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Unemployment Compensation For Employees On Required Vacation Without Pay, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The Social Security Act of 1935 created a federal-state system of unemployment compensation which permits the states to establish their mvn standards of qualification for unemployment benefits. All states have enacted statutes pursuant to this system and have established three basic conditions which a claimant must meet before he is entitled to benefits. First, he must be unemployed. Second, he must remain able to work and available for work. Third, he must be free from disqualification for such acts as voluntarily leaving work without good cause attributable to the employer or employing unit, discharge for conduct connected with the work, …

Recent Books, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A List of Books Received by Michigan Law Review

Front Matter, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Front Matter for Volume 64, Issue 7 of Michigan Law Review

The Contractual Aspect Of Consumer Protection: Recent Developments In The Law Of Sales Warranties, William C. Pelster

Michigan Law Review

As might have been expected, the courts have not confined their efforts in updating the law of products liability to fostering innovations in that segment dealing with warranties. The struggle to impose strict tort liability upon a manufacturer for harm caused by his defective products has made significant advances and is continuing: However, the citadel has yet to be taken. Indeed, even the California Supreme Court, which may be considered the leading proponent of this strict tort theory, has limited its availability so that only those seeking redress for harm to person or property may invoke the doctrine; thus, a …

Foreword, Frank R. Kennedy

Michigan Law Review

As will be evident by the time this symposium on consumer protection appears in print, not all the proposals that have been made on behalf of the consumer will pass this year; some, perhaps, will never be enacted in anything like their present form. However, both opponents and proponents of this spate of legislative proposals should recognize the timeliness and importance of the discussions presented in this issue of the Michigan Law Review.

Industrial Self-Regulation And The Public Interest, Harper W. Boyd Jr., Henry Claycamp

Michigan Law Review

As the affluence of the American society grows, a concern about such matters as health, education, and welfare has also become more apparent. Some concern derives from technological breakthroughs which require control, such as the development of aircraft for mass transportation. In other cases, increased recognition of serious threats to public health and safety has led various groups of aroused citizens to advocate governmental control. Today, growing numbers of individuals and organizations believe that the consumer's health and safety are not being adequately protected in at least two areas-cigarettes and automobiles. Thus, the following discussion is directed to the vital …

Representing The Consumer Interest In The Federal Government, Esther Peterson

Michigan Law Review

In 1964 President Johnson established both the President's Committee on Consumer Interests and the position of Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs. The President declared that he was "taking action to assure that the .voice of the consumer will be loud, clear, uncompromising, and effective in the highest councils of the Federal Government." Never before had the consumer been expressly represented on so high a level. The Committee on Consumer Interests was given a unique task. "The value of our society," the President said, "cannot be measured in the mass, but in the condition of each individual." The …

Products Liability--Some Observations About Allocation Of Risks, Page Keeton

Michigan Law Review

Virtually all of the activities of mankind involve the use of some product. Consequently, nearly all losses in the nature of physical damage to persons or things, and a great deal of the economic losses flowing from inferior or unfit products, are factually caused by characteristics or conditions of products, or at least occur during the use of products. Therefore, when fault, in the sense in which fault has been used in the Anglo-American law of torts (a usage which frequently results in the imposition of liability without personal fault), is abandoned as a basis for shifting or allocating losses, …

Government And The Consumer, Richard J. Barber

Michigan Law Review

This article takes up four major topics. First, the principal characteristics of governmental action with respect to consumer protection are reviewed, with emphasis on developments during the past thirty years. Second, the traditional pleas for consumer protection are examined with a view toward determining the inadequacies in governmental action. Third, the problems of the consumer are studied in the context of oligopolistic industrial markets in which nonprice competition accentuates the place of advertising and severely restricts the dissemination of factual information that is essential to enlightened purchase decisions. Fourth, the ingredients of a meaningful consumer protection program are outlined and …

Federal Trade Commission Regulation Of Advertising, Earl W. Kintner

Michigan Law Review

The success of an economic democracy, no less than that of a political democracy, depends upon informed, intelligent choice. Thus, the widespread dissemination of information with respect to alternatives is imperative; otherwise, choices would be made in a vacuum and would become meaningless, if not plainly capricious. However, there is no paucity of information in our contemporary society; the so-called "mass media" ensure that. Indeed, modern man can hardly escape, even if he should so desire, the constant bombardment of information from television, radio, newspapers, billboards, and other sources.

