Law Commons^™

Presumptions In A One-Rule World, Alfred L. Gausewitz

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the 54 years since Thayer wrote the first excerpt, an enormous amount of excellent scholarship has been devoted to presumptions. Yet confusion persists. It may not be presumptuous, therefore, to suggest some causes of confusion more radical than those mentioned by Professor Morgan in the second excerpt quoted above. This is not to say that he has not stated them. In fact he has painstakingly pointed out the fundamental difficulties in a number of articles written both before and after he became draftsman of the Model Code. As draftsman he has had to carry a burden of expounding it …

Federal Civil Procedure Rule 43(A): A Freak Among The Rules, Thomas F. Green Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Rule 43(a) is an anomaly in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.'Attorney General Cummings, the chief sponsor of the enabling act, apparently did not contemplate the inclusion of any rule dealing with the admissibility of evidence. The American Bar Association, which sponsored similar bills before Congress for years, laid much of the groundwork but abandoned the project prior to successful completion. A report of the Association's committee charged with the duty of "pushing" the then current version of the bill stated that the court rules were not to deal with evidence. The broadest expression in the bill which was enacted …

Evidence As A Problem In Communicating, Edward W. Cleary

Vanderbilt Law Review

The law of evidence is sagging to the point of collapse under its own weight. It has cracked visibly in the administrative sphere, and what saves it in the courts is probably a rather general ignorance of what is actually between the covers of Wigmore, plus the fact that lawyers and judges often seem to be downright ashamed to push the rules to their logical extremes. Evidence in action is, happily perhaps, somewhat different from evidence in books. Nevertheless, among people who are thoughtful about such things there is general agreement that something ought to be done.

Judicial Notice, Charles T. Mccormick

Vanderbilt Law Review

The traditional Anglo-American system of proof demands rigorous guaranties of accuracy, with its requirement of witnesses having first-hand knowledge, its mistrust of hearsay, however reliable, except for narrow exceptions, and its insistence upon original documents and their authentication by witnesses. These requirements have their roots in the contentious or adversary system, where the party and not the judge is responsible for gathering and presenting facts, and in the method of jury trial. But this strict though scientific insistence upon proving everything at first hand is, like jury-trial itself, enormously costly in time, energy and money. The principal effect of the …

Logical Or Legal Relevancy -- A Conflict In Theory, Herman L. Trautman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Is there a rational theory which serves as a basis for determining the admissibility of circumstantial evidence?

Circumstantial evidence involves the offer in evidence of Fact A for the purpose of having the trier of fact (jury, judge, administrative agency or arbitrator) first believe that Fact A is true, and from it infer the existence or truth of Fact B. Fact B may be one of the ultimate questions of factor propositions raised by the pleadings, or it may be a more remote fact or proposition which when established, again forms the basis for a further inference in the chain …

Declarations Against Interest, Edmund M. Morgan

Vanderbilt Law Review

"Declarations of a person, whether verbal or written, as to facts relevant to the matter of inquiry, are admissible in evidence, even as between third parties, where it appears: (1) That the declarant is dead; (2) that the declaration was against his pecuniary or proprietary interest; (3) that he had competent knowledge of the fact declared; (4) that he had no probable motive to falsify the fact declared." This, Mr. Justice Walker of North Carolina in 1906 stated to be the established rule.' What is its origin; for what reason is the evidence held to be admissible; to what extent …

Requisite Proof Of Basis For Expert Opinion, John M. Maguire, Jefferson E. Hahesy

Vanderbilt Law Review

This article is about the factual foundation of expert opinion evidence. It is tentative, not dogmatic or even confident. It proposes for further consideration by others our effort at more precise shaping of doctrines which have become familiar but remained vague. These doctrines have to do with the degree of stringency which is and ought to be exercised in applying ordinary rules of evidential competency to proof of propositions of fact underlying or related to formulation and announcement of experts' opinions in litigated cases.

