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Salient Points In The German Constitution Of 1919, Simeon E. Baldwin

Michigan Law Review

The German Constitution of i919 is the production of the right wing of those belonging to the party known as the Social Democrats, and until the fall of the empire commonly called the International Socialist ,Party.

Development Of The Doctrine Of Impossibility Of Performance, William Herbert Page

Michigan Law Review

In common with other systems of law, Anglo-American law has grown in part by the use of analogies; and in part, by receptions from other systems of law.

Joinder Of Actions, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

There is a further striking failure which must be charged to the legal profession in America, which grows out of the one just noted, and that is its ignorance of and indifference to improvements in procedural practice developed in other jurisdictions. It is safe to say that if a new method of treating cancer were discovered and successfully employed in England; every intelligent doctor in the world would almost immediately know about it and attempt to take advantage of it. But it is equally safe to say that if a new and successful method of treating some procedural problem were …

Freedom Of Speech And Of The Press In The Federalist Period The Sedition Act, Thomas F. Carroll

Michigan Law Review

The constitutional problem to which the Espionage Act of 1917 gave rise is almost as old as the Government itself. As early as 1798 the constitutional authority of the Government over speech ,and the press was called into question. The controversy caused by the Sedition Act of that date forms the subject of this paper.

Law Of Oil And Gas, James A. Veasey

Michigan Law Review

The questions heretofore considered are general in their scope, and were treated for the purpose of providing a background for the more intensive study upon which we must now enter. While commentators refer to this branch of jurisprudence as the "Law of Oil and Gas," it is more exact to say that .we are dealing with the law pertaining to oil and gas leases. This is true because the oil and gas lease characterizes and distinguishes the subject throughout. For reasons which inhere in the very nature of the business a lease yielding the lessor a royalty on the quantity …

Power Of Congress To Declare Peace, Edward S. Corwin

Michigan Law Review

In the course of the discussion which has been aroused in Congress by the proposal to declare hostilities with Germany at an end by joint resolution, Senator Thomas of Colorado has brought forward evidence showing that on one occasion the Convention which framed the Constitution voted down unanimously a motion to vest Congress with the power to "make peace." This evidence is good so far as it goes, but it does not support all of Senator Thomas's deductions from it, nor indeed has he given an altogether complete account of it. The proposal in question was made and rejected by …

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Adverse Possession - Color of Title - Deed Color of Title Although Known not to Convey Title - In a suit for trespass the land which the plaintiff claimed to own was in part occupied by plaintiff's church building and the adjoining lot was used by the members of the church for hitching iheir horses and for picnics, etc. Both tracts had been so used by the plaintiff for twenty-five years or more. The land was conveyed by A to plaintiff, by deed recorded, describing the land purported to be conveyed. The defendant claimed that the deed did not operate …

University Of Michigan Law School Annual Announcement 1920-1921 And Catalogue Of Students 1919-1920, University Of Michigan Law School

Law School Announcement and Bulletins

The Law School; Library; Directions to Candidates for Admission; Requirements for Admission; Admission as Candidate for a Degree; Combined Curriculum in Letters and Law; Admission of Special Students; Admission to Advanced Standing; Requirements for Graduation: Degrees; Regulations Applicable to All Degrees; The Law Curriculum; Fourth Year Course; Summer Session; The Practice Court; Public Speaking; Oratorical Associations; Fees and Expenses; Michigan Law Review; University Health Service; The Michigan Union; Summer Session; Registration; Requirements for Admission; Fees; Credit; Advanced Standing; Courses of Study; Schedule of Work for 1920; Courses of Free Lectures; Graduates of 1919; Summary of Students;

The Execution Of Peace With Germany: An Experiment In International Organization, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

IN one respect, at least, the Peace of Versailles is unlike any of the great European settlements of earlier date. The provisions included to ensure the execution of its terms are vastly more ambitious in scope and more elaborate in detail than anything of the kind contained in earlier treaties. There is an extraordinary emphasis upon organization for the enforcement of peace.

When Are Deeds Testamentary, Henry W. Ballantine

Michigan Law Review

It is no objection to a deed that it is used as a substitute for a will, to avoid the expense and delay of probate proceedings. The frequent litigation arising over such deeds, however, shows that this expedient is a* dangerous one unless the grantor uses great care to avoid certain snares and pitfalls which the law in its wisdom provides for the unwary. The grantor may attempt to accomplish his purpose either by express provisions embodied in the deed itself, or by external, collateral conditions, preserved by the delivery of the deed to a deposifory. This paper will consider …

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Accretion - Title to New Land - Encroachment of Watercourse Upon Lands Beyond - D's lands were bounded on the east by a river and on the west by the land of P. By erosion the river slowly shifted until all of D's tract was washed away as well as part of P's holding. The river then slowly receded and the land of P was built up as was also new land east of the former boundary of P and D. P brings an action to quiet title for the land newly formed. Held, title to the land in dispute …

