Law Commons^™

Legislatures And Legal Change: The Reform Of Divorce Law, Carl E. Schneider

Michigan Law Review

A Review of A Silent Revolution: Routine Policy Making and the Transformation of Divorce Law in the United States by Herbert Jacob

The Legal History Of The Family, Lee E. Teitelbaum

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Governing the Hearth: Law and the Family in Nineteenth-Century America by Michael Grossberg

Heartbalm Statutes And Deceit Actions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note considers whether actions in deceit based on fraudulent marriage promises should be deemed barred by the heartbalm statutes. It determines that they should not. Part I examines the policies and arguments against the common law breach of promise to marry action that are embodied in the heartbalm statutes and looks at the limits courts have placed on the reach of the statutes. Part II re-examines the deceit action in light of the purposes of the heartbalm acts and their intended scope, as well as in light of criticism of the action by the courts and commentators. In particular, …

The Unnecessary Doctrine Of Necessaries, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that neither the traditional nor the modem necessaries doctrines are justifiable in contemporary society. Part I investigates the practical effects of both the traditional and contemporary necessaries doctrines and demonstrates that neither is an effective mechanism for providing support to a needy spouse. While a more successful support remedy might be devised to replace modem and traditional versions of the necessaries rule, Part II shows that yet another reformulation would not be worthwhile because the theoretical underpinnings of the doctrine are faulty. There is no persuasive evidence to establish the existence of the narrow support problem the …

The Marriage Contract, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of the The Marriage Contract by Lenore J. Weitzman

Illegitimacy: An Examination Of Bastardy, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Illegitimacy: An Examination of Bastardy by Jenny Teichman

The Constitutional Status Of Marriage, Kinship, And Sexual Privacy -- Balancing The Individual And Social Interests, Bruce C. Hafen

Michigan Law Review

Today's lopsided competition between the individual and social interests has made the law a party to the contemporary haze that clouds our vision of what a family is or should be. In that sense, recent legal developments have contributed to the crisis Stanley Hauerwas has identified regarding American family life today - our inability to define "what kind of family should exist" and our inability to articulate ''why we should think of [the family] as our most basic moral institution."

In response to those two questions, this Article considers whether, as a constitutional matter, the courts should recognize claims by …

What Causes Fundamental Legal Ideas? Marital Property In England And France In The Thirteenth Century, Charles Donahue Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Categorizing broadly, the marital property systems of the Western nations today are divided into two types: those in which husband and wife own all property separately except those items that they have expressly agreed to hold jointly (in a nontechnical sense) and those in which husband and wife own a substantial portion or even all of their property jointly unless they have expressly agreed to hold it separately. The system of separate property is the "common law" system, in force in most jurisdictions where the Anglo-American common law is in force. The system of joint property is the community property …

The Haitian Vacation: The Applicability Of Sham Doctrine To Year-End Divorces, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines the propriety of applying the sham doctrine to tax-motivated divorces. Section I outlines the evolution of the sham doctrine from its exposition in Gregory v. Helvering through its expression in two different tests for commercial transactions. Section II then studies the relationship between state divorce law and the marital status provisions of the Internal Revenue Code to demonstrate the clear congressional preference for incorporating state law by reference rather than creating an independent federal law of marriage. It also examines the history of the 1969 Tax Reform Act in a vain effort to discern a congressional desire …

Prohibiting Nonaccess Testimony By Spouses: Does Lord Mansfield's Rule Protect Illegitimates?, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Not surprisingly, there has been widespread disagreement concerning the validity of the policies advanced in support of Lord Mansfield's Rule and the efficacy of the rule to promote those policies. This Note assesses the validity of this rule of evidence in order to determine whether it is the most appropriate method of safeguarding the interests affected by the litigation of legitimacy. First, the historical development and justifications for Lord Mansfield's Rule are identified, and, in section II, the extent of the current acceptance of the rule in the United States is delineated. Section III analyzes traditional arguments advanced in support …

Comparative Reflections Of The "New Matrimonial Jurisprudence" Of The Roman Catholic Church, Charles Donahue Jr.

Michigan Law Review

A recent review of some developments in the law of the Roman Catholic Church concerning the annulment of marriages suggested to me that these developments might be of interest to an audience wider than that composed of those professionally or religiously concerned with the activities of the Church's tribunals. In particular, these developments may reveal something about the problem of incorporating the findings of modern psychology and psychiatry into a legal system, about the ways courts behave when confronted with social change, and perhaps even about the problematic relationship between law and morality. What follows, then, is a series of …

Rheinstein: Marriage Stability, Divorce, And The Law, Robert F. Drinan, Michael Wheeler

Michigan Law Review

A Book Review of Marriage Stability, Divorce, and the Law by Max Rheinstein

Widow's Succession In Common-Law Property State To Husband's Rights In Her Half Of Community Property Is Taxable And Valued At One-Half Of Entire Community--In Re Kessler's Estate, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

While residing with his wife in California, decedent purchased stock, which under California law became community property. The couple later moved to Ohio, a common-law property state, where decedent died. An Ohio probate court approved the executor's determination that the widow's one-half interest in the stock was not subject to the Ohio succession tax. On appeal by the state tax commissioner to the Ohio Supreme Court, held, reversed, three judges dissenting. A wife's succession to her husband's right to manage and control her half of the community property is subject to the Ohio succession tax on joint and survivorship …

Net Operating Loss Sustained By Taxpayer Prior To Marriage Cannot Be Applied Subsequently Against Spouse's Income- Calvin V. United States, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Prior to marriage, plaintiff-wife sustained net operating losses which she was entitled to carry over under section 172 of the Internal Revenue Code. For the year 1959, the plaintiffs filed a joint return in which they applied the wife's net operating loss carryover deduction to both of their incomes. The Commissioner allowed the loss carryover to be applied to the wife's but not to the husband's income. In a suit for refund of taxes withheld from the husband's wages, held, judgment for defendant. If a husband and wife elect to file a joint return, net operating losses sustained by …

Marital Deduction Formula Clauses In Estate Planning-Estate And Income Tax Considerations, Alan N. Polasky

Michigan Law Review

Once upon a time, and not so very long ago, a child was born, much to the delight of its lawyer-parents. As children will, it brought much joy and only occasional moments of dismay and concern during its early, formative years. But one day it entered the terrible teens, and at age sixteen it became, like many teen-agers, baffling, confusing, and frustrating, giving rise to frenzied attempts to cope with and control the complexities of its behavior. Its name? The Federal Estate Tax Marital Deduction.

