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Full-Text Articles in Law

Constitutional Law - Freedom Of Religion - Fluoridation Of City Water, John M. Webb S.Ed. Nov 1956

Constitutional Law - Freedom Of Religion - Fluoridation Of City Water, John M. Webb S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In its proprietary capacity the City of Bend maintains and operates a water system with the exclusive right to supply water to its inhabitants. In February 1952 the mayor and city commissioners adopted an ordinance providing for the introduction of fluorine into the water supply to reduce dental caries in the teeth of young children. The plaintiff as a resident and taxpayer brought suit to enjoin such action. A demurrer to his complaint was sustained. On appeal, held, affirmed. A city, in the exercise of its police power, may enact reasonable regulations for the protection of the public health, …


Constitutional Law - Equal Protection - Legality Of Plans For Maintaining School Segregation, John B. Huck Jun 1956

Constitutional Law - Equal Protection - Legality Of Plans For Maintaining School Segregation, John B. Huck

Michigan Law Review

On May 19, 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States declared that segregation in public schools was a denial of equal protection of the law. Since that date many and varied plans have been proposed to maintain segregated education by avoiding the impact of the decision. The legality of three of these proposed avoidance devices will be analyzed in this comment.


The Fourteenth Amendment Reconsidered, The Segregation Question, Alfred H. Kelly Jun 1956

The Fourteenth Amendment Reconsidered, The Segregation Question, Alfred H. Kelly

Michigan Law Review

Some sixty years ago in Plessy v. Ferguson the Supreme Court of the United States adopted the now celebrated "separate but equal" doctrine as a constitutional guidepost for state segregation statutes. Justice Brown's opinion declared that state statutes imposing racial segregation did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment, provided only that the statute in question guaranteed equal facilities for the two races. Brown's argument rested on a historical theory of the intent, although he offered no evidence to support it. "The object of the amendment," he said, "was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, …


Constitutional Law-Due Process-Search And Seizure-Use In State Courts Of Evidence Obtained Illegally, Howard N. Thiele, Jr. Apr 1956

Constitutional Law-Due Process-Search And Seizure-Use In State Courts Of Evidence Obtained Illegally, Howard N. Thiele, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner was convicted of bookmaking under the anti-gambling laws of California by the use of evidence obtained through unreasonable search and seizure and through disclosures petitioner made when purchasing a federal wagering tax stamp. While petitioner and his wife were away, police concealed a microphone in the hall of his home, later moving it to the bedroom and finally to a bedroom closet. The instrument was connected to a receiver in a neighboring garage where other officers monitored all conversations for more than a month. Petitioner exhausted all state remedies in his attempt to have the evidence so obtained declared …


Church, State, And Freedom: A Review, Paul G. Kauper Apr 1956

Church, State, And Freedom: A Review, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

The Supreme Court's opinion in the Everson case declaring that the separation-of-church-and-state limitation derived from the First Amendment was equally applicable to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment opened up new vistas on the church-state problems in this country. Opponents of released time programs were quick to seize the opening thus afforded as evidenced by the litigation in the McCollum and Zorach cases. And even before the Everson case reached it, the Supreme Court, thanks almost entirely to the efforts of Jehovah's Witnesses, had been engaged at length with the task of defining the dimensions of religious freedom as secured …


Constitutional Law-Equal Protection-Racial Restrictive Covenant In Deed Of Cemetery Lot As Defense To Damage Action, Lawrence N. Ravick Apr 1956

Constitutional Law-Equal Protection-Racial Restrictive Covenant In Deed Of Cemetery Lot As Defense To Damage Action, Lawrence N. Ravick

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought a damage action against a private cemetery for its refusal to permit the interment of her Indian husband in a burial lot which she had purchased from the defendant cemetery under a contract restricting burial privileges to members of the Caucasian race. Held, reliance upon a restrictive covenant to deny recovery does not constitute state action in violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. Rice v. Sioux City Memorial Park Cemetery, (Iowa 1953) 60 N.W. (2d) 110.


