Law Commons^™

Joint Tenancy-Effect Of Word "Jointly"-Parol Evidence As To Intent

Michigan Law Review

The common law rule was well settled that a conveyance to two or more, not husband and wife, made them joint tenants, not tenants in common, unless language was used to show an intent that they were not to be joint tenants. The reason for such a rule having passed, the modern rule is to the opposite effect-two or more conveyees, with certain exceptions, are presumptively tenants in common. The Illinois statute, for example, declares that "no estate in joint tenancy in any lands ... shall be held or claimed under any grant . . . unless the premises therein …

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 …

Legal Liability For War Damage, John Hanna

Michigan Law Review

This article considers some of the rules for determining liability for economic loss in respect of war claims, especially as applied in connection with claims of life insurance companies for loss of premiums, of insurers of property for war risk insurance premiums, of property insurers for sums paid to foreign policyholders on war losses, and of owners seeking to recover for loss of expected profits. The rules discussed are broadly applicable to international claims in general.

Administration Of Estates-Requirement Of Notice For Probate Of Will Or Grant Of Letters Of Administsration, Elizabeth Durfee

Michigan Law Review

To lawyers and judges in states which require notice for the initiation of probate or administration, it may come as a shock to discover that there are many jurisdictions in which these proceedings can be had without any notice whatever. It is the purpose of this note to investigate the situation in the various states, in order to show that in nearly half of them notice is not considered essential. The sole question to be considered is notice or no notice; this comment is not concerned with the kind of notice required, nor with the possibility of waiver of notice …

Aspects Of Wage Stabilization By The National War Labor Board, David Haber

Michigan Law Review

Most economists assume that behind an unrestricted war economy lurk the dangers of inflation. Although national income increases, so much of the country's productive effort is devoted to the manufacture of war goods that the number of articles available for civilian consumption necessarily diminishes. This gap between the available supply and the existing purchasing power has the effect of raising prices. Rising wages aggravate this situation because they increase production costs which are then passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices, and because, by further increasing the purchasing power of the population, they increase the gap …

Promissory Notes In The Legislations Of The Americas, Juan Octavio Díaz Lewis

Michigan Law Review

It has rightly been said that the promissory note is the Cinderella of negotiable paper. It is indeed strange that this instrument, widely used in most countries, is accorded only a few words in the legal textbooks and a few sections in the respective statutes. The purpose of the present study is not to rescue promissory notes from their present position of obscurity, but rather to present a unified classification of the specific provisions relating thereto, which are in force at the present time in the legislations of the American continent.

Constitutional Law-Freedom Of Speech For Labor Organizers-Registration Requirement Invalid, Francis Powers

Michigan Law Review

Collins v. Thomas decided by the Supreme Court in January is a decision of great practical importance in that it falls at a point where three recently developed constitutional doctrines enmesh or intersect with one another. The case makes it necessary that the Court integrate these doctrines and distinguish the areas in which they are respectively applicable.

Bills And Notes--Irregular Indorsers--Parol Evidence

Michigan Law Review

Defendant signed a note otherwise than as maker. Held, error to exclude evidence that he was a co-maker. Glick v. Lieb, (App. Div. N.Y., 1944) 53 N.Y. Supp. (2d) 80.

Contempt-Right Of Court To Dismiss Attorney From Trial-Hardship On Client, John Dobson

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner asked for a writ of mandamus to have himself reinstated as counsel in a trial. The petitioner had represented two defendants in a criminal action, up until the time the judge presiding in the trial, respondent here, ordered him dismissed from the court as the attorney of record for the defendants. The respondent had called on the various counsel in the case to explain a certain matter, which seemed, "prima facie at least," to show contempt of court. When the petitioner was called on he did not confine himself to the matter in question, but proceeded to attack the …

Abstracts, Mary Jane Plumer

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.

Freedom Of The Press-Administrative Censorship-The "Esquire" Decision, John B. Waite

Michigan Law Review

One of the most important cases before the courts was decided by the Circuit Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia on June 4--a case involving asserted absolute discretion in a government official to determine the right to second-class mail privileges, and thereby, indirectly, to censor the press. The background facts of the case are essential to appreciation of its importance.

Coverage Of The Fair Labor Standards Act, Malcolm M. Davisson

Michigan Law Review

The writer published an article dealing with the coverage of the Fair Labor Standards Act in the June, 1943 issue of the Michigan Law Review. It is the purpose of this paper to consider the most important decisions since the preparation of that article (March, 1943) and to examine the applicability of the act to certain activities not there discussed.