Can Federal Legislation Affecting Consumers' Economic Interests Be Enacted?, Philip A. Hart

Michigan Law Review

Assume there is a definite need for legislation which centers on the economic-not the health or safety-interests of consumers. Can such a bill be enacted? If history, as Francis Bacon claims, does indeed "make a man wise," then a wise man would not even advocate such a bill, no matter how persuasive the evidence. Although government exists to protect the public interest, a look at history shows that the public--or the consumer-generally has not fared as well as many other special interests.

Disclosure Of Finance Charges: A Rationale, Robert L. Jordan, William D. Warren

Michigan Law Review

One wonders whether in all of the talk generated about disclosure in the past few years the purposes of disclosing finance charges to consumers have not been somewhat obscured. This article is an attempt to examine the subject of disclosure from the standpoint of the function it performs in consumer credit transactions. We shall discuss the various methods of computing finance charges in the different segments of the finance industry, the functions of disclosure of finance charges and the feasibility of using different computational methods in each category of consumer transactions. The problems involved in requiring the disclosure of finance …

Products Liability Based Upon Violation Of Statutory Standards, Joseph H. Ballway Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Regulatory enactments controlling production and distribution can give rise in several different ways to civil liability on behalf of persons injured by non-conforming merchandise. For instance, if a statute codifies existing common-law rules of negligence, its effect is merely to place the weight of legislative authority behind ordinary negligence principles. Since an injured party's recovery under such a provision still depends largely upon his proving in the traditional manner that a defendant failed to exercise due care, this kind of statute merits no further discussion. On the other hand, if particular legislation expressly states that a violator may be subjected …

Products Liability--The Expansion Of Fraud, Negligence, And Strict Tort Liability, John A. Sebert Jr.

Michigan Law Review

While judicial acceptance of this concept of strict tort liability has been proceeding apace, far less dramatic but equally significant developments have been occurring with respect to both negligence and fraud liability. The possibility of recovering for a seller's misrepresentations concerning his product has been enhanced by a plaintiff-oriented judicial redefinition of two elements of a cause of action for fraud: defendant's knowledge of the falsity of his representation and plaintiff's reliance upon the deception. At the same time, negligence liability has often come to resemble liability without fault as courts continue to deemphasize, as a prerequisite to the application …

Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Subject Index of Articles and Comments Appearing in Leading Law Reviews

Front Matter, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Front Matter for Volume 64, Issue 6 of Michigan Law Review

Hessel E. Yntema, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Memorial Tribute for Hessel E. Yntema

A Critical View Of The Uniform Crime Reports, Sophia M. Robison

Michigan Law Review

No one would deny that the FBI performs a vital function in investigating, identifying, and tracking down suspects who may endanger the life, liberty, and property of Americans. However, this writer feels that the Uniform Crime Reports published by the FBI should be subjected to a very critical analysis. Of primary concern are the indiscriminate acceptance of the official data by legislators and social science investigators and the doubtful inferences which a frightened public draws from news releases proclaiming that "the U.S. is sitting on a seething volcano of crime."

Standing To Appeal Zoning Determinations: The "Aggrieved Person" Requirement, Alfred V. Boerner

Michigan Law Review

During the twentieth century the states have increasingly utilized their police power to control the use of land. All fifty states have now enacted zoning enabling legislation, much of which is based in whole or in part on the Standard State Zoning Enabling Act. Typically, these zoning acts, like the Standard Act, empower municipalities to promulgate land use regulations by dividing the municipality "into districts of such number, shape, and area as may be deemed best suited to carry out the purposes of this act ..." Most zoning acts specify that "all such regulations shall be uniform for each class …

The Relative Priority Of Small Business Administration Liens: An Unreasonable Extension Of Federal Preference?, Ronald L. Olson

Michigan Law Review

During the past three decades, the priority of the federal government as against state and private creditors competing for the assets of debtors has been greatly strengthened. In terms of relative growth, the expansion of federal priority has been comparable to the increased commercial involvement of the United States. In more recent years, Congress and the judiciary have recognized that this increased governmental commercial activity necessitates a restriction in sovereign prerogatives. However, contrary to this general trend toward the contraction of sovereign prerogatives and for reasons appearing unsatisfactory to most commentators, the "sovereign prerogative" of priority to the assets of …

The Art Of Appellate Advocacy, Jason L. Honigman

Michigan Law Review

Rules of practice and procedure provide technical information in regard to perfecting appeals, but they do not explain how to win an appeal any more than how to win a trial. Advocacy is not an exact science; the skills which contribute to effective advocacy, whether in a trial or on appeal, have long been recognized as an art. We shall here deal with these skills at the appellate level, bearing in mind, of course, the limitations of formulating rules or precepts that can adequately instruct in any art.

