Law Commons^™

Evidence -Witnesses - Privileged Communications Between Physician And Patient--Statutory Effect Of Asserting Privilege In Actions On Insurance Contracts, William H. Buchanan S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, beneficiary of an insurance policy (but not the personal representative of the deceased insured), sued to recover the amount of the policy from the insurance company. As a defense the defendant claimed that the policy never became effective because the insured had made material misrepresentations in the application as to his state of health. To show that there had been such misrepresentations, the defendant proved that the insured had been treated by physicians during the five years preceding the issuance of the policy. Upon objectionμ by plaintiff the court excluded the testimony of the doctors as to the nature …

Abstracts, Mary Jane Plumer

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.

X-Ray Pictures As Evidence, Charles C. Scott

Michigan Law Review

The courts often are accused of being too slow in accepting the benefits of new inventions, but certainly they are not subject to this criticism in regard to the use of X-ray photographs as evidence. Within a year of Roentgen's discovery of X-rays in 1895, radiographs were admitted in evidence in the case of Smith v. Grant tried in the First District Court of Colorado. Ever since then courts have shown little hesitation in permitting the introduction of X-ray photographs in evidence. Today the rule is now firmly settled that with certain definite restrictions X-ray pictures are competent evidence of …

Evidence--Hearsay And Circumstantial--Infant As Witness--Indecent Liberties, Rosemary Scott

Michigan Law Review

In the prosecution of the defendant for taking indecent liberties with a female under sixteen years of age, testimony respecting the features of the house and neighborhood where the offense occurred as narrated by the complaining witness to her mother was objected to as hearsay; and testimony of a second child as to advances made by the defendant in the same vicinity was objected to as putting in issue his character. Held, that the mother's testimony as to the statements, made to her by the child soon after the offense, were competent to show that the child had knowledge; …

Evidence--Recent Developments (A Service For Returning Veterans), John E. Tracy

Michigan Law Review

The developments in the law of evidence in the war years have not been great. They have been mainly along the lines of tests for witnesses, the use of confessions in criminal cases, the interpretation by the courts of the so-called "Business Entries" Act and the adoption by the American Law Institute of a proposed Code of Evidence.

Trial Practice-Demurrer Upon Evidence As A Device For Taking A Case From The Jury, Charles H. King

Michigan Law Review

By far the oldest of the common law devices for taking a case away from a jury is the demurrer upon evidence. A reported instance of its use appears as early as 1456.

Evidence-Two Witnesses Rule In Action For Perjury, Milton D. Solomon S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The petitioner was convicted of perjury. The trial judge refused to give the following instruction to the jury: "The government must establish the falsity of the statement alleged to have been made by the defendant under oath, by the testimony of two independent witnesses or one witness and corroborating circumstances. Unless that has been done, you must find the defendant not guilty." The petitioner was convicted and the circuit court of appeals affirmed the district court. Held, the refusal of the district judge to instruct the jury as requested was reversible error. Weiler v. United States, (U.S. 1945) …

Federal Procedure-Appeal Under Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act--Scope Of Admiralty Appeal Compared With Appeal Under The New Federal Rules, De Witte Chatterton

Michigan Law Review

Appellee, the United States government, by a proceeding in rem, sought to condemn two shipments of canned oysters packed by appellant, the C. C. Company, under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, on the ground that the oysters were wholly or partially decomposed. The district court found for the appellee on conflicting evidence of experts, and appellant appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. On the theory that procedure on appeal should conform to appeals in admiralty, the circuit court of appeals reviewed the whole case de novo, reversed the district court on the ground …

Bills And Notes--Irregular Indorsers--Parol Evidence

Michigan Law Review

Defendant signed a note otherwise than as maker. Held, error to exclude evidence that he was a co-maker. Glick v. Lieb, (App. Div. N.Y., 1944) 53 N.Y. Supp. (2d) 80.

Joint Tenancy-Effect Of Word "Jointly"-Parol Evidence As To Intent

Michigan Law Review

The common law rule was well settled that a conveyance to two or more, not husband and wife, made them joint tenants, not tenants in common, unless language was used to show an intent that they were not to be joint tenants. The reason for such a rule having passed, the modern rule is to the opposite effect-two or more conveyees, with certain exceptions, are presumptively tenants in common. The Illinois statute, for example, declares that "no estate in joint tenancy in any lands ... shall be held or claimed under any grant . . . unless the premises therein …

Evidence-Effect Of Presumption Against Suicide, Edwin Boos

Michigan Law Review

Asserting that the deceased met his death by accidental drowning, appellant sued as beneficiary to recover under a double indemnity clause of an insurance policy issued to the deceased by the defendant. The defense was that the deceased committed suicide and that a clause in the policy prevents recovery of double liability under such circumstances. The jury found for the defendant and, on appeal, the beneficiary contended that the trial judge committed prejudicial error against her by refusing to instruct the jury that there was a strong presumption against suicide and in favor of accidental death. Held, the code …

