff bank extended credit to cover checks drawn by X, a cattle buyer, who agreed that the proceeds of the sale of the cattle would be deposited to the bank's credit in A bank. X gave an order to the defendant, his commission broker, to retain the proceeds of the sale of the cattle and deposit them in A bank to the credit of the plaintiff. Defendant deposited the proceeds in its own name in B bank and sent its check to A bank. B bank became insolvent and the check was never paid. Held, in Wallowa Nat. …


Non-Assignment Provisions In Land Contracts, Edwin C. Goddard Nov 1932

Non-Assignment Provisions In Land Contracts, Edwin C. Goddard

Michigan Law Review

Many a sale of real estate is made to a purchaser who lacks the ready cash to pay the price. A deed of conveyance may be given with a mortgage back for the unpaid portion of the purchase price. But more and more in recent years the vendor has given a contract to convey conditioned upon the making of periodical payments of stipulated amounts, a deed to be given when the whole or a stated portion of the purchase price has been paid. The initial payment may be very small, and not infrequently the periodic payments are little more than …


Mortgages-Given Without Consideration But Intended As Gift Nov 1932

Mortgages-Given Without Consideration But Intended As Gift

Michigan Law Review

Statements that no mortgage is good unless there is consideration therefor are common; but that such statements are entirely true is very doubtful. Jones, in his book, Mortgages, makes such a statement, and then in the same section tells us that a mortgage intended as a gift will be enforced against all but prior creditors of the mortgagor. Wiltsie, in his book, Mortgage Foreclosures, states that want of consideration is a good defense, with some exceptions which are not clearly indicated. And Tiffany, in his work on Real Property, suggests that although a mortgage without consideration might be valid as …


Vendor And Purchaser-Right Of Purchaser To Exoneration As To A Prior Vendor's Lien Nov 1932

Vendor And Purchaser-Right Of Purchaser To Exoneration As To A Prior Vendor's Lien

Michigan Law Review

The case of McClure v. Southfield Woods Corporation, decided by the Michigan supreme court last year, raised an interesting question as to whether a contract vendee of land which is included in a tract subject to a pre-existing vendor's lien has a right of exoneration against his vendor as to such incumbrance. The plaintiff in that case had sold land to the Southfield Woods Corporation by a contract which provided for joinder of the vendor and vendee in a subdivision plat and for release of any lots from the vendor's lien upon payment of a stipulated sum, in addition …


Restrictive Indorsements Nov 1932

Restrictive Indorsements

Michigan Law Review

Under Sec. 36 of the N. I. L. an indorsement is restrictive which prohibits further negotiation or constitutes the indorsee the agent of the indorser or vests the title in a trustee in trust for some other person. The mere absence of words importing a power to negotiate does not, however, make the indorsement restrictive. Among the rights of a restrictive indorsee as declared by Sec. 37 is the one to bring "any action thereon that the indorser could bring." The remaining provision of the statute dealing with such indorsements is Sec. 47, which provides that "An instrument negotiable in …


Contracts-Beneficiaries-Right Of Employee To Sue On A Contract Made Between Employer And Union Nov 1932

Contracts-Beneficiaries-Right Of Employee To Sue On A Contract Made Between Employer And Union

Michigan Law Review

Defendant agreed with an employees' union that its employees would not be discharged without cause or without a hearing. The plaintiff, who entered into an employment contract with the defendant for an indefinite term, was discharged by the latter without a hearing, and sued as a third party beneficiary for breach of the defendant's agreement with the union. Held, in Johnson v. Am. Ry Express Co., that this agreement was a valid third party beneficiary contract, and so enforcible by the plaintiff who was one of the parties intended to be benefited by it.


Statute Of Frauds-Oral Modification Of Written Agreement Nov 1932

Statute Of Frauds-Oral Modification Of Written Agreement

Michigan Law Review

The vendor sued on a written contract of sale. The defense was that subsequent to the formation of the contract the parties had orally agreed to extend the time for payment and delivery one year. The vendor argued that the contract, being within the statute of frauds, could not be modified by a parol agreement. Held, in Bemis Bros. Bag Co. v. Nesbitt that performance of a written contract may be extended by subsequent oral agreement.


Pleading-How To Raise The Issue Of Payment Nov 1932

Pleading-How To Raise The Issue Of Payment

Michigan Law Review

On rehearing in an action on contract for money two questions were presented to the court, to wit: first, is an allegation of non-payment essential in order that this complaint might state a cause of action; and second, can the issue of payment be raised by the defendant's general denial? Held, in Hughes v. Wachter an allegation of non-payment is necessary in the complaint, and the defendant may prove payment under a general denial.


