Digital Commons Network^™

Bailment-Unknown Chattels Contained In Object Bailed, B. E. Heath

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's automobile was stolen from defendant's parking lot. Plaintiff had previously disclosed to defendant's agent that certain things were in the car, but had failed to mention other items also present. In an action to recover the value of all the items, held, recovery allowed only for those things that defendant knew were in the automobile, he being a bailee of those things only. Palotto v. Hanna Parking Garage Co., (Ohio 1946) 68 N.E. (2d) 170.

Soviet Law Of Inheritance: I, Vladimir Gsovski

Michigan Law Review

The Soviet law of inheritance has suffered several drastic changes. Not only were the statutory provisions changed, but the attitude of soviet jurists to the very institution of devolution of property on death has presented a constantly changing picture.

Model Probate Code And Monographs On Probate Law: A Review, Russell Denison Niles

Michigan Law Review

The current volume in the Michigan Legal Studies, Problems in Probate Law: Model Probate Code, is an outstanding example of what can be achieved by the cooperation of a professional association and a well-financed and forward-looking law school. The Probate Division of the Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law of the American Bar Association initiated the project of preparing a model probate code and sponsored the project through to completion. The code is the Probate Division's proudest achievement. But the code would not have been possible without the Herculean labors of Professor Lewis M. Simes, Director of …

Future Interests-Rule Against Perpetuities-Contingent Remainders In The Alternative-Rule Of Loddington V. Kime-Power Of Appointment, Shubrick T. Kothe S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Prior to her marriage, settlor created a trust, reserving to herself a life estate, with general testamentary power of appointment over the corpus. The trust deed provided further that in default of appointment, "or as to any part of said estate as to which the appointment may for any reason fail to take effect," the property was to remain in trust to pay one-half the income to her fiancé for life, if he should survive her, the other half to her children who survived or the issue of deceased children, and to pay over the principal when the youngest taker …

Application Of Federal Income, Estate And Gift Tax Laws To Community Property, Willard S. Pedersen

Michigan Law Review

The ganancial or community concept of property ownership, by which husband and wife have equal, vested, undivided, one-half interests in property held by them as tenants in community, has been a thorn in the side of federal tax laws ever since some tax-conscious community income earner decided to report as taxable only one-half of the community income, leaving the other half to be reported by and taxed to his wife upon her separate return. Such procedure first became authorized in community property jurisdictions recognizing the wife's interest as "vested" in 1920. Not long thereafter the realization began to dawn upon …

Taxation-Federal Gift Tax-Life Insurance Policies, John W. Riehm S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

On December 19, 1930 the petitioner created two trusts, placing in the first five $100,000 life insurance policies on the life of her husband, and in the second, securities, the income from which was to pay premiums on the policies, excess if any to be paid to the petitioner; after the death of her husband the whole of the income from the securities was to be paid to her for life. On death of the husband the proceeds of the life insurance policies were to be used to provide life estates for four named beneficiaries followed by remainders over; and …

Corporations-The Fair And Equitable Test In Recapitalizations, Robert O. Hancox

Michigan Law Review

Changes in capital structures of corporations which modify rights of security holders generally occur under one of two circumstances: (1) reorganization of insolvent corporations which affects the rights of creditors as well as shareholders and necessitates judicial supervision; and (2) recapitalization of solvent corporations involving only the relative rights of the different classes of shareholders. It is the author's present purpose to focus attention on the effect of the latter type of modification on the most zealously guarded right of the preferred shareholder--the right to accrued dividends on cumulative preferred stock.

