Digital Commons Network^™

Constitutional Law-Trade Regulation-Fair Trade Act

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, owner of the exclusive right to sell certain popular trade-marked cosmetics in California, entered into a large number of contracts with wholesalers and retailers of that state, fixing the price at which those branded articles were to resell. Thereafter, pursuant to the provisions of the state Fair Trade Act, he brought suit to enjoin defendant, a retail druggist who had refused to make any such agreements and who, from sources unknown, had acquired such trade-marked articles, from reselling at less than the price stipulated in the contracts with others. A demurrer to the complaint was sustained, but on appeal …

Municipal Corporations-Liability For Negligence In Maintenance Of Swimming Pools And Parks-Governmental And Proprietary Functions

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff sued to recover damages for the death of his son by drowning, which he alleged was caused by the negligence of the defendant city in the maintenance of a public swimming pool. In upholding the overruling of the defendant's demurrer, the court held that on the authority of an earlier South Dakota case, the maintenance and operation of a public swimming pool or park is the exercise of a proprietary function of the municipality, and therefore, the city is liable for the negligence of its servants in maintaining and guarding the pool. Glirhas v. City of Sioux Falls …

Municipal Corporations-Power Of Congress To Pass Act For Readjustment Of Municipal Debts

Michigan Law Review

In 1934, Congress amended the National Bankruptcy Act so as to authorize any municipality or other political subdivision of any state to effect a readjustment of its debts by proceedings in courts of bankruptcy. A water district in Texas petitioned the United States District Court asking for a readjustment of its obligations. After the dismissal of the proceedings in the District Court, but before the reversal of the decision by the Court of Appeals, the state legislature of Texas passed an act empowering municipalities and other political subdivisions to proceed under the federal statute. Held, that the municipal debt …

Public Utilities - Charging Companies With Expense Of Investigation - Constitutionality

Michigan Law Review

A Washington statute provides that whenever the public service commission shall deem it necessary in the performance of its duties to make any investigation or valuation of a public service company, the public service company shall pay the expenses reasonably attributable thereto. The statute provides that the commission, after giving an opportunity to be heard, "shall render a bill therefor or for such part thereof as it may find necessary and reasonable." In an appeal by certain public service companies from an assessment made by the commission, held, the statute was unconstitutional because of denial of equal protection of …

Public Utilities-Injunction Restraining Enforcement Of Rate Order Of State Commission-Jurisdiction Of Federal Court Under Johnson Act

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs sued in a federal district court for an injunction restraining enforcement of an order of the Corporation Commission of Oklahoma reducing gas rates. The plaintiffs alleged that the new rates were confiscatory and in violation of due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment. It appeared that there was much uncertainty in the decisions of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma as to whether the appeal to that court from the orders of the Corporation Commission were legislative or judicial. Held, that in view of the uncertainty of an opportunity for judicial review of the orders of the Commission, …

Taxation -Interstate Commerce- Levy On Use By Interstate Carrier Of Gasoline Bought Outside State

Michigan Law Review

A statute of New Mexico imposed "an excise tax of five cents (5c) per gallon upon the sale and use of all gasoline and motor fuel . . . " The effect of the statute was to compel the appellee corporation, a common carrier, to pay a tax upon the use of motor fuel purchased in and brought from another state and used only in such transportation. This suit was brought to enjoin enforcement of the foregoing statutory provision on the ground that it constituted a regulation of interstate commerce in contravention of the commerce clause of the Federal Constitution. …

Corporations-Liability Of Promoters For Secret Profit

Michigan Law Review

In view of the peculiar position of control which a promoter occupies in relation to the proposed corporation, with resultant opportunities for making unconscionable profits, courts have uniformly regarded him as standing in a fiduciary relationship toward the corporation. Accordingly, when a promoter seeks to make a profit from a transfer of property to the corporation, he must obtain the consent of the latter under penalty of having to disgorge such profit at a later time at the suit of the corporation itself or persons acting in the latter's behalf. Such liability is to be distinguished from the liability of …

Constitutional Law-Separation Of Powers-Legislative Right To Delegate Initiative Power To Public

Michigan Law Review

The act creating the Maryland Milk Commission provided: "The Commission, when requested by a substantial proportion of the producers and/or consumers and/or distributors in any marketing area, shall have power" to do a number of things pertaining to sanitary and trade conditions within the milk industry. Plaintiffs sought to enjoin the Commission from utilizing any power derived from such an act upon the ground that it contained an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. Held, an invalid attempt to delegate legislative authority. The legislature, when acting in its law-making capacity, exercised a power conferred upon it by the people which …

Trade Restraints-Trade Associations-Open Price Agreements- Sugar Institute Case

Michigan Law Review

The Sugar Institute case, decided March 30, 1936, in a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court, has been eagerly awaited by those interested in 'the limits and possibilities, under the anti-trust laws, of so-called self-regulation by industry through permissible activities of trade associations. The decision has been reported to affect some 2,000 trade associations. The case presented such a diversity of practices that any decision in it gave great promise of answering some of the many perplexing questions growing out of the enforcement of the anti-trust laws, which could not heretofore be answered from the decided cases. The fact that …

