Conflict of Laws Commons^™

A Solution To The Yahoo! Problem? The Ec E-Commerce Directive As A Model For International Cooperation On Internet Choice Of Law, Mark F. Kightlinger

Michigan Journal of International Law

Instead of attacking or defending the French or the U.S. courts, this Article proposes to focus on the Yahoo! case from a different perspective. As is argued in Section III.D below, disputes like the Yahoo! case over which country's laws apply to a website and its operator seem likely to proliferate as Internet usage expands, demanding significant enforcement resources from countries and posing important compliance challenges for companies and other organizations operating on the Internet. Thus, it may be useful to consider developing an international agreement that would address, and in many instances resolve, such disputes about "jurisdiction to prescribe” …

Government Contracts-Adoption Of Uniform Commercial Code As The Applicable Federal Law In An Action For Breach Of Government Contract-United States V. Wegematic Corp., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Appellant contracted to supply the Federal Reserve Board with a "truly revolutionary" electronic digital computing system. After twice requesting postponement of the delivery date, appellant informed the Board that delivery under the terms of the contract would be impracticable because of unforeseen engineering difficulties that would require at least one year and one million dollars to overcome. Appellant asked for cancellation of the contract, but the Board refused and brought a suit for damages. Both parties conceded that federal law governed the action; appellant, however, argued that section 2-615 of the Uniform Commercial Code (Code) should be adopted as the …

In Personam Jurisdiction Over Nonresident Manufacturers In Product Liability Actions, Harry B. Cummins

Michigan Law Review

A wide divergence of opinion exists regarding the wisdom as well as the constitutionality of extensive jurisdiction through the use of liberally drafted and construed "long-arm" statutes. Hesitance may result from a fear of burdening a defendant with the inconvenience and expense of a foreign suit brought against him solely for the purpose of harassment. While this comment does not advocate the extent to which a court should assert the jurisdictional powers conferred on it by a given "long-arm" provision, it examines the scope of jurisdiction constitutionally permissible over nonresident manufacturers in product liability cases with a view toward formulating …

An Inquiry Into The Utility Of "Domicile" As A Concept In Conflicts Analysis, Russell J. Weintraub

Michigan Law Review

No attempt is made here to conduct an exhaustive case study of any one particular area in which the concept of "domicile" is used as a tool for analysis in the conflict of laws. A number of thorough and useful studies have been made in narrow areas and are cited at appropriate places in the body of this article. Instead, this article will review the use of "domicile" in analyzing certain typical conflicts problems, particularly its use as the contact or pointing word in choice of law rules concerning the testate and intestate distribution of movables, and, as is newly …

The Conflict Of Laws: A Comparative Study, Second Edition. Volume Three. Special Obligations: Modification And Discharge Of Obligations, Ernst Rabel

Michigan Legal Studies Series

The third volume of Ernst Rabel's comparative treatise on the conflict of laws was originally published in 1950. With the continued support ofThe University of Michigan Law School and the cooperation of the Max-Planck-Institut für auslaändisches und internationals Privatrecht in Hamburg, this second edition of Volume III has been prepared. Plans for the revision of Volumes I and II were made before the death of the author on September 7, 1955, and the work was carried to completion by Dr. Ulrich Drobnig of the staff of the Institut in Hamburg. We were fortunate in obtaining the services of another well-qualified …

Constitutional Law - Commerce Clause - Local Smoke Control Ordinance Not An Undue Burden On Interstate Commerce, John M. Niehuss

Michigan Law Review

In accordance with a scheme of federal ship inspection, appellant possessed certificates which permitted its ships to operate on the Great Lakes and which specified the type of boiler which might be used. While two of its ships were docked in Detroit, smoke was emitted from their boilers in violation of the minimum density and duration requirements of the Detroit Smoke Abatement Code. The equipment which appellant was then using made compliance with the ordinance impossible. When criminal proceedings were instituted against appellant, it brought an action to enjoin the City of Detroit from enforcing the ordinance on the theory …

The Conflict Of Laws: A Comparative Study. Volume Three. Special Obligations: Modification And Discharge Of Obligations, Ernst Rabel

Michigan Legal Studies Series

Among the multitude of conflicts principles that, according to various claims, should determine the law applicable to all contracts, only two have resisted the test of critical analysis. These, indeed, form an adequate groundwork. First, the freedom of parties to choose the law applicable to their contract must be recognized as a general rule without petty restraint. Second, in the absence of such agreement, a contract should be governed by the law most closely connected with its characteristic feature.

The first proposition is essential to the second. To deny party autonomy means rigid conflicts rules created by some superior authority. …

Corporations-Separation Of The Voting Power From Legal And Beneficial Ownership Of Corporate Stock, Richard V. Ehrick S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The Supreme Court of Michigan recently decided the case of Ecclestone v. Indialantic, Inc., the important facts being as follows: in June, 1942, defendant Emmons, owner of 451 shares of the common stock of Indialantic, Inc., a Florida corporation, transferred his entire holding to the Detroit Orthopedic Clinic in payment of an antecedent debt, reserving to himself, however, the sole right to vote the stock until the assets of the corporation were substantially liquidated. In March, 1946, with notice of this reservation of the right to vote, the plaintiff purchased all of these shares from the Clinic and thereby …

Conflict Of Laws-Jurisdiction Over Nonresident Carriers As Limited By Doctrine Of Unreasonable Burden On Interstate Commerce

Michigan Law Review

There is little question today but that a foreign corporation may be subject to suit and a personal judgment in a state where it is doing business if service has been had upon a proper agent of the corporation, designated by law or otherwise. There may be consider able question as to what constitutes "doing business." The fact that the business carried on by a corporation is wholly interstate in character will not prevent that corporation from being subject to service in the same manner as though it were doing intrastate business as well a It also seems clear that …

Book Reviews, Hessel Edward Yntema, Edwin C. Goddard

Michigan Law Review

To Joseph Story goes the credit of having introduced to American and to English law that field which he, following Ulric Huber, denominated the conflict of laws. It should not, however, be forgotten that behind Story lay at least six centuries of continental criticism upon which he drew for his materials. And it should be of peculiar interest to those trained in the Common Law to have pointed out the extent to which this most controversial of subjects was from the outset influenced by the practice of the courts. In the present monograph, originally written in celebration of the seventy …

Selected Cases On The Law Of Negotiable Instruments, Robert E. Bunker

Books

The cases appearing in this volume have been selected primarily for the use of students pursuing the study of Negotiable Instruments and particularly for students in the Law Department of the University of Michigan. They are arranged in order to conform to the plan of instruction now pursued in that Department. The plan to which reference is made is sufficiently indicated by the Table of Contents infra. In brief, it involves a study of the law of Negotiable Instruments on the basis of the contract of the several parties as that law has been declared by the courts and, …

Elements Of The Law Of Negotiable Contracts, Elias Finley Johnson

Books

“The cases here collected and annotated, have been selected by the undersigned, primarily for the use of students in his classes. To make a wise selection of cases from the large number that are to be found upon a particular subject is a most difficult task … It has been attempted here to select, as far as possible, the very earliest cases upon the particular subject, so that the student would thereby be able to get at the reason of the rule without reference to any statutory provisions. Attention is called to the latest cases, however, in the foot notes.” …