Digital Commons Network^™

Some Legal Problems Connected With Stock Market Transactions, S. Ashley Guthrie, Henry F. Tenney

Michigan Law Review

If any one were asked what was the most dramatic event of the last year, he probably refer at once to the collapse of the great Bull Market on the New York Stock Exchange. This was not only a dramatic event, but it was literally a tragedy for hundreds of thousands of people. Securities shrank to less than half their former inflated values and hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and paper profits were lost over night, or possibly we should say over two nights, for the crash occurred in two stages, one in October and one in November, …

Criminal Law-Prosecution For Poisoning Not Resulting In Fatality

Michigan Law Review

In considering the question of criminal liability for poisoning not resulting in death, the problem may be discussed to best advantage by making the following four-fold classification: (1) administering with intent to kill, (2) attempt to administer with intent to kill, (3) administering with intent to injure, and (4) attempt to administer with intent to injure.

Taxation-Jurisdiction To Tax Intangibles

Michigan Law Review

Until recently the fact that one state had jurisdiction to tax intangibles was no basis for asserting that another state did not, there being apparently no constitutional impediment to double taxation. Nor did the fact that a state lacked jurisdiction to tax property in intangibles necessarily imply an absence of power to tax succession to that property. Both doctrines have been repudiated by the United States Supreme Court in Farmer's Loan & Trust Co. v. Minnesota and Baldwin v. Missouri, decided during the last term.

International Standing In Court Of Foreign Corporations, Elvin R. Latty

Michigan Law Review

The Supreme Court of Mexico has recently pronounced a decision of more than passing interest to the American Bar, not only because of the legal basis upon which the decision was rendered, but also because of its probable far-reaching consequences. The plaintiff corporation, organized under the laws of Delaware, brought suit for infringement of its trade mark which had been duly registered in Mexico. The Supreme Court held that inasmuch as the plaintiff was not registered in Mexico it had no existence there for the purposes of bring suit. It does not appear that the plaintiff was engaged in business …

The Supreme Court's Construction Of The Self-Incrimination Clause, Edward S. Corwin

Michigan Law Review

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution reads as follows: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized." The so-called "self-incrimination clause" of Amendment V reads as follows: "No person * * * shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself."

Constitutional Law-Usury-Corporations

Michigan Law Review

The complainant corporation filed a bill in chancery to set aside the foreclosure of a mortgage on the ground of usury. Public Acts of Michigan, 1927, No. 335, pt. 2, c. 1, sec. 1, and pt. 2, c. 2, sec. 12, amending Public Acts, 1921, No. 84, provided that a corporation could not set up the defense of usury. The complainant contended that this statute was invalid, being class legislation and hence a violation of the "equal protection of the law'' clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the federal Constitution. Held, that the classification was reasonable and did not …

Conflict Of Laws-Jurisdiction

Michigan Law Review

Appellant, a resident of Iowa, was ordered by the military department of the United States to take his troops to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, for a training period, during which time he was served with summons to appear in the district court of Ramsey county. Appellant filed a motion to quash, on the grounds that the Minnesota court had no jurisdiction since he was on a military reservation belonging to the United States and claimed privilege from service because he was involuntarily there in obedience to orders. The motion was overruled and judgment was entered against him. Held, if the …

Corporations-Stock Conversion-Obligation Of Interstate Carrier

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, holding preferred stock of the defendant railroad convertible into common stock, sought to exercise his right of conversion, and on the railroad's failure to comply, filed the present suit for damages. The answer set up as an affirmative defense that the defendant, an interstate common carrier, is subject to the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission; by the 1920 amendment to the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U. S. C. A. sec. 20a, it was made unlawful for any carrier to issue stock except by the Commission's sanction; on Feb. 7, 1927, for the first time demand was made for …

Constitutional Law-Due Process-Procedure

Michigan Law Review

New York Code of Criminal Procedure, sections 921-925, provides, in substance, that the Commissioner of Public Welfare may apply to two magistrates and, upon a showing that a husband or father owning property in the jurisdiction has absconded leaving a wife or children likely to become charges on the public, may secure a warrant for the seizure of such property and that, after confirmation of the warrant by the county court, such property may be applied to the support of the spouse or children. No sort of notice to the absentee is required. Held, affirming the decision of the …

