Digital Commons Network^™

Patents - Patentability Of The Product Of A Process, Julian Caplan

Michigan Law Review

The problem to be discussed in this comment can best be illustrated by setting forth a hypothetical fact situation. It will be assumed that an inventor, A has invented a new and useful process for refining oil, which process is denoted process X. Heretofore all oil has been refined by process Y. The oil produced by process X does not differ sufficiently in its chemical and physical properties from that produced by process Y so that the inventor can get a patent on the oil as such. Assuming that, upon proper application, A may receive a patent for …

Carriers Distinction Between Common Carriers And Contract Carriers, Marcus L. Plant

Michigan Law Review

In the recent case of Ace-High Dresses, Inc. v. J.C. Trucking Co., the defendant was a corporation organized for the purpose of doing a general trucking business. At the time of the suit it was operating under separate contracts with five dressmaking establishments, one of which was the plaintiff. Under these contracts the defendant trucked dress goods every day except Sunday. The goods were taken on in New York, carried to New Haven, Hartford or Bridgeport, left there until processed, and then taken back to New York. The defendant's drivers had keys to the factories of the processors, entered …

Freedom Of The Press And Of The Mails, Eberhard P. Deutsch

Michigan Law Review

It should be unnecessary to amend the Federal Constitution to accommodate the facilities of government to the needs of society, as those needs develop with the social and scientific advance of civilization. But the trend of legislative effort to reach beyond constitutional limits to satisfy fleeting economic or political expediencies, without regard for the vital distinction between sound and substance, and of courts to seek justification for such excursions, under the benefit of constitutional doubt due "solemn expressions of legislative will," may lead to highly dangerous situations. As this trend is permitted to reach extremes, the erasure of the well-defined …

Municipal Corporations - Police Power - Extraterritorial Effect, Gerald M. Stevens

Michigan Law Review

A city ordinance prohibited the sale of ice cream within the city unless the seller had first obtained a certificate of registration from the city. The certificate could be obtained by registering the applicant's state ice cream factory license with the city commissioners of health, allowing an inspection of his factory, and paying an annual inspection fee. Defendant sold ice cream in the city without having done so. His factories were located two counties distant from the city; they had been duly licensed by the state. On prosecution by the city, held, the ordinance was void on the ground …

Municipal Corporations - Quasi-Contractual Liability - Distinction Between Quasi-Contract And Ratification, Edward J. Wendrow

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued to recover for services rendered as foreman on a city "Works Project," the services having been rendered at the request of the mayor and with full knowledge on the part of the city council. Because of the foregoing fact the plaintiff claimed the contract had been ratified even though no formal corporate action had been taken authorizing the contract. Defendant's demurrer was overruled in the circuit court. On appeal, held, although plaintiff could not recover in an action based on the alleged contract because no formal contract was ever entered into, and because plaintiff's compensation had not …

Municipal Corporations - Police Power - Validity Of Ordinance Fixing Closing Hours, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A municipal ordinance required that all local business concerns selling or distributing food stay open for business only during the hours of duty of the municipal meat and food inspector. Hotels, restaurants, boarding houses, confectioneries, drug stores, soda fountains, and milk and cream dispensers were expressly excepted from these requirements. Plaintiff, a general grocery store, sought an injunction against the enforcement of these provisions, alleging that they were unreasonable and that the exceptions were discriminatory. Held, that under its police power to protect the public health, the municipality was authorized to pass such an ordinance as an aid to …

Monthly Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

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

Evidence - Judicial Notice Of Medical Facts - Judge's Right Of Private Investigation, Edward D. Ransom

Michigan Law Review

A recent case, Anderson v. Jersey Creamery Co., invokes a discussion of the problems of judicial knowledge particularly as it is pertinent to cases involving medical science. This was an action under the Survival Act for electrocution of defendant's employee, who, while working in a wet truck, came in contact with a charged conduit. To maintain the action it was necessary to show that the death was not instantaneous. The father of the deceased testified that he saw his son's face twitch and fingers move while resuscitation was being attempted with a pulmotor. The plaintiff produced no medical testimony …

Federal Courts - Procedure For Determining Jurisdiction Ab Facto - Burden Of Pleading And Proof, Richard B. Maxwell

Michigan Law Review

Since the beginning of our government it has been recognized that the federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. At an early date it was decided that because of this the plaintiff must state in his complaint the facts upon which the jurisdiction depended. The reason given in support of this rule, which is still the unquestioned law, is that there is no presumption of jurisdiction in courts which have only limited jurisdiction, but it is presumed not to exist unless its existence be shown upon the record. When the plaintiff sustained his burden of pleading the jurisdictional facts, his …

Corporations-Amendment Of Charter - Fundamental Change Of Purpose, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a cooperative association incorporated under the laws of Minnesota as a wholesaler of oil, sued defendant, a member of the cooperative, for goods sold and delivered. Pursuant to the statute which provided that such cooperatives may amend their articles by a vote of the majority of the membership "in respect to any other matter which the original articles of incorporation of the same kind might lawfully have contained," plaintiff's articles of incorporation had been amended, adding to the original purposes "any mercantile, jobbing, wholesale and retail, mining, manufacturing and mechanical business on the cooperative plan." These were all objects …

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.

