Law Commons^™

The Law As A Path To The World, Francis A. Allen

Michigan Law Review

Many years ago the late Mr. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes observed: "The law is a small subject (though ... it leads to all things) .... " The comments that follow are an elaboration of Justice Holmes's theme. It will be asserted that one characteristic of legal studies, properly pursued, is that they lead to a fuller understanding of the larger world of which the law and its institutions are a part. Because the law leads to a larger world of persons, events, and ideas, it claims the attention even of those possessing no interest in acquiring professional legal skills. This …

Fornication, Cohabitation, And The Constitution, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note begins with the indisputable assumption that laws prohibiting fornication and cohabitation are nowhere explioitly forbidden by the Constitution. If a right to engage in consensual adult heterosexual activity exists, it will most convincingly be inferred from the Court's cases establishing a right of "privacy." The Note first seeks to discover an adequate definition of privacy which might lead to a decision whether "privacy" encompasses the right .to fornicate or cohabit (a right which, for brevity's sake, we will somewhat imprecisely call the right to, sexual privacy), but it finds no such definition. The Note therefore proceeds to investigate …

Regulating Carcinogens In Food: A Legislator's Guide To The Food Safety Provisions Of The Federal Food, Drug, And Cosmetic Act, Richard A. Merrill

Michigan Law Review

On March 9, 1977, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that a study in laboratory rats conducted by the Canadian government confirmed that saccharin is an animal carcinogen. For this reason, the agency stated, the sweetener must be banned from human food.

The studies which Congress mandated, to be accompanied by the recommendations of the Secretary of HEW, are likely to generate a fundamental reexamination of the nation's current food safety policies. This Article attempts to aid this inquiry by explaining the requirements of the present law. The Article describes the several statutory provisions that govern the regulation of …

Due Process And Parole Revocation, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In Morrissey, the Court set the level of due process needed in parole revocations. Specifically, it held that the parolee facing •revocation has a right (a) to receive written notice of the claimed parole violations; (b) to hear the evidence against him; (c) to be heard in person and to present witnesses and documentary evidence; (d) to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses (unless the hearing officer specifically finds good cause for not allowing the confrontation); (e) to have a neutral and detached hearing body, members of which need not be judicial officers or lawyers; and (f) to be given …

The Conservatorship Model: A Modification, Gregory S. Alexander

Michigan Law Review

Reform-minded probate lawyers have discussed the idea of ante-mortem probate for many years. Yet, owing to several seemingly unavoidable defects, it has never attracted widespread support · and only recently has been implemented anywhere in the United States. In his article, Living Probate: The Conservatorship Model, Professor John Langbein has eliminated many of those defects and has made the idea much more feasible. In doing so, he has contributed to the development of simple, convenient, and efficient systems of probate. However, his proposal introduces new flaws that threaten the practical working of his procedural model.

A Bibliography Of The Published Works Of George Ellis Palmer, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Bibliography of the Published Works of George Ellis Palmer

Punitive Surcharges Against Disloyal Fiduciaries--Is Rothko Right?, Richard V. Wellman

Michigan Law Review

This Article criticizes the award of a penalty surcharge in the name of appreciation damages. Contrary to the statements in the Rothko opinions, neither precedent nor treatises offers clear support for the shocking awards made against Rothko's disloyal executors. Furthermore, even if appreciation damages were to be viewed, against the thesis here advanced, as an appropriate remedy for some kinds of fiduciary breach, the measure is inappropriate for cases which, like Rothko, involve hidden conflicts of interest. This is so because the threat of severe penalties in hidden-conflict cases adds unacceptable legal costs to honest administrations-costs that cannot be …

George Palmer, Luke K. Cooperrider

Michigan Law Review

A Tribute to George Palmer

Unmarried Couples And Unjust Enrichment: From Status To Contract And Back Again?, Robert C. Casad

