Digital Commons Network^™

Obligatory Jurisdiction Of The Supreme Court: Appeals From State Courts Under Section 237(A) Of The Judicial Code, Seymour J. Rubin, Sidney H. Willner

Michigan Law Review

In two ways, a case decided by the state court of last resort may come to the Supreme Court of the United States: by certiorari, or by appeal. Certiorari is discretionary; and the considerations which will lead the Court to grant a writ of certiorari are set out in Rule 38 of the Supreme Court Rules, and are well-known to the practicing bar. Appeal, however, is directed to the obligatory jurisdiction of the Court. Rule 12 merely sets out the procedure to be followed in seeking an appeal; and for his decision as to whether he has substantive basis for …

The Measure Of Recovery In Actions For The Infringement Of Copyright, Julian Caplan

Michigan Law Review

Since the present federal copyright statute was enacted in 1909, and especially quite recently, there have been repeated attempts at drastic modification of the law. Certain groups contend that the present statutory provisions are not of sufficient protection to the copyright proprietor, whereas other groups contend that the extent of the protection is entirely unwarranted. One of the chief phases of controversy has involved the measure of recovery in suits for infringement. The issue is of fundamental importance, since the measure of damages determines to a large extent how effective the other provisions of the statute will be. Whether, under …

A Warning Signal For Municipal Bondholders: Some Implications Of Erie Railroad V. Tompkins, Irvin Long

Michigan Law Review

That branch of municipal bond litigation in which the character and validity of the obligations is involved has usually been conducted in the federal courts. Bondholders pressing for payment of their defaulted bonds usually are nonresidents of the state where the city, county or other defaulting municipality is located. Varying and contradictory state court decisions taught them that no settled rule of decision in the state courts could be expected. The arguments of their counsel, which many of the earlier volumes of the Supreme Court reports preserve, show that they distrusted a judiciary elected for short terms, as was the …

Administrative Law - Requirements Of "Full Hearing", Collins E. Brooks

Michigan Law Review

The late Professor Ernst Freund once wrote, "A judicial hearing involves two things: that the party be heard as to his own case and that he hear the case against him." Were the words "quasi-judicial" to be substituted for the word "judicial" in Dr. Freund's definition, it would be difficult more concisely to paraphrase the two decisions of the United States Supreme Court in the case of Morgan v. United States. Fifty suits, later consolidated for purposes of trial, were started by certain market agencies of the Kansas City Stockyards to enjoin the enforcement of an order of the …

The Maturity Of Certificates Of Deposit And Promissory Notes Payable On Demand, Orrin B. Evans

Michigan Law Review

In one form or another a dozen cynics have voiced the sentiment that "speech exists to conceal thoughts." Perhaps because language is too intimately integrated with their livelihood, the lawyers have not generally admitted the assertion. However, in the interpretation of written instruments their brethren on the bench have at times so far disregarded the literal meaning of the words under consideration that one must suspect they secretly approve.

Promissory notes "payable on demand" furnish an illustration. Many cases testify that the true intention of the maker is to create an obligation due immediately and that an action to collect …

Constitutional Law - Schools And School Districts - Teachers' Tenure Legislation, Bertram H. Lebeis

Michigan Law Review

Although the question of security of employment for public school teachers was discussed as far back as the year 1885, when tenure was interpreted to mean the application of civil service principles to the teaching profession, the organized teacher tenure movement is of comparatively recent origin. From within the profession itself impetus was given to the movement by continuous campaigns carried on by local, state and national teachers' associations. From without, the growth of the movement was facilitated by a wider recognition of the evils attendant upon the unlimited power of school boards to "hire and fire" their employees at …

Corporations -Parent And Subsidiary-Right Of Parent Or Subsidiary To Share With Other Creditors In Assets Of Associated Corporation On The Latter's Insolvency, Collins E. Brooks

Michigan Law Review

Increasingly in the past few years, courts throughout the country have seemed willing to disregard what Professor Ballantine has called the "basic theory of corporation law," the concept that a corporation is an entity entirely distinct and separate from its stockholders. It is not the purpose of this writer to take issue with this tendency; for the most part the decisions seem sound and the results just. It is believed, however, that the rules used by the courts in reaching those decisions are, in many instances, open to question. There is one situation in particular in which the courts have …

