Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 91 - 119 of 119

Full-Text Articles in Law

The Character Of User In Prescription, Ralph W. Aigler Jan 1913

The Character Of User In Prescription, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

As the possession of the claimant in a case of adverse possession must be shown to have been adverse in order to ripen into title, so also must the user in prescription be shown to have been adverse during the entire prescriptive period. As to the burden of proving the adverse character of the possession in the first case there seems to be doubt whether there is a presumption of adverseness by showing open possession and acts of ownership, or whether there is a burden upon the claimant to go further. See 2 AM. & ENG. ENCY. L. & P. …


Possession Under Mistake As Adverse Possession, Ralph W. Aigler Jan 1912

Possession Under Mistake As Adverse Possession, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

In Wissinger v. Reed et al., 125 Pac. lO3O (Aug. 24, 1912) the Supreme Court of Washington held that actual possession of land for the statutory period would confer title upon the occupant, although the possession was under a mistaken belief of ownership. While the doctrine that title to real property may be acquired by adverse possession has been firmly established in English and American law for a great many years, no little difficulty and confusion have arisen in determining what possession is adverse, especially where the actual possession upon which the claim of title is based has been under …


Recovery Of Salary By A De Facto Officer, W. Gordon Stoner Jan 1912

Recovery Of Salary By A De Facto Officer, W. Gordon Stoner

Articles

The de facto doctrine in the law of officers has been a continual source of difficulty to the courts for more than a century. Many questions connected with the application of this doctrine to this branch of the law have been settled beyond controversy. Even the phase of this question which the writer proposes to discuss cannot be classed as new or novel. Recent years, however, have seen the development of certain tendencies on the part of some of the American courts in the application of this doctrine, which will furnish the subject for the major part of our consideration.


Is A Bank Check An Assignment Pro Tanto Of The Fund Or Deposit?, Ralph W. Aigler Jan 1912

Is A Bank Check An Assignment Pro Tanto Of The Fund Or Deposit?, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

Before the Negotiable Instruments Law there was a clear conflict of authority as to whether a check for a portion of the account to the credit of the drawer was an assignment pro tanto of the fund.


Quasi-Contractual Obligations Of Municipal Corporations, Jerome C. Knowlton Jan 1911

Quasi-Contractual Obligations Of Municipal Corporations, Jerome C. Knowlton

Articles

We have constructive fraud, constructive trusts, constructive notice, and why not constructive contract, a contractual obligation existing in contemplation of law, in the absence of any agreement express or implied from facts? With this apology we shall use the term quasi contract as covering an obligation created by law and enforceable by an action ex contractu. We are not for the present interested in the circumstances which may give rise to this obligation as between individuals; nor as between an individual and a private corporation, or quasi public corporation, so-called, as a railroad or other public utility. In these cases …


Preserving A Special Appearance, Edson R. Sunderland Jan 1911

Preserving A Special Appearance, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

No personal judgment against a defendant is valid unless the court which renders it has first obtained jurisdiction over the person of such defendant. This is elementary and fundamental, and goes to the essence of the judgment. And such jurisdiction must be secured through the actual service of process upon the defendant against whom the judgment is sought or through his voluntary appearance in the action.


Contract Limitations Of The Common Carrier's Liability, Edwin C. Goddard Jan 1910

Contract Limitations Of The Common Carrier's Liability, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

When Mr. Justice NELSON, in the New Jersey Steam Navigation Company v. Merchants Bank, speaking of the power of a common carrier by special agreement to restrict his obligation, said for the court: "We are unable to perceive any well founded objection to the restriction," he opened the way for an amount of litigation which, in volume and expense, both to carriers and shippers, scarcely finds its equal on any other question. The Supreme Court of North Carolina was well within the limit when it said: "The right of a common carrier to limit or diminish his general liability by …


Purchase Of Shares Of Corporation By A Director From A Shareholder, Horace Lafayette Wilgus Jan 1910

Purchase Of Shares Of Corporation By A Director From A Shareholder, Horace Lafayette Wilgus

