Law Commons^™

The Courts Of Judea, Jerome C. Knowlton

Articles

The study of Jewish jurisprudence has become interesting during the past ten years through the efforts of some painstaking scholars, who have not been burdened with any particular dogma, but have been actuated by a true Christian spirit. They have been close students of those portions of the Talmud which throw light on the jurisprudence of the Jews.

A Suggestion Concerning The Law Of Inter-State Extradition, Edwin F. Conely

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While yet the nation was forming-indeed as early as 1643-the impolicy of the colonies' suffering themselves to become asylums for criminal refugees was seen and appreciated by the public men of the time. But, though continued efforts were made in the right direction and much was accomplished, the rendition of fugitives from justice remained, either legally or practically, a matter of comity for nearly a century and a half, or until the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. Then, made mandatory by the organic law of the Nation, inter-state extradition ceased to be subject to State control or …

The American Mutuum, Jerome C. Knowlton

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The delivery of goods that may be accurately designated by number, weight or measure, such as corn or wine, on an undertaking that goods of like kind and quality shall be returned, creates what is known in the civil law as the contract of mutuum, a kind of bailment contract. Text writers on the common law regard such a transaction as a sale and not a bailment. "Where there is no obligation to return the specific article, and the receiver is at liberty to return another thing of equal value, he becomes debtor to make the return, and the title …

Testamentary Promises To Pay, Nathan Abbott

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The New York Law Journal for May 23, 1892, contains a suggestive editorial headed "A Will or Not a Will," in which the writer says "Interesting questions are constantly arising in the classification of instruments which, although expressing wishes or intentions to be carried out after death, are open to criticism on the score of testamentary execution." As is intimated by the writer, the difficulty of placing an instrument in either the class of contracts or wills is considerably diminished if the statutory provisions as to execution of wills are elaborate. Where holographic wills are allowed, or wills of personal …

The "Law Reports", Nathan Abbott

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The period between the years 1860 and 1870 marks an interesting stage in the history of law reporting. Within this period a system of reporting that had existed for upward of three centuries came to an end, and an experiment was begun whereby it was hoped to produce reports not merely in a new way, but reports that were to be materially different in form and substance from those of the previous system. The conception of the enterprise and its successful accomplishment is due to the energy and discretion of one man, whose history of the affair, after twenty years …

Embarassments To Legal Education, Jerome C. Knowlton

Articles

In European countries a student is not allowed to undertake the study of law until he has received a degree equivalent to the A. B. degree in American colleges, and the minimum term of study is three years, and in some cases four or even five years are required. With some mortification, we recognize that the profession of law in this country has not approximated this high standard.

How May Presidential Electors Be Appointed?, Bradley M. Thompson

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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 …

Law School Of The University Of Michigan, Henry W. Rogers

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The University of Michigan is one of the two largest universities in the United States, and this position it has attained within a comparatively few years. In June, 1887, it celebrated its semi-centennial ; and the University Calendar this year issued shows a Faculty roll of one hundred and eight professors, instructors, and assistants, as well as the names of eighteen hundred and eighty-two students. Harvard University, founded in 1636, and the oldest institution of learning in the country, celebrating its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary in November, i886, leads it in numbers by only seventeen students. In 1871 the …

The Element Of Locality In The Law Of Criminal Jurisdiction, Henry W. Rogers

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THE Federal Courts have no common law criminal jurisdiction. The question was raised in the United States Circuit Court for the District of Pennsylvania, in 1798, in United States v. Worrall, 2 Dallas, 384, and the Court was equally divided in opinion. Iii 1818, Mr. Justice STORY, in United States v. Coolidge, 1 Gallison, 488, decided that there were common law offences against the United States. But this, as we shall see, was overruled by the Supreme Court. As early as 1807, Chief Justice MARSHALL, in Ex parte .Bollman, 4 Cranch, 75, had said, "This Court disclaims all jurisdiction not …

International Extradition, Henry W. Rogers

Articles

It is a well-established principle of law that criminal prosecutions are local and not transitory. A wrong-doer whose wrong consists in a civil injury, or arises out of a breach of contract, can ordinarily be required to answer for the wrong done wherever he may be found. But a different principle is applied to the case of one who has committed a crime. As one nation does not enforce the penal laws of another, and as the process of the courts of a state can confer no authority beyond its own territorial limits, punishment can be avoided by escaping from …