Torts-Liability Of Negligent Driver To One Who Goes To His Rescue, Margaret Groefsema S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Where plaintiff went to the aid of defendant who lay pinned beneath the wheel of his car after a collision caused by his own negligent driving, the Michigan Supreme Court held that plaintiff could recover for injuries sustained when the car rolled back upon her as she was attempting to remove defendant. Brugh v. Bigelow, (Mich. 1944) 16 N.W. (2d) 668.

What Of The World Court Now?, C. Sumner Lobingier

Michigan Law Review

The Permanent Court of International Justice was expressly provided for in the League of Nations Covenant (Article XIV) of 1919 and the "Statute" creating it was drafted by an advisory committee of the League, meeting at the Hague, and opened for signature in the following year. By 1921 the ratifications of twenty-eight states put it into effect and the Court was formally opened, with a full quorum of judges, on February 15 (Bentham's birthday) 1922. For nearly twenty years it continued to function and its sessions were suspended only by the presence of the Nazi invaders of the Netherlands.

Construction Of Private Instruments Where Adopted Children Are Concerned: Ii, J. Wesley Oler

Michigan Law Review

Thus far in the discussion the attempt has been to consider a number of common terms of general designation, such as "children," "issue," and "heirs," detached from other language with which they may be found and disassociated from the circumstances under which they may be used, with a view to estimating their intrinsic significance in resolving questions as to the effect of adoption upon the identification of persons designated by them. The examination from this point: of view could lead to the deduction that in themselves the particular terms of designation furnished varying degrees of assistance to the interpreter of …

Limitations Of Action-Statute Of Limitations As Guide For Determination Of Laches Where Concurrent Remedies Are Available In Law And Equity, Craig E. Davids S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In 1926 Bovay, one of the complaining trustees in bankruptcy herein, organized an Arkansas corporation to construct and operate a vehicular traffic bridge across the Mississippi River. Defendants agreed to finance the project but were dissatisfied with the voting control of the Arkansas corporation lodged in Bovay and organized a Delaware corporation, the bankrupt herein, to take an assignment of the bridge franchise. The bankrupt issued 60,000 shares of no par value common stock, 40,000 shares going to defendants though no consideration was paid, and 20,000 shares to Bovay. Defendants also named five of the nine members of the board …

Abstracts, Katharine Loomis

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.

Future Interests-Worthier Title Doctrine Applied To Remainder To Next Of Kin Where The Subject Matter Is Personalty, Margaret Groefsema S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The trustee bank petitioned for instructions as to the proper disposition of the remainder of a trust of personal property, the principal of which amounted to some $29,000 upon the life beneficiary's death in 1942. The donor had provided for a life estate in the income, the principal to go to the settler's statutory next of kin under the laws of intestacy of the state of Massachusetts in default of the exercise by the settler of a reserved power of appointment. The court, having held that a will which Nicolls, the settler, had executed in favor of various friends of …

Clovis Bevilaqua And The Brazilian Civil Code, Anyda Marchant

Michigan Law Review

Clovis Bevilaqua is a monument in the history of Brazilian law. His death on July 26, 1944, closed the door on an epoch. When he began his career in the eighties, Brazilian law, with the exception of the commercial code, was uncoordinated and outmoded. Now. Brazil is in a period of very active work on the recodification of its laws and their adaptation to the needs of modern life. Not all of this change is the work of one man, but Bevilaqua was the principal lingering representative, among the lawyers, of the intellectual movement that accompanied the setting up of …

Acceptance By Intervention In Bills Of Exchange, Salvador Ltriago

Michigan Law Review

Intervention is an act whereby a person becomes a party to a negotiable instrument, whether by accepting the bill or by paying the sum indicated thereon, in order to relieve one of the obligors on the bill from the action of recourse that the holder could assert against him in consequence of default of acceptance or payment by the drawee.

The complexity of the material to be discussed renders it necessary, in order to clarify the development of the exposition, for us to advance several concepts, which will later be considered more fully at the proper places.

Evidence-Effect Of Presumption Against Suicide, Edwin Boos

Michigan Law Review

Asserting that the deceased met his death by accidental drowning, appellant sued as beneficiary to recover under a double indemnity clause of an insurance policy issued to the deceased by the defendant. The defense was that the deceased committed suicide and that a clause in the policy prevents recovery of double liability under such circumstances. The jury found for the defendant and, on appeal, the beneficiary contended that the trial judge committed prejudicial error against her by refusing to instruct the jury that there was a strong presumption against suicide and in favor of accidental death. Held, the code …

Abstracts, Mary Jane Plumer

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.