Trade Marks--Assignability In Gross, Joseph N. Morency, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

After using the name "Mother Parker" in connection with a biscuit mix manufactured in Brooklyn, plaintiff, Heloise Parker Broeg, in 1934 opened a bakery in Boston under the name "Mother Parker's Cupboard." She operated this store and another in the same area until 1939, selling a line of bakery goods including bread, doughnuts, cakes, and cookies. In 1936 the trade mark "Mother Parker's" was registered in the United States Patent Office. Plaintiff and her husband opened an experimental laboratory and retail bakery in Peterboro, New Hampshire, in 1940 under the name "Mother Parker's Cupboard" in which they manufactured a complete …

Taxation-Administrative Law-Judicial Review Of Determinations Of United States Tax Court-The Rule Of The Dobson Case, Rosemary Scott S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In the field of administrative tax law there is no more intriguing subject for speculation than the scope of judicial review of decisions of the United States Tax Court as sought to be delineated in Dobson v. Commissioner three years ago. The case was a valiant attempt to limit the scope of review of appellate courts by defining the area in which the findings of the Tax Court would be conclusive. The task was an impossible one at the outset because of the lack of standard definition, except at the core, of the flexible and fluid concepts of "findings of …

Mandamus To Review State Administrative Action, Foster H. Sherwood

Michigan Law Review

The appearance of a substantial body of administrative law in the United States preceded its recognition as such by a good many years. In the intervening period, the courts made every effort to fit the new and unfamiliar jurisprudence into old and familiar forms, particularly those of the common law. This was a natural development, both because it accorded with common law traditions of adjustment, and because there was no legislative recognition of the view for action. The recognition that the problems of administrative law cannot invariably be solved within the framework of traditional legal concepts has paralleled the growing …

Labor Law-Kickback Act-Application To Union Officials, James R. Bliss

Michigan Law Review

Defendants were officials of Local 39 of International Hod Carriers Building and Common Labor Union of America, which procured a closed shop agreement with certain contractors on a federal building project. Defendants were indicted for violation of the federal Kickback Act, the indictment charging that defendants had (1) collected five dollars weekly from nonunion employees on the project by threatening them with dismissal, (2) given receipts for payments collected and accepted employees as union members on presentation of receipts totalling the union initiation fee, (3) but had not kept a record of collection nor accounted to Local 39, as required …

Optional Terms (Jus Dispositivum) And Required Terms (Jus Cogens) In The Law Of Contracts, Arthur Lenhoff

Michigan Law Review

In speaking of statutory law in the common law courts, lawyers have ascribed to it a limiting office, namely, that of interference with the parties' freedom to act and transact at their pleasure. A closer consideration shows them that the function of statutory law varies not only with the legal system to which it belongs, but also with the structural changes within a single legal system.

The Duration Of Certifications By The National Labor Relations Board And The Doctrine Of Administrative Stability, Bernard Cushman

Michigan Law Review

The National Labor Relations Act has recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. A decade is a short time in the life of a statute and the process of interpretation of an act which marked a new approach to labor relations problems is far from ended . In fashioning the mosaic of statute and decision which constitutes the basic law for our varied industrial communities, the National Labor Relations Board has had to deal with difficult and diverse problems. Not the least important of these questions comprise those involving the duration of the validity of its certifications.

Evidence -Witnesses - Privileged Communications Between Physician And Patient--Statutory Effect Of Asserting Privilege In Actions On Insurance Contracts, William H. Buchanan S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, beneficiary of an insurance policy (but not the personal representative of the deceased insured), sued to recover the amount of the policy from the insurance company. As a defense the defendant claimed that the policy never became effective because the insured had made material misrepresentations in the application as to his state of health. To show that there had been such misrepresentations, the defendant proved that the insured had been treated by physicians during the five years preceding the issuance of the policy. Upon objectionμ by plaintiff the court excluded the testimony of the doctors as to the nature …

Implied Warranties Of Non-Infringement, Louis Robertson

Michigan Law Review

When a manufacturer or dealer sells a product, is there an implied warranty that the product does not infringe adversely-owned patents? In other words, does the purchaser who is successfully sued for infringement have the right, without an indemnity clause, to be indemnified by the seller?

