Law Commons^™

Harmless Error: Constitutional Sneak Thief, Steven H. Goldberg

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

"Harmless constitutional error" is among the most insidious of legal doctrines. Since its promulgation by the United States Supreme Court in Chapman v. California, it has determined as many criminal appeals as have some of the more well-known and hotly debated decisions of the 1960s. Despite the frequency of its use in determining criminal appeals-possibly as high as ten percent of all criminal appeals during the last thirteen years it has received comparatively little critical attention. The reason for the inattention? It's a sneak thief. Its appearance does not raise apprehension, and its application does not leave concentrated areas of …

Pretrial Diversion: The Premature Quest For Recognition, Raymond T. Nimmer, Patricia Ann Krauthaus

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Pretrial diversion has been one of the most enthusiastically promoted criminal justice reforms of recent years. There are more than forty well-funded diversion programs in operation dealing with more than 10,000 criminal defendants each year. Three federal commissions have referred favorably to diversion and grant programs of both the Justice Department and the Department of Labor which have actively fostered the creation and expansion of diversion programs. Several states are considering legislation to establish diversion as a formal element of the criminal justice system and federal legislation is currently pending. Many advocates of diversion claim that the concept has been …

Speedy Trials: Recent Developments Concerning A Vital Right, Stephen F. Chepiga

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Historically, Anglo-American law has jealously guarded the right of an accused to have a speedy trial in a criminal prosecution. It is extended to defendants in federal cases by the sixth amendment to the Constitution. Through incorporation into the fourteenth amendment, the protection is likewise available to defendants in state prosecutions. Notwithstanding constitutional provisions and Supreme Court decisions, the concept of a speedy trial has always been ambiguous. Until recent times it has been considered a matter that could only be defined in the context of the special circumstances of individual cases. The right was said to be “consistent with …

The Victim's Role In Criminal Prosecutions In Ethiopia, Stanley Z. Fisher

Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this paper is to review developments which have occurred in the victim’s role in criminal prosecutions under Ethiopian law. In contrast to the penal laws of modern Western states, which define a wide range of wrongful conduct as offensive to the state itself, the traditional Ethiopian law of wrongs viewed relatively few offenses thus. For the most part, the state confined itself to legitimating and assisting the victim’s own efforts to obtain redress.

Societal Concepts Of Criminal Liability For Homicide In Medieval England, Thomas A. Green

Articles

THE early history of English criminal law lies hidden behind the laconic formulas of the rolls and law books. The rules of the law, as expounded by the judges, have been the subject of many studies; but their practical application in the courts, where the jury of the community was the final and unbridled arbiter, remains a mystery: in short, we know little of the social mores regarding crime and crimi- nals. This study represents an attempt to delineate one major aspect of these societal attitudes. Its thesis is that from late Anglo-Saxon times to the end of the middle …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recent Cases

Automobiles--Family Purpose Doctrine--Automobile Owned by other than Head of Family

Contracts--Effect of Illegality--Recover Where No Moral Turpitude involved and Purpose of Statute Not Violated

Corporations--Liability of Officer to Creditors for Excessive Salary--Burden of Proof on Defendant to Show Reasonableness

Criminal Law--Proximate Cause--Responsibility for Death Due to Acts of Persons Opposing a Felony

Criminal Law--Violation of the Mann Act--Actual Transportation Entirely within a Single State

Evidence--Confidential Communications between Spouses--Admissibility of Testimony as to Conduct of Party Spouse

Insurance--Commercial--Radius Endorsement in Automobile Insurance--Effect of Breach after Return to Designated Area

Personal Property--Finding Lost Goods--Chambermaid's Right to Goods Found by Her …

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.

Criminal Law--Trial--Presence Of Accused During Trial, J. C. A.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Statutory Abolition Of Defense Of Insanity In Criminal Cases, John R. Rood

Articles

The great lengths to which the defense of insanity has been carried in homicide cases has induced numerous legislative attempts to abolish the evil; and the fate which such legislation has met and deserves at the hands of the courts is a matter of considerable interest.