Digital Commons Network^™

Taxation - Inheritance Tax - Double Taxation Of Contingent Future Interests Where Exercise Of Power Of Appointment Is Taxed To Donee's Estate, Benjamin H. Dewey

Michigan Law Review

Testator had been bequeathed a life interest in the income of certain trusts, and in addition the corpus thereof in case she were living at the termination of those trusts, or, in the event of her death prior to the termination of the trusts, a power to appoint the persons who should receive the income for the remainder of the trust period and the corpus on distribution thereof. Under the then current Wisconsin statutes this transfer to testator was truced as if she had received a fee. On appeal, it was held that this was correct but that if the …

Trusts Banks And Banking - Liability Of Depository For Trustee's Misappropriation Of Trust Funds - Uniform Fiduciary Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Defendant bank was the depository of trust funds specially earmarked for payment of an outstanding issue of trust notes. The trustee's individual account in defendant was overdrawn; and the trustee was also indebted to defendant on a promissory note. The trustee drew a fiduciary check in favor of himself for the entire amount of the trust account, indorsed it, and deposited it in his individual account. This wiped out the overdraft and left a credit balance. Then the trustee paid his note to defendant with a check drawn on his individual account in favor of defendant. Held, under the …

Wills - Conveyances Conditioned On Grantor's Death - Contracts For Posthumous Performance, Charles Haines Jr.

Michigan Law Review

By an instrument entitled a lease, the owner of a country estate agreed with the Y.M.C.A. that the latter should have a lease of the land for his life in consideration of the payment of taxes and the maintenance and improvement of a boys' camp on the premises. Further, if at his death the lease were in good standing (a right of entry for condition broken having been reserved), then the Y.M.C.A. was to receive full title to the land. Pursuant to the agreement the camp was operated, and at the lessor's death the Y.M.C.A. was in possession in good …

The Labor Relations Acts-Their Effect On Industrial Warfare, Lennart Larson

Michigan Law Review

This article is addressed to the query whether the labor relations acts have any effect on the ends and means of labor warfare. During the hey-day of the NIRA, decisions may be found which indicated that industrial warfare for the objects within the regulatory power of the code authorities was unlawful. Strikes and picketing were enjoined where carried on for higher wages and hours, objects which were thought properly to be for code authorities to adjust. Those decisions were of dubious soundness, but they suggest an argument which may be advanced under the labor relations acts. The NIRA was of …

Corporations - Liability Of Stockholders Of Bank Stock Holding Company For Statutory Assessment On Bank Stock., Edward J. Wendrow

Michigan Law Review

The late depression with its attendant bank failures and the consequent assessment of shareholders has resulted in bringing before the courts a question that has never been litigated until comparatively recent times. That is, can the shareholders of a holding company, whose assets consist of stock of the closed bank, be subjected to the statutory assessment when the corporation itself is unable to meet the assessment? The case of Nettles v. Rhett is the latest of this series, and is fairly typical of the issues involved. This case concerned a suit by the receiver of the Peoples State Bank of …

Injunctions - Courts - Labor Law - Power Of A State Court To Enjoin National Labor Relations Board Officials, Amos J. Coffman

Michigan Law Review

The Circuit Court of Washtenaw County, Michigan, recently issued an injunction enjoining the regional officials of the National Labor Relations Board from holding a scheduled hearing in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The injunction was issued on the theory that if any unfair labor practices were being practiced by the Ann Arbor Press (a local job printer charged with violating the act) they did not affect interstate commerce and hence were not within the jurisdiction of the board. The injunction was at least temporarily effective. The hearing was not held in Ann Arbor. The regional office of the board in Detroit withdrew …

Public Utility Holding Company Act - Corporate Simplification And Geographic Integration Under Section Ii, Brackley Shaw

Michigan Law Review

Section II of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, the so-called "death sentence" clause, carries the specifications for achieving two of the government's main objectives in passing the act: corporate simplification and geographical integration of the large utility holding company systems.

