Digital Commons Network^™

Taxation - Tax Delinquent Lands - The Michigan Land Board Act As A Solution To The Delinquency Problem, Rex B. Martin

Michigan Law Review

Nearly all states have been faced with the increasingly difficult problem of what to do with the growing volume of tax delinquent land which has been thrown upon their hands. As a typical example of the financial aspects of this problem, Michigan in 1928 had over $25,000,000 worth of delinquent taxes on 8,757,000 acres of property. In 1932 this acreage was estimated at 15,660,000. By 1937 the unpaid taxes in some of Michigan's counties exceeded five times the assessed value of the delinquent properties. Much of the property could not be sold for the amount of taxes owed, and the …

Monthly Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department lists the articles and comments which appear in twenty-five leading law reviews.

Book Notes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to list and, when possible, describe briefly current books on law and matters closely related thereto.

The Revision Of The Treaties Of Montevideo On The Law Of Conflicts, Ernst Rabel

Michigan Law Review

In its issue of July 1940, the Revista Juridica Argentina of Buenos Aires has published the new "Tratados de Derecho Internacional Privado" of Montevideo concluded in 1939 and 1940. We are grateful to this review for apprising us of a significant event in the field of international codification.

The Right Of Privacy, Louis Nizer

Michigan Law Review

It is only during the last half-century that the law has recognized the "right to be let alone"-the right under certain circumstances to protect one's name and physiognomy from becoming public property.

No mention of such a right will be found in the works of the great political philosophers and tract-writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries-Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Spencer, Paine. In discoursing on "natural rights," "the state of nature," "social contract," and "the inalienable rights of man," they were concerned only with the power of the state to abridge the liberties of the people. Society had not yet …

Council And Court: The Handbill Ordinances, 1889-1939, James K. Lindsay

Michigan Law Review

The extent to which a municipality may regulate or prohibit the distribution of handbills and circulars on its streets and from house to house has been thoroughly considered by the courts in the last two years. These recent cases reveal one phase of a battle historically rich and presently important to the American people. It is the thrust of a principle-the right of free speech and press-against the encroachments of municipal governing bodies concerned with the practical problem of keeping their streets clean. The municipal official sees the problem thus: "One of the small but aggravating nuisances which most cities …

Paul's Studies In Federal Taxation, Third Series -A Review, Josiah Willard

Michigan Law Review

This Third Series of Mr. Paul's Studies in Federal Taxation is a welcome addition to the literature on the subject. Too few members of the tax bar reduce their views on the subject to writing, and many of those who do apparently feel that they must never concede any merit to a contention of the treasury on any doubtful point, for fear that such a concession will be used against them by some treasury attorney in the future. On the other hand, many academic writers on the subject tend to assume that every decision in favor of the taxpayer represents …

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Federal Price Control Under Commerce Clause For Milk And Coal Industries, Stark Ritchie

Michigan Law Review

As a natural concomitant of the prevailing laissez-faire economic philosophy, a strong feeling against any governmental regulation of business prevailed in American legislatures until well into the second half of the nineteenth century. Prices were considered to be especially immune to governmental tampering. The first step in the breakdown of the notion that government had no power over prices was the case of Munn v. Illinois. This decision introduced the doctrine that the legislature had the right to regulate prices in any business which the courts should find to be "affected with a public interest." Posed as a deceivingly …

Interstate Commerce - Motor Carrier Act Of 1935 - Power Of States To Regulate Interstate Carriers As To Sizes And Weight, Spencer E. Lrons

Michigan Law Review

The Motor Carrier Act of 1935 provides, in section 204 (a) (1) and (2), that the Interstate Commerce Commission, in performing its duty of regulating interstate motor carriers, shall have power to "establish reasonable requirements with respect to . . . safety of operation and equipment." In section 225, the act authorizes the commission "to investigate and report on the need for Federal regulation of the sizes and weight of motor vehicles. . . ." These two sections, when read together, indicate that Congress felt that sizes and weight regulations deserved consideration apart from general safety regulations. The former are …

Bankruptcy - Effect Of Discharge - Suspension Of Driver's License For Non-Payment Of Judgment As Conflicting With The Bankruptcy Act, Walter Muller

Michigan Law Review

Under section 94-b of the New York Vehicle and Traffic Law, as amended in 1936 and 1939, if a judgment entered against a driver for 'damages for injury to person or property remains unpaid for fifteen days, the clerk of the court where the judgment was entered must (but only upon written demand of the judgment creditor) forward a copy thereof to the commissioner of motor vehicles, whose duty it then becomes to suspend the driving license of such judgment debtor; further, section 94-c provides (a) that such suspension shall continue for such part of three years as the judgment …

