Law Commons^™

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. …

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 …

Book Reviews, Henry L. Mcclintock (Reviewer), 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

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; …

The Federal Tort Claims Act And Its Application To Military Personnel, Harold F. Mcniece, John V. Thornton

Vanderbilt Law Review

The background and history of the Federal Tort Claims Act" are well known. Stemming in part from the medieval political theory that the King could do no wrong, a doctrine evolved in English law that the Crown was, in the absence of its consent, immune to suit. This concept became a part of the American common law, and in the main was enforced as rigorously on this side of the Atlantic as in the mother country.

The oft-times inequitable consequences of sovereign immunity in the United States were at first sought to be ameliorated through the device of private legislative …

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 …

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%.

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 …

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

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 …

Burden Of Proof And Presumptions In Will Contests In Tennessee, Edmund M. Morgan

Vanderbilt Law Review

Burden of proof is a slippery phrase. It is used to describe the burden of producing evidence sufficient to justify a finding or the burden of persuading the trier to make a finding or both these burdens.' Thayer noted the confusion in the judicial opinions caused by this loose use of language. In his essay, in attempting to bring order into the subject, he stated first that the burden of persuasion is fixed by the pleadings or their equivalent at a stage of the proceedings preliminary to trial and second, that once fixed, it never shifts. These pronouncements have received …

The Common Law: An Account Of Its Reception In The United States, Ford W. Hall

Vanderbilt Law Review

The story of the extent to which the common law of England has been received and applied in the United States, is one of the most interesting and important chapters in American legal history. However, many courts and writers have shown a tendency simply to say that our colonial forefathers brought the common law of England with them, and there has often been little or no inclination to look further into the question. Nevertheless, the problem of the reception of the common law in America has at various times occupied the attention of many of our most eminent jurists and …

Tort Liability In Aircraft Accidents, Henry G. Gatlin Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Over twenty years ago, Justice Cardozo said, "Aviation is today an established method of transportation. The future, even the near future, will make it still more general." Aviation is now a vital part of our daily lives and a familiarity well steeped in American tradition. But even with this apparent adoption of the place of aviation in our economic cycle, it is accompanied by misunderstanding and confusion--witness the placement of serious auto accidents on page six of our newspapers, where headlines scream of aviation's failure if a crash occurs. But as was said in Cohn v. United Air Lines Transport …

Arbitrability Under Collective Bargaining Agreements, Clyde H. Brockett Jr., William Merlin

Vanderbilt Law Review

Under many collective bargaining contracts calling for arbitration of disputes, sooner or later a question has arisen whether the arbitrator has authority and power to arbitrate a particular issue. While this is obviously an oversimplification, it is a statement of the problem of arbitrability. Involuntary arbitration of labor disputes the question of the "scope of arbitration" may arise in either of two situations: (1) in the formulation of new contracts; or (2) in the disposition of grievances under existing contracts. This Note will consider only arbitration of the latter type.

Claims Against The State In Tennessee -- The Board Of Claims, George H. Cate Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The age-old doctrine of governmental immunity from suit seems gradually to be passing into the discard, first in the realm of contract liability, and of late in the field of torts. Recent years have seen its vitality substantially sapped by judicial decisions, and there is a distinct trend among governmental units to do away with it partially or entirely through legislation. Thus, England in the Crown Proceedings Act of 1947, the United States in the Federal Tort Claims Act, and many of the states by similar legislation have renounced their shield of immunity from suit and, by means more regularized …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

RECENT CASES

CONTRACTS--CONSIDERATION--AGREEMENT TO SUPPORT ILLEGITIMATE CHILD

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CONTRIBUTION--JOINT TORTFEASORS--REMEDY GRANTED

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CONTRIBUTION--JOINT TORTFEASORS--REMEDY GRANTED WHEN TORT CONSISTS OF NEGLIGENCE

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CREDITORS' RIGHTS--RECEIVERSHIP OF OPERATING BUSINESS--CHATTEL, MORTGAGEE ENTITLED TO FORECLOSURE RATHER THAN SMALLER MONTHLY PAYMENTS ORDERED BY COURT

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EVIDENCE--DEAD MAN STATUTE--OBSERVATION OF PHYSICAL CONDITIONS NOT A "TRANSACTION" WITHIN MEANING OF STATUTE

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EVIDENCE--JUDICIAL NOTICE--TENETS OF COMMUNIST PARTY

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FEDERAL COURTS--HABEAS CORPUS IN EXTRADITION PROCEEDINGS--NECESSITY OF EXHAUSTING REMEDIES IN STATE COURTS

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IMPLIED WARRANTY--WARRANTY OF SEAWORTHINESS--WARRANTY WITHOUT A SALE

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NEGLIGENCE OF LANDOWNER--PERSON TAKING SHORTCUT THROUGH STORE--LICENSEE OR BUSINESS GUEST?

