Digital Commons Network^™

The Proposed Federal Rules Of Criminal Procedure, Wendell Berge

Michigan Law Review

The recently published Preliminary Draft of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure is now before the bench and bar for discussion. The rules proposed are, of course, tentative. Following a procedure similar to that adopted in the case of the civil rules a few years ago, they have been printed and distributed by the Advisory Committee at this stage for the purpose of obtaining criticisms and suggestions. Some of the rules merely restate existing law as provided by statute or adopted by general agreement in judicial decisions. Others work substantial procedural changes. How is the product to be judged?

Is The Business Of Insurance Commerce? A Re-Examination In The Light Of Modern Times, Nathan R. Berke

Michigan Law Review

A question of considerable import which has arisen time and again in recent years, particularly since the enactment of the various federal regulatory acts within the past decade, is whether the business of insurance is commerce. Although not a new question, and by no means unanswered by the courts, it has been a subject of recent reconsideration and in all probability will be reviewed by the United States Supreme Court.

The Development Of The Massachusetts Probate System, Thomas E. Atkinson

Michigan Law Review

American lawyers and laymen alike take for granted a system of probate of wills and administration of decedents' estates under the supervision of a single tribunal usually called a probate court. We are familiar with the setting up of the will, appointment of the personal representative, filing of bond and inventory by the latter, granting of allowances for support of the family, notice to creditors to present their claims, and settlement of accounts of the administration, all accomplished by this court's orders or under its scrutiny. While real property is deemed to pass directly to the heirs or devisees, it …

Secured Obligations, Benjamin M. Quigg, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

The scope of this discussion probably is best defined in the words of the act itself as appear in section 302 (1): "obligations secured by mortgage, trust deed, or other security in the nature of a mortgage · upon real or personal property, owned by a person in military service at the commencement of the period of military service"; and the problems herein discussed are those which arise under the act in connection with the sale, foreclosure, seizure, or repossession of property which is security for such obligations.

Taxes And Assessments

Michigan Law Review

Provisions for tax relief for members of the military and naval forces of the United States are found not only in the Soldiers' and Sailors' Relief Act, but also in three other important federal statutes, namely, the Internal Revenue Code, the War Pay and Allotments Act of 1942, and the Current Tax Payment Act of 1943. Relief measures fall into three classes: (1) those granting postponement of taxes and tax proceedings, (2) those providing reduction of the tax burden, and (3) those providing abatement of taxes in the event of death in military service. Those provisions will be discussed in …

Public Utilities-Smythe V. Ames Again, Thomas G. Long

Michigan Law Review

The suit arose in 1893 over railroad freight rates prescribed by an act of the legislature of Nebraska approved April 12, 1893 which went into effect August 1, 1893. The claim was that the rates prescribed were so low that the plaintiff stockholders' railroads were deprived of property in contravention of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The state officials showed "that the railroads of Nebraska can be reproduced completely for about $20,000 per mile." Eleven railroads were concerned. The lowest funded debt was $12,324 per mile with four over $20,000 per mile. The par value …

Reinstatement Of Employees Under The Fair Labor Standards Act, George W. Crockett, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

The Fair Labor Standards Act is one of several comprehensive federal enactments regulating the relationship between employers and their employees in interstate commerce. These enactments have not followed a common pattern, nor have the means provided for their effective administration and enforcement been the same in each instance. Taken together, however, they establish our national labor policy. The underlying theory of this policy is that employees do not stand upon an equal footing with organized management and are unable to exert, individually, sufficient bargaining power to prevent management from imposing upon them conditions of employment detrimental to their welfare and …

The Administrative Crime, Its Creation And Punishment By Administrative Agencies, Edmund H. Schwenk

Michigan Law Review

The application of the penal sanction in the field of administrative law involves mainly three problems: (1) the constitutionality of a statute which authorizes an administrative agency to issue rules and regulations enforceable by punishment and thus to create certain elements of crime; (2) the constitutionality of a statute which authorizes an administrative agency to create the penalty for the violation of its rules and regulations; and (3) the constitutionality of a statute which authorizes an administrative agency to impose a penalty upon the delinquent. Even if the first problem can be answered in the affirmative, two questions still remain: …

Constitutional Law - Highways - Billboard Regulations-Application Of Easement Principles, Ruth I. Wilson

Michigan Law Review

In Kelbro, Inc. v. Myrick, where the license and setback requirements of the Vermont outdoor advertising law were sustained together with provisions for summary removal of nonconforming advertisements, the Vermont Supreme Court declared that the commercial billboard companies have no common-law right to the privilege of visibility on which their business depends. Their exploitation of this privilege, it held, is a commercial use of the public thoroughfares which has been permitted only by sufferance and has always been subject to prohibition or regulation by the legislature.

