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Family Responsibilty Under The American Poor Laws: Ii, Daniel R. Mandelker

Michigan Law Review

No substantive statutory provision fulfills the purpose for which it was enacted unless fair and efficient procedures are provided for its enforcement. Under the Elizabethan family responsibility law, enforcement was confined to the parish justices of the peace, who at that time exercised both administrative and judicial functions. The blending of administrative and judicial functions no longer being the rule in American local government, practically all of the American family responsibility statutes provide for some judicial procedure by which the support duty may be enforced. The basic issue with which the courts have been concerned in applying these statutory remedies …

Incidents Of The Government-Servant Relationship, Ivor L.M. Richardson

Michigan Law Review

The procedures developed in the past five years to meet the threat of communist infiltration into public employment have focused attention on the position of persons working for the federal government. However, the loyalty program and the general problem of dismissal are not the only aspects of federal employment which raise important issues. Other aspects of the government-servant relationship may be of even greater importance to the civil servant in practice. For instance, what are his legal rights to his salary or to his pension if the government refuses to pay? Can he secure redress if he is suspended from …

Descent And Distribution - Ancestral Property - Exclusion Of Next Of Kin Other Than Half Bloods, George F. Lynch

Michigan Law Review

The decedent died intestate owning land which he had inherited from his father. His only next of kin were four blood aunts and uncles on his mother's side, and three blood aunts and uncles on his father's side. The paternal aunts and uncles contended that the land descended to them alone by virtue of a section of the Alabama code, which provides: "There is no distinction made between the whole and the half blood in the same degree, unless the inheritance came to the intestate by descent, devise or gift, from or of some one of his ancestors; in which …

Labor Law - Lmra - Duty Of Certified Union To Represent Bargaining Unit Fairly, Edward W. Powers S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Local N, composed entirely of Negroes, and Local W, composed entirely of whites, and both affiliated with the same international union, had been certified by the National Labor Relations Board as the joint bargaining representatives for the bargaining unit. Subsequent to this certification, the two locals allegedly agreed between themselves that they would be represented by one bargaining committee elected by a majority vote of the unit, and that there would be but one line of seniority in any agreement negotiated by this committee. The committee which was elected consisted solely of members of Local W. It …

Labor Law - Lmra - Strike Without Compliance With Arbitration Clause Of Collective Agreement As Unprotected Concerted Activity, Hazen V. Hatch S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A dispute arose over the working hours and assignment of one of the employer's truck drivers. The employer suggested to the union that they refer the question to an arbitration panel for adjudication. The collective bargaining agreement provided that the panel was to be the exclusive means of settling all such matters, but the agreement did not contain a specific no-strike clause. The union refused to arbitrate and ordered a strike. Subsequently, the employer discharged twenty of the strikers and then refused to reinstate them at the termination of the strike. The union claimed that the strike was a protected …

Front Matter, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Front Matter for Volume 54, Issue 4 of ,em>Michigan Law Review

The Wills Branch Of The Worthier Title Doctrine, Joseph W. Morris

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this article to examine the history and origin of the wills branch of the worthier title doctrine, to ascertain the extent of its application and the manner of its application, to determine the legal consequences flowing therefrom, and to consider the desirability of its continued existence.

International Law - United Nations - Administrative Tribunals As Adjudicators Of Disputes Arising Out Of Employment Contracts With International Organizations, Edward W. Powers S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A crucial though relatively unpublicized problem arising from the creation of international organizations is that of establishing and maintaining the staff or secretariat needed to perform the administrative functions of these organizations. Such a staff must possess not only the competence and integrity of a national civil service, but also an international loyalty or outlook which includes " ... an awareness . . . of the needs, emotions, and prejudices of the peoples of differently-circumstanced countries ... [and] a capacity for weighing these frequently imponderable elements in a judicial manner· before reaching any decision to which they are relevant."

Family Responsibilty Under The American Poor Laws: I, Daniel R. Mandelker

Michigan Law Review

Ever since the enactment of the statute quoted above, first passed in 1597 as part of the original Elizabethan Poor Law, the concept of family responsibility has been linked with the public relief of the poor. Today, more than three-and-a-half centuries later, the basic, residual program of poor relief has survived in the statutes of every American jurisdiction, and practically all the states still have family responsibility provisions based on the English model. Although some jurisdictions have abandoned the family responsibility requirement, the tendency in recent years seems to be toward strengthening the law where it exists.

