Digital Commons Network^™

Labor Law-Labor-Management Relations Act-Anti-Featherbedding Provision, Walter H. Weiner S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The typographers union insisted that newspaper publishers, upon using advertising mats as molds for metal castings from which to print advertisements, pay typesetters, at regular rates, for setting up duplicate forms for such advertisements in the same manner as though mats were not used, which duplicate forms are ordinarily melted down without having been used. The musicians union insisted that a theater employ a local orchestra, as a condition of the union's consent to the local appearance of traveling bands, to play overtures, intermissions and chasers. The publishers association and the theater challenged these demands as attempts to exact payments …

Taxation-Federal Estate Tax-Taxability Of Joint And Survivor Annuity Paid Pursuant To Pension Plan, Lawrence M. De Vore S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Under a pension and retirement plan, decedent had the option of receiving a pension for life or a smaller pension while both he and his wife lived, with two-thirds of such reduced pension payable to the survivor for life. On decedent's normal retirement date he chose the latter. Decedent did not retire but continued working until his death. His wife was then entitled to receive a monthly income for life under the pension plan. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue determined that the value of the wife's annuity should be included in the decedent's gross estate. Plaintiff instituted action for refund …

Notes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The information given in the notes is derived from inspection of the books, publishers' literature, and the ordinary library sources.

Monthly Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department lists the articles and comments which appear in leading law reviews. The index embraces material published since the last issue of the Review.

Federal Procedure - Judgments - Motion For Judgment Notwithstanding The Verdict Required Before Appellate Court Can Enter Judgment, Joseph M. Kortenhof, S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner brought suit against respondent railroad under the Jones Act for the wrongful death of her husband. At the completion of all the evidence, the railroad moved to dismiss the complaint and further asked for a directed verdict. The trial court submitted the case to the jury reserving its decision on the motion. A verdict was returned for the petitioner. Within ten days of the verdict, the railroad moved to have the verdict set aside on the ground that it was excessive, contrary to the law, to the evidence, and to the weight of the evidence. Two months later the …

Taxation-Federal Income Tax-Constitutionality Of The Clifford Regulations, Robert G. Russell S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Taxpayer created a five year irrevocable trust on December 1, 1941 for the benefit of a charitable foundation. She retained a reversion in the corpus but disclaimed any right to income. She did not retain, directly or indirectly, any interim control over the corpus or income. On December 1, 1942 the term of the trust was extended to December 1, 1951. Taxpayer did not report the income of the trust in her return. The Commissioner assessed deficiencies for 1946 claiming that the trust was for a term of nine years and that under the new ten year rule, the income …

Constitutional Law-Equal Protection-Validity Of State Restraints On Alien Ownership Of Land, Alfred W. Blumrosen S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In the short period of five years, action on three governmental fronts has solved one problem of state legislation which seemed to violate a basic premise of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Congress, the Supreme Court and the courts of last resort of two states have acted to destroy the effectiveness of state laws which prohibited ownership of land by aliens ineligible for citizenship. These laws incorporated whatever classification Congress established for naturalization purposes into state statutes determining rights to own land. This process has resulted in recent years in discrimination against Orientals, particularly Japanese. The purpose …

Constitutional Law-Due Process-Use Of Television At Congressional Hearings, S. I. Shuman

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, not claiming constitutional protection against self-incrimination, refused to testify before a Senate committee on grounds that his "constitutional rights" would be violated if compelled to give testimony while being televised, photographed, etc. Cited for willfully and without justification refusing to testify on matters pertinent to the purpose of the inquiry, defendant was tried for contempt of Congress. Held, not guilty; defendant's refusal was justified. The court, after stating that there were no precedents, and that no constitutional issue was involved, seemed to rest its decision on the fact that the atmosphere of the forum did not lend itself …

Constitutional Law-Due Process-Validity Of State Statute Requiring Public Employees To Take Loyalty Oath, James W. Callison, S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A statute of Oklahoma required public employees to take an oath that, among other things, they were not, for five years previous had not been, and would not become, affiliated with an organization which advocated the overthrow of the Government of the United States or of the State of Oklahoma by force or violence or other unlawful means or which had been determined by the United States Attorney General to be a Communist front or subversive organization. A citizen and taxpayer sought to enjoin payment of salaries to teachers at Oklahoma A. & M. College who had not taken the …

