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Note And Comment, Edson R. Sunderland, Horace Lafayette Wilgus, John B. Waite, Ralph W. Aigler, Joseph H. Drake

Michigan Law Review

Repeals by Implication - Prohibition in Michigan - At the November election of. 1916 the people of the state of Michigan ratified the following amendment to the constitution of that state: "The manufacture, sale, giving away, bartering or furnishing of any vinous, malt, brewed, fermented, spiritous or intoxicating liquors, except for medicinal, mechanical, chemical, scientific or sacramental purposes shall be after April thirty, nineteen hundred eighteen, prohibited in the State forever. The Legislature shall by law provide regulations for the sale of such liquors for medicinal, mechanica, cheinical, scientific and sacramental purposes."

Religious Liberty In The American Law, Carl Zollman

Michigan Law Review

When the convention which framed the federal constitution assembled in Philadelphia in 1787 religious tests as a qualification for office were actually a part of the constitutions of most of the thirteen original states.' While Massachusetts2 and%,Maryland3 required from certain state officers only a declaration of a belief in the Christian religion, the fundamental law of Georgia, New Hampshire, New Jersey and North Carolina4 limited such belief to the Protestant religion and was designed to require a positive and affirmative test and not merely the negative qualification of not being a Roman Catholic.0 The Delaware, North Carolina and Pennsylvania constitutions7 …

Effect At The Situs Rei, Of A Decree Ordering Conveyance Of Foreign Land, Edgar N. Durfee

Articles

In a recent article in this Review, Prof. Willard Barbour discussed the question indicated by the above title. His cbnclusions may be-briefly slated as follows: that such a decree of a competent court having jurisdiction of the person of the defendant creates a personal obligation upon the defendant which a court of equity at the situs should enforce just as it would a contract or trust concerning this land made in the foreign jurisdiction: and that, as between the States of this Union, the "full faith and credit" clause of the Constitution makes such enforcement of the foreign decree obligatory. …

Is A Contract Necessary To Create An Effective Escrow?, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

WHERE land has been sold and both parties are desirous of protecting themselves pending full payment of the purchase price, there are two common ways of accomplishing their purpose without any change in legal ownership. There may be (1) a contract of sale properly evidenced so as to be enforceable, and (2) a deed executed by the vendor and placed "in escrow." Sometimes one method is preferred, sometimes the other. If the former is adopted, it is, of course, vitally important that the contract comply with the formal requirements of the law; in the latter there has been some difference …

Logic V Common Sense In Pleading, Nathan Isaacs

Michigan Law Review

Michigan's experiment in pleading--or the suppression of pleading-is being carefully watched throughout the country. Not that it is likely that many other states will go to the extreme, for it is an extreme, of substituting notice-pleading for essential-fact-pleading: but it is a fact that even the code states are experiencing a reaction in that general direction. It will probably lead to a multiplication of their "short forms," rather than to a sweeping provision that

Joy Riding, Simple And Compound, Edgar N. Durfee

Articles

The wrongful use of another's automobile, even though accompanied by a trespassory taking, cannot, if followed by a return to the owner or an abandonment, be easily brought within the definition of larceny at common law or under the ordinary larceny statutes, because of the requirement of intent to deprive the owner permanently of his property. Smith v. State, 146 S. W. 547; State v. Boggs (Iowa, 1917), 164 N. W. 759; McClain, Criminal Law, § 566. Of course, such intent, at the time of taking, might be found in spite of return or abandonment, though it is doubtful whether …

Interstate Commerce Commission - Intrastate Rates, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

The marvelous possibilities for collision between State and Nation involved in our dual form of government are nowhere better or more often exhibited than in commerce regulation. We have long been learning the definition of the commerce which the constitution gives Congress power to regulate. It is only recently that we are finding how this power reaches over into purely intrastate business done by a carrier also engaged in interstate commerce. That nearly all rail carriers are now engaged in such business, even when their lines are wholly intrastate, has been often illustrated under the Second Employer's Liability Act. In …

Cost Of Public Justice, John R. Rood

Articles

The common citizen who becomes victim of a wrong and seeks redress in the courts of America soon finds by bitter experience that it is better to bear those ills we have than go to law. The expense is more than the thing is worth. The result depends on who has the longest purse, the most endurance, and the shrewdest lawyer, and little on the merits of the case. When he gets to court he finds his remaining money is being spent, not in the trial of his case, but in deciding whether an absque hoc is a sine que …