Corporations-Basis For Preemptive Rights

Michigan Law Review

Defendant corporation's authorized capital stock consisted of 800 shares of common stock, 76 shares of which remained unissued. Over the objection of the plaintiff, the directors of the corporation authorized the issue of 50 shares of the 76 to a salesman in satisfaction of a debt due him from the corporation, the remaining 26 shares to one of the directors for cash with which to meet corporate indebtedness. No contest for corporate control was afoot. No opportunity was given to the shareholders generally to purchase such shares. Later the faction of the individual defendants to whom said 26 shares had …

Fraudulent Intent In Trade Mark Cases, Grover C. Grismore

Michigan Law Review

One of the troublesome questions which confront the trade mark lawyer is that as to the extent to which a fraudulent intention is an essential element in trade mark litigation. Must a plaintiff who is seeking injunctive relief, or damages, or an accounting against a defendant who", it is alleged, has simulated his trade mark, trade name or other identifying device, show that the latter has consciously sought to mislead the purchasing public? Judges and legal writers leave the matter in doubt. It is the purpose of this paper to discover, if possible, how this doubt has arisen and to …

The Italian Magistracy Of Labour A Fascist Experiment, Leonard Manyon

Michigan Law Review

The legislators of Fascist Italy, although they vigorously affirm the unprecedented and original character of their achievement, do not despise history--or even pre-history--as a measure of that achievement. In the social and economic no less than in the political sphere, they claim the merit of vast innovations, whose true significance, they tell us, can be gauged only by surveying, across the course of centuries, the evolution of human civilization.

Replevin-Defense Of Paramount Right To Possession In A Third Person

Michigan Law Review

Courts are often heard to say, as does the Wisconsin court in a recent case, that an action of replevin may be defeated by proof of title paramount in a third person, even though the plaintiff has shown a right to possession as against the defendant sufficient to support an action of trespass. This seems so anomalous, so opposed to our notion of other possessory actions, for example, trespass, and even trover, where the plaintiff need show only a better right to possession to recover, that we are led to wonder how such a doctrine ever obtained a foothold in …

Massachusetts Trusts And Succession Taxes, Maxwell E. Fead, Milton D. Green

Michigan Law Review

Ordinarily, one thinks of trust estates as connected with testamentary dispositions of property, marriage settlements, spendthrift trusts, or other similar "pure" trusts. However, in comparatively recent years, trust estates have assumed a place in active business life, occupying the same general fields of activity as the corporation. Business men early found that the advantages of corporate existence were offset, to a greater or less degree, by corresponding disadvantages, such as compliance with regulations laid down by the state, inflexibility of charter provisions, and particularly increased burdens of taxation. The corporate organization lays itself open to the touch of the state …

A Letter To The Lawyers Club, William W. Cook

Michigan Law Review

The scope and purposes of the law schools will in my opinion rapidly expand. And the first expansion will be the inauguration of legal research. You have led the way. You have the first and so far the only research professorship. Professor Sunderland has blazed the trail and is hewing a road through the wilderness. And I think he is laying out the right route.

The Criminal's Right Of Privacy

Michigan Law Review

The dissent of Mr. Justice Brandeis in the famed wire tapping case has been of especial interest to those who are acquainted with his article in the Harvard Law Review in 1890 on "The Right of Privacy." The law has witnessed few more fascinating developments than the engrafting of this latter concept into the formula of justice, few more conspicuous examples of creative juristic effort. Concerning it Dean Pound has said: "What may almost be called the classical example (of creative activity) is the paper on the Right of Privacy in which Mr. Justice Brandeis, then at the bar, was …

Marriage-Annulment For Fraudulent Misrepresentation As To Intent To Cohabit

Michigan Law Review

An interesting problem as to what constitutes fraud sufficient to invalidate a marriage is raised by the recent Illinois case of Bielby v. Bielby. 165 N.E. 231. The husband asked annulment on the ground of the wife's misrepresentation as to her intent to cohabit. The evidence as to the wife's intent and as to whether the marriage was actually consummated was undecisive, the wife testifying that it was and the husband that it was not. However, he did not testify that he had ever requested consummation or that she had ever refused it. It was held there could not …

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

The Illinois Appellate Courts-Are They Satisfactory?

