Legislation Commons^™

The Courts As Authorized Legal Advisors Of The People, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

It is doubtful whether American legal institutions have witnessed a more far-reaching procedural reform since New York adopted its Code of Civil Procedure in 1848, than the movement toward the authorization of judicial declarations of rights which has received its chief impetus from legislation enacted in three American States during the past year. A somewhat timid step in this direction was taken by the New Jersey Chancery Practice Act of 1915, but it disclosed a want of confidence in the broad effectiveness of the remedy. Now for the first time American legislation has definitely committed itself to the principle that …

Enactment In West Virginia Of More Of The United States Laws, H. C. J.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Religious Liberty In The American Law, Carl Zollman

Michigan Law Review

It remains to examine the application of this principle* to particu- 1 lar offenses. Statutes have been passed against blasphemy and offenders have been prosecuted under them. This, as said in a Massachusetts case, has not been done "to prevent or restrain the formation of any opinions or the profession of any religious sentiments whatever but to restrain and punish acts which have a tendency to disturb the public peace.185 To prohibit the open, public, and explicit denial of the-popular religion of a country is a necessary measure to preserve the tranquility of a government. Of this no person in …

The Federal Bankruptcy Act And Its Effect On State Insolvency Laws, Evans Holbrook

Articles

Since Sturgis v. Crowninshield, 4 Wheat. 122, it has been clear that State Insolvency Laws were valid (within certain well-defined limits) during the non-existence of a Federal Bankruptcy Act, and that upon the enactment of a Federal Bankruptcy Act the State laws were superseded and suspended so far as they were in conflict with the Federal legislation. The difficulty has been in determining when there was such conflict, and it has arisen in various ways. For instance, the Federal Bankruptcy Act permits any natural person to become a voluntary bankrupt, but provides that no involuntary proceedings shall be taken against …

Note And Comment, Ralph W. Aigler, John B. Waite, Eugene B. Hewitt

Michigan Law Review

State Legislation Extending to Navigable Waters - In Southern Pacific Company v. Jensen, 37 Sup. Ct. -, decided May 21, 1917, the Supreme Court announces a decision in some respects of far reaching importance. It was held therein, Mr. Justice HOL.Es dissenting, that the WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION AcT of the State of New York did not support an award to the widow and children of a workman killed on board a ship of the' Company while at the pier in New York City. Clearly the terms of the New York act covered the case, unless the fact that the accident occurred …

The Ohio "Blue Sky" Cases, Clarence D. Laylin

Michigan Law Review

The ancient notion that private fraud lies beyond the domain of public law did not long survive the statements of it that have been quoted.' Our legislation, expressing always the changing moral standards of the people, has directed the sanctions of the criminal law, step by step, ever against new forms of overreaching and imposition. Numerous illustrations might be cited to show the growing repugnance of the public mind toward frauds and cheats, and the tendency to recognize them as offenses invoking the restraint of public action as well as the redress of private injuries.

Michigan's Adoption Of Uniform State Legislation, George W. Bates

Michigan Law Review

The commissioners on Uniform State Laws have just filed their fourth Biennial Report to the Legislature of Michigan. This Conference is a body composed of representatives of each State, Territory and Federal possession, who meet in annual conference under a permanent organization commonly designated the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. The twenty-sixth annual meeting was held in Chicago last August. The commissioners consist very largely of lawyers and judges of standing and experience and of law teachers from some of the principal law schools. There are usually three representatives from each State or Territory, appointed for terms of three to …

Direct Primary Legislation In Michigan, Arthur C. Millspaugh

Michigan Law Review

The first local direct nomination law in Michigan was passed ir 1901; the first general law in 1905. The public opinion, however, which looked to the abolition of the convention system of nomination, rather than to its legal regulation, had its inception as early as 1894. The unusually objectionable primaries of that year led to a pronounced but unorganized agitation for reform, in the course of which a few of the most radical proposed to abolish absolutely all conventions.1 The legislature of 1895 contented itself, however, with attempting the regulation of primaries and conventions, leaving most of the nominating machinery …

Note And Comment, Edgar N. Durfee, Harry J. Connine, Harry R. Hewitt, George C. Claassen

Michigan Law Review

The Mortgages in Possession in New York and in Michigan - It is interesting to observe how tenaciously the old common law of mortgages has persisted in the state of New York, the very cradle of the modem lien theory of the mortgage. As early as 18o2 Chancellor KENT began the importation into that state of Lord MANSFIELD'S Civil Law doctrines of mortgage. Johnson v. Hart, 3 Johns. Cas. 322. In 1814, in the case of Runyan v. Mersereau, ii Johns. 534, the lien theory definitely triumphed over the old law. In other cases, both before and since the statute …

The Michigan Judicature Act Of 1915, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

IN 1848 a wave of reform in judicial procedure began to sweep over the United States. In that year the legislature of New York enacted the Code of Civil Procedure, a statute of far-reaching importance, for it became the source of and the model for similar legislation in almost two-thirds of the States in the Union.

