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Full-Text Articles in Law

Corporations, Shareholders' Right To Have A Dividend Declared And Paid Out Of Surplus, Horace Lafayette Wilgus Jan 1919

Corporations, Shareholders' Right To Have A Dividend Declared And Paid Out Of Surplus, Horace Lafayette Wilgus

Articles

In Dodge v. Ford Motor Co. (Mich. 1919), 170, N. W. 668, the questions were not new, and with one exception, the decision was not unusual, but the sums involved were enormos. The Motor Company was incorporated in 1903, under the general manufacturing incorporating act of Michigan (P. A. 232, 1903), for the manufacture and sale of automobiles, motors and devices incident to their construction and operation, with an authorized Capital Stock of $150,000-$100,000 then paid up, $49,000 in cash, $40,000 in letters patent issued and applied for, and $11,000 in machinery and contracts. In 1908 the stock was increased …


Cost Of Public Justice, John R. Rood Jan 1918

Cost Of Public Justice, John R. Rood

Articles

The common citizen who becomes victim of a wrong and seeks redress in the courts of America soon finds by bitter experience that it is better to bear those ills we have than go to law. The expense is more than the thing is worth. The result depends on who has the longest purse, the most endurance, and the shrewdest lawyer, and little on the merits of the case. When he gets to court he finds his remaining money is being spent, not in the trial of his case, but in deciding whether an absque hoc is a sine que …


Acquiring Jurisdiction Without Personal Service, Seizure Of Aid Of Statute, John R. Rood Jan 1918

Acquiring Jurisdiction Without Personal Service, Seizure Of Aid Of Statute, John R. Rood

Articles

It is often assumed that courts can acquire jurisdiction only by personal service to give jurisdiction in personam, or by a seizure to give jurisdiction in rem; but it is not so. The assumption is induced no doubt by the fact that in the ordinary common law actions jurisdiction is acquired in that way. Mr. Justice Field very distinctly pointed out in the case of Pennoyer v. Neff (1877), 95 U. S. 714, that it was not the fact that the land was not seized that rendered the judgment void. It was the fact that the land was not the …


The Writ Of Prohibition - Procedural Delay, Edson R. Sunderland Jan 1918

The Writ Of Prohibition - Procedural Delay, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

A disheartening recrudescence of procedural red-tape is found in a recent decision of the Supreme Court of Ohio. A contest arose over the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission to fix telephone rates in Cleveland. The Commission was engaged in a determination as to the reasonableness of a schedule of rates filed by the telephone company, when a petition was filed in the Common Pleas Court for an injunction against the charging of rates other than those fixed by a city ordinance. Believing that under the statute the Public Service Commission had exclusive jurisdiction over the subject of rates, and …


The Michigan Judicature Act Of 1915, Edson R. Sunderland Jan 1916

The Michigan Judicature Act Of 1915, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

IN 1848 a wave of reform in judicial procedure began to sweep over the United States. In that year the legislature of New York enacted the Code of Civil Procedure, a statute of far-reaching importance, for it became the source of and the model for similar legislation in almost two-thirds of the States in the Union.


Sane Procedural Reform, Robert E. Bunker Jan 1915

Sane Procedural Reform, Robert E. Bunker

Articles

In these later days much is said about reforming the procedure of our courts, about recalllng our judges, at arbitrarily appointed times, and about reversing their decisions by popular vote. Most of what is said about these matters is said by those who have least reason to say it. It is no exaggeration to assert that those who are most severe in their criticism of the courts and of their procedure and most lavish in their suggestions of reform are they who know little, beyond the most general, about the courts and nothing about their procedure from personal contact with …


The Inefficiency Of The American Jury, Edson R. Sunderland Jan 1915

The Inefficiency Of The American Jury, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

What is proposed in the present article is to show that in attempting to preserve the independence of the jury in its exclusive juris- diction over questions of fact, the people and the courts in most American jurisdictions have departed from the common law practice and have introduced a principle calculated to undermine the very institution which they wish to strengthen. That is to say, through the rules prohibiting judges from commenting on the weight of the evidence, juries tend to become irresponsible, verdicts tend to become matters of chance, and the intricacy of procedure, with its cost, delay and …


Can Affidavits Of Jurors To Show Misconduct Be Admitted For The Purpose Of Setting Aside A 'Quotient Verdict'?, Grover C. Grismore Jan 1914

Can Affidavits Of Jurors To Show Misconduct Be Admitted For The Purpose Of Setting Aside A 'Quotient Verdict'?, Grover C. Grismore

Articles

A recent Oklahoma case raises one phase of a question which has been perplexing the courts ever since jury trials were invented, and in regard to which there is a great contrariety of opinion. After a verdict had been rendered for the plaintiff in a personal injury suit, the defendant made a motion for a new trial on the ground of misconduct of the jury, and in support of his motion offered the affidavits of several of the jurors to the effect that the verdict was determined upon as the result of an agreement whereby each one of the jurors …


The Art Of Legal Practice, Edson R. Sunderland Jan 1912

The Art Of Legal Practice, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

In one respect the law is the most perplexing subject with which a man can deal. It shifts and changes so rapidly that only a nimble and diligent student can keep abreast of it. One is likely to wake up any morning and find that the legislature has repealed a good part of what he knows, and he is in constant danger of having his most carefully formed opinions completely upset by a new decision of the Supreme Court. These violent changes are not due to any new discoveries, such as constantly enliven the scientific world, but merely to the …


