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Does The Power To Alienate In Fee Simple Defeat An Executory Devise?, Bradley M. Thompson

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Under the common law one who held an estate in lands in fee simple absolute was the sole owner of such lands, and 1hisright to enjoy the estate and exercise all the powers and privileges incident thereto could not be restricted by the devisor or grantor. The rights and privileges incident to an estate in fee simple constituted the estate-they were all essential, they were its bone, sinew and blood, and in the absence of any one of them the estate was regarded as less than a fee simple.

Ratification By An Undisclosed Principal, Edwin C. Goddard

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Omnis ratihabitio retrotrahitur, et mandato priori aequiparatur. Every ratification relates back, and is equivalent to a prior authority, is the second great maxim of agency, and has been said to be as well established and as simple of application as the first and fundamental one, qui facit per alium, facit per se. It was as well recognized in the Roman law, as it is in the common law.

Does The Power To Alienate In Fee Simple Defeat An Executory Devise?, Bradley M. Thompson

Articles

Under the common law one who held an estate in lands in fee simple absolute was the sole owner of such lands, and his right to enjoy the estate and exercise all the powers and privileges incident thereto could not be restricted by the devisor or grantor. The rights and privileges incident to an estate in fee simple constituted the estate-they were all essential, they were its bone, sinew and blood, and in the absence of any one of them the estate was regarded as less than a fee simple. Among those essential rights were the right of possession, the …

Northwestern Railway Situation, Horace Lafayette Wilgus

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What promises to be the most important corporate litigation that has or is likely to come before the Supreme Court for many years is involved in the various suits against the Northern Securities Company. To understand its full significance, it is desirable to recall something of the railroad history of the western states.

Justice William Rufus Day, Harry B. Hutchins

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The University of Michigan , when measured by the standard of public services rendered by its graduates, must certainly be accorded an honorable rank. For a quarter of a century the number of its alumni occupying high official station has been large. The list includes state executives, judges of state courts of last resort, senators and representatives in the national congress, cabinet officers, and members of important commissions raised by the general government for international and executive purposes. The character of the services has in some cases been conspicuous for its excellence and in all cases such as to bring …

Preferences Arising From Trust Relations, Harry B. Hutchins

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Where property has once been impressed with a trust, the quality inheres therein and in the proceeds thereof so long as the trust relation continues, provided the rights of a bonafide purchaser for value and without notice do not intervene and identification remain possible. The trust impress, in the absence of a superior equity, at once places property in the preferred class. In equity, trust property belongs to the cesiui que trust, and his claim to it cannot be defeated by the insolvency or dishonesty of the trustee, if it constitutes, in an identifiable form, a part of the trustee's …

Eligibility To Office--As Of What Time Determined, Floyd R. Mechem

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Eligibility to office under our political system cannot be regarded as a natural right, and some rules or regulations are therefore obviously indispensable to determine what shall be the qualifications which shall be deemed necessary or sufficient. These rules are usually express and written ones, though in a few cases they have been deduced by inference from considerations of policy or propriety

Authority Of Allen V. Flood, Horace Lafayette Wilgus

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In the case of Allen v. Flood, one of the Lords asked this interesting question, "If the cook says to her master, 'Discharge the butler or I leave you,' and the master discharges the butler, does the butler have an action against the cook?"' This, Lord Shand said, was the simplest form in which the very question in Allen v. Flood could be raised.

Authority Of Allen V. Flood, Horace Lafayette Wilgus

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In the case of Allen v. Flood, one of the Lords asked this interesting question, "If the cook says to her master, 'Discharge the butler or I leave you,' and the master discharges the butler, does the butler have an action against the cook?" This, Lord Shand said, was the simplest form in which the very question in Allen v. Flood could be raised.4 And, like the original question, it puzzled the judges and Lords very much to answer.

The Legal Status Of The Teacher, Floyd R. Mechem

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Prof. Mechem's address on the status of public and private school teachers.

The First Law Class, Bradley M. Thompson

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The writer was a member of the literary class of 1858, a class great in numbers. It graduated forty-nine. It was the custom in those days for each senior to deliver an oration on commencement day. The class of '58 were limited to five minutes each, and they gave the audience a perfect fusilade of speeches for more than three hours at short range.

Can The Present Jury System Be Improved?, Bradley M. Thompson

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There is unquestionably much dissatisfaction with the quality of the modern jury, and with the character of its work. Since juries are composed of men possessing finite intelligence, at best, we ought not to expect that their verdicts would show evidence of infinite wisdom. But the most charitable, who do not expect the impossible are often disappointed at the quality of the possible. All this goes without saying and consequently the question is often discussed, how can the system be improved?

