Law Commons^™

Negligence - Contributory Negligence - Infant Plaintiff's Violation Of Statute, Wayne E. Babler

Michigan Law Review

A nine-year old boy, who ran out into the street without looking in both directions, and thus violated a statute, was injured by an automobile the driver of which was allegedly negligent. Held, it is not negligence as a matter of law for a nine-year old boy to step into the street without looking both ways, notwithstanding the penal statute. Michalsky v. Gaertner, 53 Ohio App. yr, 5 N. E. (2d) 181 (1937).

Torts - Liability Of Power Company To Resident For Non-Performance Of Contract With City To Keep Street Light Burning, Paul R. Trigg

Michigan Law Review

Defendant public utility was under contract to a municipality to light the streets. Plaintiff, a local resident, was injured in an automobile collision which, he alleged, was caused by defendant's negligent failure to keep a certain street light burning. Defendant demurred. Held, that the demurrer was properly sustained. Tollison v. Georgia Power Co., 53 Ga. App. 795, 187 S. E. 181 (1936).

The Power To Carry On The Business Of A Decedent, Harry Adelman

Michigan Law Review

The continuation of a business for the sole purpose of making a profit is clearly beyond the scope of liquidating the estate of a decedent. It is rather a trust of the business, created for the benefit of the creditors of the decedent and persons entitled to share in the distribution of the estate. The business is managed as a normal going concern, on a somewhat permanent basis, rather than as a temporary means of preserving the value for an advantageous sale.

The Theory And Practice Of Pre-Trial Procedure, Edson R. Sunderland

Michigan Law Review

Pre-trial civil procedure under the English common-law system consisted only of pleading. Whatever the rules of pleading could accomplish in the way of defining and restricting issues contributed to the efficiency of the trial. What could not be done by the rules of pleading could not be done at all.

The great weakness of pleading as a means for developing and presenting issues of fact for trial lay in its total lack of any means for testing the factual basis for the pleader's allegations and denials. They might rest upon the soundest evidence, or they might rest upon nothing at …

Damage As Requisite To Rescission For Misrepresentation: Ii, Glenn A. Mccleary

Michigan Law Review

For the purpose of an analytical study of the decisions involving rescission for misrepresentation in which the damage problem has been considered, it seems convenient to classify the cases into three groups: (1) where the representee obtains the very thing that he expected to get, but it is worth less than he was led reasonably to expect under the representations made to him; (2) where the representee obtains something substantially different than he was led to expect; and (3) where the representee obtains the very thing that he expected and it is as valuable as he expected it to be, …

Champerty And Maintenance - Validity Of Contingent Fee - Contracts By Laymen To Prosecute And Collect Claims Against The Government, Charles R. Moon Jr.

Michigan Law Review

It has often been said by the American courts in recent years that the doctrine of champerty, due to changes in the law of assignment of choses in action and other changes of conditions from those prevailing in England at the time of the origin of the doctrine, is no longer applicable in all its stringency. That conditions have changed cannot be denied; however, neither can it be denied that champerty is a very live doctrine today. The real basis for the doctrine of champerty is that certain contracts are contrary to public policy. When we realize this, we see …

Conflict Of Laws - Guest Motorists -How Far Is The Lex Loci Delicti Controlling In The Forum?, M. M. Howard

Michigan Law Review

Before the advent of the "guest statutes," the decisions of all but a very few states recognized no degrees of negligence and measured the duty of the automobile host towards his non-paying guest by due care under all the circumstances-the "ordinary negligence" rule. In the few exceptional states, the decisions required the plaintiff to prove "gross," "wilful," or "wanton" negligence on the part of his host in order to maintain his action. And within the last decade nineteen states have adopted "guest statutes" which, with varying language, adopt the "gross negligence" rule. Since the rule of the lex loci delicti …

Eminent Domain - Public Housing And Slum Clearance As A "Public Use", Wayne E. Babler

Michigan Law Review

The recent legislation providing for housing and slum clearance raises the interesting and practical problem of whether a taking of land for such housing and slum clearance purposes by means of an eminent domain proceeding is condemnation for a "public use," within the meaning of that term in eminent domain proceedings. Such a taking was held to be for a public use in the recent case of Spahn v. Stewart.