Mortgages - Foreclosure Sale - Possibility Of Setting Aside Sale Because Of Probable Higher Bid, James W. Mehaffy

Michigan Law Review

A trust deed secured a loan of $85,000. The mortgage was foreclosed, the trustee authorized to bid at the sale, and an upset price of $12,500 fixed. A stranger made a higher bid than the trustee, and the property was sold to him for $40,100. The trustee now seeks a resale, offering evidence to show that the property could bring $50,000 to $60,000 if the trustee bought it, remodeled the building, and had time to find a suitable purchaser. There was no question of a deficiency decree. Held, that the lower court erred in refusing to confirm the original …

Schools - Private Parochial Schools - Transportation Of Pupils - Use Of Public Funds, Dan K. Cook

Michigan Law Review

A New York statute provided for the public transportation of school children to public and private schools. Plaintiff instituted a taxpayer's action to enjoin defendant board of education from furnishing transportation, in compliance with the statute, to children attending a parochial school. Plaintiff contended the statute was unconstitutional by reason of a provision of the New York constitution which forbade public aid or maintenance of denominational schools. Held, that the statute was valid, and plaintiff's prayer was denied. Judd v. Board of Education, 164 Misc. 889, 300 N. Y. S. 1037 (1937), affd. (App. Div. 1938) 3 N. …

Taxation - Federal Estate Tax - Claims Arising Out Of An Antenuptial Agreement As Deductions From Gross Estate, Charles E. Nadeau

Michigan Law Review

An antenuptial agreement provided that in the event the wife survived her husband she would receive $50,000 in lieu of her dower rights. After his death the executors paid this sum, and then sought to deduct it from the gross estate as a claim against the estate. In affirming the Board of Tax Appeals the court held that marriage and relinquishment of dower were not "an adequate and full consideration in money or money's worth" and hence the claims were not deductible under the Revenue Act of 1926. Empire Trust Co. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, (C. C. A. …

Labor Law -- Anti-Injunction Acts -- Presence Or Absence Of Labor Dispute As Affecting "Jurisdiction", Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff secured a temporary injunction against the picketing of her beauty shop by members of a union who sought an agreement as to the prices which plaintiff would charge her customers. None of plaintiff's employees were dissatisfied with the terms and conditions of employment. The trial court, on the basis of allegations in plaintiff's bill, affidavits and oral testimony, but without an answer being filed by defendant, held that the case did not "involve or grow out of a labor dispute" and awarded a temporary injunction. A Minnesota statute provided that no court of the state should have "jurisdiction" to …

Associations - Massachusetts Trusts - Personal Liability Of Trustees On Contracts, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The trustees of a business trust, by their agent, accepted seven trade acceptances in which there was no stipulation against the personal liability of the trustees. The trust instrument under which the business was operating provided that the trustees were to be under no "personal obligation or liability of any kind," and that all having transactions with the trustees are put on notice that no trustee or subscriber is personally liable, and further, that in all contracts made by the trustees, "specific mention shall be made therein of this trust to the end that any and all parties must look …

Governmental Powers, State And National, Under Our Constitutional System, Orie Leon Phillips

Michigan Law Review

We are living in a day when democracy is receding and the totalitarian state is advancing on many fronts. Three great nations have accepted as their governmental system authoritarian collectivism. Under the totalitarian systems, the right of the individual to think freely, to engage in free enterprise, to enjoy personal liberty, and to work out his own destiny is taken away. Instead, there is a regimentation of human beings, where everyone's thought, everyone's time, everyone's labor, and at last everyone's life, are at the disposal of a supreme authority. Of course, such a system means the vesting of tremendous powers …

Testamentary Conditions Against Contest, Olin L. Browder Jr.