Election Of Remedies- Contracts Induced By Fraud, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In 1939, plaintiff brought an action alleging in his complaint that defendant became indebted to him on December 17, 1928, for $13,400, for money had and received by defendant to the use of plaintiff. In a bill of particulars plaintiff pointed out that the indebtedness arose from the purchase of certain bonds and the subsequent rescission of the contract of purchase prior to the commencement of this action, basing his right to rescind upon misrepresentations made by, and the fraud of, defendant in inducing the purchase of said bonds. When defendant moved for a summary judgment on the ground that …

Insurance - Insurable Interest - Occupant Or Possessor Of Realty, Raymond H. Rapaport

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued upon an insurance policy, issued to her by the defendant, covering a building in which she was conducting a merchandising business. The building was owned in fee by the plaintiff's father-in-law, who had told the plaintiff that she might occupy it so long as she wished, and that he intended to deed it to her and her children. Held, plaintiff had an insurable interest in the building. Liverpool & London & Globe Ins. Co. v. Bolling, (Va. 1940) 10 S. E. (2d) 518.

Labor Law -- Injunctions -- Permissible Objects Of Strikes -- Prevention Of Use Of Labor-Saving Devices, Reed T. Phalan

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a travelling grand opera troupe, used recordings for orchestral accompaniment. The American Federation of Musicians opposed use of mechanically reproduced music wherever orchestras could be hired, and, in support of such opposition, the stagehands' union forbade its members to work for plaintiff. As a result, since most of the theaters throughout the country were "closed shop" theaters, plaintiff's business was greatly restricted: Plaintiff brought an action for an injunction against the musician's union and the stagehands' union, and the lower court granted the injunction. Held, in a three-two decision, the stagehands' union had sufficient direct interest to act …

Labor Law - National Labor Relations Act - Necessity Of A Written Contract To Meet Requirement Of Good Faith Collective Bargaining, Rex B. Martin

Michigan Law Review

Having found that the petitioner, by refusing to sign an agreement reached with the union, was refusing to bargain collectively, the National Labor Relations Board ordered it to bargain by signing a written agreement. The Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit directed enforcement of the board's order. On certiorari to that court, held that the board's order should be enforced. H.J. Heinz Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, (U. S. 1941) 61 S. Ct. 320, affirming (C. C. A. 6th, 1940) 110 F. (2d) 843.

Monthly Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department lists the articles and comments which appear in twenty-five leading law reviews.

Book Notes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to list and, when possible, describe briefly current books on law and matters closely related thereto.

Constitutional Law- Eminent Domain - Power Of State To Condemn Land For Low-Cost Housing And Transfer To The United States, Oscar Freedenberg

Michigan Law Review

Public low-cost housing legislation on a national scale in this country began with title II, section 202 of the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, which authorized the administrator to embark upon a program for "construction, reconstruction, alteration, or repair under public regulation or control of low-cost housing and slum-clearance projects." But soon thereafter, in United States v. Certain Lands in the City of Louisville, a majority of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided that the N.I.R.A. was unconstitutional so far as it attempted to authorize the condemnation of land by the United …

Book Notes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to list and, when possible, describe briefly current books on law and matters closely related thereto.

Jurisdiction Of Employee Suits Under The Fair Labor Standards Act, George W. Crockett Jr.

Michigan Law Review

The statutory authority for employee suits under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is found in section 16(b). Suits under this section have been instituted in both state and federal courts. In practically every case the defendant has, by a motion to dismiss, challenged the jurisdiction of the court. The usual ground for the challenge in the state courts is that such suits seek to recover penalties incurred under a statute of the United States, and are, therefore, within the exclusive jurisdiction of the district courts of the United States. The jurisdiction of the federal district courts is generally …

Front Matter, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Front Matter for Volume 39, Issue 3 of Michigan Law Review

Instalment Payment Of Judgments, Frederick Woodbridge

Michigan Law Review

This article is concerned primarily with a discussion of satisfaction of judgments by instalment payments where the judgment debtor is the typical American wage earner. It is based upon an analysis of the applicable statutes, the experience recorded in decided cases, interviews with numerous judges administering the statutes, and observations in certain of the courts where that method is used.

Substance And Procedure In The Conflict Of Laws, Edgar H. Ailes

Michigan Law Review

It is perhaps the most inveterate doctrine of the conflict of laws that all questions of procedure in a given instance are governed by the lex fori, or the law of the court invoked, regardless of the law under which the substantive rights of the parties accrued. For seven centuries, at least, courts and lawyers have broadly stated or assumed to be axiomatic the rule that substantive rights are fixed and immutable whilst the procedural devices by which such rights may be vindicated and enforced depend solely upon the law of the forum.