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RES JUDICATA--INDEMNITOR-INDEMNITEE RELATIONSHIP AS EXCEPTION TO REQUREMENT OF MUTUALITY--CREATION …

Federal And State Control Of Natural Resources, Corwin W. Johnson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Federalism, a complicating factor in many areas of governmental concern, poses unique problems in efforts of the states and the Federal Government to maximize the satisfaction of human wants from natural resources. These problems take on added significance in view of indications of growing governmental activity in response to the pressures upon our natural resource base of an expanding economy, a rising population trend, and increasing preparations for national defense during what may be a very long period of international tension and war. Decisions must be made determining the manner in which new responsibilities will be shared by our levels …

Criminal Law Administration Prior To Trial: Recent Constitutional Developments, Paul H. Sanders

Vanderbilt Law Review

Probably the most pervasive dilemma in human experience is that which poses the choice with respect to the use of normally-condemned means in order to attain what are considered to be desirable ends. The field of criminal law administration offers a particularly apt illustration of the dilemma in modern society. The actual, day-to-day methods of operation of our law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges and other officials concerned with the investigation, trial and punishment of those charged with crime,--all reflect the choice that has been made in fact by our society. We can each judge, within the limits of our experience, …

Foreword: A Symposium On Current Constitutional Problems, John W. Davis

Vanderbilt Law Review

The place of the Constitution in American life nowhere appears more clearly than in the form of our oaths of allegiance. These do not run to any personal sovereign, or to any nation or government by name. They pledge only the support of the Constitution of the United States, to which is sometimes added the promise to defend it against all enemies foreign and domestic. It must be and it is something more than a mere document which is sanctified by such oaths. It is the embodiment and symbol of nationhood, of a form of government and of a way …

The Problems Of Yesteryear -- Commerce And Due Process, Robert L. Stern

Vanderbilt Law Review

Less than fifteen years ago, there were constitutional problems important enough to stir the country, to threaten the sanctity of the Supreme Court. These were the culmination of at least three decades of judicial controversy, in which the pressure of events brought criticism of the Court's decisions, both in noteworthy dissenting opinions and outside, to a new height. Fifteen years later, there still are difficult and important constitutional problems, and there still is criticism of the Supreme Court's decisions--though on a relatively minor scale. But the issues which rocked more than the legal world in the 1930's and in the …

Current Constitutional Problems In Federal Taxation, Charles L.B. Lowndes

Vanderbilt Law Review

The most significant constitutional problem in federal taxation today is the absence of constitutional problems. The federal income, estate and gift taxes all encountered an extremely critical reception at the hands of the courts and suffered serious constitutional set-backs early in their careers. Today, however, they function in a constitutional climate as benevolent as it was formerly hostile. A microscopic analysis of the present federal tax system may reveal minor irregularities which might conceivably be magnified into major constitutional issues. From a practical point of view, however, the chance of invalidating a federal tax assessment on constitutional grounds is infinitesimal. …

The Supreme Court And Civil Liberties, Paul A. Freund

Vanderbilt Law Review

The evolution of the enforcement of First Amendment guarantees under the aegis of the Fourteenth is an interesting study in the throwing up of bridges before and the burning of them behind, characteristic of juridical-advance. The protection of property and of liberty of contract had long since been assured under decisions applying'the Fourteenth Amendment. The interests of a teacher and of a private school, challenging interference with their pursuits, were well calculated to furnish the span between proprietary and forensic rights. When the span was crossed the newly taken ground provided a new base for advance. Freedom of speech, recognized …

State Constitutions, State Courts And First Amendment Freedoms, Monrad G. Paulsen

Vanderbilt Law Review

We have recently been reminded that one of the current and recurrent quandaries of the Supreme Court of the United States arises from the American constitutional system's counterpart of the philosophical problem of the One and the Many. When an individual's freedom is involved, the question is whether and to what degree state legislators, public officials and judicial officers shall be called upon to enforce standards of respect for personal liberties defined by the Federal Constitution and the United States Supreme Court; or, put another way, how far the first eight amendments of the Federal Constitution are incorporated into the …

Recent Constitutional Developments On Eminent Domain, John L. Bowers Jr., J. L. Boren Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Although the provisions of both state and federal law that cruel and unusual punishments shill not be imposed are considered popularly to relate only to those punishments which exist solely in the books, the provisions are not useless today. Recent cases have shown a tendency to expand the scope of the prohibition, especially with regard to excessive punishment, and to incorporate the proscription within the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. As respect, that which likely will be deemed cruel and unusual, little can be done beyond noting those situations in which the limitation has been applied. If a generalization …