Self-Crimination Privilege: "Links In The Chain", Judson F. Falknor

Vanderbilt Law Review

"According to their [the prosecution's] statement, a witness can never refuse to answer any question, unless that answer, unconnected with other testimony, would be sufficient to convict him of a crime. This would be rendering the rule almost perfectly worthless. Many links frequently compose that chain of testimony' which is necessary to convict any individual of a crime. It appears to the Court to be the true sense of the rule that no witness is compellable to furnish any one of them against himself...What testimony may be possessed, or is attainable, against any individual, the Court can never know. It …

Some Developments In The Law Concerning Confessions, William Wicker

Vanderbilt Law Review

Our system of administering criminal laws is predicated upon accusatorial rather than inquisitorial proceedings. To maintain inviolate the safeguards consonant with this principle, we have placed upon the State an ever-increasing burden in proving the commission of the crime charged. That this burden has begun to weigh heavily, and perhaps onerously, becomes unmistakably evident from a study of recent developments in the law of confessions.

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--RACIAL RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS--ALLOWANCE OF DAMAGES FOR BREACH

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CORPORATIONS--PARENT AND SUBSIDIARY--SUBSIDIARY AS INSTRUMENTALITY OF PARENT WHEN USED TO CARRY ON UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES

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EVIDENCE--ADMISSIBILITY OF CONFESSION--SCOPE OF REVIEW OF COURT-MARTIAL BY COURT OF MILITARY APPEALS

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EVIDENCE--CONFLICT OF LAWS--APPLICATION OF DOCTRINE OF RES IPSA LOQUITUR

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EVIDENCE--DUE PROCESS--USE IN STATE PROSECUTION OF EVIDENCE FORCIBLY OBTAINED BY STOMACH PUMP

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EVIDENCE--ENTRIES IN THE REGULAR COURSE OF BUSINESS--TEST FOR EXTENT OF ADMISSIBILITY UNDER FEDERAL JUDICIAL CODE

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EVIDENCE--HEARSAY--ADOPTION OF LIBERAL ADMISSION RULES OF ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNALS IN ANTITRUST COURT ACTION

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EVIDENCE--IMPEACHMENT OF ONE'S OWN WITNESS--USE OF PRIOR INCONSISTENT STATEMENTS

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Book Reviews, Edmund M. Morgan, Albert Williams (Reviewer), J. Warren Madden (Reviewer), Melvin M. Belli (Reviewer), George H. Tyne (Reviewer), William J. Bowe (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Book Reviews

The Hearsay Rule

By R. W. Baker

London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons,Ltd., 1950. Pp. xxi, 180

reviewer: Edmund M. Morgan

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Self-Incrimination: What Can an Accused Person be Compelled to Do?

By Fred E. Inbau

Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1950.Pp. x, 91. $2.50

reviewer: Albert Williams

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Administrative Law

By Kenneth C. Davis

St. Paul: West Pub. Co.,1951. Pp. xvi, 1024. $8.00

Administrative Law: A Test

By Reginald Parker

Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1952. Pp. x, 344. $5.50

Administrative Agencies and the Courts

By Frank E. Cooper

Ann Arbor; University of Michigan Law School, 1951. Pp. …

A Symposium On Evidence -- Foreward, Orie L. Phillips

Vanderbilt Law Review

This is the fifth in a series of symposia published by the Vanderbilt Law Review on important legal subjects. This symposium covers a number of selected subjects in the field of Evidence. The privilege accorded me of writing this foreword affords me the opportunity to express my sincere appreciation of this excellent symposium and the confident hope that it will be most helpful to students, judges and practicing lawyers.