Depletion Of Oil And Gas Properties For Income Tax Purposes, John W. Beveridge

Michigan Law Review

The Revenue Act of 1936 provides that in computing net income from oil and gas properties there shall be allowed as a deduction from gross income a reasonable allowance for depletion, according to the peculiar conditions in each case. The allowance is made under regulations prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.

The first problem is to fix the amount the taxpayer is entitled to recover before he is considered as earning income which is not in essence a mere return of his capital investment. The difficulty of clearly defining the difference between a return of capital and of income …

Administrative Tribunals-Organization And Reorganization, E. Blythe Stason

Michigan Law Review

No doubt overhauling is needed. However, a consistent and rational theory for the integration of the independent agencies with the remainder of the governmental structure is a condition precedent to an intelligent overhauling. This article constitutes a groping for such a theory. First, I shall discuss some of the more significant attacks which have been made in recent years upon modern administrative organization. Then, the reasons for these attacks will be examined and appraised, for they reveal certain pathological conditions which need excision. Finally, and with all due deference to the other remedies that have been suggested, I shall venture …

Constitutional Law - Public Works Administration - Validity - Requisite Interest To Challenge Constitutionality, Gerald L. Stoetzer

Michigan Law Review

After three years of prolonged litigation which has deprived the nation of many intended immediate benefits, another New Deal measure commonly known as the Public Works Administration has withstood the legal attacks persistently made upon it. One of the earliest enactments of the Seventy-third Congress during the present administration, Title II of the National Industrial Recovery Act, passed with the view of directing the country from an economic abyss, recently received judicial sanction in the United States Supreme Court, although Title I of the same act was early attacked and decreed unconstitutional in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States. Title …

Corporations - Interpretation Of The "Public Offering" Exemption Of The Federal Securities Act And State Blue-Sky Laws, Gerald L. Stoetzer

Michigan Law Review

Section 5 of the Federal Securities Act of 1933, as amended, declares that it shall be unlawful to use any means of transportation or communication in interstate commerce or of the mails to dispose of securities or transmit a prospectus thereon unless a registration statement as required by the act is in effect and unless the prospectus meets the statutory requirements. However, certain securities and transactions are expressly exempted from application of the act. Among the exemptions set out in section 4 are those "transactions by an issuer not involving any public offering."

Taxation - Constitutionality Of Federal Admissions Tax As Applied To State Universities, Ralph W. Aigler

Michigan Law Review

In declaring invalid the federal tax so far as it applied to admissions to athletic contests conducted under the auspices of the Regents of the University System of Georgia, the United States District Court has added another very interesting case to the many involving immunity from taxation growing out of our dual system of government. The question arose early, and scores of cases have since been decided.

Municipal Corporations - Police Power - Billboard Regulations For Aesthetic Purposes, Bertram H. Lebeis

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff applied to defendant superintendent of buildings for permits to erect billboards for general advertising purposes on plaintiff's, property in the city of Troy. Defendant refused to issue the permits on the authority of an ordinance which made it unlawful to erect any billboard and/ or signboard within the city limits, except upon real property owned or leased by the occupants thereof and for the sole purpose of advertising the sale of such property or of merchandise kept for sale upon such premises. Plaintiff petitioned for a writ of mandamus to compel defendant to issue the permits. Held, that …

Negligence - Overcrowding Of Automobile As Contributory Negligence Preventing Recovery By Guest, Brackley Shaw

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, an eighteen-year-old girl, was riding in the front seat of a Ford coupe with three young men on a clear night. The car, driven by defendant, was going sixty to sixty-five miles per hour and in rounding a curve struck another car. Plaintiff was thrown out and injured. The driver of the second car was joined as codefendant. Held, when more than three persons occupy the front seat of a car, overcrowding it and hampering the driver, those overcrowding it are guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law; and where the accident was caused by lack …

Taxation - Income Taxation Of Stock Dividends, Wallace Mendelson

Michigan Law Review

In 1929 a stock dividend was paid to the holders of common stock in preferred stock of the dividend paying corporation, which had both common and preferred stock outstanding at the time the stock dividend was declared and paid. The taxpayer, as a holder of common stock, received his pro rata share of the dividend and subsequently within the same taxable year sold the preferred stock which he had so received as a dividend. Held, that under the Revenue Act of 1928, (1) the receipt of the stock dividend was not a taxable occasion, and ( 2) the basis …

Monthly Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

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

Recent Developments In The Deportation Process, Reuben Oppenheimer

Michigan Law Review

The process under which the United States, through the Department of Labor, deports aliens found to be unlawfully in this country is one of the oldest in American administrative law. It is also one of the most interesting, for this process deals almost entirely with persons as contrasted with property, and its development has been largely unimpeded by court decisions.