Legal Education: Its Relation To The People And The State, Harry B. Hutchins

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All callings are to a greater or less extent interdependent. One should not be fostered at the expense of another, yet any improvement along a given line is more than local and immediate in its influence. It reaches more than those who are directly concerned. The building up and perfecting of a single industry may add to the wealth and importance of its promoters, but to argue that they are the only beneficiaries, would be to leave out of the case all of the indirect results that naturally and inevitably flow from a very successful undertaking. The fostering of.an enterprise …

Local Self-Government, So Called, As It Is Found In The Constitution Of Michigan, Otto Kirchner

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It is not my purpose to enter upon a detailed examination of municipal government as it now exists, but to confine myself to the consideration of some of the constitutional limitations that rest upon the legislative power to deal with the matter.

Some Remarks Upon The Government Of Municipalities Suggested By The Experience, Growth And Development Of The City Of Grand Rapids, John W. Champlin

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The municipal government of the city of Grand Rapids has not in a11 respects been entirely successful. Dissatisfaction has manifested itself in parts of the community, especially in that portion which has to bear the burthen of taxation on account of increasing bonded indebtedness and the great increase of expenditures in carrying on the affairs of the city. Lack of discrimination in the objects of expenditure, and disregard of legal limitations upon the authority of the council, have caused uneasiness and comment. Notwithstanding these, the city has grown in population and material wealth, and I can say without self-adulation, is …

The Courts Of Judea, Jerome C. Knowlton

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The study of Jewish jurisprudence has become interesting during the past ten years through the efforts of some painstaking scholars, who have not been burdened with any particular dogma, but have been actuated by a true Christian spirit. They have been close students of those portions of the Talmud which throw light on the jurisprudence of the Jews.

A Suggestion Concerning The Law Of Inter-State Extradition, Edwin F. Conely

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While yet the nation was forming-indeed as early as 1643-the impolicy of the colonies' suffering themselves to become asylums for criminal refugees was seen and appreciated by the public men of the time. But, though continued efforts were made in the right direction and much was accomplished, the rendition of fugitives from justice remained, either legally or practically, a matter of comity for nearly a century and a half, or until the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. Then, made mandatory by the organic law of the Nation, inter-state extradition ceased to be subject to State control or …

The American Mutuum, Jerome C. Knowlton

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The delivery of goods that may be accurately designated by number, weight or measure, such as corn or wine, on an undertaking that goods of like kind and quality shall be returned, creates what is known in the civil law as the contract of mutuum, a kind of bailment contract. Text writers on the common law regard such a transaction as a sale and not a bailment. "Where there is no obligation to return the specific article, and the receiver is at liberty to return another thing of equal value, he becomes debtor to make the return, and the title …

Embarassments To Legal Education, Jerome C. Knowlton

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In European countries a student is not allowed to undertake the study of law until he has received a degree equivalent to the A. B. degree in American colleges, and the minimum term of study is three years, and in some cases four or even five years are required. With some mortification, we recognize that the profession of law in this country has not approximated this high standard.

The "Law Reports", Nathan Abbott

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The period between the years 1860 and 1870 marks an interesting stage in the history of law reporting. Within this period a system of reporting that had existed for upward of three centuries came to an end, and an experiment was begun whereby it was hoped to produce reports not merely in a new way, but reports that were to be materially different in form and substance from those of the previous system. The conception of the enterprise and its successful accomplishment is due to the energy and discretion of one man, whose history of the affair, after twenty years …

The Element Of Locality In The Law Of Criminal Jurisdiction, Henry W. Rogers

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THE Federal Courts have no common law criminal jurisdiction. The question was raised in the United States Circuit Court for the District of Pennsylvania, in 1798, in United States v. Worrall, 2 Dallas, 384, and the Court was equally divided in opinion. Iii 1818, Mr. Justice STORY, in United States v. Coolidge, 1 Gallison, 488, decided that there were common law offences against the United States. But this, as we shall see, was overruled by the Supreme Court. As early as 1807, Chief Justice MARSHALL, in Ex parte .Bollman, 4 Cranch, 75, had said, "This Court disclaims all jurisdiction not …

