Digital Commons Network^™

Civil Justice In Germany, Burke Shartel, Hans Julius Wolff

Michigan Law Review

Our aim in preparing this paper is to develop for American lawyers a picture of the functioning of German civil justice. This aim, as well as the paper itself, is an outgrowth of a series of lectures on the German legal system delivered by the authors as background in the law of military occupation for the Judge Advocate General's School of the United States Army in Ann Arbor. That part of these lectures which concerns the operation of German civil justice seems to us of sufficient intrinsic interest to warrant publication.

Judicial Legislation-Patent Law-Has The Doctrine Of Contributory Infringement Been Repudiated?, John B. Waite

Michigan Law Review

When leaders quarrel the rank and file may flounder; and, in their recent decision of Mercoid Corp. v. Mid-Continent Investment Co., the justices of the Supreme Court have created confusion for lawyers. Four of the seven opinions clearly express intent to promulgate a new rule of law; two deny that intent; one is indefinite; and the purpose of the Court as a whole is left in doubt. Though the decision affects only the patent law, the process of decision concerns every lawyer.

Covenants-Restrictions Upon The Use Of Land-Negroes

Michigan Law Review

Many years ago a subdivision in Detroit was platted, with recorded building restrictions. When ready for the sale of lots, the intended high character of the subdivision and its desirability for expensive residences was much advertised. An association, an informal organization of some of the owners of houses in the subdivision, assumed the right to pass upon the desirability of prospective lot purchasers, and there was some indication that the person who advertised and marketed most of the lots verbally agreed to submit to the association the names of prospective purchasers and assured some intending purchasers that colored persons would …

Constitutional Law-Congressional Primaries-Voting Rights Of Negroes, Everett S. Brown

Michigan Law Review

The petitioner, Lonnie E. Smith, a Negro citizen of Harris County, Texas, brought suit for damages against election judges who refused to give him a ballot or to permit him to cast a ballot in the primary election of July 27, 1940, for the nomination of Democratic candidates for federal and state officers. The refusal was alleged to have been solely because of Smith's race and color and consequently violated sections 31 and 43 of title 8 of the United States Code by depriving Smith of rights secured under provisions of the Federal Constitution. The District Court of the United …

Statutes--Legislation In Vague Terms

Michigan Law Review

A Minnesota statute, dealing with the regulation of common carriers and requiring permits for operating as such, contained the following language: "The terms 'common carrier' and 'contract carrier' shall not apply to any person engaged in the business of operating motor vehicles in the transportation of property exclusively within the zone circumscribed by a line running parallel to the corporate limits of any city or village or contiguous cities and/or villages and 35 miles distant therefrom when such person resides within the zone." The plaintiff claimed that under that provision he was not required to secure a permit for his …

Taxation-Assessment Of Government-Owned Property Leased To Private Enterprise, Allen C. Holmes

Michigan Law Review

The Board of Property Assessment, Appeals, and Review of Allegheny County for ad valorem taxes in the state of Pennsylvania increased the assessed value of the realty of the Mesta Machine Company by the sum of $618,000 to include the value of certain additional machinery which had been installed on the premises. The machinery was leased by the United States Government to the company and was placed in the factory in order that the company might manufacture heavy field guns for the Government, under a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. The legal title and the beneficial ownership of the machinery remained in the …

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.

The Impact Of The War On Private Contracts, Werner W. Schroeder

Michigan Law Review

The destruction and impairment of contracts caused by governmental agencies because of the necessities of war production have been more far-reaching than is generally realized. A report that one large industrial organization has been prevented from performance of contracts involving more than one hundred and fifty million dollars gives a hint of the extent of these commercial casualties.

Proposed Rules Of Federal Criminal Procedure: Final Draft, Albert J. Harno

Michigan Law Review

In February 1941, the Supreme Court appointed an advisory committee to prepare a draft of Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. That committee has made its report to the Court and has presented a final draft of the rules. The adoption of these rules would be a landmark in criminal law administration. The importance of the draft does not lie in the fact that it projects matters that are novel or new, but rather in that it presents in successive provisions, stated in simple language, the best practices in criminal law procedure that have been evolved through experience. Of equal, or …

Service On Foreign Corporations After Withdrawal From The State, Alvin E. Evans

Michigan Law Review

It might reasonably be expected in this corporate age that the question of how service of process should be made upon foreign corporations would have been solved, especially in situations where the cause of action arose within the state and grew out of business done there. Such is not the case, at least respecting suits brought after the withdrawal of the corporation from the state on causes of action arising during the period that it did business there. That there is a conflict in the decisions seems to be due either to a difference inter se of the statutes under …

Evidence-Police Regulation By Rules Of Evidence, John Barker Waite

Michigan Law Review

The judicial rules of Evidence, said their great expounder, "were never meant to be an indirect process of punishment." Yet twice the Supreme Court has promulgated new rules of evidence for precisely that purpose. The rule that evidence is inadmissible, regardless of its relevance and materiality, if it was obtained by unreasonable search was first suggested by Justice Bradley, who wrote the majority opinion in Boyd v. United States in 1886. The other rule was voiced in 1943 by Justice Frankfurter, writing the majority opinion in McNabb v. United States. And each rule demonstrates the inherent evil of judicial …

Legal Aspects Of Renegotiation, Charles W. Steadman

Michigan Law Review

The Renegotiation Act which became effective April 28, 1942, was designed to eliminate and remove exorbitant profits from war contracts. No other recent statute has been the subject of so much controversy and misunderstanding. Since the beginning of renegotiation of contracts in the late summer and early fall of 1942, policies have been crystalizing and many interpretations of the act have been made, but many more questions as to its meaning must still be answered.

Abstracts, Benjamin M. Quigg, Jr.

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.

