Digital Commons Network^™

A Further Legal Inquiry Into Renegotiation: I, Charles W. Steadman

Michigan Law Review

Renegotiation has undergone some important changes which call for consideration. Congress .has undertaken to rewrite the Renegotiation Act. Administrative and procedural developments have created new problems. The act is being attacked as unconstitutional. Procedural technique and statutory interpretations have crystallized sufficiently to permit careful scrutiny. And the problems regarding the determination. of excessive profits, questions of taxation, amortization, cost allowances, as well as the constitutionality of the act, are a challenge to a continued study of this law and its administration.

The Function Of The States, William B. Cudlip

Michigan Law Review

For the second time in this century, thoughtful men are studying plans for the stabilization of a post-war world, determined to devise a pattern of peace which shall embody new moral and economic standards and the highest ideals of human liberty, intent on fashioning a design for living under which the nations of the world may find freedom, justice, dignity, and prosperity. In this high adventure the United States has a full role to play, for, without our interest and cooperation, there can be no enduring compact. But, important as this quest may be, another task of at least equal …

The Organization Of The Probate Court In America: Ii, Lewis M. Simes, Paul E. Basye

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of the discussion which follows to consider how far the court organization in typical jurisdictions is adapted to a differentiation between contentious and noncontentious business. The sharp differentiation in English law will first be pointed out. Then the probate judicial organizations of various typical states will be considered in connection with the questions: How far have they retained the distinction between contentious and noncontentious business emphasized in the English system which served as their model? How far have they developed a basis of differentiation unlike the English model? The answer to these questions will involve some …

Criminal Justice In Germany: Ii, Hans Julius Wolff

Michigan Law Review

The trial (Hauptverhandlung) is the main and central part of the whole criminal proceeding. All that is brought forward in the trial and only what is brought forward there can furnish the basis for the verdict. Whatever has preceded the trial proper becomes irrelevant as soon as the trial is opened.

The principles governing the trial are publicity, orality, immediateness, and concentration.

Constitutional Law - Court Of Claims - Separation Of Powers, Benjamin M. Quigg, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued the United States Government for breach of its contract for construction of a water supply tunnel, and in 1932 recovered judgment in the court of claims for approximately one-seventh of the amount sued for. Motions for new trial were denied and the Supreme Court refused to grant a writ of certiorari. In 1942 plaintiff secured the passage of a special act of Congress conferring jurisdiction on the court of claims to render judgment on plaintiff's claim in accordance with the mode of calculation set forth therein, waiving any defenses which the government might have in respect thereto, and …

The Place Of Trial Of Criminal Cases: Constitutional Vicinage And Venue, William Wirt Blume

Michigan Law Review

In 1909 one Henry G. Connor, presumably Mr. Justice Connor of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, published in the Pennsylvania Law Review an article entitled "The Constitutional Right to a Trial by a Jury of the Vicinage." The question discussed was: May a state constitutionally provide by statute that a crime be tried in a county other than that in which it was committed? Or, putting the question in terms of vicinage as distinguished from venue, may a state constitutionally provide by statute that a crime be tried by jurors summoned from a county other than the county …

Fortescue's De Laudibus: A Review, Max Radin

Michigan Law Review

In this opus perfectissimum, Dr. Chrimes, whose book, English Constitutional Ideas in the Fifteenth Century, marks him as the man best fitted for the task, has filled one of the gaps which existed in the scientific examination of the sources of English law. We have Mr. Nicholl's Britton and Professor Woodbine's Glanvil and his still unfinished Bracton, Mr. Ogg's edition of Selden's Dissertatio, and the Hughes-Crump-Johnson edition of The Dialogue on the Exchequer. All these are admirable. There are left only St. Germain and Fleta, both of which cry aloud for an editor of the quality …

Abstracts, Mary Jane Plumer

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.

Administrative Law-Price Control Act-Recent Amendments, Robert A. Sprecher

Michigan Law Review

On July 1, 1944, the "Stabilization Extension Act of 1944" became effective, thereby introducing several important changes in the field of price control law. Many of these changes have the effect of granting relief to persons subject to price control, while others are designed to aid the price administrator in his enforcement of the Price Control Act.

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.