Corporations-The Executive Committee In Corporate Organization-Scope Of Powers, Dickson M. Saunders

Michigan Law Review

From the very beginning of the use of the corporate structure as a device for carrying on the businesses and activities of man, it has been apparent that the nominal brain, the board of directors, could not feasibly run the affairs of the inanimate entity unless certain powers could be delegated to officers and agents. The early case of Hoyt v. Thompson's Executor illustrates the judicial recognition of delegated powers. The charter authorized all business of ordinary nature to be transacted by a board of directors of twenty-three.

Unreported Michigan Supreme Court Opinions, 1836-1843, Clark F. Norton

Michigan Law Review

It is a commonly known fact that, although Michigan was admitted to the Union in 1837 (many of her citizens had claimed statehood for more than a year prior to her formal admission), few opinions of the state supreme court written before 1843 have ever been published. Why a period of almost ten years should have elapsed before the first volume of state reports was issued in 1846 ( with the exception of two volumes of chancery reports), or why the early reporters seem, from a casual examination, to have neglected decisions of the court before 1843, or what happened …

Taxation - Special Assessments - Due Process - Requirement Of Notice For Repair Of Existing Improvement, Hobart Taylor, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought this action against the Board of Commissioners of Wells County, Indiana, to quiet his title to 160 acres of land owned by him in the county and to enjoin enforcement of supplementary drainage assessments upon the property as permitted by Indiana law. Plaintiff contended that the statute creating drainage districts was violative of due process of law and unconstitutional in that it authorized supplementary assessments to be made by the Board of Commissioners without the same notice and hearing which was required before the original assessment could be made. On demurrer, the Wells Circuit Court held for plaintiff …

The Bones Of Haddock V. Haddock, Harold Wright Holt

Michigan Law Review

It would not be fitting to say in the language of the stage that Williams v. North Carolina has drawn the curtain on Haddock v. Haddock. Rather we will shift the metaphor to say that the recent case from North Carolina has largely stripped the flesh from the earlier decision. Yet the bones of Haddock v. Haddock remain unbleached and unpulverized. Just as persons with mechanical turn of mind may frame from blocks of wood puzzles of readjustment and resetting, so courts in states that do not favor free and easy termination of marriage may still find in the …

Foreign Exchange Restrictions And Public Policy In The Conflict Of Laws: Part Ii, Evsey S. Rashba

Michigan Law Review

Political Laws have been the subject of a much disputed doctrine. It has been stated by Dicey, and by other authoritative writers in various countries, that a court has no jurisdiction to entertain an action for the enforcement of a "political law" of a foreign state. The term "political law" is not limited to the field of public law. It is, of course, only exceptionally that rules governing the relations between a state and its citizens are given extraterritorial effect. The doctrine goes further. It holds that rules which are technically a part of private law, but which are designed …

Witnesses-Privilege Against Self-Incrimination-Effect Of Incorrect Decision By Trial Judge In Compelling Answer When Privilege Asserted

Michigan Law Review

ln a judicial proceeding, a question is asked of a witness, which question he declines to answer, claiming that the answer will tend to incriminate him. The judge orders him to answer. He does so and the answer does incriminate him. What happens?

Workmen's Compensation - Admiralty Jurisdiction, Arthur B. Lathrop

Michigan Law Review

The deceased, a structural steelworker, was employed to dismantle an abandoned drawbridge which spanned a navigable river. At the time of the accident, he was examining steel which had been cut from the bridge and lowered into a barge used to haul it to the storage point and from this barge "he either fell or was knocked into the river." The company which employed him was a contributor to the Washington Compensation Fund, a compulsory act for employers engaged in the type of work for which the deceased had been employed. In this proceeding the widow appealed on writ of …

Executors And Administrators-Right Of Creditors Of A Decedent To Recover From Distributees After The Estate Is Closed

Michigan Law Review

A recent California decision suggests a problem of some difficulty in the administration of decedents' estates. In Dabney V. Dabney, it appeared that a decedent had, in his lifetime, contracted to pay the plaintiff $100 and $350 respectively, monthly, as long as plaintiff should live, according to the terms of two contracts. In distributing the estate the court, as provided in the California Probate Code, had set aside a sum of money for the purpose of paying these monthly installments. The estate was then distributed, defendant herein being the principal distributee. On February 17, 1941, there remained only $216 …

Habeas Corpus As A Method Of Review-Prohibition-Mandamus

Michigan Law Review

It is a well-settled rule, sustained by innumerable cases, that errors and irregularities committed by a court within the sphere of its jurisdiction cannot be inquired into in habeas corpus proceedings. The reason commonly given for this rule is that such a proceeding is a collateral attack on the judgment, and a collateral attack is necessarily limited to the inquiry whether the court has acted without jurisdiction or has exceeded its jurisdiction.

Key Problems In The Apportionment Of Increase Between Successive Interests In Personalty, Erwin Esser Nemmers

Michigan Law Review

It has been said with some amount of truth that "Perhaps no other question in the law of future interests has called forth such a voluminous literature as the question of the allocation of dividends and the other accruing benefits as between the life tenant and the remainderman of shares of corporate stock."

