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Constitutional Law-Due Process-Use Of Extraneous Evidence In Determining Criminal Sentence, Colvin A. Peterson, Jr. S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner was convicted of murder in the first degree with a recommendation for life imprisonment. In reliance on police and probation reports showing petitioner's background which included over thirty burglaries for which he had never been arraigned and a "morbid sexuality," the trial judge disregarded the jury's recommendation and imposed the death sentence. Although petitioner did not have an opportunity to examine the reports prior to the sentence hearing, he was represented by counsel at the hearing and did not challenge them at that time. Petitioner contended that he had been denied due process of law because his sentence had …

Survey Of Metropolitan Courts: Detroit Area, Maxine Boord Virtue

Michigan Legal Studies Series

It has long been recognized that the social problems of the city are something more than a mere multiple of the social problems of the rural community. The bigness of the metropolitan area breeds its own difficulties, which find no counterpart outside its borders. Only recently, however, have experts begun to suggest that this same uniqueness inheres in the problems of the organization of metropolitan courts.

Should the organization of the metropolitan court system differ from court organization elsewhere? How should it differ? Before these questions can be answered, we must know something of existing court organizations in metropolitan areas …

Labor Law-Compulsory Arbitration Of Labor Disputes, James A. Sprunk S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In 1947, seven states adopted legislation for compulsory arbitration of labor disputes in public utilities. Four more provide for seizure of such industries in cases of strikes or lockouts, and one prohibits picketing or interference with the service of a public utility. In addition, procedures for conciliation, mediation, or voluntary arbitration with suspension of the right to strike or lockout during such procedures, are provided by still others. Such legislative activity reflects the growing public concern regarding labor disputes and indicates that many state legislators are convinced that to secure industrial peace more is required than the mere imposition of …

Constitutional Law-Procedural Due Process In Criminal Cases-Adequacy Of Remedies In State Courts To Raise The Questions, David H. Armstrong S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

This comment will not attempt to consider the guarantees of a fair trial, but will deal with the remedies available to a person confined in a state prison in his attempt to secure relief on the ground of an asserted violation of such guarantees in the conduct of his trial.

The Bill Of Rights, The Fourteenth Amendment And The Supreme Court, John Raeburn Green

Michigan Law Review

The first enforcement of any of the First Amendment freedoms against the states, through the Fourteenth Amendment, was in 1927. In the twenty years since, these freedoms have, one by one, been brought within the protection of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as integral parts of the "liberty" which is safeguarded against state denial-the process having been completed in 1947 by the dictum that the prohibition of the establishment of religion ran against the states. The chronology of the struggle to enforce the Bill of Rights against the states, as well as other circumstances, suggests that the …

Mr. Justice William Johnson, Jurist In Limine: Views On Judicial Precedent, A. J. Levin

Michigan Law Review

We have already become familiar with Johnson's awareness of the unconsciousness of mankind "of the shackles which superstition and tyranny had thrown around" it. He was also sensitive to the part which the law had played in preserving such a state of affairs. His keen and analytic mind was unwilling to accept as final what he knew was the illusive mirage of reality. The situation was a frustrating one-so much so that few minds today are prepared to accept the challenge which such a dynamic attitude entailed for him. He began anticipating beyond the capacities of the minds of those …

Book Notes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to list and when possible, describe briefly current books on law and matters closely related thereto.

Book Notes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to list and when possible, describe briefly current books on law and matters closely related thereto.

Current Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department lists the articles and comments which appear in twenty-four leading law reviews. The index embraces material published since the last issue of this REVIEW.

Criminal Justice In Germany: Ii, Hans Julius Wolff

Michigan Law Review

The trial (Hauptverhandlung) is the main and central part of the whole criminal proceeding. All that is brought forward in the trial and only what is brought forward there can furnish the basis for the verdict. Whatever has preceded the trial proper becomes irrelevant as soon as the trial is opened.

The principles governing the trial are publicity, orality, immediateness, and concentration.

Criminal Justice In Germany, Hans Julius Wolff

Michigan Law Review

Criminal law and procedure, perhaps even more than civil, reflect the underlying conceptions of the political system with which they are connected. The ideological structure of criminal procedure in Germany, as well as in other continental European states, rests on the historical development through which constitutional institutions in those countries have passed since the French Revolution. It mirrors the transformation of the all-powerful state of the period of absolutism into the liberal state with its guaranteed freedoms and rights of the individual and strict legal limits to the power of the authorities (Rechtsstaat); and in recent years it has adapted …

Civil Justice In Germany, Burke Shartel, Hans Julius Wolff

Michigan Law Review

Our aim in preparing this paper is to develop for American lawyers a picture of the functioning of German civil justice. This aim, as well as the paper itself, is an outgrowth of a series of lectures on the German legal system delivered by the authors as background in the law of military occupation for the Judge Advocate General's School of the United States Army in Ann Arbor. That part of these lectures which concerns the operation of German civil justice seems to us of sufficient intrinsic interest to warrant publication.

The Story Of A County Prosecutor: A Review, Henry M. Bates

Michigan Law Review

During the later years of the last century the writing about law began to undergo a profound change. Generally speaking, prior to the period indicated it had been largely a statement of what the law was supposed to be as found in legislation and, in Anglo-American countries particularly, in the decisions and opinions of courts. Relatively, it was dogmatic, technical, often too general to be of much use in particular cases and gave a very imperfect picture of the law as actually administered.

