Law Commons^™

Workmen's Compensation, John M. Cate

Vanderbilt Law Review

A review of the past year in Workmen's Compensation in Tennessee must of necessity take into account any legislative change in the Compensation Act itself' as well as trends disclosed through the decisions of the courts. The modern development and growth of this new theory, that of liability without fault, make pertinent the inquiry. Although a development of one generation, the theory of Workmen's Compensation is now almost universal in application. Under it, industry bears its fair share of the cost of injuries to workers, without any reference to fault or blame or negligence, where there is a reasonably apparent …

Bills And Notes, Paul J. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Parol Evidence Rule as Applied to Bills and Notes. The Tennessee Supreme Court case of Lazarov v. Klyce' presented the problem of when an agent who has signed a negotiable instrument can use parol evidence to exonerate himself from personal liability on the instrumentat the suit of the payee. The payee of a note sued the defendant, Arnold Klyce, to hold him individually liable on the note of a corporation of which defendant was an officer. The defense was that the note was an obligation of the corporation, that defendant signed as an officer of the corporation and that …

Insurance, Robert W. Sturdivant

Vanderbilt Law Review

One of the most significant decisions during the past year in the field of liability insurance was that of the Court of Appeals in the case of Southern Fire & Casualty Co. v. Norris.' The case involved the duty of a liability insurer toward the insured in the settlement of claims. As early as 1928, the Supreme Court of Tennessee held that the insurer has an obligation toward the insured to use good faith in the conduct of litigation and in the settlement of claims when the insurer assumes control of a case under the provisions of its policy.

Wills, Estates And Trusts, William J. Bowe

Vanderbilt Law Review

Formalities. The statutory formalities required for the execution of wills are too frequently brushed aside as trivia. The lawyer, supervising the ceremony of execution, and the testator, as the chief actor, may have feelings of embarrassed self-consciousness in complying with the required minutiae. But the importance of staging a routine ceremony, however silly it may seem at the moment, cannot be overestimated. Law students ought to be told and practitioners reminded to adopt the practice, once the testator and witnesses are assembled, of closing the door, drawing the shades, cutting off the telephone and advising all present that no one …

Contracts, Merton Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The case of Thomas v. Million presented these facts: The defendant listed a house and lot for sale with the plaintiff, a real estate broker,for $16,500. The plaintiff advertised the property for sale and showed it to many prospects, including a man by the name of Cowell. After that, the defendant wrote a letter to the plaintiff, "terminating the agency contract" of the plaintiff. The defendant then sold the property to Cowell for $15,500. The plaintiff was allowed to recover $500 as a reasonable commission.

Creditor's Rights, Paul J. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

In City Finance Co. v. Perry, the Tennessee Supreme Court was called upon to construe a portion of the new and rather involved Motor Vehicle Title and Registration Law, which was enacted by the 1951 legislature. The Perry case construed the provisions which have to do with the recordation of liens upon the certificate of title as constructive notice thereof. These require owners of motor vehicles to register them in the name of the owner with the Motor Vehicle Division of the Tennessee Department of Safety and to procure from it a certificate of title and a title card. This …

Statutory Interpretation, Henry N. Williams

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Supreme Court of Tennessee reconsidered several problems in the field of Statutory Interpretation during the Survey period, but its decisions largely followed principles already established in Tennessee and other jurisdictions.

Constitutional Requirements

Certain problems in the field of legislation arise in Tennessee by reason of state constitutional provisions. The Court is committed to the position of interpreting these provisions more or less irrespective of the construction of comparable provisions in other state constitutions.'

The Constitution of the State of Tennessee provides: "No bill shall become a law, which embraces more than one subject; that subject to be expressed in …

Procedure And Evidence, Edmund M. Morgan

Vanderbilt Law Review

Demurrer: The Tennessee cases reiterate the orthodox proposition that a demurrer admits the facts alleged or averred in the pleading to which it is interposed.' It is perhaps unnecessary to note that this proposition is true only when the problem concerns the sufficiency of the allegations or averments in the pleading. In truth, the demurrer is merely a default as to the facts and a tender of issue on the law. If the demurrer is overruled and the action is for unliquidated damages, the plaintiff's averment as to the amount of the damages is not taken as true; he must …

Annual Survey Of Tennessee Law, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

The idea of an annual survey of the law of a particular jurisdiction is not a new one, either in this country or abroad. During a period of at least 25 years an increasing number of publications have undertaken to present such a survey. The task is a delicate one, and performances have been somewhat uneven. A mere digest of appellate opinions or a scissors-and-paste collection of expressed rules of law serves some useful purpose but scarcely justifies separate existence. On the other hand an exhaustive discussion of most of the individual decisions prevents a view of the forest for …

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.

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.