Evidence-Best Evidence Rule-Use Of Summaries Of Voluminous Originals, Benjamin H. Dewey

Michigan Law Review

The best evidence rule usually requires that in proving the contents of documents, the documents themselves must be produced. However, the doctrine is firmly established that where the fact or facts to be ascertained can only be determined by the inspection of a large number of records, papers, books of account, or other like documents, the best evidence rule will be relaxed, and an oral or written summary of such voluminous mass of data may be allowed in evidence. This is done on the basis that the production of the originals is impractible, inexpedient and time-devouring, and because the summary …

Banks And Banking - Trusts - Special Deposits - Agreement Between Depositor And Bank, Robert E. Sipes

Michigan Law Review

During a period of widespread bank failures, plaintiff corporation ceased depositing its funds with the defendant bank. To maintain the public's impression that the plaintiff was a regular customer of the bank, an agreement was entered into by the bank and the plaintiff whereby the bank was appointed "agent" of the plaintiff to collect and remit promptly money due plaintiff. Branch offices of the plaintiff deposited money under this agreement to be transmitted to the plaintiff. When the bank failed with some of this money still in its hands, plaintiff sought to be allowed a preferred claim. Held, the …

The Windfall Tax And Processing Tax Refund Provisions Of The Revenue Act Of 1936, Keith P. Bondurant

Michigan Law Review

The proposition that a seller who has collected from his vendees but has not paid to the government taxes imposed under an unconstitutional statute is unjustly enriched, and the correlative principle that a taxpayer has no right to recover invalid taxes paid by him if he has shifted the burden of such taxes to others, are embodied in title II and title VII, respectively, of the Revenue Act of 1936. Title VII prohibits refunds to processors and other vendors of amounts collected from them as tax under the Agricultural Adjustment Act unless the claimant can establish that he bore the …

Contracts - Illegality - Right Of Surety Of Bank Officer To Recover Embezzled Bank Funds Lost In Gambling, James W. Mehaffy

Michigan Law Review

A, president of B bank in South Dakota, embezzled funds which he used in trading in grain futures with D, a broker. Neither A nor D intended any actual delivery of the grain. P, surety for A, after having paid the bank for A's defalcation, sued D to recover the money A lost. Held, P can recover. Burke Grain Co. v. St. Paul-Mercury Indemnity Co., (C. C. A. 8th, 1938) 94 F. (2d) 458.

Courts - Federal Courts - Removal Of Causes - Amendment To Complaint After Removal Reducing Amount In Controversy To Less Than The Jurisdictional Amount, Robert E. Sipes

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff began his action for breach of contract in a state court of Indiana. On defendant's timely petition the suit was removed to the United States District Court. Plaintiff then amended his pleadings by filing particulars of his claim which reduced the amount recoverable below the jurisdictional amount. On a writ of certiorari it was held that the jurisdiction of the district court was not defeated by the amendment reducing the amount claimed to below the jurisdictional amount. Saint Paul Mercury Indemnity Co. v. Red Cab Co., 303 U.S. 283, 58 S. Ct. 586 (1938).

Criminal Law And Procedure - Essential Definiteness Of Criminal Statutes - Automobile Regulations, Robert Meisenholder

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was convicted of reckless driving under section 48 of the Illinois Uniform Traffic Act which reads, "Any person who drives any vehicle with a wilful or a wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving." He appealed on the ground that the statute violated the Illinois Constitution because it was too vague, indefinite, and uncertain. Held, that the statute did not violate the constitution and was a valid exercise of the police power of the legislature. People v. Green, 368 Ill. 242, 13 N. E. (2d) 278 (1938).