Evidence - Admissibility Of Age In Hospital Record As Business Entry, Craig E. Davids

Michigan Law Review

Representing his birth date as 1866, deceased purchased from defendant insurance company in 1921 a policy on his life, which provided that in the event of any misrepresentation of age the insured's beneficiary would receive only that amount which a standard policy issued at his true age would stipulate for the premiums paid. In a suit by the beneficiary to recover on the policy, defendant attempted to prove that deceased was born at least as early as 1862. Among other evidence, defendant introduced a hospital record of deceased's visit to a particular institution in 1936 where he represented his age …

Abstracts, Mary Jane Plumer

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 Justice In Germany: Ii, Hans Julius Wolff

Michigan Law Review

The trial (Hauptverhandlung) is the main and central part of the whole criminal proceeding. All that is brought forward in the trial and only what is brought forward there can furnish the basis for the verdict. Whatever has preceded the trial proper becomes irrelevant as soon as the trial is opened.

The principles governing the trial are publicity, orality, immediateness, and concentration.

Evidence-Police Regulation By Rules Of Evidence-Results Of The Mcnabb Case, John B. Waite

Michigan Law Review

In McNabb v. United States the Supreme Court promulgated novel judicial legislation, the gist of which is that confessions or admissions of crime made while the accused is in custody without having been brought before a magistrate as required by law are inadmissible in evidence. That judicial pronouncement assumed that the utterances were made without compulsion, and prohibited their use solely because at the time they were made the officers of justice were themselves disregarding the law-the procedural requirement that persons arrested be taken immediately before a magistrate. In Justice Frankfurter's phrase, "a conviction resting on evidence secured through such …

Evidence-Police Regulation By Rules Of Evidence, John Barker Waite

Michigan Law Review

The judicial rules of Evidence, said their great expounder, "were never meant to be an indirect process of punishment." Yet twice the Supreme Court has promulgated new rules of evidence for precisely that purpose. The rule that evidence is inadmissible, regardless of its relevance and materiality, if it was obtained by unreasonable search was first suggested by Justice Bradley, who wrote the majority opinion in Boyd v. United States in 1886. The other rule was voiced in 1943 by Justice Frankfurter, writing the majority opinion in McNabb v. United States. And each rule demonstrates the inherent evil of judicial …

Abstracts, Benjamin M. Quigg, Jr.

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.

Evidence-Judicial Notice By Appellate Courts Of Facts And Foreign Laws, Not Brought To The Attention Of The Trial Court, Hobart Taylor, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

The general problem to be discussed in this comment is the process and supporting reasons used by appellate courts in their determination of the propriety of taking official cognizance of facts not brought to the attention of the trial court. This necessarily removes that great and complex body of case and statutory law dealing with situations where a court is called upon to take judicial notice of local statutes, municipal ordinances, and other similar matters of law. Also specifically excluded from discussion are the cases where error is alleged because the trial court refused to take notice of a fact …

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.

Administrative Law-Right Of Persons Aggrieved By Orders To Review By Appellate Courts, Hobart Taylor, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

The Milk Control Board issued an order providing in part that where milk or cream was sold in single service paper containers a nonrefundable container charge of one cent be added to the applicable wholesale or retail price. Petitioner, engaged solely in the manufacture of paper containers for the packaging of milk, sought review of the proceedings of the board upon which the order was based. A demurrer based on the ground that petitioner was not a "person aggrieved" was sustained by the superior court and petitioner appealed. Held, a person "interested" or "aggrieved" need not be within the …

Administrative Law - Extent To Which Hearsay Evidence May Constitute Basis For Award By Workmen's Compensation Commission, Mary Jane Morris

Michigan Law Review

Claimant suffered a coronary occlusion and as a result was totally disabled, being unable to speak coherently or to understand what was said to him. The State Industrial Board found that the claimant's total disability was the result of accidental injuries which arose out of and in the course of his employment. An award was made. The claimant was incapable of giving testimony and no witness was produced who saw the accident. The referee who heard the claim admitted hearsay testimony to the effect that claimant complained of a heartburn to fellow employees after having lifted and emptied a boiler …

Future Interests - Taxation - Evidence - Presumption As To The Possibility Of A Woman Bearing Children, Hobart Taylor, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Testatrix, a resident of Massachusetts, set up a trust of her residuary estate for her two daughters, the principal to be paid to their issue, but if either should die without issue, her share to be paid to certain named charities. On probate, the remainder to charity was held to be void. The income tax law of Massachusetts imposed a three per cent levy on income accumulated for contingent future interests, but exempted from taxation certain interests of nonresidents, including vested remainders not subject to being divested. The daughters, nonresidents, contended that their interests should not be taxed as contingent …

