Digital Commons Network^™

Injunction Against Search By Police Officers

Michigan Law Review

A nice equipoise of public and private interest is disclosed in the case of Des Moines Drug Co. v. Doe, in which the Iowa Supreme Court recently had occasion to consider questions raised by a bill in equity to enjoin a search by police officers endeavouring to enforce the liquor laws.

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Waiver Of Trial By Jury In Criminal Cases, S. Chesterfield Oppenheim

Michigan Law Review

Waiver of jury trial in criminal cases generally is a highly practical issue at the present time both from the standpoint of the public and of the accused. The belief is common that the element of delay is one of the primary causes of the general disrespect attaching to the courts of criminal juridiction. It is said that an overzealousness in shielding the citizen against oppression and injustice has resulted in shifting to the background expedients designed to simplify and give momentum to the disposition of criminal cases.

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Juristic Idealism And Legal Practice, Joseph H. Drake

Michigan Law Review

The leading exponent of juristic idealism in Germany is Rudolf Stammler, Professor in the University of Berlin. He is uncompromising in his idealistic theory. He even resents being called a pragmatic idealist, possibly lest the chameleon like connotation of this word might seem to detract in any way from the absolute character of his conception of the idea. He is to be thought of rather as the third of that great triumvirate of juristic idealists; namely, Socrates-Kant-Stammler. It is then rather a curious phenomenon that wl1en his juristic philosophy is transplanted to alien soil, it is the pragmatic element in …

New Avenues To Freedom, Edwin D. Dickinson

Michigan Law Review

Lay opinion regards the law of nations as a weak and ineffective system. It is the fashion to deplore the inefficacy: of its precepts and to regard it as a sort of benevolent code unsupported by any forces which can really compel observance. There is a good deal of loose talk about providing sanctions. The truth is, however, that few systems of law are so infested with tyrannies. It is not sanctions which are needed so much as opportunities for growth. It is not the buttressing of existing dogmas which is required so much as new avenues to freedom.

The Right To Fish In Fresh-Water Streams

Michigan Law Review

Nearly three centuries ago Lord Hale wrote the "Fresh rivers, of what kind soever, do, of common right, belong to the owners of the soils adjacent and, if a man be the owner of the land on both sides, in common presumption, he . hath the right of fishing according to the extent of his land in length." This doctrine of the common law, to the extent that it concerns riparian ownership, has long been accepted in Michigan. In this state the owner of the riparian lands owns the submerged lands connected therewith to the thread of the stream. Quite …

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

Declaratory Judgments Under State Statutes In Federal Courts

Michigan Law Review

Will the federal courts render declaratory judgments when sitting in states which have adopted statutes authorizing that form of relief? A recent decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, written by Justice Sanford, has thrown the whole problem of declaratory judgments in the federal courts into a most unfortunate state of confusion. Liberty Warehouse Co. v. B. S. Grannis, 47 Sup. Ct. Rep. 282.

The Effect Of Foreign Divorce Upon Dower And Curtesy, Robert W. Wheeler

Michigan Law Review

Dower and curtesy are no longer viewed with the kindly eye with which the older law regarded these marital property rights. While inroads have been made by statute, which in many instances have abolished these estates, there are still a large number of states which retain dower and curtesy in their original or in a modified form. Coincident with the decline of these estates has come the great increase of divorces, so that the question of the effect of foreign divorce upon dower and curtesy is litigated with increasing frequency. The problem requires first a consideration of the relation of …

The Primitive Character And Origin Of The Bonorum Possessio, George M. Bush

Michigan Law Review

The Bonorum Possessio, or Praetorian inheritance or succession, is one of the most important, complicated and difficult sections in the study of the Private law of Rome. This subject is not well known to students of Roman law, although so far it has been the object of much research on the part of many German and a few French, scholars.

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Trusts-Trust Estates As Bona Fide Purchasers

Michigan Law Review

The doctrine of bona fide purchase is of ancient origin. It has had many significances and interpretations attached to it. At one time it was explained entirely by the special nature of equity and equitable remedies. Maitland used it to show that equities were rights in personam. That the doctrine is no gauge for the quality of the prior estate was shown by Dean Pound, since legal titles may also be cut off. The doctrine has been criticized as anomalous. Two other writers have taken rather different views of the rule. Mr. J. E. Hogg suggests that the bona …

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Crimes-Charge To Jury

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was indicted for murder and manslaughter under sections 15224-5, 3 Compiled Laws of Michigan 1915. The judge gave charges for first and second degree murder and for manslaughter. There was no evidence of murder. A manslaughter verdict was returned. The case was reversed because the murder charge was unsupported by any evidence, and because the defendant was hampered in cross examination. People v. Stahl, 234 Mich. 569, 208 N. W. 685.