Full Faith And Credit And Jurisdiction, Willard T. Barbour

Articles

The judgment of a sister state, when assailed by collateral attack, is often said to occupy a position intermediate between foreign and domestic judgments. Though the older American cases were inclined to examine into the merits of any foreign judgment, the present tendency is toward the adoption of the English view according to which a foreign judgment may be attacked collaterally only for want of jurisdiction or fraud. Dicey, Conflict of Laws (ed. 2) Ch. XVII; see note to Tremblay v. Aetna Life Insurance Co., 97 Me. 547, in 94 Am. St. Rep. 521, 538. But whereas any statement of …

State Regulation Of The Canal Corporation In Colorado, Leonard P. Fox

Michigan Law Review

Inapplicability of the common law doctrine of riparian rights to conditions in the arid region moved the first territorial legislature of Colorado to recognize the counter doctrine of prior appropriation. In fact, the right to the water in the streams of Colorado, by prior appropriation, antedated any legislation. "It was the common law of the people, and legislation, both national and territorial, was but a recognition declaratory of the right as it had theretofore and then existed."-1 Adhering to territorial precedent, Colorado was the first state to incorporate the priority doctrine in its organic law.

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Animals - Injuries by Animals at Large - In an action for damages for injuries sustained by the kick of a horse, the petition alleged that for many days the defendant carelessly and negligently permitted a horse owned by him to run loose on the streets unattended, and that the plaintiff while playing about was kicked by the horse. On demurrer, held, no cause of action stated because no allegation that the owner knew the horse was vicious. Brady v. Str.aub, (Ky. Ct. of App. 1917), 197 S. W. 938.

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Admiralty - Meaning of "Shore" - Certain sections of a dry dock containing a tug were driven by a violent storm across the Mobile River and left on the land above the ordinary high water mark. Held, subject to salvage, and a suit to recover for replacing the tug in the water within admiralty jurisdiction. The Gulfport, (Dist. Ct, S. D. Ala., 1917), 243 Fed. 676.

Note And Comment, Willard T. Barbour, John B. Waite, Evans Holbrook, Gordon Stoner, Raymond Archibald Fox

Michigan Law Review

The "Right" to Break a Contract - It is common knowledge that the fully developed common law affords no means to compel the performance of a contract according to its terms. Does it follow from this that there is no legal obligation to perform a contract, or if obligation there be, that it is alternative: to perform or pay damages? A note in the XIV MIcr. L. Rv. 48o appears to give an affirmative answer to this question and at least one court (Frye v. Hubbell, 74 N. H. 358, at p. 374) has taken the same view. Probably the …

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Attorneys - Disobedience of Order of Suspension - What Acts Constitute - Defendants had been suspended from practice "in all the courts of this state" for one year. During suspension they had continued to maintain a law office with the usual signs on the doors and windows, used envelopes and stationery with their names printed thereon as Attorneys at Law, and permitted their names to be inserted as attorneys at law in telephone and city directories. Defendant M had caused the preparation of a complaint, affidavit, and bond in attachment under his direction and had them filed in a suit …

Note And Comment, Gordon Stoner, Ralph W. Aigler, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Bradley Martin Thompson - For a second time within the year death has claimed a member of the Faculty of the Law School. Professor Jerome C. Knowlton died in January, and now on September 29th last, Professor Bradley M. Thompson has completed his life-work.

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Criminal Law - Directed Verdict of Acquittal - The accused was convicted of crime. Error was assigned upon the refusal of the court to direct a verdict of not guilty. Held, that a motion to direct a verdict of acquittal should never be entertained. People i% Zurek (Ill. 1917), uS N. E. 644

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 …

Interpretation Of The Eleventh Amendment, Leroy G. Pilling

Michigan Law Review

The American Constitution may be compared to an organism with a high nervous development that enables it to adapt itself to changes. in its environment or even to new environments. As such an organism is the result of evolution, so is our Federal Constitution the product of centuries of human experience in the science of government. Probably most of the great political philosophers of all ages have donated their mite to the finished product. To MONTESQUIEU we owe in part, at least, our constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers.