Evidence - The Use Of Corporate Minutes In Evidence, Francis T. Goheen

Michigan Law Review

In their treatment of the principles applicable to the use of corporate minutes in evidence, the courts and the text writers have, with little or no explanation, used the language of both the parol evidence rule and the best evidence rule. Most often the question is rather summarily dismissed, and the court's opinion generally discloses very little in the way of enlightening information regarding the reasons for the exclusion or the admission and effect of the offered minutes. If general propositions are to be formulated relative to the use of corporate minutes under given conditions, such propositions must be based …

Executors And Administrators -Abatement Of Legacies - Intention Of Testator As Determined From Nature Of Legacy And Surrounding Circumstances, Victor P. Kayser

Michigan Law Review

When testator's estate is insufficient to pay all bequests provided for in his will, they normally abate in a definite order. For example, specific and demonstrative legacies are payable in toto before general legacies, which in turn must be paid before residuary gifts of personalty. Specific devises are free from abatement to pay pecuniary bequests; the same has been said of residuary devises. If there are insufficient assets to satisfy any class in full, bequests therein abate pro rata.

But testator may vary the order of abatement, may provide for the prior payment of any bequest he chooses. The most …

Bankruptcy - Corporate Reorganization - Effect Of Release Of Collateral Obligor On Dissenting Creditors, Edward D. Ransom

Michigan Law Review

The federal district court confirmed a plan of reorganization of debtor corporation, under section 77B of the Bankruptcy Act, which expressly released defendant from liability as guarantor of bonds of the corporation and provided for cancellation of the bonds and substitution of new certificates of stock. The plaintiff, a bondholder, made no objection when the plan was submitted to the court; objection by other bondholders was overruled. The plaintiff brought suit in municipal court on the defendant's guaranty. Defendant pleaded the confirmation of the plan by the district court as res adjudicata. The trial court denied the plea and entered …

Insurance - When Contracts For Contingent Performance Of Acts Other Than Payment Of Money Constitute Insurance, Charles W. Allen

Michigan Law Review

A recent case presents the many difficulties that confront the courts in determining whether a given contract is one of insurance. Plaintiff was a glazier. For a fixed payment he agreed with his customers that during a certain period he would repair and replace, if broken, their store-front glass. Penal proceedings were instituted against plaintiff for failure to comply with the insurance laws. He brought an action to enjoin prosecution of the proceedings. It was held that the contracts were not insurance contracts and that plaintiff was entitled to the injunction.

Bills And Notes - Execution By Uauthorized Representative - Effect Of Knowledge By Payee, Erwin B. Ellmann

Michigan Law Review

Payee accepted defendant's promissory note, executed as guardian, and agreed not to hold him personally accountable. Though familiar with all material facts, the parties mutually mistook defendant's authority to bind the estate of his ward, and when such lack of authority was discovered, plaintiff sued on the instrument for personal judgment. Held, the maker is not liable, since Section 20 of the Negotiable Instruments Law will not be allowed to override the intention of the parties declared at the time of issuance of the instrument.Annis v. Pfeiffer, 278 Mich. 692, 271 N. W. 568 (1937).

Damages - Insurance Contract - Right To Recover Present Worth Of Future Payments On Life Policy, James W. Mehaffy

Michigan Law Review

An insurance policy provided for the payment of 3 1/2 per cent interest on the amount due beneficiaries until they attained the age of 21, then payment of the entire amount. The policy also contained a double indemnity clause. The insured died under circumstances leaving it doubtful whether the double amount should be paid. Upon application by the guardian of the minor beneficiaries for payment of the double amount in the manner stipulated, the defendant company refused payment of more than the face value of the policy on the ground that the proofs of accidental death were not sufficient. Plaintiff …

Libel - Right Of Privacy -Auction Sale Of Debts, Gerald M. Stevens

Michigan Law Review

A creditor put his claim into the hands of one Power, who held himself out as an advertiser of accounts for sale. Power threatened several times by letter to advertise the debtor's account for sale at auction unless it was paid immediately. No payment was made; and a "flaming orange handbill" was printed and circulated about the debtor's neighborhood. It offered for sale to the highest bidder the debtor's and twenty-three other accounts. It contained, further, the statement that all accounts were guaranteed correct and undisputed and a solicitation for merchants' accounts to be similarly disposed of. Thereupon the debtor …