Corporations And Express Trusts: As Business Organizations, Horace La Fayette Wilgus

Books

No abstract provided.

The Proposed Michigan Judicature Act, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

The Michigan Legislature, at its last session, passed an act (No. 286, Public Acts of 1913) providing for the appointment of a Commission to revise and consolidate the laws of the State relating to procedure. The Governor appointed Alva M. Cummins, J. Clyde Watt, and Mark W. Stevens as members of this commission, and the result of their labors has just appeared in the form of a proposed bill regulating the entire subject of procedure in all the courts of the State. The bill is a long one, embracing 565 printed pages, but it is much less voluminous than the …

The Form Of Summons Under The Recent Michigan Judicature Act, W. Gordon Stoner

Articles

It would be rather remarkable if in revising such a large portion of the statutes as was undertaken by the Commission on Revision and Consolidation of Statutes of the State of Michigan, appointed in 1913, which reported to the legislature the recently enacted Judicature Act (Public Acts of Michigan, 1915, § 314), some ambiguity or uncertainty were not to appear in the revision. The Judicature Act is no exception to the general rule, as the lawyer who attempts to begin suit by summons under it will discover at the very outset.

Legislating The Incumbent Out Of Office, W. Gordon Stoner

Michigan Law Review

Under the English common law the officer's right or interest in the office which he held was regarded as a property right, an incorporeal hereditament. Largely because of the inherent difference between the nature and incidents of the public office at common law and those of the public office in this country, this conception never gained general acceptance here. In a few cases, and particularly in the decisions of the courts of North Carolina, offices have been asserted to be the property of the rightful incumbent. In these decisions the officer's right has been regarded as less absolute, perhaps, than …

Legislating The Incumbent Out Of Office, W. Gordon Stoner

Articles

Under the English common law the officer's right or interest in the office which he held was regarded as a property right, an incorporeal hereditament.1 Largely because of the inherent difference between the nature and incidents of the public office at common law and those of the public office in this country, this conception never gained general acceptance here.2 In a few cases,3 and particularly in the decisions of the courts of North Carolina,4 offices have been asserted to be the property of the rightful incumbent. In these decisions the officer's right has been regarded as less absolute, perhaps, than …

Construction Of 'Survival Act' And 'Death Act' In Michigan, Thomas A. Bogle

Articles

It is known as the "Death Act." It was enacted in i848, amended in 1873, and follows closely Lord Campbell's Act. In the, construction of these acts, troublesome questions have arisen, difficulties have been encountered, different theories urged, different views entertained, different conclusions reached, and different opinions rendered, respecting the number of actions that can be maintained under them, the circumstances that invoke one rather than the other, the measure of damages applicable, respectively, and certain questions of practice as to the joinder of counts and the amendment of pleadings. The statement would hardly he justified that all these questions …

Constitutionality Of Legislation Designating Time And Manner Of Payment Of Wages, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

Not infrequently the legislatures of various states have deemed it advisable to provide by law for the time and manner of payment of wages of men engaged in certain designated employments; and these laws have been the cause of considerable litigation. Their validity has been challenged mainly on the ground of deprivation of property without due process of law and denial of the equal protection of the law, the contention being that the refusal of the privilege of contracting for the manner and time of payment is a deprivation of liberty and property, and the classification of men in certain …

Divorce Laws And The Increase Of Divorce, Evans Holbrook

Articles

Along with the condemnation of the divorce evil has gone a very general disposition to condemn our divorce laws as being responsible for the evil. The committee on resolutions of the Congress on Uniform Divorce Laws in its report to the Congress at its adjourned session in Philadelphia, November 13, 1906, speaks of the "many evils engendered by the lax and unphilosophic system prevailing in many of the states."3 On this phase of the question also our late president gave his views in his special message to Congress on January 30, 1905, in the following words: "There is a wide-spread …

Characteristics And Constitutionality Of Medical Legislation, Harry B. Hutchins

Articles

Right to practice medicine regulated by statute.--In the absence of a statute upon the subject, any person is at liberty to practice medicine or surgery or both. This is the common law. And yet in the absence of a statute the physician necessarily assumes certain responsibilities that grow out of his relation to those whom he treats. He is bound to bring to the discharge of his duties the learning, skill and diligence usually possessed and exercised by physicians similarly situated. In other words, while in the absence of statutory regulation, the door of the profession is open to all, …

Combination Among Physicians To Fix Prices For Professional Services, Harry B. Hutchins

Articles

The case of Rohlf v. Kasemeer et al., decided by the Supreme Court of Iowa, November 18, 1908, and reported in 118 N. W. Rep., p. 276, although primarily upon the construction of a local statute, involves a question of general interest. The plaintiff therein, who is a physician, together with thirteen others of the same profession, all residing and practicing in the same county, entered into an agreement, combination or understanding, the terms of which are not given, but the object of which was to fix and maintain the fees and charges to be exacted for medical and surgical …

