Law Commons^™

Landlord And Tenant - Liability Of Subtenant For Rent After Surrender Of Head Lease, Virginia M. Renz

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, as assignee of the original lessor, sued the defendant, sublessee, for rent. On September 3, 1930, the head lease was surrendered to the owner, subject to all subleases. The defendant was in possession until about January 4, 1933. At that time he learned of the surrender and vacated the premises. Held, the lessee's surrender of the head lease to the owner did not terminate either the rights or obligations of the sublessee. The doctrine of merger is inapplicable. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Hellinger, 272 N. Y. 24, 3 N. E. (2d) 621 (1936).

Purchaser's Remedies For Absence Of Marketable Title, Lawrence Linville

Michigan Law Review

"Where a person takes upon himself to contract for the sale of an estate, and is not the absolute owner of it, nor has it in his power by the ordinary course of law or equity to make himself so; though the owner offer to make the seller a title, yet equity will not force the buyer to take it, for every seller ought to be a bona fide contractor: and it would lead to infinite mischief if one man were permitted to speculate upon the sale of another's estate."

The apprehensions of Sugden were not groundless, as three quarters …

Constitutional Law-Due Process -Fair Trade Acts, Milton Rabinowitz

Michigan Law Review

The New York "Fair Trade Act" proclaims price maintenance agreements subservient to the public policy of the state, and renders price cutting by any merchant with knowledge of such an agreement, even though not a party thereto, actionable as unfair competition at the suit of anyone injured thereby. In Doubleday, Doran & Co. v. Macy & Co., the New York court had condemned the enactment as violating the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Subsequently, the United States Supreme Court, in Old Dearborn Distributing Co. v. Seagram-Distiller Corp., decided the contrary as to the validity of a …

Corporations - Power Of Attorney To Transfer Stock On The Books Of The Corporation, Royal E. Thompson

Michigan Law Review

Although a power of attorney to transfer stock on the books of the corporation is found almost as a matter of course on the reverse side of stock certificates, along with a form for assignment of the certificate, there is surprisingly little to be found in the authorities, as to why it is there. An inquiry into the reasons, if any, for such a provision is the purpose of this discussion. A decision of last summer, by the New York Supreme Court, New York County, lends present emphasis to the query. Three certificates of stock which had been indorsed in …

Constitutional Law - Validity Of Statute Abolishing Breach Of Promise Action, Emma Rae Mann

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued for damages for breach of promise to marry and seduction, after the enactment of a New York statute which abolished such causes of action. The court held for the defendant, basing its recognition of the validity of the statute on the ground that the legislature has plenary power to deal with the subject of marriage. Fearon v. Treanor, 272 N. Y. 268, 5 N. E. (2d) 815 (1936).

Party Walls - Replacement And Removal, Charles W. Allen

Michigan Law Review

The usual American theory of the rights of adjoining land owners in a party wall is that each owns in severalty that part of the wall on his land and each has an easement of support in that part on the land of the other. If the structure is erected under an express contract, the rights of the parties are determined by the terms of their contract. And when the easement of support is created by prescription, its scope is measured by the prior user, and no right to remove or replace the wall can exist by virtue of the …

Municipal Corporations - Constitutional Home Rule, Charles M. Kneier

Michigan Law Review

The home rule provision of the New York. constitution provides that as to the "property, affairs or government of cities," the legislature may pass special or local laws only on message from the governor declaring that emergency exists, and the concurrent action of two-thirds of the members of each house of the legislature is necessary in such cases. In 1936 the legislature passed an act providing for the establishment of the three platoon system for fire departments in all cities of over 1,000,000 population. The act provided for a referendum vote on the question in such cities. A mandamus action …