Patents - Equity Pleading - Sufficiency Of "Short Form" Of Bill Of Complaint - Burden Of Proof Of Validity Of Patent Infringement Suit, Julian Caplan

Michigan Law Review

Complainant brought suit for infringement of letters patent and used the so-called "short form" of bill of complaint. Defendant moved to dismiss the bill for insufficient facts to constitute a cause of action, since there were no allegations of compliance with the statutory provisions for issuance of a patent. The District Court and the Circuit Court of Appeals for, the Eighth Circuit sustained the demurrer, but the Supreme Court held that under Equity Rule 25 the short form of bill of complaint contained all the ultimate facts necessary for complainant to state a cause of action. Mumm v. Jacob E. …

Public Utilities - Collections - Discontinuance Of Service, Charles E. Nadeau

Michigan Law Review

Defendant's rate schedule provided for a minimum charge of $1 per month for each month of the year. Plaintiff was connected to defendant's system in May. The first electric bill included four dollars as the minimum charge for the months from January to May, defendant claiming that the minimum charges ran from the first of the calendar year. Plaintiff paid for the other items but refused payment of the four dollars. Service was discontinued in July. The lower court decided that it did not have jurisdiction to give either an injunction or damages. Held, where an account is honestly …

Taxation - Jurisdiction To Tax Intangibles - Business Situs, William Stout Gordon

Michigan Law Review

The appellant, a Delaware corporation doing business in Minnesota, held the controlling interest in the stock of a large number of banks in numerous states. It transacted its corporate business and fiscal affairs in Minnesota and maintained a business office there. A property tax was imposed by Minnesota upon appellant's shares of stock in Montana and North Dakota state banking corporations. Appellant contended that, since Montana and North Dakota had imposed a property tax on the same shares, the Minnesota tax was contrary to the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court held that the shares of stock had acquired a "business situs" …

Trusts - Foreclosure Of Mortgage Held By Trustee - Disposition Of Proceeds Of Sale, Gerald M. Stevens

Michigan Law Review

Trustees foreclosed mortgages in which they had invested trust funds and which were in default. Sale of the land brought less than the principal and interest of the mortgages. Beneficiaries of the trust sued for an accounting to determine the respective rights of life tenant and remaindermen to the proceeds of the sale. Held, the net proceeds were to be apportioned between life tenant and remaindermen. To be treated as principal was a sum which, if invested at the rate of interest current for trust investments, would have produced during the period from default till final sale an income …

Trusts - Power Of Trustee To Invest By Savings Deposit, James W. Mehaffy

Michigan Law Review

The guardian of an incompetent veteran placed trust funds in his hands in the savings department of a trust company. The trust company was closed by order of the state bank commissioner on March 4, 1933, and failed to reopen. Held, the guardian is not chargeable with the loss, this being a proper investment of the funds. Hines v. Ayotte, (Me. 1937) 189 A. 835.

Waters And Watercourses - Extent Of Riparian Land - Compensation On Condemnation, Gerald M. Stevens

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff owned a ranch comprising over 45,000 acres and fronting for six miles on the North Platte river. One and a half miles of the river frontage were taken by eminent domain proceedings for a dam and reservoir. Plaintiff claimed the value of his whole ranch was reduced by the loss of water rights, by the destruction of sheltering trees and brush, by the creation of a potential hazard to cattle, and by the threat of floods from breaking dam or dikes. He recovered damages on that basis. Reversing the judgment, the court held, riparian rights attached only to …

Damage As Requisite To Rescission For Misrepresentation, Glenn A. Mccleary

Michigan Law Review

The decadence of equity during the nineteenth century has long been an accepted phenomenon. The attempt to make law coincide with morals in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was followed in the nineteenth century by the gradual fixing of rules and a consequent stiffening of the legal systems, in which moral principles became lost in a mass of rules derived from such principles. What were once equitable doctrines tended to become mechanical rules. The former strength of equity has been weakened in the various jurisdictions, due in a large measure to the administration of law and equity by the same …

Constitutional Law - Separation Of Powers - Power Of The Courts And Legislature To Regulate The Practice Of Law And Procedure, Peter S. Boter

