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Libel And Slander - Qualified Privilege - Fair Comment - Bona Fide Misstatement Of Fact, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A newspaper publisher reported in his papers the filing by a certain person, with executive officers of the United States, of charges that a federal employee had removed certain documents from files over which he had supervision. The filed charges were "greatly enlarged and embellished upon" by the publisher, so that the statements made in the paper amounted in themselves to charges by the publisher against the employee. There were no allegations of malice in the subsequent suit by the employee against the publisher. Held, that the right of fair comment upon matters of public interest does not extend …

Basic Monetary Conceptions In Law, Arthur Nussbaum

Michigan Law Review

While in various periods of American legal history American courts have been confronted with problems of a monetary character, the importance and multiplicity of these questions have never been more strongly felt than within the last few years, and there is certainly no indication that this situation will change in the near future. The jural difficulties arising from monetary troubles are unusual, not only because of their financial and social implications, but also because of their theoretical intricacies. No wonder, therefore, that arguments advanced by courts in cases of a monetary nature are very often highly unsatisfactory. Again and again, …

The Doctrine Of Stare Decisis In British Courts Of Last Resort, John A. Fairlie

Michigan Law Review

The House of Lords and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are both British courts of last resort. The House of Lords is the final court for the United Kingdom and reviews cases from the English Court of Appeals and equivalent courts of Scotland and Northern Ireland; the Judicial Committee hears appeals of cases from the colonies and dominions and ecclesiastical cases.

Readers of Professor Gray's lectures on The Nature and Sources of the Law are aware of the distinction he notes between the attitude of the British House of Lords, on the one hand, and the Judicial Committee …

Party Walls - Replacement And Removal, Charles W. Allen

Michigan Law Review

The usual American theory of the rights of adjoining land owners in a party wall is that each owns in severalty that part of the wall on his land and each has an easement of support in that part on the land of the other. If the structure is erected under an express contract, the rights of the parties are determined by the terms of their contract. And when the easement of support is created by prescription, its scope is measured by the prior user, and no right to remove or replace the wall can exist by virtue of the …

Police Power - Due Process And State Regulation Of Food Production And Distribution, Charles C. Spangenberg

Michigan Law Review

It is well settled that the state, in the exercise of its police power, may legislate to protect the health and promote the general welfare of its citizens. It is equally well settled that the objects of this solicitude have the right, protected by the Fourteenth Amendment and similar provisions in the state constitutions, to follow such industrial pursuits and make such contracts as they choose. Unfortunately, "these correlative rights, that of the citizen to exercise exclusive dominion over property and freely to contract about his affairs, and that of the state to regulate the use of property and the …

Trade - Marks And Trade Names - Effect Of Word - Mark Acquiring A Descriptive Connotation, Grover C. Grismore

Michigan Law Review

One of the principal stumbling blocks in the way of the development of a consistent and satisfactory theory of trade-mark protection has been the anomalous distinction that has always been made between the so-called technical or common-law trade-mark, and the non-technical mark or tradename. This distinction, as has been pointed out previously in this Review, grew somewhat accidentally out of the supposed limitations on the jurisdiction of equity. Some of the earliest trade-mark cases proceeded on the theory that to justify the intervention of a court of equity, when the defendant was not shown to have been guilty of …

Actions - Stay Of Proceedings To Await Result In "Test Case" Involving Similar Issues, Jack L. White

Michigan Law Review

Suits were instituted by respondents, non-registered holding companies, in the District Court for the District of Columbia to enjoin the enforcement against them of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 on the ground that it was unconstitutional. On the same day that the first of these bills was filed, the Securities and Exchange Commission began suit in a federal district court in New York to compel the Electric Bond & Share Company and others, members of another utility system, to register as required by the act. A cross-bill in that action contested the validity of the act and …

Bankruptcy - Corporate Reorganization - Plan - Adequate Protection Of Claims - Due Process, Erwin S. Simon

Michigan Law Review

In proceedings for reorganization under Section 77B of the Bankruptcy Act, the debtor held real property valued at $245,025, while outstanding against the property there were first mortgage bonds of $445,000, second mortgage notes for $40,250 and a third mortgage note for $27,000. The court confirmed a plan which made no provision for junior lienors or stockholders, and to which they had not given their consent. On certiorari, granted by the Supreme Court, it was held, that since there was no equity in the property above the first mortgage, the claims of the junior lienors and stockholders had no …

Easements - Right To Lay Additional Pipes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Defendants had granted to the city of Lynchburg an easement to "lay, construct, operate, inspect, repair and perpetually maintain water or conduit lines with all the necessary fixtures and appurtenances . . . " Pursuant to this grant, the city had laid down a conduit of redwood staves which has now decayed. In this action, the city seeks to enjoin the defendants from interference with the laying down of a new cast-iron conduit which would require the utilization of an additional six feet of land. Held, that the parties had defined their rights under an indefinite grant, and the …