Business Associations, Paul J. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Use of Corporate Entity to Evade Contractual Obligations. Scott v. McReynolds afforded the Court of Appeals an opportunity to pierce the corporate veil. Plaintiff and defendant McReynolds were partners in the business of selling butane-propane gas and appliances. In a contract dissolving the partnership, McReynolds agreed not to sell gas or appliances within a specified area. Shortly thereafter, the other defendant, a corporation, was formed, and it sold gas within the exempted area in competition with plaintiff. McReynolds was president of the defendant corporation, was actively engaged in the business and was a "prime mover in the organization of the …

Future Interests, Herman L. Trautman

Vanderbilt Law Review

There were five cases in the field of Future Interests during the period' covered by this Survey. They were all decided by the Supreme Court of Tennessee. From the standpoint of doctrinal development, Mountain City Missionary Baptist Church v. Wagner, involving the relation of the possibility of reverter to the Rule against Perpetuities, was probably the most significant, although the point determined had perhaps been assumed previously in Tennessee. Pope v. Alexander drew a neat distinction between a trust for a "public" cemetery and a trust for a "private" cemetery with respect to the Rule against Perpetuities. A plausible suggestion …

Real Property, Herman L. Trautman

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Tennessee cases in the fields of Real Property and Future Interests have been quite abundant during the period' covered by this Survey. Because of the number of cases and the very interesting and novel problems presented in some of them, and because the scope of the law of Future Interests includes cases which involve Wills and Personal Property as well as Real Property, it is believed that the reader will find it more feasible to consider the Future Interest cases in a separate article appearing in this Survey. Therefore, notwithstanding some overlapping, the emphasis of this article will be …

Personal Property And Sales, William D. Warren

Vanderbilt Law Review

The similarity of the subject matter, together with the paucity of cases in each field, has made it advisable to combine the personal property and sales cases in one article. Though the total number of cases falling within these fields was small, the proportion of novel and interesting issues raised was high. This article is an attempt to analyze as well as describe the significant cases decided in this area within the past year.

Criminal Law And Procedure, William D. Warren

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the field of Criminal Law and Procedure, the Tennessee Supreme Court might be said to have completed a normal, even typical, year; some new law was announced, and much existing law was reiterated and reshaped. The Court's respect for local precedent persisted undiminished. No Tennessee case was directly overruled, and Tennessee precedents were closely adhered to when available. Not a single dissent appeared in the cases discussed in this article. The brevity of appellate opinions--particularly their highly condensed fact paragraphs--makes critical analysis of them a difficult and somewhat risky procedure. Nevertheless, an attempt has been made in this article …

Domestic Relations, William J. Harbison

Vanderbilt Law Review

There have been several important appellate decisions by the Tennessee courts in the field of domestic relations during the past year, and several significant statutes on the subject were enacted by the 1953 General Assembly. These decisions and statutes are discussed briefly herein according to subject matter.

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.

Intervertebral Disc Injuries In Workmen's Compensation, Larry A. Bear

Vanderbilt Law Review

No lawyer regularly involved in workmen's compensation litigation can do a worthwhile job for his client unless he has a comprehensive and intelligent acquaintance with all branches of medicine. In the ordinary course of his practice, the workmen's compensation lawyer must deal with all types of industrial diseases, and even with disorders in the field of neurology and psychiatry.' Familiarity with a variety of medical conditions is made necessary because of such basic medico-legal problems as causation, involving the industrial or non-industrial origin of the disability at issue, dilration and the like. Of all the industrial injuries with which the …

Medico-Legal Considerations Of Trauma And Other External Influences In Relationship To Cancer, William O. Russell, R. Lee Clark Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Cancer is the term used by physicians and laymen to describe a common malignant disease of man and animal. It occurs in nearly as many different forms as there are types of tissue in the body. Each cancer type usually has its own biological behavior which may vary remarkably in different persons. In the United States, cancer is the second leading cause of death.' At the present time, more money is being spent for research, diagnosis and treatment of cancer than for any other single disease. There are sixteen medical journals publishing articles related solely to neoplastic disease and five …

Some Legal Questions Arising Out Of The Use Of Parking Meters, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Few and fortunate are the sizeable cities in this country that have yet to meet the problem of providing sufficient parking places for the increasing number of automobiles that utilize their streets and highways.' For most cities the problem is an acute one. Some indication of its perplexity can be ascertained from a glance at the number of cities that have resorted to traffic commissions, studies and boards to seek a solution. If there is a solution to this problem, the traffic survey reports indicate that it lies in more extensive traffic control measures, rigidly enforced.

This note is intended …

Books Received, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

CONDUCT OF JUDGES and LAWYERS

By Orie L. Phillips and Philbrick McCoy

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

By Orvill C. Snyder

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FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IN ENGLAND 1476-1776

By Frederick Seaton Siebert

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FREEDOM THROUGH LAW

By Robert L. Hale

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HISTORY OF AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION

By Edson R. Sunderland

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HISTORY OF A LAWSUIT

By Abraham Caruthers

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HOLMES-LASKI LETTERS

by Mark DeWolfe Howe

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LEGAL EDUCATION IN THE U. S.