Michigan Law Review

In recent years, litigation over property arrangements between unmarried cohabitants has posed some old questions in a new light and has yielded some new answers. One of the most intriguing of these questions is whether a cohabitant has a right, upon dissolution of the relationship, to remuneration for household services rendered during the relationship. A spouse who contributed household services in an actual marriage, of course, may upon divorce receive a share of the property acquired by the other spouse during the marriage or may receive a monetary award as compensation for the contributions made to the other during the …

George Palmer, John P. Dawson

Michigan Law Review

A Tribute to George Palmer

Living Probate: The Conservatorship Model, John H. Langbein

Michigan Law Review

The main purpose of the present Article is to suggest a somewhat different theoretical and practical approach to structuring the living probate procedure. I shall characterize the procedure called for in the North Dakota act and in similar proposals as the Contest Model of living probate, in distinction to a Conservatorship Model that I shall advocate to be the better way. Part I of this Article reviews briefly the problem to which living probate is addressed and the alternatives that can presently be employed to forestall post-mortem capacity litigation in the absence of a living probate system. In Part TI …

Running Covenants And Public Policy, Olin L. Browder

Michigan Law Review

When first encountering covenants running with the land, one may react against the very idea. Why should any person be able to enforce a promise not made to him or be bound by a promise he did not make? Modern contract law, particularly the rules about the assignment of contract rights and the rights of third-party beneficiaries, may answer the first question, but does not explain how anyone can be bound by a promise neither expressly nor impliedly made or consented to by him.

On the other hand, persons_ familiar with easements, liens, or mortgages understand that land ownership can …

Pleas Of Guilty And The Loss Of Constitutional Rights: The Current Price Of Pleading Guilty, Stephen A. Saltzburg

Michigan Law Review

This Article proposes the same basic rule as Westen's to explain the Supreme Court's decisions, but for very different reasons which require several modifications of the Westen rule. I argue that all the guilty-plea cases, properly viewed, are consistent with, and therefore can be read as evidence of, a theory more easily applied than articulated by the Court: that some constitutional rights are largely premised on notions of litigation avoidance, that their "avoidance" rationales must be respected, and that these rights therefore prevent governments from establishing procedural rules that force criminal defendants to go to trial-to choose more rather than …

Bribery And Brokerage: An Analysis Of Bribery In Domestic And Foreign Commerce Under Section 2 ( C ) Of The Robinson-Patman Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note first analyzes the substantive and jurisdictional criteria of section 2(c) to evaluate the possible and the desirable scope of its applicability to commercial bribery. The Note next asks whether this statute reaches bribery of domestic and foreign government officials and concludes that where the requirements of section 2(c) are otherwise met and where the person accepting the bribe is acting administratively rather than politically, the statute could be applied to bribery of agents of domestic governments. However, a wholesale application of section 2( c) to bribery of foreign government agents would leave American competitors in foreign commerce defenseless …

Forfeiture By Guilty Plea--A Reply, Peter Westen

Michigan Law Review

I will begin by describing what I think Professor Saltzburg and I both mean by a ''legal theory." I then apply that standard to test the validity of the two theories at issue here, first Professor Saltzburg's, then mine. I next discuss a third theory that is independent of both Professor Saltzburg's and mine, viz., that whether a constitutional claim survives a guilty plea depends on whether it is ''jurisdictional." Finally, I comment generally on the concept of forfeiture and its influence on the way one conceives of constitutional rights.

The Proposed Federal Rules Of Evidence: Of Privileges And The Division Of Rule-Making Power, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note proposes that the lower federal courts accord the same binding authority to the Proposed Rules that they give those judicially promulgated procedural rules, such as the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, that have been implicitly approved by Congress.

