Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 26 of 26

Full-Text Articles in Law

Evidence - Admissibility Of Hospital Records As Business Entries, John S. Pennell Dec 1939

Evidence - Admissibility Of Hospital Records As Business Entries, John S. Pennell

Michigan Law Review

Following the report of the Commonwealth Fund Committee, in which they advocated the adoption of a model act to govern the admission of business entries as evidence, a comparatively small number of states have enacted legislation of this kind, either the model act or an act of similar nature. The extent of this comment is to show: (1) in what states hospital records have been held not to be admissible as business entries, the states where there has been no decision on the subject, and the states where the status of the rule is in doubt; (2) the states where …


Constitutional Law- State Regulation Of Hours Of Labor - Police Power And Due Process, Michigan Law Review Dec 1939

Constitutional Law- State Regulation Of Hours Of Labor - Police Power And Due Process, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A South Carolina statute prohibited labor of employees in enumerated manufacturing and mercantile establishments for more than fifty-six hours per week or more than twelve hours in any one day. Plaintiffs were druggists who brought suit to restrain the commissioner of labor from enforcing the statute. A temporary restraining order was issued and the commissioner of labor appealed. Held, the statute was unconstitutional as in violation of the due process and equal protection clauses in both state and federal constitutions. Gasque, Inc. v. Nates, (S. C. 1939) 2 S. E. (2d) 36.


Municipal Corporations - Indebtedness - Use Of Mandamus To Compel Payment Of Judgment, John L. Rubsam Dec 1939

Municipal Corporations - Indebtedness - Use Of Mandamus To Compel Payment Of Judgment, John L. Rubsam

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner sought a peremptory order directed to the council of the city of Long Beach, to compel them to include in the 1939 budget a sum sufficient to pay a judgment obtained for materials furnished to the city. Held, the denial of application by the lower court was not an abuse of discretion, since payment of the judgment would have given the petitioner a preference over other creditors of the same class inasmuch as there were insufficient funds available to pay all claims of such class without crippling the city or working unusual hardship on taxpayers. Coombs v. Edwards …


Municipal Corporations - Status Of A City Manager - Are His Functions Primarily Executive Or Legislative?, John H. Pickering Dec 1939

Municipal Corporations - Status Of A City Manager - Are His Functions Primarily Executive Or Legislative?, John H. Pickering

Michigan Law Review

When defendant city adopted the city-manager form of municipal government, it duly abolished by ordinance the board of police and fire commissioners and expressly assigned the board's powers and duties to the city manager. Among such powers was that of recommending salary decreases for firemen and policemen, without which recommendation a decrease by action of the council was invalid. After the abolition of the board of police and .fire commissioners, the council decreased the salary of plaintiff policeman without previous recommendation by the city manager. Plaintiff claimed that such action was invalid, and sued to recover the amount of the …


Municipal Corporations - Liability For Negligence Outside The City Limits, S. R. Stroud Nov 1939

Municipal Corporations - Liability For Negligence Outside The City Limits, S. R. Stroud

Michigan Law Review

The defendant, the city of Green Bay, without charge maintained and operated a toboggan slide outside the city limits. While using the slide, plaintiff was injured due to the alleged negligence of the city in failing to remove a snowdrift at the bottom of the slide. It was admitted that plaintiff would have stated a good case of actionable negligence had the slide been operated by a private person. Defendant's demurrer was overruled by the trial court. Held, reversed with direction to enter an order sustaining the demurrer. Gegelski v. City of Green Bay, (Wis. 1939) 285 N. …


Sales - Implied Warranty - Liability Of A Water Company, Edmund R. Blaske Nov 1939

