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The Role Of The Uniform Commercial Code In American Law (Beikokuho Ni Okeru Ucc No Ichi), Whitmore Gray

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A series of seminar lectures given by Whitmore Gray in Tokyo, Japan during October 1968. Six articles were subsequently published in “Kaigai Shojihomu” (The International Business Law Bulletin) between July 1969 and May 1970.

The first installment provides a basic introduction to the UCC and its implementation into the U.S. legal system.

Contract Interpretation And The Uniform Commercial Code (Ucc Ni Okeru Keiyaku No Kaishaku), Whitmore Gray

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A series of seminar lectures given by Whitmore Gray in Tokyo, Japan during October 1968. Six articles were subsequently published in “Kaigai Shojihomu” (The International Business Law Bulletin) between July 1969 and May 1970. The third installment introduces the basic principles of contract interpretation.

Contract Interpretation Under The Uniform Commercial Code (Ucc Ni Okeru Keiyaku No Kaishaku), Whitmore Gray

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A series of seminar lectures given by Whitmore Gray in Tokyo, Japan during October 1968. Six articles were subsequently published in “Kaigai Shojihomu” (The International Business Law Bulletin) between July 1969 and May 1970.

The fourth installment discusses further considerations and principles that impact contract interpretation.

Contract Formation Under The Uniform Commercial Code (Ucc Ni Okeru Keiyaku No Seiritsu), Whitmore Gray

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A series of seminar lectures given by Whitmore Gray in Tokyo, Japan during October 1968. Six articles were subsequently published in “Kaigai Shojihomu” (The International Business Law Bulletin) between July 1969 and May 1970.

The second installment discusses issues related to requirements compelling completion of a contract or pushing the issue to court.

Some Petty Complaints About Article Three, James J. White

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IN many ways Article Three of the Uniform Commercial Code (Code) is like a huge machine assembled by a mad inventor and comprised of assorted sprockets, gears, levers, pulleys, and belts. Few thoroughly understand all of the jobs which this machine is to perform; and a search through the reported cases suggests that the machine is either performing so efficiently that it commits no mistakes worth litigating or it is not performing at all. In their study of the intricacies of Article Three, law students resemble persons climbing about on the machine-pulling its levers, testing its belts and pulleys, and …

Sales—A Comparison Of The Law In Washington And The Uniform Commercial Code, Ralph W. Johnson

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The purpose of this article is to analyze and comment upon the changes that the Code would make on the sales law of Washington. Article 2 of the Code would entirely replace the existing Uniform Sales Act in Washington and some of the Washington case law.

Recognition Of New Types Of Negotiable Instruments, Ralph W. Aigler

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“The expression ‘negotiable instrument’ is one of variable meaning, and what is meant thereby often can be determined only by the context… Primarily ‘negotiable’ indicates transferability with a certain facility…..

“It may be not without interest to consider how instruments gain the negotiable quality and to trace, sketchily perhaps, the process of recognition.”

Trade Competition - Effect Of Motive, Herbert F. Goodrich

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Does the motive with which one enters into what is ostensibly trade competition with a business rival have any significance in the law? Motive is used, following Judge Smith's careful limitation of the term, to signify the feeling which makes the actor desire to obtain the result aimed at. A conclusion that motive is immaterial in this connection can be sustained by formal logic. A man has a "right" to engage in business, even though his rival be injured thereby. One may exercise a legal right, regardless of his motives in doing so. Therefore, business competition, if the methods be …

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

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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 …

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

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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 …

Sales: Liability For The Presence Of Mice And Other Uncommon Things In Food, John B. Waite

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A group of recent decisions presents a somewhat farcical conformity with Montesquieu's thesis that "law" may vary with time and geography. It strikingly illustrates, also, the importance of the particular theory of liability upon which a suit is predicated. The unusual similarity in detail of the operative facts of these cases lends peculiar emphasis to the difference in the judgments rendered.

Interstate Commerce Commission - Intrastate Rates, Edwin C. Goddard

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The marvelous possibilities for collision between State and Nation involved in our dual form of government are nowhere better or more often exhibited than in commerce regulation. We have long been learning the definition of the commerce which the constitution gives Congress power to regulate. It is only recently that we are finding how this power reaches over into purely intrastate business done by a carrier also engaged in interstate commerce. That nearly all rail carriers are now engaged in such business, even when their lines are wholly intrastate, has been often illustrated under the Second Employer's Liability Act. In …

Recovery Of The Purchase Price Before Title Has Passed, John B. Waite

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In an action recently instituted by The General Electric Co. to recover on a contract to manufacture certain machinery for the defendant, which machinery the defendant had refused to accept, the trial court adopted the contract price as the measure of damages. The upper court approved this measure of damages, rejecting the argument that the measure should have been the difference between the market value and the contract price, and dismissed, as no longer appropriate to modern conditions, the decisions in Bement v. Smith, 15 Wend. (N. Y.) 493, and Shawhan v. Van Nest. 25 Oh. St. 490. The court …

Can A Manufacturer Be Compelled To Sell?, Henry M. Bates

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The fight for price maintenance is not yet completely settled, despite, the decisions in Dr. Miles Medical Company v. Parks & Sons Company, 220 U. S. 373, 31 Sup. Ct. 376, 55 L. Ed. 502, and Bauer & Cie v. O'Donnell, 229 U. S. 1, 33 Sup. Ct. 616, 58 L. Ed. 1041, which held invalid contracts, whether nominally of agency, or of sale, between manufacturer and wholesaler or jobber whereby the latter in purchasing agreed himself to maintain and to sell only to others who would maintain a schedule of prices established by the manufacturer. But there are more …

The Commodity Clause Of The Hepburn Act, Edwin C. Goddard

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The Supreme Court of the United States has added another to the interesting line of cases construing the so-called "Commodity Clause" of the HEPBURN ACT of 1906. In United States v. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Co. and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Coal Co., decided on June 21, 1915, 35 Sup. Ct. 873, the court reversed the decree of the District Court as reported in 213 Fed. 240, and found the relation and contract between the Railroad Company and the Coal Company to be in violation of the HEPBURN ACT and the SHERMAN ACT.

