Digital Commons Network^™

Book Notes And Notices

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to list and, when possible, describe briefly current books on law.

Limitation Of Actions And The Conflict Of Laws, Edgar H. Ailes

Michigan Law Review

All civilized States, in the interest of an efficient administration of justice, have felt compelled to fix time limits beyond which access to their courts would be denied to aggrieved parties. Interest reipublicae ut sit finis litium. This was true even of Roman law in which actions were normally perpetual. Since the limitations enacted by various legislatures differ widely, and since debts are transitory, permitting suit wherever the creditor can find the debtor (at least in countries where the Common Law prevails), it is of the first practical importance that definite rules of Conflict of Laws be evolved to …

The Contribution Of Thomas M. Cooley To Bryce's "American Commonwealth", Everett S. Brown

Michigan Law Review

In the preface to The American Commonwealth, James Bryce acknowledged his indebtedness to numerous friends who, in one way or other, aided him in the writing of his book. First on this list is the name of Thomas M. Cooley. An examination of the text and footnotes of The American Commonwealth shows that Bryce was well acquainted with Cooley's published works, especially his Constitutional Limitations and his General Principles of Constitutional Law, which he quoted frequently with approval and respect. Also one finds six references to letters from Judge Cooley or to observations made directly by him to Bryce. But …

The Fifteen Mill Tax Amendment And Its Effect, E. Blythe Stason

Michigan Law Review

This article, dealing with problems arising under the Michigan Tax Limitation Amendment, should be of general interest. The movement to reduce taxes on property is nation-wide, as Mr. Stason says. One form which the movement has taken has been to limit, by constitutional provision, the amount of tax which may be levied on property. Seventeen States already have such limitations and others may be expected to give consideration to like measures

Housing Legislation And Housing Policy In The United States, Ernest M. Fisher

Michigan Law Review

Passage by Congress of the "Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1932" just prior to adjournment in July has served to arouse widespread hope for a revival of the construction industry as a whole, and especially those activities of the industry that are bent upon producing new housing facilities. One of the provisions of the Act authorized the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to "make loans to corporations, formed wholly for the purpose of providing housing for families of low incomes, or for reconstruction of slum areas, which are regulated by state or municipal law as to rents, charges, capital structure, rate …

Intoxicating Liquors -The New Michigan Amendment

Michigan Law Review

The people of the State of Michigan at the last general election ratified an amendment to section 11, Article 16 of the state constitution, the so-called prohibition section, to authorize the legislature to establish a liquor control commission and to impose an excise tax on liquor sales. In accordance with constitutional provisions this amendment went into effect on December eighth last. As the new amendment is drafted it leaves unsettled at least three important matters: (1) The present law in Michigan on the subject of intoxicating liquors; (2) The powers vested by it in the legislature and the liquor control …

Book Notes And Notices

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to list and, when possible, describe briefly current books on law.

Effect Of A Restriction On Assignment In A Contract, Grover C. Grismore

Michigan Law Review

The early common law took a strictly logical view in regard to the assignability of contract rights and duties. Since a contract is essentially a personal relationship voluntarily entered into by the parties to it, it follows as a logical deduction that one of the parties should not be allowed to destroy that relationship by introducing a third person into it in his place without the consent of the other party. This was the view of the early common law. However, in the course of time, as we know, the commercial spirit gradually made inroads into this doctrine until we …

The Meaning Of "Heirs" In Willsa Suggestion In Legal Method, Lewis M. Simes, Lorentz B. Knouff, George E. Leonard Jr.:

Michigan Law Review

A major task of the lawyer is the prediction of judicial action. No less than a quarter of a century ago Justice Holmes referred to the law as a body of "systematized prediction." Today legal scholars are not content to base their predictions solely upon the body of rules announced in judicial opinions. By means of elaborate fact studies they have sought to ascertain how rules of law actually function in society. Not only have these studies dealt with problems of procedure and the administration of courts, they have also invaded the fields of commercial and property law. Among such …

Constitutional Law - Federal Questions Reviewable By The Supreme Court

Michigan Law Review

Two cases decided by the Supreme Court at the October, 1932, term of Court raised important questions of federal practice and due process of law. Judgment was rendered, on motion, without notice, pursuant to the terms of the bond, against the American Surety Company on a supersedeas bond given in an action in which the Singer Sewing Machine Company and one Anderson were the defendants in the trial court after the Supreme Court of Idaho had affirmed the judgment of the trial court as to Anderson and reversed it as to the Sewing Machine Company. An order of the trial …

The New Spanish Constitution And International Obligations, Jesse S. Reeves

Michigan Law Review

The promulgation of a Constitution for the Republic of Spain, of date of December 9, 1931, invites attention to certain provisions therein relating to international law, treaties, and related topics.

