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Full-Text Articles in Law
New York Specious Cash Sales Act, Craig D. Holleman
New York Specious Cash Sales Act, Craig D. Holleman
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The New York Legislature recently moved to protect consumers in that state from unscrupulous retailers of consumer goods and financers of consumer loans by enacting the Specious Cash Sales Act. The new law is the third in a series of measures designed to remedy certain perceived inequities to which the holder in due course doctrine gives rise in the consumer goods field. Earlier this year, the Legislature undercut complicated mechanisms whereby a finance company could procure from a retailer contracts and obligations containing a waiver-of-defenses provision executed by the buyer-consumer. This law in turn complemented a still earlier statute which …
Symposium: Recondification Of The Criminal Laws, Francis A. Allen
Symposium: Recondification Of The Criminal Laws, Francis A. Allen
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The revision of American criminal legislation, both state and federal, has been for many years one of the most insistently required tasks of law reform. Even yet its urgency and importance are not fully realized. There are, however, signs that a genuine movement toward rethinking and restating our criminal jurisprudence is under way. This Symposium seeks to give encouragement and guidance to the revision movement by collecting relevant experience and reflections from a few of those who participated in pioneering ventures in criminal law codification.
The Illinois Criminal Code Of 1961 And Code Of Criminal Procedure Of 1963, Charles H. Bowman
The Illinois Criminal Code Of 1961 And Code Of Criminal Procedure Of 1963, Charles H. Bowman
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Illinois had no "Criminal Code" in the sense of a codified, systematic body of law functioning as an instrument of social control in a modern community. Many provisions had remained unchanged since Judge Lockwood, in submitting a revised draft of the Laws of Illinois to the Illinois General Assembly of 1827, described the small chapter on criminal jurisprudence as deriving primarily from a volume of the Laws of New York of 1802 which he brought with him to Illinois, and a volume of the Laws of Georgia which he located in the office of the Secretary of State. In fact, …
Reflection On The Law Reforming Process, Sanford J. Fox
Reflection On The Law Reforming Process, Sanford J. Fox
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This paper is based on three experiences as draftsman or reporter in penal law legislation projects. The first such experience was as sole draftsman for a New Hampshire criminal code, an undertaking commenced in November 1967, which produced a proposed code in April 1969. I am continuing this activity at the present time as assistant to a committee of the New Hampshire legislature that is currently holding hearings on the proposal in preparation for reporting out a criminal code bill this spring. Since work on the New Hampshire code represents the most extensive experience, it is the basis for most …
Criminal Law Revision In California, Arthur H. Sherry
Criminal Law Revision In California, Arthur H. Sherry
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The high water mark of criminal law reform in California was reached in 1872 when the legislature, after at least a decade of indifference to requests for action, adopted the Penal Code, the Civil Code and the Code of Civil Procedure.' This emergence into the company of contemporary pioneers of codification, Louisiana and New York, was a source of complacent pride, but it proved to be completely ineffective as a stimulus for continuing revision or even further codification. Renewed interest in improving and modernizing the law was not apparent until well into the twentieth century. When this interest did appear, …
Criminal Law Revision In Delaware And Hawaii, Frank B. Baldwin Iii
Criminal Law Revision In Delaware And Hawaii, Frank B. Baldwin Iii
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Criminal law revision has not been limited to the largest states, which have greater resources and legal facilities, but has also occurred in Delaware and Hawaii, states which have relatively small numbers of legal practitioners, no local school of law, and relatively small populations. In both states, criminal law revision efforts were quite similar, in that an early decision was made to rely heavily on published revised codes of other jurisdictions and on the Model Penal Code, rather than undertaking an extensive initial study and preparing a unique code. The following article will compare the criminal law revision projects in …
Organized Crime Control Act Of 1970: Introduction, J. Brian Williams
Organized Crime Control Act Of 1970: Introduction, J. Brian Williams
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The purpose of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 is to facilitate the eventual eradication of organized crime in the United States, by strengthening the evidence-gathering process, by adopting new penal prohibitions, and by creating increased sanctions and numerous remedies to deal with unlawful activities. The primary thrust of the Act is aimed at three areas: the investigation of organized crime; the punishment of organized crime; and the examination of existing laws to determine their effectiveness in dealing with organized crime.
