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Full-Text Articles in Law

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Price Regulation - Prohibition Of Sales Below Cost, George W. Loomis Dec 1941

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Price Regulation - Prohibition Of Sales Below Cost, George W. Loomis

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was indicted for alleged violation of the Pennsylvania Fair Sales Act, which prohibits the "advertisement, offer for sale, or sale of any merchandise at less than cost by retailers or wholesalers," and makes violation of the act a misdemeanor. His motion to quash the indictment was sustained by the court of the quarter sessions and affirmed by the superior court, and the state appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Held, affirming, that the statute violates the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment since it is not within the power of the state to prohibit sales below cost …


Constitutional Law - Impairing The Obligation Of Contracts - Refunding Bonds, John F. Hall Dec 1941

Constitutional Law - Impairing The Obligation Of Contracts - Refunding Bonds, John F. Hall

Michigan Law Review

In 1938, Mississippi authorized the issuance of state highway bonds in the aggregate of $60,000,000. Interest was payable semiannually and the bonds were to mature serially semiannually, and to the extent necessary to make these payments the revenues from gasoline taxes were pledged. The act further provided that the state covenanted that so long as any of the bonds were outstanding and unpaid, it would not authorize "any other obligations or securities payable from gasoline tax revenues" unless such revenues should increase in such an amount that one-third of the proceeds would be sufficient to meet the principal and interest …


Federal Courts - Review Of State Courts Decision Involving Federal And Nonfederal Ouestions, John C. Johnston Nov 1941

Federal Courts - Review Of State Courts Decision Involving Federal And Nonfederal Ouestions, John C. Johnston

Michigan Law Review

In exercising appellate jurisdiction over federal questions raised in the highest court of a state, the Supreme Court of the United States has refused to adopt the view that the existence of a federal question in the record or decision of the state court will empower it to decide every other question that is raised in the case. Correlated to this refusal to review the nonfederal question is the further self-imposed limitation that where the decision of the state court rests upon a nonfederal ground sufficient in itself to support the judgment of the state court, the Supreme Court will …


Constitutional Law - Trial By Jury - Right To Waive Presence Of Trial Judge, Robert P. Kneeland Nov 1941

Constitutional Law - Trial By Jury - Right To Waive Presence Of Trial Judge, Robert P. Kneeland

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was tried for the crime of driving a car while intoxicated. After the jury was instructed and had retired, the judge who had supervised the trial up to that point announced that he was going to another town to sit for a judge who was in poor health, but that a second judge would be available to receive the jury's verdict. Defendant's counsel failed to object to these arrangements. After the judge who heard the cause had left, the jury desired further instructions. As defendant objected to this request, however, it was denied. The second judge received the unqualified …


Constitutional Law - Commerce Clause - Scope Of Federal Power Over Intrastate Activities-Fair Labor Standards Act, Michigan Law Review May 1941

Constitutional Law - Commerce Clause - Scope Of Federal Power Over Intrastate Activities-Fair Labor Standards Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Authority of Congress to regulate intrastate activities through the commerce clause is derived from two principal sources: (1) the federal power to preserve the flow of commerce by eliminating potential burdens and obstructions; (2) the federal power to prohibit the interstate transportation of goods resulting in the spread of conditions which Congress considers detrimental to the general welfare. Utilization of the first source of authority over intrastate activities is exemplified by the National Labor Relations Act, enabling the federal government to regulate an aspect of local production likely to burden commerce. Utilization of the second source of authority is exemplified …


Constitutional Law - Commerce Clause - Federal Trade Commission - Jurisdiction Over Intrastate Commerce Affecting Interstate Commerce, John C. Johnston May 1941

Constitutional Law - Commerce Clause - Federal Trade Commission - Jurisdiction Over Intrastate Commerce Affecting Interstate Commerce, John C. Johnston

Michigan Law Review

Appellee, an Illinois corporation engaged in manufacturing and selling candy within the state of Illinois, used in marketing its product a method of "break and take" packages involving an element of chance. The Federal Trade Commission had found that this practice constituted "unfair competition" and had ordered one hundred twenty of appellee's competitors who were engaged in interstate commerce to cease using it. The commission issued a like order against appellee on the theory that its activities, although wholly intrastate, "affected" interstate commerce. Appellee appealed from the order, contending that the Federal Trade Commission Act did not authorize the commission …


Constitutional Law - Commerce Clause - Labor Law - Power Of State To Enjoin Unfair Labor Practices Of Employees In Industries Engaged In Interstate Commerce, Michigan Law Review May 1941

Constitutional Law - Commerce Clause - Labor Law - Power Of State To Enjoin Unfair Labor Practices Of Employees In Industries Engaged In Interstate Commerce, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The appellant (defendant in the case below) and certain of its members were found guilty of unfair labor practices as defined by the Wisconsin Employment Relations Act. Plaintiff-appellee issued a cease and desist order, which was sustained by the lower court despite defendant's contention that the statute was unconstitutional on the ground that Congress had precluded such state legislation affecting interstate industries by enacting the National Labor Relations Act. Held, plaintiff's order sustained. State legislation not repugnant to the Wagner Act is operative in this field so long as the National Labor Relations Board has not acted in the …


Constitutional Law - Validity Of State Use Tax On Mail Order Sales Of Foreign Corporation, Michigan Law Review Apr 1941

Constitutional Law - Validity Of State Use Tax On Mail Order Sales Of Foreign Corporation, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The respondent, a New York corporation licensed to do retail business in Iowa, did a large mail order business there also. Iowa customers sent orders by mail to the company's warehouses located outside that state, and the merchandise was shipped directly to the purchaser. On these mail order sales the company neither collected from its customers, nor paid to the state, the Iowa use tax. The petitioner, chairman of the state tax commission, threatened to cancel the respondent's license as a retailer and its permit to do business in Iowa unless such use tax were paid. Respondent obtained an injunction …