Reasonable Separation Agreement Executed On Understanding That Wife Would Obtain Foreign Divorce Is Invalid-Viles V. Viles, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In July 1951, plaintiff and her husband, both New York residents, separated under a temporary agreement entitling the wife to 400 dollars a month for support. Soon thereafter, the husband urged his wife to divorce him, but she would not assent unless he raised her support payments to 459 dollars per month. This increase was embodied in a permanent separation agreement, executed in October 1951, which the husband signed on the oral understanding that the wife would obtain a divorce in the Virgin Islands. The wife journeyed to the Virgin Islands and, in December 1951, obtained a valid divorce decree. …

Negligence - Interspousal Tort Immunity - Action By Wife Against Deceased Husband's Estate, Charles E. Voltz

Michigan Law Review

When the automobile driven by plaintiff's husband collided with another vehicle, plaintiff's husband was killed and she was seriously injured and rendered mentally incompetent. Plaintiff's guardian brought a negligence action for her injuries against the other driver, who impleaded the administrator of her husband's estate as a third-party defendant. The trial court denied administrator's pre-trial motion for summary judgment, and subsequently entered judgment against the administrator. On certification, held, affirmed. The doctrine of tort immunity between spouses is based on a policy of preserving domestic peace and harmony and preventing fraudulent collusion against insurance companies, and does not apply …

Real Property - Adverse Possession - Title Acquired By Husband And Wife, Richard S. Rosenthal, George F. Lynch S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

John and Maltie Preston moved onto a parcel of land in 1910 where they lived until 1950 when John died intestate. Maltie died intestate in 1954. Title to the land had been perfected by twenty years adverse possession. Evidence showed that the adverse possession was intended to inure to their joint benefit. Complainants, collateral heirs of John, sued in ejectment claiming that John took the whole title by exclusive adverse possession. Defendants, collateral heirs of Maltie, claimed a tenancy by the entirety had been created, with the survivor, Maltie, becoming the sole owner. The court of appeals ruled that the …

Wills - Religious Conditions In Restraint Of Marriage - Validity At Common Law And Effect Of Shelley V. Kraemer, Jack G. Armstrong S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Testator devised and bequeathed his property to his children, but with a proviso that the gift to any child who should marry a person not born in the Hebrew faith should lapse. Subsequent to the testator's death, the defendant married a woman who had been born a Roman Catholic. The other beneficiaries brought a proceeding to declare that the defendant had lost his rights under the will by reason of his marriage. The probate court granted a decree substantially as sought by the plaintiffs. On appeal, held, affirmed. This partial restraint on marriage is not so unreasonable as to …

Negligence-Liability For Negligence Of Minor Driver Imputed To Person Signing M:Rnor's Application For Driver's License, George D. Miller, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

A father signed his daughter's application for a driver's license in accordance with the terms of a Utah statute, which required that the application for a minor's driver's license be signed by the parent or guardian, and imputed liability for the minor's negligence or wilful misconduct to the person signing the application. Before the daughter reached her majority (i.e., eighteenth birthday), the following events took place: (1) her mother was given sole custody of her in a divorce action; (2) she married; and (3) she negligently drove her car against the plaintiff, who brought suit against the daughter, her husband, …

The Fourteenth Amendment And The "Separate But Equal" Doctrine, Joseph S. Ransmeier

Michigan Law Review

Recent cases in which the Court has overthrown enforced separation in public higher education on the ground of inequality but without consideration of the merits of the separate but equal rule have been the occasion for an outpouring of law review discussion on the subject. The present paper is a part of this stream. Its purpose is two-fold: first, to set forth the judicial history of the modern separate but equal rule, noting its pre-Fourteenth Amendment origin and the rather uncritical manner in which courts permitted it to infiltrate its way from one area of the law to another; and …

Coming Into Equity With Clean Hands, Zechariah Chafee, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

The preceding article proposed to examine eighteen differing groups of cases which are commonly supposed to present the clean hands doctrine as a maxim of equity, and then proceeded to consider eight such groups. Ten groups still require attention. The first five of those already considered fell within the exclusive jurisdiction of equity, and the next three within the concurrent jurisdiction, which is continued for a considerable part of the present article. After discussing suits for specific performance of unfair contracts and of illegal contracts, I dealt with miscellaneous tort suits by a person charged with crime. We now turn …

Conflict Of Laws-Application Of Estoppel To Invalid Divorces-Mexican "Mail Order" Divorce, Charles E. Becraft S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff and defendant, who wished to marry, persuaded defendant's wife to agree to a Mexican "mail order" divorce. The spouses executed and delivered powers of attorney to counsel residing in Mexico, where a divorce was granted and the decree mailed back to New York. Neither of the parties went to Mexico, nor did the decree of the Mexican court recite presence or domicile of either spouse. Upon learning that the decree had been granted, plaintiff and defendant were married in Virginia and then returned to New York, their state of domicile. In 1946, the plaintiff commenced this action, asking for …