Title Iii - Recalcitrant Witnesses, Jeffrey J. Greenbaum
Title Iii - Recalcitrant Witnesses, Jeffrey J. Greenbaum
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This title represents a congressional attempt to codify the court-developed civil contempt practice. When a witness is granted immunity and still refuses to answer the question presented to him he can be ordered by a court to answer the specific question. Upon his continued refusal, a court can have him confined summarily until he complies with such order, or until he is no longer able to comply. Such confinement is not intended to be punitive in nature, but rather to coerce compliance with the court's order by imposing imprisonment as an alternative to answering the question. The witness will be …
Title Iv - False Declarations, Jeffrey J. Greenbaum
Title Iv - False Declarations, Jeffrey J. Greenbaum
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Title IV was designed to facilitate the bringing of federal perjury prosecutions, thereby strengthening the deterrent value of the perjury penalties and acting as a greater incentive for truthful testimony. It establishes a new false declarations statute applicable to court and grand jury proceedings, with maximum penalty slightly increased over that allowable under the previously controlling perjury statute.
Title Vi - Depositions, Peter A. Kelly
Title Vi - Depositions, Peter A. Kelly
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Title VI expands Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to permit the Government to depose its witnesses in certain limited classes of cases. Previously only the defendant had been accorded this right. Upon the motion of either party at any time after a criminal indictment or information has been filed, the court may order that the testimony of the party's witnesses be taken by deposition if "due to exceptional circumstances it is in the interest of justice" that such testimony be taken and preserved. Such exceptional circumstances were intended by Congress to include the existence of a …
Title Vii - Litigation Concerning Sources Of Evidence, Peter A. Kelly
Title Vii - Litigation Concerning Sources Of Evidence, Peter A. Kelly
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
There are two operative provisions of title VII, both of which mitigate previous judicially imposed restrictions on governmental collection and presentation of evidence in "any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any court, grand jury, department, officer, agency, regulatory body, or other authority of the United States.” The first purports to set aside the Supreme Court's holding in the 1968 case of Alderman v. United States, in which the Court held that, in cases involving unlawful electronic surveillance, the government must make full disclosure to the defendant of all records in its possession which contain any of …
Title Viii - Gambling And Organized Crime, Richard Levy
Title Viii - Gambling And Organized Crime, Richard Levy
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
With these words, President Richard Nixon underscored the dangers presented by organized crime's use of gambling. The proceeds of such syndicated gambling activities are universally acknowledged to be the financial lifeblood of organized crime. With the capital initially obtained from illicit gambling, organized crime operatives are able to bribe government officials, make political contributions, engage in loan sharking operations, infiltrate and contaminate legitimate businesses, and hire the vast number of attorneys, accountants and other professionals necessary to the success of the operation. In an effort to launch a frontal attack on syndicated gambling throughout the United States, Congress enacted title …
Title Ix - Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations, Richard Levy
Title Ix - Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations, Richard Levy
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Organized crime's penetration of legitimate business has long been a major congressional concern. Although the means employed to effect such penetration may vary, the result remains constant; organized crime is provided with additional economic power and a facade of legitimacy behind which it can more easily spread its influence and pursue its goals. At the same time, organized crime's monopolistic tendencies, furthered by its use of various forms of coercion, pose a serious threat to free trade and lawful ownership. Prior law proved inadequate in curtailing these abuses. Federal law was piecemeal and not designed to meet the challenge of …
Title X - Dangerous Special Offender Sentencing, Richard Levy
Title X - Dangerous Special Offender Sentencing, Richard Levy
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Undoubtedly the most controversial new provision in the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 is title X. Title X authorizes a federal prosecuting attorney to notify the defendant and the court before trial that the defendant, if found guilty of the felony on which he is being tried, is in the prosecutor's opinion also subject to the dangerous special offender provisions embodied in the title. Should the defendant be judged guilty of the felony, he then will fall subject to an additional penalty beyond that received for the conviction if the judge finds that he qualifies as one of three …
Title I - Special Grand Jury, Jeffrey J. Greenbaum
Title I - Special Grand Jury, Jeffrey J. Greenbaum
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Title I establishes special grand juries to sit in major population areas and other areas designated by the Attorney General. These grand juries are protected from arbitrary dismissal by the district court before completion of their work. They can sit for extended periods (a maximum of thirty-six months), and are authorized to issue reports concerning (a) noncriminal misconduct of appointed government officials or employees involving organized criminal activity; and (b) organized crime conditions within the district. When reports are issued concerning governmental misconduct, individuals named are given notice, afforded the opportunity to present evidence, file an answer, and obtain judicial …
Title Ii - General Immunity, Jeffrey J. Greenbaum
Title Ii - General Immunity, Jeffrey J. Greenbaum
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This title repeals or conforms the over fifty existing federal immunity statutes and establishes a uniform federal immunity statute to apply to proceedings before or ancillary to a court, grand jury, or agency of the United States, either house of Congress, or its joint committees, committees or subcommittees. The scope of immunity granted protects a witness from the use of his testimony or its fruits in a future criminal prosecution, but does not protect him from prosecution itself. This reflects a positive decision by Congress that the fifth amendment self-incrimination clause only requires a grant of what has been referred …