Legal Techniques And Political Ideologies: A Comparative Study, Alexander H. Pekelis

Michigan Law Review

The problem with which we are going to deal is one of comparative law, a discipline probably even more illusory than legal science itself. A body of laws represents in itself neither a social reality nor a social ideal. One of the difficulties that every historian faces in trying to reconstruct a period of the past with the help of legal monuments is due to the great variety of relations existing between legal rules and social reality. So, e.g., legal monuments generally contain in an inextricable confusion at least two contradictory types of rules: rules which are a simple restatement …

Book Notes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to list and, when possible, describe briefly current books on law and matters closely related thereto.

Monthly Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department lists the articles and comments which appear in twenty-five leading law reviews.

Criminal Law And Procedure - Remedies Available To Convicted Defendant When New Facts Are Found, Smith Warder

Michigan Law Review

Due to its haphazard growth and evolution, the Anglo-American system of jurisprudence occasionally left gaping defects in its general contours. Many of these defects have been and are being filled, both by statute and by the continuing development of the common law. However, there is one case which re-occurs with distressing frequency where no satisfactory remedy has been developed and where this lack of remedy can have unjust or even barbaric results.

Book Notes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to list and, when possible, describe briefly current books on law and matters closely related thereto.

Monthly Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department lists the articles and comments which appear in twenty-five leading law reviews.

Criminal Law And Procedure - Evidence - Dismissal Of Prosecution For Reference To Other Crimes Of Defendant, John Barker Waite

Michigan Law Review

Any discussion of Judge Pecora's declaration of a mistrial in People v. Hines must adhere firmly to the fundamental proposition that every accused person, no matter how evident his guilt nor how great the hostility toward him, is entitled to a fair trial, conducted in accord with established rules, and to the verdict of a jury uninfluenced by improper factors. But did the judge's ruling perhaps exceed what was reasonably necessary to assure the defendant of these essentials?

Law Departments And Law Officers In American Governments, John A. Fairlie

Michigan Law Review

On all levels of government, national, state and local, the need for the services of professional lawyers has been recognized. In addition to the judges of the higher courts, there are other law officers, whose function it is to give legal advice and assistance to the various executive administrative agencies, and to act as attorneys for the government and its officials in proceedings before the judicial courts in the enforcement of criminal laws and in other cases where the government or its officials are parties or are concerned with the legal problems involved. Little attention has been given to the …

Criminal Law And Procedure - Appeal - Reversal Of Conviction Despite Guilt As Rebuke To The Administration Of Justice, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In a prosecution for murder the prosecuting attorney, in his opening address, improperly stated that the evidence would show that both defendants had previous records for burglary and robbery, had served time in penitentiaries, and that the state would ask that the two men be hanged on the basis of this and other evidence. No objection or move for a mistrial was made at the time by the defendants, nor was the court requested to instruct the jury to disregard the remarks. Defendants were unquestionably guilty of murder, the evidence for the state being conclusive, while that of the defendants …

Constitutional Law - Federal Criminal Procedure - Short Form Indictment, James H. Roberton

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this comment to discuss the validity under the Federal Constitution of an indictment, drawn in accordance with the proposed code, which would merely accuse the defendant of having committed some kind of "offense," and would leave the particulars of the offense to a bill of particulars.

Searches And Seizures - Right Of An Individual To Force The Return Of Goods Seized And Held By Police Officials, David Dow

Michigan Law Review

One of the most vexing problems which confronts a police officer investigating a crime is to determine how far he may go in seizing goods from the possession either of the person accused of the crime or of some other person. To him it is important not only as it may affect law suits against him for invasion of possessory rights, but also to make the goods thus seized admissible in evidence. To the individual this problem is important in securing full protection against unwarranted invasions of his possession. It is elementary in our legal system that the possessory rights …

Book Notes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to list and, when possible, describe briefly current books on law and matters closely related thereto.

The Right Of Appeal In Criminal Cases, Lester B. Orfield

Michigan Law Review

In the conduct of a criminal proceeding certain steps are regarded as essential. The accused must be brought before the court. There must be a preliminary investigation to insure that the case is one which should be prosecuted. Notice must be given to the accused of the offense charged. He must have an opportunity to prepare for trial, procure witnesses, and make needed investigations. He should have a speedy trial. He should have a fair trial before an impartial tribunal. Finally, there should be one review of the case as a whole by a suitable tribunal. The principle of a …

Book Notes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to list and, when possible, describe briefly current books on law and matters closely related thereto.

Book Notes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to list and, when possible, describe briefly current books on law and matters closely related thereto.

The Investigating Magistrate (Juge D'Instruction) In European Criminal Procedure, Morris Ploscowe

Michigan Law Review

For nearly five centuries the distinctive figure in the preliminary stages of European criminal proceedings has been the investigating magistrate, known in France as the juge d'instruction. Although temporarily eclipsed by the revolutionary reforms in France in 1791, he was soon re-established. In other European countries the juge d'instruction continued to be the central figure in the preliminary procedure through all the reforms achieved by the liberal movements of the nineteenth century. The investigating magistrate has remained a purely Continental institution. In theory and in practice he embodies the essential difference between Continental and Anglo-American criminal procedure preliminary to trial.

Book Notes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to list and, when possible, describe briefly current books on law and matters closely related thereto.