Digital Commons Network^™

Corporations - Right Of Preferred Stock To Stock Dividend After Payment Of Preferential Dividend

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff held 500 shares of the common stock of an Illinois corporation, organized by plaintiff and defendant with a capital stock of $160,000, divided into 2000 shares of common and 30,000 shares of preferred stock, each with a par value of $5.00 per share. The statutes of Illinois provided that the capital stock might be divided into classes but that this classification and the rights and duties thereunder must be stated in the articles of incorporation and on the stock certificates. The articles and certificates gave the preferred shares a preference on dissolution, and to dividends to the extent of …

Criminal Law And Procedure-Admissibility Of Evidence-Rule As To Determination Of Preliminary Question Of Fact

Michigan Law Review

Following his arrest for murder, the defendant was held thirty-six hours before being arraigned for the purpose of obtaining a confession. On trial the defendant objected to introduction of the confession on the ground that it was involuntary, having been induced by wrongful detention and beating by the police. Held, failure, after due request, to instruct the jury that unnecessary delay in arraignment is prohibited by law and that such delay might be considered in determining whether or not the confession was voluntary was reversible error. People v. Alex, (N. Y. 1934) 192 N. E. 289.

Insurance - Sunstroke As "Accidental Means"

Michigan Law Review

Insured died as a result of sunstroke suffered while playing golf. Held, Justice Cardozo dissenting, that the beneficiary could not recover because sunstroke was not an "accidental means" within a policy insuring against "death from bodily injuries effected directly and independently of all other causes through external, violent, and accidental means." Landress v. Phoenix Mutual Life Ins. Co., 291 U. S. 491, 54 Sup. Ct. 461, 90 A. L. R. 1382 (1934).

Recording - Preservation Of Priority By Recording Within Statutory Period

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued to foreclose a motor vehicle lien filed under the provisions of sections 8524-8528, Mason's Minn. Stat. (1927). Intervener interposed a claim as bona fide purchaser of the automobile before the lien was recorded. Plaintiff did record within the sixty day period fixed by the statute for that purpose. Held, the lien is superior to the title of intervener, even though latter bought the automobile without knowledge or notice, actual or constructive, of the lien. Pratt v. Armstrong et al. (Bud Johnson, Inc., Intervener), (Minn. 1934) 255 N. W. 91.

Banks And Banking-Liability On Payment Of Incomplete Check

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's agent signed a check in blank, and placed it in a safe. A thief broke into the safe, removed the check and other papers, inserted "Cash'' as the payee and $486.50 as the amount, and was paid by the drawee bank. In an action against the bank for charging plaintiff's account with this item, the court held that as between the parties, because the bank was negligent in paying the check without sufficient identification, it must bear the loss. Joseph Heimberg, Inc. v. Lincoln Nat. Bank, (N. J. L. 1934) 172 Atl. 528.

Public Utilities - Holding Companies - Power Of State Commission To Regulate Intercorporate Charges

Michigan Law Review

The Public Service Commission of Kansas issued an order directing nine local gas companies to cease setting up as an item of operating expense more than a certain amount for gas being furnished the companies by an interstate pipe line company. The nine distributing companies and the pipe line company, all of which were affiliated companies within the meaning of a Kansas statute and ultimately controlled by the same holding company, secured an injunction in the three-judge federal court, and the commission appealed to the United States Supreme Court. Held, that the injunction should not have been granted. State …

Cooperation Between The Interstate Commerce Commission And The State Commissions In Railroad Regulation, Martin L. Lindahl

Michigan Law Review

Cooperation between the Interstate Commerce Commission and the state commissions in railroad regulation has been developed to increase the effectiveness of public control under our dual regulatory system. The division of power between federal and state governments, based upon the traditional distinction between interstate and intrastate commerce, has led to a multitude of diverse and conflicting statutes and administrative orders applicable to the same set of transportation agencies. In large measure the problem of dual control has been solved by giving to the federal government a virtually complete occupancy of the fields of rate, finance, and service regulation of interstate …

Bills And Notes-Bonds Payable At Office Of Trustee Which Becomes Insolvent After Deposit According To Agreement But Before Bonds Presented, Ralph W. Aigler

Michigan Law Review

By the terms of a trust mortgage securing a large bond issue the debtor agreed that it would punctually pay the principal and interest of every bond according to the terms of the bond and coupons and would "deposit the necessary funds for such purpose with the trustee at least five days prior to the respective due dates." For the maturities of March 1st and September 1st, 1931, the requisite funds were deposited. Plaintiff's coupons of March and his bonds and coupons of September were not presented on the due dates and not until after the trustee had failed and …

Front Matter, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Front Matter for Volume 33, Issue 2 of Michigan Law Review

Federal Regulation Of Motor Carriers, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

Regulations pertaining to public safety include such matters as requirements concerning drivers' licenses, safety equipment, clearance lights, maximum speed limits, and others of a similar nature. It has already been pointed out that the states in the absence of federal regulation can enforce safety regulations of this kind against interstate motor carriers. It has also been shown that federal regulation in this field is desired in order to relieve interstate motor carriers from diverse and conflicting state laws. The only limitation upon the right of the federal government to impose such regulations upon interstate motor carriers is the general requirement …

