Comparative and Foreign Law Commons^™

International Law - Validity Of Soviet Decrees

Michigan Law Review

The Soviet government, by a nationalization decree, confiscated all oil lands in Russia, among them the land of plaintiffs, Russian nationals, and sold oil extracted therefrom to defendant. Plaintiffs sought an accounting, claiming that the confiscatory decrees of the unrecognized Soviet government and seizure of oil lands thereunder had no legal effect. A communication from the State Department was introduced: "The Department of State is cognizant of the fact that the Soviet regime is exercising control and power in territory of the former Russian Empire and the Department of State has no disposition to ignore that fact. The refusal of …

Alternative Parties And The Common Law Hangover, Dale E. Bennett

Michigan Law Review

Professor Edson R. Sunderland stated in 1920 that a glaring failure chargeable to the legal profession in America was "its ignorance and indifference to improvements in procedural practice developed in other jurisdictions," pointing out that while discoveries by foreign scholars in the field of medicine were eagerly accepted, similar innovations in the field of law were uniformly ignored regardless of merit. Such apathy is largely attributable to the legislatures, but the courts cannot be given an entirely clean bill of health, for attempted procedural reforms have often been nullified, in whole or in part, by technical construction and an attempted …

Constitutional Law-Force And Effect Of Clauses Providing For Payment Of Private Indebtedness In Gold

Michigan Law Review

A recent English case decided in the Court of Appeal, In re Société lntercommunale Belge D'Eléctricité, Feist v. The Company, suggests questions of interesting application to American constitutional law. In that case a debtor's obligation specified payment "in sterling in gold coin of the United Kingdom of or equal to the standard of weight and fineness existing on September 1, 1928." When payment became due, however, gold was no longer available - England had discontinued gold payments and left the gold monetary standard, gold was subject to being commandeered by the government, and gold coins were redeemable at …

Constitutional Law-Federal Instrumentality- Mcculloch V. Maryland In Canada And Australia, Alden L. Powell

Michigan Law Review

The British North America Act of 1867 expressly exempts from taxation certain governmental instrumentalities. Section 125 of that Act provides that "no Lands or Property belonging to Canada or any Province shall be liable to taxation." This restriction applies to both Dominion and Provincial governments. W. H. P. Clement writes that this provision was a precautionary measure "to prevent the Dominion from levying taxes for federal purposes upon property held by the Crown for provincial purposes, and vice versa. It would operate no doubt to exempt from custom's duties goods purchased abroad by a provincial government. . . . " …

Limitation Of Actions And The Conflict Of Laws, Edgar H. Ailes

Michigan Law Review

All civilized States, in the interest of an efficient administration of justice, have felt compelled to fix time limits beyond which access to their courts would be denied to aggrieved parties. Interest reipublicae ut sit finis litium. This was true even of Roman law in which actions were normally perpetual. Since the limitations enacted by various legislatures differ widely, and since debts are transitory, permitting suit wherever the creditor can find the debtor (at least in countries where the Common Law prevails), it is of the first practical importance that definite rules of Conflict of Laws be evolved to …

The New Spanish Constitution And International Obligations, Jesse S. Reeves

Michigan Law Review

The promulgation of a Constitution for the Republic of Spain, of date of December 9, 1931, invites attention to certain provisions therein relating to international law, treaties, and related topics.

The Constitution of Esthonia, dated June 15, 1920, Article 4, contains apparently the earliest constitutional provision as to the relation of international to the municipal law: "The universally recognized general rules of international law are an integral part of the laws of Esthonia." The German Constitution of August II, 1920, Article 4, provides that "the generally recognized rules of international law are valid as binding constituent parts of the law …