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 …

Extension Of Judicial Review In New York, Edward S. Corwin

Michigan Law Review

There are several reasons why it should be worth while to investigate the operation of the most unique of American governmental institutions in the most important state of the Union. For one thing, in the person of Chancellor KZN" New York furnished one of the founders of American Constitutional Law, while at the same time it was KzNT's fame that early gave New York decisions the importance they still retain in great part in the field of citation and precedent. Again it was YNT'S influence that inclined the fresh shoot of constitutional jurisprudence in New York in a conservative direction, …

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Adverse Possession Mistake - From a decree quieting in plaintiff title by adverse possession, defendants appealed, contending that plaintiff claimed the land only under and by virtue of a will which in fact conferred no legal title, and that such a claim was not adverse. Held, assuming that plaintiff believed he was asserting legal rights only, and that his claim of title was defective, his possession would nevertheless ripen into title by adverse possession. Erickson v. Crosby, (Neb. 1916) x6o N. W. 94.

Gober's Georgia Form Book And Procedure, A Collection Of Legal Forms With Annotations From The Reports Of The Supreme Court And The Court Of Appeals Of Georgia On Questions Relating To Forms And Procedure; Prepared For The Use Of The Judiciary, The Bar, The Officers Of Court, And Business Me, George Fletcher Gober

Historical Treatises

Excerpt from the preface:

The work of preparing this volume has developed out of all proportion to what I anticipated in the outset. The great trouble under our system is that there are so many things that are not fixed and determined. Our system of pleading provides that a party must plainly, fully and distinctly set forth his cause of action, and this leaves the form to be passed upon under the discretion of about one hundred trial judges in the City and Superior Courts, and this discretion, in many instances, is controlled by individual and particular ideas. For this …

Safeguarding The Criminal Defendant, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

Every now and then a new attack is made somewhere in the United States upon the rule prohibiting comment before the jury upon the fact that the defendant in a criminal case has not testified as a witness in his own behalf. At the present time an effort of this kind is being made in the Michigan legislature, and the introduction of the bill drew quite a little storm of protest from the State press as a dangerous inroad upon our ancient guarantees of personal liberty and security. In fact, however, it directly touches nothing more ancient than a statutory …

Prohibiting Advertising On Walls And Buildings Under The Police Power, W. Gordon Stoner

Articles

There have been many unsuccessful attempts by city authorities of late to abolish or prevent unsightly billboards and advertising. In a recent case A was arrested and fined for violating a city ordinance prohibiting the display of advertising matter on walls and buildings within the city without the consent of the city council. On refusal to pay the fine A was held in the custody of the city marshal, and brought habeas corpus to secure his release. The court held that the affidavit charged no violation of the ordinance unless it were construed as prohibiting the painting of any sign …

Constitutionality Of Segregation Ordinances, John B. Waite

Articles

The effort of various southern states to segregate white persons and colored ones into mutually exclusive residential districts has received a final quietus, unless the Supreme Court of the United States shall reverse itself, by the decision in Buchanan v. Warley, handed down November 5, 1917. The suit in this case was for specific performance of a contract to buy land. The contract expressly stipulated that the buyer, a colored man, was not to be held to his purchase unless he had "the right under the laws of the state of Kentucky and the city of Louisville to ocupy said …

State Legislation Extending To Navigable Waters, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

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 HOLMEs 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 on navigable waters of the United States …

What Service Gives Jurisdiction In Person, John R. Rood

Articles

On March 6th, 1917, the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of McDonald v. Mabee, reversing the decision of the Supreme Court of Texas, in 175 S. W. 676, held that a judgment in foreclosure proceedings in which the defendant was served only by publication did not merge the cause of action so as to bar a suit on the original notes for the balance unpaid by the sale of the mortgaged property on the foreclosure, although the statute of the state declared such service sufficient to give jurisdiction in personam, and the defendant was a citizen …

Liability Of Public Officer For The Loss Of Private Funds Entrusted To His Keeping, W. Gordon Stoner

Articles

There is much contrariety of decision concerning the liability of public officers for the loss of funds with which they have been entrusted. A recent case illustrates some of the more important phases of the law of such a situation. People for use of Hoyt et al. v. McGrath et al. (Ill. 1917), I17 N. E. 74. In this case the public brought an action of debt on the official bond of the clerk of court for the use of Hoyt and others. Usees had tendered into court a sum of money which the clerk took under the court's order …

State Legislation Extending To Navigable Waters, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

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 HOLMEs 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 on navigable waters of the United States …