Law Commons^™

Tennessee Labor Decisions: 1901-1954, James C. Kirby Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Any survey of a state's decisional law in the labor field should include some reference to the jurisdiction of its courts over labor controversies. There would be no separate body of substantive labor law but for the intervention of Congress into employment relations affecting interstate commerce with comprehensive legislation designed to strengthen the worker in his collective capacity.' The administration of this legislation by the National Labor Relations Board provides the great majority of case law governing the employment relationship. However, that residue which may be regulated exclusively or concurrently by the states is an important one, as evidenced by …

Manipulation Of Share Priorities, Alfred F. Conard

Vanderbilt Law Review

Investors, who seldom read law reviews, continue to put their money into preferred stocks. In the last five reported years, approximately 3 billion of dollars worth of preferred shares have been offered to the public, or more than a third of the value of all stock offered. Can Mr. Becht and the investors both be right?

Presumably the investors are directing their attention to different aspects of preferred stock than is Mr. Becht. Like other lawyers, he is considering what managements can do to preferred shareholders if they do their worst. His conclusions are based on the records of cases …

Book Reviews, Nels F.S. Ferre (Reviewer), Seymour W. Wurfel (Reviewer), Lloyd S. Adams (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Few topics are currently more at the center of both interest and need than that of Dr. Stumpf's new book. The ship of democracy is being tossed by heavy seas. Many are looking for a haven of faith. They tell us that the ship cannot stay afloat unless it reaches the well-protected harbor of religion. It needs at least to be overhauled, they say, and made more seaworthy in that harbor before it braves again the heavy onslaughts which it must necessarily breast. Dr. Stumpf probes too deeply into the relation between democracy and religion, however, to fall prey to …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--ALIENS--CONSTITUTIONALITY OF McCARRAN ACT

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--DUE PROCESS--DUTY OF NON-RESIDENT VENDOR TO COLLECT USE TAX

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--DUE PROCESS--TAXABLE SITUS OF PROPERTY OF INTERSTATE AIR CARRIER

DOMESTIC RELATIONS--INFANTS--RIGHT TO DISAFFIRM SEPARATION AGREEMENT

DOMESTIC RELATIONS--RES ADJUDICATA--FAILURE TO CROSS CLAIM IN SEPARATE MAINTENANCE SUIT AS BAR TO SUBSEQUENT DIVORCE

FEDERAL JURISDICTION AND PROCEDURE--FEDERAL STATUTORY RIGHT--CHARACTERIZATION OF RIGHT FOR PURPOSE OF APPLYING STATE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS

INCOME TAXATION--TAXABLE INCOME--INCLUSION OF PROCEEDS OF PUNITIVE DAMAGES

NATURAL GAS ACT--STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION--SCOPE OF STATUTE AS AFFECTED BY SUBSEQUENT DECISIONS

NEGLIGENCE--USED-CAR DEALER--DUTY TO INSPECT

SALES--IMPLIED WARRANTY--REQUIREMENT OF PRIVITY BETWEEN PROCESSOR AND ULTIMATE CONSUMER

TORTS--UNATTENDED AUTOMOBILE STATUTE--LIABILITY OF OWNER FOR …

Suggestions For The Improvement Of Municipal Annexation Law, Wallace Mendelson

Vanderbilt Law Review

World War II aggravated one of our most troublesome municipal problems--the growth of urban fringe areas around the outskirts of towns and cities. Many municipalities are finding their natural development either frustrated or completely strangled by choker necklaces of satellite settlements. Parent cities are surrounded by slum areas which they cannot control and wealthy suburban sections which they cannot tax. For it is common that the poorest and the most prosperous tend to live in the outskirts--the former to avoid the sanitation and anti-nuisance standards of urban life, the latter to escape their share of the cost of government in …

Aspects Of The Military Law Of Confessions, Robert D. Duke

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Uniform Code of Military Justice, which became effective in May, 1951, was enacted largely in response to the criticisms leveled at the administration of military justice during World War I. The Code reflected the prevailing feeling that military justice should be brought more nearly into line with the criminal procedures followed in civilian courts. To further this objective, Congress required that in general court-martial cases legally qualified counsel be appointed to represent both the Government and the accused. The position of "law officer" was created and invested with much of the authority exercised by a federal district judge in …

Conflict Of Laws -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

There are three Tennessee Supreme Court cases involving Conflict of Laws and an equal number of federal cases arising in Tennessee. One of the state cases raises constitutional questions and the United States Supreme Court may someday disagree with the Tennessee court.

