Law Commons^™

Corporations-Shareholders' Derivative Suits-When Demand On Shareholders Is A Prerequisite To Maintenance Of Suit, Thomas L. Waterbury S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A shareholder's derivative suit is an equity proceeding instituted by a shareholder on behalf of himself and all other shareholders to assert corporate rights. Both the corporation and the parties allegedly liable to the corporation are necessary parties. The question to be considered in this comment is, when must the plaintiff shareholder show that he sought redress for the corporation through collective action of the shareholders and failed to secure it? As a preliminary matter, we may ask what sort of collective action the shareholders are expected to take. A few authorities suggest that the shareholders, as a body, bring …

Collateral Attack On Divorce By Third Parties

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Personal Jurisdiction Over Non-Resident Individuals

Indiana Law Journal

Recent Cases: Conflict of Laws

Bankruptcy-Limitation Of Actions By Trustee As Affected By Section Ll(E) Of The Federal Bankruptcy Act, David H. Armstrong S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Trustee in bankruptcy sued to recover a preference voidable under a state statute which also provided that an action to recover such a preference must be commenced within six months after application for a trustee. The present suit was commenced one year after the bankruptcy petition was filed. Defendant moved to dismiss for failure to comply with statutory limitations. Held, motion denied. Section II(e) of the Bankruptcy Act supersedes the state statute of limitations in this case. Engstrom v. De Vos, (D.C. Wash. 1949) 81 F. Supp. 854.

Labor Law-Relationship Of Federal And State Authority Over Labor Relations, Ralph E. Hunt S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In three recent cases, the United States Supreme Court has been required to determine the impact of federal labor relations legislation on certain state enactments in this area. The importance of these decisions, concerning a problem which has caused difficulty since enactment of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, is increased by their consideration of the significance of the amendments contained in the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947.

(1.) The appellant La Crosse Co., which handled interstate telephone calls, had made a collective bargaining agreement with appellant A. F. of L. union, to continue from year to year. During …

Conflict Of Laws-Domicile Of Child Living With Mother, Charles E. Becraft S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff and defendant, husband and wife, were domiciled in New York. Because of temporary unemployment, plaintiff took his wife and minor child to Connecticut. He later returned to New York and resided in the apartment the family had formerly occupied. The wife and child did not return to New York, and the court found that she had at all times intended to remain in Connecticut and establish a domicile there. Plaintiff at all times intended to make New York his permanent residence. When defendant would not return to New York, plaintiff brought action for separation in a New York court, …

Bankruptcy-Jurisdiction Of Bankruptcy Court To Determine Stockholders' Vote Necessary To Approve Proposed Sale Of Corporation's Assets To Debtor In Reorganization, Bernard Goldstone S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Lessee railroad, which had leased and operated property of lessor railroad for many years, entered reorganization under section 77 of the Bankruptcy Act. Under the plan of reorganization promulgated by the Interstate Commerce Commission and approved by the bankruptcy court, lessor was given the alternative of selling its property to the reorganized railroad or having the lease disaffirmed by the debtor and its property returned. This proposal was submitted for acceptance by a majority vote of lessor's stockholders. Respondents, stockholders of lessor, sought an injunction in a state court of Georgia to restrain lessor's officers from certifying the acceptance in …

Comparative Conflicts Law, Ernst Rabel

Indiana Law Journal

This paper was delivered at a Round Table Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools, December 29, 1948.

Assignments Of Accounts Receivable And The Conflict Of Laws Under The Bankruptcy Act, Eugene J.T. Flanagan

Vanderbilt Law Review

Under our system of government there is no constitutional requirement that the laws of the various states be uniform. On some points there are considerable differences between the laws of sister states. Such is the case with respect to the test for priority of right among successive assignees of an account receivable. This difference becomes of great importance when a multi-state transaction raises the question of the choice of the applicable law.

Fundamentally the problem is whether the jurisdiction in question follows the rule of Dearle v. Hall,' or the so-called American rule. The former establishes the order of precedence …

Conflict Of Laws-Enforcing Tax Laws Of Sister States, Bernard L. Trott S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In the recent case City of Detroit v. Proctor, the defendant, a resident of Detroit, was owner of personal property located there in the year 1939. The city levied a tax on this property, which tax became a debt under the laws of Michigan on the first day of April, 1939, and became due and · payable on the 15th of July, 1939. During the month of June, 1939, the defendant removed both his person and his property from the state of Michigan and has since resided elsewhere. The treasurer of the city of Detroit, who is empowered by …

Conflict Of Laws-Application Of Full Faith And Credit Clause To State Court's Finding In Support Of Its Jurisdiction

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Wills-Validity Of Devise To United States Government, Richard J. Brake

Michigan Law Review

A California testator bequeathed "all I own and possess to the United States Government." His heirs sought to have the disposition set aside, claiming the federal government could not be a beneficiary under the California probate statute which permitted testamentary dispositions to be made to the state, counties, municipal corporations and certain others. From the order denying their petition for distribution, the heirs appealed. Held, reversed. The word "state" as used in the probate statute does not include the United States. In re Burnison's Estate, (Cal. App. 1948) 196 P. (2d) 822.

