Law Commons^™

Public Employees And The Right To Engage In Political Activity, Dalmas H. Nelson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Although the right to freedom of expression has become more narrowly circumscribed for everyone in recent years, the abridgments of this right that the courts have held may constitutionally be imposed on public employees are exceptionally extensive. This has been justified basically in terms of the doctrines that public employment is a privilege which the government may extend or withdraw at will and upon such terms as it chooses, and that denial of public employment does not constitute punishment. The upshot is that in this area the government may act with almost complete arbitrariness, even when basic rights such as …

Problems In The Removal Of Federal Civil Servants, Ivor L. M. Richardson

Michigan Law Review

The publicity given in the past few years to the loyalty and security program has brought the civil servant of the federal government increasingly before the public eye. At the same time little attention has been paid to the plight of a civil servant who is dismissed from his post for reasons other than those relating to loyalty and security. It is the purpose of this paper to consider different aspects of the removal of civil servants. We shall discuss (1) the government's power to remove civil servants both at common law and under statutes which deal with the exercise …

Wills - Religious Conditions In Restraint Of Marriage - Validity At Common Law And Effect Of Shelley V. Kraemer, Jack G. Armstrong S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Testator devised and bequeathed his property to his children, but with a proviso that the gift to any child who should marry a person not born in the Hebrew faith should lapse. Subsequent to the testator's death, the defendant married a woman who had been born a Roman Catholic. The other beneficiaries brought a proceeding to declare that the defendant had lost his rights under the will by reason of his marriage. The probate court granted a decree substantially as sought by the plaintiffs. On appeal, held, affirmed. This partial restraint on marriage is not so unreasonable as to …

Commentary On Press Photographers And The Courtroom, William F. Swindler

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law - Freedom Of Religion - Judicial Intervention In Disputes Within Independent Church Bodies, Julius B. Poppinga S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this comment to set forth the several principles applied by courts in determining controversies in independent church groups and to consider the constitutional implications of judicial intervention.

Book Reviews, Robert J. Harris (Reviewer), E. M. Morgan (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Book Reviews

The Fifth Amendment Today By Erwin N. Griswold Cambridge)Mass.: Harvard University Press. Pp. vi, 82. $0.50

reviewer: Robert J. Harris

Handbook of the Law of Evidence By Charles T, McCormick St.Paul: West Publishing Co., 1954, pp. xxviii, 774.

reviewer: E. M. Morgan

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Validity Of Refusal To Permit The Showing Of A Motion Picture On The Grounds Of Obscenity, Donald F. Oosterhouse S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A Chicago municipal ordinance made it unlawful to exhibit any motion picture without first having secured a permit from the Commissioner of Police. The commissioner is required to issue the permit unless he finds the picture "immoral or obscene. . .. " On these grounds he refused to permit exhibition of "The Miracle." Plaintiffs brought suit to have the ordinance declared unconstitutional and to restrain enforcement of the prohibition on the picture. The trial court granted the relief asked. On appeal, held, reversed and remanded to determine if the motion picture is obscene. A prior restraint on the exhibition …

Constitutional Law - Church And State - Statute Requiring Religion To Be Taken Into Consideration In Adoption, David W. Swanson

Michigan Law Review

ln 1951, a Jewish couple obtained custody of illegitimate twins who were then two weeks old. In 1954, the couple formally sought to adopt the children. Although petitioners were otherwise qualified to act as parents, a Massachusetts statute provides that "in making orders for adoption, the judge when practicable must give custody only to persons of the same religious faith as that of the child." The twins' natural mother was Catholic but had consented in writing to adoption by the petitioners and to rearing of the children in the Jewish faith. The lower court found that several Catholic couples had …

Labor Law - Organizational Picketing In Industries Not Affecting Interstate Commerce, Arne Hovdesven

Michigan Law Review

Representatives of defendant union approached plaintiff, proprietor of a small liquor store, with information that they planned to initiate an organizational campaign to obtain the membership of the store's three clerks, none of whom were members of any union at that time. Subsequent to this meeting, a picket line of two men was established and was maintained without any acts of violence, for over nineteen months until halted by a permanent injunction issued by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division. The union did not make any demands upon plaintiff to sign a contract or to recognize it as bargaining …

Constitutional Law - Federal Regulation Of Lobbying Act - Vague And Indefinite Language As Violation Of First And Fifth Amendment, Arne Hovdesven

Michigan Law Review

Defendants were charged with violation of the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act because of failure to register as lobbyists under provisions of section 308 and to report expenditures as directed by section 305. The lower court found these sections of the statute unconstitutional and dismissed the information. On appeal, held, the act is not so vague and indefinite as to violate the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment; nor does it violate the First Amendment. The penalty provision of section 310(b) is not objectionable as a deprivation of First Amendment rights since it is separable. United States v. …

Labor Law - Arbitration - Right Of Employer Of Discharge Employer Who Refuses To Testify Concerning His Communist Affiliation, Mary Lee Ryan

Michigan Law Review

A member of the United Electrical Workers Union was discharged from the J. H. Day Company because of his refusal to testify concerning his communist affiliation before the Ohio Un-American Activities Committee and because of the unfavorable publicity which had resulted. Under grievance procedure, the union brought the matter before arbitration. Findings, there was no just cause for dismissal. The employee is entitled to back pay and to reinstatement subject to security clearance. J. H. Day Company,. 22 LAB. Aim. RBP. 751 (1954).

Freedom Of Inquiry Versus Authority: Some Legal Aspects, Joseph O'Meara

Journal Articles

I am to discuss some legal aspects of freedom of inquiry versus authority. It raises the issue of free speech; for inquiry is not free - it is confined and frustrated - if one must keep the fruits of inquiry to one's self. The contest between freedom and authority, even in a democracy, is an unequal contest, with the advantage on the side of authority; for authority has power and power has the drop on freedom. This is why eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Freedom has its dangers. There is no doubt about that. The risk is still …