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Declaratory Judgments, Edson R. Sunderland
Declaratory Judgments, Edson R. Sunderland
Articles
The Connecticut legislature passed an act in 1921 authorizing courts to make binding declarations of rights. The act was attacked as unconstitutional on the same ground raised by the supreme court of Michigan against the Michigan Declaratory Judgment Act in the case of Anway v. Railway Co., 211 Mich. 592, 12 A. L. R. 26i namely, that declaring rights was not a judicial function. But the Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut sustdined the act as in no way contravening the constitution.
Joint Tenancy In Personal Property In Michigan, Ralph W. Aigler
Joint Tenancy In Personal Property In Michigan, Ralph W. Aigler
Articles
In Lober v. Dorgan, 215 Mich. 62, decided July 19, 1921, the court again wrestled with the problem which has troubled the Michigan courts for many years, as to whether the law of the state recognizes any such thing as joint ownership in personal property with the common law incident of survivorship. The facts presented a controversy between the estates of husband and wife, the latter having survived the former. A real estate mortgage had been given to "George W. Bush and Sarah Bush, his wife, of Gobleville, Michigan, as joint tenants, with sole right to the survivor." After the …
Declaratory Judgments, Edson R. Sunderland
Declaratory Judgments, Edson R. Sunderland
Articles
The subject of declaratory judgments has received a great deal of attention in the United States during the last few years, and the interest aroused has resulted in the enactment of statutes in a considerable number of states authorizing courts to declare the rights of parties in cases where relief of the conventional sort is inadequate, inconvenient or impossible. Such judgments may now be obtained in California, St I92I, ch. 463; Connecticut, P. A. 1921, ch. 258; Florida, Laws 1919, No. 75; Hawaii, Laws 1921, Act 162; Kansas, Laws 1921, cl. 168; New Jersey, Laws 1915, ch. 116, Sec. 7; …
The Usefulness Of Intervention As A Remedy In Attachment, Edson R. Sunderland
The Usefulness Of Intervention As A Remedy In Attachment, Edson R. Sunderland
Articles
While rules of procedure are not saved from the rude hand of the reformer by the "due process" guarantees of our constitutions, they do rest, nevertheless, under the very efficient protection of professional conservatism. Such rules are looked upon by the bench and bar as their own special concern, and innovations in this field must maintain the burden of proving their character before both the lawyer members of the legislature and the lawyers and judges who interpret them in the course of litigation. It would be natural, therefore, to expect that a proposed reform in procedure would have to meet …
Declaratory Judgment - Declaring Rights Under The Guise Of Granting An Injunction, Edson R. Sunderland
Declaratory Judgment - Declaring Rights Under The Guise Of Granting An Injunction, Edson R. Sunderland
Articles
It has often been held that a party may obtain a judicial determination of his rights in respect to legislation alleged to be invalid, by means of an application to a court of equity for an injunction restraining the enforcement of the statute. Ex parte Young (1907) 209 U. S. 123, is the leading case of this type. There, a railroad rate statute was involved, which required compliance by all railroad companies in the state, under the threat of heavy penalties. The railroad actually violated the provisions of the statute after an injunction had been obtained by a stockholder restraining …
Declaratory Judgments, Ralph W. Aigler
Declaratory Judgments, Ralph W. Aigler
Articles
The Declaratory Judgments Act of Michigan (Act No. 150, P. A. 1919) provided as follows: (Sec. 1) "No action or proceeding in any court of record shall be open to objection on the ground that a merely declaratory judgment, decree or order is sought thereby, and the court may make binding declarations of rights whether any consequential relief is or could be claimed, or not, including the determination, at the instance of anyone claiming to be interested under a deed, will or other written instrument, of any question of construction arising under the instrument and a declaration of the rights …
Declaratory Judgments, Edson R. Sunderland
Declaratory Judgments, Edson R. Sunderland
Articles
The widespread interest in this new form of remedial instrument, which was somewhat dashed by the recent decision of the Michigan Supreme Court in Anway v. Grand Rapids Ry. Co. (1920), 211 Mich. 59, holding declaritoty relief to be non-judicial and outside the constitutional power of courts (19 MICH. LAW REV. 86), has been revived by the action of the legislature of Kansas in enacting a declaratory judgment statute almost identical with the Michigan act. This was done with full knowledge of the decision in the Anway case, and inasmuch as it is well known that some of the judges …
Married Women - The Husband's Right To His Wife's Services And To Her Earnings, Evans Holbrook
Married Women - The Husband's Right To His Wife's Services And To Her Earnings, Evans Holbrook
Articles
A Michigan statute passed in 1911 (LAWS OF 1911, ch. 196; COMP. LAWS 1915, § 11478) provided that a married woman should be "entitled to * * * earnings acquired * ** * as the result of her personal efforts." A married woman, before 1911, had worked as housekeeper for X and had continued to work for him after 1911; on his death she filed a claim against his estate for her services during the whole period. Held, she could not recover for the period before 1911, as her services and earnings prior to that date belonged to her husband.