Michigan Law Review

In theory, the doctrine of separation of powers presents a governmental system with spheres of power for each department, separated by clear lines of demarcation. Yet in practice it does not follow that a complete separation of powers could be effected or would be desirable. The concurrent exercise of a power by two coordinate branches of a government may result in conflicting regulations and also in charges that the exercise of the power by one department is an unconstitutional encroachment on the powers to be exercised by another and coordinate department. This situation is present in the concurrent exercise of …

Criminal Law And Procedure - Power Of Appellate Court To Modify Sentence, Emma Rae Mann

Michigan Law Review

It is generally conceded that when a sentence is illegal in the sense that it exceeds the maximum prescribed by statute, it may be modified by a reviewing court, although it is not clear that common-law courts were always regarded as having such power. Power to modify in such cases is now recognized in federal courts as well as in state courts. Quite another question arises when the sentence appealed from is within the limits allowed by law but is urged to be unduly severe. The decision in the recent case of Beckett v. United States that the federal circuit …

Municipal Corporations - Use Of Streets - Validity Of Ordinance Providing For Parking Meters, Charles M. Kneier

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner was convicted and fined for parking in a meter parking space on a city street without depositing a nickel in the meter as required by municipal ordinance. Upon being committed to jail he applied for a writ of habeas corpus, contending that the ordinance providing for parking meters was invalid. Held, the writ was denied, parking meter ordinances being valid police regulations. Ex parte Duncan, 179 Okla. 355, 65 P. (2d) 1015 (1937).

Principal And Agent - Liability Of Agent To Third Party For Contract Made Without Authority, Walter Probst Jr.

Michigan Law Review

The defendant conducted a real estate agency and had been requested from time to time to find a purchaser for a certain tract of land. The defendant negotiated to sell this land to the plaintiffs, who knew the defendant was acting as an agent. The land had before the time of this negotiation been conveyed to a third party by the principal. It was found that the defendant was acting in good faith. Held, that the defendant was not personally liable for the loss and damage sustained by the plaintiffs. King v. Russell, 278 Mich. 529, 270 N. …

Charities - Corporation Organized For Political Purposes As A Charitable Organization, Charles R. Linton

Michigan Law Review

A statute provided, in substance, that bequests in a will to charitable organizations may not collectively exceed one-third of the estate of a testator leaving heirs. Plaintiff, a legatee under a will, appealed from a decree which found the American Jewish Congress was not a charitable organization and therefore was entitled to the full sum bequeathed to it. Among the corporate purposes stated in the articles of incorporation were: (a) to further the development of the Jewish National Home in Palestine, and (b) to secure and maintain equality of opportunity for Jews everywhere. Held, decree reversed; although incorporated for …

Taxation - Validity Of Retroactive Inheritance Tax On Contingent Trust Remainders, Francis T. Goheen

Michigan Law Review

In 1877 the settlor created an irrevocable trust with reservation of the income for life. Under the terms of the trust deed, on the death of the settlor, the income was to be paid for twenty years after the settlor's death "to and among such of" settlor's children as may be living at the time of the payment. The living issue of deceased's children were to take by right of representation. On the death of the settlor in 1931 the state of Massachusetts by statute enacted in 1907 taxed the remainder as property passing by deed "intending to take effect …

Purchaser's Remedies For Absence Of Marketable Title, Lawrence Linville

Michigan Law Review

"Where a person takes upon himself to contract for the sale of an estate, and is not the absolute owner of it, nor has it in his power by the ordinary course of law or equity to make himself so; though the owner offer to make the seller a title, yet equity will not force the buyer to take it, for every seller ought to be a bona fide contractor: and it would lead to infinite mischief if one man were permitted to speculate upon the sale of another's estate."

The apprehensions of Sugden were not groundless, as three quarters …

Attorney And Client - Canons Of Ethics - Attorney Of Record As Witness For Client, Bertram H. Lebeis

Michigan Law Review

In a suit commenced by bill in aid of execution, the attorney of record of one of the defendants was allowed to testify concerning a note given to the other defendant. Held, that although this is a violation of Rule 19 of the Canons of Professional Ethics, it is not reversible error. Vozbut v. Pomputis, 277 Mich. 212, 269 N. W. 149 (1936).