Law Commons^™

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Adverse Possession - Tenants in Common - Inception of Hostility - A father died leaving seven children as heirs to his farm. Since 1883, the plaintiff, who was the eldest son. had been in continuous and exclusive Dossession, paying all the taxes and taking all the profits without rendering any account to his co-heirs. Before 1883, the plaintiff had rebuilt the house on the premises, and in xgoi, he built a barn on the place. In a suit to quiet title, it was held, that it was a permissible inference from all the evidence that the plaintiff had gained title …

Book Reviews, Joseph H. Drake

Michigan Law Review

The appearance in permanent form of these five lectures, which were first published in the Fortnightly Review in 1878 and i879, will be welcomed by all interested in the history of jurisprudence, since they put forth in most attractive form several of the basic principles of the subject as they were understood by learned English jurists forty years ago. They are reissued in practically unchanged form, with annotations by Professor Lefroy, whose untimely death apparently occurred before the volume was printed, though there is no notice of that sad event in the book itself.

Practice Court Rules, University Of Michigan Law School

Miscellaneous Law School History & Publications

The purpose of the Practice Court is to afford to students of this department practical instruction in pleading both at law and in equity, under the common law system and the "reformed" or "code" procedure, and actual experience in the commencement and trial of cases through all their stages.

This booklet outlines the Practice Court Rules for 1920.

Law Class Of 1895 Twenty-Fifth Reunion, University Of Michigan Law School

Yearbooks & Class Year Publications

Schedule of events for the twenty-fifth reunion of the Law Class of 1895.

League Of Nations And The Constitution, J M. Matthews

Michigan Law Review

The Covenant for a League of Nations has justly aroused an immense amount of discussion in this country, since it undoubtedly presents to the American nation the most important of the many questions of foreign policy growing out of the Great War. Most of this discussion has dealt with the matter solely from the standpoint of policy or expediency, without noticing the interesting constitutional questions involved. When the Covenant has, on occasion, been considered from the constitutional point of view, such corsideration has generally been merely incidental and the writer's or speaker's views as to the desirability of subscribing to …

The Equality Of States In International Law, Edwin Dewitt Dickinson

Books

The author has attempted in this volume to present the equality of states as it appears in the theory of international law and also as it is affected by common usage. Theoretical aspects of the subject are considered in chapters dealing with the sources of the principle, its origin, and its significance in the writings of modem publicists and in illustrative documents. The opinion that Grotius first established the principle in international law is examined and evidence is adduced which indicates that the opinion is erroneous. The equality of states as affected by common usage is really their inequality or …

Administrative Legislation, John A. Fairlie

Michigan Law Review

Few people are aware of the great extent to which public administration in the United States national government is controlled by means of administrative regulations or orders, in the nature of subordinate legislation. Most writers on American government have emphasized the greater detail of statutory legislation in this country as compared with the statutes of continental countries in Europe, or even with Acts of Parliament in Great Britain, and have under-estimated, and indeed have usually ignored entirely, the enormous mass of administrative legislation supplementing Acts of Congress, and issued by the President and the various executive departments, bureaus, commissions. and …

Note And Comment, Joseph H. Drake, Grover C. Grismore, Victor H. Lane, Edgar N. Durfee, Robert G. Day

Michigan Law Review

Epithetical Jurisprudence and the Annexation of Fixtures - If we begin with all the facts of a controversy and proceed inductively to determine the rights of the parties litigant, we thus arrive at a jurisprudence of rights, whereas, if we reason deductively from a rule, a definition, or a maxim of law to its application in the facts of our case, we can at best attain only a jurisprudence of rules, which has been so aptly characterized as an epithetical jurisprudence. The subject of fixtures is one in which we have great difficulty in applying the inductive method because the …

The Courts As Authorized Legal Advisors Of The People, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

It is doubtful whether American legal institutions have witnessed a more far-reaching procedural reform since New York adopted its Code of Civil Procedure in 1848, than the movement toward the authorization of judicial declarations of rights which has received its chief impetus from legislation enacted in three American States during the past year. A somewhat timid step in this direction was taken by the New Jersey Chancery Practice Act of 1915, but it disclosed a want of confidence in the broad effectiveness of the remedy. Now for the first time American legislation has definitely committed itself to the principle that …

Public Utility Valuation - Cost Of Reproduction Theory And The World War, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

The very grave objections to the cost-of-reproduction theory of valuation of public utilities was pointed out at large in 15 MICH. L. REV. 205. The violent price changes following the World War have greatly increased the weight of these objections to calling anything a base which rests on such uncertainties and fluctuations as cost-of-reproduction. A base should be stable, but this has the stability Of a flying machine. There had been a rising curve of costs from 1893 to 1916, but since that date the rise has been almost vertical. The public utilities by- the thousands desire to take advantage …

Married Women - The Husband's Right To His Wife's Services And To Her Earnings, Evans Holbrook

Articles

A Michigan statute passed in 1911 (LAWS OF 1911, ch. 196; COMP. LAWS 1915, § 11478) provided that a married woman should be "entitled to * * * earnings acquired * ** * as the result of her personal efforts." A married woman, before 1911, had worked as housekeeper for X and had continued to work for him after 1911; on his death she filed a claim against his estate for her services during the whole period. Held, she could not recover for the period before 1911, as her services and earnings prior to that date belonged to her husband.

