Law Commons^™

Judge And The Crime Burden, John Barker Waite

Michigan Law Review

One does not happily charge the judiciary with responsibility for the country's burden of crime, but the responsibility does in fact exist. Judges, though they may not encourage crime, interfere with its prevention in various ways. They deliberately restrict police efficiency in the discovery of criminals. They exempt from punishment many criminals who are discovered and whose guilt is evident. More seriously still, they so warp and alter the public's attitude toward crime and criminals as gravely to weaken the country's most effective crime preventive.

Real Property - The Effect Of Zoning Ordinances On The Law Of Nuisance, Robert B. Fiske, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

One of the most interesting and least explored questions in the law of property is the effect of zoning ordinances on the law of nuisance. Particularly interesting is the extent to which statutory authorization by zoning can legalize a use of land which, in the absence of a zoning ordinance, would constitute a nuisance. In order to understand this problem fully it is necessary to begin with a general analysis of the law of nuisance and the various classifications into which it has been divided by the courts.

Securities Legislation - Fraud Of Corporation Officers As Violation Of Securities And Exchange Act Of 1934, Douglas Peck S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiffs brought a stockholders' derivative suit in a federal district court, claiming that defendant directors had violated section 10 (b) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and rule X-10B-5 of the Securities and Exchange Commission. It was alleged that defendants who controlled as majority of the capital stock of the Algoma Coal and Coke Co., had purchased for the Algoma Company stock in two other corporations which they had formed and had manipulated the affairs of the Algoma Company so that business profits were diverted to those other corporations, thereby securing profits to themselves at the expense …

Antitrust Administration And Enforcement, John T. Chadwell

Michigan Law Review

The importance of the nation's antitrust policy requires that administration and enforcement powers and techniques be equal to the huge task of effectively safeguarding competition. The recommendations of the Attorney General's Committee represent a statesmanlike effort to balance the need for effective enforcement with the need for the preservation of fairness and the conservation of time and resources in antitrust litigation. Some of the recommendations will undoubtedly engender heated controversy; others seem relatively uncontroversial.

Many individual topics are dealt with in the Report of the committee and space does not permit comment upon all of them. The following discussion is …

Criminal Law - Contradictory Statements Under Oath As Grounds For Perjury In The Federal Courts, Richard M. Adams S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Perjury has frequently been described as one of the more difficult convictions to obtain, and the truth of this saying is no better illustrated than in the case of Harvey Matusow. During the two years in which ex-Communist Matusow served as a professional government witness, he accused 180 or more persons as being members of the Communist Party or Communist sympathizers. This same witness has now described himself as a "habitual and perpetual liar" and has publicly admitted that all of his previous testimony was false. On the strength of this recantation, motions were filed for a new trial in …

Criminal Law - Scope Of Lawful Search And Seizure Without Warrant When Incident To Arrest, Richard M. Adams S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Acting on information that defendants were engaged in the "numbers racket" in violation of the Michigan gambling laws, police officers picked up three of the defendants in an automobile, took them to the police station, and proceeded to the home of their accomplice, Abbey Clay. On being admitted to the residence, the officers placed Abbey Clay under arrest and, despite her objections, promptly searched the L-shaped room in which they were standing when the arrest was made. Although the officers did not have a search warrant, they looked through defendant's pocketbook, magazine rack, and a cardboard box which was in …

Restitution - Election Of Remedies - Action In Quasi-Contract Against Joint Tortfeasor As Barring Fraud Action Against Other Joint Tortfeasors, Douglas Peck S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued for fraud, alleging that defendant engraving companies secretly agreed with an agent of the plaintiff to give the agent a commission in return for which the agent was to contract for engraving work to be done by the defendants for plaintiff at a rate in excess of the fair market price for such work. Upon discovery of the fraud and prior to the commencement of this action, plaintiff had instituted an action in a state court against its agent for money had and received, and had obtained an attachment. Upon defendants' motion to dismiss the fraud action, held …

Weihofen: Mental Disorder As A Criminal Defense, Winfred Overholser M.D.

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Mental Disorder as a Criminal Defense. By Henry Weihofen.

Criminal Procedure - Standing Of The Press To Protest Judge's Exclusion Of The Public From Criminal Trial, M. Fred Mallender, Ii S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff newspapers sent reporters to the trial of Minot Jelke. Defendant judge, exercising his discretion, excluded them as well as the general public from the courtroom when testimony dealing with the sordid details of prostitution and pandering was expected. The family and friends of the accused, along with the officers of the court, witnesses and jury were not excluded. Plaintiffs applied to the Supreme Court, Special Term, of New York County for a writ of prohibition to restrain the defendant from enforcing his order. The application for the writ was based on a statute guaranteeing the accused in a criminal …

Criminal Law - Reexamination Of Tests For Criminal Responsibility, Mary Lee Ryan

Michigan Law Review

Criminal law in the Anglo-American system of jurisprudence is based upon the concept that persons should be held responsible for their acts. A strong corrollary to this idea is that certain types of persons, namely the "insane," should not be held responsible for criminal conduct. Although this proposition seems beautifully simple, courts in England and the United States for over a hundred years have wrestled with the problem of what constitutes insanity, or, to phrase it more accurately, what type of mental condition should preclude responsibility for a criminal act.