Part I of the Note analyzes the constitutional division of the rule-making power by examining both the policy considerations involved and the relevant constitutional language and doctrines. That examination indicates that the power to establish such rules is shared by Congress and the Supreme Court. To determine when that power is appropriately exercised by one branch rather than the other, …

The Legal Profession: Client Interests, Professional Roles, And Social Hierarchies, John P. Heinz, Edward O. Laumann

Michigan Law Review

There is a natural urge to study the extreme. The extreme case is likely to be conspicuous and dramatic. Sociological research on the American legal profession has not, for the most part, resisted the urge. The best-known studies examine lawyers at the extremes of the profession's prestige hierarchy-e.g., Carlin's study of solo practitioners and Smigel's study of the Wall Street lawyer. The profession's center has more often been neglected and few data are available on the bar's overall social structure. Ladinsky's study .of Detroit lawyers covers all types and specialities, and contributes substantially to our understanding of the …

Total-Sales Royalties Under The Patent-Misuse Doctrine: A Critique Of Zenith, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note criticizes the Supreme Court's treatment of total-sales royalties. Part I outlines the scope of the patent-misuse doctrine, and Part II describes the development of the Zenith conditioning test. Part III analyzes that test; it suggests that the Zenith opinion is not internally consistent and that courts may not be able to apply the conditioning test satisfactorily. Finally, in response to Justice Harlan's dissenting opinion in Zenith, in which he notes the dearth of literature on the economic consequences of total-sales royalty provisions, 14 Part III undertakes an analysis of those consequences. The analysis demonstrates that total-sales royalty …

Young Adults As A Cognizable Group In Jury Selection, Donald H. Zeigler

Michigan Law Review

In support of its thesis, this Article presents what the literature has failed to provide: a comprehensive analysis of the concept of cognizability and empirical data. Part I traces the history of cognizability; identifies the sources of the cross-sectional right; and defines the criteria of cognizability, drawing special attention to the interests which a designation of cognizability protects. Part I also discusses the different approaches courts have taken to cognizability and suggests several factors which may explain the many treatments of the concept.

Part II reviews the case law concerning the cognizability of young adults in particular. That Part also …

Sexual Harassment And Title Vii: The Foundation For The Elimination Of Sexual Cooperation As An Employment Condition, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Ten years after the enactment of Title VII, the federal judiciary confronted its first Title VII case in which sexual harassment was the primary allegation. In the next three-and-one-half years, six more claims of sexual harassment reached federal district courts, 4 and three federal circuit courts of appeal reviewed lower court holdings.

Neither these cases nor the considerable journalistic and academic attention they received reveals a consensus regarding the appropriate application of Title VII to cases of sexual harassment. This Note, therefore, examines the application of Title VII to the problem of sexual harassment and suggests a coherent framework for …

The Evolution Of State Supreme Courts, Robert A. Kagan, Bliss Cartwright, Lawrence M. Friedman, Stanton Wheeler

Michigan Law Review

Part I of this Article describes in broad quantitative terms the changing relationship between the caseload of supreme courts and the population of the states in which these courts sit. Part II examines the various means states used to control supreme court caseloads, the political problems involved, and the types of courts that have resulted. Part III presents evidence that changes in court organization in response to caseload pressure are accompanied by changes in the kinds of cases state supreme courts hear, the style of their opinions, and the results of the cases.

The Eighteenth-Century Background Of John Marshall's Constitutional Jurisprudence, William E. Nelson

Michigan Law Review

This analysis of Marshall's constitutional jurisprudence avoids the pitfalls of previous theories. It does not see the Federalist political program as the source of Marshall's constitutional doctrines and thus does not need to explain how Marshall qualified his political principles or how he convinced non-Federalist judges to accept them. Instead, this essay argues that legal, not political, principles underlay Marshall's jurisprudence, but it attempts to understand those principles in a manner consistent with the unavoidable twentieth-century assumption that law is a body of flexible rules responsive to social reality rather than a series of immutable, unambiguous doctrines derived from a …

Negative Attitudes Of Law Students: A Replication Of The Alienation And Dissatisfaction Factors, Paul D. Carrington, James J. Conley