Michigan Law Review

The instantaneous answer of "Yes" to this question was given by every Illinois attorney the writer asked while gathering material for this article, and undoubtedly that would be the answer of an overwhelming percentage of the Illinois Bar. In the Constitutional Convention of 1920 in Illinois, not one of the fifty odd lawyer members ever questioned their expediency in all the debates on the judiciary article. And much can, of course, be said in their favor. They relieve the supreme court of a great burden of work. They are closer at hand than the supreme court to most of the …

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Right Of Holders Of Preferred Stock To Participate In The Distribution Of Profits, Jay Finley Christ

Michigan Law Review

When, in the management of the affairs of corporate enterprises, a surplus is available for the payment of dividends, the question often arises, "In what proportions is this fund to be distributed, as between holders of common stock and holders of preferred stock?" When the contract, whether in the by-laws, the subscription agreement, the certificate, or any other form, makes clear the intent of the parties, one way or another, such intent is, of course, controlling. But the intent of the parties may not always be clearly expressed, and in the latter event the rights of the parties are determined …

When Is A Treaty Self-Executing, Leslie Henry

Michigan Law Review

A self-executing treaty is a treaty which of its own force furishes a rule of municipal law for the guidance of municipal courts in deciding cases involving the rights of individuals.

Ordinarily treaties are simply agreements or contracts between two or more sovereignties, obligating them to carry out the mutual promises contained therein. But under our Constitution a treaty is of greater force. It may operate as a law, just like an act of Congress. But the constitutional provision is not mandatory. Not every treaty provision is necessarily a law. For example, a promise to secure the passage of legislation …

Taxation-Constitutional Law-Classifcation Of Corporations

Michigan Law Review

The equal protection clause does not detract from the right of the state justly to exert its taxing power or prevent it from adjusting its legislation to differences in situation or forbid classification in that connection, but it does require that the classification be not arbitrary, but based on a real and substantial difference having a reasonable relation to the subject of the particular legislation. Though this is the generally accepted rule as to classification, it has long been recognized by the Supreme Court that the very nature of taxation demands that the legislatures be given the widest sort of …

Corporations-Government Owned Corporation Claiming Attributes Of Sovereignty

Michigan Law Review

That the government or the sovereign can not be sued without its consent has been so often repeated that it has attained the prosaicness of a legal maxim. Even so the doctrine was never so whole heartedly acceded to in the United States as it was in England, and we find the cases setting up at least one notable exception in the United States as to the property of the sovereign.

The Immunity Of Foreign States When Engaged In Commercial Enterprises: A Proposed Solution, John G. Hervey

Michigan Law Review

Do governments which engage in commercial undertakings assume the civil and criminal liabilities imposed upon private corporations engaged in similar enterprises, or do governments confer sovereign privileges upon their undertakings? Can governments engage in commercial enterprises and thereby escape the liabilities imposed upon private individuals? More particularly, are foreign governments engaged in such undertakings exempt from process in the American courts?

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

The Paradoxes Of Legal Science: A Review, Rousseau A. Burch

Michigan Law Review

This book by the distinguished Chief Judge of the New York court of appeals deals with difficulties of the judicial process when its function is creative; that is, when a judge makes law for novel situations.

The title of the book assumes there is a science of law, and the introduction takes analogues of physical science for a starting point. In physics there are rest and motion, static and dynamic ; in social affairs there are stability and changes, conservation and progress. In making decisions, the judge may be concerned with the yea of action in alteration, and the nay …

The United States And The League Of Nations, Clarence A. Berdahl

Michigan Law Review

With the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles by the necessary number of Powers on January 10, 1920, there came into existence that new experiment in international cooperation and government known as the League of Nations. It has grown from a membership of 43 states in 1920 to 55 in 1929. Including Great Powers and Small Powers, states of Europe, Asia, Africa, South, Central, and even North America, it can in no sense of the word be properly characterized as a European league merely, or another Holy Alliance, but is truly a world organization. Only Afghanistan, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, Russia, …