Law Commons^™

Legislative Disqualifications As Bills Of Attainder, Francis D. Wormuth

Vanderbilt Law Review

The separation of powers was first introduced into political discussion during the English Civil Wars of the seventeenth century by the political party known as Levellers. The object was to insure that persons be judged by general and prospective rules. If the legislative authority should decide a particular case, it might be tempted through partiality or prejudice to improvise a special rule for the situation. So the separation of powers was intended to achieve that impartiality in government which Aristotle called "the rule of law."

The doctrine of checks and balances was also introduced into political discussion during the Civil …

State Constitutions, State Courts And First Amendment Freedoms, Monrad G. Paulsen

Vanderbilt Law Review

We have recently been reminded that one of the current and recurrent quandaries of the Supreme Court of the United States arises from the American constitutional system's counterpart of the philosophical problem of the One and the Many. When an individual's freedom is involved, the question is whether and to what degree state legislators, public officials and judicial officers shall be called upon to enforce standards of respect for personal liberties defined by the Federal Constitution and the United States Supreme Court; or, put another way, how far the first eight amendments of the Federal Constitution are incorporated into the …

Book Reviews, Carl B. Swisher (Reviewer), Elvin E. Overton (Reviewer), Jay Murphy (Reviewer), Charlotte Williams (Reviewer), Alexander Holtzoff (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Book Reviews

LIONS UNDER THE THRONE

By Charles P. Curtis, Jr.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1947. Pp. xviii, 368. $3.50

MR. JUSTICE BLACK: THE MAN AND His OPINIONS

By John P. Frank (Introduction by Charles A. Beard)

New York: Knopf Company, 1949.Pp. xix, 357. $4.00

ON UNDERSTANDING THE SUPREME COURT

By Paul A. Freund

Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1949. Pp. vi, 130. $3.00

MELVILLE VESTON FULLER: CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES, 1888-1919

By Willard L. King

New York: Macmillan Company, 1950. Pp.394. $5.00

CHIEF JUSTICE STONE AND THE SUPREME COURT

By Samuel J. Konefsky (Prefatory Note by Charles A. …

Actions For Wrongful Death In Tennessee, William T. Gamble

Vanderbilt Law Review

Familiar to most lawyers is the bit of law-lore to the effect that the reason the earliest Pullman cars were so constructed that passengers slept with their heads towards the front of the train was so that they would be killed rather than merely injured if an accident occurred.' Although the reason assigned for the Pullman Company's practice is purely fictitious the logic of the fiction is sound, for the common law gave no civil action for a wrongfully inflicted injury if death occurred before a judgment was recovered, and it thus was cheaper to kill a person than to …

Reformation Of Voluntary Conveyances, Henry D. Bell

Vanderbilt Law Review

It has frequently been stated that equity will not reform a conveyance which is merely voluntary and based on no consideration.' As thus broadly stated the rule is manifestly inaccurate, for it is universally recognized that a grantor is entitled to have a voluntary conveyance reformed. Moreover,the rule is unhelpful and even misleading, for it does not define the term "voluntary" and it ignores a line of authority which allows reformation of concededly voluntary conveyances in favor of parties other than the grantor.

The continued recital of this rule is probably due to a spontaneous reaction of abhorrence on the …

Legal Problems Raised By Artificial Rainmaking, Gus D. Hatfield Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The first reported decision involving the problem of the liability in law of the modern rainmaker has recently been rendered.' Though other disputes are reported to have arisen, they have not been finally decided in any regularly reported case.

The case was before the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of New York, the dispute having arisen out of experiments artificially to induce rainfall conducted by the City of New York during the recent, much publicized water shortage in that city. Plaintiffs, who were owners of a vacation resort in upper New York State, sought to enjoin these experiments on …

The Right Of A Businessman To Lower The Price Of His Goods, Stanley D. Rose

Vanderbilt Law Review

The present actions being taken to mark the transition from cold to hot war are settling a number of problems and creating a host of others. The direction of our national effort within the economy will shift to production; our normal interest would be in distribution. This shift will not mean that the antitrust laws will be entirely suspended. There remain certain vital functions of protecting whole classes of citizens during the coming years of stress and for that day when once again we return to our new two-cars-for-every-family ideal.

'But it cannot be denied that a discussion of lowering …

Bases For Master's Liability And For Principal's Liability To Third Persons, Merton Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The law with regard to principal and agent grew up as part and parcel of the law of contracts. The law with regard to master and servant grew up as part and parcel of the law of torts. Each one takes its origin far back in the history of the common law.

Agents were used in an early day to effect livery of seisin, to create covenants, and to carry on commercial transactions. The terms "principal" and "agent" may be of modern origin. But the power of one person to bind another in legal transactions was familiar in the days …

Intrinsic And Extrinsic Fraud And Relief Against Judgments, Harold C. Dedman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Closely akin to the doctrine of res adjudicata is that which will not allow a court of equity to grant relief against a fraudulently acquired judgment unless the fraud is shown to have been "extrinsic" or collateral rather than "intrinsic" fraud. According to this rule, to warrant equitable relief against a judgment on the ground of fraud, it must appear that the fraud was practiced in the very act of obtaining the judgment. Relief is granted on the theory that through fraud extrinsic and collateral to the actual proceedings before the court, the unsuccessful party has been prevented from fully …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Attorney and Client--Unauthorized Practice of Law--Drafting of Legal Instruments by Realtors

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Bailments--Bailee for Hire--Validity of Contract Provision Limiting Liability for Negligence

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Brokers (Real Estate)--Statement that Principal Might Take Less than List Price as Breach of Fiduciary Obligation--Breach as Defense to Action for Commission

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Corporations--Preferred Stock--Cancellation of Accrued Dividends by Charter Amendment

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Criminal Law--Evidence--Admissibility of Uncommunicated Threats under Plea of Self-Defense

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Domestic Relations--Consortium Right of Wife to Sue for Loss Due to Negligent Injury to Husband

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Eminent Domain--Lessee as Condemnor--Requirement that Compensation be Given for Improvements to Land Made by Lessee

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Evidence--Unanswered Letters--Admissibility on …

Book Reviews, William J. Bowa Reviewer, Emmett Conner (Reviewer), Charles K. Cosner (Reviewer), Charles E. Clark (Reviewer), Joseph Trachman (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Minimum Standards of Judicial Administration

Edited by Arthur T. Vanderbilt

Published by The Law Center of New York University for The National Conference of Judicial Councils, 1949. Pp. xxxii,752. $7.50

reviewer: William J. Bowa

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Availability for Work

By Ralph Altman

Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1950. Pp. 350. $4.50

reviewer: Emmett Conner, Charles K. Cosner

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Forrester's Edition of Dobie and Ladd's Cases and Materials on Federal Jurisdiction and Procedure

By Ray Forrester

St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 1950, Pp. vii, 990. $8.50

reviewer: Charles E. Clark

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Life Insurance and Estate Tax Planning

By William J. Bowe

Nashville: Vanderbilt …