Digital Commons Network^™

Torts - Action In Deceit For Promise Made With No Intent To Perform - Effect Of Unenforceability Of Contract Under Statute Of Frauds, Fred C. Newman

Michigan Law Review

Undertaking to state a cause of action sounding in tort, plaintiff alleged that defendant never intended to perform an oral contract for certain manufacturing and selling rights, but that, on the contrary, defendant's fraudulent purpose was to reap the benefits of plaintiff's investigation as to the value of the said manufacturing and selling rights without cost to defendant. Plaintiff, in reliance upon the oral contract, incurred expenses in connection with his investigation as to the value of the said selling rights and in preparation to take advantage of his contract. The contract itself was unenforceable because it was within the …

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.

Mr. Justice Cardozo And Problems Of Government, Dean G. Acheson

Michigan Law Review

The sorrow with which the entire nation learned of the death of Mr. Justice Cardozo bears witness to the sense of loss felt by the great body of his fellow citizens. Few of the people who mourn him had personal opportunity to know the high qualities of his mind or his saintly character. Yet they truly feel that between him and the thought and spirit of his time there was fundamental sympathy and understanding. In a real sense the cast of his thinking was the product of his age. This awareness of his time was coupled in him with sensitiveness …

Obligatory Jurisdiction Of The Supreme Court: Appeals From State Courts Under Section 237(A) Of The Judicial Code, Seymour J. Rubin, Sidney H. Willner

Michigan Law Review

In two ways, a case decided by the state court of last resort may come to the Supreme Court of the United States: by certiorari, or by appeal. Certiorari is discretionary; and the considerations which will lead the Court to grant a writ of certiorari are set out in Rule 38 of the Supreme Court Rules, and are well-known to the practicing bar. Appeal, however, is directed to the obligatory jurisdiction of the Court. Rule 12 merely sets out the procedure to be followed in seeking an appeal; and for his decision as to whether he has substantive basis for …

Administrative Law - Requirements Of "Full Hearing", Collins E. Brooks

Michigan Law Review

The late Professor Ernst Freund once wrote, "A judicial hearing involves two things: that the party be heard as to his own case and that he hear the case against him." Were the words "quasi-judicial" to be substituted for the word "judicial" in Dr. Freund's definition, it would be difficult more concisely to paraphrase the two decisions of the United States Supreme Court in the case of Morgan v. United States. Fifty suits, later consolidated for purposes of trial, were started by certain market agencies of the Kansas City Stockyards to enjoin the enforcement of an order of the …

Constitutional Law - Validity Of Sex Offender Acts, William K. Jackson

Michigan Law Review

The sex offender has become an acute problem. Sociologists, psychiatrists, and lawyers sensing the imperative need for action have devoted much time and thought to the questions involved. Experience has shown that the sex offender is generally a recidivist; he has to be arrested and committed repeatedly for the same type of crimes. The point is graphically illustrated by the case of a man, fifty-nine years of age, arrested recently in Detroit for a sex offense involving a youth. An examination of his record showed that he had been arrested in 1899, when twenty-one years of age, on charges involving …

Corporations - Conditions Under Which Settlement Of Corporate Claims Will Not Prevent A Stockholder's Derivative Suit On Such Claims, John M. Ulman

Michigan Law Review

In the recent case of United States Lines, Inc. v. United States Lines Co. the plaintiff was a minority stockholder in United States Lines, Inc., whose only asset was a minority stock interest in the United States Lines Company. A majority of the stock in both companies was owned by the International Mercantile Marine Company. An action originally brought by the United States Lines, Inc., but settled out of court, was sought to be continued by the plaintiff, who alleged: (1) that the Marine Company and its subsidiaries had entered into fraudulent contracts with the United States Lines Company and …

Administrative Law - Separation Of Powers - Delegation Of Executive Functions To The Judiciary, Collins E. Brooks

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff applied to the county board of public welfare for a pension award under a state Old Age Assistance Act. In conformity to the act, an investigation was made by the county board and the facts were submitted, with a recommendation for an award, to the State Department of Public Welfare for approval. The latter, however, overruled the award, whereupon plaintiff applied to the circuit court for a trial de novo, as provided for by the statute, and was successful. On appeal from the court's order allowing the award, held, the statutory provision for a de novo review by …