The Constitution of Esthonia, dated June 15, 1920, Article 4, contains apparently the earliest constitutional provision as to the relation of international to the municipal law: "The universally recognized general rules of international law are an integral part of the laws of Esthonia." The German Constitution of August II, 1920, Article 4, provides that "the generally recognized rules of international law are valid as binding constituent parts of the law …

Constitutional Law-Power Of President To Approve A Bill After Final Adjournment

Michigan Law Review

The final adjournment of the 71st Congress occurred on March 4th, 1931. The day following, President Hoover signed Private Bill No. 510 (46 Stat. 2163) giving the Court of Claims jurisdiction to adjudicate the claims of one Edwards against the government. The question of the bill's validity was presented to the Supreme Court on certificate from the Court of Claims, and it was held valid. Edwards v. United States, (U.S. 1932) 52 Sup. Ct. 627.

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Regulation Of The Business Of The Contract Motor Carrier

Michigan Law Review

Much of the doubt and uncertainty concerning the power of the States to regulate the contract motor carrier has been dispelled by the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Stephenson et al. v. Binford et al. A Texas statute specifically defined the two categories of common and contract carriers for hire and undertook to regulate the business of each through the agency of the State Railroad Commission; the statute required contract carriers to secure "permits" which were to be granted by the commission only after a hearing and not if the …

Constitutional Law-Res Judicata In Federal Courts

Michigan Law Review

In American Surety Company v. Baldwin the Surety Company had chosen the state courts of Idaho as its forum for determining the issue of liability upon the supersedeas bond and had pursued its remedy to the Supreme Court. Then it sought to re-open the issue and inject a federal question by bringing an action to enjoin the enforcement of the judgment in the federal courts in Idaho. It was held that the doctrine of res judicata prevented a resort to an independent hearing in the federal courts in that State. American Surety Company v. Baldwin, (U.S. 1932) 53 Sup. …

Constitutional Law - Requirements Of Due Process In State Procedure

Michigan Law Review

In American Surety Company v. Baldwin the Surety Company complained that the procedure in Idaho deprived it of a hearing upon its liability on a supersedeas bond. After judgment was given on the bond the Surety Company moved to vacate the order and the motion was granted. Baldwin took an appeal from this order to the Supreme Court of Idaho which reversed the trial court. The sole question raised by the motion was whether the trial court had jurisdiction to give judgment. Under the Idaho practice an appeal from the judgment of the court was the proper method to review …

Congressional Redistricting And The Constitution, Harold M. Bowman

Michigan Law Review

Is congressional redistricting by state legislatures an exercise of the lawmaking function, subject to the governor's veto power? Is fairness in such redistricting secured today either by federal statute or by the federal Constitution? Of these two questions, posed by recent events, the first has been completely answered; the second has been answered in part only -- breeding in its answer new and troublesome problems.

Contracts - Anticipatory Breach - Effect Of Election

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff leased a lot to a development company and the latter agreed to demolish the present buildings and begin the erection of new ones by April 1, 1934. The defendant was surety on a bond executed to insure performance. The development company was adjudged bankrupt and, on February 11, 1931, the trustee expressly repudiated the contract. On February 24 the plaintiff notified the trustee and the bankrupt that he refused to accept the disaffirmance of the contract and would hold them to performance. The plaintiff later brought suit on the theory that the action constituted an acceptance of the …

Criminal Law And Procedure - Preliminary Examination

Michigan Law Review

A statute provided: "No information shall be filed against any person for any offense until such person shall have had a preliminary examination therefor as provided by law before a magistrate, unless such person shall waive such right. . . . " The defendant was complained against before a magistrate on a charge of grand. larceny. The magistrate refused to hold the accused on such charge but held him to answer on a charge of receiving stolen property. The prosecutor filed an information charging grand larceny. The defendant moved to quash the information on the ground that he had had …

Suretyship - Interpretation Of Surety Contract

Michigan Law Review

A bank sued to recover on a surety bond for loss sustained because of fraud practised by one of the vice-presidents on a customer. The bond provided that performance was subject to certain conditions and limitations, among which was one to the effect that the bank should notify the surety within ninety days of the default. The surety was not notified until the trial four years later. Held, notification is a condition precedent to liability, even though the surety was not prejudiced by lack of notice. National City Bank v. National Security Company, (C. C. A. 6th, 1932) …

The Declaratory Judgment As An Exclusive Or Alternative Remedy, Edwin M. Borchard

Michigan Law Review

In a recent Michigan case the seller of a boiler, claiming a chattel mortgage therein for the unpaid purchase price, brought an action against the person who had bought the boiler at a bankruptcy sale of the property of the original buyer for a declaration that the plaintiff had the right to possession, or in the alternative, that the defendant was under a duty to pay the balance of the original purchase price. The defendant claimed to be the owner free of the mortgage. A majority of the Michigan Supreme Court, on its own motion, for the propriety of the …

Book Notes And Notices

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to list and, when possible, describe briefly current books on law.