Michigan Law Review

It is the natural desire of any testator that his will be speedily probated after his death and that there be no rancorous bickerings over his estate by his beneficiaries. One might, therefore, expect that no-contest conditions--conditions prescribing forfeiture of any interest under the will if a beneficiary contests probate-would be of common occurrence and that the rules regulating a testator's right to employ them would be well settled. As a matter of fact, conditions of this type have appeared from time to time ever since cases were first reported, but their validity is far from settled; the state of …

Constitutional Law - Elections - Proportional Representation, Gerald M. Stevens

Michigan Law Review

In November, 1936, the people of the city of New York voted to adopt a system of proportional representation for the election of members of the city council. Each borough was to elect its representatives at large rather than from single-member districts. Each voter was restricted to voting for one councilman; but he might indicate the order of his preference for as many candidates as he desired. Thus he should have marked his first choice by the numeral "1," his second "2," and similarly as many choices as he wished to express. By a system of vote-transferring his vote would …

Corporate Nationality And The Neutrality Law, Paul Weidenbaum

Michigan Law Review

Even a superficial reading of the neutrality law indicates that certain problems of corporate entity and nationality are of utmost importance for its future working. This act seeks to give protection from certain real or assumed dangers. The problem arises whether such purpose cannot be wholly frustrated by the simple means and ways afforded by incorporation. This problem has never been hidden.

Carriers - Federal Regulation Of Motor Transportation Brokers, Charles E. Nadeau

Michigan Law Review

A broker is, in general, an intermediary or "go-between" in the business of negotiating contracts for others. His economic function is that of bringing buyer and seller together. A motor transportation broker is engaged in the business of arranging for contracts dealing with motor transportation service. His function is to bring together a prospective passenger or shipper seeking service and a carrier willing to provide the service demanded. "Tourist agency," "travel bureau," and "share-the-expense agency" are familiar terms used to designate the passenger transportation broker. There is a larger, but not so wellknown, group of brokers dealing in the hauling …

Constitutional Law - Separation Of Powers - Validity Of Statute Requiring Reference Of Disputes To Commissioner Of Labor, Edward D. Ranson

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff was conducting a private employment agency under a license issued by the commissioner of labor. The defendant, a movie actress, secured an engagement through the plaintiff's influence, pursuant to a contract. A dispute arose as to the amount of compensation due the plaintiff under the terms of the contract. A statute required reference of such disputes to the commissioner of labor, who was to hear and determine the same. Within ten days a dissatisfied party could appeal to the superior court and have a hearing de novo. The plaintiff, failing to comply with the statute, commenced the action …

Corporations - Validity Of Contract Executed During Suspension Of Charter For Failure To File Proper Annual Report - Effect Of Innocent Mistake, Ralph Winkler

Michigan Law Review

A Virginia statute, providing that foreign corporations desiring to carry on intrastate business there must pay an entrance fee graduated according to authorized capital stock, imposed on plaintiff a fee of $5,000. Only two-thirds of plaintiff's authorized stock was issued. A considerable amount of its assets were used in interstate commerce, though the sum invested in Virginia was negligible. Plaintiff contended that such an entrance fee burdened interstate commerce because measured by property used in interstate commerce, that it denied due process because measured by property without the state, and that it denied equal protection of the laws becaused measured …

Administrative Law - Investigating Powers Of Federal Commissioners - Securities And Exchange Commission, Brackley Shaw

Michigan Law Review

A recent decision in the Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the constitutionality of the powers of search granted to the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Securities Act of 1933 brings to the fore again the question of the extent to which the Federal Government may validly investigate and demand the production of the books and records of private businesses.

Witnesses - Effect Of Mental Deficiency On Competency And Credibility, Erwin B. Ellmann

Michigan Law Review

Inquiry into the admissibility of evidence showing mental deficiency in a witness is suggested by State v. Teager, a recent decision of the Supreme Court of Iowa. Defendant, charged with assault with intent to commit rape, offered to prove by a school teacher that the complaining witness, a child twelve years old, was "at least two years behind in her school work . . . subnormal mentally . . . and ought to be in an institution . . . . " No objection had been made to the competency of such witness. It was held that the evidence …

Specific Performance - Injunctions To Enforce Negative Covenants In Contracts For Personal Services, Benjamin H. Dewey

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff entered into a contract with defendant in which defendant agreed to participate in a boxing match with the then heavyweight champion of the world. The contract also provided that if the defendant won the bout and himself became heavyweight champion he would render his services as a boxer in his first boxing contest thereafter, in defense of his title, under plaintiff's auspices. The contract further provided that defendant was to engage in no other boxing contests in which a decision was rendered prior to such championship bout, without the written consent of the plaintiff. Subsequently, three amendatory contracts were …