Suretyship-Effect Of Death Of Surety On Rights Of Creditor, Jacob L. Keidan

Michigan Law Review

In a suit on a bond filed in accordance with statutory requirements by a depository designated by a court of bankruptcy, it was pleaded in defense that the surety died before any deposits were received by the designated bank. The circuit court of appeals held for the defendant, ruling that the bond was only a multiple offer and lapsed with the death of the surety. The Supreme Court reversed this decision on the ground that the bond was a single offer, and the designation of the bank as an official depository constituted an acceptance thereof. United States for the use …

Taxation - Exemption Of State Instrumentality From Federal Tax, Francis T. Goheen

Michigan Law Review

A federal statute provided that "Upon all tobacco and snuff manufactured or imported into the United States, and hereafter sold by the manufacturer or importer, or removed for consumption or sale, there shall be levied, collected, and paid . . . a tax of 18 cents per pound, to be paid by the manufacturer or importer thereof." The company received an order to deliver a quantity of tobacco to a hospital owned by the State of Massachusetts; the company complied by shipping tobacco which had been previously stamped in accordance with the regulations under the above statute. The state paid …

Trade Restraints - Federal Trade Commission - False Representation As Unfair Method Of Competion, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

An order to cease and desist, directed against the defendant publisher and others, forbade the following trade practices: representing that its encyclopedias were given away and that only the "extension service" was sold; representing the work as given away to selected persons among whom the prospective buyer was one; representing the work as new; selling the same under two names; representing its usual price as higher than that at which it was offered; representing any person as a contributor who was not a contributor; representing any person as giving a testimonial who had not done so; publishing garbled testimonials; and …

Monthly Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department lists the articles and comments which appear in twenty-four 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.

Grand Jury - Power Of Court In Pennsylvania To Direct A General Investigation -Where No Specific Crime Charged, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In a criminal case the judge of a Pennsylvania trial court was erroneously informed that the committing magistrate had discharged the accused's accomplices. The judge thereupon charged the magistrate with "fixing," but after investigation merely censured the latter for (1) failing to require bail in certain cases, and (2) remanding one defendant to a trial court without jurisdiction. The judge expressly said that he had no reason to believe the magistrate had acted from any corrupt motive. He nevertheless told a grand jury that a magistrate's violation of law had come to his attention and ordered the jury to investigate …

Front Matter, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Front Matter for Volume 35, Issue 5 of Michigan Law Review

Administrative Law - Johnson Act - Jurisdiction Of Federal Courts Where State Review Procedure Prohibits Issue Of Supersedeas, William J. Isaacson

Michigan Law Review

Complainant power company attacked as confiscatory the decrease in rates ordered by the Public Service Commission of Montana. The company demanded an interloctory injunction pending a final decree. It appeared that there was on the statute book of Montana a statute prohibiting supersedeas pending judicial review in such cases. The district court granted the commission's motion to dismiss on the ground that a plain, speedy, and efficient remedy was available to the plaintiff in the state courts, and hence the requirements of the Johnson Act of May 14, 1934, were met. Therefore, so it was contended, federal jurisdiction was precluded. …

Constitutional Law - Anti-Deficiency Judgment Statutes In Foreclosure Actions - Impairment Of Contract, Elbridge D. Phelps

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff instituted a proceeding on a judgment bond which was secured by a real estate mortgage, both of which had been executed by defendants, caused judgment to be entered on the bond, and procured the issuance of a writ of execution under which the mortgaged premises were sold. Thereafter, under the provisions of the state Mortgage Deficiency Judgment Act, defendants procured a satisfaction of the judgment in toto. After entry of such satisfaction, plaintiff filed a petition upon which the court granted a rule on defendants to show cause why the satisfaction should not be stricken. From an order dismissing …

Negligence - Failure Of Restaurant Proprietor To Protect Patron Fom Injury, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

As a result of a fight between two men in defendant's restaurant, plaintiff suffered injuries. There is evidence that defendant knew of the violent temper of one of the combatants and that fights were liable to occur at any time in such a place where beer and alcoholic liquors were sold. Held, that there is sufficient evidence of negligence to take the case to the jury. Peck v. Gerber, (Ore. 1936) 59 P. (2d) 675.

The Problem Of Transfers Under Bulk Sales Laws: A Study Of Absolute Transfers And Liquidating Trusts, Thomas Clifford Billig, William L. Branch Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Although the first bulk sales law in the United States was enacted more than forty years ago, the host of decisions still emanating from the courts bears ample witness to the fact that this field of legal learning remains remarkably fertile. For the first decade following the original Louisiana Bulk Sales Act of 1894 the several state legislatures were busily engaged in passing statutes of similar import. During the next three decades the courts became as fully occupied as had been the legislatures in determining precisely what the legislatures meant by the language employed in the several acts. This process …

Curbing The Supreme Court-State Experiences And Federal Proposals, Katherine B. Fite, Louis Baruch Rubinstein

Michigan Law Review

The avalanche of proposals introduced in the last session of Congress seeking to curb the power of the Supreme Court to declare legislative acts unconstitutional and President Roosevelt's recent message to Congress on the judiciary have focused attention on the problem of the function of that Court in our governmental system.

