Law Commons^™

Federal Procedure-Jurisdiction-No Appeal Allowed Under Rule 54(B) When Separated Claim Not Final, Wilber M. Brucker, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Flegenheimer sued Manitoba Sugar Co., a Canadian Corporation, in a Vermont state court for breach of an employment contract to gain jurisdiction, Flegenheimer attached parcels of beet pulp which he claimed were the property of the Manitoba Co. After this action was removed to the federal district court, General Mills, Inc., was granted leave to intervene to establish ownership of the beet pulp. The claim of General Mills was dismissed after being heard on the merits. The order dismissing the claim contained a determination that "no just reason for delay" existed, and it therefore directed an "entry of judgment" under …

Judicial Reform In Michigan Between Two Constitutions, 1835-1850, Clark F. Norton

Michigan Law Review

The first fifteen years of Michigan's existence as a state were marked by much experimentation and change in state government. In this short period two state constitutions, a basic constitutional amendment, two general revisions of the statutes, and numerous fundamental laws were enacted and put into effect. Both the legislative and executive branches underwent extensive renovation in these years, but it was the state court system in particular that was subjected to constant pressure for alteration and which was most radically modified, both in structure and procedure.

The Uniform Code Of Military Justice-New Rights And A Means To Enforce Them, John F. Spindler

Michigan Law Review

The Uniform Code of Military Justice, designed to govern the entire military establishment of the United States, was enacted May 5, 1950, replacing the three separate systems of law theretofore applied to the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Pressure for a uniform code was a reflection of the great surge toward unification of the Armed Services which followed World War II. The new Code, however, is not just a revision and consolidation of the prior systems of military law. World War II, with its great increase in the size of the Armed Services and in the percentage of the population …

Trade-Marks And The Monopoly Phobia, Beverly W. Pattishall

Michigan Law Review

If it can be said that trade-mark rights are, in fact, monopoly rights, it must be added that they are monopoly rights justified in the same way that one's own particular physiognomy is a monopoly or one's rights enumerated in the first ten amendments to the Constitution are individual monopolies.

Evidence-Examination Of Witnesses-Use Of Pardoned Conviction To Attack Credibility Of Accused As Witness, Bernard A. Petrie S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

To attack the credibility of defendant charged with larceny of an automobile, the prosecution cross-examined him as to a prior conviction based upon unauthorized use of an automobile. Defendant had received a full pardon pursuant to a Presidential proclamation of general amnesty for federal offenders with one year or more of honorable World War II service. On appeal after conviction, held, affirmed, one judge dissenting. A full pardon does not deprive the state of the right to use a prior conviction in attacking the credibility of the accused as witness. Richards v. United States, (D.C. Cir. 1951) 192 …

Hospitalizing The Mentally Ill, Henry Weihofen

Michigan Law Review

It is hard for lawyers and doctors to see eye to eye on the fundamental problem of how to eliminate needless legalistic formality in hospitalization procedures and at the same time maintain adequate legal safeguards against error and abuse.

Lawyers are inclined to emphasize the need to guard against "railroading" sane persons into institutions without giving them a chance to prove their sanity. They therefore stress the importance of a fair trial, with adequate notice and a chance to be heard before being deprived of one's liberty. As a special committee of the American Bar Association said a few years …

Promissory Estoppel: Principle From Precedents: I, Benjamin F. Boyer

Michigan Law Review

The doctrine of promissory estoppel is an outstanding modem example of the way in which the Anglo-American legal system develops significant rules and principles out of the day-to-day decisions of our courts.

Progress in the law comes about through the formulation and acceptance of generalizations. However, merely stating the results of a number of different instances does not result in clarification and simplification. That comes only when the precedents are studied with a view to discovering the ''binding thread of principle that runs through them all." Such a principle, if discovered in the course of the appraisal of a series …

Discipline Of Judges, Frederic M. Miller

Michigan Law Review

In most of the states, judges of the appellate courts and of the trial courts of general jurisdiction are subject to discipline or removal from office by impeachment at the hands of the legislature, pursuant to constitutional provisions analogous to those applicable to the Federal Judiciary. Such proceedings are seldom instituted. The survey indicates that, during the 20 year period from 1928 to 1948, only three impeachment proceedings were prosecuted and in all three the defense prevailed.

Legislation-Statutes In Pari Materia-Administrative Board Rulings, Robert B. Krueger

Michigan Law Review

Lane's application for an annuity under the Railroad Retirement Act to the lower adjudicative branches of the Railroad Retirement Board was denied. Lane, by claiming that a "grievance" had been created by the railroad's insistence that he had voluntarily resigned from its service in 1933, then brought the matter before the National Railroad Adjustment Board, which found that Lane had been an "employee" of the railroad from 1905 to 1937. When Lane's case was subsequently heard before the Retirement Board, the findings of the lower adjudicative branches of the Board were affirmed and the Board held that it was not …

Negligence-Duty Of Care-Duty Of Possessor Of Land Conducting Activities Thereon To Keep A Lookout For Licensees, Duncan Noble

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, seeking employment, came onto the site of a road construction project under defendant's control as general contractor and posted by him with notices of construction and against trespassing. Plaintiff was struck by a materials truck backing, without lookout or warning, over the completed half of the road. On these facts the jury found that the truck was negligently operated and plaintiff prevailed. On appeal, held, affirmed. A contractor owes a duty of ordinary care to licensees in a case of "active," as distinguished from "passive" negligence. Evidence as to the mode of operating the truck and "likelihood" of …

Federal Procedure-Jurisdiction-Determination Of Amount In Controversy In Class Actions Under Federal Rule 23, James W. Callison

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff owned 50 shares of common stock valued at $950. She brought an action in behalf of herself and all other stockholders to enjoin a sale of unissued stock by the corporation to its president, claiming a violation of her preemptive right. The district court ruled on the merits. On appeal, held, the plaintiff's interest was but a small fraction of the $3,000 required to invoke the jurisdiction of the federal courts. Although the action was representative, the claims of other stockholders in a like situation could not be cumulated. Ames v. Mengel Co., (2d Cir. 1951) 190 …

Civil Procedure-Judgments-Res Judicata Effect Of Dismissal With Prejudice, David F. Ulmer S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought an action in the circuit court against Crane for breach of an alleged trust agreement. When Crane died, his estate, which was substituted as defendant, moved to dismiss the action, alleging that plaintiff's cause of action was barred by laches and by a previous divorce settlement. Plaintiff having failed to file counter affidavits, the court dismissed the complaint and allowed plaintiff twenty days to file an amended complaint. When he failed to do so, the court dismissed the action "with prejudice." Plaintiff's later claim, filed in the probate court, but based on the same trust agreement, was allowed. …

Federal Procedure-Removal Jurisdiction-Jurisdictional Estoppel, Paul M.D. Harrison S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Respondent sued petitioner, a Florida corporation, the Indiana Lumbermen's Mutual Insurance Company, an Indiana corporation, and Joe Reiss, a citizen of Texas, in a Texas state court. The complaint asked for relief in the alternative for a fire loss suffered by respondent On the joint petition of the two corporate defendants, the case was removed to the federal court under section 1441(c) of the United States Judicial Code. Respondent unsuccessfully moved to remand the case, and, after trial of the case to a jury, a judgment in favor of the respondent was awarded against the petitioner alone. Petitioner's motion to …