Current Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

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

Criminal Justice In Germany, Hans Julius Wolff

Michigan Law Review

Criminal law and procedure, perhaps even more than civil, reflect the underlying conceptions of the political system with which they are connected. The ideological structure of criminal procedure in Germany, as well as in other continental European states, rests on the historical development through which constitutional institutions in those countries have passed since the French Revolution. It mirrors the transformation of the all-powerful state of the period of absolutism into the liberal state with its guaranteed freedoms and rights of the individual and strict legal limits to the power of the authorities (Rechtsstaat); and in recent years it has adapted …

The Organization Of The Probate Court In America: I, Lewis M. Simes, Paul E. Basye

Michigan Law Review

This is a study of contemporary American legislation concerning probate courts, with particular reference to their jurisdiction over the probate of wills and the administration of estates of deceased persons.

By the term "probate courts" is meant all judicial tribunals which exercise such jurisdiction. As will subsequently appear, they are otherwise variously designated as surrogates' courts, orphans' courts, prerogative courts, courts of ordinary and county courts. In one state all the functions of probate and administration are exercised by courts of chancery. In other states, chancery has concurrent jurisdiction over many of these functions. Sometimes the register of probate exercises …

The Demise Of Fair Value, Robert W. Harbeson

Michigan Law Review

Two years ago, in discussing the Natural Gas Pipeline Company case, the writer ventured the opinion that "while it cannot be stated with certainty that the decision marks the demise of that hardy perennial--fair value--since the majority opinion did not explicitly repudiate that doctrine," there was language which indicated that such would nevertheless be the result of the decision. This prophecy now appears to be substantiated by the decision of the Supreme Court on January 3, 1944, in Federal Power Commission v. Hope Natural Gas Company. In the Pipeline Company case Chief Justice Stone stated significantly that "the Constitution …

Auditing Standards And Procedures In The Light Of Court Decisions, Frederick K. Rabel

Michigan Law Review

Ever since the Securities and Exchange Commission announced its amended rule 2-02 and required the accountant's certificate to include a statement as to compliance with generally accepted auditing standards, the accounting profession has been confronted with the problem of how to state those heretofore undefined standards. In the meantime, the committee on auditing procedure of the American Institute of Accountants requested the assistance of all practicing certified public accountants and all state accounting societies in taking prompt action toward defining auditing standards, and two members of the profession have since gone on record by courageously submitting tentative lists of proposed …

Valedictory Opinions Of Mr. Justice Holmes, Edward Dumbauld

Michigan Law Review

Mr. Justice Holmes was ninety on March 8, 1931. That anniversary brought him a "shower of birthday congratulations and tributes in writing and print," which included thoughtful appraisals of his work up to then as scholar and judge. But that work was not yet done. There remained "a little finishing canter before coming to a standstill." The aging justice was to participate in the work of two more terms of court before his retirement on January 12, 1932. In Holmes's quiver, waiting to be "fired off," were a dozen opinions which now grace the pages of volume 283 of the …

Husband And Wife--Memorandum On The Mississippi Woman's Law Of 1839, Elizabeth Gaspar Brown

Michigan Law Review

In retrospect, it seems a logical development that married women in the United States should have acquired substantial legal equality with men. The conditions of pioneer life, the relatively high sentimental value placed upon women, the increasing degree of social and domestic freedom which American women enjoyed-all were incompatible with the strict theories of the common law which placed a married woman and her property under the absolute control of her husband.

Constitutional Law-Due Process-Punishment For Acts Done Without Consciousness Of Wrongdoing, Benjamin M. Quigg, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In the recent case of United States v. Dotterweich the United States Supreme Court (four justices dissenting) held the president of a drug jobbing company personally liable for violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act on informations charging misbranding and adulteration of products. There was no evidence of any personal guilt on the defendant's part, nor was there any proof or claim that he ever knew of the introduction into commerce of the adulterated drugs in question. The disagreement among the members of the court was essentially one of statutory interpretation, but in view of the fact that …

