Law Commons^™

Torts, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

As might have been expected a large portion of the litigation before the Tennessee appellate courts during the Survey period involved tort actions. Most of these actions, of course, were based upon negligence. There were several cases involving the intentional harms of assault and battery and false imprisonment. No cases were decided involving deceit, defamation, strict liability or interference with advantageous relations.

Agency, Merton Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The facts in Dickson v. Blacker were these: Dickson operated a filling station in Memphis and, along with it, a parking lot situated one and one-half blocks from the filling station. Blacker left his automobile at the filling station for storage, and it was taken to the parking lot. An employee of Dickson was sent to the parking lot to get the car. The employee, without permission, drove the car away and wrecked it six blocks from the filling station. Blacker, the owner of the car, was allowed to recover from Dickson, the owner of the filling station parking lot.

Local Government Law, Clyde L. Ball

Vanderbilt Law Review

This summary is limited to cases decided in the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of Tennessee, reported during the last year, and dealing with some phase of that body of law which embraces' Municipal Corporations, Counties, Officers, Elections and related topics fitting into the general classification of Local Government Law. No attempt has been made to consider Acts of the 1953 General Assembly which may have affected this field, as most of the legislation in this field is local in nature.

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Contracts--Ceiling Price Legislation--Effect upon Performance

============================

Evidence--Declarations against Interest--Third-Party Confessions

============================

Family Law--Loss of Consortium of the Parent--Right of Child to Recover Against a Negligent Defendant

============================

Federal Procedure--Statutory Construction--Meaning of "Mentally Incompetent"

============================

Income Taxation--Surrender of Lease--Capital Gain to Lessee

============================

Income Taxation--Taxable Stock Dividend--Treasury Stock Held for Investment

============================

Judgment--Suit to Vacate--Insufficient Allegations of Cruelty Void Divorce Decree

============================

Labor Law--Filing Requirements--Noncompliance at Time Charges Filed

============================

Municipal Corporations--Liability for Negligence--Operation of Swimming Pool for Profit

============================

Process--Constructive Service--Tort Action Arising Without State

============================

Torts--Res Ipsa Loquitur--Application To Disappearing Airplane

Joint Tortfeasors And The Conflict Of Laws, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

Much has been written regarding tort liability and the conflict of laws and there are numerous cases in the field.' But little attention has been paid to the conflicts aspects of the many legal problems which surround the concept of joint tortfeasors. This paper attempts to collect the relatively few decisions on the subject and to analyze the problems involved.

In the beginning it should be made clear that the term "joint tortfeasors" is used, unless otherwise indicated, in the broad, somewhat colloquial sense which most American courts use today. Thus used, it includes both joint tortfeasors in the narrow …

Recovery Of Damages For Mental Anguish Alone In Breach Of Contract Actions, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Before the late 1800's it undoubtedly would have been contrary to law to assert that damages for mental suffering might be allowed in breach of contract actions. However, near the beginning of the Nineteenth Century a few courts made what was considered to be a serious departure from the common law and allowed such damages in certain types of cases. The passing of years has brought about considerable, though incomplete, development in this phase of the law. Not only have legal writers failed to give this development the comment which its significance warrants, but the courts have failed to indicate …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

CONFLICT OF LAWS--ANNULMENT FOR MENTAL INCAPACITY--APPLICABILITY OF LAW OF DOMICIL

===============================

CONFLICT OF LAWS -DAMAGES -EFFECT OF OUT-OF-STATE EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT

===============================

CONFLICT OF LAWS --DIRECT ACTION AGAINST INSURER--CONSTITUTIONALITY OF STATUTE REQUIRING APPLICATION TO OUT-OF-STATE INSURANCE POLICIES

===============================

CONFLICT OF LAWS --JURISDICTION -FOREIGN ACTS AFFECTING COMMERCE

===============================

CONFLICT OF LAWS --JURISDICTION --SERVICE ON UNINCORPORATED NONRESIDENT

===============================

CONFLICT OF LAWS --JURISDICTION --TRESPASS TO LAND AS TRANSITORY ACTION

===============================

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE --SUSPENDED SENTENCE --FACTORS CONSIDERED IN REVOCATION

================================

FEDERAL PROCEDURE --RULE 50(b) --TRIAL COURT'S DISCRETION TO GRANT NEW TRIAL OR JUDGMENT

================================

LIMITATION OF ACTIONS --STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION--"ACT OR OMISSION COMPLAINED OF"