In spite of …

Labor Law - Labor - Management Relations Act - Further Comments On Federalism, Robert B. Olsen S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Until a decade ago, the nation's lawyers paid little attention to the status of federal-state relations in the regulation of labor disputes. Today there hardly appears a volume of a legal journal that does not contain the product of new efforts to bring order out of the chaos that prevails in this area. A number of writers have apparently given up the task of reconciling statutory provisions with case law and case law with sound federal policy, and have resorted to the simpler, yet challenging, method of proposing amendments to existing federal statutes. Worthy as these efforts may be in …

Conflict Of Laws - Full Faith And Credit - Exclusive-Remedy Provision Of Foreign Workmen's Compensation Law, Morton A. Polster S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a resident of Missouri, entered into an employment contract there with a Missouri painting company. He was injured while working in Arkansas on a job his employer had subcontracted from the defendant, a Louisiana contractor. The Missouri employer's insurer voluntarily began weekly payments to the plaintiff pursuant to the Missouri workmen's compensation law, although there had been no formal proceeding or award. Payments under the Missouri act were exclusive of all other rights and remedies. After receiving thirty-four payments, the plaintiff sued the defendant for negligence in the Arkansas courts. The defendant had the case removed to the federal …

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Privilege Against Self-Incrimination In State Criminal Proceedings, Frank M. Lacey

Michigan Law Review

In March 1951, defendant, a New York City policeman, was called to testify before a state grand jury investigating the association of city policemen with the criminal element of Kings County. Existing laws required public officers to execute a waiver of immunity to prosecution for matters to which their testimony related, on pain of losing their positions. The defendant signed such a waiver, and shortly thereafter resigned from the police force. He was called before the same grand jury again in December 1952, and on this occasion was asked whether he had ever accepted bribes while a policeman. He refused …

Contracts - Offer And Acceptance - Effect Of Post Office Regulations On Adams V. Lindsell Doctrine, Norman A. Zilber S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a bidder on a government contract, attempted to withdraw its bid upon discovering that it had made a mistake in its calculations. The revocation arrived at the government's office the same day the acceptance of the bid was mailed. The government's invitation to bid provided that "the successful bidder will receive Notice of Award ... and such Award will thereupon constitute a binding contract ... .'' Upon the government's refusal to recognize the revocation, the plaintiff brought suit to recover losses resulting from performance at the bid price. Held, there was no binding contract. Since the post office …

Corporations - Shareholders - Power Of The Majority To Ratify Director's Fraud, Paul A. Heinen

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a stockholder in the Kroger Company, brought a derivative suit against a subsidiary of the company and certain officers and directors of both the parent and the subsidiary. It was alleged that . Kroger's directors had fraudulently waived the company's preemptive right to a new issue of stock of the subsidiary and had then purchased the shares for their own accounts at a price far below the market value. The defendants answered that the sale had been ratified by a majority in interest of disinterested stockholders to whom all the details of the transaction had been explained, and denied …

Corporations - Officers And Directors - Acquistion Of Corporate Opportunity After Rejection By Board Of Directors, James M. Tobin

Michigan Law Review

Defendant Odlum, president and director of Airfleets, Inc., was privately offered the opportunity to buy patents for a self-locking nut and the stock of the company which held an exclusive license to manufacture it. The board of directors, when offered the opportunity by Odlum, approved purchase of the stock but rejected the patent rights. Odlum then purchased these rights for himself and a minority stockholder brought a derivative suit for an accounting. Held, a director is absolutely disqualified from purchasing a corporate opportunity for himself, even after the opportunity has been rejected by a disinterested majority of the board …

Insurance - Recovery - Land Contract Purchaser Allowed Recovery On Both Vendee's And Vendor's Policies In Excess Of Loss, Jerome K. Walsh, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

An owner of realty entered into a contract to sell the land to the plaintiff. The vendor then took out fire insurance on his interest in the amount of $6,000 and the plaintiff obtained a policy covering his interest in the sum of $12,000, with a "three-fourths value" clause. Before performance of the contract and transfer of title, a fire occurred which caused $12,000 damage to the property. After the plaintiff paid the full contract price and took title to the property, he demanded and received an assignment of the claim under the vendor's policy. Plaintiff then brought suit on …

Personal Property - Gifts Causa Mortis - Effect Of Informal Writing Where There Is No Actual Delivery, David L. Nelson

Michigan Law Review

Prior to entering the hospital to undergo a serious operation, the decedent wrote an informal note to her husband telling him where he would find some money, a bank passbook, and a building and loan association stock book, which were hidden in their home. The note stated that this property was his. While the wife was under ether on the operating table, her husband found the note, after being directed to its location by a friend of the wife, and took possession of the items referred to. The wife did not recover consciousness and subsequently died. In an action by …

Taxation - Federal Estate Tax - Includibilty Of Accumulated Income Of Trust Where Corpus Included In Gross Estate, Neil Flanagin S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Decedent created eight inter vivos trusts for the benefit of his immediate family, reserving the power as trustee to invade the corpus in unusual circumstances for the benefit of the beneficiaries, and to accumulate all or part of the income and add it to the corpus. The Commissioner included both the corpus and the accumulated income in the decedent's gross estate. The Tax Court held that the corpus was properly included, but not the accumulated income. On appeal by the Commissioner, held, affirmed. The accumulated income of the trusts should not be included in the decedent's gross estate as …

Simes: Public Policy And The Dead Hand, W. Barton Leach, John H.C. Morris

Michigan Law Review

A Review of PPublic Policy and the Dead Hand. The Thomas M. Cooley Lectures, Sixth Series. By Lewis M. Simes.

