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Full-Text Articles in Legal History

The Appropriations Power And Sovereign Immunity, Paul F. Figley, Jay Tidmarsh May 2009

The Appropriations Power And Sovereign Immunity, Paul F. Figley, Jay Tidmarsh

Michigan Law Review

Discussions of sovereign immunity assume that the Constitution contains no explicit text regarding sovereign immunity. As a result, arguments about the existence-or nonexistence-of sovereign immunity begin with the English and American common-law doctrines. Exploring political, fiscal, and legal developments in England and the American colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this Article shows that focusing on common-law developments is misguided. The common-law approach to sovereign immunity ended in the early 1700s. The Bankers' Case (1690- 1700), which is often regarded as the first modern common-law treatment of sovereign immunity, is in fact the last in the line of English …


Legal Fictions In Pierson V. Post, Andrea Mcdowell Feb 2007

Legal Fictions In Pierson V. Post, Andrea Mcdowell

Michigan Law Review

American courts and citizens generally take the importance of private property for granted. Scholars have sought to explain its primacy using numerous legal doctrines, including natural law, the Lockean principle of a right to the product of one's labor, Law & Economics theories about the incentives created by property ownership, and the importance of bright line rules. The leading case on the necessity of private property, Pierson v. Post, makes all four of these points. This Article argues that Pierson has been misunderstood. Pierson was in fact a defective torts case that the judges shoe-horned into a property mold …


Same Old, Same Old: Scientific Evidence Past And Present, Edward K. Cheng May 2006

Same Old, Same Old: Scientific Evidence Past And Present, Edward K. Cheng

Michigan Law Review

For over twenty years, and particularly since the Supreme Court's Daubert decision in 1993, much ink has been spilled debating the problem of scientific evidence in the courts. Are jurors or, in the alternative, judges qualified to assess scientific reliability? Do courts really need to be concerned about "junk science"? What mechanisms can promote better decision making in scientific cases? Even a cursory scan of the literature shows the recent explosion of interest in these issues, precipitating new treatises, hundreds of articles, and countless conferences for judges, practitioners, and academics. To this literature, Professor Tal Golan adds Laws of Men …


Law's Territory (A History Of Jurisdiction), Richard T. Ford Jan 1999

Law's Territory (A History Of Jurisdiction), Richard T. Ford

Michigan Law Review

Pop quiz: New York City. The United Kingdom. The East Bay Area Municipal Utilities District. Kwazulu, South Africa. The Cathedral of Notre Dame. The State of California. Vatican City. Switzerland. The American Embassy in the U.S.S.R. What do the foregoing items have in common? Answer: they are, or were, all territorial jurisdictions. A thesis of this Article is that territorial jurisdictions - the rigidly mapped territories within which formally defined legal powers are exercised by formally organized governmental institutions - are relatively new and intuitively surprising technological developments. New, because until the development of modern cartography, legal authority generally followed …


Revenge For The Condemned, Sara Sun Beale, Paul H. Haagen May 1996

Revenge For The Condemned, Sara Sun Beale, Paul H. Haagen

Michigan Law Review

A Review of V.A.C. Gatrell, The Hanging Tree: Execution and the English People 1770-1868


English Law In The Age Of The Black Death, 1348-1381: A Transformation Of Governance And Law, Daniel B. Kosove May 1995

English Law In The Age Of The Black Death, 1348-1381: A Transformation Of Governance And Law, Daniel B. Kosove

Michigan Law Review

A Review of English Law in the Age of the Black Death, 1348-1381: A Transformation of Governance and Law by Robert C. Palmer


Executive Detention In Time Of War, Richard A. Posner May 1994

Executive Detention In Time Of War, Richard A. Posner

Michigan Law Review

A Review of In the Highest Degree Odious: Detention Without Trial in Wartime Britain by A.W. Brian Simpson


From Blackstone To Bentham: Common Law Versus Legislation In Eighteenth-Century Britain, James Oldham May 1991

