Law Commons^™

Injunctive Law Enforcement: Leaven Or Secret Weapon, Frank E. Maloney

Mercer Law Review

The historical development of English law resulted in the division of the law into three main branches: common law, equity, and criminal law. The common law as administered by the king's court developed into a rigid system of formal actions, with relief by way of money damages as the one remedy in personal actions. This development, together with the growth of highly technical rules of pleading, left many situations in which no adequate relief was available in those courts; and the resulting inflexibility of the system led to the growth of equity, under which the king's prerogative might be exercised …

Libel And Slander-Testamentary Libel, Charles Hansen S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Although the right to recover for injury from admittedly defamatory matter would seem to be clear, the law imposes a series of obstacles when the offending statements are embodied in a will. Of the few cases which have arisen in this area, a recent decision, Carver v. Morrow, serves to illustrate the general problem. In this case, plaintiff claimed that portions of testatrix' will defamed him. After the will was probated, he brought an action against testatrix' executors on the ground that publication had been effected by probate, and that therefore a cause of action in libel existed against …

Torts-Family Relationship-Child's Right To Recover For Enticement Of Parent From Home, William H. Lowery

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a six year old girl, sued to recover damages alleged to have been sustained as a result of defendant's enticing her mother from the family home. Plaintiff contended that as a child and member of the family she had a legally protected right to maintenance of the family relationship. Defendant answered that no tort had been committed, since no right in the plaintiff was recognized at common law and that to recognize such a right would amount to judicial legislation. From a judgment in favor of plaintiff, defendant appealed. Held, affirmed. Allowing a child a right of action …

The Tennessee Law Of Arrest, Rollin M. Perkins

Vanderbilt Law Review

The many sections in the Tennessee Code' dealing with arrest constitute an incomplete codification of the common law of this subject modified by some important changes. This statutory material leaves the common law in full force wherever it is either silent on the particular point or merely restates the preexisting rule. Those sections which produce results different from those found under the unwritten law leave the latter in the realm of matters having historical interest only, as far as the law of this state is concerned. The purpose of this undertaking is to depict the present law of Tennessee on …

Future Interests-Common Law Rule Against Perpetuities Not In Force In Idaho-Applicability Of Statute Against Suspension Of Power Of Alienation To Option Contract, Howard W. Haftel S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Seller contracted to give purchaser sixty days notice of his intention to sell certain real property, purchaser to have power, in that event, to buy the property for a stated price within the sixty days. If the purchaser failed to exercise the option, seller was then free to convey the property to anyone. Alleging that seller had conveyed the land to others without notice to him, purchaser sued to have this conveyance set aside and the option specifically enforced. The lower court sustained a general demurrer to the complaint. On appeal, held, reversed. The statutory rule against restraints on …

Future Interests-Rule As To Remoteness Of Vesting In California, Howard W. Haftel S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

T devised the income of a trust to his unmarried daughter for life. If at her death there were living issue of the daughter, the income was to be distributed to such issue until 24 years after T's death. The trust was then to terminate, unless issue, who had been living at T's death, should survive the 24-year period, in which event the income was to continue to be distributed until the death of such issue. It was further provided, "if my said daughter survives me, but at the time of her death leaves no issue of hers …

Corporations-Appraisal Statutes-Exclusiveness Of Statutory Remedy, William R, Worth

Michigan Law Review

Defendant corporation's charter provided for retirement 'of preferred stock at par plus accumulated dividends, before payment could be made to common stockholders, in the event of dissolution or "recapture" of its assets by the enfranchising city. Under authority of a majority vote of its stockholders, the corporation conveyed all its assets to defendant City of Quincy, the enfranchising city. Defendants offered to pay preferred stockholders only $150 per share, although par plus accumulated dividends amounted to $205 and some common stockholders had already received $5 per share. Plaintiffs, preferred stockholders, sued to secure full payment, but the trial court held …