Sales - Implied Warranty - Liability Of A Water Company, Edmund R. Blaske

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, a city engaged in supplying water to its inhabitants, was sued by plaintiff, a consumer, for injuries resulting from plaintiff's drinking of lead-poisoned water at a faucet in his home. The water, although pure at the meter, became poisoned when passing through a lead pipe inspected and approved by the water company but owned by the plaintiff. Plaintiff brought his action on two different theories: (1) on implied warranty; (2) in negligence. The trial court instructed the jury without exception or objection from defendant that they might find for plaintiff, under either of these theories. The defendant was successful …


Constitutional Law - Carriers - Supersedure Of State Regulations By Federal Regulations - Regulation Of Hours Of Service Of Motor Vehicular Drivers - Effect Of Federal Motor Carrier Act Of 1935, Fred C. Newman Nov 1939

Constitutional Law - Carriers - Supersedure Of State Regulations By Federal Regulations - Regulation Of Hours Of Service Of Motor Vehicular Drivers - Effect Of Federal Motor Carrier Act Of 1935, Fred C. Newman

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, whose business was chiefly interstate, violated a statute of New Hampshire which regulated the hours of service of drivers of certain motor vehicles. The violation occurred after the passage of the Federal Motor Carrier Act of 1935, which, among other things, conferred authority upon the Interstate Commerce Commission "to establish reasonable requirements with respect to . . . maximum hours of service of employees" of common and contract carriers by motor vehicle in interstate commerce. At the time of the breach of the state statute, the Interstate Commerce Commission had not prescribed regulations as to hours of service. Defendant …


Federal Courts - Substance And Procedure - Effect Of Erie Railroad V. Tompkins And Rule 8 (C) Of The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure Upon Burden Of Proof Of Contributory Negligence, John H. Uhl Jun 1939

Federal Courts - Substance And Procedure - Effect Of Erie Railroad V. Tompkins And Rule 8 (C) Of The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure Upon Burden Of Proof Of Contributory Negligence, John H. Uhl

Michigan Law Review

The case of Erie Railroad v. Tompkins has wrought a great change in the relationship between the state and federal courts. Prior to its decision, the federal courts under the rule of Swift v. Tyson did not have to apply the state non-statutory law. They could apply their own notions as to what the law was in matters of general law relating to substance. The Conformity Act compelled the federal courts to follow the practice, pleading, and forms and modes of proceeding in like causes in the courts of the state within which the federal district courts were held. In …


Constitutional Law - Discriminatory State Game Legislation - Constitutionality As To Non-Resident Landowner, Russel T. Walker Jun 1939

Constitutional Law - Discriminatory State Game Legislation - Constitutionality As To Non-Resident Landowner, Russel T. Walker

Michigan Law Review

A non-resident landowner and his assignee brought an action to enjoin enforcement of a Louisiana statute which denied them the right to secure licenses to trap furbearing animals or alligators on the former's land until they had resided in the state for not less than one year. Held, the statute, discriminating as it did against landowners purely on the basis of non-residence, was unconstitutional as a deprivation of property and a denial of equal protection of the law. Pavel v. Patterson, (D. C. La. 1938) 24F. Supp. 915.


Indictment And Information - Requirement Of Specificity In Charging A Statutory Offense, Ward P. Allen Jun 1939

Indictment And Information - Requirement Of Specificity In Charging A Statutory Offense, Ward P. Allen

Michigan Law Review

On an information charging the possession of "a certain habit forming drug, to wit: Marijuana . . . in violation of section 158, Chapter 91, Illinois Revised Statutes (1935)," defendant was convicted in the municipal court of Chicago. The Illinois adoption of the Uniform Narcotic Drug Act made the possession of "any narcotic drug" unlawful; defined "narcotic drugs" to include "cannabis"; and stated that "Cannabis includes the following substances, under whatever names they may be designated: (a) The dried flowering or fruiting tops of the pistillate plant Cannabis Sativa L.," from which the resin has not been extracted; (b) the …


Constitutional Law - Validity Of Voting Machine In General Election - Constitutional Construction, Michigan Law Review Jun 1939