Evidence - Municipal Ordinances - Admission Of Evidence Of Enactment When Record Is Silent, Robert E. Sipes

Michigan Law Review

In a suit by a village to require the removal of the equipment of an electric distribution company from the streets of the village, the company sought to introduce in evidence a copy of a purported ordinance giving it a twenty-five year franchise. There was no mention of such an ordinance in the record of proceedings of the village council. Held, such evidence is not admissible to show the acts of a municipal council when the records of its proceedings are available. Village of Deshler v. Southern Nebraska Power Co., 133 Neb. 778, 277 N. W. 77 ( …

Interstate Commerce - Right Of State To Deny Use Of Highways To Carrier Having Certificate From Interstate Commerce Commission, Ralph Winkler

Michigan Law Review

A common carrier engaged in interstate commerce applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission for a certificate of convenience and necessity as required by section 206 of the Federal Motor Carrier Act of 1935. The carrier relied on the proviso authorizing the commission to grant a certificate without a showing of public convenience and necessity where the applicant was a carrier in bona fide operation on June 1, 1935; the statute further privileged a carrier applying for a certificate under this proviso to continue operation pending determination of its application. The State Railroad Commission of Texas earlier in 1934 had denied …

Libel And Slander - Secondary Publication Of News Item Received From Reliable Agency, Collins E. Brooks

Michigan Law Review

Defendant published a news item to the effect that plaintiff had been adjudged guilty of "martial misconduct" in a divorce action. The information had been obtained from a reliable news agency, but was, in fact, false. Held, defendant was liable. The fact that the item was obtained from a reliable news-gathering agency, and published in good faith in the ordinary course of business, while sufficient to preclude the award of punitive damages, did not justify or excuse the publication, nor prevent the recovery of compensatory damages. Szalay v. New York American, Inc., (App. Div. 1938) 4 N. Y. …

Municipal Corporations - Licenses - Amount Of Fee, S. R. Stroud

Michigan Law Review

The defendant, a sandwich peddler, was convicted in the justice court of violation of an ordinance requiring peddlers to have a license. Upon appeal to the circuit court the conviction was set aside on the ground that the ordinance requiring a peddler to obtain a license at $150 per vehicle per year was invalid since the fee was unreasonably high. Held, the circuit court should be reversed and the conviction sustained since the amount of the license fee could not be considered unreasonably excessive in view of all the circumstances. People v. Riksen, 284 Mich. 284, 279 N. …

Sales - Nature Of Implied Warranty Of Fitness Of Food - Liability Of Intermediate Dealer, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's husband purchased canned sauerkraut juice from a retail grocer, who, in turn, had purchased it from the defendant, a wholesale grocery company. The kraut juice, which had not been packed or canned by the defendant, contained deleterious substances that made the plaintiff ill. In an action for damages, the plaintiff recovered on the basis of an implied warranty of fitness for human consumption. Defendant appealed. Held, judgment sustained. Swengel v. F. & E. Wholesale Grocery Co., 147 Kan. 555, 77 P. (2d) 930 (1938).

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.

Securities Legislation - Securities Act - Stop Order Proceedings - Administrative Tests Of Materiality, Bertram H. Lebeis

Michigan Law Review

With a view toward correcting many of the abuses which had accompanied the distribution of securities, the Congressional mandate embodied in the Securities Act of 1933, together with the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted in pursuance thereof, require the publication of much information previously withheld from the investing public. The basic objective of the act is the full disclosure of every essentially important element attending issues of securities in interstate commerce or through the mails, and to that end the commission is empowered to issue a stop order suspending the effectiveness of a registration statement if it …

Liens - Extent To Which Common-Law Artisan's Lien Has Been Supplanted By Statute, Arthur P. Boynton

Michigan Law Review

An artisan's lien is the right of a bailee, who by his labor, skill, or material adds value to the chattel of another at the request of the owner, directly or impliedly, to retain possession of the chattel until the reasonable value of his services has been paid. The right to this lien, which is a specific lien, is of common-law origin, and in the absence of anything inconsistent in the contract has long been extended to all artisans. This common-law artisan's lien, however, has been supplanted by statute in some respect in all but five states. In the other …

The Public Interest Concept In Law And In Economics, Robert W. Harbeson

Michigan Law Review

It is an interesting and perhaps important coincidence that only a year previous to the famous decision in Nebbia v. New York there appeared two volumes which together constitute an equally notable landmark in the development of economic doctrine, Professor Edward Chamberlin's Theory of Monopolistic Competition and Mrs. Joan Robinson's Economics of Imperfect Competition. While there is no evidence that the latter works influenced the outcome of the Nebbia case, the writer is of the opinion that these studies not only afford a rationale of that decision but also make desirable a re-examination of the concept of "businesses affected …