Medical Facts That Can And Cannot Be Proved By X-Ray: Historical Review And Present Possibilities, Samuel W. Donaldson

Michigan Law Review

As the science of the practice of medicine has progressed, new discoveries have brought out newer methods of diagnosis and treatment. With the discovery of x-rays by Professor Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895, an entirely new field was opened. The growth of this new field of medical radiology has been unusually rapid and of great importance. Radiology embraces the use of x-rays, radium, and other radioactive substances. Roentgenology is a division of radiology in that it is limited to the use of the Roentgen rays or x-rays, and medical roentgenology may be termed as the use of x-rays for the diagnosis …

Scientific Proof And Relations Of Law And Medicine, John E. Tracy

Michigan Law Review

Ever since lawyers first began the practice of employing expert witnesses in cases where there were questions of fact to be determined, involving the existence and extent and the causes of bodily ailments, these experts-physicians, surgeons, anatomists, chemists, pathologists, and roentgenologists-have been generous in their proffering of advice to the practicing attorney as to the matters to which his preparation for trial should be directed, the proper theories to be adopted by him as to recovery or damages and his methods of examining and cross-examining witnesses of this character. The shelves of any large law library will be found to …

Administrative Law - Subpoena Power In Administrative Agencies, Arthur B. Lathrop

Michigan Law Review

The Secretary of Labor, acting under the authority vested in her by the Walsh-Healey Act, instituted an administrative proceeding against the petitioner charging violations of the minimum and overtime payment provisions of a government contract. Upon the petitioner's refusal to furnish certain records believed to be essential in determining jurisdiction, the secretary issued a subpoena duces tecum for their production. Shortly thereafter, this suit was begun in the district court to obtain an enforcement order directing the petitioner to obey the subpoena. The petitioner, contending that the secretary was without jurisdiction to investigate the plants and employees involved, successfully resisted …

What Constitutes A Fair Procedure Before The National Labor Relations Board, Clyde W. Summers

Michigan Law Review

No administrative body in recent times has received as much criticism, both favorable and unfavorable, as has the National Labor Relations Board in its administration of the National Labor Relations Act. Such a vast amount of material has been written on the procedure before the board that any further discussion would seem superfluous. However, the discussion of the board's procedure has been related more to the wisdom of choice which the board has made in setting up its procedure than to a determination of the line that separates legality from illegality in its determination of cases.

Instruments Of Discovery Under Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure, Alexander Holtzoff

Michigan Law Review

The elimination of the "sporting theory" of justice, the simplification of procedure, and the prompt disposition of controversies on their merits are the great objectives of the new federal civil practice. One of the principal means for the attainment of these purposes is discovery, by which a disclosure may be obtained in respect to all pertinent information in the possession of any party to a litigation. An exception is, of course, made for privileged matter. It is one of the basic theories of the new procedure that every party to a law suit is under a duty to reveal to …

Evidence - Constitutional Problems In Compelling The Attendance Of Witnesses Outside The State, Paul J. Keller, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Cooper, a citizen of New Jersey, was sought as a witness by a defendant in a criminal prosecution in a New York court in accordance with a New Jersey statute, which allowed such a procedure upon certain conditions. The conditions included a hearing in New Jersey on the summons and provisions for compensation and immunity from service of process while acting on the writ outside the state. At the New Jersey hearing on the summons Cooper objected on the ground that the statute was an unconstitutional deprivation of his liberty. Held, that the statute is constitutional. In re Cooper …

Evidence - Admissibility Of Evidence Gained By Use Of Detectaphone, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Appellant was indicted for conspiracy to violate the Bankruptcy Act. An agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation was permitted by the custodian of the building to enter appellant's office without his knowledge, and to install a dictaphone connecting with an adjoining room. However, the dictaphone failed to operate, and the only evidence which the agents were able to get was by means of a detectaphone which was in the same room with the agents, and which was not connected with the dictaphone. Held, the detectaphone recordings were admissible in evidence because no trespass was committed in getting the …

Evidence - Admissibility Of Hospital Records As Business Entries, Robert C. Lovejoy

Michigan Law Review

As a defense to a suit on an insurance policy, the defendant insurer claimed that the plaintiff was intoxicated at the time of the fatal accident. Defendant offered in evidence a portion of the case record of the hospital to which plaintiff was taken after the accident, the record stating that he was "apparently well under influence of alcohol." Although it was duly authenticated under the federal statute permitting business entries to be used as evidence, this evidence was excluded by the trial court as being an observation rather than a diagnosis. Held, reversed. There was no basis for …