Law Commons^™

The Banking Act Of 1935, Harold James Kress

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this article is to consider in a non-technical manner the principal changes in federal central and commercial banking law which have been brought about by the enactment of the Banking Act of 1935, and in that connection to take some account of the preexisting law and the announced or ostensible reasons for the changes made.

Corporations - Stock Market Manipulation - Rescission For Fraud

Michigan Law Review

To obtain a more favorable market ratio for the contemplated exchange, defendants maintained an artificial market in Harriman Bank stock, then offered to exchange that stock for Liberty Bank stock. In a suit brought by former Liberty Bank stockholders to obtain a rescission of the executed exchange upon the ground of fraud, held, that a good cause of action was stated. Wilcox v. Harriman Securities Corporation et al., (D. C. N. Y. 1933) Io F. Supp. 532.

Constitutional Law-Conservation Of Waters-Validity Of Statute Limiting Riparian Rights

Michigan Law Review

By the common law a riparian owner on a non-navigable stream has a vested right in the continuous natural flow of the stream on or bordering his land. An Oregon statute undertakes to cut down this right; it provides that a riparian owner's vested right to the continuous flow of the stream is limited to such flow as is necessary to preserve to him the beneficial uses to which he is already putting the water. Inasmuch as the right to the full continuous flow as against non-riparian appropriators is really a right to insist upon the availability of the stream …

A Proposed Plan Of Classification For The Law, Charles C. Ulrich

Michigan Law Review

One of the greatest needs of the law today is a satisfactory plan of classification. Whenever codes have been drafted, or digests and encyclopedias of the law compiled, from the time of the Romans to the present, the first problem that presented itself was always that of classification. The question of classification was considered when the work of the American Law Institute was begun and the restatement of the law attempted, though it does not seem to have been given the attention it merited. And despite various schemes of legal classification that have been proposed in the course of time, …

Assignments - Effect Of Assignment Of Contract By Receiver Of Liquidating Insolvent Corporation

Michigan Law Review

The Chicago Tribune contracted to furnish the Washington Post with four comics and two features at a stipulated price per week. The Post went into the hands of a receiver who continued the contract and eventually assigned it to the Washington Post Publishing Company, plaintiff, along with "all assets of said company [the Post] of every kind, character, and description, except cash." The Post then went out of existence. The plaintiff, assignee, sued to enforce the contract, tendering payment in cash. Held, that the contract was assignable, that there had been a valid assignment, and that the contract remained …

Corporations-Allowance For Depreciation Of Real Estate In Determining Surplus

Michigan Law Review

In a proceeding to review the election of directors it became necessary to determine whether or not a certain declaration of dividends was lawful. The Delaware statute provides that dividends may be declared either "out of its [the corporation's] net assets in excess of its capital" or "in case there shall be no such excess, out of its net profits for the fiscal year then current and/or preceding fiscal year." It was admitted that there had been no profits during the current or preceding fiscal year, and it was found that in calculating the surplus no allowance had been made …

Admiralty-Jurisdiction Over Torts-Personal Injuries Caused By A Fall From Vessel To Dock

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a longshoreman, was employed by the defendant terminal company in unloading a vessel in a Great Lakes port. While working on the deck of the vessel he was struck by a swinging hoist, precipitated upon the wharf and injured. He sought compensation under the state workmen's compensation act, but the state supreme court vacated the commission's award on the ground that the federal law controlled. Held, by the United States Supreme Court, that the cause of action arose on the vessel where the blow was struck and was governed by the maritime law. Minnie v. Port Huron Terminal …

International Law - Treaty Interpretation - Immunity Of Consul From Civil Suit

Michigan Law Review

Tarcuanu, the vice-consul in charge of the Roumanian consulate in New York City, was served with a summons ma civil suit. This case involves his motion to have the summons vacated because of article 2 of the treaty of 1881 between the United States and Roumania, the pertinent part of which says: "The consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents of each of the two high contracting parties shall enjoy reciprocally in the States of the other, all the privileges, exemptions and immunities that are enjoyed by officers of the same rank and quality of the most favored nation." In this …