Future Interests-Worthier Title Doctrine, David H. Armstrong S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff created an irrevocable trust of $75,000, reserving the income to himself for life and directing distribution of the corpus upon his death to his heirs according to the California laws of succession in existence at his death. Later he sued to terminate the trust on the theory that since the worthier title doctrine prevented creation of a remainder in his heirs, he was sole beneficiary. The intermediate California appellate court held that the worthier title doctrine was inapplicable because of a California statute changing the word "heirs" from one of limitation to one of purchase. Therefore, the outstanding remainder …

Adoption - Right Of Inheritance In Absence Of Legal Adoption-Specific Performance Of Contract To Adopt And Other Remedies, James C. Mordy

Michigan Law Review

Adoption was unknown at common law. Modern statutes permitting adoption are largely derived from Roman ideas, which were introduced into this country first through the civil law of Louisiana and later by statutes, beginning with Massachusetts in 1851.

Under the English common law, the only persons capable of inheriting property were blood relations of the deceased. On the other hand, most modern adoption statutes permit inheritance by adopted children equally with natural children. Adoption being purely statutory, the early cases denied the right of inheritance by supposedly adopted children when the statute was not strictly followed. Though still purporting to …

Federal Courts-Granting Of New Trial On Initiative Of The Court, William F. Snyder S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Following conviction for violation of a federal statute, petitioner was granted his release on a writ of habeas corpus by a federal district court, on the basis of uncontroverted testimony that his counsel had not been present when the jury returned its verdict. Within ten days of this release, a motion for rehearing was filed, supported by affidavits that his counsel actually had been present. On subsequent hearing, the court set aside its former order and remanded petitioner to custody, on the theory that his release was obtained by means of a fraud on the Court. The present action was …

Illegal Conditions And Limitations: Effect Of Illegality, Olin L. Browder, Jr

Michigan Law Review

IN earlier articles the writer undertook to explore that miscellaneous and somewhat neglected field of law in which public policy is held to nullify the efforts of persons to impose certain types of conditions and limitations on dispositions of their property.' Such provisions most commonly take the form either of conditions subsequent or executory limitations, but occasionally appear as conditions precedent or special limitations. Unlike provisions which run afoul of the rule against perpetuities or the rules against restraints on alienation, the provisions in question usually prescribe conduct on the part of beneficiaries which is not directly related to the …

And This, Too, O King, Shall Change And Pass Away, C. T. Graydon

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Finders-Application Of Statute To Finder Of Treasure Trove, Zolman Cavitch

Michigan Law Review

Defendants, a church committee, procured bundles of rags which were distributed to women who wove the rags into rugs. One such bundle was delivered to plaintiff who found $2100 in bills concealed therein. Plaintiff took the money to defendants, but no claimant appeared. A statute provided that a finder of lost money or goods having a value of $3.00 or more must give notice in a prescribed manner, or, failing to do so, be liable to the town in which found for one-half the value of the goods and for the other half to the person who should sue for …

Workmen's Compensation Acts-Denial Of Common Law Remedy For Associated Injuries Not Covered By Act, Colvin A. Peterson, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

While employed by defendant, plaintiff suffered severe bums and received compensation for a permanent partial disability under the applicable workmen's compensation act. He then brought an action for damages for disfigurement, not compensable under the act, on the theory that acceptance of statutory compensation did not deprive him of his common law remedy for injuries not within the scope of the act. Held, the statutory remedy is exclusive; plaintiff cannot recover for associated injuries outside the act. Morgan v. Ray L. Smith & Son, Inc., (D.C. Kan. 1948) 79 F. Supp. 971.