Criminal Procedure - Venue - Federal Offenses Committed Outside The Jurisdiction Of Any State Or District, Richard R. Dailey

Michigan Law Review

The defendant, an army staff sergeant, was under custody at Fort Meade, Maryland, awaiting disposition of charges of sodomy lodged against him under the Articles of War. After a delay of four months, the charges were dropped and he was shipped by the Army to Fort Jay, New York, where he was separated from the service. Immediately upon his release, he was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation under a commissioner's warrant charging him with treason committed in Japan during a prior enlistment in the army. At the trial in the District Court for the Southern District of New …

Sales - Conditional Sales - Punitive Damages For Forcible Repossession Of Chattel, William G. Cloon, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff purchased a truck under a conditional sales contract which was assigned to the defendant finance company. He drove the truck to the place of business of the defendant to adjust differences between the two parties, but when he attempted to leave after no agreement had been reached, he discovered that the keys had been removed from the truck. When informed that the truck had been repossessed, the plaintiff produced another set of keys but was unable to leave with the truck. The testimony of the plaintiff that an agent of the defendant seized his hand to prevent the unlocking …

Constitutional Law - Right To Effective Assistance Of Counsel In Federal Courts And Waiver Thereof, Richard M. Adams S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Indicted for illegal traffic in narcotics, petitioner and his trial counsel allegedly attempted to fabricate an alibi on the false testimony of petitioner's girl friend. The evidence indicated that on several occasions before trial, the girl was invited to the office of petitioner's attorney, given narcotics, and told to memorize certain false testimony to be used in petitioner's defense. Later the girl bad a change of mind and agreed to testify for the government Despite the strenuous objections of defendant's counsel, a description of this alleged fraud on the court was given in the prosecution's opening statement, and the witness …

Evidence - Validity Of Statutory Presumption Of Intoxication From A Finding Of 0.15 Percent Concentration Of Alcohol In The Blood, Donald F. Oosterhouse S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was tried and convicted of the statutory crime of driving an automobile while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. The state introduced into evidence the result of a blood test, voluntarily submitted to by the defendant, which showed 0,20% concentration of alcohol in the defendant's blood. Arizona statutes established a rebuttable presumption of no intoxication if such tests showed a concentration of 0.05%, or less, of alcohol in one's blood, and of intoxication if the tests showed a concentration of 0.15%, or more. Breath, urine, and direct blood tests are authorized by the statute. Defendant argued that the statute …

Criminal Law - Delay In Imposition Of Sentence As Destroying Jurisdiction Of Trial Court, M. Fred Mallender, Ii S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was tried for burglary in April 1952. Before judgment was rendered, a petition for his commitment to the Indiana Village for Epileptics was granted, and the trial court entered judgment in July 1952 that it continue the matter under advisement so long as defendant remained in the Epileptic Village and complied with the rules and regulations. In September 1952 defendant escaped from the Epileptic Village and was later apprehended. He was brought to trial in April 1953. The court found that he had not complied with the judgment of July 1952, found him guilty as charged, and sentenced him …

Negligence - Res Ipsa Loquitur - Application To Multiple Defendants In The Alternative, Edward H. Hoenicke

Michigan Law Review

Appellant, a minor, was injured by the explosion of an "aerial bomb" which he found on a county fair ground. Two of the defendants admitted having brought aerial bombs to the fair but each entered evidence which if believed would show that he had not left the article which injured the appellant. These two defendants were completely independent of each other and it was admitted that both could not be responsible for the injury to the child. The lower court instructed the jury that if they could not determine which of the two defendants was actionably negligent, they were compelled …

Criminal Law- False Pretenses - Partner Fraudulently Obtaining Partnership Funds, Paul R. Haerle

Michigan Law Review

Defendant and another were equal partners in a used car business. Defendant took in an automobile, paying for it with his own funds. Representing that he had paid more than he actually had, he induced his partner to write him a check drawn on the partnership account. Defendant was indicted for obtaining half of the excess by false pretenses. The district court directed a verdict of acquittal. On appeal by the state, held, affirmed, three justices dissenting. A partner cannot be guilty of obtaining by false pretenses from the partnership; the statute in question specifies that it must be …

Evidence - Attorney-Client Privilege - Communications Relating To Future Criminal Transactions, Robert B. Fiske, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was subpoenaed in connection with a grand jury investigation of gambling and corruption of public officials. He had been retained by one 'Willie" Moretti as attorney for five of his associates in October, 1950 after a complaint charging a gambling conspiracy had been filed against them. During some two hundred conferences with Moretti in the following year, defendant learned that protection money was being paid to certain high ranking state officials, Moretti at one point complaining of the frequent demands of these officials for more· money. Moretti also discussed with defendant a visit he had paid to the home …