Bills And Notes - Domiciled Note As A Check - Incidence Of Loss From The Failure Of The Bank Of Domicile After Maturity, Charles H. Haines Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Bonds of D County gave the holder the option of demanding payment at the office of the county treasurer or at a designated New York bank. At maturity, funds were available at the bank for payment, but the holder, P, made no presentment until eighteen days later, five days after the bank had failed, when demand was made on the county treasurer and payment refused. P sued. Held, the holder should recover the face of the bond regardless of the loss through the failure of the bank of domicile. Employers Mutual Insurance Co. v. Board of County Commissioners …

Wills - Construction - Meaning Of "Issue" In Testamentary Gifts, Daniel Hodgman

Michigan Law Review

Two recent cases illustrate a trend in the judicial construction of the word "issue" in wills which seems to be divergent from the view expressed in the older cases.

In Re Thompson's Estate there was a bequest to A and B for their lives and at the death of the survivor "one half thereof to the living issue of each daughter, if there then be such issue of each, whether of the first or succeeding generations." At the death of the survivor there were six children of A and two grandchildren, issue of living children, and there were two children …

Constitutional Law-Freedom Of The Press-Freedom Of Speech And Assembly-Police Power, John N. Seaman

Michigan Law Review

The recent decision by the federal district court in the case of Committee for Industrial Organization v. Hague has brought the civil liberties issue to the forefront again. Acting under a city ordinance, defendant's mayor, director of public safety, and chief of police refused to issue a permit to plaintiff labor union to distribute circulars, hold public meetings, or display placards in Jersey City, and excluded plaintiff's members from the city, acting under the belief that their doctrines were "un-American," and that their presence and activities were likely to provoke the city's inhabitants to breaches of the peace. It was …

Constitutional Law - Equal Protection Of The Laws - Exclusion Of Negro From Law School Of State University, Fred C. Newman

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner, a negro, was refused admission to the law school of the State University of Missouri solely upon the ground of his race. While the state of Missouri assumed to provide reasonable tuition fees for the legal education of negro residents of Missouri in other states and possibly contemplated providing opportunities for professional training for negroes within the state at some future date, it did not provide for any instruction in law for negroes within the state. The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed the judgment of the circuit court quashing an alternative writ of mandamus and denying a peremptory writ …

Constitutional Law-Double Jeopardy-Acquittal In Prior Criminal Prosecution As Bar To Action For Penalties Based In Fraud, Allan A. Rubin

Michigan Law Review

Defendant had been acquitted of a criminal charge of wilfully attempting to evade or defeat an income tax under section 146(b) of the Federal Revenue Act of 1928. Subsequently this action was initiated for the collection of an additional fifty per cent of the total amount of the deficiency under section 293 (b) of the same act, which provides that if any deficiency is due to fraud with intent to evade the tax, fifty per centum of such deficiency in addition to the amount of the deficiency shall be collected. Plaintiff brought certiorari from an order of modification eliminating the …

Evidence - Mailing - Inference Of Mailing Raised Through Proof Of Office Custom, Charles H. Haines

Michigan Law Review

In a suit on an accident insurance policy the defense of the insurer was that timely notice had been given of the revocation of the renewal privilege. At the trial, in order to raise the presumption that the notice was delivered to the insured, proof was offered that the letter was dictated and addressed in the large home office and given to the mail boy for posting according to the office custom. The letter was traced no further. On this evidence the court allowed the jury to find that the notice had been received. Plaintiff appealed. Held, reversed. The …

Infants - Liability For Negligence Between Infants In Same Family, Henry L. Pitts

Michigan Law Review

In an action by the special administrator of the estate of a six-year old minor under a wrongful death statute, the jury found that the automobile collision, in which the deceased child lost his life, was proximately caused by the negligence of decedent's unemancipated seventeen-year-old brother. Since any recovery would go to decedent's parents, the lower court dismissed the complaint. On appeal, held, reversed and remanded with directions to enter judgment in favor of decedent's mother. The upper court ruled that the death statute authorized such a suit by a parent, because it allowed the parent to sue where …