Articles

It is generally laid down in the encyclopedias and text books, and affirmed in many court opinions that "the doctrine that officers and directors [of corporations] are trustees of the stockholders, applies only in respect to their acts relating to the property or business of the corporation. It does not extend to their private dealings with stockholders or others, though in such dealings they take advantage of knowledge gained through their official position."1 Much of this doctrine is based upon the language of Chief Justice SHAW in Smith v. Hurd2 decided in 1847. He said: "There is no legal privity, …


Constitutionality Of Legislation Designating Time And Manner Of Payment Of Wages, Ralph W. Aigler Jan 1910

Constitutionality Of Legislation Designating Time And Manner Of Payment Of Wages, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

Not infrequently the legislatures of various states have deemed it advisable to provide by law for the time and manner of payment of wages of men engaged in certain designated employments; and these laws have been the cause of considerable litigation. Their validity has been challenged mainly on the ground of deprivation of property without due process of law and denial of the equal protection of the law, the contention being that the refusal of the privilege of contracting for the manner and time of payment is a deprivation of liberty and property, and the classification of men in certain …


The Right Of Privacy At Common Law, Henry M. Bates Jan 1910

The Right Of Privacy At Common Law, Henry M. Bates

Articles

It is quite evident that the question as to whether there is a right of privacy at common law must be met by the courts in most of our states in the not distant future, unless indeed the right is created or declared by the legislatures.


Two Recent Decisions Preventing The Presbyterian Reunion, James H. Brewster Jan 1910

Two Recent Decisions Preventing The Presbyterian Reunion, James H. Brewster

Articles

When, a few years since, the General Assemblies of The Cumberland Presbyterian Church and The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America determined that there should be a re-union of the two bodies there were, of course, many objectors. Disputes concerning property have brought the objectors to the re-union before the courts, and in Missouri and Tennessee they have recently obtained victories.


The Public Policy Of Contracts To Will Future Acquired Property, Joseph H. Drake Jan 1909

The Public Policy Of Contracts To Will Future Acquired Property, Joseph H. Drake

Articles

The general subject of wills upon consideration seems to have given courts and jurists a good deal of trouble, not only in England and America, but also in the continental countries. The Code Napoleon appears in terms actually to prohibit the making of reciprocal or mutual wills in the same instrument.


Surface Water In Cities, John R. Rood Jan 1908

Surface Water In Cities, John R. Rood

Articles

It is evident that no one hard and fast rule could be applied to all cases, either in city or country, without producing injustice and impolitic results. The needs and conditions in city and country are different. They usually differ widely in different parts of the same city. These considerations have induced the Supreme Court of New Hampshire to adopt the flexible rule, that: "In determining this question all the circumstances of the case would, of course, be considered; and among them the nature and importance of the improvements sought to be made, the extent of the interference with the …


Waiver Of The Statutory Protection To The Confidential Relation Of Physician And Patient, Harry B. Hutchins Jan 1907

Waiver Of The Statutory Protection To The Confidential Relation Of Physician And Patient, Harry B. Hutchins

Articles

Waiver of the Tatutory Protection of the Confidential Relation of Physician and Patient.--The subject of the disclosure by the physician upon the witness stand of confidential communications between himself and his patient has already received attention in this journal: 2 MICHIGAN LAW REVIEW, p.687; 3 MICHIGAN LAW REVIEW, p. 311. The case of Long v. Garey Investment Company, decided by the Iowa Supreme Court December 15, 1906, may be briefly noticed, as it discusses a phase of the subject in regard to which the courts are not in entire harmony, namely, the waiver of the privilege that the statute confers.


An Inroad Upon Fiduciary Integrity, Edson R. Sunderland Jan 1906

An Inroad Upon Fiduciary Integrity, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

It is a principle universally recognized throughout our system of law, that no person shall be permitted to occupy a position of trust and confidence who at the same time is clearly subject to influences hostile to a faithful performance of his trust. There is a rule as old as Christianity, and it has been incorporated into our law from the earliest times, that "no man shall serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other." Fiduciary relations can rest upon no foundation but …


Some Legal Aspects Of Special Assessments, Frank L. Sage Jan 1904

Some Legal Aspects Of Special Assessments, Frank L. Sage

Articles

Taxes have been defined as "the enforced proportional contributions from persons and property levied by the state by virtue of its sovereignty for the support of the government and all public needs." The essential elements that we will notice particularly are two; first, that the contributions are proportional, that is, levied upon all in the same class according to some impartial standard, and second, that taxes can be levied for public purposes only.