Constitutional Law - Due Process And Equal Protection - Right Of Counsel

Michigan Law Review

The Scottsboro cases decided by the Supreme Court at the present term raise several interesting constitutional questions. The judgments were assailed on the ground that they were violative of the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment in three respects: (1) that the negroes were tried by juries from which members of their race were systematically excluded; (2) that they were not accorded a fair, impartial and deliberate trial; (3) that due process was denied because the right of counsel, with the usual incidents of consultation and adequate preparation for trial, was lacking. While the Supreme Court …

Libel - Defamatory Statements In Appellate Brief - Publication Of Excerpts By Legal Scholar As Privileged

Michigan Law Review

The right to reputation, at least as far as written defamation is concerned, is recognized as an absolute right, to be invaded at peril. Yet it often becomes necessary in the course of judicial proceedings to consider the character and acts of individuals and to make them the subject of inquiry or comment. On such an occasion the demands of society compel a surrender of the interests of the citizen and require an immunity from prosecution for what would otherwise constitute an actionable wrong.

What Is A "Contract" Under The Contracts Clause Of The Federal Constitution?, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

The case of Coombes v. Getz, recently decided by the United States Supreme Court, raises in a crucial way the question of what is a contract within the meaning of Article I, section 10 of the Constitution, forbidding States to pass laws impairing the obligations of contracts. A provision of the California Constitution in force at the time the plaintiffs brought this action in the state court below made directors of corporations jointly and severally liable to the creditors and stockholders for all moneys embezzled or misappropriated by the officers of the corporation during the term of office of …

Broadening Legal Education, Edgar Noble Durfee

Michigan Law Review

The adoption of the case-method was a wild venture into the unknown, and even now, after a half century of experience, its wisdom is not proved in any strict sense. I remind the reader of this in order that there may be between us a clear understanding that any discussion of legal education moves in the realm of opinion. And there are other difficulties. Legal education is an eminently practical business, a tangle of conflicting factors. Wisdom lies in compromise and patient shaping of details. I shall therefore concern myself not so much with formulation of principles as with details …

The Right To Comment On The Failure Of The Defendant To Testify, Andrew A. Bruce

Michigan Law Review

In 1931 the American Law Institute adopted a resolution to the effect that "The judge, the prosecuting attorney and counsel for the defense may comment upon the fact that the defendant did not testify."

In the same year the American Bar Association resolved: "That by law it should be permitted to the prosecution to comment to the jury on the fact that a defendant did not take the stand as a witness; and to the jury to draw the reasonable inferences."

Bills And Notes - Promissory Notes - Negotiability At Common Law

Michigan Law Review

Defendant contractors left a check for materialmen in the hands of a third party who appropriated the check to his own use and then, in lieu thereof, gave his own note to the materialmen who endorsed it to a bank and credited the contractors with the amount of the note. In an action by the materialmen against the contractors for services rendered and materials furnished, held, such acceptance and negotiation constituted a payment of the materialmen's claims. Riedman v. Macht, (Ind. App. 1932) 182 N. E. 87.

Constitutional Law - Interstate Commerce - Tax On Gasoline Imported From Another State And Stored For Local Consumption

Michigan Law Review

The South Carolina Tax Act of 1930 levied a "license" tax of six cents per gallon on all persons who imported gasoline into South Carolina and kept it in storage there for purposes of local consumption, provided such gasoline had not already been subjected to the payment of license taxes upon the sale thereof by local dealers according to the gasoline tax acts of 1925 and 1929. The plaintiff imported gasoline from dealers outside the State, storing the gasoline in its tanks and using it for the purposes of its bleachery business. Held, that the 1930 Tax Act was …

Bills And Notes - What Constitutes A Reasonable Time In Presenting A Check For Payment

Michigan Law Review

Defendant delivered to the plaintiff, at about 10 o'clock A. M., a check drawn on the B bank. The next morning at 10:30 o'clock the plaintiff's agent went to drawee to cash the check. As there was "a run" being made on the bank that day, the agent was forced to stand in line. After waiting from 10:30 o'clock in the morning to 1 o'clock in the afternoon, he left without cashing the check. The next day the bank failed to open its doors. In an action by the plaintiff to recover the debt covered by the check, the defendant …

Trade-Marks - Unfair Competition - Right To Prohibit The Use Of One's Personal Name As A Trade-Mark

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff, De Nobili Cigar Co., had, over a period of years, added a secondary significance to its name when the defendant corporation organized, taking its name, F. G. Nobile Cigar Co., from one of its members who was not a manufacturer of cigars, and who received stock for such use of his name and his managerial ability. The lower court decreed that the labels of the defendant should be so changed as to be distinguishable from those of the plaintiff and that the phrase, "of Providence, R. I.," be added to its name to distinguish it from the plaintiff …