Many lawyers, especially patent lawyers, who are accustomed to advising the insertion of express patent warranties in sales contracts to take care of the matter, have answered this question instantly and positively in the negative, and it is quite possible that according to fundamental principles of implied warranties they are right, and yet all …

Recent Developments In Patent Law, Arthur M. Smith

Michigan Law Review

The framers of the Federal Constitution shared with Thomas Jefferson his "wish to see new inventions encouraged, and old ones brought again info useful notice." Their concern for the public welfare caused many, including Jefferson, to question the wisdom of using a limited monopoly to encourage such inventions.

Precedent In Past And Present Legal Systems, C. Sumner Lobingier

Michigan Law Review

The prevailing notion that stare decisis is peculiar to the Anglican Legal System is quite provincial and far from correct. On the contrary, the principle is inherent in every legal system, at least in its primitive stage; for the earliest form of law is custom, and the "core of custom" is precedent, not necessarily judicial, but something quite as authoritative.

Administrative Law-Exhaustion Of Administrative Remedies As A Prerequisite To Judicial Review-Discretionary Treatment By Federal Courts, James E. Dunlap S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The recent Supreme Court decision in Levers v. Anderson held that the rule that one must exhaust his administrative remedies before he is entitled to judicial review does not operate automatically so as to preclude judicial relief when such relief has been expressly permitted by statute. Stated in this way, it is difficult to see how one could reach a different conclusion. Nevertheless, it is believed that this decision, which resulted in a reversal of a circuit court's judgment, did much to remove certain confusion in this field.

Domestic Relations-Recent Developments (A Service For Returning Veterans), John S. Bradway

Michigan Law Review

During the past five years family life in America has been subjected to unusual strains. The repercussions of the war, as well as the usual peacetime factors, affecting the domestic circle have received attention of sociologists and lay writers. The legal implications have not made such prompt appearance in published form.

Information as to that part of the impact of family dislocation caused by war is available in many places, none the least important being the records in the offices of legal assistance officers in the armed forces, of the Committees on War Work set up by the American and …

Restitution-Recovery Of Insurance Payments Made Under A Mistake Of Fact As To The Death Of The Insured, Edwin F. Uhl

Michigan Law Review

Respondent insurance company, upon receipt of claims filed by the appellant beneficiary and a copy of the original Certificate of Presumptive Death issued by the Maritime War Emergency Board, certifying that the insured was presumed to have died on or about November 28, 1942, paid to the beneficiary the face amount of a life insurance policy plus a refund of a premium payment received after the date of presumptive death. Subsequently it was discovered that the insured was a prisoner of war in Japan and, having received from the Maritime War Emergency Board a correction of the original certificate, the …

Legal Control Of Medical Practice: Validity And Methods, Kenneth C. Sears

Michigan Law Review

Legislators have deemed it necessary, in order to protect the public interest, to exercise some control over the practice of the healing art by physicians, surgeons, chiropractors, osteopaths, dentists, etc., both as to who may practice and in what manner the practice may be carried on. Legislators have also required, in certain situations, that designated persons submit to medical treatment. Both types of regulation give rise to various legal and constitutional problems and it is the purpose of this paper to discuss some of these problems.

Administrative Law-Developments: 1940-1945 (A Service For Returning Veterans), E. Blythe Stason

Michigan Law Review

No period in American history has ushered in more sweeping changes in the legal structure than has the last decade and a half. No area of the law has witnessed more rapid development than has administrative law. A sketch of the progress of administrative law during the five-year period 1940 to 1945 reveals an important refining of the "quasi judicial" procedures--procedures which, because of their swift and topsy-turvy growth, can well use a little refining.