Michigan Law Review

In 1976 we conducted a survey of law students at The University of Michigan. Demographic information; personal goals and values; and attitudes toward the law school, the faculty, and fellow students were surveyed. We factor-analyzed the items relating to attitudes, personal goals, and values. Three major factors were identified and labeled as alienation, dissatisfaction, and sociability. We have recently described the alienation factor extensively and outlined the dissatisfaction and sociability factors. In March 1977, we conducted a second survey designed to replicate the earlier study. Despite the addition of a few new items, the questionnaire was essentially unchanged. The new …

Tax Avoidance, Alan Gunn

Michigan Law Review

This Article attempts an almost purely negative criticism. I contend that efforts to explain the results of tax cases not involving penalties by reference to "tax avoidance" are never satisfactory, whether the reference is meant to describe a taxpayer's state of mind or to justify a tax rule by invoking some "need to prevent tax avoidance." Because many tax problems are commonly discussed in terms of "tax avoidance" in one of these senses, and in order to avoid the impression that my arguments would leave the tax law in shambles, I shall suggest some alternative ways of dealing with these …

Equal Protection: A Closer Look At Closer Scrutiny, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note proposes to restore means-end analysis to legal respectability through a comprehensive integrated approach to purpose, misfit, and balancing. The search for a rational basis is meaningless if there are no constraints on the kind of purpose which may justify a classification. Therefore, this Note initially explores ways in which a court can more rigorously scrutinize statutory purpose. The next significant question is how a court should evaluate the degree of coincidence between the class picked out by the law and the class which would be picked out if the law were to achieve its goals. Such "misfit" analysis …

Restructuring The Corporate Board Of Directors: Fond Hope--Faint Promise?, Lewis D. Solomon

Michigan Law Review

Reforms, then, have been instituted, and an extensive literature on corporate reform has developed. It is time that we seriously examine the reforms and the literature to assess the accomplishments and possibilities of the corporate board of directors. This Article is a first step in that direction.

The Article begins by investigating the reasons for the impotence of corporate boards. It then examines two models of reformed boards and finds both models badly flawed. The Article proceeds to case studies of three corporations-Mattel, Inc., Northrop Corp., and Lockheed Corp.-which under court· order have attempted to reform their boards by increasing …

A Probabilistic Analysis Of The Doctrine Of Mutuality Of Collateral Estoppel, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Part I of this Note lays the foundation for the conclusions suggested above by setting forth some elementary probabilistic notions and establishing a measure of trial efficacy. The next part reviews some of the early suggested limitations on the application of Bernhard and, by analyzing the mutuality requirement and the Bernhard doctrine in probabilistic terms, demonstrates that the concerns underlying those initial reservations were not only sound, but require rejection of Bernhard.

Although the primary purpose of this Note is to expose the flawed analysis underlying Bernhard, a secondary . purpose is to demonstrate how probability theory can …

Racial Vote Dilution In Multimember Districts: The Constitutional Standard After Washington V. Davis, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that the effect-oriented standard for multimember-district vote-dilution claims is unaffected by the Washington intent requirement. Part I outlines the manner in which multimember districts can dilute minority voting strength. After summarizing Washington's intent requirement, Part II surveys the post-Washington vote dilution cases and demonstrates that the applicability of the intent standard to vote dilution claims is uncertain. Part III first suggests two ways in which White and Washington may be reconciled. That section then argues that White is unaffected by the intent requirement because the standard for vote dilution fits within a fundamental interest analysis …

The Transformation Of American Law, 1780-1860, David H. Flaherty

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Transformation of American Law, 1780-1860 by Morton J. Horwitz

The Corporate And Securities Adviser, The Public Interest, And Professional Ethics, Simon M. Lorne

Michigan Law Review

It is the thesis of this Article that we, as a society, need to make deliberate decisions about the proper role of the corporate adviser, and, when that function has been defined, to develop a structure within which it can be performed. As the Article makes clear, the logical choices involve what might be described as either revolutionary change or reactionary change. That is, the current trends should either be accelerated or reversed; the present situation is intolerable. While the author will contend that the case for shifting into reverse is more persuasive, getting into a gear, and out of …