Law Commons^™

Future Interests - Rule Against Perpetuities - Recent Statutory Amendment In New York, Paul K. Gaston S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

After 128 years of criticism and confusion and enormous amounts of litigation, New York has amended its statutory rule against perpetuities. The old rule provided that the absolute power of alienation could not be suspended for longer, than "two lives in being" at the creation of the estate plus a minority exception in some cases. Under the new rule the absolute power of alienation can be suspended for a period measured by any number of "lives in being" at the creation of the estate so long as they are not "so designated or so numerous as to make proof of …

Criminal Procedure On The American Frontier: A Study Of The Statutes And Court Records Of Michigan Territory 1805-1825, William Wirt Blume

Michigan Law Review

The area north and east of Lake Michigan, organized in 1805 as Michigan Territory, was first organized in 1796 as Wayne County of the Northwest Territory. In 1800 the western half of the county, and in 1803 the eastern half, became parts of Indiana Territory, and so remained until July 1805. In 1818 Michigan Territory was expanded westward so as to include all of the area north of Illinois to the Mississippi River.

Rhyne: Municipal Law, Robert E. Fryer

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Municipal Law. By Charles S. Rhyne.

Constitutional Law - Civil Rights - Recent New York City Ordinance Bans Discrimination In Certain Private Housing Facilities, W. Stanley Walch

Michigan Law Review

A recent New York City ordinance is the first anti-discrimination legislation affecting the sale and rental of privately-owned housing to minority groups. The ordinance contains three principal provisions: It (1) forbids racial or religious discrimination by private owners in the selection of tenants or buyers for any "housing accommodation which is located in a multiple dwelling," (2) bans discrimination in the selection of purchasers by a seller of ten or more contiguous housing units, and (3) prohibits the owner or lessor of housing accommodations covered by the ordinance from discriminating because of race or religion in setting the terms of …

Municipal Corporations - Police Power - Sundy Closing Ordinances, David A. Nelson

Michigan Law Review

The City of Chattanooga passed an ordinance making in unlawful "for any person, firm, corporation, or association operating a general merchandise store, department store, hardware, jewelry, furniture, grocery store, super market, meat market, or other similar establishments in the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee, to open such place of business on Sunday; or to sell or offer for sale, give away, or deliver any merchandise, groceries, hardware, jewelry, furniture, meat, produce, or other similar commodities or articles, on Sunday." Plaintiffs brought this action for a declaratory judgment that the ordinance was unconstitutional and for other relief. In the lower court the …

Municipal Corporations - Financial Powers - Power To Expend Public Funds In Aid Of Industry, Paul K. Gaston

Michigan Law Review

Taxpayers and voters of Frostburg, Maryland, sought to restrain the holding of an election under enabling legislation to obtain authority both to issue municipal bonds and to devote the proceeds to acquiring a site and contributing to the cost of construction of a building for sale to a private manufacturing company. The chancellor issued an injunction against the holding of such election on the ground that the enabling act, in authorizing the use of public funds for private purposes, was unconstitutional. On appeal, held, reversed. The location of new industry in furnishing employment and increasing the financial well being …

A New Deal For Fiduciaries' Stock Transfers, Alfred F. Conard

Michigan Law Review

For nearly one hundred years, executors and administrators have been struggling with the excessive documentation which corporations demand as a condition of recording stock transfers. For almost as long, legislatures have been passing laws in the hope-generally vain-of alleviating the burden.

In 1957, at least three states (and possibly four) opened a door through which estate representatives can emerge from their long bondage. For the first time, identical acts were passed in different states, and interstate recognition of simplification measures began. For the first time acts were passed which get to the root of the transfer agent's problem.

Municipal Corporations - Contracts - Ratification And Estoppel In Contracts Made By Unauthorized Agent, Edward M. Heppenstall

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's infant daughter, admitted to Newark City Hospital as an emergency case, received hospitalization and medical treatment worth $1,190 during her seventy-day period of confinement. The medical director of the hospital had made an agreement with the Hospital Service Plan of New Jersey which provided that regardless of the amount or quality of the hospitalization required, payment of the flat sum of $100 for any subscriber-patient would constitute payment in full to the city. The city accepted the $100 check paid by the Plan as billed by the hospital for the care of the child. In order to facilitate settlement …

Municipal Corporations - Zoning - The Granting Of A Variance Based On Unnecessary Hardship, Frank D. Jacobs S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant purchased a tract of vacant land located in the most highly restricted residence zone of his city. The local zoning ordinance prescribed minimum area, width, and depth measurements for building plots in that district. Defendant desired to subdivide the property into two building plots in order to build a one-family residence on each plot. Although the first plot complied with the minimum requirements of the ordinance, the other plot was deficient in area and depth measurements. Defendant was unsuccessful in his attempts both to purchase adjoining land and to sell parts of his property to adjoining owners. He then …

The Adequacy Of State Insurance Rate Regulation: The Mccarran-Ferguson Act In Historical Perspective, Spencer L. Kimball, Ronald N. Boyce

Michigan Law Review

Any substantial inquiry into the functioning of the insurance commissioner in American society poses the question, at the threshold of the inquiry, whether state regulatory power over the insurance business is likely to continue, or whether insurance will fall increasingly under the aegis of the federal government. This article seeks to ascertain the minimum conditions for the permanent preservation of state regulatory power over the insurance business, and to determine whether they are now satisfied. These conditions may be summarily stated: the Congress of the United States has shown its willingness to apply federal antitrust and marketing legislation to the …

Municipal Corporations - Tort Liability - Liability For Torts Committed By Municipal Employees In Exercise Of Governmental Functions, Ralph E. Boches

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued the Town of Cocoa Beach for damages for the alleged wrongful death of her husband. Plaintiff's husband had died of smoke suffocation after being locked in a jail which was left unattended by the city jailor. The lower court dismissed plaintiff's complaint. On appeal, held, reversed. A person injured by the negligence of a municipal employee acting within the scope of his employment may recover against the municipal corporation. Hargrove v. Town of Cocoa Beach, (Fla. 1957) 96 S. (2d) 130.

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Jurisdiction Of State Court Over Nonresident Tortfeasor, J. Martin Cornell

Michigan Law Review

The defendant, a resident of Wisconsin, was engaged in the business of selling appliances and sent one of his employees to deliver a gas cooking stove to the plaintiff in Illinois. Claiming that the employee had negligently injured him in unloading the stove, the plaintiff brought action in Illinois, seeking damages of $7,500. A summons was personally served on the defendant in Wisconsin, and the defendant appeared specially, moving to quash the summons on the ground that the Illinois statute, providing for extraterritorial service on any person who commits a tortious act within the state, contravened the constitutions of the …