Constitutional Law-Appropriation For A Public Purpose, Michigan Law Review Apr 1941

Constitutional Law-Appropriation For A Public Purpose, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Wisconsin statute authorized the appropriation of state funds to the American Legion 1941 Convention Corporation of Milwaukee, for the purpose of paying the expenses attendant upon obtaining and holding the national convention in Milwaukee during 1941. The national organization of the American Legion was allowed to decide whether a deposit should be made with them to secure the payment of the expenses, and if so, how much the deposit should be. The Legion required that the city extending an invitation tender to the national organization a certified check for $27,050 to insure payment of estimated expenses. At the request …


Constitutional Law - Federal Power To Dispose Of Property - Use Of Imposed Conditions To Induce State Conformity To Congressional Policy, Michigan Law Review Apr 1941

Constitutional Law - Federal Power To Dispose Of Property - Use Of Imposed Conditions To Induce State Conformity To Congressional Policy, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A federal grant of public land to the city of San Francisco, on condition that the land be used for municipal production and distribution- of water and electricity, contained an express prohibition against the sale of electric energy to any private company for resale. The United States sought to enjoin the city from carrying out a contract with a private corporation whereby the latter distributed the electricity to consumers at rates set by the state railroad commission. The federal circuit court of appeals declared the relationship between the city and corporation was that of agency, rather than vendor and vendee. …


Constitutional Law - Regulation Of Small Business, Alfred G. Ellick Jr. Mar 1941

Constitutional Law - Regulation Of Small Business, Alfred G. Ellick Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Ever since the development of the guild system the small tradesman or shopkeeper has attempted in various ways to reduce the number of his competitors. The time-honored method, in theory at least, has been to give better service for less money. The more modern method is to select a delegation from the trade itself whose duty it will be to proceed to the state capitol, there to urge the passage of "protective legislation." As a result, legislators have found themselves beseiged by lobbyists who show altruistic concern for the health, safety, and welfare of the general public. Strangely enough, the …


Council And Court: The Handbill Ordinances, 1889-1939, James K. Lindsay Feb 1941

Council And Court: The Handbill Ordinances, 1889-1939, James K. Lindsay

Michigan Law Review

The extent to which a municipality may regulate or prohibit the distribution of handbills and circulars on its streets and from house to house has been thoroughly considered by the courts in the last two years. These recent cases reveal one phase of a battle historically rich and presently important to the American people. It is the thrust of a principle-the right of free speech and press-against the encroachments of municipal governing bodies concerned with the practical problem of keeping their streets clean. The municipal official sees the problem thus: "One of the small but aggravating nuisances which most cities …


Constitutional Law - Due Process - Federal Price Control Under Commerce Clause For Milk And Coal Industries, Stark Ritchie Feb 1941

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Federal Price Control Under Commerce Clause For Milk And Coal Industries, Stark Ritchie

Michigan Law Review

As a natural concomitant of the prevailing laissez-faire economic philosophy, a strong feeling against any governmental regulation of business prevailed in American legislatures until well into the second half of the nineteenth century. Prices were considered to be especially immune to governmental tampering. The first step in the breakdown of the notion that government had no power over prices was the case of Munn v. Illinois. This decision introduced the doctrine that the legislature had the right to regulate prices in any business which the courts should find to be "affected with a public interest." Posed as a deceivingly …


Labor Law - Constitutional Law - National Labor Relations Act- Right Of Employer To Disparage Labor Unions And To Advise His Employees Against Joining Them, William C. Wetherbee Feb 1941

Labor Law - Constitutional Law - National Labor Relations Act- Right Of Employer To Disparage Labor Unions And To Advise His Employees Against Joining Them, William C. Wetherbee

Michigan Law Review

In the spring of 1937 the respondent distributed anti-union literature to its employees. Some of the material specifically denied any design on the part of the employer to prevent the employees from joining a union, and none of the literature pretended to be more than the advice and opinions of the employer. Nevertheless, the unions were thoroughly condemned as rackets, controlled by Communists, which deprive the workingman of his economic freedom and force him to pay for the privilege of working. The National Labor Relations Board found that the distribution of this literature interfered with, restrained, and coerced the employees …


Constitutional Law- Eminent Domain - Power Of State To Condemn Land For Low-Cost Housing And Transfer To The United States, Oscar Freedenberg Jan 1941

Constitutional Law- Eminent Domain - Power Of State To Condemn Land For Low-Cost Housing And Transfer To The United States, Oscar Freedenberg

Michigan Law Review

Public low-cost housing legislation on a national scale in this country began with title II, section 202 of the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, which authorized the administrator to embark upon a program for "construction, reconstruction, alteration, or repair under public regulation or control of low-cost housing and slum-clearance projects." But soon thereafter, in United States v. Certain Lands in the City of Louisville, a majority of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided that the N.I.R.A. was unconstitutional so far as it attempted to authorize the condemnation of land by the United …


Constitutional Law - Criminal Law And Procedure - Right To Effective Assistance Of Counsel, Walter Muller Jan 1941

Constitutional Law - Criminal Law And Procedure - Right To Effective Assistance Of Counsel, Walter Muller

Michigan Law Review

Robbery of a Federal Reserve Bank and jeopardizing lives by the use of dangerous weapons were the charges brought against defendant in a federal district court. Ten months after being taken into custody, he was finally brought to trial. On the latter date, for the first time, the defendant expressed to the court a desire to engage different counsel because of recent difficulties he had had with his original choice. The defendant was the complaining petitioner in a pending disbarment proceeding against his attorney. But the record did not show that the defendant disclosed the nature of those differences to …