Mr. Justice William Johnson, Jurist In Limine: Dissent And The Judging Faculty, A. J. Levin

Michigan Law Review

There is little more in the legal literature on the subject of dissent than, on the one hand, the feeling that somehow it helps to present more than one side of a question and, on the other, that dissent is confusing and unsettling, and, therefore to be avoided. The part that dissent has played in preventing "history" from becoming the routine repetition of events, the function it fulfills in saving mankind from a mechanical adherence to an authoritarian concept of society, the psychodynamic need of the individual for self-expression-particularly evident in democratic societies-these and other related approaches have had not …

Contracts: Application Of Usage Where Contrary To The Common Law, Delbert L. Mclaughlin

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Domestic Relations - Statutory Abolition Of Certain Causes Of Action, George A. Rinker S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

ln response to widespread and vigorous criticism of the abuses practiced through the use of the action at law for breach of promise to marry, and to a lesser extent, the actions for alienation of affections, criminal conversation, and seduction, several states enacted legislation designed to eliminate the evils complained of by abolishing some or all of those causes of action. The purpose of the present discussion is to analyze and compare the various statutes, and to indicate how they have fared in the courts; in short, to survey the whole reform program as it stands twelve years after the …

Criminal Law-New Trial-Absence Of Accused From Trial Because Of Attorney's Negligence, Alan Goldstein

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, represented by an attorney, was ordered, under an appearance bond, to appear at the November term of the court of general sessions to answer to an indictment for assault and battery with intent to kill. The indictment was not prepared during the November term, and at the end of the term the court ordered all those whose cases were not called to appear at the next term of court. At the February term defendant's case came up, but his attorney had apparently failed to read the court calendar, as neither the defendant nor the attorney knew that the trial …

Theory Of Pleading A Survey Including The Federal Rules, William Wirt Blume

Michigan Law Review

In an often-quoted report of a committee of the American Bar Association, Roscoe Pound stated: "Pleadings have four purposes: (1) The first is to serve as a formal basis for the judgment. This is the oldest function, and one that goes back before the time of rational, as distinguished from purely mechanical trial of issues. . . . (2) Another is to separate issues of fact from questions of law .... (3) Another is to give litigants the advantage of a plea of res judicata if molested again for the same cause .... (4) Finally, pleadings exist to notify parties …

Libel-Limitation Of Actions-"Single Publication Rule" Extended To Include Books, W. M. Myers

Michigan Law Review

In November, 1941, defendant book publishers commenced distribution of a book containing allegedly libelous statements concerning plaintiff. Thereafter, there were seven additional printings, the last in December, 1943, distribution of which began in March, 1944. Although more than 12,000 copies of the book were sold prior to this reprinting, only 60 copies were sold from stock during the year immediately preceding July 2, I 946, the date plaintiff instituted his action. To determine whether the action was barred by the statute of limitations, the following question was certified to the New York Court of Appeals: "Do sales from stock by …

Gifts - Causa Mortis -Automobiles - Effect Of Statute On Transfer Of Title By Gift And Will, Stephen A. Bryant

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff filed a bill in chancery seeking a declaration of rights with respect to an automobile to which she claimed title by reason of a gift causa morris. Although the evidence offered by plaintiff on trial tended to support a valid common law gift causa mortis, defendant contended that the gift was ineffective because of the failure of the donor to comply with a statute which stated that "in the event of the sale or other transfer . . . of the ownership of a motor vehicle for which a certain certificate of title has been issued . . . …

Equity-Disinterment Of Dead Body Buried In Another's Land, Richard H. Conn

Michigan Law Review

Complainant sought a decree in equity compelling defendant, administratrix of the estate of one Abram London, to remove the body of deceased from a grave on land belonging to complainant. Complainant had purchased the land in 1934, but through error of the cemetery officials it was resold to London in 1944. London's wife was buried in the adjacent plot. Defendant contended that the relief requested would transgress London's wish to be buried adjacent to his wife. Held, decree granted. The body of a person buried in a grave belonging to another is not properly buried, and the court will …

Future Interests - Powers Of Appointment- Effect Of Bankruptcy Of Donee Of General Testamentary Power, Albert B. Perlin, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

By her will, X established a spendthrift trust, appointing Y and a trust company as co-trustees. In addition to receiving the income from the trust during his life, Y was given a general testamentary power to appoint the corpus; in default of appointment the corpus was to be divided equally among Y's issue. After X's death Y filed a voluntary petition in bankruptcy, listing the above interest as that of a beneficiary of a spendthrift trust, "value none." Before Y's death the trustee in bankruptcy purported to sell to plaintiff, who was not a creditor of Y …