By Albert J. Harno

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LIFE INSURANCE AND ESTATE TAX PLANNING

By William J. Bowe

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NACCA LAW JOURNAL

By the National Association of Claimants' Compensation Attorneys

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PSYCHIATRY …

Medico-Legal Aspects Of The Nervous System As A Functioning Unit Of The Body, F. Keith Bradford, Hubert W. Smith

Vanderbilt Law Review

We have had the pleasure of working together in recent years on Law-Science problems. During that time we have become increasingly convinced that it is necessary for trial lawyer and scientist alike to think of the human being in terms of the nine main organ systems,'reserving a tenth category for the field of personality as the latter represents a synthesis of component structures and functions into variable reaction and behavior patterns. An injury or disability may involve impairment or destruction of an an atomic member or of physiological function; it may involve effects on personality, or psychic values, alone, without …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Contracts--Ceiling Price Legislation--Effect upon Performance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Book Reviews, Irving Dilliard, Stanley D. Rose, Walter P. Armstrong Jr., Reginald Parker

Vanderbilt Law Review

The States and Subversion Walter Gellhorn, Ed. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1952. Pp. vii, 454. $5.00

reviewer: Irving Dilliard

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Freedom through Law

By Robert L. Hale New York: Columbia University Press, 1952. Pp. xvi, 591. $7.50

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The Group Basis of Politics--A Study in Basing-Point Legislation By Earl Latham New York: Cornell University Press, 1952. Pp. ix,244. $3.75

reviewer: Stanley D. Rose

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Richards on Insurance, Fifth Edition By Warren Freedman New York: Baker, Voorhis & Co., Inc. 1952. Pp. xxvii, 2692. $50.00

reviewer: Walter P. Armstrong, Jr.

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The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions: A …

The Eclipse Of The Lex Loci Solutionis -- A Fallacy Exploded, J. H.C. Morris

Vanderbilt Law Review

Traditionally, the question what law governs the validity of a contract is the most confused subject in the conflict of laws.' At least four theories have been advocated by writers or adopted by courts, namely that the law of the place of contracting, or the law of the place of performance, or the law intended by the parties, or the law of the country with which the contract has the closest and most real connection, determines the validity of the contract. In England the validity of a contract is governed by the "proper law," which Dicey defines as "the law, …

Forward | Directive Or Dialectic?, Stanley Reed, Herbert F. Goodrich

Vanderbilt Law Review

The use of the symposium for enlightenment on current problems in the Law is most effective. However thorough the work of a single author may be, the result is the conclusion of one mind. Recognizing that the treatises of the great writers on Conflict of Laws show the main structure for that field, there is still need for the special articles of a symposium. In the great domains of the profession, one man's research and understanding cannot give to his reader the breadth of view attainable from the combined work of a group of scholars. This comment is applicable to …

Commercial Paper And The Conflict Of Laws, George W. Stumberg

Vanderbilt Law Review

Certificates of stock, bonds and other negotiable paper are apt to be regarded by business men as the equivalents of tangibles and, so, are normally dealt with by them as such. Nevertheless, stock certificates and negotiable paper represent intangibles. A stock certificate, for example, represents a share in the corporation. The owner of the share has a number of inchoate claims which are not always susceptible of exact delineation. Theoretically the owner is entitled to his proper share of the balance remaining on hand after discharge of obligations upon the dissolution of the corporation. He is also entitled to dividends; …

The Form Of Wills, Ernst Rabel

Vanderbilt Law Review

"Yielding Place to New: Rest Versus Motion in the Conflict of Laws"' Under this headline Herbert F. Goodrich, the eminent leader, recently reviewed improvements of judicial attitudes. Concluding his stimulating essay, he states that "motion and rest" must stay balanced; no total codification of uniform conflicts rules will be feasible until our experience is much enhanced. I fully agree. It is also my own impression that conflicts law needs infinitely more study and effort, not only by the courts, but also, and in the first place, by the scholars. But could not the approach toward reasonable and uniform judicial rules …

That Elusive Word, "Residence", Willis L.M. Reese, Robert S. Green

Vanderbilt Law Review

If wishes were horses, all men could ride. And if judges were legislators, the laws would probably read differently than they do. At least, this might well be the case in the field under discussion. With few exceptions, the courts speak of "domicil" while statutes refer to "residence" instead.' Domicil has a reasonably constant meaning. Residence, on the other hand, is one of the most variable words in the legal dictionary. It can be synonymous with domicil; it can also mean something else or something more. As such, it must be further defined, something which rarely is satisfactorily done in …