Liability Without Fault, John B. Waite

Articles

In Ives v. South Buffalo Ry. Co., 201 N. Y. 271, appeared, as a basis for the decision, the statement that "When our Constitutions were adopted, it was the law of the land that no man who was without fault or negligence could be held liable in damages for injuries sustained by another. That is still the law." Mr. Justice McKenna has recently voiced the same idea. In his dissenting opinion in Arizona Copper Co. v. Hammer, 39 Sup. Ct. Rep. 553, he contends that the Workmen's Compensation Act of Arizona is unconstitutional, because, "It seems to me to be …

Evidence - Disputable Presumptions; Can They Be Weighed?, Victor H. Lane

Articles

The evidential force of presumptions under the California Civil Code, I96I, was considered and the statute construed in Everett v. Stazdard Accident Insurance Co., - Cal. - , 187 Pac. 996. The defense to an action on an insurance policy, by one claiming to be the wife of the insured, was that she did not have that relationship because the marriage ceremony under which she claimed occurred while the insured had another wife then living. The question arose as to the effect upon the determination of this question of fact of the presumption that the deceased did not commit a …

Epithetical Jurisprudence And The Annexation Of Fixtures, Joseph H. Drake

Articles

If we begin with all the facts of a controversy and proceed inductively to determine the rights of the parties litigant, we thus arrive at a jurisprudence of rights, whereas, if we reason deductively from a rule, a definition, or a maxim of law to its application in the facts of our case, we can at best attain only a jurisprudence of rules, which has been so aptly characterized as an epithetical jurisprudence. The subject of fixtures is one in which we have great difficulty in applying the inductive method because the courts have been slower in approaching the subject …

International Recognition And The National Courts, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

In the law of nations everything depends upon recognition. A newly organized state may possess all the requisites of de facto existence, but it can gain admission to the community of international law only as it is recognized by other states. Even after it has been admitted to the international community it may be virtually outlawed by the refusal of other states to recognize a change in its government. It is through recognition and recognition alone that a de facto state becomes and continues an international person and a subject of international law.

Public Utilities—Franchise Rates As Affected By The World War, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

The economic convulsions due to the World War are abundantly reflected in the relations between the public and their public utilities operating under franchises fixing rates for service. The enormous rise in cost of labor and materials has, in many cases, so reduced the net income of such utilities as to make it a negative quantity at existing franchise rates. The utilities are crying to be saved from bankruptcy, but the unfortunate suspicion bred by past dealings of many such companies has made the public skeptical, and perhaps in many cases entirely unreasonable. In some cases plain selfishness may explain …

Conflict Of Laws--The Law Controlling The Validity Of A Married Woman's Contract, Victor H. Lane

Articles

The case of Poole v. Perkins (Va.), IO S. E. 240, involves that troublesome question of whether the validity of a contract is to be ruled by the law of the place where made, or by that of the place of performance.

Deeds Delivered Conditionally To The Grantee, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

Generally courts have shown a commendable disposition to get away from the formalism, which in the past played such a large part in determination of questions of delivery. While the actual tradition of the instrument to the grantee or to someone on his behalf, on the one hand, or its retention in the hands of the maker, on the other, is still very important evidentially, such facts are not by any means controlling. Thus it is entirely possible for a deed to be delivered though it never has been out of the grantor's hands; likewise a deed may be undelivered …

Patent Law, John Barker Waite

Books

The comparatively small size of the book is not due to any conscious superficiality of treatment nor omission of pertinent subject matter. It purports to cover only the substantive law of patents, their nature, validity, effect, and their characteristics as property. Matters of procedure in securing patents or suing on them, and the difficult subject of the amount of compensation recoverable by suit, would require a volume for themselves and are not included here. But of the matter which is included, it has been my desire to present every issue which has come before the courts....

This book is intended …

Jurisprudence And The Study Of Cases, Joseph H. Drake

Articles

Following the suggestion of our Chairman, we have apparently agreed to assume that under the theme of jurisprudence we are to include all of the abstract, nonutilitarian subjects bearing upon the subject of law. Whether we call it a historical science, a science of sciences, or a philosophy, we all believe that it Is a valuable body of rapidly increasing knowledge, and our purpose now is to determine the methodological question as to how it can be made available for our undergraduate students in the law school.