The Effect Of Impossibility Upon Conditions In Wills, Lewis M. Simes

Michigan Law Review

Writers may discourse upon the danger of construing trees to mean raspberry bushes or cabbages, but the fact remains that written instruments are interpreted with the aid of something more than a dictionary. Circumstances existing both at the time the document is executed and at a subsequent period are considered in determining what it means. This statement applies to conditions as well as to other parts of a written instrument. Nor should we be surprised to find that impossibility of performance may modify legal consequences.

The Right Of Appeal In Criminal Cases, Lester B. Orfield

Michigan Law Review

In the conduct of a criminal proceeding certain steps are regarded as essential. The accused must be brought before the court. There must be a preliminary investigation to insure that the case is one which should be prosecuted. Notice must be given to the accused of the offense charged. He must have an opportunity to prepare for trial, procure witnesses, and make needed investigations. He should have a speedy trial. He should have a fair trial before an impartial tribunal. Finally, there should be one review of the case as a whole by a suitable tribunal. The principle of a …

Attack On Decrees Of Divorce, Albert C. Jacobs

Michigan Law Review

Hitherto we have been concerned with the extent to which a decree is impeachable at the suit of one of the so-called "contestants" to the divorce litigation. But other parties, second spouses, children, personal representatives, grantees of a divorced party, and other third persons, may be affected; they may desire to question its efficacy. Are they controlled by the same principles of attack which govern the divorce litigants? Do these third persons all stand in the same position when they seek to assail the decree?

Corporations-''Fair Plan" Under Section 77b-Applicability Of Boyd Case, Edward B. Barrett

Michigan Law Review

Few controversies can arise that present so many variables and require such delicate balancing of not easily ascertainable economic and legal interests as the one occurring when it becomes necessary for a court to pass on the fairness of a reorganization plan. The recognition of this is clearly seen in the provision of Section 77B of the Bankruptcy Act which reads in part: "after hearing such objections as may be made to the plan, the judge shall confirm the plan if satisfied that it is fair and equitable and does not discriminate unfairly in favor of any class of creditors …

Constitutional Law-Securities Act Of 1933-Right Of Registrant To Withdraw Registration Statement Filed With Commission

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner filed a registration statement with the Securities Exchange Commission covering a proposed issue of securities. After examining the statement, the commission concluded that it contained false and misleading information concerning certain material facts, and thereupon instituted a proceeding to compel petitioner to appear and answer certain questions pertinent to the papers filed. At the hearing, petitioner sought to withdraw the registration statement but was denied permission to do so. Upon application of the Securities Exchange Commission to the district court, an order was granted compelling petitioner to appear and answer the questions. On appeal to the Supreme Court of …

Municipal Corporations-Fencing Ordinances

Michigan Law Review

Defendant city passed an ordinance which prohibited the erection of fences that exceeded four feet in height, or which were composed wholly or in part of barbed wire. Plaintiff was refused permission to build a woven wire fence, six feet high with barbed wire attached to arms extending inward at the top. Plaintiff thereupon sued to enjoin defendant city from enforcing this ordinance, claiming that it deprived her of property without "due process." Held, by the court, that the right to fence one's land is a right of property that cannot be unreasonably interfered with. The ordinance in question …

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.

Conflict Of Laws-Jurisdiction Over Nonresident Carriers As Limited By Doctrine Of Unreasonable Burden On Interstate Commerce

Michigan Law Review

There is little question today but that a foreign corporation may be subject to suit and a personal judgment in a state where it is doing business if service has been had upon a proper agent of the corporation, designated by law or otherwise. There may be consider able question as to what constitutes "doing business." The fact that the business carried on by a corporation is wholly interstate in character will not prevent that corporation from being subject to service in the same manner as though it were doing intrastate business as well a It also seems clear that …

Attack On Decrees Of Divorce, Albert C. Jacobs

Michigan Law Review

This paper deals with attacks on decrees of divorce. The attack may arise in the state of the divorce or elsewhere. F-1 is used to designate the state in which the divorce was granted; F-2 a state other than that in which the decree in' question was rendered. The attack in F-1 may be on purely local or non-jurisdictional grounds, such as fraud, collusion, duress or perjury, or upon the ground that the proper jurisdictional requirements were lacking. The attack in F-2 will generally be on jurisdictional grounds, though in certain situations a decree has been impeached for non-jurisdictional factors. …

