Digital Commons Network^™

International Law-Reservations To Commercial Treaties Dealing With Aliens' Plights To Engage In The Professions, Alan Reeve Hunt S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The question of how far an alien may engage in a profession despite state requirements of citizenship which attach to many professions has not been widely litigated or discussed in this country. Recent action by the United States Senate, however, has created interest in problems presented by commercial treaty provisions which guarantee to alien nationals of many countries the right to engage in professions. Attention has thus been focused on law and policy questions which were formerly of little concern outside of the State Department. On July 21, 1953 the Senate gave its advice and consent to the ratification of …

Banks And Banking-National Banks-Amenability To State Statute Restricting Use Of Word "Savings", Donald M. Wilkinson, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, a bank organized under the National Bank Act and transacting business in the State of New York, used the words "saving" and "savings" in various ways in the advertising and conduct of its banking business. The state brought suit, seeking an injunction restraining the use of these words, alleging that in- so using them defendant had violated subdivision 1 of section 258 of the New York Banking Law. In defense, the bank contended that this provision, as it applied to national banks, was unconstitutional as a contravention of federal statutory provisions. The trial court dismissed the complaint on its …

Constitutional Law-Congressional Powers-Validity Of The 1953 Submerged Lands Act, William D. Keeler

Michigan Law Review

In 1947 and 1950 the Supreme Court held that the coastal states had no property interest in the submerged lands lying seaward from the low water mark, whether ownership of this land was held by the state prior to admission into the Union or not, and that the federal government had paramount rights in and power over this land, including the resources of the soil beneath it. In 1953 Congress passed, and the President signed, the Submerged Lands Act, which vested in the coastal states title to and proprietary power over this land. Alabama and Rhode Island petitioned the Court …

Bankruptcy-Test Of Feasibility Under Chapter Xi Arrangement, Paul B. Campbell S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The Slumberland Bedding Company started in business in 1952 with a capitalization of $13,000. Within less than one year the corporation was "clearly heavily insolvent," having debts in excess of $85,000 and assets valued "at least several thousand dollars less than $42,250." Preferred creditor claims against the assets of the business amounted to more than $32,200. In this rather dismal context a petition for an arrangement under chapter XI of the Bankruptcy Act was filed. A plan was submitted which provided for independent capital to be put into the business to pay certain claims in full and to pay a …

Constitutional Law - Criminal Procedure - Federal Immunity Statute Applicable To State Court, Raymond R. Trombadore S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

ln response to a summons, petitioner appeared to testify before a congressional committee investigating crime, and confessed to having run a gambling business in Maryland. This confession was used in the criminal court of Baltimore to convict petitioner of conspiring to violate the state's anti-lottery laws. The conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals of Maryland, which rejected petitioner's contention that use of the committee testimony was forbidden by a federal statute which provides that no testimony given by a witness in congressional inquiries "shall be used as evidence in any criminal proceeding against him in any court." On …

Notes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The information given in the notes is derived from inspection of the books, publishers' literature, and the ordinary library sources.

Taxation - Federal Income Tax - Deferred Compensation As Affected By Constructive Receipt Doctrine, David D. Dowd, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Prior to his retirement as a general agent of a life insurance company, the petitioner entered into a new contract with the company by which he was to receive upon retirement fixed monthly instalments for fifteen years in lieu of his original contract rights to receive renewal premium commissions as they were paid into the company. Petitioner, as a cash basis taxpayer, reported as income only the instalments received. The Commissioner assessed deficiencies in the reports, contending that petitioner's taxable income consisted of all renewal commissions received by the company during the taxable year, rather than the instalment payments. Rejecting …

Monthly Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

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

Evidence-Privilege-Right Of Third Person To Assert Privilege As To Accident Report Made Confidential By Statute, Richard W. Young S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought a negligence action for injuries sustained when the automobile in which she was a passenger collided with that operated by the defendant. Defendant questioned a police officer, who had filed the accident report, concerning statements made to him by the driver of the vehicle in which the plaintiff was riding. The trial court permitted this testimony over the plaintiff's objection that these statements were privileged under an Iowa statute purporting to make written accident reports confidential and inadmissible in evidence. On appeal after a verdict was returned in favor of the defendant, held, reversed. The statute can …

Federal Taxation: Perspective During The Fifth Decade, J. W. Riehm

Michigan Law Review

Since the enactment of the income tax provisions of the Tariff Act of October 3, 1913 forty years have elapsed within which we have seen a profound change in the revenue system of our federal government, the growth of a great new branch of public law, the development of a highly specialized field of legal practice and the publication in legal periodicals of innumerable articles on the subject of taxation. Tax men can, with great pride, point out that technical proficiency has done an amazing job of keeping pace with the rapid expansion of the system from the utilization of …

Corporations-Indemnification Of Management For Litigation Expenses, Chester F. Relyea S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Two recent decisions concerning the right of a successful director-defendant to seek corporate indemnification for litigation expenses are significant because they interpret not only the relevant statutes of New York and Delaware, but also language which exists in the statutes of several other states and which as yet has not been construed by the courts of those states. These cases indicate the desirability of a general survey of such indemnification practice at common law and under statutes.