Expansion Of Federal Supervision Of Securities Through The Inquisitional And Census Powers Of Congress-A Suggestion, Kenneth Rush

Michigan Law Review

The Securities Act and the Securities Exchange Act, principally through the means of compulsory disclosure of information, are intended to aid the investing public in evaluating securities and to prevent the undue influencing of their value, market price and sale. These ends are undoubtedly worth seeking in their entirety, but such is the nature of our federal system that the acts, being founded upon the powers of Congress over the facilities of interstate commerce and of the mails, purport to relate only to transactions in securities involving use of those facilities.

Interstate Commerce - Federal Motor Carrier Act - Extent Of Supersedure Of State Jurisdiction, William Stout Gordon

Michigan Law Review

Prior to the passage of the Federal Motor Carrier Act of 1935, interstate motor carriers were subject to regulation by the states to a limited extent. This power to regulate may be briefly summarized as follows: (1) a state could not require interstate motor carriers to show that their operation was required in the interest of public convenience and necessity; (2) it could regulate to some extent the service and facilities offered by such carriers but it could not regulate their rates; (3) it could require them to carry liability insurance for the protection of third parties but it could …

Judgments - Default Judgments Rendered Without Jurisdiction - Validating Effect Of A Subsequent General Appearance, Richard B. Maxwell

Michigan Law Review

The effect of a general appearance by the defendant following a default judgment rendered without jurisdiction over the person of the defendant has been again raised by the recent Wisconsin case of Schwantz v. Morris. In this case the original judgment was invalid for lack of jurisdiction over the defendants, but the Supreme Court of Wisconsin held, that by joining non-jurisdictional grounds with jurisdictional grounds in a motion to set the judgment aside, the defendants had waived any defects in or objections to the jurisdiction of the court and that this waiver related back to the time of the …

Judgments - Federal Declaratory Judgments Act, Charles R. Moon Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Underlying the declaratory judgment is the idea that in an organized and civilized society where law and order are thoroughly recognized and established, coercion is normally unnecessary to settle legal disputes between parties. The belief is that in many lawsuits the plaintiff is not seeking a means of coercing the defendant but that the plaintiff and the defendant merely want a final and conclusive decision of a disputed question on which their legal relations depend. The value of the declaratory judgment lies in that it may be used to settle this dispute, in many cases before any other form of …

Bills And Notes - Qualified Indorsement - By Assignment Of "Right, Title And Interest'', Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, payee of a promissory note, transferred it by writing on the back, "For value received, I hereby assign all my rights, title and interest to the within note .... " Held, defendant's indorsement was qualified, and she was not liable for its payment. Fecko v. Tarczynski,. 281 Mich. 590,275 N. W. 502 (1937).

Monthly Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

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

Constitutional Law - Religious Freedom - Compulsory Salute And Pledge Of Allegiance To Flag By School Children -Validity, Dan K. Cook

Michigan Law Review

A Massachusetts statute imposed a duty upon each public school teacher to lead his pupils, at least once each week, in a salute and pledge of allegiance to the flag. Petitioner was in his third year as a pupil in the public schools, and, in obedience to his father's commands, refused to participate in the salute and pledge. For such refusal, the school committee expelled the petitioner from the school, and he thereupon submitted a petition for a writ of mandamus, to compel his readmission to the school. Held, that the writ be denied, inasmuch as the statute did …

Municipal Corporations - Constitutional Limitations On Amount Of Debts - Obligations Of Other Public Corporations As Debts Of City, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The city of Troy, New York, had obtained federal aid for a Public Works Administration project involving the erection of a new high school building, conditioned upon the city's supplying $786,000 as its share of the cost. The constitutional debt limitation did not permit the city to borrow this amount. The legislature came to the aid of the city and enacted a law providing that the bonds should be issued as "general obligations" of the city school district by the district's board of education. The act expressly stated that the bonds should not be considered as part of the debt …

Interstate Commerce - Constitutionality Of Weight And Size Limitations Of Motor Carriers - Commerce Clause And Due Process Clause, Donald H. Larmee

Michigan Law Review

The District Court for the Eastern District of South Carolina had recently before it a well-presented case, Barnwell Bros. Inc. v. South Carolina State Highway Dept., involving the authority of the state to regulate the size and weight of motor vehicles operating on South Carolina's highways. The South Carolina statute in question limited the width of motor trucks (including semitrailers) to ninety inches, and their gross weight 4 to 20,000 pounds. The validity of this statute was challenged upon three distinct grounds: (1) that it was a denial of due process guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment; (2) that the …