Constitutional Law - Validity Of Voting Machine In General Election - Constitutional Construction, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Pursuant to statutory provisions the fiscal court of Jefferson County, Kentucky, appropriated $1,000 for renting voting machines to be used in the general election of 1938. The county on relation of its attorneys filed suit for a declaratory judgment on the constitutionality of the statute. The relators appealed from a judgment declaring the act valid. Held, the statute authorizing the use of voting machines in popular elections is a violation of section 147 of the Kentucky Constitution which provides for a "secret official ballot, furnished by public authority to the voters at the polls, and marked by each voter …


Bankruptcy-Corporate Reorganization - Fraternal Benefit Society Entitled To Benefits Of Section 77b, Russel T. Walker May 1939

Bankruptcy-Corporate Reorganization - Fraternal Benefit Society Entitled To Benefits Of Section 77b, Russel T. Walker

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's right to petition for reorganization under section 77 B of the Bankruptcy Act was challenged on the ground that plaintiff was an "insurance corporation" within the meaning of section 4 of the Bankruptcy Act and therefore excepted from the benefits of the act. Held, that when Congress used the words "insurance corporation" in the Bankruptcy Act, it meant a corporation authorized by the law of its creation to do an insurance business. As Congress knew that the various States had authorized the formation of fraternal benefit societies, described as such in enabling statutes, when Congress passed this statute …


Zoning - Construction Of Ordinance Restricting District To Residences - Rooming House As Business, S. R. Stroud Apr 1939

Zoning - Construction Of Ordinance Restricting District To Residences - Rooming House As Business, S. R. Stroud

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff purchased the property in question on January 26, 1934. The property was subject to restrictive covenants, running with the land until January 26, 1930, which prohibited use for "any trade or business whatsoever or any boarding house." On August 18, 1922, a temporary zoning ordinance of the city of Long Beach was adopted to retain the advantages secured by the restrictive covenants. This was followed by a permanent zoning ordinance on July 8, 1930. Under the permanent zoning ordinance the property in question was included in "Residence A" district which was restricted to "a one family detached house for …


Constitutional Law - Intoxicating Liquors - Power Of A State To Regulate And Tax The Sale And Import Of Liquor In A National Park, Stanton J. Schuman Apr 1939

Constitutional Law - Intoxicating Liquors - Power Of A State To Regulate And Tax The Sale And Import Of Liquor In A National Park, Stanton J. Schuman

Michigan Law Review

California ceded to the United States the territory within the state borders known as Yosemite Park, reserving to the state the right to "tax persons and corporations, their franchises and property on the lands included in said parks." California then laid excise and license taxes on the sale and importation of intoxicating liquors. The tax act contained some regulatory measures and the license was granted only after certain regulations were satisfied. T was an operator of stores and tourists' camps in the park who protested payment of these taxes. Held, the tax provisions were enforceable; but the regulatory provisions …


Constitutional Law - Oil And Gas - Validity Of Well-Spacing Act - Proportionate Sharing Of Proceeds By Owners Of Land In Statutory Drilling Unit, Leonard D. Verdier Jr. Apr 1939

Constitutional Law - Oil And Gas - Validity Of Well-Spacing Act - Proportionate Sharing Of Proceeds By Owners Of Land In Statutory Drilling Unit, Leonard D. Verdier Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Acting under the Well-Spacing Act, the Corporation Commission of Oklahoma divided certain rural oil areas into tenacre drilling units. Plaintiff owned six and one-quarter acres of a drilling unit, and the well, located in the center of the unit, was wholly on his land. The statute provided that each of the various owners of tracts making up a drilling unit should share in the oil royalties in the proportion that the acreage of his tract bore to the total acreage of the drilling unit. Plaintiff sought to recover all the royalty on oil produced from the well, contending that the …


Constitutional Law - Twenty-First Amendment - Validity Of State Statute Discriminating Against Liquor Imports, Benjamin Guille Cox Apr 1939