Contracts - Illegality - Effect Of Partial Illegality

Michigan Law Review

It has long been accepted that the illegality of part of a contract does not necessarily make the entire contract unenforceable. However, it is difficult to predict in a given case whether or not the court will hold that recovery may be had upon the lawful part of the contract. It is often said that such recovery will be allowed when the illegal portion of the contract can be clearly separated from the lawful part, but .even when stated in such broad terms - so broad in fact that it is of little help in solving the problem - the …

Corporations-Tort Liability Of Independent Taxi Owners' Associations

Michigan Law Review

(a) In order to meet the competition of the large taxicab companies a number of taxi drivers owning their own cabs join together to advertise under a common name, establish a more efficient phone service, and secure the benefits of large-scale garage service. For this purpose a non-profit-sharing corporation is organized, to the expenses of which each driver contributes initiation fees and dues. (b) In order to avoid the liabilities which attend the ownership of cars one of the large taxi companies sells its cabs to the drivers. The drivers now pay the company a certain compensation in "dues" for …

Bills And Notes - Holder's Right On Contract To Pay Checks

Michigan Law Review

Defendant bank agreed to honor checks drawn by a cattle buyer and carry them as cash items until funds were deposited from sales of stock. During an illness of the buyer the bank authorized buyer's agent to continue the practice, without informing said agent of large overdrafts on the account. The agent ordered the bank to draw a sight draft on a Chicago commission house and credit it to the account for the purpose of covering, among others, a check given to plaintiff, who apparently knew nothing of the arrangement between the drawer and drawee. The bank, however, applied the …

Contracts--Change Of Circumstances-Constructive Promise

Michigan Law Review

In 1921 plaintiff and defendant entered into a contract whereby defendant agreed to give plaintiff "one-half of all moneys" which should be received "from any revivals of" the play" 'Alias Jimmy Valentine' including productions in New York City, 'on the road,' or 'in stock.' " Plaintiff's share was to be mailed direct to him under division orders from wherever the play was being produced, accompanied by box office statements. It was stipulated that "all contracts . . . or other arrangements . . . affecting the title to the dramatic rights ( exclusive of motion picture rights) . . . …

Corporations-Purchase Of Notes And Mortgages As "Doing Business"

Michigan Law Review

C was engaged in loaning money in Idaho. He sold many of the notes and mortgages which he thus received to the plaintiff, a foreign corporation. It was his practice, nevertheless, to collect the interest on these notes and remit it to the plaintiff. The actual sales of the notes and mortgages occurred in Chicago. In this manner the plaintiff acquired the note of the defendant, a resident of Idaho and his mortgage on Idaho land. The Idaho statute forbids a foreign corporation "doing business" in the State to sue in its courts without taking certain qualifying steps. The plaintiff, …

Criminal Law And Procedure - Right Of Defendant To Accompany Jury On View-Due Process

Michigan Law Review

During the trial of appellant in the Massachusetts courts for murder the jury was sent to view the scene of the crime. The accused asked that he be allowed to accompany them, invoking the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment. Permission was refused. At the view, judge and counsel being present, a stipulation was entered into as to changes which had occurred since the crime. Upon conviction, appellant appealed to the United States Supreme Court asserting that there had been a denial of due process. Held, four justices dissenting, that there had been no denial of due process since no …

Municipal Corporations - Immunity Of City From Tort Liability - Attractive Nuisance

Michigan Law Review

The minor plaintiff, a child of eleven, was injured when she fell from a swing in a playground maintained by the defendant, and struck a jagged stone which protruded from the surface of the earth about eight feet beyond the base of the swing. She and her parents joined as plaintiffs in this suit, alleging that the defendant was negligent in failing to keep the ground around the swing in a reasonably safe condition and free from dangerous objects upon which a child might fall. Held, the defendant is liable for its failure to keep the earth around the …

Gifi's Causa Mortis - Validity Of Gift Of Entire Estate

Michigan Law Review

A donor, being in extremis, told by a doctor that he was dying, and having no near relatives, gave three bunches of keys to a donee with whose family he had lived for ten years, with the statement, "'If I am going to die, everything I have belongs to this woman." This was held to be a valid gift causa mortis of so much of decedent's property as was thereby made available. In re Elliott's Estate, 312 Pa. 493, 167 Atl. 289 (1933).

Insurance - Application Of Dividends To The Purchase Of Extended Insurance

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff hospital claimed a lien upon the personal effects of a deceased patient left in their possession. An Iowa statute defines a hotel, for the purposes of its operator's lien, as including "inn, rooming house, and eating house, or any structure where rooms or board are furnished, whether to permanent or transient occupants." The term "guest" is defined to include "any legal occupant of any hotel as herein defined." Held, that "structure" as used in the statute refers to one used for the entertainment of ordinary individuals, as in the case of the structures enumerated; and that a hospital, …

The Economic Aspects Of Inflation, Leonard L. Watkins

Michigan Law Review

In every large industrial country there is a considerable group that urges inflation as a path to national prosperity. They have made least impression on monetary policies in countries that experienced severe inflation during the war and post-war years. But in the United States, where war-time inflation was relatively moderate and where losses in the recent depression have been especially severe, inflationary measures have been adopted and agitation persists for the adoption of still more radical policies.

