Law Commons^™

Preventive Justice Through Declaratory Relief, Edson R. Sunderland

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Professor Sunderland describes the history, and current directions, of declaratory judgments. "The practice of making declarations of right has completely revolutionized English remedial law. The American lawyer who peruses the current English reports is bewildered by their novelty...."

The Bar Examination - Its Proper Time And Length, Edwin C. Goddard

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IN our day and countery the bar examiner is the St. Peter of the legal heaven. He to whom the legal St. Peter openeth not must go below and live without the legal brotherhood. It was not always so. Not so long ago the admission gate (or bar) was kept by any member of the bench. This meant it was not kept at all, for no one was denied admission, and there is still at least one of the states of our Union where every voter of the state of good moral character has the constitutional right to admission as …

Academic Life And The Great War, Henry M. Bates

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The address of Dean Henry M. Bates on academic life and the war, delivered at the opening of the 1917-1918 University of Michigan Law School year, is the topic of this comment.

Editorial Preface To This Volume, Joseph H. Drake

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In his editorial preface to Formal Bases of the Law, Professor Drake offers a detailed summary of Del Vecchio’s historical survey of the philosophy of law. Drake reiterates that “the struggle for better definition of law has resulted in continually widening the practical application of law. In like manner it may be shown that the constant broadening of the metaphysical bases of law has been accompanied by improvements in its practice, and to this purpose we may well address ourselves.” From Aristotle to Grotius, to neo-Kantians and neo-Hegelians… “Law is neither force simply nor growth simply, but law is right …

Editorial Preface To This Volume, Joseph H. Drake

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"American juristic thinking at the present time needs a von Ihering. Our jurists, our legislators and our courts, both bench and bar, are still holding fast to an historical 'Naturrecht' built up on the precedents of the Common Law.... The public is crying out against our crystallized and inelastic theory and practice of law. The practical application of the idea of law as purpose would, in many cases, loosen our legal shackles and open the way out of our legal difficulties ...."

"The days of 'laissez faire' in legal matters have gone by in America as well as in Germany. …

The Law In The United States In Its Relation To Religion, Edwin C. Goddard

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Man is a religious being. To him, everywhere and always, religion and religious institutions have been and will be of prime concern. He is also a social being. As such he has always found it necessary to live in an organized society, under some form of government. Man never has lived to himself alone. Government is not an invention, a necessary evil, to which men submit. On the contrary, from the most primitive beginnings it has been man's natural though imperfect instrument for controlling and developing the social estate so essential to his very existence. And universally this government has …

The Law In Its Relation To Religion And Morals, Edwin C. Goddard

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Man is a religious being. To him, everywhere and always, religion and religious institutions have been and will be of prime concern. Now, and in this United States, not less than in ages past and in other parts of the world, is this a fundamental fact. He who, without a recognition of this, would study either religion or government, would quite fail to comprehend his problem. Man is also a social being. As such he has always found it necessary to live in an organized society, under some form of government. The world depicted with such irresistible genius by Rosseau …

Should Men Bearing The Same Title In Any Institution Receive The Same Pay?, Harry B. Hutchins

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I suppose that there is at the present time in most universities discrimination to a limited extent between men holding the same title. In some cases it is based upon length of service; in others, it is made in favor of men who perform extra duties. Sometimes, moreover, special endowments lead to discriminations. And occasionally the salary of a man is fixed above that of his associates in order to retain his services when he has been called at an increased salary by another university. Sometimes, also, special and exceptional circumstances put a man in a different class from that …

Requirements Of A Legal Education, Bradley M. Thompson

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The sentiment which has been assigned to me and to which, in a Pickwickian sense, I am to respond, covers the whole field of a lawyer's professional education. It is a subject of special interest to the bar, and of much importance, indeed, to all, for the bar furnishes from its ranks all the members of the judicial department, one of the three co-ordinate departments of the government, whether state or national. And since every member of the bar is a member of the court before whom he practices, we constitute, at least, one third of the government. And if …