Note And Comment, Ralph W. Aigler, John B. White, Grover C. Grismore, Edwin C. Goddard

Michigan Law Review

Deeds Delivered Conditionally to the Grantee - Generally courts have shown a commendable disposition to get away from the formalism, which in the past played such a large part in determination of questions of delivery. While the actual tradition of the instrument to the grantee or to someone on his behalf, on the one hand, or its retention in the hands of the maker, on the other, is still very important evidentially, such facts are not by any means controlling. Thus it is entirely possible for a deed to be delivered though it never has been out of the grantor's …

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Adverse Possession - Tenants in Common - Inception of Hostility - A father died leaving seven children as heirs to his farm. Since 1883, the plaintiff, who was the eldest son. had been in continuous and exclusive Dossession, paying all the taxes and taking all the profits without rendering any account to his co-heirs. Before 1883, the plaintiff had rebuilt the house on the premises, and in xgoi, he built a barn on the place. In a suit to quiet title, it was held, that it was a permissible inference from all the evidence that the plaintiff had gained title …

Book Reviews, Joseph H. Drake

Michigan Law Review

The appearance in permanent form of these five lectures, which were first published in the Fortnightly Review in 1878 and i879, will be welcomed by all interested in the history of jurisprudence, since they put forth in most attractive form several of the basic principles of the subject as they were understood by learned English jurists forty years ago. They are reissued in practically unchanged form, with annotations by Professor Lefroy, whose untimely death apparently occurred before the volume was printed, though there is no notice of that sad event in the book itself.

League Of Nations And The Constitution, J M. Matthews

Michigan Law Review

The Covenant for a League of Nations has justly aroused an immense amount of discussion in this country, since it undoubtedly presents to the American nation the most important of the many questions of foreign policy growing out of the Great War. Most of this discussion has dealt with the matter solely from the standpoint of policy or expediency, without noticing the interesting constitutional questions involved. When the Covenant has, on occasion, been considered from the constitutional point of view, such corsideration has generally been merely incidental and the writer's or speaker's views as to the desirability of subscribing to …

The Equality Of States In International Law, Edwin Dewitt Dickinson

Books

The author has attempted in this volume to present the equality of states as it appears in the theory of international law and also as it is affected by common usage. Theoretical aspects of the subject are considered in chapters dealing with the sources of the principle, its origin, and its significance in the writings of modem publicists and in illustrative documents. The opinion that Grotius first established the principle in international law is examined and evidence is adduced which indicates that the opinion is erroneous. The equality of states as affected by common usage is really their inequality or …

Administrative Legislation, John A. Fairlie

Michigan Law Review

Few people are aware of the great extent to which public administration in the United States national government is controlled by means of administrative regulations or orders, in the nature of subordinate legislation. Most writers on American government have emphasized the greater detail of statutory legislation in this country as compared with the statutes of continental countries in Europe, or even with Acts of Parliament in Great Britain, and have under-estimated, and indeed have usually ignored entirely, the enormous mass of administrative legislation supplementing Acts of Congress, and issued by the President and the various executive departments, bureaus, commissions. and …

Note And Comment, Joseph H. Drake, Grover C. Grismore, Victor H. Lane, Edgar N. Durfee, Robert G. Day

Michigan Law Review

Epithetical Jurisprudence and the Annexation of Fixtures - If we begin with all the facts of a controversy and proceed inductively to determine the rights of the parties litigant, we thus arrive at a jurisprudence of rights, whereas, if we reason deductively from a rule, a definition, or a maxim of law to its application in the facts of our case, we can at best attain only a jurisprudence of rules, which has been so aptly characterized as an epithetical jurisprudence. The subject of fixtures is one in which we have great difficulty in applying the inductive method because the …

Patent Law, John Barker Waite

Books

The comparatively small size of the book is not due to any conscious superficiality of treatment nor omission of pertinent subject matter. It purports to cover only the substantive law of patents, their nature, validity, effect, and their characteristics as property. Matters of procedure in securing patents or suing on them, and the difficult subject of the amount of compensation recoverable by suit, would require a volume for themselves and are not included here. But of the matter which is included, it has been my desire to present every issue which has come before the courts....