Aliens-Right Of Illegally Present Alien To Sue-Tortsplaintiff's Violation Of Statute

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff was injured when struck by an automobile operated on the public way by defendant Long. He brought two suits in tort, one against Long, the other against Adamski, the owner of the car. Defendants contested his right to sue on the ground that he was in the country admittedly in violation of the immigration laws. They offered the further objection that his illegal presence made him a trespasser on the highway, and hence, under the Massachusetts doctrine, he was ineligible to maintain a suit arising from mere negligence. Held, plaintiff's unlawful residence in the country was no …

Banks And Banking - Bank Stock Holding Company As Fraud On Double Liability Statute

Michigan Law Review

The question as to when, to prevent evasion of a statutory liability, a court will look behind a corporate entity in order to hold individual stockholders liable has been raised in two recent cases. The first, a federal case, involved the Detroit Bankers Company, a Michigan corporation formed for the purpose of holding and investing in bank stocks. Each corporate stock certificate of the holding company contained an "agreement" that the holder of the stock would be liable for his pro rata share of any assessment for which the corporation might become liable as a result of the failure of …

Constitutional Law - Home Owners Loan Corporation Act - Penalties Clause

Michigan Law Review

An indictment under the penalties clause of the Home Owners Loan Corporation Act, brought before the promulgation of authorization of charges for services rendered, was dismissed on the ground that, prior to such authorization, the act was not sufficiently definite to satisfy the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. United States v. Willard, (D. C. W.D.Mich.No.4057, September 27, 1934) 2 U.S.LAW WEEK, index p. 99.

Innkeepers - Statutory Construction - Hospital As Hotel

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff hospital claimed a lien upon the personal effects of a deceased patient left in their possession. An Iowa statute defines a hotel, for the purposes of its operator's lien, as including "inn, rooming house, and eating house, or any structure where rooms or board are furnished, whether to permanent or transient occupants." The term "guest" is defined to include "any legal occupant of any hotel as herein defined." Held, that "structure" as used in the statute refers to one used for the entertainment of ordinary individuals, as in the case of the structures enumerated; and that a hospital, …

Contracts - Assignment- Unsealed Assignment Of Sealed Instrument

Michigan Law Review

Defendants sold and conveyed their grocery business by a bill of sale under seal and covenanted not to engage in a like business within a one-mile radius for a period of three years. The purchaser assigned the bill of sale by an instrument not under seal to the plaintiffs. When the defendants opened a competing business in violation of their agreement, the plaintiffs filed a bill in equity asking that the defendants be restrained. Held, that an injunction should issue, notwithstanding the bill of sale was sealed while the assignment was not. Adamowicz v. Iwanicki, (Mass. 1934) 190 …

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.

Evidence - Federal Practice - Competency Of Wife To Testify In Defense Of Husband In Criminal Case

Michigan Law Review

The defendant, being tried in a federal district court on an indictment for conspiracy to violate the prohibition law, offered his wife as a witness in his behalf. The district court, following what it concluded to be the established rule of the federal courts, refused to allow her to testify. The circuit court of appeals affirmed this ruling without discussing the point. Certiorari was granted by the Supreme Court, limited to the question as to what law was applicable in determining the competency of the wife. Held, that the federal courts have the power to determine for themselves the …

Effects Of Inflation On Private Contracts: Germany, 1914-1924, John P. Dawson

Michigan Law Review

The German experience with inflation is unique not only in the magnitude of the ultimate disaster but in the wealth and variety of the record which it left behind. From that experience we may still learn much. The problems presented at successive stages of the German inflation differ in degree but not in kind from those which appear in any major shift in the general level of prices. The devices, legal and economic, for restoring an equilibrium thus destroyed must be essentially the same in any great country organized, as Germany was, for specialized, large-scale production. From a study of …

Federal Regulation Of Motor Carriers, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

By it's policy of granting financial assistance to the States for roadbuilding purposes - a policy first inaugurated in 1916 - the federal government has made substantial contributions to the development of highway transportation in the United States. In a period of seventeen years ending with the fiscal year 1933, Congress had appropriated and allocated to the several States $1,290,000,000.00 for the purpose of building good roads. Since 1921 the use of federal aid funds has been limited to the improvement of a designated 7 per cent of each State's highway mileage. By May 31, 1933, work was completed on …

Penalties As Affected By Good Faith Litigation, Robert E. Hardwicke

Michigan Law Review

There are many state laws, as well as the so-called National Emergency Acts and other federal laws, providing for the imposition of penalties for the violation of a statute, or an order or regulation of a board, commission, or executive officer. Under, the National Industrial Recovery Act, sec. 3 (f), penalties are fixed for the violation of codes promulgated thereunder. In many instances the penalties are cumulative, each day's violation being a separate offense.

The primary question here to be discussed is whether good faith litigation as to the validity of such a law, code, order or similar regulation gives …