There is no single, prescribed method for writing a play or painting …

Toward Uniform Guardianship Legislation, William F. Fratcher

Michigan Law Review

The Model Probate Code, part IV of which covers guardianship of the persons and property of infants and mental incompetents, was published in 1946 under the auspices of the University of Michigan Law School. It was prepared for the Probate Law Division of the Section of Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law of the American Bar Association by its Model Probate Code Committee in cooperation with the research staff of the Law School. No state has adopted the Model Probate Code in its entirety, but parts of it have been enacted in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, …

Uniform Crime Reports, Peter P. Lejins

Michigan Law Review

The Uniform Crime Reports are-both nationally and internationally- an extremely important statistical series, and an invitation by the Michigan Law Review to comment on this annual compilation is very much appreciated: This writer has felt for some time that the recent frequent statements on the Uniform Crime Reports in the daily press and some professional journals have created a considerable amount of unnecessary confusion. This opportunity to analyze the issues involved is therefore most gratifying.

Off-The-Record Consultations And The Revised Model State Administrative Procedure Act, John H. Martin

Michigan Law Review

The drafters of the Revised Act have sought to resolve the confrontation of policy objectives in part by insisting that the decision maker refrain from off-the-record communications with any of the parties to the proceeding. However, there are a number of ambiguities in the act which indicate that it may be possible for state agencies to avoid this objective. Furthermore, implementation of the policy decisions of the drafters may prove to be undesirable for the overall operation of state administrative agencies. This comment will consider these two possible criticisms of the Revised Model Act and will suggest that changes be …

Federal Estate Taxation Of Community Property Life Insurance, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Under section 2042 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, proceeds of insurance policies on the life of the decedent payable to beneficiaries other than the decedent's executor are included in the gross estate only if the decedent possessed at the time of his death "any of the incidents of ownership [in the insurance policies], exercisable either alone or in conjunction with any other person." To determine the extent of the decedent's "incidents of ownership," the Regulations provide for the application of state property law. The problems inherent in relying upon state law to govern federal estate taxation of the …

Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Subject Index of Articles and Comments Appearing in Leading Law Reviews

The Accumulated Earnings Tax And The Problem Of Diversification, James C. Westin

Michigan Law Review

While diversification is now considered a legitimate corporate need authorizing the accumulation of earnings and profits, the present standards of the Regulations under section 531, which, in general, test the reasonableness of corporate accumulations by the requirement of "specific, definite, and feasible plans" for use of the funds, seem too restrictive in terms of the problems of diversification as outlined above. In light of this criticism and of recent developments, the purposes of this comment are (1) to indicate the basic principles of section 531, an understanding of which is vital to corporations anticipating retention of funds for the purpose …

Federal Trade Commission Proceedings And Section 5 Of The Clayton Act: Application And Implications, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Although the primary responsibility for the enforcement of the antitrust laws falls upon governmental agencies, Congress has recognized the effectiveness of the private suit for damages as a deterrent and has sought to encourage such actions by providing for the recovery of treble damages by an injured party. To assist the private litigant, whose problem of proof is formidable, Congress enacted section 5(a) of the Clayton Act, which allows the introduction, as prima facie evidence of an antitrust violation, of a prior judgment or decree obtained by the Government. As a further aid to private litigants, section 5(b) provides for …

Recent Books, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A List of Books Received

Antitrust And The Consumer Interest, Kenneth S. Carlston, James M. Treece

Michigan Law Review

Public control of business in the United States has proceeded, in most sectors of the economy, on the assumption that free, open competition in the market should be the primary regulator. It is felt that consumer welfare will be maximized by such an organization of the economy. Courts, governmental agencies, and, to a certain extent, private agencies have performed the role of ensuring that free markets are not displaced by other, less desirable alternatives.