================================

PROCEDURE-- …

The National Guard And The Federal Tort Claims Act, Stanley D. Rose

Vanderbilt Law Review

In a comment appearing in a previous issue of the Vanderbilt Law Review there was a discussion of the application to military personnel of the Federal Tort Claims Act. One part of that comment may now be expanded. The torts of National Guards men whose units have not been called into federal service do not create a cause of action under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The National Guard of the United States is a reserve component of the Army of the United States. It is made up of the National Guard of the several states, territories and the District …

Particularizing Standards Of Conduct In Negligence Trials, James Fleming Jr., David K. Sigerson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The general principles to be applied by court or jury in deciding whether conduct is reasonable have been examined elsewhere.' The problem to be dealt with here concerns the specific application of the law's standard of conduct to concrete cases. How, that is, may it be shown what a party or his opponent should have done, in the way of taking precautions or the like, in the situation presented by the evidence? What kinds of proof or argument are available to make this showing? When must such a showing be made by proof? Is the jury or court to determine …

Book Reviews, Edmund M. Morgan (Reviewer), Albert Williams (Reviewer), J. Warren Madden (Reviewer), Melvin M. Belli (Reviewer), George H. Tyne (Reviewer), William J. Bowe (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Book Reviews

The Hearsay Rule

By R. W. Baker

London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons,Ltd., 1950. Pp. xxi, 180

reviewer: Edmund M. Morgan

===================================

Self-Incrimination: What Can an Accused Person be Compelled to Do?

By Fred E. Inbau

Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1950.Pp. x, 91. $2.50

reviewer: Albert Williams

===============================

Administrative Law

By Kenneth C. Davis

St. Paul: West Pub. Co.,1951. Pp. xvi, 1024. $8.00

Administrative Law: A Test

By Reginald Parker

Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1952. Pp. x, 344. $5.50

Administrative Agencies and the Courts

By Frank E. Cooper

Ann Arbor; University of Michigan Law School, 1951. Pp. …

Some Comments On The Relation Of Pre-Trial To The Rules Of Evidence, Harry D. Nims

Vanderbilt Law Review

The term "Pre-Trial" is of such recent origin that it is found in few, if any, dictionaries. It seems to be used to describe conferences or hearings attended by counsel for litigants (and by litigants themselves, if they so desire) and a judge of the court to discuss the simplification of the issues to be tried, the sufficiency of the pleadings, the possibility of obtaining admissions and stipulations of facts and documents to avoid unnecessary proof, the limiting of the number of expert witnesses, and any other measures which may aid in the disposition of the case when it comes …

The King Does No Wrong -- Liability For Misadministration, Reginald Parker

Vanderbilt Law Review

The age-old rule of the common law that a citizen may not seek redress from the government for wrongs committed by the latter is often restated in the form of two maxims. One is that "the king can do no wrong." It refers to "wrongs" in the narrower sense of the word, meaning torts and related delicts. It has its counter part if not origin in the Roman-Byzantine holding, princeps legibus solutus est.' Many modern countries and some states have abrogated the rule. The other maxim, "the sovereign cannot be sued without his consent," precludes any law suit, not merely …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE--FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND GESTICULATIONS OF TRIAL JUDGE--PREJUDICIAL EFFECT ON JURY

================================

EMPLOYMENT SECURITY ACT--PERSONS COUNTED TO DETERMINE WHETHER AN EMPLOYING UNIT HAS REQUISITE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES TO CONSTITUTE AN "EMPLOYER"--STUDENTS WORKING FOR SCHOOL TO PAY TUITION

=================================

FEDERAL JURISDICTION--JURISDICTIONAL AMOUNT--INJUNCTION SUITS

=================================

LEGAL ETHICS--SOLICITATION AND FEE SPLITTING--ATTORNEY CONTRACTING WITH LABOR UNION TO REPRESENT UNION MEMBERS FOR CONTIGENT FEE

=================================

NEGLIGENCE--LANDOWNER'S DUTY OF CARE--DUTY OWED TO FIREMAN

=================================

NEGLIGENCE--STANDARD OF CARE--ASSURED-CLEAR-DISTANCE-AHEAD RULE

=================================

PERSONAL PROPERTY--TENANCY BY THE ENTIRETY--BANK ACCOUNTS

=================================

PLEADING--GENERAL ISSUE--SCOPE IN TENNESSEE

=================================

TORTS--CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS--TORT LIABILITY OF CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS UNDER THE DOCTRINE OF RESPONDEAT SUPERIOR

The Federal Tort Claims Act And Its Application To Military Personnel, Harold F. Mcniece, John V. Thornton

Vanderbilt Law Review

The background and history of the Federal Tort Claims Act" are well known. Stemming in part from the medieval political theory that the King could do no wrong, a doctrine evolved in English law that the Crown was, in the absence of its consent, immune to suit. This concept became a part of the American common law, and in the main was enforced as rigorously on this side of the Atlantic as in the mother country.