The Legal Status Of The Teacher, Floyd R. Mechem

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The subject upon which I have been asked to speak, is the legal status of the teacher. In endeavoring to comply with this request, I have assumed that such an audience as this would not be interested in the bare legal aspect of the question, as an audience of lawyers might be. Nevertheless, any effort to speak upon the teacher's legal status necessarily presupposes that what is to be said on the social, political, or pedagogical sides of the matter will be said by others, and that only that which pertains to the legal aspect is now in order. The …

David Darwin Hughes, Thomas M. Cooley

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Professor Cooley's obituary for D. Darwin Hughes of Marshall, Michigan, at the time "... esteemed one of the ablest and most successful advocates in the Northwest."

The Memorial Addresses Delivered In University Hall, November 26, 1880, At The Funeral Of Professor James Craig Watson, … Professor In The University From 1859 To 1879, Henry S. Frieze, Charles K. Adams, Alexander Winchell, Thomas M. Cooley

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This is Judge Cooley's tribute to former University of Michigan astronomer Professor James Craig Watson, who died unexpectedly at age 42 and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Ann Arbor. While not specifically related to the law, Cooley memorializes Watson with his ringing prose: "... it was among the stars this great man found his chief delight, and fitting it was that he should do so. He knew the stars as one knows the faces of his friends ..." But it is the last few pages of the tribute that Cooley asserts the glory of the State of Michigan …

School Boards: Their Duties And Responsibilities, Thomas M. Cooley

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Justice Cooley comments on the office of member of a school board as one of public trust, “and from the nature of the duties attached, is one of the most important.” Cooley notes that while this office may not be as exalted as other positions, “it deals with interests which concern every household, and upon which the highest interests of the State and the nation may at last depend.” His reverence for the vocation is expressed in his closing, where he asserts that “As it is the manifest purpose of the Almighty that body and mind should alike be developed, …

Principles That Should Govern In The Framing Of Tax Laws, Thomas M. Cooley

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"The foregoing paper was prepared for, and read before, the American Social Science Association, at its meeting in Cincinnati on April 22, 1878. It is not, as will be seen, a discussion of legal questions, but of questions in political economy. Still, at this time, when attention is very generally being directed to the principles of taxation, it will be found not wanting in practice interest to the legal profession." Professor Cooley takes on the problem of suitable and just taxation, a problem "forever demanding solution, but never solved." How do we set equitable rates based on personal valuation for …

Changes In The Balance Of Governmental Power, Thomas M. Cooley

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“In taking up for brief review the action of the convention in framing, and that of the people of the Union in adopting the Federal Constitution ninety years ago, we should be able after such a lapse of time, and in view of our diversified experience under it, to deal with it in a spirit of dispassionate criticism, and without boasting or unreasonable exultation. Yet we may perhaps truly say that the act itself was the most notable in government-making of which history bears record….”

The Lawyer’S Duty To Be Faithful To His Own Manhood, Thomas M. Cooley

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“On a previous occasion similar to this when I was invited to address a few parting words to a class of law students, I directed their attention specifically to their duty to observe fidelity to their clients. To-day I shall call your attention to a duty equally imperative, and perhaps still more often neglected, namely: the duty of fidelity to one’s own manhood....

“I shall have accomplished fully my purpose in these parting admonitions if I impress upon your convictions the paramount importance of observing in all your professional life the obligation of fidelity to truth, to justice, …

The State Of The Law: A Test Of National Progress, Thomas M. Cooley

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“The work to which the student in law first addresses himself is the fixing in his mind of certain principles which are agreed upon, or are supposed to be, and which collectively constitute the body of the law…. The brief remarks that I shall make will be addressed to two points: 1. That the law of the land must in the main be the handiwork of those who administer and practice it, and 2, That the final and most satisfactory evidence of assured national advancement must be found in the state of the law….”