Res Ipsa Loquitur - Automobiles -Application Of Doctrine When Person Charged With Tort Is Deceased

Michigan Law Review

Defendant's intestate was killed in an accident when the car which he had been driving left the road. Plaintiff, a guest in the car, sued for damages for injuries sustained, alleging negligence. Plaintiff proved the happening of the accident, and his injuries, and then rested, relying upon the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. Defendant argued that, in view of the death of his intestate, the doctrine should not be applied. Held, the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur applied, permitting an inference of negligence, though knowledge of facts which would prove the cause of accident is no more accessible …

Torts -Automobiles - Liability Of Owner For Injuries Resulting From Negligence Of Driver

Michigan Law Review

To demonstrate the endurance of the cars which it was selling, a promoter induced defendant sales company to furnish a car to be driven for 100 consecutive hours without stopping, by a driver handcuffed to the steering wheel. The promoter hired the driver, instructing him to seek shelter (permitting the motor to continue running) should it start to rain, to protect the advertisements on the car. After driving for 20 hours, it commenced to rain and the driver found refuge in an open barn by the side of the road. After the rain had subsided, finding himself unable to get …

Corporations - Reorganization - Expedition Required Under Section 77b In Agreeing Upon And Presenting Acceptable Plan

Michigan Law Review

B corporation filed its petition for reorganization under Section 77B of the Bankruptcy Act. This was contested by answer of bondholders' committee and certain minor creditors as provided for in Section 77B (a) on the ground that reorganization was not in the best interests of the preserving of assets. Held, there is no reason to believe that with a fair and equitable plan of reorganization there would be no substantial equities; therefore, the petition is received and B is allowed to proceed under Section 77B and to present within a reasonable time some plan of reorganization as provided by …

May The Bar Set Its Own House In Order?, Lowell Turrentine

Michigan Law Review

California is a particularly appropriate jurisdiction to be used as the basis for a study such as the present. Its State Bar Act of 1927 was one of the early, detailed, legislative attempts to confer self-governing powers upon the bar, its decisions have become leading cases on the questions of constitutionality and construction thus presented, and its reported disciplinary cases far outnumber those of any other state-baract jurisdiction. Consideration of the relative merits of different methods of bar integration is outside the scope of this paper. But no inference should be drawn from anything herein that a statutory bar of …

Constitutional Law - Regulation Of Employment Agencies - Denial Of License Where Field Is Overcrowded

Michigan Law Review

A Minnesota statute required the Industrial Commission to refuse to license an employment agency whenever the Commission should find "that the number of licensed employment agents . . . in the community in which the applicant for a permit proposes to operate is sufficient to supply the needs of employers and employees." Plaintiff's application was denied because the Commission found that sufficient agencies existed in the city of Duluth. In an appeal from a mandamus proceeding the Supreme Court of Minnesota held, Deveny, C. J., dissenting, that the statute denied plaintiff due process of law. The court reached this …

Unfair Competition - Forgery Of Rare Stamps

Michigan Law Review

The defendant took stamps from a common, imperforate issue and perforated them to resemble exactly a perforate issue which because of its rarity had become very valuable, These were circulated among unscrupulous dealers who passed them off on the public as the genuine rare stamps at a much lower price than the genuine. This caused the value of the genuine stamps to fall and honest dealers to lose trade, The defendant did not try to deceive the dealers; he merely pointed the way for the deception of the public. The American Philatelic Society, an organization of some four thousand stamp …

Waters And Watercourses - Diversion - Prescriptive Rights Of Servient Riparian Owner

Michigan Law Review

When new waters, formed by seepage and waste from an upper irrigation ditch, began to flow as a stream, they were intercepted by a canal of the defendant irrigation company. At the point of interception a needle gate and spillway were constructed. This gate was kept closed, however, and the waters were diverted along the canal for more than the prescriptive period. The plaintiff sought an injunction restraining the defendant from opening the gate, allowing the intercepted waters to pass through into the plaintiff's drainage district. The theories of the plaintiff were: (a) the defendant's irrigation canal had become the …