Constitutional Law - Twenty-First Amendment - Validity Of State Statute Discriminating Against Liquor Imports, Benjamin Guille Cox

Michigan Law Review

A Michigan statute prohibited local dealers from selling beer manufactured in a state designated by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission, acting pursuant to statutory standards, as one which by its laws discriminated against Michigan-made beer. Because Indiana was one of ten states so designated, an Indiana brewing company filed a bill in the federal court to enjoin enforcement of the Michigan statute as unconstitutional under the interstate commerce, equal protection and due process clauses of the Federal Constitution. Held, that the bill should be dismissed, since the statute, even though discriminating among importers, was a valid enactment under the …


Public Utilities - Franchises - Enforceability Against Utility Of Franchise Provision Regarding Rates When City Is Not Bound, Menefee D. Blackwell Apr 1939

Public Utilities - Franchises - Enforceability Against Utility Of Franchise Provision Regarding Rates When City Is Not Bound, Menefee D. Blackwell

Michigan Law Review

The charter of the city of Texarkana, Texas, provided that none of the privileges usually granted public utilities should be enjoyed in the city except such as were permitted by franchise given by the city council, and that such franchises should expressly reserve the right of regulating the utilities. The city entered a franchise agreement with respondent utility by which rates charged in the Texas city were not to be higher than those charged in another part of the city which was in Arkansas. The Arkansas rates were lowered by judicial action, and this proceeding was to enforce the lower …


Rule Against Perpetuities - Testamentary Provision Making Gift Vest On Distribution Of Testator's Estate, Henry L. Pitts Mar 1939

Rule Against Perpetuities - Testamentary Provision Making Gift Vest On Distribution Of Testator's Estate, Henry L. Pitts

Michigan Law Review

Testator devised and bequeathed the residue of his estate to four specified chair officers of a lodge who were to be "the four chair officers in office at the time of distribution of my estate." These officers were elected annually. The lower court found that the clause was void as in contravention of sections 715 and 716 of the Civil Code of California. The four individuals holding the named offices in the lodge appealed. Held, affirmed. In re Campbell's Estate, 94 Cal. App. Dec. 482, 82 P. (2d) 22 (1938).


Automobiles - Registration Of Title And Transfer - Effect On Ownership, Gerald M. Stevens Mar 1939

Automobiles - Registration Of Title And Transfer - Effect On Ownership, Gerald M. Stevens

Michigan Law Review

Who owns this automobile? is a question of frequent interest both to the state and to its citizens. Identification of it and its owner may be a leading clue to the solution of crime; its owner must often be apprehended as the first step toward punishment of one of the considerable list of offenses peculiar to the operation of motor vehicles; it constitutes an important item of taxable property. The private citizen is interested in its ownership to identify the proper defendant in his tort action; it is an obvious source of satisfaction of his claim against a debtor; or …


Negligence - Violation Of Statute As Negligence Per Se - Exceptions To The Doctrine, John C. Griffin Mar 1939

Negligence - Violation Of Statute As Negligence Per Se - Exceptions To The Doctrine, John C. Griffin

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's intestate was driving along the main thoroughfare when B drove into the main highway from a side street without stopping, thereby colliding with the automobile of the intestate. Two days prior to this accident an automobile owned by S negligently collided with one of the defendant's buses with the consequence that defendant's bus, without negligence on defendant's part, knocked down an arterial stop sign. This stop sign had been erected at the intersection of the main highway and the side street out of which B drove his car. A Washington statute made anyone who should deface, mutilate, tear down, …


A Warning Signal For Municipal Bondholders: Some Implications Of Erie Railroad V. Tompkins, Irvin Long Feb 1939

A Warning Signal For Municipal Bondholders: Some Implications Of Erie Railroad V. Tompkins, Irvin Long