The Courts As Authorized Legal Advisors Of The People, Edson R. Sunderland
The Courts As Authorized Legal Advisors Of The People, Edson R. Sunderland
Articles
It is doubtful whether American legal institutions have witnessed a more far-reaching procedural reform since New York adopted its Code of Civil Procedure in 1848, than the movement toward the authorization of judicial declarations of rights which has received its chief impetus from legislation enacted in three American States during the past year. A somewhat timid step in this direction was taken by the New Jersey Chancery Practice Act of 1915, but it disclosed a want of confidence in the broad effectiveness of the remedy. Now for the first time American legislation has definitely committed itself to the principle that …
Real Significance Of The Proposed Michigan Beer And Wine Amendment, Edwin C. Goddard
Real Significance Of The Proposed Michigan Beer And Wine Amendment, Edwin C. Goddard
Articles
DISCUSSION of proposed prohibitory amendments to Constitutions, State or Federal, are usually regarded as part of the wet and dry fight in which lawyers are interested only as citizens. Before the recent Cleveland Meeting of the American Bar Association the bar of the country was circularized by a protest, signed by a number of very well known lawyers, urging the bar to take action against putting into the fundamental law, the Constitution, such matters as the regulation of what the people shall drink. These lawyers presented their case at the Cleveland meeting and vigorously attempted to induce the American Bar …
Presumptions--Burden Of Proof, Victor H. Lane
Presumptions--Burden Of Proof, Victor H. Lane
Articles
The case of Gillett v. Michigan United Traction Co. (Michigan, April 3rd, 1919), 171 N. W. 536, arose out of the following facts: Plaintiff, driving a Ford car with the curtains down, turned from the curb at the side of the street where he had stopped, to cross the interurban car tracks which ran through the center of the street in the city of Marshall, and as he drove his machine upon the track was struck by an interurban car and seriously injured. The evidence established beyond question, negligence of the defendant, by showing that the car was, at the …
Cost Of Public Justice, John R. Rood
Cost Of Public Justice, John R. Rood
Articles
The common citizen who becomes victim of a wrong and seeks redress in the courts of America soon finds by bitter experience that it is better to bear those ills we have than go to law. The expense is more than the thing is worth. The result depends on who has the longest purse, the most endurance, and the shrewdest lawyer, and little on the merits of the case. When he gets to court he finds his remaining money is being spent, not in the trial of his case, but in deciding whether an absque hoc is a sine que …
Acquiring Jurisdiction In Garnishment Proceedings, John R. Rood
Acquiring Jurisdiction In Garnishment Proceedings, John R. Rood
Articles
Garnishment is a proceeding provided by statutes found in every state, for the purpose of laying hold of something belonging to a defendant or judgment debtor but actually in the hands of someone else, and appropriating it to pay the debt due from the defendant or judgment debtor. If the proceeding is instituted ancillary to a pending suit, and before judgment, it is a species of attachment. If it is issued ancillary to a judgment already recovered it is a species of execution. If the third person summoned as garnishee is merely bailee of property belonging to the judgment debtor …
Recovery Of Money Paid Under Duress Of Legal Proceedings In Michigan, Edgar N. Durfee
Recovery Of Money Paid Under Duress Of Legal Proceedings In Michigan, Edgar N. Durfee
Articles
THE case of Welch v. Beeching, recently decided by the Supreme Court of Michigan, raises puzzling problems conconcerning the recovery of money paid under pressure of legal proceedings. It is the purpose of this paper to give that case a more adequate setting, in relation to the whole field of law to which it pertains, than was provided by the brief opinion of the court. We shall not attempt to exhaust the authorities, nor to present a rounded treatment of the whole subject touched upon.
