Law Commons^™

State Constitutional Conventions And State Legislative Power, Walter F. Dodd

Vanderbilt Law Review

The State of Tennessee faces a serious problem in that it badly needs changes in its Constitution of 1870 and finds it substantially impossible to make such changes by means of proposed amendments by the two houses of its General Assembly. The requirements (1) that legislative proposal be by a majority of all members of the two houses and that it be agreed to by two thirds of the General Assembly then next chosen, and (2) that approval of a proposed amendment be "by a majority of all the citizens of the State, voting for Representatives," ' substantially defeat possibility …

The Violation Of A Municipal Ordinance As A Crime, Stanley D. Rose

Vanderbilt Law Review

The county of Winnebago passed such an ordinance and McDonald was charged with a violation of it. McDonald demanded a jury, and Judge Schniege of the municipal court ordered it. Because no provision for a jury trial was in the ordinance, Keefe, the county district attorney, petitioned the circuit court for a writ of prohibition to prevent the enforcement of the municipal court's order for a jury trial. The circuit court denied the petition. On appeal, the supreme court reversed this denial. Judge Fairchild based his decision on the following chain of reasoning:

1. The power to define crimes is …