Conflict Of Laws-Jurisdictional Basis For Awarding Custody Of Minor Child, Charles E. Becraft S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff and his wife, domiciliaries of California, separated June 3, 1946. On Oct. 25, 1946, the wife took the minor child of the marriage to Nevada where she commenced proceedings to obtain a divorce. On Feb. 4, 1947, a final decree awarded her a divorce and custody of the child. She remarried and moved to Utah where she and the child have lived ever since. On Jan. 2, 1947, the plaintiff filed a petition in California asking for a divorce and custody of the child. On July 8, 1947, plaintiff applied for an order pendente lite to award him custody …

Labor Law - Impact Of Labor-Management Relations Act On State Regulation Of Union Shop Contracts, W. J. Schrenk, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The petitioning labor union made a contract with defendant employer, who was engaged solely in interstate commerce, providing that all employees were to be furnished by the union. If members could not be supplied, non-members might be hired but were required to join the union within two weeks from the date of employment. The defendant labor commissioner of the State of New Hampshire threatened to prosecute petitioner under a state statute, known as the Willey Act, which prohibited union security contracts except when ratified by two-thirds of the employees affected. Petitioner sought a declaratory judgment that the provisions of the …

Conflict Of Laws-Application Of Estoppel To Invalid Divorces-Mexican "Mail Order" Divorce, Charles E. Becraft S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff and defendant, who wished to marry, persuaded defendant's wife to agree to a Mexican "mail order" divorce. The spouses executed and delivered powers of attorney to counsel residing in Mexico, where a divorce was granted and the decree mailed back to New York. Neither of the parties went to Mexico, nor did the decree of the Mexican court recite presence or domicile of either spouse. Upon learning that the decree had been granted, plaintiff and defendant were married in Virginia and then returned to New York, their state of domicile. In 1946, the plaintiff commenced this action, asking for …

Corporations-Separation Of The Voting Power From Legal And Beneficial Ownership Of Corporate Stock, Richard V. Ehrick S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The Supreme Court of Michigan recently decided the case of Ecclestone v. Indialantic, Inc., the important facts being as follows: in June, 1942, defendant Emmons, owner of 451 shares of the common stock of Indialantic, Inc., a Florida corporation, transferred his entire holding to the Detroit Orthopedic Clinic in payment of an antecedent debt, reserving to himself, however, the sole right to vote the stock until the assets of the corporation were substantially liquidated. In March, 1946, with notice of this reservation of the right to vote, the plaintiff purchased all of these shares from the Clinic and thereby …

The Conflict Of Laws: A Comparative Study, Volume Ii, Foreign Corporations: Torts: Contracts In General, By Ernst Rabel, Martin Wolff

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Corporations-Power Of Directors To Transfer All Assets-Dissenters' Rights To Appraisal And Payment, John C. Walker

Michigan Law Review

By action of its board of directors, defendant corporation entered into a written extension of a lease of substantially all its assets. This action was not authorized by a majority vote at a shareholders' meeting or by the written consent of the holders of a majority of the shares. Plaintiff, a shareholder of record on the date the lease was made, had no knowledge of the transaction until about three months later, at which time he objected to the making of the lease and demanded payment for his shares as provided in section 44 of the Michigan general corporation act …

Discovery -- Scope Of Examination --Attorney-Client Privilege Under Ohio And Federal Procedures, Carson C. Grunewald S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

During a deposition arising out of a suit against the Cleveland Transit System for its alleged negligent operation, Hyde, defendant's general manager, was ordered under subpoena duces tecum to produce reports of the defendant company and answer questions disclosing "all the busses ( the numbers, and names and addresses of the drivers) from 11:30 P.M. September 25, 1944, to 12:15 A.M., going south on East 152 Street." Hyde and the company attorney who possessed the accident reports refused to produce them or answer questions concerning them, claiming that the reports were within the attorney-client privilege. The deponents were taken into …

Fiduciary Administration -- Deviation From Terms Of Trust--Invasion Of Principal For Benefit Of Life Tenant, W. Stirling Maxwell S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

By a will executed in 1932 testator, who died in 1944, made outright bequests of $2,500 and his personal goods to his widow and $5,000 to each of his sons. He then devised the residue of his estate to trustees to pay the income to his widow for life and, upon her death, to distribute the corpus to his then living issue in equal shares by right of representation, and, in default of such issue, to those who would take if he had died intestate when his widow died. The will gave the trustees broad investment and management powers but …

Wills-Validity Of Attestation On Separate Sheet Of Paper Not Physically Attached To Will, Myron J. Nadler

Michigan Law Review

Testatrix drew an instrument consisting of a single sheet of paper, intending it as her will. In the presence of a notary public, three witnesses observed the instrument with testatrix' signature thereon and her acknowledgment of it as her will, but did not sign it. The document was then placed in an envelope. A separate instrument of attestation which referred to the will was prepared by the notary and signed by the testatrix and the attesting witnesses. This instrument and the envelope containing the will were both placed in another folder which was then deposited with the proper officials. Probate …