"Stockholders' Liability." This case is Paper Products Co. v. Doggrell. The facts are not complicated, but a rather involved mix-up developed between the state and federal courts.

Doggrell, Konz and Whitaker were sole stockholders in an Arkansas business association entitled Forest City Wood Products, Inc., with principal office located in St. Francis County, Arkansas. Doggrell and Konz were …

Domestic Relations -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, William J. Harbison

Vanderbilt Law Review

An important case dealing with testamentary restraint upon adoptions was decided by the Tennessee Supreme Court during the survey period.' The case was one of first impression in this jurisdiction and appears to be one of the few decisions upon the subject in the United States. In his will testator created a trust for his granddaughter, the child of his deceased son. He imposed a condition that if the child were adopted before her eighteenth birthday by someone outside testator's immediate family, and if her name were changed, then the trust should terminate and the corpus be distributed to other …

Restitution -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

The title, Restitution, is a comparatively new one. Over a period of many years there grew up separately a number of distinct legal and equitable remedies--quasi-contract, constructive trust, equitable lien, reformation, rescission and others. Only recently has it been perceived that a pervading general principle underlies all of these remedies--the principle that "a person who has been unjustly enriched at the expense of another is required to make restitution to the other." Now that these several types of relief are being classed together it is more generally realized that their composite whole involves a very broad field of the law. …

Wills, Estates And Trusts -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, William J. Bowe

Vanderbilt Law Review

Freedom of Testation: Other than the statutory forced share of a spouse' testators have almost unlimited freedom in the disposition of their property. A devise or bequest will be held invalid only when it runs counter to some well established rule of public policy. Thus gifts in violation of the rule against perpetuities, against accumulations or against restraints on alienations are void. Further, the courts will strike down capricious or whimsical bequests, as well as those which are conditioned upon the performance of illegal or tortious acts. But in absence of any violation of public policy a testator is free …

Agency -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Merton L. Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Scope of Employment: In the case of McKinnon v. Michaud,- it appeared that Mrs. McKinnon was in the business of distributing petroleum products wholesale. Her servant, Nickson, made delivery of gasoline to a service station, put the nozzle from his truck into the retailer's tank and then carelessly allowed the tank to overflow. Nickson then enhanced the danger by throwing water on the gasoline with the result that it splashed onto an open stove and caused an extensive fire that damaged the plaintiff. Mrs. McKinnon was held liable. The court did not decide whether Nickson's act of throwing water on …

Personal Property And Sales -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Clyde L. Ball

Vanderbilt Law Review

This article is limited to cases involving transfers of personal property by gift or by sale, and the resultant legal relationships. Cases involving liens on personal property, chattel mortgages, and those dealing with sales in bulk are discussed in the article on Creditors' Rights and Security Transactions in this Survey.'

Constitutional Law -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Edwin F. Hunt

Vanderbilt Law Review

During the period under consideration the most important developments for Tennessee in the field of Constitutional Law were amendments to the State Constitution. This Constitution, adopted in 1870, was the oldest unamended constitution in the United States until eight proposed amendments were ratified by the voters on November 3, 1953. That the Tennessee Constitution had been unchanged for so many years was the result of several factors, most obvious of which was the fact that such constitution was especially difficult to amend.

under the amending provision' amendments required approval of a majority of the entire membership of both Houses of …

Real Property -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Herman L. Trautman, James C. Kirby Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Champertous Deeds and Adverse Possession: There were two cases, Robinson v. Harris, and State v. McNabb, which used the questionable champertous deed concept to reach what seem to be just results. The sixteenth century doctrine, enacted by statute in Tennessee, is that a deed of conveyance executed and delivered by a title owner while the land is held in the adverse possession of another is void. As pointed out in the 1953 Survey article, however, recent Tennessee cases have tended to ignore a line of nationally recognized Tennessee equity cases holding that the deed is not void; that the transfer …