Labor Law - "Substantial" Evidence To Support The Fact Findings Of The National Labor Relations Board, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Three employees of respondent company, members of a union, were discharged. They had attended an organization meeting of the union two days previous to their discharge. Two hundred of the company's fifteen hundred employees attended, of whom eighteen, including these three, stayed when asked to join. The alleged reasons of the company for the discharge of these men were that one took a fifty-cent lamp at a company banquet a month previously, that another destroyed raw material through faulty adjustment of his machine, and that the third openly expressed resentment because not promoted. As against this, the evidence showed that …

Negligence - Negligent Failure Of Principal To Promulgate Adequate Regulations For Safe Discharge Of Pupils, John M. Ulman

Michigan Law Review

The infant plaintiff, during the dismissal of her class, was pushed or thrown from an exterior stairway by a fellow pupil. As a consequence she sustained personal injuries. She sued the city, the board of education, the principal of the school, and the teacher. Held, that whether the principal was negligent in failing to promulgate more adequate regulations for the safe discharge of the pupils was a question of fact for the jury. Thompson v. Board of Education of City of New York, 255 App. Div. 786, 6 N. Y. S. (2d) 921 (1938).

Public Utilities - Power Of City To Reduce Rates Allowed By Franchise, M. D. Blackwell

Michigan Law Review

The city of Miami gave a franchise to a utility to sell electric power, providing that after a stated period of time it should have the right to charge rates which would enable it to have an annual return of at least ten per cent on the rate base over and above operating expenses. The right to set rates, however, was made "subject to the lawful regulatory authority of the city or state commission having jurisdiction," and it was further provided that "this grant shall at all times be subject to the right of the state of Florida, directly or …

Labor Law - Power Of National Labor Relations Board To Invalidate Contract Between Employer And A Bona Fide Union, Ward P. Allen

Michigan Law Review

After a C. I. O. affiliate had filed complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against the Consolidated Edison Company of New York for encouraging membership in A. F. of L. affiliates and thus interfering with the free choice of its employees, the company entered into collective agreements with the latter relating to wages, hours, working conditions, arbitration and representation. The board, ordering the company to cease its preferential treatment, also found that the contracts were executed under such circumstances that they were invalid and required the company to desist from giving them effect. This order was enforced by the …

Statute Of Frauds - Estoppel At Law As A Substitute For Part Performance In Equity, John M. Ulman

Michigan Law Review

In 1930, plaintiff, as administratrix, mortgaged real estate to defendant. In 1933, plaintiff acquiesced in a foreclosure by defendant in pursuance of an oral agreement between the parties whereby it was understood that defendant would convey the land to plaintiff individually to hold for herself and others, plaintiff to give to defendant another mortgage for the same amount and to pay the costs. Defendant obtained title by foreclosure in March, 1934. Extensive repairs and improvements were made by plaintiff between September, 1934 and the spring of 1935. In October, 1934, defendant gave notice to plaintiff that it would not be …

Taxation - Federal Estate Tax - Inter Vivos Trust As Gift To Take Effect In Possession Or Enjoyment At Death, Edmund O'Hare

Michigan Law Review

On May 14, 1919, decedent set up six trusts, appointing life estates with remainders over. Each trust deed provided: "This Trust may, during the lifetime of the Grantor, be amended or revoked on the joint consent of the Grantor and the Trustees." The remainderman, who was the same person in each trust, was also one of the three trustees. Decedent died on September 4, 1928. The Board of Tax Appeals sustained the contention of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue that the value of the life estates should be included in the decedent's gross estate by virtue of section 302 (c) …

Taxation - Income Tax - Exempt Reorganizations - When Is A Reorganization Bona Fide Under The Rule Of Gregory V. Helvering, Ralph E. Helper

Michigan Law Review

An individual wished to buy certain patents from a corporation, and at his instigation, the corporation transferred them to a newly-organized patent holding company, which issued its shares directly to the stockholders of the transferor corporation. On discovery of disadvantages from this scheme, the buyer requested that the new corporation be dissolved and that the patents be assigned by the original patentee individually. Petitioner and all other shareholders sold their stock in the new corporation to the patentee in exchange for his notes, and he dissolved the corporation, receiving the patents on liquidation. The patents were then sold for cash, …

Taxation - Interstate Commerce - Use Tax On Gasoline, M. D. Blackwell

Michigan Law Review

A statute provided that it was unlawful to operate an automobile over the state highway without paying a certain tax on the sale or use of gasoline. Plaintiff operated a common carrier between two cities which were not in the state, the route taken by the carrier, however, running through the state. Plaintiff habitually brought gasoline into the state in the tanks of its motor carriers, and in this suit it sought to enjoin collection of the tax, alleging that as applied to its business the statute was unconstitutional because the tax thus imposed was an unreasonable burden on interstate …

Monthly Periodical Index, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department lists the articles and comments which appear in twenty-five leading law reviews.