Aesthetic Zoning Regulations, Newman F. Baker

Michigan Law Review

The court house of Sangamon county, Illinois, is situated in the center of a block or square, known as Lincoln Square, in the city of Springfield. The building is of architectural beauty and great historical interest, the corner stone having been laid in 1837 and the building used as the Capitol building for the state of Illinois until 1876. The buildings on the four sides of the Square were all two or more stories in height until January, 1926, when a three- story building, located on the north-east corner of the Square was practically destroyed by fire. The owners planned …

Public Utilities -Statutory Review By The State Supreme Court Of A Decision By The Commission

Michigan Law Review

Fifteen states in enacting public utility laws creating public utility commissions, have provided for an appeal on review of commission decisions, by the supreme court of the state. Other states provide for review by lower state courts with a subsequent appeal therefrom to the supreme court. No doubt, the direct appeal goes hand in hand with the more expeditious legal procedure exemplified by the creation of such administrative tribunals. In most states, including eight of the above fifteen, the constitutions provide that the jurisdiction of the supreme courts shall be appellate only, except for a few prerogative writs of original …

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Crimes-Defense Of Property

Michigan Law Review

May one under any circumstances kill in order to prevent the loss or destruction of his property? By this question is meant killing solely to prevent loss or destruction of property; necessary homicide in self-defense is unquestionably justifiable. Much of the confusion on the question whether one may take life if necessary in defense of property is due, it seems, to a persistent tendency to treat the two questions as the same. It hardly needs statement that the body of law pertinent to self-defense is totally distinct fundamentally from that pertaining to one's powers in defense of his chattels. Practically, …

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Passenger Tickets As Contracts, Edwin C. Goddard

Michigan Law Review

The most important right of the common carrier of passengers is his right to compensation. He carries for hire. This compensation he ordinarily collects by selling to the prospective passenger a ticket. Of these tickets there are many varieties, from the simple rectangular bit of cardboard, with the printed statement that it is good for one ride from X to Y, to the long coupon ticket, with elaborate provisions in fine print, providing for the passenger knows not what. What is the legal character of this ticket?

Imprisonment For Debt, Richard Ford

Michigan Law Review

Imprisonment for debt is usually thought of as a barbarous custom which declined continuously as civilization and Christianity advanced and which was totally done away with long ago. The facts, however, are otherwise. It seems doubtful if history warrants any generalization to the effect that the imprisonment of debtors has been a steadily declining practice. Certain it is, that in a greater or less degree it exists today in many parts of the United States, in England, and in some other countries. Moreover, creditors are making use of it on a comparatively large scale. It is the purpose of this …

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

Contracts To Make Testamentary Dispositions As Affected By The Statute Of Frauds, Merrell I. Schnebly

Michigan Law Review

There are in the reports a surprising number of cases in which it is alleged that the owner of property has bound himself by contract to devise or bequeath that property to another. These promises have been made upon almost every imaginable consideration, but in the typical case the consideration is personal services rendered to the promiser during his declining years. Since these promises are so common, one concludes that this kind of contract must appeal to many persons as advantageous. There is little doubt that it of ten does enable one to secure attention of a sort he could …

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Police Legislation Under Federal Powers

Michigan Law Review

A recent case decided by the United States Supreme Court United States v. Daugherty (Jan. 4, 1926) 46 Su. Ct. 156 (Adv. Opn. 303) sustained a conviction and sentence under the Harrison Anti-Narcotic Act, 38 Stat. 785, for "making unauthorized sales of cocaine to three different persons on different days" The indictment was in three counts, one covering each sale involved. The sentence imposed was "five years on each of said three counts. * * * * Said term of imprisonment to run consecutively and not concurrently."

Jurisdiction Over Foreign Corporations, Maxwell E. Fead

Michigan Law Review

During the last century, the standing of foreign corporations in our law has been radically changed; and the law on this subject at the present day is far from being in a settled condition. According to the early view, a corporation could have no legal existence outside of the state of its creation. This view was perhaps best expressed by Mr. Chief Justice Taney in his famous dictum in Bank of Augusta v. Earle. "And this corporation can have no legal existence out of the bounds of the sovereignty by which it is created. It exists only in contemplation …

Pardons In Impeachment Cases, Maurice Taylor Van Hecke

Michigan Law Review

A year ago, Governor Miriam Ferguson, of Texas, approved an act of the legislature of that state, the gist of which reads as follows:

"That every person against whom any judgment of conviction has heretofore been rendered by the Senate of the State of Texas in any impeachment case, shall be and is hereby granted a full and unconditional release of any and all acts and offenses of which he was so convicted by said Senate of the State of Texas, upon any charge or proceedings of impeachment.

"That any and all penalties or punishment inflicted by or resulting from …