Law Schools And Legal Education, Henry W. Rogers

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In the February number of the AMERICAN LAW REGISTER, there appeared an interesting article from the pen of Mr. Henry Budd, discussing the relation of law schools to legal education. The motive which inspired the writing of the article, was a commendable one, and the desire of the writer to have a higher standard established, governing admissions to the bar, will be quite generally concurred in. No one could read the article in question, however, without readily perceiving that the law schools of the United States were considered to be, in large measure, responsible for the admission to the bar …

Subscriptions, Henry W. Rogers

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One cannot expect, within the limits of a single article, to exhaust the law relating to Subscriptions. But within the limits assigned, I propose to consider some portions of the law relating to this subject, which seem to me to be of sufficient interest and importance to merit attention in these pages. The subject of Subscriptions is seemingly a narrow one, and yet it has given rise to very considerable litigation, and out of it have come many interesting questions, upon the determination of which large pecuniary interests have often-times depended, especially in the case of Stock Subscriptions.

Davey V. Aetna Life Ins. Co., Henry W. Rogers

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Professor Rogers considers a case where a life insurance policy appears to be voided by the use of alcoholic beverages by the insured, to the degree of cause of death. Rogers notes: "In the particular case the court was asked to give the following instruction: Th expression in the policy, 'became so far intemperate as to impair his health,' does not mean habitual intemperance; but an act of intemperance producing the impairment of health is within the condition of the policy, and renders the policy null and void except as therein provided...."

In the Application for Rule to Show Cause …

Harboring Conspiracy, Henry W. Rogers

Articles

That the American people should naturally sympathize with Ireland in its demand for home rule is to be expected from the very nature of our institutions and theory of government. We in this country are of the opinion that Ireland, in demanding from England the right to regulate its domestic affairs in its own way and by its own laws, presents an honorable and a just cause, which appeals to our sympathy and sense of right. But it makes no difference bow honorable and legitimate a cause may be in itself, if it be supported by means which are not …

Labor And Capital Before The Law, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

The chief concern of every political society is the establishment of rights and of adequate securities for their protection. In America, it has been agreed that this shall be done by the people themselves; they shall make their own laws, and choose their own agents to administer them. But the obvious difficulty of doing this directly has been recognized, and the people, after formulating the charter of government, incorporating in it such principles as they deem fundamental, content themselves with delegating all powers of ordinary legislation to representatives. Notwithstanding this delegation, much direct legislation of a very effective and important …

Popular And Legal Views Of Traffic Pooling, Thomas M. Cooley

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“Perhaps nothing in respect to the relations between the railroad companies and the public attracts more attention at the present time than the arrangements to which the name of pooling is popularly given. In railroad circles these arrangements are looked upon as necessary to prevent all railroad property becoming absolutely worthless to the stockholders, as a very large part of it is now; and those managers who are hoping to earn dividends are therefore laboring earnestly to make these arrangements effectual…. What is said will refer especially to pooling in freight traffic, but in principle it will apply to passenger …

Sarony V. Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co., Henry W. Rogers

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Commenting in the Federal Reporter on this Opinion, Professor Rogers considers at length this case bearing on definitions of copyright and artistic properties. "This was an action at law for the violation of the plaintiff's copyright of a photograph of Oscar Wilde, which the defendant had copied by the process known as chromo-lithography.... A jury was waived, and the case was argued upon questions of law only, which appear in the opinion."

"The contention of the defendant, briefly stated, is this: That there was no constitutional warrant for this act; that a photographer is not an author, and a photograph …

Detroit Savings Bank V. Zeigler, Henry W. Rogers

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"Such interchanges of assistance between officers of a bank, as temporary need may require, is fairly within the contemplation of the appointment of such an officer, and the sureties on his bond are liable for a default made while he was temporarily filling the place of another officer.

"The receiving teller of the savings department of a bank, while filling the place of the general teller, during the latter's temporary absences, embezzled moneys of the bank: Held, that the sureties on a bond, given by him for so taken."

The Remedies For The Collection Of Judgments Against Debtors Who Are Residents Or Property Holders In Another State, Or Within The British Dominions, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

Whenever a party who has obtained a judgment in one state or county has occasion to take proceedings for its enforcement in another, he finds-perhaps to his surprise-that his judgment as such has no extra-territorial force, but that in other jurisdictions it is merely evidence of a settled demand, upon which judgment must be obtained in a new suit before there can be process for its enforcement. A creditor cannot, for example, upon a judgment recovered in New York, have an execution in Pennsylvania; for courts issue executions only upon their own judgments; and while it would no doubt be …

The Right Of A Bona Fide Occupant Of Land To Compensation For His Improvements, Henry W. Rogers

