Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 27 of 27

Full-Text Articles in Law

The Right To A Well-Rested Jury, Caroline Howe May 2020

The Right To A Well-Rested Jury, Caroline Howe

Michigan Law Review

The vast amount of control that state trial judges exercise over the dynamics of their courtrooms is well established. The length of trial days and jury deliberations, however, has received little scholarly attention. Longstanding research has conclusively established the disruptive effects of sleep deprivation on many of the mental facilities necessary for juries to competently fulfill their duties. By depriving juries of sleep, trial judges may be compromising the fair rights of criminal defendants for the sake of efficiency. This Note argues that trial judges must use their discretion to ensure juries are well-rested, keeping jurors’ needs in mind. Further, …


"It's Not You, It's Your Caseload": Using Cronic To Solve Indigent Defense Underfunding, Samantha Jaffe Jun 2018

"It's Not You, It's Your Caseload": Using Cronic To Solve Indigent Defense Underfunding, Samantha Jaffe

Michigan Law Review

In the United States, defendants in both federal and state prosecutions have the constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel. That right is in jeopardy. In the postconviction setting, the standard for ineffective assistance of counsel is prohibitively high, and Congress has restricted federal habeas review. At trial, severe underfunding for state indigent defense systems has led to low pay, little support, and extreme caseloads—which combine to create conditions where lawyers simply cannot represent clients adequately. Overworked public defenders and contract attorneys represent 80 percent of state felony defendants annually. Three out of four countywide public defender systems and fifteen …


Expanding The Search For America's Missing Jury, Richard Lorren Jolly Jan 2018

Expanding The Search For America's Missing Jury, Richard Lorren Jolly

Michigan Law Review

A review of Suja A. Thomas, The Missing American Jury: Restoring the Fundamental Constitutional Role of the Criminal, Civil, and Grand Juries.


Pinholster's Hostility To Victims Of Ineffective State Habeas Counsel, Jennifer Utrecht Oct 2015

Pinholster's Hostility To Victims Of Ineffective State Habeas Counsel, Jennifer Utrecht

Michigan Law Review

Cullen v. Pinholster foreclosed federal courts from considering new evidence when reviewing 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) petitions for claims previously adjudicated on the merits in state court. This decision has a particularly adverse effect on petitioners whose state habeas counsel left an incomplete or undeveloped record. This Note discusses strategies for victims of ineffective state habeas counsel to avoid the hostile mandate of Pinholster. It argues that, in light of Martinez v. Ryan’s recognition of the importance of counsel in initialreview collateral proceedings, courts should be wary of dismissing claims left un- or underdeveloped by ineffective state habeas counsel. It …


Speedy Trial As A Viable Challenge To Chronic Underfunding In Indigent-Defense Systems, Emily Rose Nov 2014

Speedy Trial As A Viable Challenge To Chronic Underfunding In Indigent-Defense Systems, Emily Rose

Michigan Law Review

Across the country, underresourced indigent-defense systems create delays in taking cases to trial at both the state and federal levels. Attempts to increase funding for indigent defense by bringing ineffective assistance of counsel claims have been thwarted by high procedural and substantive hurdles, and consequently these attempts have failed to bring significant change. This Note argues that, because ineffective assistance of counsel litigation is most likely a dead end for system-wide reform, indigent defenders should challenge the constitutionality of underfunding based on the Sixth Amendment guarantee of speedy trial. Existing speedy trial jurisprudence suggests that the overworking and furloughing of …


An Outsider's View Of Common Law Evidence, Roger C. Park May 1998

An Outsider's View Of Common Law Evidence, Roger C. Park

Michigan Law Review

same line by a Newton. There have been improvements since Bentham's jeremiad. But Anglo-American evidence law is still puzzling. It rejects the common-sense principle of free proof in favor of a grotesque jumble of technicalities. It has the breathtaking aspiration of regulating inference by rule, causing it to exalt the foresight of remote rulemakers over the wisdom of on-the-spot adjudicators. It departs from tried-and-true practices of rational inquiry, as when it prohibits courts from using categories of evidence that are freely used both in everyday life and in the highest affairs of state. Sometimes it seems to fear dim light …


Juror Delinquency In Criminal Trials In America, 1796-1996, Nancy J. King Aug 1996

Juror Delinquency In Criminal Trials In America, 1796-1996, Nancy J. King

Michigan Law Review

This article examines two aspects of the jury system that have attracted far less attention from scholars than from the popular press: avoidance of jury duty by some citizens, and misconduct while serving by others. Contemporary reports of juror shortages and jury dodging portray a system in crisis. Coverage of recent high-profile cases suggests that misconduct by jurors who do serve is common. In the trial of Damian Williams and Henry Watson for the beating of Reginald Denny, a juror was kicked off for failing to deliberate; Exxon, Charles Keating, and the man accused of murdering Michael Jordan's father all …