From Blackstone To Bentham: Common Law Versus Legislation In Eighteenth-Century Britain, James Oldham

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Province of Legislation Determined: Legal Theory in Eighteenth Century Britain by David Lieberman


Justice, Mercy, And Late Medieval Governance, Pat Mccune May 1991

Justice, Mercy, And Late Medieval Governance, Pat Mccune

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Kingship, Law, and Society: Criminal Justice in the Reign of Henry V by Edward Powell


Transfers Of Property In Eleventh-Century Norman Law, William John Gallagher May 1989

Transfers Of Property In Eleventh-Century Norman Law, William John Gallagher

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Transfers of Property in Eleventh-Century Norman Law by Emily Zack Tabuteau


Crime And The Courts In England 1660-1800, Frank C. Shaw May 1987

Crime And The Courts In England 1660-1800, Frank C. Shaw

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Crime and the Courts in England 1660-1800 by J.M. Beattie


Conscience And The Law: The English Criminal Jury, Robert C. Palmer Apr 1986

Conscience And The Law: The English Criminal Jury, Robert C. Palmer

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Verdict According to Conscience by Thomas Andrew Green


Their Litigious Society, A.W. Brian Simpson Feb 1985

Their Litigious Society, A.W. Brian Simpson

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Whilton Dispute, 1264-1380: A Social-Legal Study of Dispute Settlement in Medieval England by Robert C. Palmer


The Medieval English County Court, Stephen D. White Mar 1983

The Medieval English County Court, Stephen D. White

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The County Courts of Medieval England, 1150-1350 by Robert C. Palmer


The Feudal Framework Of English Law, Robert C. Palmer Apr 1981

The Feudal Framework Of English Law, Robert C. Palmer

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Legal Framework of English Feudalism by S.F.C, Milsom


Social Research And The Use Of Medieval Criminal Records, Edward Powell Mar 1981

Social Research And The Use Of Medieval Criminal Records, Edward Powell

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Society and Homicide in Thirteenth-Century England by James Buchanan Given, and Crime and Conflict in English Communities, 1300-1348 by Barbara A. Hanawalt


What Causes Fundamental Legal Ideas? Marital Property In England And France In The Thirteenth Century, Charles Donahue Jr. Nov 1979

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 Cardinal's Court: The Impact Of Thomas Wolsey In Star Chamber, Michigan Law Review Mar 1979

The Cardinal's Court: The Impact Of Thomas Wolsey In Star Chamber, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Cardinal's Court: The Impact of Thomas Wolsey in Star Chamber by John A. Guy


The Compulsory Process Clause, Peter Westen Nov 1974

The Compulsory Process Clause, Peter Westen

Michigan Law Review

Part I of this article traces the history of compulsory process, from its origin in the English transition from an inquisitional to an adversary system of procedure to its eventual adoption in the American Bill of Rights. Part II examines the Supreme Court's seminal decision in Washington v. Texas, which recognized after a century and a half of silence that the compulsory process clause was designed to enable the defendant not only to produce witnesses, but to put them on the stand and have them heard. Part III studies the implications of compulsory process for the defendant's case, from the …


Howard: The Road From Runnymede: Magna Carta And Constitutionalism In America, Leonard W. Levy Dec 1969

Howard: The Road From Runnymede: Magna Carta And Constitutionalism In America, Leonard W. Levy

Michigan Law Review

A Review o The Road from Runnymede: Magna Carta and Constitutionalism in America by A.E. Dick Howard


Dawson: A History Of Lay Judges, Spencer L. Kimball Jan 1961

Dawson: A History Of Lay Judges, Spencer L. Kimball

Michigan Law Review

A Review of A History of Lay Judges . By John P. Dawson


The Wills Branch Of The Worthier Title Doctrine, Joseph W. Morris Feb 1956

The Wills Branch Of The Worthier Title Doctrine, Joseph W. Morris

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this article to examine the history and origin of the wills branch of the worthier title doctrine, to ascertain the extent of its application and the manner of its application, to determine the legal consequences flowing therefrom, and to consider the desirability of its continued existence.