Law School Of The University Of Michigan, Henry W. Rogers

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The University of Michigan is one of the two largest universities in the United States, and this position it has attained within a comparatively few years. In June, 1887, it celebrated its semi-centennial ; and the University Calendar this year issued shows a Faculty roll of one hundred and eight professors, instructors, and assistants, as well as the names of eighteen hundred and eighty-two students. Harvard University, founded in 1636, and the oldest institution of learning in the country, celebrating its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary in November, i886, leads it in numbers by only seventeen students. In 1871 the …

International Extradition, Henry W. Rogers

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It is a well-established principle of law that criminal prosecutions are local and not transitory. A wrong-doer whose wrong consists in a civil injury, or arises out of a breach of contract, can ordinarily be required to answer for the wrong done wherever he may be found. But a different principle is applied to the case of one who has committed a crime. As one nation does not enforce the penal laws of another, and as the process of the courts of a state can confer no authority beyond its own territorial limits, punishment can be avoided by escaping from …

Law Schools And Legal Education, Henry W. Rogers

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In the February number of the AMERICAN LAW REGISTER, there appeared an interesting article from the pen of Mr. Henry Budd, discussing the relation of law schools to legal education. The motive which inspired the writing of the article, was a commendable one, and the desire of the writer to have a higher standard established, governing admissions to the bar, will be quite generally concurred in. No one could read the article in question, however, without readily perceiving that the law schools of the United States were considered to be, in large measure, responsible for the admission to the bar …

Subscriptions, Henry W. Rogers

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One cannot expect, within the limits of a single article, to exhaust the law relating to Subscriptions. But within the limits assigned, I propose to consider some portions of the law relating to this subject, which seem to me to be of sufficient interest and importance to merit attention in these pages. The subject of Subscriptions is seemingly a narrow one, and yet it has given rise to very considerable litigation, and out of it have come many interesting questions, upon the determination of which large pecuniary interests have often-times depended, especially in the case of Stock Subscriptions.

Popular And Legal Views Of Traffic Pooling, Thomas M. Cooley

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“Perhaps nothing in respect to the relations between the railroad companies and the public attracts more attention at the present time than the arrangements to which the name of pooling is popularly given. In railroad circles these arrangements are looked upon as necessary to prevent all railroad property becoming absolutely worthless to the stockholders, as a very large part of it is now; and those managers who are hoping to earn dividends are therefore laboring earnestly to make these arrangements effectual…. What is said will refer especially to pooling in freight traffic, but in principle it will apply to passenger …

Labor And Capital Before The Law, Thomas M. Cooley

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The chief concern of every political society is the establishment of rights and of adequate securities for their protection. In America, it has been agreed that this shall be done by the people themselves; they shall make their own laws, and choose their own agents to administer them. But the obvious difficulty of doing this directly has been recognized, and the people, after formulating the charter of government, incorporating in it such principles as they deem fundamental, content themselves with delegating all powers of ordinary legislation to representatives. Notwithstanding this delegation, much direct legislation of a very effective and important …

Sarony V. Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co., Henry W. Rogers

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Commenting in the Federal Reporter on this Opinion, Professor Rogers considers at length this case bearing on definitions of copyright and artistic properties. "This was an action at law for the violation of the plaintiff's copyright of a photograph of Oscar Wilde, which the defendant had copied by the process known as chromo-lithography.... A jury was waived, and the case was argued upon questions of law only, which appear in the opinion."

"The contention of the defendant, briefly stated, is this: That there was no constitutional warrant for this act; that a photographer is not an author, and a photograph …

Detroit Savings Bank V. Zeigler, Henry W. Rogers

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"Such interchanges of assistance between officers of a bank, as temporary need may require, is fairly within the contemplation of the appointment of such an officer, and the sureties on his bond are liable for a default made while he was temporarily filling the place of another officer.

"The receiving teller of the savings department of a bank, while filling the place of the general teller, during the latter's temporary absences, embezzled moneys of the bank: Held, that the sureties on a bond, given by him for so taken."

The Remedies For The Collection Of Judgments Against Debtors Who Are Residents Or Property Holders In Another State, Or Within The British Dominions, Thomas M. Cooley

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Whenever a party who has obtained a judgment in one state or county has occasion to take proceedings for its enforcement in another, he finds-perhaps to his surprise-that his judgment as such has no extra-territorial force, but that in other jurisdictions it is merely evidence of a settled demand, upon which judgment must be obtained in a new suit before there can be process for its enforcement. A creditor cannot, for example, upon a judgment recovered in New York, have an execution in Pennsylvania; for courts issue executions only upon their own judgments; and while it would no doubt be …