Glenn On Fraudulent Conveyances And Preferences, Fred T. Hanson

Michigan Law Review

Professor Glenn's new two volume work on Fraudulent Conveyances and Preferences is much more than a revised edition of his previous book. The treatment of preferences is new and the material in the old book is revised and expanded. This expansion is particularly evident in his dealing with commercial financing devices--consignments, trust receipts, after-acquired property clauses, and freehanded mortgages of goods and accounts--which he now views also from the standpoint of preference.

Administrative Law - Scope Of Judicial Review - Doctrine Of The Ben Avon Case- Independent Determination By Court Of Both Law And Facts Where Confiscation Question Involved, Alfred I. Rothman

Michigan Law Review

A recent decision by the United States Supreme Court renders desirable a reexamination of the scope of judicial review of orders and decisions made by administrative bodies, and more specifically a reexamination of the doctrine of the Ben Avon case. There are several possibilities as to the finality that may be accorded to administrative fact determinations: first, findings may be conclusive and binding upon the reviewing court; second, they may be conclusive if supported by substantial evidence; third, they may be subject to independent determination by the court. To what extent, if any, the scope of review should take the …

Banks And Banking -Trusts - Right Of Bank To Sell Participating Trust Certificates In Self-Owned Property, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In 1923 the trust company entered into a transaction with the land company by which the land company borrowed $130,000 with which it purchased a city property for slightly less than that amount and gave title to the trust company as security for the loan. Through a series of loans later negotiated the trust company came to have an investment of $150,000 in the property. In 1926 the trust company made an agreement with the land company pursuant to which the trust company declared itself trustee of the property at an appraised value almost fifty per cent above the purchase …

Constitutional Law - Criminal Law And Procedure - Right To Effective Assistance Of Counsel, Walter Muller

Michigan Law Review

Robbery of a Federal Reserve Bank and jeopardizing lives by the use of dangerous weapons were the charges brought against defendant in a federal district court. Ten months after being taken into custody, he was finally brought to trial. On the latter date, for the first time, the defendant expressed to the court a desire to engage different counsel because of recent difficulties he had had with his original choice. The defendant was the complaining petitioner in a pending disbarment proceeding against his attorney. But the record did not show that the defendant disclosed the nature of those differences to …

Libel And Slander - Implied Representation That Plaintiff Consented To Write Her Love Story As Libel Per Se, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought an action for libel against defendant for publishing in its magazine a story, which it represented as being written by plaintiff, purporting to relate indiscreet intimacies between plaintiff and a certain man. Defendant admitted the false representation of authorship, but requested a directed verdict after submitting in evidence testimony given by plaintiff in a prior law suit, in which she was said to have admitted intimacies fully as capable of bringing her into disrepute as were those published by defendant. On refusal by the court to direct a verdict, defendant excepted and appealed on the ground that the …

Insurance - Delay In Acting On Application - Tort Liability, William C. Wetherbee Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Appellant, administrator of the deceased's estate, sued the defendant for damages caused by its negligent failure to accept or reject deceased's application for life insurance within a reasonable time. A deposit had been made on the premium, and, but for the delay, the policy would have been approved and the deceased covered by it at the time of his death. The jury returned a verdict for the appellant, who appealed when the judge rendered judgment non obstante veredicto in favor of appellee. Held, that the insurance company was under no duty to accept or reject the application within a …

Torts - Right Of Privacy - Matters Of General Or Public Interest, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff had been a famous child prodigy in 1910. For twenty-five years he had lived a secluded life. Then in a recent article in the "New Yorker" magazine his private life was completely exposed. Plaintiff sued, alleging a violation of his common-law right of privacy. Held, that the complaint should be dismissed on the ground that the public has a legitimate interest in "any person who has achieved, or has had thrust upon him, the questionable and indefinite status of a 'public figure.'" Sidis v. F-R Publishing Corp., (C. C. A. 2d, 1940) 113 F. (2d) 806.

Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act - Right Of Prospective Bidder To Question Wage Determination Of Secretary Of Labor, David Loeb

Michigan Law Review

Complainants, small steel companies in eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland and Connecticut, brought this action to enjoin the secretary of labor and others from applying the provisions of the Public Contracts Act, as construed, to the iron and steel industry. It was contended that the secretary's wage determination was the result of an erroneous interpretation of the word "locality" as included in the act. The district court dismissed the complaint. Upon appeal the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia granted the injuction. On certiorari, held, reversed. The complainants have no standing in court to sue. Perkins v. Lukens Steel …