Book Reviews, Carl B. Swisher (Reviewer), Elvin E. Overton (Reviewer), Jay Murphy (Reviewer), Charlotte Williams (Reviewer), Alexander Holtzoff (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Book Reviews

LIONS UNDER THE THRONE

By Charles P. Curtis, Jr.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1947. Pp. xviii, 368. $3.50

MR. JUSTICE BLACK: THE MAN AND His OPINIONS

By John P. Frank (Introduction by Charles A. Beard)

New York: Knopf Company, 1949.Pp. xix, 357. $4.00

ON UNDERSTANDING THE SUPREME COURT

By Paul A. Freund

Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1949. Pp. vi, 130. $3.00

MELVILLE VESTON FULLER: CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES, 1888-1919

By Willard L. King

New York: Macmillan Company, 1950. Pp.394. $5.00

CHIEF JUSTICE STONE AND THE SUPREME COURT

By Samuel J. Konefsky (Prefatory Note by Charles A. …

Strikes, Picketing And The Constitution, Archibald Cox

Vanderbilt Law Review

The law's first response to organized labor activities was to attempt to define by judicial decision the ends for which employees might resort to economic weapons against an employer,' the weapons which they might use in pursuit of lawful objectives, and the occasions on which resort to economic weapons would be curtailed, as in the case of a nationwide railroad strike, because of the danger of a public catastrophe. The effort was unsuccessful. The judge-made law was neither a reflection of the enduring sentiment of the community nor a response to its needs. The subsequent reaction, which took its initial …

Legislative Disqualifications As Bills Of Attainder, Francis D. Wormuth

Vanderbilt Law Review

The separation of powers was first introduced into political discussion during the English Civil Wars of the seventeenth century by the political party known as Levellers. The object was to insure that persons be judged by general and prospective rules. If the legislative authority should decide a particular case, it might be tempted through partiality or prejudice to improvise a special rule for the situation. So the separation of powers was intended to achieve that impartiality in government which Aristotle called "the rule of law."

The doctrine of checks and balances was also introduced into political discussion during the Civil …

The Charter And The Constitution: The Human Rights Provisions In American Law, Oscar Schachter

Vanderbilt Law Review

The United Nations has added new complications to the well-worn subject of treaties and the Constitution. The issues have arisen principally in the field of human rights and, inevitably, constitutional discussions have reflected the political as well as the legal complexities. One consequence has been an apparent shift in legal positions: bar association leaders, long devoted to strict construction, have been inclined recently to stress the broad and expansive character of the treaty power and the supremacy clause ; in contrast, U.S. Government officials normally expected to support federal power have increasingly emphasized constitutional limitations. In political terms, this turnabout …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

RECENT CASES

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--INTERSTATE COMMERCE--VALIDITY OF CARRIER REGULATION REQUIRING RACIAL SEGREGATION

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CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--POLITICAL QUESTIONS--GEORGIA COUNTY UNIT VOTE SYSTEM

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DIVORCE--ALIMONY IN DEFAULT DECREES--POWER OF COURT TOWARD ALIMONY IN ABSENCE OF PRAYER THEREFOR IN COMPLAINT

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EVIDENCE--PROOF OF CORPUS DELICTI--CORROBORATION OF DEFENDANT'S CONFESSION BY HIS OWN SPONTANEOUS STATEMENTS

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FEDERAL COURTS--VENUE--USE OF STATE NONRESIDENT MOTORIST STATUTE TO IMPLY WAIVER

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GIFT TAXES--TRANSFER MADE UNDER DIVORCE DECREE INCORPORATING PREDIVORCE PROPERTY SETTLEMENT--EFFECT OF PROVISION IN SETTLEMENT THAT IT WOULD BE BINDING REGARDLESS OF TERMS OF DIVORCE DECREE

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INSURANCE--NOTICE TO AGENT REPRESENTING TWO INSURERS--ESTOPPEL PREVENTING COMPANY SECONDARILY LIABLE FROM CLAIMING AGAINST COMPANY …

State Taxation Of Interstate Commerce --"Direct Burdens," "Multiple Burdens," Or What Have You?, Edward L. Barrett Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The problem of determining the permissible extent of state taxation of interstate commerce is as old as the Constitution.' From Chief Justice Marshall's dissertation upon the subject in 1827 in Brown v. Maryland to the present, thousands of pages of words upon the subject have found their way into the Supreme Court reports. Despite this judicial outpouring, however, the Supreme Court of the United States has yet to evolve a satisfactory theory upon which to decide cases in this field. In fact, the Court in 1951 appears as sharply divided in its basic approach to the problem as at anytime …