The term "Evidence" imports the means by which any alleged matter of fact, the truth of which is submitted to investigation, is established or disproved.' It embraces the rules of law …

Privileged Communications--Some Recent Developments, Lloyd S. Adams Jr., Mary E. Polk

Vanderbilt Law Review

It is the purpose of this Note to collect and discuss some of the newer decisions construing and applying the rules of evidence as to certain privileged communications, with a view toward indicating possible trends and developments or limitations, if any, in this field of the law of evidence. It is limited primarily to communications between husband and wife, attorney and client, physician and patient, and priest and penitent, with a short discussion of the so-called "novel privileges." The assumption is made that the reader is familiar with generally accepted definitions of the various privileges, as well as traditional limitations.' …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE--FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND GESTICULATIONS OF TRIAL JUDGE--PREJUDICIAL EFFECT ON JURY

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EMPLOYMENT SECURITY ACT--PERSONS COUNTED TO DETERMINE WHETHER AN EMPLOYING UNIT HAS REQUISITE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES TO CONSTITUTE AN "EMPLOYER"--STUDENTS WORKING FOR SCHOOL TO PAY TUITION

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FEDERAL JURISDICTION--JURISDICTIONAL AMOUNT--INJUNCTION SUITS

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LEGAL ETHICS--SOLICITATION AND FEE SPLITTING--ATTORNEY CONTRACTING WITH LABOR UNION TO REPRESENT UNION MEMBERS FOR CONTIGENT FEE

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NEGLIGENCE--LANDOWNER'S DUTY OF CARE--DUTY OWED TO FIREMAN

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NEGLIGENCE--STANDARD OF CARE--ASSURED-CLEAR-DISTANCE-AHEAD RULE

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PERSONAL PROPERTY--TENANCY BY THE ENTIRETY--BANK ACCOUNTS

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PLEADING--GENERAL ISSUE--SCOPE IN TENNESSEE

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TORTS--CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS--TORT LIABILITY OF CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS UNDER THE DOCTRINE OF RESPONDEAT SUPERIOR

Dennis V. United States -- Precedent, Principle Or Perversion?, Chester J. Antieau

Vanderbilt Law Review

Every socio-political group must determine when its survival necessitates proscription of subversive activity. Although some scholars feel no limitation upon speech is therefor justified, most students of the problem are agreed that when national security is at stake somewhere there must be imposed some limitations upon freedom of expression. The Blackstonian notion that, although there could be no prior restraints, anything could be punished after utterance is unworthy. Prior restraints of some kind, such as a prohibition upon publishing in time of war the sailing dates of troopships, are permissible under any rational analysis while, on the other hand, if …

The King Does No Wrong -- Liability For Misadministration, Reginald Parker

Vanderbilt Law Review

The age-old rule of the common law that a citizen may not seek redress from the government for wrongs committed by the latter is often restated in the form of two maxims. One is that "the king can do no wrong." It refers to "wrongs" in the narrower sense of the word, meaning torts and related delicts. It has its counter part if not origin in the Roman-Byzantine holding, princeps legibus solutus est.' Many modern countries and some states have abrogated the rule. The other maxim, "the sovereign cannot be sued without his consent," precludes any law suit, not merely …

Formal Requirements For Creation Of The Oil And Gas Lessee's Interest, William D. Warren

Vanderbilt Law Review

The practice of the courts of employing almost as many varying and contradictory descriptions of the nature of the lessee's interest under the usual oil and gas lease as there are petroleum producing states has a historical origin which is clearly traceable. In the latter half of the nineteenth century as each of the known oil bearing states was slowly explored and developed for petroleum, it fell the lot of their courts to solve the complicated legal problems arising in this new and unique industry. Equipped with but little accurate scientific knowledge about the physical behavior of oil and gas, …

State Statutes And The Full Faith And Credit Clause -- Hughes V. Fetter, Jay A. Hanover

Vanderbilt Law Review

The full faith and credit clause of the Constitution' has commonly been regarded as concerned only with the enforcement of foreign judgments between the states of the Union. The numerous cases which have come before the Supreme Court have dealt almost exclusively with the "judicial Proceedings" phrase of the clause, while the words "public Acts" and "Records" have been, for the most part, left untapped as a source of decisional law. It has only been in recent years that the Supreme Court has broadened its approach by applying the full faith and credit clause to the legislative acts of the …

Legal Aspects Of Allergy, Doran E. Perdue

Vanderbilt Law Review

Discussions of allergy have appeared frequently in medical journals and treatises' but only rarely in legal periodicals and treatises. In recent years, however, allergy and problems of hypersensitivity have become increasingly important in law. Whether this is due to the fact that a greater number of persons today are actually allergic because of new products and processes, or whether it is because there is today a better understanding of allergy cannot be categorically stated. Perhaps it would be safe to assume that the increased number of allergy cases is due in some measure to a combination of both causes.