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It may be observed, in the first place, that the civil law afforded protection to the bona fide occupant of land, who had made useful or permanent improvements on the land, believing himself to be the true owner. The civil law never permitted one who was in the possession of land in good faith, to be turned out of his possession by the rightful owner, without any compensation for the additional value he has given to the soil by the improvements he had made; but it allowed him to off-set the value of his improvements to the extent, at least, …

The Right Of A Bona Fide Occupant Of Land To Compensation For His Improvements, Henry W. Rogers

Articles

It may be observed, in the first place, that the civil law afforded protection to the bona fide occupant of land, who had made useful or permanent improvements on the land, believing himself to be the true owner. The civil law never permitted one who was in the possession of land in good faith, to be turned out of his possession by the rightful owner, without any compensation for the additional value he has given to the soil by the improvements he had made; but it allowed him to offset the value of his improvements to the extent, at least, …

State Regulation Of Corporate Profits, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

At the time when the Federal Constitution was adopted, municipal government in America was a very simple affair, and was managed with ease and economy through local officers, who provided for the making and repairing of roads, looked after disorderly characters, abated local nuisances, and levied rates for the few and simple public needs. When the growing population of a particular locality appeared to need larger powers of local government, the legislature granted them, but they often involved little more than the holding of fairs as a means of building up local trade, the institution of a local court for …

The Abnegation Of Self-Government, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

The fundamental idea underlying the government of every State of the American Union is that the people rule. Upon this the American people have erected their constitutional structure, and to thi!J thcir laws and their conduct are supposed to conform. Their constitutions, State and National, tho they may be said to have grown out of their circumstances, were not forced upon them by the circumstances, and simply accepted with little or no volition on their part, as has very commonly been the case with government in other countries; but the controlling principle was adopted deliberately by them, from a conviction …

Coyle V. The Commonwealth, Henry W. Rogers

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"Homicidal mania must be proved, not assumed, nor confounded with reckless frenzy; To instruct, however, that it must be proved by 'clearly preponderating evidence' is error. All the authorities require is that the evidence proving it should 'fairly' preponderate.

"An attempt at suicide is not of itself evidence of insanity, and raises no legal presumption thereof....

"It was clearly proved that Coyle killed Emily Myers. That fact is admitted. The only defence set up is that he was insane at the time."

Compensation Of Experts, Henry W. Rogers

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The law relating to the compensation of experts is somewhat unsettled, and the cases are not numerous in which the subject has been considered. This very fact, however, lends additional interest to the subject, and the question is one of great importance. In some of the States the law expressly provides that when a witness is summoned to testify as an expert he shall be entitled to extra compensation. Such a provision may be found in the laws of Iowa, of North Carolina, and of Rhode Island.

Remedies Of Illegal Taxation, Thomas M. Cooley

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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.

The Limits To Legislative Power In The Passage Of Curative Laws, Thomas M. Cooley

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There has always been some regret that, when the Federal judiciary was called upon to interpret and apply the prohibition in the Constitution of ex post facto laws,1 it did not reach the condlusion that retrospective laws were forbidden, as well where they applied to civil rights as when they concerned criminal liabilities or penalties. The famous twenty-ninth chapter of the great charter placed the protection of liberty and property upon the same basis, and the power to reach the one by indirection is subject to the same objections in principle, that could be urged against the power to reach …

Presidential Inability, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

The protracted illness of President Garfield led to much discussion and a variety of opinions as to what constitutes a disability in the Presidential office which will justify the Vice-president in assuming its duties.

The Recording Laws Of The United States, Thomas M. Cooley

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Of the securities,provided by law for the protection of property, perhaps none is more important than the registration of land titles. We put aside, very early, the old English notion that the best evidence of title was the possession of the title deeds, and adopted a system which, in theory, proposed to place in a public office, accessible to everyone, a record of the titles to real estate, by which every man might safely buy or safely accept encumbrances. Speaking generally now of the system, the theory seems to be nearly perfect. Every instrument affecting the title to lands must …

Title To Lands Under Fresh Water Lakes And Ponds, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

In the Northwestern States there are innumerable lakes and ponds, which are largely resorted to for pleasure, and for the opportunities they furnish for the taking of game and fish. The scenery about them is, in most cases, picturesque and inviting, and they become favorite locations for residence. On some the navigation is valuable for business purposes; others are navigated for pleasure only. In surveying the public domain for the purposes of sale, the government caused all that were too large to be embraced within a single subdivision of a section, to be meandered at the water line, and the …