The Reduction Of Income Taxes Through The Use Of Trusts, William C. Warren

Michigan Law Review

Obviously the draftsmen of the first Revenue Act under the Sixteenth Amendment could not foresee every possibility of tax avoidance and adequately prevent such avoidance by express statutory provisions. Since the enactment of the Revenue Act of 1913, Congress has made constant efforts in each succeeding Revenue Act to close the loopholes discovered by tax lawyers. The success of these efforts has been most remarkable, particularly in comparison with the similar efforts of England under her income tax laws. Indeed, it may fairly be said that the enactment. of the Gift Tax Act in 1932 wrote the final chapter of …

Evidence-Alienation Of Affections-Wife's Testimony As To Statements Made To Her By Alienated Husband Concerning Defendant

Michigan Law Review

In a suit for alienation of husband's affections, plaintiff testified as to certain statements made by her husband in the absence of the defendant. These statement purported to be repetitions of statements made by the defendant to plaintiff's husband. Defendant objected to the admission of this testimony on the ground that it was hearsay. The court held that the testimony was admissible, not to prove the truth of the facts, words, or conduct embodied in the statements and chargeable to the defendant, but to show the husband's state of mind toward the plaintiff. Richards v. Lorleberg, (App. D. C. …

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.

Front Matter, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Front Matter for Volume 34, Issue 5 of Michigan Law Review

The Corporate Entity As A Solvent Of Legal Problems, Elvin R. Latty

Michigan Law Review

If a layman were to ask a lawyer what is the reason that a stockholder is ordinarily not liable for his corporation's debts or that a deed to corporate property by the sole stockholder in his own name is not a flawless conveyance, the answer the layman would get would be: a corporation is a wholly different person from its stockholders-it is an entity separate and distinct from them. That answer reveals the traditional approach to scores of problems in corporation law, an approach which, it is submitted, can lead the incautious into considerable trouble.

The Federal Spending Power And State Rights, John W. Holmes

Michigan Law Review

The cry for constitutional change, that dwindled to a small voice with the repeal of Prohibition, has risen to a new pitch following decapitation of the AAA by the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Butler. Burgeoning in Congress is a portentous, if unorganized, attack upon the Supreme Court's power of judicial review.

It seems timely, therefore, to inquire how far the current conception of the Supreme Court as an obstacle to the exercise of legislative power by the central government is justified, and to canvass the extent of the need, if any, for curtailment of the …

Congress And The Appellate Jurisdiction Of The Supreme Court, Ralph R. Martig

Michigan Law Review

A democratic government such as ours, based upon the theory of popular sovereignty, presents many curious political phenomena. For example: in order to insure a proper balance of the powers, it has been necessary for the Supreme Court to assume the onerous task of passing upon the constitutionality of congressional legislation. It is unfortunate, but necessary, that the Court be obliged to exercise this power of judicial review at a time when the entire country is suffering from the effects of a severe and sustained economic depression. It is unfortunate, too, that the legislation under judicial examination should involve questions …

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.

Contracts-Effect Of A Stipulation Denying Legal Effect In An Employer's Voluntary Pension, Bonus Or Death Benefit Plan, Grover C. Grismore

Michigan Law Review

It has generally been supposed that where two persons go through the form of offer and acceptance but at the same time mutually agree that their undertakings shall not be legally obligatory, they are not contractually bound. In fact, it has frequently been asserted that the intent to have legal obligation must appear affirmatively before a contract can be found to exist. It may be doubted whether this is so, since it is clear from the decided cases that no showing of such an intention is ever required. The intention to have a contract is invariably assumed to exist in …

Unforgetable Knowledge, Maurice H. Merrill

Michigan Law Review

In another article, the writer had occasion to analyze the concept of notice. He there called attention to the fact that in some instances the existence of notice depends upon awareness by the person to be charged, either of the ultimate facts or of circumstances placing him upon inquiry thereof, while in other cases notice exists entirely independent of such awareness. To characterize notice of the first class he suggested the term "cognitive notice," applying to the latter the designation "absolute notice."

Unfair Trade-Right Of Privacy-Right Of Manufacturer Who Has Contracted For Use Of Celebrity's Name To Injunction Against Competitor Using Such Name

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a baseball bat manufacturer, had obtained by contract with famous ball players a grant of the exclusive right to use their autographs on the style bats which the plaintiff company had developed for them. Defendant, a competing bat manufacturer, made bats in these same unpatented shapes and to designate the style of the bats placed the respective players' surnames on them in block letters. Plaintiff seeks to enjoin this practice of the defendant on the theory: (1) of unfair competition, and (2) of protection of the property right which the ball players had in the use of their names. …

What Should The American Law Institute Do?, Hessel E. Yntema

Michigan Law Review

It will generally be agreed, I believe, that the creation of the American Law Institute in 1923 was one of the most hopeful events in the recent legal history of this country. The plan for the Institute, as formulated in the impressive report which motivated its establishment, was well-conceived, broad-visioned, and based upon a comprehensive analysis of the chief defects in the legal system of the United States. This plan was significant in at least three important respects. In the first place, it defined an ambitious and, in some respects, a unique task for the Institute to accomplish; the report …