Michigan Law Review

That branch of municipal bond litigation in which the character and validity of the obligations is involved has usually been conducted in the federal courts. Bondholders pressing for payment of their defaulted bonds usually are nonresidents of the state where the city, county or other defaulting municipality is located. Varying and contradictory state court decisions taught them that no settled rule of decision in the state courts could be expected. The arguments of their counsel, which many of the earlier volumes of the Supreme Court reports preserve, show that they distrusted a judiciary elected for short terms, as was the …


Public Utilities - Power Of City To Reduce Rates Allowed By Franchise, M. D. Blackwell Feb 1939

Public Utilities - Power Of City To Reduce Rates Allowed By Franchise, M. D. Blackwell

Michigan Law Review

The city of Miami gave a franchise to a utility to sell electric power, providing that after a stated period of time it should have the right to charge rates which would enable it to have an annual return of at least ten per cent on the rate base over and above operating expenses. The right to set rates, however, was made "subject to the lawful regulatory authority of the city or state commission having jurisdiction," and it was further provided that "this grant shall at all times be subject to the right of the state of Florida, directly or …


Municipal Corporations - Police Power - Validity Of Ordinance Fixing Closing Hours, Fred C. Newman Feb 1939

Municipal Corporations - Police Power - Validity Of Ordinance Fixing Closing Hours, Fred C. Newman

Michigan Law Review

P, a general grocery store, brought an action to have a certain ordinance declared unconstitutional and to enjoin the enforcement of the ordinance. The ordinance provided that stores which sold or distributed "any uncured or uncooked meats or other foods of any kind intended for human consumption" should be open for business only between the hours of duty established for the municipal meat and food inspection department. Bona fide hotels, boarding houses, lodging houses, restaurants, drug stores, confectionery stores, dispensers of beverages, distributors of milk and cream, ice cream and soda fountains were expressly excepted from the operation of …


Constitutional Law-Freedom Of The Press-Freedom Of Speech And Assembly-Police Power, John N. Seaman Feb 1939

Constitutional Law-Freedom Of The Press-Freedom Of Speech And Assembly-Police Power, John N. Seaman

Michigan Law Review

The recent decision by the federal district court in the case of Committee for Industrial Organization v. Hague has brought the civil liberties issue to the forefront again. Acting under a city ordinance, defendant's mayor, director of public safety, and chief of police refused to issue a permit to plaintiff labor union to distribute circulars, hold public meetings, or display placards in Jersey City, and excluded plaintiff's members from the city, acting under the belief that their doctrines were "un-American," and that their presence and activities were likely to provoke the city's inhabitants to breaches of the peace. It was …


Evidence - Municipal Ordinances - Admission Of Evidence Of Enactment When Record Is Silent, Robert E. Sipes Jan 1939

Evidence - Municipal Ordinances - Admission Of Evidence Of Enactment When Record Is Silent, Robert E. Sipes

Michigan Law Review

In a suit by a village to require the removal of the equipment of an electric distribution company from the streets of the village, the company sought to introduce in evidence a copy of a purported ordinance giving it a twenty-five year franchise. There was no mention of such an ordinance in the record of proceedings of the village council. Held, such evidence is not admissible to show the acts of a municipal council when the records of its proceedings are available. Village of Deshler v. Southern Nebraska Power Co., 133 Neb. 778, 277 N. W. 77 ( …


Municipal Corporations - Licenses - Amount Of Fee, S. R. Stroud Jan 1939

Municipal Corporations - Licenses - Amount Of Fee, S. R. Stroud

Michigan Law Review

The defendant, a sandwich peddler, was convicted in the justice court of violation of an ordinance requiring peddlers to have a license. Upon appeal to the circuit court the conviction was set aside on the ground that the ordinance requiring a peddler to obtain a license at $150 per vehicle per year was invalid since the fee was unreasonably high. Held, the circuit court should be reversed and the conviction sustained since the amount of the license fee could not be considered unreasonably excessive in view of all the circumstances. People v. Riksen, 284 Mich. 284, 279 N. …