Maximum Prices With Respect To Agricultural Commodities, Robert H. Shields

Michigan Law Review

As we all know, prices of agricultural commodities during this war have been directly and substantially affected by Government controls and will probably continue to be so affected in the immediate future. These controls take two forms: First, there are those relating to price floors, that is, minimum support prices with respect to agricultural commodities; and, second, there are those relating to price ceilings, that is, maximum prices with respect to agricultural commodities.

Trade-Marks: Monopoly Or Competition?, Leslie Davidson Taggart

Michigan Law Review

Three articles have appeared in the Georgetown Law Journal in which the thesis is asserted that trade-marks are monopolies in restraint of trade under the Anti-Trust Acts. Their publication seems to have been caused in part by the proposed revision of the United States Trade-Mark Statutes, which was started by a bill originally introduced into the House on January 19, 1938. The thesis of this present article is that a trade-mark in fact distinguishes one man's product from the products of his competitors, with the result that the consumer can make a choice among them.

The Administration Of A Decedent's Estate As A Proceeding In Rem, Lewis M. Simes

Michigan Law Review

For over a century American courts and text writers have referred to the administration of a decedent's estate as a proceeding in rem. Indeed, it has recently been asserted that a probate proceeding is "universally recognized as a proceeding in rem." But more cautious persons have been content to suggest that it is at least "quasi in rem," or have carefully skirted the fog which is wont to envelop this area of the law and given it silent treatment. Thus, the American Law Institute Restatement of the Law of Judgments ( which purports to include the law of probate decrees) …

Creditors' Rights-Garnishment-Contents Of Safety Deposit Box Rented To Judgment Debtor Reached By Garnishing Lessor, Craig E. Davids S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Execution against the judgment debtors having been returned unsatisfied, plaintiff secured a writ of garnishment from the municipal court against the defendant bank in November 1935. The garnishee's disclosure indicated that it held a small amount of cash with other collateral as security for loans made to the judgment debtors and the unknown contents of a safety deposit box. The box was rented by the judgment debtors in the usual manner and access to it could be gained only by simultaneous use of two keys-a master key retained by the bank and another key issued to the customer. The garnishee …

Criminal Law And Procedure-Whether Reversible Error For Judge To Give Instructions Relating To Credibility Of Defendant Witness, Edwin Boos

Michigan Law Review

Appellant who was convicted of committing a criminal abortion, moved for a new trial alleging as error an instruction given by the judge to the jury. The instruction singled out the defendant from the other witnesses, pointing to his high degree of interest in a verdict of not guilty, as reason for scrutinizing his testimony. The judge also warned the jury that it need not accept blindly the testimony of the accused. Held, reversed, new trial ordered. Swanson v. State, (Ind. 1944) 52 N.E. (2d) 616.

Insurance-Gratuitous Assignment Of Life Policy Where Right To Change Beneficiary Is Reserved, Craig E. Davids S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant issued a life insurance policy to deceased, naming plaintiff, then insured's wife, as beneficiary. The policy reserved to the insured the right at any time to change the beneficiary without the knowledge or consent of the latter, and it further provided that no assignment should affect the rights of insurer until due notice was given to defendant. Sometime later, plaintiff divorced insured, who had indicated by personal conversation and correspondence with his sister the intervener, that he intended that the sister should receive the proceeds of the insurance. In one letter the insured referred to the policy and said, …

Trial Procedure-Note Taking By Jurors-Misconduct Of Court In Instructing Jury To Take Notes Over Objections Of Litigants, Craig E. Davids S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff suffered injuries by stepping into a hole on the sidewalk of defendant city. After a jury had been impaneled and sworn in the trial of the cause, the court, without the request of either litigant and over their objections, suggested to the jurors that they might take notes on the evidence presented, furnishing them with the necessary materials and instructing them as to how they should be kept during the progress of the trial. The trial court awarded judgment for defendant. The court of appeals, however, reversed the decision of the lower court and granted a new trial, holding …

Trusts-Statute Of Frauds-Oral Trust Of Land And Proceeds, Margaret Groefsema S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A conveyance was made of real property impressed with an oral trust unenforceable because of the statute of frauds requiring trusts of interests in land to be in writing. The land was later sold and the plaintiff as beneficiary of the parol trust sought to reach the proceeds of the sale. Held, the statute of frauds does not apply to personal property. Therefore the oral trust may be impressed upon the proceeds even though it could not have been enforced while the trust res remained realty. Simpson v. Clark, (Mass. 1944) 55 N.E. (2d) 10.