Digital Commons Network^™

Rights Of Action Under Death And Survival Statutes, Bowen E. Schumacher

Michigan Law Review

Upon the injury of a person by the wrongful act of another and his death subsequent to and as a result of the injury, it would seem at a glance that there has been two wrongs done. First, there is the wrong to the injured person, giving rise to an action of tort against the wrongdoer, and secondly the injury to the relatives who, by the death, are deprived of support or financial contribution from the decedent. At common law the right of action accruing to the person before his death, i. e. the action for the tort, abated at …

The Juridical Nature Of The State, Sir Paul Vinogradoff

Michigan Law Review

Of all varieties of social co-operation, one dominates the others. It is the State, and a fundamental problem in every system of law consists in settling the legal relations between the State and its members- both the individuals and the juridical persons.

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Legal Standards And Ideals, Sir Paul Vinogradoff

Michigan Law Review

Provisions for the settling of conflicts constitute the greater part of any legal system. These conflicts are not entirely governed by self interest and the idea of ethical duty does not disappear from them: it asserts itself in the shape of the balance to be established ·by the court: while every litigant presses for the satisfaction of his own claims society is called upon to adjudicate fairly between the parties: the moral notion of justice appears as the impartial attribution of what everyone in society ought to have by right. We make distinctions between men in accordance with their greater …

Liability In Tort Of Infants And Insane Persons, Francis H. Bohlen

Michigan Law Review

It is universally held that mere infancy or insanity does not preclude liability for the impairment of another's bodily condition or the physical condition of another's property caused by conduct which, if that of an adult or mentally normal person, would be a wrong of aggression or negligence.

But there is a conflict of authority and a wide divergence of opinion among text writers as to the liability of persons who, because of extreme youth or mental deficiency, are incapable of forming a culpable intention, or whose incapacity to realize the probable consequences of their conduct makes it unjust to …

Resistance To Illegal Arrest

Michigan Law Review

Precisely how far an individual may go in resisting an illegal arrest either by an officer or a private citizen, is a question which is of vital importance to the citizen and police officials and one which the courts have not definitely settled. Personal liberty is so esteemed that under certain circumstances one should have the right to resist, to some extent at least, any unlawful interference therewith. But as Beccaria says in his CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS, "It is a false idea of utility which thinks more of the inconvenience of individuals than of the general inconvenience". Translation by James …

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.

Fishing Expeditions By Commissions, John Leland Mechem

Michigan Law Review

Can Congress, under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, delegate visitorial powers over private corporations engaged in interstate commerce, to the extent of granting unlimited and unrestricted examination and inspection of private papers and effects, with the right to copy them?

The New Colombian Law Of Bills And Notes

Michigan Law Review

The collection of "Laws Presented to the Government of Colombia by the Commission of American Financial Experts, and an Exposition of Motives by the Latter" (Bogota, 1923, Casa Editorial de Cromos; with an introduction by Dr. Cesar Julio Rodriguez), states by way of introduction that Law 60 of 1922 authorizes the government to contract abroad with five experts in public administration to come to Colombia and assist in the preparation of bills for laws or decrees for the reorganization of the national fiscal system. In accordance with this law the Colombian Minister at Washington, Dr. Enrique Olaya Herrera, engaged the …

Contracts With The United States, Grover C. Grismore

Michigan Law Review

It has been settled since a comparatively early day in the history of our government that "the United States being a body politic, may, within the sphere of the constitutional powers confided to it, and through the instrumentality of the proper department to which those powers are confided, enter into contracts not prohibited by law, and appropriate to the just exercise of those powers." While this proposition became established without much of a struggle, it has not been so freely admitted that such contracts are to be given the same construction and effect as the contracts of individuals. In Smoot's …

Arrest Without A Warrant, Horace L. Wilgus

Michigan Law Review

Aiding in Arrest: An officer having authority to make an arrest may, orally or otherwise, call upon any citizen to aid him, and in emergencies, such as riots, mobs, etc., may raise the posse comitatus, or power of the county to help him; or the military force of the county may be called out if necessary. It is immaterial whether the officer acts under a warrant, or under his authority without a warrant; or whether the offense is a felony, or a misdemeanor, or an original arrest or recapture; or whether the person arrested is innocent or guilty, …

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

Arrest Without A Warrant, Horace L. Wilgus

Michigan Law Review

We shall now consider the circumstances under which a person (D) may be arrested for treason (T), or felony (F), or breach of the peace (BP), or other misdemeanor (M), or breach of a city ordinance (BO), without a warrant, by a private citizen (C), or a peace officer (O), prior to, at the time of, or after the commission of the offense. It is assumed that O acts within his territorial jurisdiction.

