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Full-Text Articles in Law

Crimes-Withdrawal Of A Plea Of Guilty Dec 1931

Crimes-Withdrawal Of A Plea Of Guilty

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was charged with the violation of the prohibition law, to which he pleaded guilty. About two months after this plea was in, he filed a motion to withdraw it, and substituted one of not guilty. In support of this motion he set up that he had not been advised of his constitutional rights to have counsel; that the arresting officers told him the case would be heard in a federal court, and his punishment would be light; and that he was unaware of the liquor being in his car (which claim was subsequently disproved by the evidence). The motion …


Report On Prosecution, Rollin M. Perkins Nov 1931

Report On Prosecution, Rollin M. Perkins

Michigan Law Review

The logical starting point was the discovery and restatement of existing knowledge and information on these subjects, and because of the tremendous mass of material which has appeared in the form of surveys and reports within the last decade and a half, it was deemed wise to enlist the services of an expert in such matters. The analysis which he has produced, let it be added, amply justifies the Commission in his selection.


Report On Criminal Procedure, Rollin M. Perkins Nov 1931

Report On Criminal Procedure, Rollin M. Perkins

Michigan Law Review

During the period of trial by battle such a proceeding served, in addition to its nominal purpose, something of the function which is now served by a World's Series ball game. From that time to this, the trial has been the spectacular aspect of the enforcement of justice in general and of criminal justice in particular. The result has been relative overemphasis upon criminal procedure in the strictly technical sense, and a corresponding neglect of the broader problems of administration. If, for instance, a conviction under a statute making it grand larceny to steal "a cow or animal of the …


Report On The Enforcement Of The Deportation Laws Of The United States, E. Blythe Stason Nov 1931

Report On The Enforcement Of The Deportation Laws Of The United States, E. Blythe Stason

Michigan Law Review

This report is concurred in by nine of the eleven members of the Commission. Two members, Henry W. Anderson and Kenneth Mackintosh, file dissenting statements. The Report is accompanied by a thoroughly interesting research study of the administration of the deportation laws, prepared by Reuben Oppenheimer. Since this study constitutes the basis of the report, and since the majority of the Commission concur in the conclusions and recommendations set forth in it, the following remarks will deal primarily with the study itself.


State Juvenile Court Procedure For Federal Juvenile Offenders, Howard E. Wahrenbrock Nov 1931

State Juvenile Court Procedure For Federal Juvenile Offenders, Howard E. Wahrenbrock

Michigan Law Review

The Report on the Child Offender in the Federal System of Justice recommends the enactment of federal legislation which will provide means of utilizing the machinery of existing state juvenile courts where federal laws have been violated by children. The details of such legislation are not suggested in the Report. The legal questions to be encountered in the framing of such legislation call for careful consideration if full advantage is to be taken of the knowledge which the study made for the Commission furnishes. Some of the questions of more general interest will be taken as the subject of this …


Crimes - Right To Bail Of Prisoner Held For Extradition Nov 1931

Crimes - Right To Bail Of Prisoner Held For Extradition

Michigan Law Review

The prisoner, who was wanted on an indictment in Iowa, had been apprehended in Minnesota under a rendition warrant issued by the governor of that state upon the requisition of the governor of Iowa. Habeas corpus proceedings were brought in the lower court to test the validity of the warrant, but the prisoner was remanded to the custody of the sheriff. He appealed this decision, and made application to fix bail pending the appeal. Held, it is doubtful if the court has the power to admit to bail after the governor's warrant has been issued, and even if the …


Injunctions To Restrain Threatened Or Impending Criminal Prosecutions, Frederick G. Hamley Jul 1931

Injunctions To Restrain Threatened Or Impending Criminal Prosecutions, Frederick G. Hamley

Washington Law Review

The general rule is always stated to be that an injunction will not be granted to stay criminal or quasi-crininal proceedings. The original basis of the rule, it is quite generally agreed, was founded upon the theory that to sustain a bill in equity to restrain or relieve against proceedings for the punishment of offenses would constitute an invasion of the law courts. This theory was the natural outgrowth of the lack of relation between equity and law courts as they formerly existed in England. With the gradual ebb in the jealousies and antagonisms between courts of law and of …


Crimes--Burden Of Proving Alibi And Self-Defense May 1931

Crimes--Burden Of Proving Alibi And Self-Defense

Michigan Law Review

The defendant, indicted for murder, requested a charge that, if the evidence as to self-defense raised in the minds of the jurors a reasonable doubt of the guilt of the defendant, they should acquit him. Held, the trial court properly refused to· give the instruction. The burden was on the defendant to establish the defense by a preponderance of the evidence. Commonwealth v. Troup (Pa. 1931) 153 Atl. 337.