The Liability Of The Common Carrier As Determined By The Recent Decisions Of The United States Supreme Court, Edwin C. Goddard

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An understanding of the present day liability of the common carrier under conditions as they exist, especially in interstate shipments, is best reached by an historical journey from the early decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States to the end of the year just past.

Limitation As To The Amount Of Liability For Loss Of Goods By Carriers, Edwin C. Goddard

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A carload of automobiles was shipped by express, under an express receipt limiting recovery to $50, unless a greater value was named and a greater carrying charge paid. The shipper knew of this stipulation, and deliberately chose the restricted liability so as to secure the lower rate. On a suit for loss of the automobiles, recovery was limited to $50. Geo. N. Pierce Co. v. Wells Fargo & Co., 189 Fed. 561, commented on in 10 MICH. L. REB. 317. The United States Supreme Court has just affirmed this decision, 35 Sup. Ct. 351.

The Effect Of The Carmack Amendment To The Hepburn Act Upon Limitation By Common Carriers Of The Amount Of Their Liability, Edwin C. Goddard

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Two cases, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States on March 1O, 1913, may be considered together. They are developments of the cases reviewed in 11 MICH. L. Rev. 460. Plaintiff shipped two boxes and a barrel of "household goods" under an agreement that the goods, in case of loss, should be valued at $5 per hundred-weight. One box, weighing not over 200 pounds and actually worth $75, was lost. The Supreme Court of Arkansas affirmed a judgment against the carrier for the full value. 91 Ark. 97, 121 S. W. 932, 134 A. S. R. 56. On …

What Are The Rights Of The Vendor Of Good Will?, Joseph H. Drake

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Various attempts have been made to answer this question by defining the term "good will" and in this way determining what passes to the vendee and, e converso, what rights are left to the vendor. Lindley, however, says, "the term good will can hardly be said to have any precise signification." LINDLEY-EWELL, 2nd Ed., 439. Though indefinable the term is said to be divisible, as in the case of Foss v. Roby (1907), 195 Mass. 297, where it is said, following previous decisions, that in a commercial partnership the good will is largely local in character whereas in a professional …

What Is Interstate Commerce?, Horace Lafayette Wilgus

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In the case of International Text-book Company v. Pigg, Advance Sheets May 1, 1910 (30 Sup. Ct. 481) the Supreme Court of the United States, decided April 4, 1910, that a "corporation engaged in imparting instruction by correspondence, whose business involves the solicitation of students in other states by local agents, who are to collect and forward to the home office the tuition fees, and the systematic intercourse between the corporation and its scholars and agents, wherever situated, and the transportation of the needful books, apparatus, and papers," is engaged in interstate commerce, and a state statute which makes the …

State Regulations Affecting Interstate Commerce, Horace Lafayette Wilgus

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The line between regulations of intrastate and interstate commerce is difficult to draw and hard to maintain. This is well illustrated in the recent case of St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company v. Arkansas, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States April 4, 1910, Advance Sheets, May I, 1910, p. 476, 30 Sup.Ct. 476.

Combination Among Physicians To Fix Prices For Professional Services, Harry B. Hutchins

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The case of Rohlf v. Kasemeer et al., decided by the Supreme Court of Iowa, November 18, 1908, and reported in 118 N. W. Rep., p. 276, although primarily upon the construction of a local statute, involves a question of general interest. The plaintiff therein, who is a physician, together with thirteen others of the same profession, all residing and practicing in the same county, entered into an agreement, combination or understanding, the terms of which are not given, but the object of which was to fix and maintain the fees and charges to be exacted for medical and surgical …

The Extent Of The Land To Which A Mechanics' Lien Attaches, Edson R. Sunderland

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The statutes of the various states which define the scope and extent of mechanics' liens differ somewhat in respect to the quantity of land subject to such lien. Some arbitrarily limit it to a specified number of city lots or acres, but many statutes provide that the lien shall attach to the lot or land upon which the building or other improvement is situated, or to so much contiguous land as is necessary for the convenient use of the building. In most cases no difficulty arises in applying these provisions, but the terms are evidently loose and general, and it …

The Standard Oil Fine, Horace Lafayette Wilgus

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August 3, 1907, Judge Landis, in the United States District Court, for the Northern District of Illinois, sentenced the Standard Oil Co. to pay the largest fine ever inflicted upon any offender.1 The suit was an indictment on 1,903 counts for violations of the Elkins Rebate Law in receiving concessions on the movement of 1,903 cars of oil from Whiting, Indiana, to East St. Louis, Illinois, and from Chappell, Illinois, to St. Louis, Missouri, during the eighteen months between September I, 1903, and March 1, 1905. Four hundred and forty-one counts were withdrawn as not necessarily involved in this case. …

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 …

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 …