Constitutional Law-Church And State-Distribution Of Gideon Bible In Public Schools, Raymond R. Trombadore S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The Gideons International, a non-profit religious corporation, applied by letter to the Board of Education of the Borough of Rutherford, New Jersey, for permission to distribute free copies of the Gideon Bible to pupils of the public schools of that community. By resolution passed at a regular meeting of the board, permission was granted for distribution to pupils whose parents requested copies of the Bible. Prior to distribution, suit for injunction was commenced by parents of Jewish and Catholic pupils to determine the validity of the distribution under the federal and New Jersey constitutions. The trial court found for defendants. …

Creation Of Joint Rights Between Husband And Wife In Personal Property: Ii, R. Bruce Townsend

Michigan Law Review

The net effect of the general legislation pertaining to the creation of joint tenancy has been to make lawyers sensitive to language expressing an intent to create joint tenancy, tenancy by the entireties and other types of survivorship rights which may or may not fall within the foregoing concepts. And so the law has busied itself with the task of giving technical meanings to words used by members of the public in their efforts to create joint rights in property-a task that has not been fully appreciated by people who acquire personal property from bankers, brokers, clerks and the like …

Labor And The Schuman Plan, Gerhard Behr

Michigan Law Review

The European Coal and Steel Community of France, Germany, Italy and the Low Countries in full operation since May 1953, is an unprecedented type of a supranational organization, unique in its institutions as well as in its means for creating a single competitive market for coal, iron and steel within the European territories of those participating states.

Aside from the long term political objective of Franco-German rapprochement as the foundation stone for a future Western European political consolidation or even federation, the Schuman Plan encompasses economic as well as social aims. By establishing such a supranational market the Community seeks …

Labor Law--Labor-Management Relations Act--"Captive Audience" Doctrine, George B. Berridge S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The day before a representation election was to be held at respondents plant the employees were assembled on the premises during working hours to hear an anti-union address by respondent's president. The union requested but was refused a similar opportunity to address the employees, and it appeared that respondent had in force a rule prohibiting union solicitation on company property. The National Labor Relations Board decided that although the contents of the president's speech were within the privilege of section 8(c) of the amended National Labor Relations Act, in refusing the union's request respondent had applied its no-solicitation rule in …

Labor Law--Labor-Management Relations Act--Disparagement Of Employer's Product As Protected Concerted Activity, George B. Berridge S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

When contract negotiations between an employer, a Charlotte, North Carolina TV station, and a local union representing the station's technicians reached an impasse, the technicians remained on the job but circulated handbills attacking the inferior quality of the employer's programs. These handbills, which were distributed throughout Charlotte as well as on a picket line which the technicians maintained during their off-duty hours, were signed simply "WBT Technicians" and made no reference to the labor dispute. The company discharged the technicians, whereupon the union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board charging a violation of sections 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(3) …

Regulation Of Business-Sherman Act-Conscious Parallelism Of Action, Arthur M. Wisehart

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff attempted to lease first-run films from defendants, major motion picture distributors, for his new theater located six miles from downtown Baltimore in a suburban shopping center. When the defendants, acting separately, refused to make first-run leases to plaintiff, he brought an action for treble damages and an injunction, alleging that he had been injured by a national conspiracy to restrict first-run features to downtown theaters. Plaintiff contended that his showing of conscious parallelism of action on the part of the defendants established an antitrust violation as a matter of law, and that the only question left for the jury …

Virtue: Basic Structure Of Children's Services In Michigan, Stephen H. Clink

Michigan Law Review

A Review of BASIC STRUCTURE OF CHILDREN'S SERVICES IN MICHIGAN. By Maxine Boord Virtue.

Monthly Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department lists the articles and comments which appear in leading law reviews. The index embraces material published since the last issue of this REVIEW.

Evidence-Presumtions-Alabama Statute Making Compliance With Federal Wagering Tax Law Prima Facie Evidence Of Violation Of State Gambling Law, John C. Hall S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In 1953 the Alabama legislature, taking advantage of the federal occupational tax on professional gamblers, enacted legislation making possession of the federal wagering tax stamp prima facie evidence of violation of the state gambling laws.