Contracto-Impossibility As An Excuse For Failure To Perform Conditions In Insurance Policies Requiring Notice Of Loss

Michigan Law Review

Policies of insurance invariably contain provisions to the effect that, upon occurrence of the event insured against, notice thereof shall be given to the insurer. As in the normal contract, such condition qualifies the undertaking of the promisor unless its performance is legally excused. In actions for breach of promise, impossibility of performance has been held to constitute a good defense to the suit for damages in certain instances, though the early rule was that payment of damages was never impossible and hence impossibility of performance was no defense in an action for breach. It is to be noted that …

Utilization Of State Commissioners In The Administration Of The Federal Motor Carrier Act, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

The problem of securing effective governmental regulation of economic interests that overlap state boundary lines, while at the same time curbing the growth of a centralized bureaucracy and preventing the disintegration of local government, becomes daily more disturbing. For this reason the passage of the Motor Carrier Act in the closing days of the 74th Congress and its approval by the President on August 9, 1935, was an event of singular importance for students of American governmental administration. Important as the legislation is in its substantive aspects, it is equally noteworthy because of its administrative provisions. The striking feature of …

Declaratory Judgments- Extension Of Protection Against Injuries To Personality

Michigan Law Review

The widespread acceptance of the declaratory judgment as a statutory supplement to common law and equitable remedies has raised some searching questions as to the relation between right and remedy in Anglo-American law. The declaratory judgment can operate in anticipation of specific wrongs that would be a basis for ordinary legal or equitable relief. It does not depend for its efficacy on the use of the familiar remedies of law and equity - that is, on damages, specific restitution in replevin and ejectment, and the injunction and specific enforcement in equity. The question may therefore be asked whether the development …

Executive Proclamations And Orders-Federal Register, Everett S. Brown

Michigan Law Review

On July 26, 1935, President Roosevelt signed H. R. 6323, "to provide for the custody of Federal proclamations, orders, regulations, notices, and other documents, and for the prompt and uniform printing and distribution thereof." To date, there has been no government serial publication containing all of the Executive orders signed by the President. The need for such a publication had been frequently pointed out, but to no avail. Legal complication resulting from the rapidly rising flood of executive and administrative orders issued to carry into effect the President's New Deal program led to the framing of H. R. 6323. The …

Bankruptcy- Preferred Stockholders As Creditors For Accrued Dividends Under Section 77b Of The Bankruptcy Act

Michigan Law Review

Preferred stockholders were "beguiled" into purchasing their stock, and paid, as part of the subscription price, for accrued dividends at the rate of 6 per cent per annum from June 1, 1933, to the date of their respective subscriptions, upon the "virtual promise of refund" on December 1, 1933, the next dividend date. No dividend was declared or paid. Such stockholders seek to file a petition for the reorganization of the corporation under Section 77B of the Bankruptcy Act as "creditors" within the meaning of the word as employed in that section. Held, they are "creditors" within the meaning …

Bills And Notes - Bills Of Exchange - Assignment

Michigan Law Review

Under an agreement with the intervener that the intervener would "finance" his purchases of stock, the defendant shipped stock to the garnishee, drawing on the garnishee in advance for the purchase price, the intervener being named as payee. With knowledge of the drawing of the draft, the garnishee received and sold the stock, but was thereafter served with summons in this garnishment suit before acceptance or payment of the bill. Held, that the intervener is entitled as equitable assignee to the amount of the draft as against the plaintiff. Baird v. Simonstad, (Minn. 1934) 258 N. W. 570.