The purpose of the following survey is two-fold; first, to outline the more significant developments of the last half decade, relating the new materials to …

Simulation Of Nervous And Mental Disease, Moses Keschner

Michigan Law Review

Simulation may be defined as a wilful, deliberate and fraudulent imitation or exaggeration of illness intended to deceive the observer for the purpose of gaining a consciously desired end. Simulation of a physical or mental illness is usually resorted to: (1) by persons who have sustained an injury, the disability resulting therefrom being compensable by benefits payable under the workmen's compensation law or by damages in personal injury actions based on alleged negligence; (2) by persons who wish to obtain insurance benefits for disability in accordance with the provisions of health, accident and life insurance policies, and included in this …

X-Ray Pictures As Evidence, Charles C. Scott

Michigan Law Review

The courts often are accused of being too slow in accepting the benefits of new inventions, but certainly they are not subject to this criticism in regard to the use of X-ray photographs as evidence. Within a year of Roentgen's discovery of X-rays in 1895, radiographs were admitted in evidence in the case of Smith v. Grant tried in the First District Court of Colorado. Ever since then courts have shown little hesitation in permitting the introduction of X-ray photographs in evidence. Today the rule is now firmly settled that with certain definite restrictions X-ray pictures are competent evidence of …

Constitutional Law-Intergovernmental Immunities-Federal Tax On State Function, Joseph N. Morency, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

In 1911 the State of New York began to acquire title to all of the lands in the Saratoga Springs area with a view to halting excessive pumping of the mineral waters for which the springs are famous. As a result of state ownership the area became a state reservation which, in 1930, was placed under control of, the Saratoga Springs Commission. A hotel-sanitarium, recreational facilities, bath houses, drink halls, a research laboratory as well as state operation of the springs were part of a state program under legislative authority. During the period from 1932 to 1934, sales of the …

Constitutional Law-Trial By Military Commission Of Enemy Combatant After Cessation Of Hostilities-Scope Of Inquiry In Habeas Corpus Proceedings, L. B. Brody S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner, the Commanding General of the Fourteenth Army Group of the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippine Islands, surrendered to and became a prisoner of war of the United States Army Forces in Baguio, Philippine Islands on September 3, 1945. By order of respondent, petitioner was served, on September 25, with a charge setting forth a violation of the law of war. On October 8 petitioner, after pleading not guilty to the charge, was held for trial before a military commission of five Army officers appointed by General Styer, and a bill of particulars was filed by the prosecution specifying …

Constitutional Law-War Contract Renegotiation Act-Injunction Proceeding-Unauthorized Suit Against The United States, Rosemary Scott

Michigan Law Review

A holder of war contracts with the federal government brought suit in the District Court for the District of Columbia to enjoin the Secretary of the Navy from withholding payments due under one contract to offset alleged excess profits received on others on the ground that the statute was unconstitutional, and to obtain a declaratory judgment with respect to his right to the disputed funds. The district court dismissed the bill. Held, since the essential allegations and the relief sought did not make it a case of threatened trespass against property but in effect constituted a suit designed to …

Labor Unions-Suability Of Unincorporated Labor Union In Its Common Name, Joseph R. Brookshire S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought suit in a district court of the United States against the defendant union in its common name, and officers of the union for an alleged libel. The union was not incorporated, no substantive right protected by federal law was involved, and the state wherein the suit was brought, Illinois, did not have a statute permitting actions at law against an unincorporated association in its own name. The district court dismissed the action against the union on the ground that it was not a legal entity; the plaintiff appealed. Held, under the common law of Illinois, an unincorporated …

Spotlight On Congress: A Review Of Six Recent Books, John W. Lederle

Michigan Law Review

Many books on Congress have appeared recently. Perhaps no period in our history has seen the printing of as many books bearing on Congress. This review is directed to a consideration of six of these which have come out during the last three years. Some of these volumes are broader in scope and deal with other topics than Congress. It will be appreciated that this review is restricted to the subject matter dealing with the legislative branch of government.

The Function Of Will Contests, Lewis M. Simes

Michigan Law Review

To anyone steeped in the doctrines of the common law there is something anomalous about the will contest. First, the will is duly admitted to probate in a proceeding which is almost universally conceded to be judicial. Then at a subsequent time a so-called contest is brought by the heir, in which the precise proposition determined on the probate is retried. In most jurisdictions the heir is not bound to make any sort of a showing to entitle him to contest. He need not allege newly discovered evidence. He need not submit any evidence of · fraud or mistake. Indeed, …