Proposed Legislation Regarding State Supervision Of Charities, George Gleason Bogert

Michigan Law Review

In the case of private trusts the dangers of long continued neglect or other breaches are not great. Definite or ascertainable persons have a financial interest in enforcement and can bring suit against the trustee. The beneficiaries are almost inevitably informed of their status soon after the creation of the trust. It is the duty of the trustee to notify them of the trust creation, and court notices, the receipt of benefits, and other incidents of trust administration bring home to the beneficiaries knowledge of their situations. Court accountings or voluntary reports generally keep the cestuis informed as to the …

Constitutional Law - Judicial Powers - Legality Of The Grand Jury Report, Alan Reeve Hunt S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

On December 2, 1952, a federal grand jury for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, in a "presentment" made to that court, took the State Department severely to task for what it considered to be a conspicuous failure in handling the problem of subversive employees, United States citizens, at the United Nations. It further charged the State Department with impeding the grand jury's progress in attempting to fix responsibility for the failure upon certain State Department officials. On October 11, 1951, the Camden County grand jury presented to the Superior Court of New Jersey …

Constitutional Law-Commerce Clause-State Taxation Of Interstate Air Carriers, Robert B. Olsen

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, an interstate air carrier, was incorporated in Delaware, and the home port of its planes was in Minnesota. It conducted regularly scheduled flights in and between twelve states. No landings were ever made in Delaware. Nebraska, one of the states in which landings were made by plaintiff, levied an ad valorem tax on a proportion of the Hight equipment of the plaintiff measured by the proportion of the total use of the equipment that was attributable to Nebraska. Plaintiff contended that the commerce clause of the United States Constitution precluded Nebraska from imposing any tax whatever upon such Hight …

The Legal Basis For Municipal Income Taxes In Michigan, Arthur M. Wisehart

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this article is to explore the legal difficulties which might beset a Michigan municipality attempting to impose an income tax. Because of the similarity of some of these difficulties to those encountered in other jurisdictions, it is hoped that this study will be useful outside of as well as within the state of Michigan.

Corporations-Ultra Vires Acts-Gifts To Educational Institutions, Judson M. Werbelow S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a New Jersey corporation, was engaged in the manufacture and sale of valves, fire hydrants and other special equipment for use in water and gas industries. The company employed about 300 persons at its plant in New Jersey. In 1951 the board of directors adopted a resolution appropriating $1,500 as a donation to Princeton University for university maintenance. When this appropriation was questioned by certain stockholders, the company instituted a declaratory judgment action to determine whether the proposed donation was ultra vires. The lower court ruled that the donation was intra vires. On appeal, held, affirmed. The gift …

Divorce For Temperamental Incompatibility, Lester B. Orfield

Michigan Law Review

One not acquainted with American or Continental legal history might conclude that temperamental incompatibility as a ground for divorce is a novel and radical innovation. In fact, such divorces have been possible from the beginning of our history. Legislatures granted divorces until the last quarter of the nineteenth century. 'We are told that the legislature was appealed to in cases that were too flimsy or too whimsical for the courts."

About a century ago and for more than a generation later at least nine states had "omnibus clauses in their divorce statutes broad enough to include incompatibility of temper." No …

Torts-The Discretionary Function Exception In The Federal Tort Claims Act, Howard A. Cole S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The doctrine of the immunity of the sovereign in tort has long been the subject of attack by statesmen and legal writers. In response to these attacks and with a view to eliminating the unjust, expensive, and time-consuming method of settling tort claims against the federal government by the private bill method, Congress passed the Federal Tort Claims Act in 1946. The act contained a number of exceptions, the most important of which preserved the immunity doctrine as to any claim arising out of a "discretionary function" of government. A recent decision of the United States Supreme Court illustrates the …

Labor Law - Use Of Federal Removal Jurisdiction To Defeat State Court Injunction Suits, George B. Berridge S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The use of the injunction in labor disputes is by no means a thing of the past. Although equitable relief against union activities is no longer generally available in the federal courts, such relief may often be obtained by application to the courts of the states. In response to state court injunction suits involving parties subject to the National Labor Relations Act, astute union counsel have fairly recently adopted an approach which has thus far achieved some degree of success. This new strategy is simply to remove the case to the appropriate federal district court, where, it is anticipated, the …

Restitution - Reliance Losses In Contract Within Statute Of Frauds, John E. Riecker S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, the owner of a seasonal night club, orally agreed to lease the premises for three years to the defendant. The plaintiff had a written lease prepared but it was not executed. Negotiations by letters and telegrams between the parties proved that the document was not a definite integration of their agreement sufficient to satisfy the statute of frauds governing leases of land for periods longer than one year. During this interval of negotiation, plaintiff at defendant's express request had procured a liquor license for the following year at the night club, hired a watchman, retained counsel to draw the …

Taxation-Federal Income Tax-Tax Avoidance By Use Of Preferred Stock ''Bail-Out", Raymond R. Trombadore S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In 1946 petitioner received a pro-rata dividend of preferred stock of the distributing corporation, paid on its voting common, the only class of stock then outstanding. The dividend stock was immediately sold to certain insurance companies pursuant to prior informal agreements between the insurance companies, the corporation, and the shareholders. Provision was made for the mandatory redemption of the preferred stock over a period of eight years. The transactions were the culmination of a series of negotiations intended to eliminate the large accumulated surplus of the corporation, in order to avoid the imposition of a penalty surtax thereon. In reporting …