Washington: His Character And The Lessons To Be Drawn From It, Thomas M. Cooley

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Justice Cooley’s memorial on the occasion of Washington’s birthday: “In fabulous history nations are founded by gods. But these gods are only impersonations of the rough virtues most prized in a barbarous age, and their worship is therefore an adoration of those qualities … We have no fabulous history of our nation … Great characters may loom up as the builders, but they are not simply exaggerated personifications of power and force; they are men with human qualities, whose lives, in the records which are preserved, are open to our inspection; we may see what manner of men they were, …

With Some Considerations Regarding The Study Of The Law, Thomas M. Cooley

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Thomas M. Cooley's editions of Blackstone's Commentaries were the 19th century's "standard editions" of American analyses of the title. "The Commentaries of Mr. Justice Blackstone have now for more than a century been the wonder and delight of persons whose curiosity or interest have led hem to investigate the constitution and laws of Great Britain, the condition of things from which they grew, and the reasons upon which they rest. Lapse of time does not seem to diminish their attractions, or to lesson materially their practical value." Cooley's Preface explains that he came to edit the Commentaries with the awareness …

Hints To Young Lawyers. An Address Delivered To The Senior Class Of The Law Department Of The University Of Michigan, Thomas M. Cooley

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Professor Cooley’s counsel to the gentlemen departing the Law Department: “To those of you who are about to bear away from this institution the certificate of its approbation, I have a few words to say in response to what I understand to be your desire, that my last address should be devoted to such hints of a practical character as may be of service to you in your professional career. The transition from the life of a student to that of a practicing lawyer is so great that it is not possible for one to be too well prepared by …

Law And Lawyers In Society: An Address Delivered Before The Graduating Class Of The Law Department Of The University Of Michigan, March 28, 1866, James V. Campbell

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"We have spent some pleasant time together in searching out the foundations of the law. In studying its principles, you have acquired, I trust, a creditable amount of knowledge upon the special topics which are most likely to claim the attention of active lawyers ...."

"You need never fear to aim to high. The arrow never gravitates upward. The great danger among lawyers is, that they sometimes aim to low...."

Closing Remarks Of Prof J.V. Campbell To The Graduating Class Of The Law Department, March 21st, 1863., James V. Campbell

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[The following remarks of Professor Campbell, at the close of his series of Law Lectures for the present year, having been unanimously requested by the class for publication, were kindly furnished by him. Being extempore, and prompted solely by the feelings and emotions of the hour, it is the wish of those who heard those words of counsel and farewell to publish them, verbatim, as delivered.] ....

"....But among our thoughts the question will arise, To what end have we been spending this long period in searching out and studying the principles of the law? ... Why then have …

Address By Hon. Thomas M. Cooley, And Poem By D. Bethune Duffield, Esq., On The Dedication Of The Law Lecture Hall Of The Michigan University, Thomas M. Cooley, D. Bethune Duffield

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A stirring address by Professor Cooley upon the occasion of the dedication of the Law Lecture Hall of the first Law School Building. He begins: "Students in the Department of Law: While Michigan was yet a wilderness, only feeling along its borders the advancing tread of civilization, and only hearing here and there the sound of the woodman's axe, the wisdom of American statesmen made provision for the establishment in the territory of a great University...."

On The Study Of Law: An Address At The Opening Of The Law Department Of The University Of Michigan, October 3, 1859, James V. Campbell

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Professor Campbell's address on the occasion of the inauguration of the Department of Law at the University of Michigan, laying out the hopes for and expectations of the newly-created unit. He sweeps wide through the history of the State and the nobility of the profession: "Let everyone come to the study of the Law with a proper sense of its dignity and importance."

Brief Of T.M. Cooley, Cook And Waldron V. Hillsdale, 1859, Thomas M. Cooley

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Mr. Cooley writes this Brief as counsel for the Complainants. Cook & Waldron own a grist mill and the Village of Hillsdale feels that the owners "voluntarily" gave leave for a public way to be conducted through the property. Cook & Waldron disagree.