This article does not take sides in the controversy. Its purpose is merely to review the developments in the four states, Colorado, Ohio, North Dakota and Nebraska, which by amendments to their constitutions have sought to place curbs on their supreme courts, and also to classify the proposals which …

The "Last Clear Chance" Doctrine In The Federal Courts, Nedra Evans

Michigan Law Review

In analyzing the doctrine of "last clear chance," a qualification of the co.μtributory negligence rule, several questions must be considered. Perhaps the most important one is, (1) Does the court apply the doctrine of discovered peril or is it enough that defendant should have known, by the exercise of reasonable care, plaintiff's peril? (2) Is the doctrine of "last clear chance" confined to cases where the negligence of plaintiff has spent itself? (3) If the doctrine of undiscovered peril is followed for a licensee, will the court still apply the rule of discovered peril if plaintiff is a trespasser? (4) …

Insurance - Execution For A Criminal Offense, Herman J. Bloom

Michigan Law Review

The insured was convicted and legally executed for the crime of rape. The beneficiary sued on a life insurance policy which contained no express exemption from liability in the event of death resulting from the legal execution of the insured. The court held that the beneficiary was entitled to recover under the public policy as declared in the constitutional provision against corruption of blood and forfeiture of estate. Progressive Life Insurance Co. v. Dean, (Ark. 1936) 97 S. W. (2d) 62.

Public Utilities - Original Cost Of Plant As Item In Company Accounts, Emma Rae Mann

Michigan Law Review

Forty-four telephone companies, thirty-seven of them members of the Bell system, and seven of them members of another group, sued to set aside an order of the Federal Communications Commission prescribing a uniform system of accounts for telephone companies. The companies contended that the system of accounts ordered prevented them from realizing a fair return on their total investment. The Court held that the order of the commission was valid and dismissed the bill. American Tel. & Tel. Co. v. United States, 299 U.S. 232, 57 S. Ct. 170 (1936).

Taxation - Special Assessments For Street Lighting, Herbert J. Bloom

Michigan Law Review

The city of Los Angeles, under the authority of the "Public Works and Utility Act" of California, passed two ordinances levying special assessments for street lighting purposes upon abutting property specially benefited according to the front foot rule. The validity of the ordinance ordering the necessary lighting posts and appliances, which were installed before the present proceeding was brought, was conceded. The other ordinance provided for the furnishing of electric current to light the public streets for a period of fourteen months. This was contested by the plaintiff, who owned three lots subject to the assessment, on the ground that …

Wills - Probate - Deletion Of Libelous Matter, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In propounding the will of the testator for probate, the executor petitioned the surrogate court to exclude from probate certain non-dispositive matter therein, which if published during the testator's lifetime, would have supported an action for libel. Held, that the court had power to exclude the objectionable matter from probate, since it was not properly a part of the will. In re Draske's Will, 290 N. Y. S. 581 (Surr. Ct. 1936).

Monthly Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

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

The Patman Act In Practice, Blackwell Smith

Michigan Law Review

A recent act of Congress directed against price discrimination and related phases of buying and selling has already become famous as the Robinson-Patman Act, so named for its two principal sponsors in Congress. This act has been much written about, and yet those whose law practice confronts them with daily problems in its application to the actuality of the business world find daily new aspects. The act has something to say with reference to every business transaction (in or related sufficiently to interstate commerce) which involves a price or a service or a facility in connection with the sale of …

Negligence - The Determination Of Existence Of Gross Negligence Making Automobile Host Liable To Non-Paying Guest, Jack L. White

Michigan Law Review

Under common-law principles a majority of courts require the motorist, who voluntarily undertakes to carry another gratuitously, to exercise the ordinary care of a reasonably prudent man in the management and operation of his automobile. The minority rule, by analogy to the gratuitous bailment cases, requires a person who invites another to ride gratis to use only slight diligence to avoid injury to that person and holds him liable for gross negligence. The minority view undoubtedly appeals to those who feel that it is unsportsmanlike to sue one's benefactor, and yet it is doubtful whether such a purely emotional foundation …

Attorney And Client - Drafting Legal Instruments As Practice Of Law, Milton Rabinowitz

Michigan Law Review

In citation of defendant for contempt for unlicensed practice of law, held, that the preparing of a note and chattel mortgage and advising as to the legal effect thereof constitutes practice of law. " . . . [The practice of law] includes . . . drawing of wills, deeds, mortgages and other instruments of like character, where a legal knowledge is required, and where counsel and advice are given with respect to the validity and legal effect of such instruments . . . . " State v. Barlow, (Neb. 1936) 268 N. W. 95.