Attorneys-Practice Of Law-Preparation Of Tax Returns By Laymen, Benjamin M. Quigg, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The members of Lowell Bar Association brought a suit in equity to restrain respondents, who are not members of the bar, from holding themselves out as qualified to practice law, and from giving legal advice in respect to liability to pay income taxes and to enjoin the preparation and execution of income tax returns. The facts showed that respondents had advertised, by newspaper and placards, an income tax-service for individuals, including preparation of tax return and "counsel in handling income tax matters should any develop after the official audit by the U.S. Tax Department." The lower court enjoined respondents from …

Law Books Of The Year (1943-44), Hobart R. Coffey

Michigan Law Review

Contrary to my inclination and somewhat against my better judgment I have been prevailed upon by the editor to repeat the experiment begun last year, viz., to produce a sort of running account of some of the more important legal publications which have appeared in the last twelve months. It goes almost without saying that a competent review of a single serious work requires both considerable time and space. An adequate critical review of fifty or sixty works would be quite out of the question for anyone who had anything else to do. In my comments on the books which …

Constitutional Law-Right To Counsel, Robert M. Barton

Michigan Law Review

The appellant, a person with a long criminal record, was convicted of receiving and concealing stolen goods. At the trial the attorney appointed by the court to represent him presumably had enough time to prepare a defense but conducted it in a slipshod manner. He failed to object to the admission of important evidence not legally admissible; he failed to see that a witness whom the accused described as important was subpoenaed into court; he objected to none of the prejudicial statements of the trial judge which in effect attacked the credibility of the accused, and he criticized his own …

Judgments-Declaratory Judgment As To The Applicability Of A Penal Statute To The Plaintiff's Proposed Activity Denied, Mary Jane Plumer

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff was informed by the Commissioner of Food and Drugs of the Federal Security Agency that its proposed shipments of artificially colored poppy seeds in interstate commerce, notwithstanding that they were properly labeled, would be a violation of the section 402 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and would subject it to the penalty prescribed in that act. It thereupon brought an action against the Federal Security Administration and the Attorney General for a declaratory judgment that such shipments were not prohibited by the act. Held, relief denied on the ground that neither of the defendants had …

Judges-Disqualification -Doctrine Of Necessity, W. Theodore Markwood

Michigan Law Review

An original action in quo warranto was brought in the name of the state on the relation of the Attorney General who later became a justice of the Supreme Court and participated in the final decision. It was argued on motion for a rehearing that this justice was disqualified by his prior connection with the case and that his participation in the final decision made it erroneous. Held, he was not disqualified, but if he had been, he was nevertheless under a duty to act with the court when it appeared that without his participation no decision could be …

Current Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

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

Abstracts, Mary Jane Plumer

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.

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.

Abstracts, Mary Jane Plumer

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.

Termination Of War Department Contracts At The Option Of The Government, David A. Goldman

Michigan Law Review

The United States of America has been mobilized and waging war for more than two years. Every device known to science, every resource of the country, every means of production, has been and is being employed to bring the conflict to a successful conclusion. Public funds, in amounts beyond comprehension, have been appropriated for the production of materiel. As of March r943, the War Department alone had outstanding more than 240,000 contracts in the face amount of approximately $75,000,000,000.

Mr. Justice William Johnson And The Unenviable Dilemma, A. J. Levin

Michigan Law Review

A policy of judicial avoidance, otherwise referred to as "judicial restraint," has clearly been the dominant trend in the United States Supreme Court since Mr. Justice Holmes began to sit upon that bench at the beginning of this century. There has been an inclination to explain this change as revealing a tendency of the Court to follow a policy of laissez-faire toward the legislative and executive departments, and to stop at this formalistic explanation of this important aspect of the judicial function. The Court's increasing awareness of its own lack of technical competence in dealing with the many complex governmental …

Jury Selection Analyzed: Proposed Revision Of Federal System, William Wirt Blume

Michigan Law Review

It is proposed, and bills to carry out the proposal are now pending in Congress, that the federal system of jury selection be substantially revised, chiefly by establishing "uniform qualifications" for jurors who serve in the federal courts. An examination of these bills reveals that the proposed revision not only contemplates the elimination of conformity with state statutes insofar as they prescribe qualifications for, and exemptions from, jury service, but also contemplates a startling increase in the discretionary powers of the federal judges with respect to the whole process of jury selection. As an aid to a consideration of the …