Freedom Of The Press And Of The Mails, Eberhard P. Deutsch

Michigan Law Review

It should be unnecessary to amend the Federal Constitution to accommodate the facilities of government to the needs of society, as those needs develop with the social and scientific advance of civilization. But the trend of legislative effort to reach beyond constitutional limits to satisfy fleeting economic or political expediencies, without regard for the vital distinction between sound and substance, and of courts to seek justification for such excursions, under the benefit of constitutional doubt due "solemn expressions of legislative will," may lead to highly dangerous situations. As this trend is permitted to reach extremes, the erasure of the well-defined …

Federal And State Cooperation Under The Constitution, Louis W. Koenig

Michigan Law Review

Federalism, as a system of government, is peculiar in that it involves a union of several autonomous political entities for · common purposes which may be achieved through apportioning the sum total of legislative power between a "national" or "central" government, on the one hand, and constituent "states" on the other. In our own federation, a written Constitution has sought to define the functions of both these centers of government, assigning to each certain spheres of influence upon all persons and property within a given territory. At the Constitutional Convention, the committee of detail carefully listed the powers of the …

Automobiles - Guest Statutes - What Constitutes A Guest - Sharing Expenses On A Pleasure Trip, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued to recover for personal injuries sustained when riding with defendants in the latters' automobile. The parties were on a few days' pleasure trip. It was apparently the tacit and mutual understanding that the expenses of transportation, hotels, etc., would be shared equally. Held, plaintiff was a guest within the meaning of the guest statute, and thus had no right of recovery against the driver or owner for injury resulting from the negligence of the driver. McCann v. Hoffman, (Cal. 1937) 70 P. (2d) 909.

Corporations - Corporate Seal - When Affixing Seal Makes The Instrument A Specialty, Edward D. Ransom

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff contracted to buy gasoline from a subsidiary of the defendant. The lengthy contract was signed at the end by the proper officers and in juxtaposition to the signatures were the corporate seals of both parties. The contract contained a recital of sealing. On a separate page, but attached to the contract, was a guaranty by the defendant of the subsidiary's performance. This also was sealed with the corporate seals of both parties adjacent to the signatures of the officers. No mention of sealing was contained in the guaranty. On default by the subsidiary, the plaintiff sued on 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 …

Administrative Tribunals-Organization And Reorganization, E. Blythe Stason

Michigan Law Review

No doubt overhauling is needed. However, a consistent and rational theory for the integration of the independent agencies with the remainder of the governmental structure is a condition precedent to an intelligent overhauling. This article constitutes a groping for such a theory. First, I shall discuss some of the more significant attacks which have been made in recent years upon modern administrative organization. Then, the reasons for these attacks will be examined and appraised, for they reveal certain pathological conditions which need excision. Finally, and with all due deference to the other remedies that have been suggested, I shall venture …

Depletion Of Oil And Gas Properties For Income Tax Purposes, John W. Beveridge

Michigan Law Review

The Revenue Act of 1936 provides that in computing net income from oil and gas properties there shall be allowed as a deduction from gross income a reasonable allowance for depletion, according to the peculiar conditions in each case. The allowance is made under regulations prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.

The first problem is to fix the amount the taxpayer is entitled to recover before he is considered as earning income which is not in essence a mere return of his capital investment. The difficulty of clearly defining the difference between a return of capital and of income …

Federal Courts - Procedure For Determining Jurisdiction Ab Facto - Burden Of Pleading And Proof, Richard B. Maxwell

Michigan Law Review

Since the beginning of our government it has been recognized that the federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. At an early date it was decided that because of this the plaintiff must state in his complaint the facts upon which the jurisdiction depended. The reason given in support of this rule, which is still the unquestioned law, is that there is no presumption of jurisdiction in courts which have only limited jurisdiction, but it is presumed not to exist unless its existence be shown upon the record. When the plaintiff sustained his burden of pleading the jurisdictional facts, his …