Proposed Legislation Regarding State Supervision Of Charities, George Gleason Bogert Mar 1954

Proposed Legislation Regarding State Supervision Of Charities, George Gleason Bogert

Michigan Law Review

In the case of private trusts the dangers of long continued neglect or other breaches are not great. Definite or ascertainable persons have a financial interest in enforcement and can bring suit against the trustee. The beneficiaries are almost inevitably informed of their status soon after the creation of the trust. It is the duty of the trustee to notify them of the trust creation, and court notices, the receipt of benefits, and other incidents of trust administration bring home to the beneficiaries knowledge of their situations. Court accountings or voluntary reports generally keep the cestuis informed as to the …


The Privy Council And Private Law In The Tudor And Stuart Period: Ii, John P. Dawson Mar 1950

The Privy Council And Private Law In The Tudor And Stuart Period: Ii, John P. Dawson

Michigan Law Review

In a previous instalment an attempt was made to describe the main subjects of private litigation dealt with by the English Privy Council under the Tudors and early Stuarts. It was suggested that the subjects were most heterogeneous and that the total volume of such litigation was large. In the present instalment will be discussed, first, the methods used to reduce the volume of private litigation by direct and indirect means; then the powers of coercion possessed by the Privy Council; and finally, its relations to the ordinary courts.


The Privy Council And Private Law In The Tudor And Stuart Periods: I, John P. Dawson Feb 1950

The Privy Council And Private Law In The Tudor And Stuart Periods: I, John P. Dawson

Michigan Law Review

It has been often said that the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries in England were pre-eminently the age of conciliar government. The activities of the Tudor Privy Council extended into every phase of national life and were responsible, more than any other single factor, for the effective organization of an English national state. These activities continued under the first two Stuarts, with no break in institutional development, though they widened the gulf between Crown and people and hastened a revolution.


Wormser: The Law, Michigan Law Review Feb 1950

Wormser: The Law, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

a Review of THE LAW By Rene A. Wormser.


Keeney: Judgment By Peers, Michigan Law Review Jan 1950

Keeney: Judgment By Peers, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of JUDGMENT BY PEERS. By Barnaby C. Keeney.


Place Of Trial Of Civil Cases, William Wirt Blume Nov 1949

Place Of Trial Of Civil Cases, William Wirt Blume

Michigan Law Review

Places involved in a study of place of trial may be classified in various ways. The most general classification is: (1) Places within one sovereignty, (2) Places in different sovereignties. Where there is choice of place within one sovereignty, the only rational basis for making the choice is convenience-convenience of the parties, jurors, witnesses, and of the court itself. The same is true when the choice is between courts of different sovereignties, but without cooperation between the sovereignties rational choice may not be possible. The purpose of this discussion is to compare choice of place in England before 1800 with …


Trustor As Sole Trustee And Only Ascertainable Beneficiary, William F. Fratche May 1949

Trustor As Sole Trustee And Only Ascertainable Beneficiary, William F. Fratche

Michigan Law Review

The Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, one judge dissenting, affirmed a decision of the Board of Tax Appeals holding that a profit arising from sale of the stock was taxable to the settlor individually because the declaration did not create a trust. The majority opinion argued that, although a trust may be created solely for the benefit of unborn or unascertained beneficiaries by a transfer to a third party as trustee, it cannot be done by a declaration of trust. The opinion suggested that a transfer in trust for unborn or unascertained beneficiaries creates only a resulting …


Hastings: The Court Of Common Pleas In Fifteenth Century England, Michigan Law Review Mar 1948

Hastings: The Court Of Common Pleas In Fifteenth Century England, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS IN FIFTEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND. By Margaret Hastings.