Gough: Fundamental Law In English Constitutional History, Samuel I. Shuman

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Fundamental Law in English Constitutional History. By J. W. Gough.

Real Property - Water Rights - Liability For Discharge Of Surface Water, Robert E. Hammell

Michigan Law Review

In 1950 the corporate defendants purchased a forty acre tract of farm land lying north of plaintiffs' golf course and restaurant. Drainage from this tract had always flowed in a natural course southerly through plaintiffs' land. The defendant corporations constructed a subdivision of 169 homes on the tract. This change aggravated the discharge of surface water onto the land of the plaintiffs, increasing the run-off some 350 percent and, in times of heavy rains, producing flood conditions. Plaintiffs were awarded damages and an injunction by the trial court. On appeal, held, reversed. In respect to 30 acres of defendants' …

Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This index includes articles, comments and some of the longer notes which have appeared in leading law reviews since the publication of the last issue of this Review.

Recent Books, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A List of Books Received by Michigan Law Review

Some Abuses Of Antitrust Prosecution: The Investment Bankers Case, Ralph M. Carson

Michigan Law Review

The epochal decision of Judge Medina on October 14, 1953, in United States v. Morgan has already been the subject of adverse criticism by the losing Government counsel and defense by an opposing lawyer. Professor Steffen's grief at the ruin of his handiwork has led him into the impropriety of attacking with unwarranted epithet a thoroughly considered decision by one of the most eminent judges now sitting in our federal courts and into the more symptomatic fault of attributing to the new chief of the Antitrust Division political motivation in his decision not to appeal. He has the assurance to …

Labor Law - Lmra - Status Of Union Official As An "Employee Representative" For Purposes Of Prosecution Under Section 302, George E. Ewing

Michigan Law Review

The appellant was president of the International Longshoreman's Association, the recognized bargaining agent for longshore labor in the Port of New York. An officer of several of the employer members of the New York Shipping Association paid the appellant $5500 in six yearly "Christmas presents." The appellant was convicted of violating section 302 of the Labor-Management Relations Act, which makes it a misdemeanor for "any representative of any employees" to receive or agree to receive money from his employer, subject to certain exceptions. On appeal, held, reversed. The word "representative" is a term of art used throughout the act …

Front Matter, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Front Matter for Volume 54, Issue 3 of Michigan Law Review

Rationale Of Valuation Of Foreign Money Obligations, Charles Evan

Michigan Law Review

What then should a creditor of a foreign money obligation collect where there was a delay in payment? When are damages for depreciation of foreign money recoverable? As of what time and in what currency are they to be computed? How is the value of a foreign money obligation to be measured where no damages may be had? The answers to these and other incidental questions require a thorough analysis of certain features peculiar to the law of money.

It is the purpose of this article to clarify these problems, to sum up the primary principles by which they are …

Corporations - Stockholders - Fiduciary Relationship In Sale Of Controlling Stock Interest, Morton A. Polster S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

This comment is concerned with the duty owed by the controlling stockholders to the non-controlling stockholders when there is a sale of the controlling interest. Recently this question was considered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Perlman v. Feldmann, and the opinion, reversing the lower court and accompanied by a vigorous dissent by Judge Swan, deserves careful consideration.

Municipal Corporations - Tort Liability - Purchase Of Liability Insurance As Waiver Of Immunity, Alice Austin S.Ed., William C. Becker

Michigan Law Review

According to a well-established common law rule, a municipal corporation is immune to tort liability for wrongs committed in the performance of governmental or public functions, although it is liable for torts committed in the performance of corporate or proprietary functions. This immunity generally cannot be waived without the authorization of the state legislature, and this authorization must be very clearly stated. Interesting questions arise, therefore, when a municipality, with or without statutory authorization, takes out a liability insurance policy covering itself or its agents, or when it causes its agents to take out bonds for faithful performance. The questions …

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Power Of Michigan One-Man Grand Jury To Punish Contempt, Stephen C. Bransdorfer S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioners were two witnesses called before a Detroit Recorder's Court judge sitting as a Michigan one-man grand jury to investigate suspected police corruption. During the hearings both petitioners were cited for contempt. An order to show cause why they should not be punished was issued by the judge. Subsequently, in open hearings, the same judge convicted and sentenced petitioners. The Michigan Supreme Court affirmed. On certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, held, reversed. To allow a judge who sat as a one-man grand jury to preside at a contempt hearing regarding the same witnesses violates due process. In …