The present writer's purpose in adding to the material on the subject is to show the relation to the case law of the rules set forth in the Restatement of Trusts and the Uniform Principal and Income Act. While difficult problems of apportionment arise in regard to …

Wills-Construction-Implied Condition Of Survival With Particular Reference To Michigan Law

Michigan Law Review

If the language of a will creates a future interest, when is there an implied condition that the one to whom the interest is given must survive the termination of prior interests? In general, this question is answered by applying the proposition that the law prefers to construe an interest as vested rather than contingent and as indefeasible rather than defeasible. Hence it would seem that, in order to imply a condition precedent of survival, there must be some language on which to base the implication. This, however, does not tell the entire story. There are numerous special rules applicable …

Foreign Exchange Restrictions And Public Policy In The Conflict Of Laws, Evsey S. Rashba

Michigan Law Review

The general movement towards national economic planning and away from the freedom of the liberal age has brought about unprecedented state interference with international trade. These interferences have vastly increased during the past twenty-five years and have grown at a rapid pace during the last decade.

Soviet Government Corporations, John N. Hazard

Michigan Law Review

Public ownership of the means of production is a basic principle of Soviet economy. Private ownership of property is now limited to ownership of consumer's goods, and private trading is confined to the narrowest areas and subjected to such rigid control that it has been reduced to the limitations of street peddling.

With the emphasis on public ownership, the management, protection and development of property belonging to the state has become a major activity of the Soviet government. Production, distribution and consumption of property are aspects of this activity.

Development of a mechanism of management has occupied Soviet jurists and …

Medical Facts That Can And Cannot Be Proved By X-Ray: Historical Review And Present Possibilities, Samuel W. Donaldson

Michigan Law Review

As the science of the practice of medicine has progressed, new discoveries have brought out newer methods of diagnosis and treatment. With the discovery of x-rays by Professor Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895, an entirely new field was opened. The growth of this new field of medical radiology has been unusually rapid and of great importance. Radiology embraces the use of x-rays, radium, and other radioactive substances. Roentgenology is a division of radiology in that it is limited to the use of the Roentgen rays or x-rays, and medical roentgenology may be termed as the use of x-rays for the diagnosis …

Problems Of Proof In Claims For Recovery For Dermatitis, Louis Schwartz

Michigan Law Review

This article will consider, first, occupational dermatitis, and, second, dermatitis from wearing apparel and cosmetics.

Automobiles-Sharing Of Expenses As Evidence Of Joint Adventure-Guest Act, Benjamin Quigg

Michigan Law Review

Through a mutual friend, respondents arranged with appellant car owner for transportation to an out-of-town football game, and it was agreed between the parties that the passengers should reimburse the owner for the expenses of transportation and cost of lunch provided by the appellant. After the game the parties decided to drive to another town for dinner; en route the car skidded and overturned as a result of appellant's negligence, and the respondent wife was seriously injured. Held, that the members of the party were engaged in a "joint adventure" so that the automobile guest statute would not bar …

Constitutional Law - Criminal Law And Procedure - Presence Of Accused During Arguments Of Law, Arthur B. Lathrop

Michigan Law Review

The defendant was indicted for a felony on charges of wilfully attempting to "evade or defeat'' federal income taxes based on his failure to report money allegedly received by him from "backers" of numbers games in exchange for political protection. On cross-examination he was questioned about certain payments made in the year following the ones on which the indictment was based. His attorney objected on the ground that the question was going to be the subject of another indictment against the defendant, and asked that the jury be dismissed while an argument was had upon the point of law raised. …

Joint Adventure-Actions At Law For Share Of Profits, Hobart Taylor, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Action in assumpsit for money due under a contract whereby defendant leased plaintiff's entire clothing factory for the manufacture of 20,000 coats for which defendant held a government contract. By the terms of the agreement, plaintiff was to receive one-half of the net profits. The agreement expressly stated that they were not to be partners. The coats were manufactured pursuant to the agreement. Held, a mere agreement to share profits is, between the parties, insufficient to create a partnership, and assumpsit may be maintained by the members of a joint adventure inter sese for the agreed share of profits. …

Abstracts, Katherine Kempfer

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.

Attorney And Client - Malpractice - Accrual Of Action - Statute Of Limitations

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, in March, 1934, while in the employ of a manufacturing concern, suffered severe injuries. In September, 1935, he employed the defendant, an attorney, to present and prosecute a claim for compensation. The claim was filed in March, 1937; it was dismissed by the Industrial Commission on the ground that it was barred by the two-year statute of limitations governing such claims. Apparently the attorney, continuing his efforts on behalf of his client, persuaded the employer to make a voluntary settlement, for the plaintiff alleges that, in May of 1940, he endorsed the employer's check over to the attorney, accepted …

Current Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

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