Criminal Law-Immunity From Prosecution Statutes--Revocation Of License As Penalty Or Forfeiture, Richard W. Pogue S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, an architect, involuntarily testified as to facts involved in a bribery transaction, before a state attorney, a grand jury, and at the trial of members of the Board of Public Instruction for bribery and conspiracy to bribe. Subsequently the State Board of Architecture filed charges against him seeking to revoke his certificate, basing these charges on the same bribery transaction, in which he allegedly had participated. Plaintiff thereupon instituted suit for declaration of his rights and immunities. He claimed an immunity by virtue of a Florida statute which provided that in connection with certain crimes (including bribery) "no person …

Corporations--Officers And Agents-Authority Of Manager To Enter Into A Lifetime Employment Contract, Peter Van Domelen S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In 1924, the plaintiff, while working as an employee of the defendant corporation, suffered an injury which resulted in the loss of his leg. During his period of convalescence the plaintiff was visited by the district superintendent of the defendant corporation and was assured that the corporation would pay for his medical expenses and furnish him with a lifetime job in exchange for his promise to forbear from suit. Upon recovery, the plaintiff returned to work and served the defendant in various capacities until 1949, at which time he was discharged without cause. The plaintiff brought an action to recover …

Negligence-Contributory Negligence-Effect Of Violation Of Statute By Minor Plaintiff, Richard P. Matsch S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's decedent, a thirteen year old boy, was killed in a collision between his bicycle and defendant's automobile. Both vehicles were travelling in the same direction on a public highway when, according to the defendant's testimony, the boy suddenly made a left tum in front of the automobile and was struck. The defendant asserted that the child failed to give any signal indicating a tum and therefore violated the Utah statute prescribing rules of the road. Defendant moved for a directed verdict on the issue of contributory negligence charging that the conduct of the decedent was negligence per se. The …

Labor Law-Labor-Management Relations Act-Emergency Strike Provisions, Walter H. Weiner S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Suit by the United States, under authority of the National Emergency provisions of Title II of the Labor-Management Relations Act, to enjoin a strike in a single plant engaged in the manufacture of pipe used in the construction of atomic energy plants. The district court granted an injunction, and the labor organizations adversely affected thereby appealed. Held, affirmed. The threatened strike would have affected a substantial part of the atomic weapon industry and would have imperiled the national safety. United States v. United Steelworkers of America, C.I.O., (2d Cir. 1953) 202 F. (2d) 132.

Labor Law-Labor-Management Relations Act-Effect Of Affirmative Deauthorization Vote Upon Existing Union-Shop Contract, Richard D. Rohr S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

One month after the employer and the union entered into a two-year contract containing a union-shop provision, a group of employees filed a petition under section 9(e)(1) of the NLRA as amended in 1951 seeking an election to rescind the union's authority to make a union-shop agreement. The union argued (1) that the contract was a bar to the election and (2) that even if an immediate election was ordered and an affirmative deauthorization vote cast, the existing union-shop clause should be held effective during the remainder of the contract term. The Board ruled, 3/2, that section 9(e)(1) as …

Negligence-Duty Of Care-Liability Of State Mental Hospital For Acts Of A Dangerous Patient After Improper Discharge, Edgar A. Strause S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

One Jones, a mental incompetent, was erroneously released as "recovered" from a state hospital for the criminal insane, after having been transferred there because of his dangerous behavior at a state penal institution. Jones' frequent assaultive behavior at the hospital was not reported in his case history upon which the determination of his recovery was partially based, nor was any inquiry made into the motivation for such conduct. Crowded conditions and an inadequate psychiatric staff were responsible for the improper diagnosis of the patient's condition and his ultimate discharge. Four days after his release he killed four persons. The administratrix …

Notes, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The information given in the notes is derived from inspection of the books, publishers' literature, and ordinary library sources.

Monthly Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department lists the articles and comments which appear in leading law reviews. The index embraces material published since the last issue of this Review.

Trusts-Creation-Significance Of Creation Of Honorary Trust By Inter Vivos Transfer, John W. Hupp S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Settlor made an inter vivos transfer of certain property in trust for a specified period with directions that the trustees should, in accordance with their own discretion, apply the income of the trust fund toward all or any of several specified purposes. These purposes included the "establishment ... of good understanding, sympathy and co-operation between nations," "the preservation of the independence and integrity of newspapers," and "the protection of newspapers ... from being absorbed or controlled by combines." Summons was taken out by the settlor to have the validity of the trusts determined. Held, the trusts were void because …

