Law Commons^™

Constitutional Law - Requirements Of Due Process In State Procedure

Michigan Law Review

In American Surety Company v. Baldwin the Surety Company complained that the procedure in Idaho deprived it of a hearing upon its liability on a supersedeas bond. After judgment was given on the bond the Surety Company moved to vacate the order and the motion was granted. Baldwin took an appeal from this order to the Supreme Court of Idaho which reversed the trial court. The sole question raised by the motion was whether the trial court had jurisdiction to give judgment. Under the Idaho practice an appeal from the judgment of the court was the proper method to review …

The New Spanish Constitution And International Obligations, Jesse S. Reeves

Michigan Law Review

The promulgation of a Constitution for the Republic of Spain, of date of December 9, 1931, invites attention to certain provisions therein relating to international law, treaties, and related topics.

The Constitution of Esthonia, dated June 15, 1920, Article 4, contains apparently the earliest constitutional provision as to the relation of international to the municipal law: "The universally recognized general rules of international law are an integral part of the laws of Esthonia." The German Constitution of August II, 1920, Article 4, provides that "the generally recognized rules of international law are valid as binding constituent parts of the law …

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Regulation Of The Business Of The Contract Motor Carrier

Michigan Law Review

Much of the doubt and uncertainty concerning the power of the States to regulate the contract motor carrier has been dispelled by the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Stephenson et al. v. Binford et al. A Texas statute specifically defined the two categories of common and contract carriers for hire and undertook to regulate the business of each through the agency of the State Railroad Commission; the statute required contract carriers to secure "permits" which were to be granted by the commission only after a hearing and not if the …

Intoxicating Liquors -The New Michigan Amendment

Michigan Law Review

The people of the State of Michigan at the last general election ratified an amendment to section 11, Article 16 of the state constitution, the so-called prohibition section, to authorize the legislature to establish a liquor control commission and to impose an excise tax on liquor sales. In accordance with constitutional provisions this amendment went into effect on December eighth last. As the new amendment is drafted it leaves unsettled at least three important matters: (1) The present law in Michigan on the subject of intoxicating liquors; (2) The powers vested by it in the legislature and the liquor control …

Constitutional Law-Res Judicata In Federal Courts

Michigan Law Review

In American Surety Company v. Baldwin the Surety Company had chosen the state courts of Idaho as its forum for determining the issue of liability upon the supersedeas bond and had pursued its remedy to the Supreme Court. Then it sought to re-open the issue and inject a federal question by bringing an action to enjoin the enforcement of the judgment in the federal courts in Idaho. It was held that the doctrine of res judicata prevented a resort to an independent hearing in the federal courts in that State. American Surety Company v. Baldwin, (U.S. 1932) 53 Sup. …

Constitutional Law - Federal Questions Reviewable By The Supreme Court

Michigan Law Review

Two cases decided by the Supreme Court at the October, 1932, term of Court raised important questions of federal practice and due process of law. Judgment was rendered, on motion, without notice, pursuant to the terms of the bond, against the American Surety Company on a supersedeas bond given in an action in which the Singer Sewing Machine Company and one Anderson were the defendants in the trial court after the Supreme Court of Idaho had affirmed the judgment of the trial court as to Anderson and reversed it as to the Sewing Machine Company. An order of the trial …

The Right To Trial By Jury In Prosecutions For Petty Federal Offenses, Melville Stewart

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Power Of A State To Control The Export Of Hydro-Electric Energy, James W. Simonton

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

What Is A "Contract" Under The Contracts Clause Of The Federal Constitution?, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

The case of Coombes v. Getz, recently decided by the United States Supreme Court, raises in a crucial way the question of what is a contract within the meaning of Article I, section 10 of the Constitution, forbidding States to pass laws impairing the obligations of contracts. A provision of the California Constitution in force at the time the plaintiffs brought this action in the state court below made directors of corporations jointly and severally liable to the creditors and stockholders for all moneys embezzled or misappropriated by the officers of the corporation during the term of office of …