Banks And Banking-Bank Deposits And The N.I.L.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued H and W and a writ of garnishment was issued against B who filed a disclosure of an indebtedness owing to H and W as joint creditors. W was later dropped from the case by a voluntary non-suit. Shortly after such dismissal, W applied to B for payment of the debt, but payment was refused because of the outstanding garnishment. B, however, expressed to W an intention, perhaps even an assurance, to honor such application when freed of the garnishment. That garnishment was dismissed several days later, but in the meantime another writ of garnishment in the …

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.

Constltutional Law - Labor Unions - Injunction

Michigan Law Review

Complainants owned and operated a small cafeteria conducting the business without the aid of any employees. Defendants, a labor union and its president, picketed the cafeteria in an attempt "to organize it." The picketing was carried on by parade of one person at a time in front of the premises, at all times in an "orderly and peaceful" manner. Signs were carried which tended to give the impression that the complainants were "unfair" to organized labor and that the pickets "had been previously employed in the cafeteria." These representations were knowingly false in that there had been no employees in …

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.

Resulting Trust-Statute Of Frauds-Advance Of Purchase Money In Exchange For Transferee's Promise To Furnish A Life Home For The Payor, Craig E. Davids S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, an illiterate sharecropper, advanced money to purchase an eighty acre farm, record title being taken in the name of defendant and wife with whom plaintiff had been living for more than a year pursuant to an agreement that defendant was to furnish plaintiff with a home for life. The arrangement worked satisfactorily for more than thirty years, during which time the premises were improved and a mortgage discharged by plaintiff. Defendant then remarried and the friction which followed was climaxed by defendant ordering plaintiff off the premises. Suit was filed in equity, under an Oklahoma statute to have defendant …

The Proposed Federal Rules Of Criminal Procedure, Wendell Berge

Michigan Law Review

The recently published Preliminary Draft of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure is now before the bench and bar for discussion. The rules proposed are, of course, tentative. Following a procedure similar to that adopted in the case of the civil rules a few years ago, they have been printed and distributed by the Advisory Committee at this stage for the purpose of obtaining criticisms and suggestions. Some of the rules merely restate existing law as provided by statute or adopted by general agreement in judicial decisions. Others work substantial procedural changes. How is the product to be judged?

"Enemy" Under The Trading With The Enemy Act And Some Problems Of International Law, Samuel Anatole Lourie

Michigan Law Review

When the United States entered this war and even before, it was evident that the measures and definitions of the Trading with the Enemy Act of October 6, 1917, were obsolete instruments with which to cope, in economic and psychological warfare, with such dangerous enemies as the Axis, particularly Germany. Germany's preparations and planning for the war date back two decades, but took on intensified and conspicuous form only after the access of the Nazis to power.

In all types of warfare numerous weapons, devices and means are openly or secretly used. "Camouflage" is not the exclusive domain of military …

Is The Business Of Insurance Commerce? A Re-Examination In The Light Of Modern Times, Nathan R. Berke

Michigan Law Review

A question of considerable import which has arisen time and again in recent years, particularly since the enactment of the various federal regulatory acts within the past decade, is whether the business of insurance is commerce. Although not a new question, and by no means unanswered by the courts, it has been a subject of recent reconsideration and in all probability will be reviewed by the United States Supreme Court.

The Development Of The Massachusetts Probate System, Thomas E. Atkinson

Michigan Law Review

American lawyers and laymen alike take for granted a system of probate of wills and administration of decedents' estates under the supervision of a single tribunal usually called a probate court. We are familiar with the setting up of the will, appointment of the personal representative, filing of bond and inventory by the latter, granting of allowances for support of the family, notice to creditors to present their claims, and settlement of accounts of the administration, all accomplished by this court's orders or under its scrutiny. While real property is deemed to pass directly to the heirs or devisees, it …

Evidence-Judicial Notice By Appellate Courts Of Facts And Foreign Laws, Not Brought To The Attention Of The Trial Court, Hobart Taylor, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

The general problem to be discussed in this comment is the process and supporting reasons used by appellate courts in their determination of the propriety of taking official cognizance of facts not brought to the attention of the trial court. This necessarily removes that great and complex body of case and statutory law dealing with situations where a court is called upon to take judicial notice of local statutes, municipal ordinances, and other similar matters of law. Also specifically excluded from discussion are the cases where error is alleged because the trial court refused to take notice of a fact …

German Lawyers-Training And Functions, Burke Shartel, Hans Julius Wolff

Michigan Law Review

Before Hitler, Germany took justifiable pride in the quality of its judiciary, its bar and its legally trained officials. Germany was a country where special training for civil, military, business, and professional functions was highly developed and where special qualifications were highly esteemed. The solid quality of all legal personnel was merely a consequence and manifestation in one sphere of a general stress on expertness which characterized all aspects of German life. The high standards of bench, bar and other legal personnel have, however, been largely broken down by the Hitler regime. This result has not ensued from an open …

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 Of Recent Decisions, Benjamin M. Quigg, Jr.

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.

Secured Obligations, Benjamin M. Quigg, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

The scope of this discussion probably is best defined in the words of the act itself as appear in section 302 (1): "obligations secured by mortgage, trust deed, or other security in the nature of a mortgage · upon real or personal property, owned by a person in military service at the commencement of the period of military service"; and the problems herein discussed are those which arise under the act in connection with the sale, foreclosure, seizure, or repossession of property which is security for such obligations.

Just War-A Legal Concept?, Arthur Nussbaum

Michigan Law Review

During the century preceding the First World War the topic of "just war," frequently and intensely treated in earlier periods, had almost disappeared from the writings on international relations. Since the end of the war, however, the issue has been revived by writers within and without the legal profession. The present article purports, principally by an inquiry into its historical background, to determine its legal relevance.

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.