Contracts--Modern Rules As To Past Consideration Furnished At Request

Michigan Law Review

Very early in the history of contract law it was recognized that goods delivered or services rendered in the past could not furnish valid consideration for a present promise, for there was no quid pro quo, no element of exchange. But the equities in favor of the promisee in such cases, in view of the fact that assumpsit would lie only on an express promise, were frequently so strong that in 1615 we find an exception created. Lampleigh v. Brathwait, Hobart 105, held, that if the past services or goods had been furnished at request, the present promise …

Criminal Assault Through Negligence--Bonding Automobile Drivers

Michigan Law Review

The Supreme Court has recently declared constitutional and valid the New York legislation requiring taxi-cab drivers to file with the state a surety bond or an insurance policy conditioned for the payment of judgments against the driver for personal injuries caused by the operation or the defective construction of his vehicle. Packard v. Banton (Feb., 1924) Adv. Ops. No. 126. The amount of the bond or policy required is only $2,500, though with a continuing liability for that amount during the period of the bond. It appears from the court's opinion that the insurance companies charged a premium of $900 …

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Fair Value Of Public Utilities, Edwin C. Goddard

Michigan Law Review

It has been often remarked that the property of a public utility is privately owned, and it was not until recent years that its owners ceased to insist that they had all the rights of a private owner in the use and enjoyment of the property. Munn v. Illinois was a rude jar, but it has withstood the storm it aroused, at least to the extent that it is no longer questioned that property devoted to a public use is subject to public regulation, especially as to the charges that may be made to the public for the use. During …

Arrest Without A Warrant, Horace L. Wilgus

Michigan Law Review

The word arrest comes from the Latin through the French, and literally means to stop, stay or restrain. In law it relates to restraints upon a person's liberty of locomotion, movement from place to place. To require one to keep her mouth shut is not an arrest, even if wrongful. Every detention or "confinement of the person is an imprisonment, whether it be in a common prison, or private house, or in the stocks," or in the open street or elsewhere. Where codes define false imprisonment "as the unlawful violation of the personal liberty of another," the gist of the …

Error Without Prejudice

Michigan Law Review

An examination of almost any of our reports of decisions now current, will impress one with the great number of cases reported in which the courts discuss the matter of reversal for error as affected by the question of whether prejudice results from such error.

The Occupation Of Michigan, Elbridge Colby

Michigan Law Review

The British military occupation of Michigan during the war of 1812 had no real military importance. The events leading up to it were then discussed, and have since been, more as a matter of the propriety or impropriety of the conduct of General Hull and the ineffectiveness of our national military organization for war. From the standpoint of politics the incident is of slight significance. But from the standpoint of the history of belligerent occupations and military government it illustrates and touches upon several distinctly legal points.

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

Constitutional Law-Interstate Commerce-The Transportation Act Of 1920

Michigan Law Review

Contemporaneous comments on Supreme Court decisions involving the "due process" clause too often resolve themselves into mere "debates" as to the wisdom of the particular legislation in question, either from the standpoint of the ultimate object to be accomplished or the methods adopted for its accomplishment. Strongest adherents of our unique system of judicial review must admit that, after all, the duty of the Supreme Court consists primarily in determining whether or not the legislation before it is valid, not whether it is, or is not, a politic enactment.

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.

The Machinery Of Procedural Reform, Edson R. Sunderland

Michigan Law Review

Much has been said and written about the imperfections of legal procedure. It is a subject of great interest and concern to the bar and to the public. Since rules of practice prescribe the conditions under which rules of law may be made operative, in so far as they fail of their purpose the law itself becomes ineffective. Lord Campbell is reported to have said that "The due distribution of justice depends more upon the rules by which suits are conducted than on the perfection of the code by which rights are defined."

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.

Coke-Parliamentary Sovereignty Or The Supremacy Of The Law?, R. A. Mackay

Michigan Law Review

Few legal authorities have received such conflicting interpretations as Sir Edward Coke. American jurists have turned to him as the legal father of judicial review, English jurists have found in him the authority for Parliamentary Supremacy, The cause of these conflicting interpretations is partly Coke's obscure style. Coke was an encyclopedist rather than a philosopher of the law: his ideas must be dug out and fused together from an heterogeneous mass of apparently unrelated statements. Even his Reports are legal and literary puzzles, a mixture of advocates' pleas, judicial decisions, and probably Sir Edward Coke's personal opinions as well. Hence …

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.