Constitutional Law - Due Process And Equal Protection - Right Of Counsel

Michigan Law Review

The Scottsboro cases decided by the Supreme Court at the present term raise several interesting constitutional questions. The judgments were assailed on the ground that they were violative of the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment in three respects: (1) that the negroes were tried by juries from which members of their race were systematically excluded; (2) that they were not accorded a fair, impartial and deliberate trial; (3) that due process was denied because the right of counsel, with the usual incidents of consultation and adequate preparation for trial, was lacking. While the Supreme Court …

Constitutional Law-Stare Decisis

Michigan Law Review

The defendant corporation, a lessee of school lands from the state of Oklahoma, protested the right of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to tax its net income. Held, under the rule of Gillespie v. Oklahoma, the income cannot be taxed without interfering with a state instrumentality. Four dissenting justices-Stone, Brandeis, Roberts, and Cardozo--admitted the applicability but denied the wisdom of the Gillespie case and the inability of the court to overrule itself, in Burnet v. Coronado Oil and Gas Co.

Constitutional Law-Vested Right In Remedy

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law-Public Purpose-Feed Loans To Destitute Farmers

Michigan Law Review

Pursuant to a constitutional provision enabling such action, the Governor asked the supreme court of South Dakota the following question: "Could the legislature enact legislation which would permit the several counties as a county enterprise to raise funds either by supplemental budget or bond or warrant issues with which they might in turn furnish feed loans or even distribute feed as a part of a county poor relief system . . . ?" In answer to this question the court held, in In re Opinion of the Judges, that the furnishing of feed or feed loans to individuals …

Taxation-Constitutionality Of A Conclusive Presumption That A Transfer Executed Within A Limited Period Before Death Is Made In Contemplation Of Death

Michigan Law Review

Motion for a refund was made by the plaintiff on the ground that certain transfers made within two years preceding the death of the decedent should not have been taxed under the federal estate tax since they were not in fact made in contemplation of death. The defendant filed a demurrer on the ground that under the provisions of sec. 302 (c) of the Revenue Act of 1926, such transfers were taxable regardless of the motive impelling them. The section reads: "Where within two years prior to his death . . . and without such a consideration the decedent has …

Municipal Corporations-Power Of Board Of Appeals To Vary Application Of Zoning Ordinance

Michigan Law Review

Although there was some dispute among the earlier authorities, it is the rule today that comprehensive zoning ordinances, if enacted under proper legislative authority, are constitutional and will be upheld in so far as they are reasonable in application. In order to give aggrieved property owners an opportunity to obtain relief upon the basis of the ordinance itself without attacking its constitutionality, it has become common practice to give the board of appeals the power to vary the operation of the ordinance in specific cases.

The West Virginia Municipal Home Rule Proposal, Jeff B. Fordham

West Virginia Law Review

In the first instalment of this paper, which appeared in the last issue of the Quarterly, it was sought to present an outline picture of the legal position of municipalities in West Virginia's governmental system upon a background of appropriate historical materials. The immediate purpose is to consider the home rule proposal which has appeared on the scene so depicted.

Constitutional Law--Zoning Board Of Appeals--Dispensing Power, Donald M. Hutton

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law - Redistricting For Congressional Elections - Lawmaking Power Of The State

Michigan Law Review

By the latest reapportionment of the House of Representatives (tit. 2, U. S. C. A., art. 2a), passed in 1929, Minnesota received one less representative than it had had by the previous apportionment (Act of 1911, tit. 2, U. S. C. A., sec. 2). The state legislature of Minnesota passed an act dividing the state into congressional districts in accordance with this apportionment, and the governor vetoed the bill. Thereupon the state house of representatives, by resolution, directed the secretary of state to enroll the bill as a law on the ground that the veto of the governor was a …

Constitutional Law - Due Process-Business "Affected With A Public Interest''

Michigan Law Review

Ever since Munn v. Illinois there has been continuous dispute as to what regulation is deprivation of property without due process of law within the prohibition of the Fourteenth Amendment. In this first case Chief Justice Waite, discussing with approval prior statutes regulating the rates of chimney sweeps and of auctioneers, the price of bread, the charges of draymen and of hackneycabs, concluded that, if these might be regulated, surely so important a matter as the rates of the great grain elevators in Chicago might be subjected to regulation. The position taken was expressed by these sentences: "From this it …