Pleading Estoppel, W. Gordon Stoner Jan 1911

Pleading Estoppel, W. Gordon Stoner

Articles

No subject is fraught with more difficulties for the pleader than that of estoppel. The problems of "when" and "how" to plead seem never so perplexing as when they arise in connection with this subject. That these problems are not confined to any day or age is evidenced by the reports from the time of Lord COKE down to the latest advance sheets of the present day reporter systems, and the lawyers of no generation have been wholly agreed on their solution. No system of pleading yet established has been free from these questions and with each general change in …


Liquidated Damages And Estoppel By Contract, Joseph H. Drake Jan 1911

Liquidated Damages And Estoppel By Contract, Joseph H. Drake

Articles

In the last edition of "Sedgwick's Elements of the Law of Damages" the author says (p. 232) that the subject of liquidated damages has been put in a new light by the two cases of the Sun Printing and Publishing Association v. Moore1 and the Clydebank R. &S. Co. v. Castaneda,2 and that they may be expected to have a considerable effect upon the further development of the law on the subject. The learned author then presents the old canons of interpretation with full illustration from the cases, followed by the citation of the decisions above mentioned, and concludes that …


Statutory Abolition Of Defense Of Insanity In Criminal Cases, John R. Rood Jan 1910

Statutory Abolition Of Defense Of Insanity In Criminal Cases, John R. Rood

Articles

The great lengths to which the defense of insanity has been carried in homicide cases has induced numerous legislative attempts to abolish the evil; and the fate which such legislation has met and deserves at the hands of the courts is a matter of considerable interest.


The Art Of Legal Practice, Edson R. Sunderland Jan 1909

The Art Of Legal Practice, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

In one respect the law is the most perplexing subject with which a man can deal. It shifts and changes so rapidly that only a nimble and diligent student can keep abreast of it. One is likely to wake up any morning and find that the legislature has repealed a good part of what he knows, and he is in constant danger of having his most carefully formed opinions completely upset by a new decision of the Supreme Court. These violent changes are not due to any new discoveries, such as constantly enliven the scientific world, but merely to the …


Some Observations On Case Law Reporting, John R. Rood Jan 1906

Some Observations On Case Law Reporting, John R. Rood

Articles

There is an old tradition, still believed by many lawyers, that these year-books were official reports made by a reporter appointed and paid by the king. If there ever was such a reporter, he is yet to be discovered. No year-books have been found in the treasury of the courts; there is no record of the appointment or payment of any official reporter, through all the two hundred and fifty years covered by the year-books; all the year-books now in the British Museum were found in private hands.2 Is it conceivable that an official reporter would criticize the court and …


The Investigation Of Corporate Monopolies, Edson R. Sunderland Jan 1906

The Investigation Of Corporate Monopolies, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

The Supreme Court of the United States has recently given a clear and brief statement of its views respecting the right of a corporation officer to refuse to testify on the ground that his testimony may subject the corporation to a criminal prosecution. Hale v. Henkel, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 370. Hale was summoned before a grand jury in a proceeding under the Sherman anti-trust act, and upon being interrogated respecting certain transactions of the MacAndrews & Forbes Co., of which he was Secretary and Treasurer, refused to answer, on the ground that the Federal immunity law was not broad …


Constitutional Privileges In The Philippine Islands, Edson R. Sunderland Jan 1906

Constitutional Privileges In The Philippine Islands, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

About a year ago an appeal was decided in the Supreme Court of the United States which came up from the Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands, involving the question of the right of the government to appeal in a criminal case and to secure a conviction after an acquittal below. That case was Kepner v. United States, 195 U. S. 100. The court held, by a vote of five to four, that proceedings in error instituted by the government after an acquittal in the trial court, had the effect of placing the accused twice in jeopardy for the same …


Authority Of Allen V. Flood, Horace Lafayette Wilgus Jan 1902

Authority Of Allen V. Flood, Horace Lafayette Wilgus

Articles

In the case of Allen v. Flood, one of the Lords asked this interesting question, "If the cook says to her master, 'Discharge the butler or I leave you,' and the master discharges the butler, does the butler have an action against the cook?" This, Lord Shand said, was the simplest form in which the very question in Allen v. Flood could be raised.4 And, like the original question, it puzzled the judges and Lords very much to answer.


Can The Present Jury System Be Improved?, Bradley M. Thompson Jan 1895

Can The Present Jury System Be Improved?, Bradley M. Thompson

Articles

There is unquestionably much dissatisfaction with the quality of the modern jury, and with the character of its work. Since juries are composed of men possessing finite intelligence, at best, we ought not to expect that their verdicts would show evidence of infinite wisdom. But the most charitable, who do not expect the impossible are often disappointed at the quality of the possible. All this goes without saying and consequently the question is often discussed, how can the system be improved?


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.


Materials Of Jurisprudence, James V. Campbell Dec 1879

Materials Of Jurisprudence, James V. Campbell

Articles

This period is marked by rather more strenuous efforts than have been made before in this country, to solve the problem of condensing and simplifying the law. Our own day is peculiar in the endeavors we have seen to evolve what is claimed to be a science of jurisprudence. Some admirable writers have succeeded in dividing the domain of law into its larger or smaller fields, and have shown with more or less fulness the relative positions of these, and their mutual dependence. This is a valuable service; for all lawyers know that, without a reasonably clear perception of the …


Some Hints On Defects In The Jury System, James V. Campbell Dec 1877

Some Hints On Defects In The Jury System, James V. Campbell

Articles

The occasional freaks of juries have now and then led some members of the bar to speculate on the policy of doing without them entirely, and some persons no doubt think that they have strong convictions that the jury system has become useless. It is safe to say that these extreme views are altogether speculative, and not based on any careful comparison of results. Most persons who have looked into their own experience with courts and juries are ready to agree that where there is no dispute about main facts, so that the chief dispute is one of law, there …