Judging The Jury, Eric M. Acker May 1987

Judging The Jury, Eric M. Acker

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Judging the Jury by Valerie P. Hans and Neil Vidmar


Conscience And The Law: The English Criminal Jury, Robert C. Palmer Apr 1986

Conscience And The Law: The English Criminal Jury, Robert C. Palmer

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Verdict According to Conscience by Thomas Andrew Green


Cameras In The Courtroom: Guidelines For State Criminal Trials, Nancy T. Gardner Dec 1985

Cameras In The Courtroom: Guidelines For State Criminal Trials, Nancy T. Gardner

Michigan Law Review

This Note analyzes the conflicting interests involved in televising state criminal trials and proposes a model set of guidelines for consideration by states that decide to permit electronic media in their courtrooms. The Note favors restrictions on broadcasters once in the courtroom and advocates that the defendant's right to a fair trial receive more scrupulous protection than the broadcast media's interest in attendance and the public's "right to know." Part I presents the constitutional principles with which any set of guidelines must comply. Part II analyzes the policy considerations that should guide the formulation of state guidelines, and concludes that …


Measuring The Costs Of Civil Justice, Edward Brunet Feb 1985

Measuring The Costs Of Civil Justice, Edward Brunet

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Costs of the Civil Justice System: Court Expenditures for Various Types of Civil Cases by J.S. Kakalik and R.L. Ross


Legal Psychology: Eyewitness Testimony--Jury Behavior, Michigan Law Review Mar 1983

Legal Psychology: Eyewitness Testimony--Jury Behavior, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Legal Psychology: Eyewitness Testimony--Jury Behavior by L. Craig Parker


Reconstructing Reality In The Courtroom: Justice And Judgement In American Culture, Michigan Law Review Mar 1983

Reconstructing Reality In The Courtroom: Justice And Judgement In American Culture, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Reconstructing Reality in the Courtroom: Justice and Judgement in American Culture by W. Lance Bennett and Martha S. Feldman


Civil Juries And Complex Cases: Let's Not Rush To Judgment, Richard O. Lempert Nov 1981

Civil Juries And Complex Cases: Let's Not Rush To Judgment, Richard O. Lempert

Michigan Law Review

When a fundamental constitutional right is at issue, it is admittedly difficult for the Court to treat the lower courts as laboratories. But if the constitutional right turns on empirical questions, it is better to wait for knowledge than to rush toward a judgment that may later be shown to have vitiated an important right across all circuits. If the Court feels compelled to resolve the conflict, the better decision - if empirical issues are seen as central - is to sustain the right to jury trial regardless of complexity. Sustaining that right will allow courts and researchers to collect …


Judgment Non Obstantibus Datis, Reid Hastie Mar 1981

Judgment Non Obstantibus Datis, Reid Hastie

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Jury Trials by John Baldwin and Michael McConville


Measuring The Duration Of Judicial And Administrative Proceedings: A Comment, David P. Doane Nov 1976

Measuring The Duration Of Judicial And Administrative Proceedings: A Comment, David P. Doane

Michigan Law Review

Professors Clark and Merryman propose a useful indirect measure of the duration of litigation whose primary virtue is its ease of computation from published court data. As the authors note, such a measure of duration may be useful to persons involved in judicial administration and to attorneys formulating strategy in litigation, and the legal community should find informative their illustration of the concept with Italian court data. Concluding on a pragmatic note, Professors Clark and Merryman appear to suggest that attorneys, clients, judges, court administrators, and social scientists must ultimately assess the utility of their concept. In making this assessment, …


Measuring The Duration Of Judicial And Administrative Proceedings, David S. Clark, John Henry Merryman Nov 1976

Measuring The Duration Of Judicial And Administrative Proceedings, David S. Clark, John Henry Merryman

Michigan Law Review

A method of estimating the probable duration of litigation is useful for a variety of purposes. First, the probable duration of a case may, to some extent, determine strategy in litigation since prolonged litigation is often perceived as an appreciable cost to one party and as a benefit to the other. An estimate of the duration of a criminal case, for example, probably influences the respective postures of a defendant and a prosecutor in plea bargaining. Similarly, civil litigants may be able to use an estimate of the probable duration of litigation, together with other factors, in deciding whether to …


Invoking Summary Criminal Contempt Procedures--Use Of Abuse? United States V. Dellinger --The "Chicago Seven" Contempts, Michigan Law Review Aug 1971

Invoking Summary Criminal Contempt Procedures--Use Of Abuse? United States V. Dellinger --The "Chicago Seven" Contempts, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In late August of 1968, while delegates to the Democratic National Convention were arriving in Chicago, a group of several thousand demonstrators gathered in the city's Lincoln Park to protest the Convention, the Vietnam War, and the city's refusal to grant the group a permit to hold rallies and marches during the Convention. The week that followed was marred by violent confrontations between the demonstrators and the city's police.1 This violence in Chicago provided the impetus for an indictment by a federal grand jury of the defendants in United States v. Dellinger.