Mortgagee In Possession In New York And Michigan, Edgar N. Durfee
Mortgagee In Possession In New York And Michigan, Edgar N. Durfee
Articles
It is interesting to observe how tenaciously the old common law of mortgages has persisted in the state of New York, the very cradle of the modem lien theory of the mortgage. As early as 1802 Chancellor KENT began the importation into that state of Lord MANSFIELD'S Civil Law doctrines of mortgage. Johnson v. Hart, 3 Johns. Cas. 322. In 1814, in the case of Runyan v. Mersereau, 11 Johns. 534, the lien theory definitely triumphed over the old law. In other cases, both before and since the statute of 1828 denying ejectment to the mortgagee, the details of mortgage …
The Michigan Judicature Act Of 1915, Edson R. Sunderland
The Michigan Judicature Act Of 1915, Edson R. Sunderland
Articles
IN 1848 a wave of reform in judicial procedure began to sweep over the United States. In that year the legislature of New York enacted the Code of Civil Procedure, a statute of far-reaching importance, for it became the source of and the model for similar legislation in almost two-thirds of the States in the Union.
Special Assessments Upon Cemeteries, Ralph W. Aigler
Special Assessments Upon Cemeteries, Ralph W. Aigler
Articles
Though the power to tax cemeteries would seem to be entirely clear, very commonly land devoted to such purpose is declared by constitution or statute to be exempt. See COOLY, TAXATION, (3rd ed.) 354. So also in the case of special assessments such land, in the absence of a clear exemption, is liable thereto. Bloomington Cemetery Assoc. v. People, 139 IIl. 16, 28 N. E. 1076; Mullins v. Cemetery Assoc., 239 Mo. 681, 144 S. W. 109; Buffalo City Cemetery v. Buffalo, 46 N. Y. 503; Lima v. Lima Cemetery Assoc., 42 Oh. St. 128, 51 Am. Rep. 809. It …
The Proposed Michigan Judicature Act, Edson R. Sunderland
The Proposed Michigan Judicature Act, Edson R. Sunderland
Articles
The Michigan Legislature, at its last session, passed an act (No. 286, Public Acts of 1913) providing for the appointment of a Commission to revise and consolidate the laws of the State relating to procedure. The Governor appointed Alva M. Cummins, J. Clyde Watt, and Mark W. Stevens as members of this commission, and the result of their labors has just appeared in the form of a proposed bill regulating the entire subject of procedure in all the courts of the State. The bill is a long one, embracing 565 printed pages, but it is much less voluminous than the …
Jurisdictional Facts, John R. Rood
Jurisdictional Facts, John R. Rood
Articles
The advance sheets of the Northwestern Reporter for January 29th, 1915, contain two cases in which a supreme court declared proceedings that had been carried through to judgment void, (not merely voidable) because of the lack of a fact which the supreme court regarded as jurisdictional, (Sandusky Grain Co. v. Sanilac Circuit Judge (Mich. 1915), 150 N. W. 329 and Bombolis v. Minn. & St. L. R. Co. (Minn. 1914), 150 N. W. 385), and another case in which the court was equally divided as to whether the essential facts appeared (Fisher et al v. Gardnier et al. (Mich. 1915), …
The Form Of Summons Under The Recent Michigan Judicature Act, W. Gordon Stoner
The Form Of Summons Under The Recent Michigan Judicature Act, W. Gordon Stoner
Articles
It would be rather remarkable if in revising such a large portion of the statutes as was undertaken by the Commission on Revision and Consolidation of Statutes of the State of Michigan, appointed in 1913, which reported to the legislature the recently enacted Judicature Act (Public Acts of Michigan, 1915, § 314), some ambiguity or uncertainty were not to appear in the revision. The Judicature Act is no exception to the general rule, as the lawyer who attempts to begin suit by summons under it will discover at the very outset.
Quasi-Contractual Obligations Of Municipal Corporations, Jerome C. Knowlton
Quasi-Contractual Obligations Of Municipal Corporations, Jerome C. Knowlton
Articles
We have constructive fraud, constructive trusts, constructive notice, and why not constructive contract, a contractual obligation existing in contemplation of law, in the absence of any agreement express or implied from facts? With this apology we shall use the term quasi contract as covering an obligation created by law and enforceable by an action ex contractu. We are not for the present interested in the circumstances which may give rise to this obligation as between individuals; nor as between an individual and a private corporation, or quasi public corporation, so-called, as a railroad or other public utility. In these cases …
Construction Of 'Survival Act' And 'Death Act' In Michigan, Thomas A. Bogle
Construction Of 'Survival Act' And 'Death Act' In Michigan, Thomas A. Bogle
Articles
It is known as the "Death Act." It was enacted in i848, amended in 1873, and follows closely Lord Campbell's Act. In the, construction of these acts, troublesome questions have arisen, difficulties have been encountered, different theories urged, different views entertained, different conclusions reached, and different opinions rendered, respecting the number of actions that can be maintained under them, the circumstances that invoke one rather than the other, the measure of damages applicable, respectively, and certain questions of practice as to the joinder of counts and the amendment of pleadings. The statement would hardly he justified that all these questions …
Taxation Of Easements, Bradley M. Thompson
Taxation Of Easements, Bradley M. Thompson
Articles
In the case of Lever v. Grant,1 the supreme court passed incidentally upon the effect of a tax deed on an easement appurtenant to the estate on which the delinquent taxes had been levied. From the facts in that case it appears that in 1884 the owner of a parcel of land in the city of Detroit, bounded on the west by Woodward avenue, platted the same. The plat shows a street on the north side extending from Woodward avenue east thirty feet wide, one-half the width of an ordinary street. This street was named Custer Avenue. The next year, …
Are Too Many Executive Officers Elective?, Bradley M. Thompson
Are Too Many Executive Officers Elective?, Bradley M. Thompson
Articles
We propose very briefly to call attention, to so much of the present constitution of Michigan as has to do with the executive department, and to consider the methods which the people have adopted for selecting those public servants whose official duty it is to enforce the law, to maintain public order and protect private rights.