The "Torrens Acts": Some Comparisons, James H. Brewster Jan 1903

The "Torrens Acts": Some Comparisons, James H. Brewster

Articles

The widespread discussion during the last ten years of the general scheme of registration of title to land, popularly known as the "Torrens System," has served to satisfy most disinterested lawyers and laymen of the general merits of the system. Consideration of the matter has been confined to no one section of the country, but has extended from Maine to California, and from Oregon to Texas. The result has been that laws embodying the general principles of the system have been enacted in six states, and proposed laws are before the legislatures of several others. The fact, however, that some …


Power To Appoint To Office--Its Location And Limits, Floyd R. Mechem Jan 1903

Power To Appoint To Office--Its Location And Limits, Floyd R. Mechem

Articles

At no other time in the judicial history of this country, if the evidence of the reported cases is to be relied upon, have there been so many and so bitter contests over all of the questions growing out of the title to public offices, as during the last ten or twelve years. This is undoubtedly largely accounted for by the fact that within that period a large number of the states have put in operation radically changed methods of conducting elections, based upon or practically incorporating what is popularly known as the Australian ballot system. In making these changes, …


Contracts Of Sale Of Merchandise--Fraud On The Vendor, Levi T. Griffin Jan 1896

Contracts Of Sale Of Merchandise--Fraud On The Vendor, Levi T. Griffin

Articles

This is an interesting topic to every jobbing house, and to every attorney concerned with mercantile collections. The law is pretty well settled on the general subject and the Treatises on Sales are plentiful. Among the best is that of Mr. Benjamin. Tiffany on Sales of the Hornbrook Series recently issued assumes also to state briefly the principles which control in these cases. At large commercial and metropolitan points, and among lawyers who have occasion to often deal with this question, there is perhaps not much difficulty in arriving at correct conclusions, and promptly enforcing the rights of a defrauded …


Contracts Of Sale Of Merchandise--Fraud On The Vendor, Levi T. Griffin Jan 1896

Contracts Of Sale Of Merchandise--Fraud On The Vendor, Levi T. Griffin

Articles

In a former article (May number JOURNAL) fraud in contemplation of law, or legal fraud was considered. It was contended that a false representation, though honestly made and believed to be true, afforded sufficient ground to the vendor for rescinding a con- tract of sale. We now propose to briefly consider character of statements made, with some reference also to representations made to commercial agencies. It may be regarded as within the common knowledge of the profession, that the false representation must be the assertion of a fact, and usually of an existing fact, although the fact may depend upon …


Testamentary Promises To Pay, Nathan Abbott Jan 1892

Testamentary Promises To Pay, Nathan Abbott

Articles

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 American Mutuum, Jerome C. Knowlton Jan 1892

The American Mutuum, Jerome C. Knowlton

Articles

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 …


Subscriptions, Henry W. Rogers Jan 1887

Subscriptions, Henry W. Rogers

Articles

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.


Compensation Of Experts, Henry W. Rogers Dec 1882

Compensation Of Experts, Henry W. Rogers

Articles

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.


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 Dec 1882

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 …


Title To Lands Under Fresh Water Lakes And Ponds, Thomas M. Cooley Dec 1880

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 …


Remedies Of Illegal Taxation, Thomas M. Cooley Dec 1880

Remedies Of Illegal Taxation, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

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 Dec 1880

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

Articles

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 …


Power Of Judiciary To Declare A Law Unconstitutional, Charles A. Kent Dec 1871

Power Of Judiciary To Declare A Law Unconstitutional, Charles A. Kent

Articles

The judiciary has no power to declare a law unconstitutional unless it conflicts with some provision of the State or Federal Constitution. It will be the purpose of this article to show the reasonableness and meaning of this principle.