Escheat - How State Acquires Title, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

Escheat is of feudal origin, and properly applied only to land which on failure of heirs or for certain other reasons, "fell in" to the lord under whom it had been held. Personal property without an owner, as bona vacantia, became the property of the crown. In re Bond [1901] 1 Ch. 15. In the United States escheat is used more broadly, but usually arises when the owner of property dies intestate without heirs. Our alienage laws have generally removed disabilities of aliens to take, but in some jurisdictions there may still be escheat because of alienage, see 5 MICH. …

Willard Titus Barbour, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

Legal scholarship in America suffered a grievous loss in the death of Willard T. Barbour, Charles F. Southmayd Professor of Law in the Yale Law School on March 2, 1920. Indeed it is not too much to say that his loss will be felt wherever the English Common Law holds its sway, for he had dipped deep into the obscured origins of Equity Jurisdiction during his study at Oxford and in London, and was but at the beginning of a series of studies and lectures which would ultimately have developed into a comprehensive book, throwing light not only upon the …

Effect Of An Agreement By One Person To Supply Another's 'Requirements' Of A Given Commodity, Grover C. Grismore

Articles

The cases show that the kind of agreement indicated by the heading of this note has become an established part of business usage. In normal times such an agreement is likely to be carried out to the entire satisfaction of both parties, without question, but, in a period of changing business conditions and abnormal price flctuations such as we have witnessed during the last few years, nice questions of interpretation are likely to arise, as is well illustrated by the recent case of Oscar Schlegel Mfg. Co. v. Peter Coopers Glue Factory, (1920) 179 N. Y. S. 271.

Continuous Trespass And Repeated Wrong, Joseph H. Drake

Articles

In the recent case of Perkins v. Trueblood, (Cal., May, 1919), 191 Pac. 642, the facts were that, in March, 1912, the defendant, a surgeon, set the leg of the plaintiff, but as the fracture did not heal satisfactorily "the defendant separated the surfaces of the bone during the month of April, 1912, and again set the plaintiff's leg." In a suit for malpractice, begun on April 9, 1913, it was held, that the cause of action "was not barred by the CODE OF PROCEDURE, Article 340, subd. 3, prescribing a one year limitation period in such cases." It is …

Recovery Of Life Insurance When Insured Died In Military Service, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

A group of very recent cases, representative no doubt of many others pending, involve an interesting and important question as to the construction of military and naval service clauses in life insurance policies. These clauses which have been common in policies, at least in those issued in the last few years, while varying in wording-and these variations may be vitally important,-provide in general that if the insured meets death while engaged in military or naval service the liability of the insurer shall be limited to the premiums paid, unless permission to engage in such service shall have been obtained from …

Contracts For The Benefit Of A Third Person In Michigan, Grover C. Grismore

Articles

In the recent case of Preston v. Preston the supreme court of Michigan had occasion to consider the question as to whether or not one for whose benefit a contract is made has any enforcible rights. The suit was one 'in Chancery, the donee plaintiff was an invalid, and every consideration of justice and equity demanded that she be given relief. The court had, however, to face the fact that in recent cases it had indicated its opinion to be that the third party beneficiary has no rights. In Modern Maccabees v. Sharp, (1910) 163 Mich. 449, 456 the court …

Nebulous Injunctions, Edgar N. Durfee

Articles

Injunctive relief is sought against alleged wrongdoing which is merely incidental to the conduct of a legitimate business. The wrong is established and the court is satisfied that an injunction should issue. Yet some nice questions remain as to the scope and terms of the decree.

Attorney's Lien For Services - Set-Off Of Judgments, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

Anglo-Saxon judges, as members of the legal profession, have shown an admirable freedom from professional bias and class selfishness in dealing with questions involving the rights and privileges of members of their profession. With every opportunity offered for treating lawyers as a favored class, they have been able to maintain a detached and objective attitude toward them. Indeed, the courts seem to have preferred to be charged with excessive severity in dealing with their brethren of the bar rather than give the slightest ground for suspicion that they were capitalizing their power in the interest of the legal fraternity.

Privileged Communication Between Attorney And Client-Question Of Whether The Relation Exists Left To Jury-Party Allowed To Assign Error On Ruling Violating The Privilege, Victor H. Lane

Articles

This procedure was justified in the opinion in State v. Snook (Court of Errors and "Appeals of N. J., 1920), 109 Atl. 289. Snook was on trial for manslaughter charged as having been committed by the reckless driving of an automobile. After the act, Mimmick, one of the persons in the automobile, and afterward a witness for the defense, went to an attorney and had some conversation with him, the substance of which, as testified to by the attorney, was a recital by M. of what had occurred and an inquiry by him of the attorney as to what he …

The Legal Status Of Abstract Books, Literary Property, Implied Contract Of Secrecy, Unfair Trade, Edgar N. Durfee

Articles

A recent case before the Supreme Court of Washington raises some novel and interesting questions. A company engaged in the abstract business mortgaged its "records, bookt, plats." After suit was commenced to foreclose the mortgage, the mortgagor, who remained in possession, made photographic copies of the records and sold them to the defendant who had notice of the mortgage of the originals. The foreclosure resulted in a sale of the property, described as in the mortgage, to the plaintiff. Whether plaintiff knew at this time of the existence of the copies does not appear. Plaintiff is using the original records …