The Widow's Right Of Election In The Estate Of Her Husband, Elbridge D. Phelps

Michigan Law Review

Before launching into the discussion proper, and in order to avoid confusion and misunderstanding later on, it is deemed wise at once to mark out boundaries within which it is proposed to confine the treatment of the subject here involved. Accordingly, in that which follows, attention will be centered largely on the necessity for election by a widow under modern statutes which allow her to take against her husband's will, and on the effects of her election or non-election upon her interest in her husband's estate. In so far as a surviving husband has identical rights, they will be adverted …

Securities Legislation - Accounting Practice And The Securities Act Of 1933, Paul R. Trigg Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Item 25 of the registration regulations under the Securities Act of 1933 requires the registrant to "submit balance sheets . . . as of a date within ninety days of the filing of the registration statement." The approximate form which such balance sheets are to take is indicated in the regulations, as well as the manner of certification required. So far as the form of the balance sheet proper is concerned, it is doubtful whether item 54 presents any new or startling innovations, but when the balance sheet and the supplementary schedules required to be appended thereto are considered, it …

Adverse Possession - Requirements For Obtaining Title To A Cave By Adverse Possession, Donald M. Swope

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff and defendant were owners of adjoining properties. On defendant's land was located the only opening to a cavern, which a remote grantor of defendant discovered in 1893. Since that time, defendant and its immediate and remote grantors have improved the cave for visitors, and conducted persons through it upon the payment of an admission price. With wide publicity, this has continued for almost fifty years. Plaintiff first visited the cave in 1895, paying an admission fee for the privilege, and has visited it several times since. A part of said cave extended under real estate owned by plaintiff, but …

Corporations - Disregarding Corporate Entity - Fraud, Collins E. Brooks

Michigan Law Review

A and B purchased from plaintiffs all of the stock of defendant corporation. Prior to the transaction, and as a basis for negotiations, plaintiffs had an accountant prepare a statement of corporate assets and liabilities, which showed that the corporation was in financial difficulties. A and B acknowledged the corporate indebtedness and took over the corporation. Later, plaintiffs brought suit against the corporation on claims for salaries and advancements allegedly due them from it, which claims had not appeared on the statement of corporate liabilities. Held, the corporate entity would be disregarded, and plaintiffs estopped from setting up their …

Criminal Law And Procedure - Physicians And Surgeons - Contraceptive Statutes And Implied Exceptions Thereto, Thomas K. Fisher

Michigan Law Review

A Massachusetts statute made the selling of any drug, medicine or instrument for the prevention of conception a criminal offense. The defendants, a doctor, a nurse, and two social workers, all connected with a charitable association, prescribed and sold contraceptives to non-pregnant, married women. Defendants' offer of proof, admitting the facts charged, but contending that the statute did not apply where the sale was made under a physician's prescription for the preservation of life or health, was found by the trial court to constitute no defense. Held, that the wording was plain and unequivocal allowing for no implied exception. …

Injunctions - Labor Unions - Enforcement Of Employer's Closed Shop Agreement, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff unions entered into an agreement with the defendants by the terms of which the defendants were to employ union men, all of whom were to be furnished by the Bricklayers Central Employment Bureau at certain wages and for certain hours. Contrary to the agreement, the defendants employed nonunion men of their own selection and at lower wages and for longer hours than provided by the agreement. Plaintiff sought an injunction pendente lite on behalf of the unions to restrain defendants from disregarding the terms of the agreement. Held, motion for injunction pendente lite granted. Murphy v. Ralph, …

Insurance - Supervision By The State - What Constitutes The Insurance Business, Thomas E. Wilson

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a corporation, advertised that any person who bought goods from certain selected stores would be entitled to receive coupons, and when his coupons amounted to a certain sum he would be entitled to certain death and security benefits up to specified amounts. Plaintiff brought suit against the Insurance Commissioner of Pennsylvania to enjoin him from interfering with the plaintiff's business. Held, that the plaintiff was carrying on an insurance business and was subject to supervision by the Insurance Commissioner. Hunt v. Public Mutual Benefit Foundation, (C. C. A. 3d, 1938) 94 F. (2d) 749, certiorari denied (U. …