The oft-times inequitable consequences of sovereign immunity in the United States were at first sought to be ameliorated through the device of private legislative …

Claims Against The State In Tennessee -- The Board Of Claims, George H. Cate Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The age-old doctrine of governmental immunity from suit seems gradually to be passing into the discard, first in the realm of contract liability, and of late in the field of torts. Recent years have seen its vitality substantially sapped by judicial decisions, and there is a distinct trend among governmental units to do away with it partially or entirely through legislation. Thus, England in the Crown Proceedings Act of 1947, the United States in the Federal Tort Claims Act, and many of the states by similar legislation have renounced their shield of immunity from suit and, by means more regularized …

Tort Liability In Aircraft Accidents, Henry G. Gatlin Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Over twenty years ago, Justice Cardozo said, "Aviation is today an established method of transportation. The future, even the near future, will make it still more general." Aviation is now a vital part of our daily lives and a familiarity well steeped in American tradition. But even with this apparent adoption of the place of aviation in our economic cycle, it is accompanied by misunderstanding and confusion--witness the placement of serious auto accidents on page six of our newspapers, where headlines scream of aviation's failure if a crash occurs. But as was said in Cohn v. United Air Lines Transport …

Actions For Wrongful Death In Tennessee, William T. Gamble

Vanderbilt Law Review

Familiar to most lawyers is the bit of law-lore to the effect that the reason the earliest Pullman cars were so constructed that passengers slept with their heads towards the front of the train was so that they would be killed rather than merely injured if an accident occurred.' Although the reason assigned for the Pullman Company's practice is purely fictitious the logic of the fiction is sound, for the common law gave no civil action for a wrongfully inflicted injury if death occurred before a judgment was recovered, and it thus was cheaper to kill a person than to …

Bases For Master's Liability And For Principal's Liability To Third Persons, Merton Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The law with regard to principal and agent grew up as part and parcel of the law of contracts. The law with regard to master and servant grew up as part and parcel of the law of torts. Each one takes its origin far back in the history of the common law.

Agents were used in an early day to effect livery of seisin, to create covenants, and to carry on commercial transactions. The terms "principal" and "agent" may be of modern origin. But the power of one person to bind another in legal transactions was familiar in the days …

Legal Problems Raised By Artificial Rainmaking, Gus D. Hatfield Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The first reported decision involving the problem of the liability in law of the modern rainmaker has recently been rendered.' Though other disputes are reported to have arisen, they have not been finally decided in any regularly reported case.

The case was before the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of New York, the dispute having arisen out of experiments artificially to induce rainfall conducted by the City of New York during the recent, much publicized water shortage in that city. Plaintiffs, who were owners of a vacation resort in upper New York State, sought to enjoin these experiments on …

Tort Liability For Abusive And Insulting Language, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me."This old proverb did not originate with the courts, but it has commonly been regarded as expressing their attitude. Name calling is ordinarily not regarded as actionable under the Anglo-American legal system, no matter how opprobrious or violent the epithet.

A recent Ohio case will illustrate. In Bartow v. Smith,' plaintiff's attorney in his opening statement to the jury declared that a dispute had, arisen between defendant and plaintiff concerning the sale of a farm. Defendant, seeing plaintiff on the city street, came up to her and began …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

RECENT CASES

ATTORNEYS--REINSTATEMENT PROCEEDINGS--JURISDICTION OF DISBARRING COURT

============================

AUTOMOBILE LIABILITY INSURANCE--ESTOPPEL BY JUDGMENT--PRIOR JUDGMENT AGAINST INSURED AS BAR TO INSURER'S DEFENSE OF LACK OF COVERAGE

============================

BURGLARY INSURANCE--CRIMINAL ACT OF EMPLOYEE OF INSURED--HARM TO THIRD PERSON AS JUSTIFICATION

============================

CHATTEL MORTGAGES--MORTGAGEABILITY OF I.C.C. CERTIFICATE OF PUBLIC CONVENIENCE AND NECESSITY--APPROVAL OF COMMISSION AS CONDITION PRECEDENT

============================

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--DUE PROCESS--MANDATORY MINIMUM PRICE MARK-UPS ON INTOXICATING LIQUORS

============================

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--OATH OF ALLEGIANCE AND OATH OF OFFICE--POWER OF LEGISLATURE TO ENLARGE UPON CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION

=============================

CONVEYANCES--CONSTRUCTION OF LIMITATIONS--ENTAILING LANGUAGE AS WORDS OF PURCHASE OR WORDS OF INHERITANCE

=============================

CRIMINAL LAW--PRIVILEGE OF SELF-DEFENSE--DUTY OF OCCUPANTOF …

Conflict Of Laws In Multistate Fraud And Deceit, William O. Beach Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Unlike most conflict of laws questions, the choice-of-law problem in tort actions based on multistate fraud and deceit has been given surprisingly little attention. Until recent years the problem had been raised in but two or three reported cases, and no real attempt had been made to analyze and clarify it. The recognition and scanty treatment of the problem in the Restatement of Conflict of Laws' has perhaps been primarily responsible for the growing awareness of it in the courts in the past two decades. Nevertheless, neither the courts nor the secondary authorities have come forward with a thorough study …

Tort Liability Of Oil Companies For Acts Of Service Station Operators, William T. Gamble

Vanderbilt Law Review

Since the advent of the automobile, travel by motor vehicle has been ever-increasingly prevalent, and consumption of gasoline in the large amounts so required' has necessitated the existence of a great number of retail service stations. For various reasons the major producers of petroleum products have thought it desirable to retain some connection with the distribution of their products until those products pass to the hands of consumers, and consequently nearly all such major producers have established extensive systems of retail outlets which sell only that producer's products and under its exclusive trade names. Because of the great number of …

Tort Actions For Injuries To Unborn Infants, William T. Gamble

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recently two American courts have recognized a right of infants to recover for prenatal injuries. In so meeting the challenge of the common law that "for every wrong there is a remedy" they have taken a step which no other court of final jurisdiction has taken on the strength of the common law alone...

That an infant "en ventre sa mere" is a distinct entity is a scientific, common sense, legally recognized fact. That this entity may suffer prenatal injuries and carry those injuries into postnatal life is well known. That in many cases adequate proof of causal relation could …

Book Notes And Books Received, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Book Notes

Labor Relations and Federal Law

By Donald H. Wollett

Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1949. Pp. xxv, 148, 30. $3.00

===============================

Tennessee Personal Injury Fact Digest

Compiled by Eugene McSweeney

Nashville: The Fact Digest Co., 1949. Pp. 124. $5.50

==============================

BOOKS RECEIVED

Cases on Federal Taxation

By Roswell Magill

Brooklyn: The Foundation Press, Inc., 1950. Pp. i, 546. $7.00

===============================

Cases on Trusts

By George Gleason Bogert

Brooklyn: The Foundation Press, Inc., 1950. Pp. i, 1041. $7.50

===============================

Differences in Income for Accounting and Federal Income Tax

By Clarence F. Reimer

Chicago: Commerce Clearing House, 1949. Pp. iii,184. …

Should The Doctrine Of Implied Warranties Be Limited To Sales Transactions?, Robert B. Deen Jr., Charles H. Warfield

Vanderbilt Law Review

The purpose of this discussion is to examine implied warranties in order to determine if their application is limited to sales transactions. In approaching this problem, it is necessary to understand the development of warranty. In the early law, warranty was a pure action of tort.' Special assumpsit developed over a hundred years later than warranty and was based on the tort action of warranty. Thus, at the beginning, assumpsit was thought of as a tort action. Later assumpsit came to be regarded as similar to covenant and hence became classified with contract actions. Warranty was still considered a tort …

The Standard Of Care Owed By A Hospital To Its Patients, William J. Harbison

Vanderbilt Law Review

Despite the: great number of tort cases which have arisen between hospitals and their patients, comparatively little has been written upon the subject of the standard of care required of a hospital in its relationship with those who enter it for treatment. In this Note some of the types of problems arising out of this relationship will be examined.' Questions of substantive and procedural law will be treated together in order to present these problems more clearly.

Generally, public hospitals are excused from tort liability to their patients upon the ground of governmental immunity ; in most states charitable institutions …

Book Reviews, William N. Ethridge, Jr. (Reviewer), M. G. Dakin (Reviewer), A. B. Neil (Reviewer), C. M. Updegraff (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Book Reviews

The Roosevelt Court: A Study in Judicial Politics and Values By C.Herman Pritchett New York: The Macmillan Company, 1948, Pp. 314,$5.00

Lions Under the Throne By Charles P. Curtis, Jr. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1947. Pp. 361. $3.50

The Nine Young Men By Wesley McCune New York: Harper & Bros.,1947. Pp. 293. $3.50

reviewer: William N. Ethridge, Jr.

==========================

A Declaration of Legal Faith By Wiley Rutledge Lawrence, Kansas:University of Kansas Press, 1947. Pp. 82. $2.00

reviewer: M. G. Dakin

The Papers of Walter Clark: 1857-1901, Vol. 1 Edited by Aubrey Lee Brooks and Hugh T. Leffler Chapel …