This book is intended …

Public Utility Valuation - Cost Of Reproduction Theory And The World War, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

The very grave objections to the cost-of-reproduction theory of valuation of public utilities was pointed out at large in 15 MICH. L. REV. 205. The violent price changes following the World War have greatly increased the weight of these objections to calling anything a base which rests on such uncertainties and fluctuations as cost-of-reproduction. A base should be stable, but this has the stability Of a flying machine. There had been a rising curve of costs from 1893 to 1916, but since that date the rise has been almost vertical. The public utilities by- the thousands desire to take advantage …

Liability Without Fault, John B. Waite

Articles

In Ives v. South Buffalo Ry. Co., 201 N. Y. 271, appeared, as a basis for the decision, the statement that "When our Constitutions were adopted, it was the law of the land that no man who was without fault or negligence could be held liable in damages for injuries sustained by another. That is still the law." Mr. Justice McKenna has recently voiced the same idea. In his dissenting opinion in Arizona Copper Co. v. Hammer, 39 Sup. Ct. Rep. 553, he contends that the Workmen's Compensation Act of Arizona is unconstitutional, because, "It seems to me to be …

International Recognition And The National Courts, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

In the law of nations everything depends upon recognition. A newly organized state may possess all the requisites of de facto existence, but it can gain admission to the community of international law only as it is recognized by other states. Even after it has been admitted to the international community it may be virtually outlawed by the refusal of other states to recognize a change in its government. It is through recognition and recognition alone that a de facto state becomes and continues an international person and a subject of international law.

Evidence - Disputable Presumptions; Can They Be Weighed?, Victor H. Lane

Articles

The evidential force of presumptions under the California Civil Code, I96I, was considered and the statute construed in Everett v. Stazdard Accident Insurance Co., - Cal. - , 187 Pac. 996. The defense to an action on an insurance policy, by one claiming to be the wife of the insured, was that she did not have that relationship because the marriage ceremony under which she claimed occurred while the insured had another wife then living. The question arose as to the effect upon the determination of this question of fact of the presumption that the deceased did not commit a …

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 …

Public Utilities—Franchise Rates As Affected By The World War, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

The economic convulsions due to the World War are abundantly reflected in the relations between the public and their public utilities operating under franchises fixing rates for service. The enormous rise in cost of labor and materials has, in many cases, so reduced the net income of such utilities as to make it a negative quantity at existing franchise rates. The utilities are crying to be saved from bankruptcy, but the unfortunate suspicion bred by past dealings of many such companies has made the public skeptical, and perhaps in many cases entirely unreasonable. In some cases plain selfishness may explain …

Nebulous Injunctions, Edgar N. Durfee

Articles

Injunctive relief is sought against alleged wrongdoing which is merely incidental to the conduct of a legitimate business. The wrong is established and the court is satisfied that an injunction should issue. Yet some nice questions remain as to the scope and terms of the decree.

Privileged Communication Between Attorney And Client-Question Of Whether The Relation Exists Left To Jury-Party Allowed To Assign Error On Ruling Violating The Privilege, Victor H. Lane

Articles

This procedure was justified in the opinion in State v. Snook (Court of Errors and "Appeals of N. J., 1920), 109 Atl. 289. Snook was on trial for manslaughter charged as having been committed by the reckless driving of an automobile. After the act, Mimmick, one of the persons in the automobile, and afterward a witness for the defense, went to an attorney and had some conversation with him, the substance of which, as testified to by the attorney, was a recital by M. of what had occurred and an inquiry by him of the attorney as to what he …

Escheat - How State Acquires Title, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

Escheat is of feudal origin, and properly applied only to land which on failure of heirs or for certain other reasons, "fell in" to the lord under whom it had been held. Personal property without an owner, as bona vacantia, became the property of the crown. In re Bond [1901] 1 Ch. 15. In the United States escheat is used more broadly, but usually arises when the owner of property dies intestate without heirs. Our alienage laws have generally removed disabilities of aliens to take, but in some jurisdictions there may still be escheat because of alienage, see 5 MICH. …

The Legal Status Of Abstract Books, Literary Property, Implied Contract Of Secrecy, Unfair Trade, Edgar N. Durfee

Articles

A recent case before the Supreme Court of Washington raises some novel and interesting questions. A company engaged in the abstract business mortgaged its "records, bookt, plats." After suit was commenced to foreclose the mortgage, the mortgagor, who remained in possession, made photographic copies of the records and sold them to the defendant who had notice of the mortgage of the originals. The foreclosure resulted in a sale of the property, described as in the mortgage, to the plaintiff. Whether plaintiff knew at this time of the existence of the copies does not appear. Plaintiff is using the original records …

Continuous Trespass And Repeated Wrong, Joseph H. Drake

Articles

In the recent case of Perkins v. Trueblood, (Cal., May, 1919), 191 Pac. 642, the facts were that, in March, 1912, the defendant, a surgeon, set the leg of the plaintiff, but as the fracture did not heal satisfactorily "the defendant separated the surfaces of the bone during the month of April, 1912, and again set the plaintiff's leg." In a suit for malpractice, begun on April 9, 1913, it was held, that the cause of action "was not barred by the CODE OF PROCEDURE, Article 340, subd. 3, prescribing a one year limitation period in such cases." It is …