Constitutional Law-Criminal Procedure-Comment By Judge On Evidence

Michigan Law Review

In the recent case of People v. Kelly, the Illinois supreme court decided (two justices dissenting) that the common law right of a judge, in charging the jury, to comment on the evidence and advise as to the facts was not an essential attribute of trial by jury as it, existed at common law, and held that a statute limiting the charge strictly to matters of law was not an infringement of the right of trial by jury guaranteed by successive Illinois constitutions. The court also decided, in upholding the legislative enactment, that this restriction of the functions of …

The Doctrine Of The Amendability Of The United States Constitution, Hugh Evander Willis

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Judicial Process Of Treaty Interpretation In The United States Supreme Court, John Selden Tennant

Michigan Law Review

When the Federal Union was substituted for the loose confederation which had preceded it, one of the most impelling reasons for the change was the need for a united international front, which could only be achieved by further concentration in a central government of the power to deal with foreign nations. A necessary part of this general plan was the treaty-making power, taken from the states by Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution, and lodged in the President and the Senate by Article II, Section II.

Evidence -The Possibility Of Incrimination In A State Jurisdiction Does Not Warrant The Assertion Of The Constitutional Privilege In Federal Proceedings

Michigan Law Review

On indictment for the refusal to give information requested by the authorized revenue agent, the appellee interposed a special plea averring that it would compel him to become a witness against himself in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the federal Constitution which reads, "nor shall any person be compelled to be a witness against himself." Held, the danger of incrimination in a state court was not grounds for asserting the constitutional privilege. United States v. Murdock, 284 U. S. 141, 52 Sup. Ct. 63, 76 L. ed. 83 (1931).

Political Theory And Practice, Everett S. Brown

Michigan Law Review

A review of THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT. A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY. By J. Mark Jacobson, Ph.D.

Constitutional Law--Income Tax--Husband And Wife As Taxable Unit, Bernard Sclove

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law-Taxation

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Constitutionality Of The American Legion Plan To Perpetuate Peace, Paul V. Mcnutt, Ralph T. O'Neil, C. B. Robbins

Indiana Law Journal

The popularly named "Universal Draft" bill espoused by the American Legion was the occasion of extended hearings before the War Policies Commission in March, 1931. During those hearings many questions were raised concerning the powers of the Congress and of the President. The material of this article was incorporated in a memorandum prepared and filed in response to those questions by Mr. McNutt, Mr. O'Neil and Colonel Robbins, acting on behalf of the American Legion. Mr. McNutt and Mr. O'Neil are Past National Commanders of the Legion and are members of the Indiana and Nebraska bars, respectively. Colonel Robbins is …

Constitutional Law-Extending Term Of Prosecuting Attorney

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law-Compelling Witness Duty From Absent Nationals

Michigan Law Review

In proceedings taken under the so-called Walsh Act the petitioner, Blackmer, a United States citizen residing in France, was found guilty of contempt for failure to respond to subpoenas issued out of a federal court and served on him in France by a United States consul requiring him to appear as a witness in that court. See 30 MICH. L. REV. 137 (1931) for a more detailed statement of the facts. By a unanimous decision (Mr. Justice Roberts not participating) the United States Supreme Court recently held that the contempt decree be affirmed, thus sustaining the constitutionality of the Walsh …

Constitutional Law -Is Redistricting Of A State For Congressional Elections An Exercise Of The Lawmaking Power Of The State?

Michigan Law Review

The governor of Minnesota vetoed an act of the legislature dividing the state into congressional districts in accordance with the latest re-apportionment of the House of Representatives (46 Stat. 21, 26). Thereupon the state house of representatives by resolution directed the secretary of state to enroll the bill as a law. In an action started to test the validity of the law, held, Art. 1, Sec. 4 (1) of the Constitution of the United States provides that, "The time and place of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but …