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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 …

Writs Vs Rights An Unended Contest, Lyman P. Wilson

Michigan Law Review

It is desired in the following pages, even at the expense of repeajing much that is already common knowledge, to emphasize that as yet we are not done with the formulary system of the common law, despite the fact that codes of civil procedure in most of our states have purported to end the varied and interesting career of forms of action at common law by legislating them out of existence. However, that legislative edict has been about as effecttive as was the famous, but probably mythical, order of King Canute to the waves of the sea. Certain well-known illustrations …

Fictitious Payee, Victor H. Kulp

Michigan Law Review

It is proposed to discuss the doctrine that negotiable instruments with fictitious payees are deemed payable to bearer, and to note the conditions and limitations of the rule.

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 …

Practice Court Rules, University Of Michigan Law School

Miscellaneous Law School History & Publications

The purpose of the Practice Court is to afford to students of this department practical instruction in pleading both at law and in equity, under the common law system and the "reformed" or "code" procedure, and actual experience in the commencement and trial of cases through all their stages.

This booklet outlines the Practice Court Rules for 1920.

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 …

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 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.

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 …

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 …

Attorney's Lien For Services - Set-Off Of Judgments, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

Anglo-Saxon judges, as members of the legal profession, have shown an admirable freedom from professional bias and class selfishness in dealing with questions involving the rights and privileges of members of their profession. With every opportunity offered for treating lawyers as a favored class, they have been able to maintain a detached and objective attitude toward them. Indeed, the courts seem to have preferred to be charged with excessive severity in dealing with their brethren of the bar rather than give the slightest ground for suspicion that they were capitalizing their power in the interest of the legal fraternity.

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 …

Note And Comment, Edwin C. Goddard, Victor H. Lane

Michigan Law Review

Public Utility Valuation - Cost of Reproduction Theory and the World War - 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. 2o5. 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 1i16, but since that date the rise has …

Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Index for Volume 19 of Michigan Law Review, including a cumulative Table of Contents for Volume 19 as a whole.

Duration And Termination Of An Offer, Herman Oliphant

Michigan Law Review

Professor Williston has recently pointed out' the change which the law of the formation of simple contracts underwent during the first century of its development. The change is fundamental. Originally the courts thought of a simple contract as involving an actual concurrence of the minds of the parties. Gradually this conception was supplanted by the notion that the objective and not the subjective state of mind of the parties is controlling. Where the actual state of mind differs from the apparent state of mind, the former must be ignored and, whenever they happen to be identical, it may be ignored …

Intrinsic Limitations On The Power Of Constitutional Amendment, George D. Skinner

Michigan Law Review

Just as the war has educated the public in geography, so the question of amending the organic law of the country has stimulated discussion concerning our own legal and political institutions. The amendments providing for the direct election of senators and for federal power to levy an income tax attracted little attention compared with the sudden interest in legal questions which the so-called prohibition amendment has aroused, for it touches upon a matter of very intimate personal concern to many people and one over which very heated controversies have raged. Matters involving, or which are made to involve, moral issues …

Note And Comment, Edwin C. Goddard, Louis Kawin, Robert G. Day

Michigan Law Review

Escheat - How State Acquires Title - 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 [Igo1] i 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 …

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Acknowledgement - Liability of Notary - Where the defendant, a notary, certified that certain impersonators of the grantors were known to him, and that they were the persons who executed the deeds, and the plaintiff who accepted the deeds as security for a loan in reliance upon the certificate of the notary was defrauded, held, the defendant was guilty of negligence and must respond in damages for not fulfilling the requirements of Sec. i185 of the Civil Code: that "the acknowledgment of an instrument must not be taken, unless the officer taking it knows or has satisfactory evidence, on the …

Book Reviews, Robert T. Crane, Edwin D. Dickinson, Grover C. Grismore, Henry M. Bates, Joseph H. Drake

Michigan Law Review

Among all the writings that have appeared on the problem of preserving the order of world society, the most searching and the most illuminating is Hart's Bulwarks of Peace. Particularly in connection with any consideration of the plan of the Paris Covenant of the League of Nations, it compellingly arrests attention.

Doctrine Of Bad Faith In The Law Of Negotiable Instruments, George W. Rightmire

Michigan Law Review

This rule is now enacted in all but two of the states of the United States; the history of its development and of its application since it became undisputed is well illustrative of the process of the common law system, and this discussion is undertaken for the purpose of discovering the general principles which a trial court should have in mind when charging a jury in a case involving the application of this doctrine.

Copyright And Morals, Edward S. Rogers

Michigan Law Review

The basis for national copyright legislation in this country is Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution: "The Congress shall have power * * * to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Abatement and Revival - Pendency of Another Action Ground for Dismissal - Plaintiff brought an action in B county to recover damages as the result of a collision between his truck and defendants automobile. The defendant had previously brought an action in P county, where he resided, against the plaintiff, for damages arising out of the same collision, which action was pending when the latter was begun. Defendant filed a plea setting up the pendency of his own action in P county and moved to dismiss plaintiff's action. Motion denied. Defendant appealed. Held, the action should have been dismissed. Allen …

Book Reviews, Henry M. Bates, Ernest F. Lloyd

Michigan Law Review

Constitutional Power and World Affairs, Columbia University Lectures, on the George Blumenthal Foundation, for i918, by George Sutherland. New York, Columbia University Press, 1019, pp. vii, 202. This book is one of the most interesting and thoughtful commentaries on certain phases of our Constitution which has appeared in many years. During his two terms in the United States Senate Mr. Sutherland came to be recognized as one of the ablest constitutional lawyers of the country, and his retirement in 1917 was a distinct loss to our public life. The present book is the product not only of exact, scholarly study …

Tyranny Of The Taxing Power, Andrew A. Bruce

Michigan Law Review

It has been frequently stated that our constitutions and our courts were made and organized for the protection of capital and of the vested interests. If this be the case, they are manifestly inadequate for their purpose, and the danger of the future is not that capital will be too much protected but that the reckless extravagance of today will continue and be increased, and that our representatives in our city councils, our state legislatures, and our national congress, who depend for their elections upon the votes of the majority who have accumulated little or nothing, will more and more …