Contracts -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Merton L. Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Mutual Assents: In the case of Jones v. Horner it appeared that Jones was a tenant of Mrs. Homer. The lease gave Jones an option to purchase the property for a stated price and provided that Jones might exercise his option "by payment or tender of the agreed purchase price." Jones, within the life of the option, without tendering the purchase price, gave notice that he would exercise the option. He said he would pay the purchase price upon receipt of a deed to the property. Mrs. Homer refused to treat this notice as a valid exercise of the option. …

Criminal Law And Procedure -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Clyde L. Ball

Vanderbilt Law Review

Most of the criminal law cases in the Tennessee courts during the past year have dealt with matters of procedure. The basic principles derived from these cases are treated in the Procedure and Evidence article of this 1954 Survey.' However, those cases of especial interest and significance will be considered here in somewhat greater detail. In addition to procedural matters there were a few cases which turned on concepts basic in the substantive law of crimes.

Substantive Law

Homicide: Tennessee has enunciated and followed a rule which states that driving an automobile while intoxicated is an act malum in se, …

Creditors' Rights And Security Transactions -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Paul J. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Mechanics Liens

Two cases during the Survey period involve priorities between mortgages and mechanics' liens. They are Southern Blow Pipe & Roofing Co. v. Grubb,' and First State Bank v. Stacey. Before giving a detailed consideration of these cases, perhaps it would not be amiss to sketch in a little background by way of the general nature and scope of these mechanics' liens, as well as a few words concerning priorities with other liens. This introductory material may make the cases at hand a little more easily understood.

Origin Nature and Scope of the Lien

The term "mechanics' lien" includes …

Procedure And Evidence -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Edmund M. Morgan

Vanderbilt Law Review

Generally: The strict rules of pleading are not applicable in a will contest,' which is a proceeding sui generis and regulated by statute. Demurrer. A demurrer to a cross-bill in chancery on the ground that it "states no cause of action upon which relief can be granted" is a nullity, and should be stricken on motion.

Plea in Abatement: Where the chancellor upon hearing a plea inabatement of another action pending for the same cause, found that the cause was substantially the same, and granted plaintiff permission to file the bill in the later suit as an amended or supplemental …

The School Segregation Cases: A Comment, Paul H. Sanders

Vanderbilt Law Review

Segregation in the public schools on the basis of race or color pursuant to law has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States.' Such segregation, the Court says, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The unanimous opinions of the Court delivered by Chief Justice Warren, declare this to be so regardless of the "equality" of the "tangible factors" in such educational facilities. This action, of paramount significance during the term just ended, will have a sequel of …

Future Interests And Estates -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Herman L. Trautman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Worthier Title--A Rule of Property: In Cochran v. Frierson' the Supreme Court affirmed the rule of Robinson v. Blankenship that the doctrine of worthier title is still a rule of absolute property law in Tennessee, and not a rule of construction. The Blankenship case is nationally recognized as representative of the early English doctrine which was abolished by statute in England in 1833. The doctrine has been modified by the majority of American courts which hold that it is a rule of construction.

Annual Survey Of Tennessee Law Administrative Law -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Paul H. Sanders

Vanderbilt Law Review

Administrative Law consists of those legal principles, whether of constitutional, statutory or common law derivation, which are generally concerned with the organization, relationships, powers and procedures of administrative agencies.' These are the agencies of government, other than the regular courts and legislatures, which can determine private rights through adjudication or affect these rights through the making of rules having the status of law. It will be noted that the definition excludes the substantive rules of law applied and developed through such agencies. Procedural in nature, it is an area of law in which the institution of judicial review of administrative …

Local Government Law -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Clyde L. Ball

Vanderbilt Law Review

Tort Liability: The case of Bricker v. Sims' was one of four cases tried together involving the tort liability of a city and its officers. The Board of Aldermen of the City of Martin adopted a curfew ordinance prohibiting any person from being on a public street or other public place after 11:00 o'clock at night. Plaintiff, while conducting himself in an otherwise lawful manner, was arrested on the public streets of Martin after the curfew hour; he was jailed and the next day was convicted and fined in the city court. Upon appeal to the circuit court the case …

Labor Law And Workmen's Compensation -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Paul H. Sanders, James G. Bowman Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Labor Law is best defined, perhaps, as that body of law which is directed toward, and peculiar to, the various incidents of the employer-employee relationship, whether viewed individually or collectively.' In this sense it includes all laws, such as those on workmen's compensation, wages and hours and unemployment insurance, setting forth the rights and limitations of the individual employee as against the employer (directly or indirectly), as well as those concerned with union organizational activity and collective bargaining.