Book Reviews, Robert J. Lynn, William J. Bowe (Reviewer), Samuel J. Foosaner (Reviewer), Stanley D. Ross (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Handbook on the Law of Future Interests

By Lewis M. Simes

St.Paul, West Publishing Co., 1951. Pp. xv, 495. $8.00

reviewer: Robert J. Lynn

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Tax Savings in Real Estate Transactions

Prepared by Bureau of Analysis, Davenport, Iowa. Chicago: Published under auspices of National Institute of Real Estate Brokers of the National Association of Real Estate Boards, 1951. Pp. 98. $5.00

reviewer: William J. Bowe

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Income Tax Treatment of Life Insurance proceeds and other Tax Articles

By William J. Bowe

Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press,1951. Pp. 90. $2.10

reviewer: Samuel J. Foosaner

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Justice According to Law

By Roscoe Pound …

Books Received, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

CHARLES EVANS HUGHES AND THE SUPREME COURT

By Samuel Hendel

New York: King's Crown Press, 1951. Pp. 337

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DUE PROCESSES OF LAW

By Virginia Wood

Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1951. Pp. 436. $6.00.

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LEGAL AID IN THE UNITED STATES

By Emery A. Brownell

Rochester: The Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Co., 1951. Pp. 333. $4.50.

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LEVIATHAN AND NATURAL LAW

By F. Lyman Windolph

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1951. Pp. 147. $2.50.

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OIL AND LAW

Articles reprinted from the Texas Law Review

Austin:Texas Law Review, 1951. Pp. 1736. Bound copies $15.00, unbound copies $12.00.

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PRICE POLICIES …

Alienability Of Future Interests In Tennessee, Ernest C. Matthews, Iii

Vanderbilt Law Review

One of the most technical problems in the field of property law is the manner in which future interests in realty and personalty may be alienated. The term, future interest, is used here to mean a presently existing interest which is deprived of possession but which looks forward to possession in the future. The term is a misnomer. Such an interest is "future" only in the sense that it looks toward becoming possessory in the future. Just as future interests is a law of words, so the alienability of future interests is, in the absence of statute, a law of …

Agency To Make Warranties, Merton Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

What are warranties? How are they created? And, particularly, what kind of authority or employment will enable one person to make a warranty that will be binding on another person?

Let us first look at warranties broadly and note their function. When a sale is being made there is commonly a risk of some defect in the thing sold. And in connection with other kinds of transactions there is frequently a risk of loss that will occur if a certain fact exists or comes to pass. There is, for example, a risk that the horse being sold js not sound; …

Books Received, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

-- Books Received --

Commercial Law, Cases on

By Robert Braucher

Brooklyn: The Foundation Press, Inc., 1951. Pp. 709. $8.00

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Commercial Transactions, Cases and Materials, Temporary Edition

By Arthur E. Sutherland, Jr. and Bertram F. Willcox

Brooklyn: The Foundation Press, Inc., 1951. Pp. 1251. $9.50

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Conflict of Laws, Cases and Materials, Third Edition

By Elliott E.Cheatham, Herbert F. Goodrich, Erwin N. Griswold and Willis L. M.Reese

Brooklyn: The Foundation Press, Inc., 1951. Pp. 960. $9.00

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Constitution of Powers in a Secular Statte, A.

By Edward S. Corwin

Charlottesville: The Michie Co., 1951. Pp. 126

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Evidence, Cases …

Legal Problems In The Organization And Operation Of Group Health Plans, Horace R. Hansen

Vanderbilt Law Review

This article is intended as a practical aid to the lawyer who is confronted with the legal problems involved in the organization and operation of a group health plan.' It covers the statutes and decisions of the states affecting the corporate structure, the problems involved in membership service contracts and their comparison with insurance policies, and the unique requirements of physicians' contracts.