Gleisser: Juries And Justice, Charles S. Desmond Dec 1968

Gleisser: Juries And Justice, Charles S. Desmond

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Juries and Justice by Marcus Gleisser


Advisory Committee On Fair Trial And Free Press: American Bar Association Project On Minimum Standards For Criminal Justice: Standards Relating To Fair Trial And Free Press (Tentative Draft), George Edwards, Robert M. Cipes Jan 1968

Advisory Committee On Fair Trial And Free Press: American Bar Association Project On Minimum Standards For Criminal Justice: Standards Relating To Fair Trial And Free Press (Tentative Draft), George Edwards, Robert M. Cipes

Michigan Law Review

A Review of American Bar Association Project on Minimum Standards for Criminal Justice: Standards Relating to Fair Trial and Free Press (Tentative Draft) Recommended by the Advisory Committee on Fair Trial and Free Press


Statute Of Frauds--The Doctrine Of Equitable Estoppel And The Statute Of Frauds, Michigan Law Review Nov 1967

Statute Of Frauds--The Doctrine Of Equitable Estoppel And The Statute Of Frauds, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In 1677 the English Parliament enacted the first Statute of Frauds to prevent "many fraudulent practices, which are commonly endeavored to be upheld by perjury and subornation of perjury." The trial system then existing in England was forced to depend upon unreliable juries, and relied upon few rules of evidence besides the rule treating parties to an action as incompetent witnesses. Thus, in passing the Statute, Parliament sought to minimize the abuses possible under the trial system by providing that virtually no important contract would be enforceable unless reduced to writing.


Civil Justice In Germany, Burke Shartel, Hans Julius Wolff Apr 1944

Civil Justice In Germany, Burke Shartel, Hans Julius Wolff

Michigan Law Review

Our aim in preparing this paper is to develop for American lawyers a picture of the functioning of German civil justice. This aim, as well as the paper itself, is an outgrowth of a series of lectures on the German legal system delivered by the authors as background in the law of military occupation for the Judge Advocate General's School of the United States Army in Ann Arbor. That part of these lectures which concerns the operation of German civil justice seems to us of sufficient intrinsic interest to warrant publication.


The Scope Of A Civil Action, William Wirt Blume Oct 1943

The Scope Of A Civil Action, William Wirt Blume

Michigan Law Review

In the last fifty years the rules which deal with what Professor Millar happily has called "The Compass of the Cause" have shown "conspicuous advance." This advance is clearly reflected in the Rules of Civil Procedure of the District Courts of the United States, effective in 1938. It is the purpose of this paper, first, to present a complete analysis of the concept: scope of a civil action; second, to show the weaknesses of the codes in dealing with this concept; and, third, to indicate to what extent these, weaknesses have been remedied by the new …


Abstracts, Katherine Kempfer Feb 1943

Abstracts, Katherine Kempfer

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.


Judgments - Default Judgments Rendered Without Jurisdiction - Validating Effect Of A Subsequent General Appearance, Richard B. Maxwell Jan 1938

Judgments - Default Judgments Rendered Without Jurisdiction - Validating Effect Of A Subsequent General Appearance, Richard B. Maxwell

Michigan Law Review

The effect of a general appearance by the defendant following a default judgment rendered without jurisdiction over the person of the defendant has been again raised by the recent Wisconsin case of Schwantz v. Morris. In this case the original judgment was invalid for lack of jurisdiction over the defendants, but the Supreme Court of Wisconsin held, that by joining non-jurisdictional grounds with jurisdictional grounds in a motion to set the judgment aside, the defendants had waived any defects in or objections to the jurisdiction of the court and that this waiver related back to the time of the …


The New Michigan Court Rules, Edson R. Sunderland Mar 1931

The New Michigan Court Rules, Edson R. Sunderland

Michigan Law Review

There are two features of general interest connected with the revised system of practice which went into operation in Michigan on January 1, 1931. The first is the manner of employing the rule-making power, and the second is the content of the new rules.


Cases On Pleadings And Procedure, Mason Ladd Feb 1931

Cases On Pleadings And Procedure, Mason Ladd

Michigan Law Review

A review of CASES ON PLEADINGS AND PROCEDURE By Charles E. Clark.