Torts -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

There were over forty appellate decisions during the past year in the field of Torts. All but about half a dozen of these involved Negligence, and half of the Negligence cases involved traffic accidents. A reading of this latter group is well calculated to induce an automobile driver to use more care in the future.

In the great majority of Negligence cases the defendant owes the plaintiff a duty to use care. As Judge Howard expressed it in Monday v. Millsaps: "Whenever one person is by circumstances placed in such a position with regard to another that it is obvious …

The Place Of The Federal Rules In The Teaching Of Procedure, Delmar Karlen

Vanderbilt Law Review

If there is any proposition upon which teachers of procedure seem to agree it is that the Federal Rules ought to be a focal point of interest in the study of their subject. Most casebooks on general procedure published in recent years emphasize their concentration upon the Federal Rules: Vanderbilt's Cases on Modern Procedure and Judicial Administration, Field and Kaplan's Materials on Civil Procedure, Brown, Vestal and Ladd's Cases and Materials on Pleading and Procedure, to mention only a few. And when older casebooks, like Scott and Simpson's Cases and Other Materials on Civil Procedure or Clark's Cases on Modern …

Jurisdiction Of United States District Courts In Multiple-Claim Cases, Thomas F. Green Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The jurisdictional problem peculiar to a case which involves more than one claim is: Shall the court entertain the entire action when it would have jurisdiction of one or more of the claims, but not all, if they were sued separately?' The application of this question to the United States district courts raises conflicting considerations. On the one hand is the fact that most of the claims which would not be within federal jurisdiction if sued alone, present questions of state rather than federal law. In general the more appropriate tribunals to deal with such questions in the first instance …

Amendments To The Federal Rules: The Function Of A Continuing Rules Committee, Charles A. Wright

Vanderbilt Law Review

No development in American procedural history in the last century has exceeded in importance the adoption by the United States Supreme Court in 1938 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. These rules, the product of a distinguished Advisory Committee, introduced a system and a philosophy differing as markedly from the code pleading then in vogue as code pleading, in its day, had differed from common-law pleading. This new system has worked well in the federal courts, so well indeed as to stimulate a reexamination of procedure in many of the states, with nearly a dozen jurisdiction shaving already adopted …

The Elimination Of Surprise In Federal Practice, Alexander Holtzoff

Vanderbilt Law Review

There are occasions when in the interest of clarity of thought it behooves us to get back to first principles. When brought back to mind, these principles appear simple and obvious, but so much of our life's work is devoted to details that the tendency is for the trees to obscure the view of the forest, unless we stop at intervals and refresh ourselves by recalling fundamentals.

The courts exist for the purpose of administering justice. The objective of a law suit is to determine a controversy between man and man by ascertaining the facts, finding the governing principles of …

Scope Of Discovery Against The United States, Mac Asbill, Willis B. Snell

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the interpretation and application of the discovery provisions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, one of the most controversial problems is the extent to which discovery is available against the United States when it is a party to an action. Undeniably, the Government is entitled to use the discovery procedures, and it has not hesitated to do so; however, it has often fought vigorously the use of the same procedures against it. At one time the Government argued unsuccessfully that it was entirely exempt from the discovery provisions of the Rules. It has apparently abandoned this argument, but …

Federal Right Jurisdiction And The Declaratory Remedy, Herman L. Trautman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Why should we have federal district courts? What should be their primary function? These questions are fundamental to the formulation of a rational basis for the distribution of judicial power between state courts and the trial courts of the federal government.

Our American federal system seeks as a constant objective an appropriate division of governmental power between a national unit, which deals with problems requiring uniform treatment, and state units, which have responsibility for problems depending more upon local conditions. Applying the principle to the federal district courts, it seems clear that their primary function should be to adjudicate federal …