Constitutional Law - State Police Power - Regulation Of Advertising By Dentist

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a practicing dentist, brought an action to enjoin the enforcement of a section of Oregon legislation regulating the practice of dentistry, which defined certain types of advertising and solicitation as unprofessional conduct and, as such, ground for the revocation of a license to practice. The section was upheld by the state supreme court and plaintiff appealed to the United States Supreme Court, alleging that the statute was unconstitutional in that it impaired the obligations of existing contracts and violated the "due process" and "equal protection" clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Held, that the statute was a valid exercise …

Corporations -Accountability Of Majority Shareholders For Secret Profits

Michigan Law Review

A corporation wished to obtain a lease owned by B corporation. Unable to purchase the lease, A corporation contracted with C and D, holders of a majority of the stock of B corporation, and officers and directors therein, whereby C and D were to exchange their stock in B corporation for an equivalent of $15.95 a share. C and D further agreed to recommend to the minority an offer of an equivalent of $14.12 a share. On the recommendation of C and D, but without knowledge that they were receiving less for their stock, the other shareholders accepted …

Banks And Banking - Application Of Bank Collection Code To National Banks

Michigan Law Review

Defendant national bank received from an out-of-town correspondent bank for collection a check drawn on another local bank. Through the local clearing house this check was presented and paid, whereupon defendant bank sent to its correspondent its draft in payment. Before presentment of the draft, however, defendant bank failed and the draft was dishonored. In an action by the payee of the check, from whom the correspondent bank had taken it, to impress a trust on the assets of defendant bank, it was held, reversing the lower courts, that the state statute (the Bank Collection Code) which was applied …

Deeds - Effectiveness Of Deeds Delivered With Blank For Name Of Grantee

Michigan Law Review

In an action upon an oral contract to recover the purchase price of an equity in realty, it appeared that the plaintiff executed a deed with a blank left for the name of the grantee and delivered it to the defendant, whereupon the latter refused to make the promised payment, and suit was brought. The Statute of Frauds being interposed as a defense, on the theory that the contract, being oral, was unenforceable in the absence of a showing of part performance, it was held, that the delivery of the incomplete deed, giving the defendant implied authority to fill …

Practice And Procedure - Reversal On Confession Of Error By Prosecutor

Michigan Law Review

On appeal accused assigned as error the failure of the trial court to sustain his motion for a directed verdict of not guilty. The prosecutor, convinced by facts dehors the record of the innocence of the accused, confessed error. Held, confession of error does not per se justify reversal; the court must find error in the record. Parlton v. United States, (App. D. C. 1935) 75 F. (2d) 772.

Wills - Gift's - Construction Of Instrument

Michigan Law Review

Decedent had lived with plaintiff and her parents. In 1932, after telling plaintiff's parents that he had some money in the bank, decedent said, "I got a will here . . . I understand I have got to have two signatures." Both parents, at his request, signed the instrument below.

"Dear Carlotta

"I give to you my money in Live Stock Bank.

"Hans Larsen

"April 16, 1932

"Witness: Michael C. Kelley

"Mamie V. Kelley."

Decedent put the instrument in his bank book and took it into the other room where plaintiff was sitting. He said, "Carlotta, I will give you …

Contracts - Effect Of Agreement That Instrument Shall Be Without Legal Effect

Michigan Law Review

Defendant gave one of its employees a certificate stating that in case of the death of the employee while still in defendant's employ, defendant would pay to the beneficiary designated by the employee a stated sum of money. The certificate contained this further provision: "The issue and delivery of this certificate is understood to be purely voluntary and gratuitous on the part of this Company and is accepted with the express understanding that it carries no legal obligation whatsoever or assurance or promise of future employment, and may be withdrawn or discontinued at any time by this company." In a …

Wills - Precatory Gifts

Michigan Law Review

In the second item of the will testator gave to his wife all of his property "as her absolute property." In the third item the testator provided: "it is hereby directed that my sister [plaintiff in this case] . . . be given one hundred fifty and no/loo dollars monthly during her natural life and one hundred dollars monthly to my brother-in-law Charles E. McCarle . . . in the event that he survives his wife above mentioned." The fourth item provided that in case the testator's wife predeceased him, one hundred dollars monthly should be paid to each of …

Banks And Banking - Collections -"Cash Or Solvent Credits"

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff drew an out of town draft and deposited it with the A bank for collection. The A bank sent the draft to its correspondent, B bank, to collect and make return when actually paid. The B bank collected the amount of the draft and, according to a custom between the two institutions, credited the account of the A bank and sent them a notice of collection. On the very day this notice was received the B bank closed its doors. A statute provided that items deposited for collection should be credited subject to final payment in cash or …