One Way To Prevent Some Of The 'Law's Delays', James H. Brewster
One Way To Prevent Some Of The 'Law's Delays', James H. Brewster
Articles
In view of discussions concerning "The Law's Delays" which have been had before several Bar Association meetings lately, the case of In re McHugh, 116 N. W. 459, decided by the Supreme Court of Michigan, is of interest. In this case two attorneys had been summoned by the trial court to answer a charge of contempt in failing to appear in court on the day set for the trial of one accused of murder whose defense they had undertaken, their failure to appear being alleged to be "for the purpose of obstructing the course of justice." After a hearing they …
The Extent Of The Land To Which A Mechanics' Lien Attaches, Edson R. Sunderland
The Extent Of The Land To Which A Mechanics' Lien Attaches, Edson R. Sunderland
Articles
The statutes of the various states which define the scope and extent of mechanics' liens differ somewhat in respect to the quantity of land subject to such lien. Some arbitrarily limit it to a specified number of city lots or acres, but many statutes provide that the lien shall attach to the lot or land upon which the building or other improvement is situated, or to so much contiguous land as is necessary for the convenient use of the building. In most cases no difficulty arises in applying these provisions, but the terms are evidently loose and general, and it …
Local Self-Government, So Called, As It Is Found In The Constitution Of Michigan, Otto Kirchner
Local Self-Government, So Called, As It Is Found In The Constitution Of Michigan, Otto Kirchner
Articles
It is not my purpose to enter upon a detailed examination of municipal government as it now exists, but to confine myself to the consideration of some of the constitutional limitations that rest upon the legislative power to deal with the matter.
Some Remarks Upon The Government Of Municipalities Suggested By The Experience, Growth And Development Of The City Of Grand Rapids, John W. Champlin
Some Remarks Upon The Government Of Municipalities Suggested By The Experience, Growth And Development Of The City Of Grand Rapids, John W. Champlin
Articles
The municipal government of the city of Grand Rapids has not in a11 respects been entirely successful. Dissatisfaction has manifested itself in parts of the community, especially in that portion which has to bear the burthen of taxation on account of increasing bonded indebtedness and the great increase of expenditures in carrying on the affairs of the city. Lack of discrimination in the objects of expenditure, and disregard of legal limitations upon the authority of the council, have caused uneasiness and comment. Notwithstanding these, the city has grown in population and material wealth, and I can say without self-adulation, is …
How May Presidential Electors Be Appointed?, Bradley M. Thompson
How May Presidential Electors Be Appointed?, Bradley M. Thompson
Articles
For more than half a century presidential electors have been chosen upon a general ticket in all the states. This was not the uniform practice at first. Judge Cooley in the last number of the JOU11NAL makes it clear that at least four different methods were at first adopted, one of them, the "district system," being that selected by the last legislature of Michigan. Following Judge Cooley's article is one by Gen. B. M. Cutcheon attacking this system on two grounds: First, that it is in conflict with the Constitution of the United States; and, secondly, that it is mischievous …
Remedies Of Illegal Taxation, Thomas M. Cooley
Remedies Of Illegal Taxation, Thomas M. Cooley
Articles
Taxation is to a nation what the circulation of the blood is to he individual; absolutely essential to life. In ordinary times it is the chief burden which government imposes upon the people, and is likely, therefore, to be the greatest source of discontent. This renders it of the utmost importance that taxation should as nearly as possible be just, and also that it should appear to those who pay it to be just. Absolute justice, however, is unattainable.