Group health plans here discussed are those in which the member-patients sponsor and control the nonprofit corporation on a democratic or cooperative basis, or at least have an effective voice in its management. The corporation usually owns the …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

RECENT CASES

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW--FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT--REVOCATION OF DRIVER'S LICENSE WITHOUT HEARING

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--ECONOMIC REGULATION--STATE COURT INTERPRETATIONS OF SUBSTANTIVE DUE PROCESS

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--EMINENT DOMAIN FOR SLUM CLEARANCE--EFFECT OF SALE OR LEASE OF PROPERTY TO PRIVATE PERSONS FOR REDEVELOPMENT

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS--STATE SALES TAX ON INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR DEALING WITH FEDERAL AGENCY WHOSE "ACTIVITIES" ARE EXEMPTED

CRIMINAL LAW--EFFECT OF PROOF OF COMPLETED CRIME ON CHARGE OF ATTEMPT--FATAL VARIANCE

FEDERAL JURISDICTION--FORUM NON CONVENIENS--STAY OF FEDERAL ACTION PENDING STATE DECISION

INSANE PERSONS--COMMITMENT PROCEEDINGS--REQUIREMENT OF REASONABLE NOTICE

RIGHT OF PRIVACY--PUBLICATION OF PICTURES AS OFFENSE TO "ORDINARY SENSIBILITIES"--QUESTION OF LAW OR FACT?

TRUSTS--DUALITY OF INTEREST--MERGER OF TITLE …

Limitations On Municipal Indebtedness, John L. Bowers Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Not a single state has seen fit to leave its cities unrestricted in the amount of indebtedness each might incur.' Assuming that the nature of a proposed expenditure is such that it is recognized as a legitimate municipal expense, the limitations imposed upon total indebtedness may yet prevent extension of a city's credit. Thus, a city may have a particular financing scheme invalidated simply because of the circumstance that its present indebtedness is so close to the limit that the contemplated increase would force the total amount to exceed the maximum allowable.

Three sources of limitation are commonly found today. …

Book Reviews, Henry L. Mcclintock, John W. Green (Reviewer), Leon D. Hubert, Jr. (Reviewer), Wallace Mendelson (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Some Problems of Equity

By Zechariah Chafee, Jr.

Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Law School, 1950. Pp. xv, 441. $4.50

reviewer: Henry L. McClintock

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Four Score Forgotten Men

By Tom W. Campbell

Little Rock: Pioneer Publishing Company, 1950. Pp. 424

reviewer: John W. Green

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Uniform Code of Military Justice, Explanation, Comparative Text and Commentary

By Frederick Bernays Wiener

Washington, D. C.: Combat Forces Press, 1950. Pp. 275. $3.50.

reviewer: Leon D. Hubert, Jr.

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Dred Scott's Case

By Vincent C. Hopkins

New York: Fordham University Press, 1951, Pp. 213. $4.00.

reviewer: Wallace Mendelson

Book Notes, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Conservation of Oil and Gas, A Legal History, 1948

Edited by Blakely M. Murphy

Chicago: American Bar Association, 1949. Pp. xvii, 754. $3.00

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1950 Annual Survey of American Law

New York University School of Law

New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1951. Pp. x, 915. $10.00

Estate Liquidity And The Family-Owned Business, William J. Bowe

Vanderbilt Law Review

Every community in the country has its quota of successful merchants, manufacturers and businessmen whose enterprises have, as a result of management or planning, grown and prospered over the years. To value the worth of such businesses for estate tax purposes is perhaps the most difficult fact-issue in the whole field of taxation. Indeed it is doubtful if there is any problem in law or economics where the criteria are so vague and uncertain and where the permissible range for honest differences of judgment is so great. Expert opinion may vary by more than 100%.