The Maturity Of Certificates Of Deposit And Promissory Notes Payable On Demand, Orrin B. Evans

Michigan Law Review

In one form or another a dozen cynics have voiced the sentiment that "speech exists to conceal thoughts." Perhaps because language is too intimately integrated with their livelihood, the lawyers have not generally admitted the assertion. However, in the interpretation of written instruments their brethren on the bench have at times so far disregarded the literal meaning of the words under consideration that one must suspect they secretly approve.

Promissory notes "payable on demand" furnish an illustration. Many cases testify that the true intention of the maker is to create an obligation due immediately and that an action to collect …

Bills And Notes - Effect Of Endorsement "For Deposit'' - Liability Of Later Intermeddlers, Robert Meisenholder

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's evidence indicated that as payee of a check she endorsed it "for deposit Lena Soma" and gave it to one Handrulis for safekeeping. On the pretense that the check was his, he gave it to Sarah Alkoff, who endorsed it in blank and deposited it at the Globe bank. The Globe bank in turn sent it through the Federal Reserve Bank for collection to the drawee bank, which paid the check. The amount of the check credited to Sarah Alkoff was paid out by the Globe bank on her checks to Handrulis. The suit for diversion of the check …

Libel And Slander - Charging A Merchant With Selling Below Cost As Slander Per Se, Robert Meisenholder

Michigan Law Review

Defendant charged that plaintiff, a buyer and seller of vehicle parts, had been cutting prices and reselling below cost, and that certain wholesalers had cut him off from an open account basis. In the subsequent slander suit, the lower court sustained a demurrer to the declaration because no special damages had been alleged. Held, that a charge of price cutting and reselling below cost is slander per se and actionable without an allegation of special damages. Meyerson v. Hurlbut, (App. D. C. 1938) 98 F. (2d) 232; writ of certiorari denied, (U. S. 1938) 59 S. Ct. 69.

Libel And Slander - Secondary Publication Of News Item Received From Reliable Agency, Collins E. Brooks

Michigan Law Review

Defendant published a news item to the effect that plaintiff had been adjudged guilty of "martial misconduct" in a divorce action. The information had been obtained from a reliable news agency, but was, in fact, false. Held, defendant was liable. The fact that the item was obtained from a reliable news-gathering agency, and published in good faith in the ordinary course of business, while sufficient to preclude the award of punitive damages, did not justify or excuse the publication, nor prevent the recovery of compensatory damages. Szalay v. New York American, Inc., (App. Div. 1938) 4 N. Y. …

Master And Servant - Liability For Torts Of Servant - Scope Of Employment, Robert E. Sipes

Michigan Law Review

Defendant corporation was an owner and operator of taxicabs. One of its cabs was hailed by another taxicab driver to pursue the latter's taxicab which had just been stolen from him. During the pursuit defendant's taxicab struck plaintiff's car. Plaintiff seeks to recover from defendant for the damage to his car. Held, the driver of the cab was not acting in the scope of his employment so defendant cannot be held. Bindert v. Elmhurst Taxi Corp., (N. Y. Mun. Ct. 1938) 6 N. Y. S. (2d) 666.

Municipal Corporations - Licenses - Amount Of Fee, S. R. Stroud

Michigan Law Review

The defendant, a sandwich peddler, was convicted in the justice court of violation of an ordinance requiring peddlers to have a license. Upon appeal to the circuit court the conviction was set aside on the ground that the ordinance requiring a peddler to obtain a license at $150 per vehicle per year was invalid since the fee was unreasonably high. Held, the circuit court should be reversed and the conviction sustained since the amount of the license fee could not be considered unreasonably excessive in view of all the circumstances. People v. Riksen, 284 Mich. 284, 279 N. …