Equity-Criminal Contempt-Violation Of Court Order Or Decree-Attorney's Responsibility, Warren K. Urbom S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Employees of R, while on strike, picketed in the vicinity of a warehouse that was owned by X hut a part of which had been rented by R. The warehouse was served by two railroad spur tracks and two streets. Attempts to deliver goods to the warehouse via the railroad tracks were physically obstructed by the pickets, whereupon a temporary injunction issued restraining employees from "picketing ... plaintiff's railroad tracks and spur tracks or right of way or property in any manner whatsoever .... " Thereafter, on the strength of an attorney's advice, the employees maintained pickets fourteen …

Front Matter, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Front Matter for Volume 51, Issue 7 of Michigan Law Review

Interstate Publication, William L. Prosser

Michigan Law Review

It is an amazing and a sobering thought that by the utterance of a single ill-considered word a man may today commit forty-nine separate torts, for each of which he may be severally liable, in as many jurisdictions within the continental limits of the United States alone, and without regard to any additional liability he may incur in the possessions and territories and in foreign countries. It calls to mind at once in all solemnity those first words that ever were sent over an interstate wire, and later to the moon. What, indeed, hath God wrought!

Little less astonishing, although …

Treaties Governing The Succession To Real Property By Aliens, Willard L. Boyd, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Under customary international law no nation has the duty to grant to aliens the right to hold real property. Although international law accords to an alien the privilege of participating in the economic life of the state of his residence, this privilege does not encompass the right to hold real property. The right to succeed to and hold real property is a matter solely within the competence of a nation. It is for each nation exclusively to regulate the acquisition and tenure of real property. National authority in this regard can be traced to the concept that the sovereign may …

Judicial Techniques In Combating Tax Avoidance, Ralph S. Rice

Michigan Law Review

There is no problem today more fundamental in federal tax law than the rationale (or lack of it) that underlies the conduct of the courts in striking down tax avoidance devices and refusing to recognize business arrangements which meet statutory requirements for tax saving but exude an odor piscatorial.

Civil Procedure-Joinder Of Causes Of Action In Michigan, J. David Voss

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs were the owners of several lots, and used their respective properties as residences. Defendants, manufacturers of cement and concrete products, operated several large trucks in their business. Plaintiffs filed a declaration to recover damages for injuries to their properties sustained as a result of the loud noises, vibrations, and cement dust caused by the defendants' trucks when using an alley leading to defendants' place of business. The defendants' motion for dismissal on grounds of misjoinder of parties and causes of action was overruled. On appeal, held, reversed. Owners of property are not entitled to be joined in one …

Constitutional Law-Appellate Jurisdiction Over State Court Decisions-When Is A State Court Decision "Final", Marcus A. Rowden S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought suit to enjoin peaceful picketing of an apartment project by defendant labor organizations. The Circuit Court, Montgomery County, Alabama granted temporary injunction ex parte. Defendants appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court which affirmed the trial court's order denying a motion to dissolve the injunction. Certiorari was sought and granted by the United States Supreme Court. Held, certiorari had been improvidently granted since the Alabama Supreme Court's determination had not constituted a final judgment or decree. Montgomery Bldg. and Constr. Trades Council v. Ledbetter Erection Co.,. 344 U.S. 178, 73 S.Ct. 196 (1952).

Casner: American Law Of Property. A Treatise On The Law Of Property In The United States., Ralph W. Aigler

Michigan Law Review

A Review of AMERICAN LAW OF PROPERTY. A Treatise on the Law of Property in the United States.A. James Casner, Editor-in-Chief.

Taxation-Federal Income Tax-Payment To Lessee For Surrender Of Lease Taxable As Capital Gain, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Michigan Law Review

Taxpayer, a tenant in possession of premises under a lease, received a payment from the lessor to vacate and surrender the premises before the lease expired. The Tax Court decided that the payment was taxable only as a capital gain. On appeal, held, affirmed. Since the leasehold interest constituted property, its transfer by the lessee to the lessor was a sale of a capital asset under I.R.C., §117. Commissioner v. Golonsky, (3d Cir. 1952) 200 F. (2d) 72.

Monthly Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department lists the articles and comments which appear in leading law reviews. The index embraces material published since the last issue of this Review.

Front Matter, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Front Matter for Volume 51, Issue 6 of Michigan Law Review

Bankruptcy-Provability And Priority Of A Back Pay Award, Peter Van Domelen S.Ed

Michigan Law Review

The NLRB entered a back pay order against the employer. Four months later, and before the order was enforced, the employer was adjudicated a bankrupt. Thereafter, the court enforced the back pay order and the NLRB filed proof of claim in the bankruptcy proceeding. The referee disallowed the claim, but on petition for review the district court set aside the referee's order and gave the claim priority over general creditors. The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) that the back pay award was a provable claim, under section 63a(1) of the Bankruptcy Act as a fixed …