Founding Of The College Of Law Of The Ohio State University, Horace Lafayette Wilgus

Articles

It is proper for me to say, in the beginning, that I have been delegated to bear, and I have the honor to present to the College of Law of the Ohio State University, upon this occasion the sincere congratulations and most hearty good wishes of the largest University Law School in the United States--the Department of Law of the University of Michigan. In addition to this, it is with much satisfaction, and is a very great personal pleasure, that I have the privilege of joining in the festivities of this dedication of the beautiful Temple of Themis, wherein the …

Constitutional And Legislative Limitations Of The Home Rule Charter In Minnesota, Charles P. Hall

Michigan Law Review

I regret exceedingly that I am not able, in the scope of these observations, to include all the states of the American Union, where the home-rule charters have been permitted as a method of city government; but unfortunately my vision has not passed beyond the horizon of my own state, and the workings of the home­rule system in other states must be left as a subject for future study and comparison. With pardonable pride, however, it may be said that the State of Minnesota, while she has erred with her sister commonwealths in experimental over-legislation, has nevertheless recently placed upon …

Note And Comment, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Lesson in Patriotism from Pennsylvania; The Effect of a Motion by Each Party for a Directed Verdict; The Right of Privacy; Mutual Mistake as to the Quantity of Land Conveyed; The Privilege; Riparian Owner's Title to Contiguous Islands;

A National Incorporation Law, Horace L. Wilgus

Books

Horace L. Wilgus argues that corporations need to be regulated on the national level.

Municipal Crisis In Ohio, John Archibald Fairlie

Michigan Law Review

On June 26th, 1902, the supreme court of Ohio rendered three decisions which precipitated a crisis in municipal affairs in that state. For, by these decisions, the court virtually overruled a long line of precedents, and laid down a principle under which scarcely a city in the state possessed a constitutional government. In consequence, the legislature was summoned in extraordinary session to enact a new municipal code for all the cities and villages in the state. The situation was unparalleled, even in American history; and the task before the general assembly was doubtless the most important single act ofmlnicip,- 1,egislati_u …

A Treatise On The Constitutional Limitations Which Rest Upon The Legislative Power Of The States Of The American Union, Thomas M. Cooley

Books

In the Preface to the first edition of this work. the author stated its purpose to be, to furnish to the practitioner and the student of the law such a presentation of elementary constitutional principles as should serve, with the aid of its references to judicial decisions, legal treatises, and historical events, as a convenient guide in the examination of questions respecting the constitutional limitations which rest upon the power of the several State legislatures. …

Preface to the 4th Edition: "New topics in State Constitutional Law are not numerous; but such as are suggested by recent decisions have been …

James T. Fant V. The Auditor Of Public Accounts, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

Two district attorneys complained that they were unlawfully deprived of their salary when the number of attorneys was reduced from thirteen to eleven by legislative action -- $1200 each. With the reduction in number of attorneys came the move to limit these two attorneys to service only in their counties of residence and a reduction in salary to $100 each. "When by law provision has been made for a certain number, and they have been lawfully chosen, they are protected for the term, as they would have been had the constitution itself indicated how many there should be."

Griswold V. Bay City, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

1. RIGHT OF OWNERS OF ADJOINING LOTS TO MATERIAL TAKEN FROM STREETS - SALE OF SAME BY CITY. - In grading a street for the purpose of paving, it was necessary to remove earth which the city had no occasion for, and the street commissioner sold the same to a party who removed and used it. In an action to recover the purchase-price the purchaser defended, claiming that the city did not own the earth, but that it was owned by the adjoining lot-owners. There was no showing that the earth was of any peculiar value, nor did it appear …

A Treatise On The Constitutional Limitations Which Rest Upon The Legislative Power Of The States Of The American Union, Thomas M. Cooley

Books

In the Preface to the first edition of this work. the author stated its purpose to be, to furnish to the practitioner and the student of the law such a presentation of elementary constitutional principles as should serve, with the aid of its references to judicial decisions, legal treatises, and historical events, as a convenient guide in the examination of questions respecting the constitutional limitations which rest upon the power of the several State ·legislatures. In the accomplishment of that purpose, the author further stated that he had faithfully endeavored to give the law as it had been settled by …

A Treatise On The Constitutional Limitations Which Rest Upon The Legislative Power Of The States Of The American Union, Thomas M. Cooley

Books

“In these pages the author has faithfully endeavored to state the law as it has been settled by the authorities, rather than to present his own views. At the same time he will not attempt to deny -- what will probably be sufficiently apparent -- that he has written in full sympathy with all those restraints which the caution of the fathers has imposed upon the exercise of the powers of government, and with greater faith in the checks and balances of our republican system, and in correct conclusions by the general public sentiment, than in a judicious, prudent, and …