Appeal And Error- Crimes - Evidence Not Objected To At Trial May 1931

Appeal And Error- Crimes - Evidence Not Objected To At Trial

Michigan Law Review

The defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree. At the trial, certain incompetent testimony was placed in evidence by the prosecution, to which the defendant's attorney failed to object. The point was sought to be raised on appeal under N. J. Comp. Stat. 1910 sec. 136, which provides that, in criminal cases, if "the plaintiff in error on the trial below suffered manifest wrong or injury, either in the admission or rejection of testimony, whether objection was made thereto or not * * * the appellate court shall remedy such wrong or injury * * * and order …


Appeal And Error-Negligence Or Incompetence Of Counsel May 1931

Appeal And Error-Negligence Or Incompetence Of Counsel

Michigan Law Review

Defendant appealed from conviction of murder because of the incompetence and negligence of his attorney in the conduct of the trial. Held, the fact that the defendant was not properly represented by the counsel of his own choice was no ground for the court to go beyond the record and grant a new trial. People v. Hartwell (Ill. 1930) 173 N.E. 112.


Crimes-Right Of Jury To Recommend Mercy Apr 1931

Crimes-Right Of Jury To Recommend Mercy

Michigan Law Review

In a trial for murder, under a statute which provided that if the jury found the accused guilty of murder they might recommend him or her to the mercy of the court, thus reducing the punishment from death to life imprisonment, the court instructed the jury, ''You cannot of your own free will recommend or not recommend [mercy] because you are opposed to capital punishment." Exception was taken on the grounds that this circumscribed the statutory privilege of the jury to recommend mercy. Held, the instruction was erroneous and constituted grounds for new trial. State v. Blakely (S. C. …


Book Reviews Apr 1931

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

Six brief book reviews of various law topics.


Crimes-Influence From The Defendants Failure To Testify Apr 1931

Crimes-Influence From The Defendants Failure To Testify

Michigan Law Review

The testimony given on a trial for murder indicated that the defendant had shot and killed one of his pursuers while fleeing the scene of a robbery in which he had taken a principal part. The trial court instructed the jury that the defendant, while not compellable, was competent to be a witness in his own behalf; and that although his failure to take the stand raised no presumption of his guilt, if facts were testified to which were accusations against the defendant which he could by his oath deny, and he failed to take the stand in his own …


Reform Of Legal Procedure: Rulemaking Power For Courts, Sveinbjorn Johnson Mar 1931

Reform Of Legal Procedure: Rulemaking Power For Courts, Sveinbjorn Johnson

Indiana Law Journal

An address delivered to the Indiana State Bar Association at Indianapolis, Thursday, December 18, 1930.


Crimes-Procedure-Constitutionality Of The Short Form Of The Indictment Mar 1931

Crimes-Procedure-Constitutionality Of The Short Form Of The Indictment

Michigan Law Review

The respondents were tried and found guilty of murder. Held, that the constitutional provision that "the accused shall be fully informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him" requires an indictment returned by the grand jury to contain allegations as to the time and place of the assault and the time and place of death of the decedent where the crime charged is murder. State v. Rector (S. C . 1930) 155 S.E. 385.


Crimes-Procedure-Variance Between Indictment And Proof Feb 1931

Crimes-Procedure-Variance Between Indictment And Proof

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff was convicted of burglary under an indictment alleging that the article stolen was the joint property of two persons. The proof disclosed that it was the sole property of one of them, but this variance was at no time called to the attention of the lower court. On appeal, held, such variance was not reversible error. People v. Oswald (Ill. 1930) 172 N.E. 819.


The Initiation Of Criminal Prosecutions By Indictment Or Information, Raymond Moley Feb 1931

The Initiation Of Criminal Prosecutions By Indictment Or Information, Raymond Moley

Michigan Law Review

One of the most pronounced changes in criminal procedure proposed by the new criminal code prepared under the direction of and approved by the American Law Institute is that which proposes "all offenses heretofore required to be prosecuted by indictment may be prosecuted either by indictment or information.'' This would radically affect the present criminal procedure of one-half of the states. In twenty-four states prosecution of practically all cases may now be by information. The reform thus officially proposed by the Institute has been widely recommended by commissions and committees interested in the reform of criminal procedure. In many of …


Appeal And Error-Judicial Distrust Of The Jury Feb 1931

Appeal And Error-Judicial Distrust Of The Jury

Michigan Law Review

A statute prescribed ten years in the state penitentiary as the minimum punishment for perjury committed on the trial of an indictment for a felony. In a prosecution for this offense, the trial court erroneously charged the jury that five years was the minimum punishment, to which the defendant excepted. Held, when defendant excepts to such instruction, it is reversible error for which a new trial will be granted. Roley v. State (Okla. Crim. App. 1930) 290 Pac. 195.


Crimes-Speedy Trial-Justification For Delay Jan 1931

Crimes-Speedy Trial-Justification For Delay

Michigan Law Review

The defendant was convicted under a state prohibition statute. The information was filed on June 7, 1929, and no further proceedings were taken against him for more than sixty days thereafter. The defendant moved to dismiss the suit on the ground that he had not had a speedy trial. No jury was on duty during the months of July, August, and the early part of September. Held, that the constitutional guaranty of a speedy trial was not infringed by such delay. State v. Vukich (Wash. 1930) 290 Pac. 992.