The American Law Institute's Restatement Of The Law Of Contracts With Annotations To The Washington Decisions, Committee Of Washington State Bar Association On Annotations To The Restatement Of The Law By The American Law Institute Jun 1932

The American Law Institute's Restatement Of The Law Of Contracts With Annotations To The Washington Decisions, Committee Of Washington State Bar Association On Annotations To The Restatement Of The Law By The American Law Institute

Washington Law Review

Covers Chapter 1, Meaning of Terms; Chapter 2, Formation of Contracts—General Principles; and Chapter 3, Formation of Informal Contracts


Contracts - Assignment - Right Of Partial Assignee Jun 1932

Contracts - Assignment - Right Of Partial Assignee

Michigan Law Review

One White assigned to the plaintiff, for a valuable consideration, part of the amount due him (White) from the defendant as wages for the last half of October. Before the time of payment on November 15th, the plaintiff had given written notice of the partial assignment to the debtor, defendant, who refused to recognize it, and who on the 15th of November paid the total sum due to White. Plaintiff sues in equity for. the $25.00 assigned to him, alleging the above facts. Held, that the defendant was in equity bound by the notice of the partial assignment and must …


Quasi-Contracts -Assumpsit For Use And Occupation Against A Trespasser In Modern Cases May 1932

Quasi-Contracts -Assumpsit For Use And Occupation Against A Trespasser In Modern Cases

Michigan Law Review

Perhaps the doctrine of stare decisis is sometimes deserving of severe criticism in its application to matters of substantive law; but the unfortunate results of uncritical adherence to precedent appear most clearly in regard to rules of procedure, where the demand for certainty cannot be justified by a supposed reliance of laymen on "settled" rules. The evils are aggravated where inconvenient decisions are not undermined or their effects evaded by the lawyer's typical process of "distinguishing'' cases. A forcible illustration is the firm refusal of most courts to extend quasicontractual relief to cases of use and occupation of land by …


Contracts - Consideration - Agreement To Modify A Lease May 1932

Contracts - Consideration - Agreement To Modify A Lease

Michigan Law Review

Defendant leased from the plaintiff's assignor certain premises for a term of five years. After the lease was partially performed, the parties orally agreed to reduce the rent. The lessee, shortly before the expiration of the term, defaulted under the oral agreement. Plaintiff sued the defendant for the difference between the rent reserved and that which was paid under the oral agreement. Held, that an executed oral agreement, or so much of it as has been performed, will serve as a modification of a lease without regard to the presence or absence of consideration, but that which is executory …


Contracts - Partial Illegality - Contract In Restraint Of Trade May 1932

Contracts - Partial Illegality - Contract In Restraint Of Trade

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff contracted to transfer his law business, property used in connection therewith, and good will to the defendant and to refrain from practicing law within the state until the time set for payment of the balance of the contract price. The balance not having been paid at maturity, the plaintiff brought an action on the contract, alleging full performance on his part. The defendant demurred on the ground that the contract constituted an illegal restraint of trade under Oklahoma statutes which declare that agreements in restraint of trade upon selling the good will of a business are void to …


Restatement Of The Law Of Contracts Of The American Law Institute, Hugh E. Willis Apr 1932

Restatement Of The Law Of Contracts Of The American Law Institute, Hugh E. Willis

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Contracts--Non-Enforceability Of Lottery Contracts--Effect Of Consideration Apart From Chance Of Winning, George W. Mcquain Apr 1932

Contracts--Non-Enforceability Of Lottery Contracts--Effect Of Consideration Apart From Chance Of Winning, George W. Mcquain

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.


Private Carriers - Contracts Limiting Liability For Negligence Apr 1932

Private Carriers - Contracts Limiting Liability For Negligence

Michigan Law Review

Defendant contracted to haul cars belonging to a circus under a stipulation that it was not to be liable for injury or damage resulting from the negligence of its employees. Plaintiff, who had made an employment contract with the circus, releasing them and the defendant from liability for injury to him, was injured in a collision caused by the negligence of the defendant's servant. Held, the defendant could not contract against liability for injury caused by its wilful and wanton negligence and was therefore liable. Sabol v. Chicago & N. W. Ry. (Mich. 1931) 238 N. W. 281.


A Valuable Handbook, John B. Waite Apr 1932

A Valuable Handbook, John B. Waite

Michigan Law Review

A review of VOLD ON SALES. (Hornback Series) By Lawrence Vold.


Judgments-Res Judicata-Effect Of Former Judgment On Express Contract In Action On Quasi-Contractual Obligation Mar 1932

Judgments-Res Judicata-Effect Of Former Judgment On Express Contract In Action On Quasi-Contractual Obligation

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Injunction - Mutuality- Personal Service Contract Mar 1932

Injunction - Mutuality- Personal Service Contract

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff and defendant entered into a contract whereby plaintiff was to teach defendant boxing and to use his best efforts to negotiate and manage boxing bouts for defendant over a period of five years, the proceeds of the contests to be divided between plaintiff, defendant, and a brother of defendant on a percentage basis. Defendant agreed not to engage, during the life of the contract, in any "boxes, exhibition fights, or theatrical performances except such as have been procured by" the plaintiff. On appeal by defendant from a temporary injunction restraining his breach of the negative covenant, held, assuming …