Constitutional Law - Due Process - Use Of Habeas Corpus To Allow Federal Court To Review State Court Jury Determination Of Voluntariness Of Confession, Herbert R. Brown S.Ed. Apr 1956

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Use Of Habeas Corpus To Allow Federal Court To Review State Court Jury Determination Of Voluntariness Of Confession, Herbert R. Brown S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The prisoner had been convicted of murder in the state court. He brought a habeas corpus proceeding in federal district court to secure his release from custody on the ground that the conviction was based on a confession which was obtained by physical violence. The confession had been submitted to the jury, which was instructed to consider it only if it found that it was not obtained by duress or fear produced by threats. The district court granted the writ of habeas corpus. On appeal, held, affirmed. The district court could determine the facts of the case for itself. …


Constitutional Law - Equal Protection - Determinable Fee As Devise To Impose Racial Restrictions On Use Of Land, Charles B. Renfrew S.Ed. Mar 1956

Constitutional Law - Equal Protection - Determinable Fee As Devise To Impose Racial Restrictions On Use Of Land, Charles B. Renfrew S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Land was conveyed by deed to the Park and Recreation Commission, a municipal corporation. The grant was in the nature of a determinable fee, with the land to revert to the grantor if it was ever used by members of any race other than the white race. Members of the colored race petitioned the Park and Recreation Commission for permission to use the recreational facilities erected on the land conveyed and the commission then sought a declaratory judgment as to the legal effect of the possibility of reverter contained in the deed, joining the petitioners and the grantors of the …


Constitutional Law - Due Process - Privilege Against Self-Incrimination In State Criminal Proceedings, Frank M. Lacey Feb 1956

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Privilege Against Self-Incrimination In State Criminal Proceedings, Frank M. Lacey

Michigan Law Review

In March 1951, defendant, a New York City policeman, was called to testify before a state grand jury investigating the association of city policemen with the criminal element of Kings County. Existing laws required public officers to execute a waiver of immunity to prosecution for matters to which their testimony related, on pain of losing their positions. The defendant signed such a waiver, and shortly thereafter resigned from the police force. He was called before the same grand jury again in December 1952, and on this occasion was asked whether he had ever accepted bribes while a policeman. He refused …


Criminal Procedure - Availablity Of Federal Court Injunction To Prevent Federal Officer From Testifying In State Court As To Illegally-Obtained Evidence, Edward C. Hanpeter Jan 1956

Criminal Procedure - Availablity Of Federal Court Injunction To Prevent Federal Officer From Testifying In State Court As To Illegally-Obtained Evidence, Edward C. Hanpeter

Michigan Law Review

Prosecution of petitioner in federal court for the unlawful acquisition of marihuana failed when the court granted petitioner's motion to suppress the marihuana as evidence because it was obtained by a search based on an invalid search warrant. The federal officer who had seized the marihuana then swore to a complaint before a state judge, and a warrant for petitioner's arrest for violation of state law issued. While awaiting trial, petitioner filed a motion in federal district court to enjoin the federal officer from testifying in the state court. The district court denied the injunction, and the court of appeals …


Jackson: The Supreme Court In The American System Of Government, Howard M. Downs S.Ed. Jan 1956

Jackson: The Supreme Court In The American System Of Government, Howard M. Downs S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Supreme Court in the American System of Government. By Robert H. Jackson


Constitutional Law - Due Process - State Procedure For Attacking The Composition Of Grand Juries, Robert E. Hammell Jan 1956

Constitutional Law - Due Process - State Procedure For Attacking The Composition Of Grand Juries, Robert E. Hammell

Michigan Law Review

Defendant Michel, a Negro, was indicted by a grand jury for rape on February 19, 1953. On March 2, the same day that the term of the grand jury expired, he was arraigned and counsel was appointed. One week (five judicial days) later, motion was made to quash the indictment on grounds of discrimination against Negroes in impaneling the grand jury. The trial court ruled that the objection had been waived because Louisiana law requires that it be raised within three judicial days after the expiration of the term of the grand jury. The defendant was convicted, and the Louisiana …


Constitutional Law - Interstate Commerce - Validity Of Segregation In Interstate Railway Facilities, Robert W. Steele Jan 1956

Constitutional Law - Interstate Commerce - Validity Of Segregation In Interstate Railway Facilities, Robert W. Steele

Michigan Law Review

The defendant, St. Louis and San Francisco Railway Company, maintained separate accommodations in railway coaches and terminal waiting-rooms for white and Negro passengers. Section 3 (1) of the Interstate Commerce Act makes it unlawful for a rail carrier to subject any person to any unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage. Plaintiff association joined with seventeen individual parties in filing a complaint with the Interstate Commerce Commission charging the carrier with violating the provisions of this act and in seeking an order requiring it to cease and desist from using these discriminatory practices. Held, assignment of accommodations on the basis of race …