Law Commons^™

Ex Post Facto In The Constitution, Oliver P. Field

Michigan Law Review

Any study of the ex post facto clauses of the Constitution NwYh icshtu ddyid onf ott hceo mexm epnocset fwaicthto ac lcaousnessid eorfa titohne oCfo nCstaitludteiro nv'. Bull2 would not conform to good practice. The text writers and the commentators uniformly begin their treatment of ex post facto laws by citing it as the leading case, and setting forth its doctrine. There is singular agreement as to the correctness of the holding of the case.3 The statement given by Cooley is typical: "At an early day it was settled by authoritative decision, in opposition to what might seem the more …

Supreme Court's Construction Of The Federal Constitution In 1920-1921, Thomas Reed Powell

Michigan Law Review

In a proceeding brought by the United States to restrain the construction of a dam in a stream alleged to be a "navigable river, or other navigable water of the United States," Economy Light & Power Co. v. United States2 held that "a river having actual navigable capacity in its natural state and capable of carrying commerce among the states is within the power of Congress to preserve for future transportation, even though it be not at present used for such commerce, and be incapable of such use according to present methods, either by reason of changed conditions or because …

Supreme Court's Construction Of The Federal Constitution In 1920-1921, Thomas Reed Powell

Michigan Law Review

This review of Supreme Court decisions on constitutional law during the October Term of 1920 follows the plan of its predecessors.' Its aim is the modest one of exposing the precise points decided and the precise or unprecise reasons given in support of the results reached. A valiant effort is made to refrain from criticism or from adding anything to the contributions of the judges. In the footnotes are assembled references to discussions of the cases reviewed in the text and of other issues of constitutional law considered in recognized law journals from October, 1920, to October, 1921. No effort …

Does The Constitution Protect Free Speech, Herbert F. Goodrich

Michigan Law Review

Many thoughtful men and women, witnessing the suppression of speech, by means both judicial and extra-judicial, in the period through which we have just passed, have reluctantly concluded that our hard won ight of freedom of speech has been lost, swept away in the flood tide of war enthusiasm. They point to the example of the recent candidate for the presidency, Eugene Debs, who is still confined in a federal prison for words he uttered during the war. They call attention to the fact that the fate of Mr. Debs is no worse than that of scores of other persons, …

The Newberry Case, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

Senator Newberry of Michigan and sixteen others were convicted in the United States District Court on the charge that they "unlawfully and feloniously did conspire, combine, confederate, and agree together to commit the offense [in the Newberry indictment] on his part of wilfully violating the act of Congress approved June 25, 1910, as amended, by giving, contributing, expending, and using and by causing to be given, contributed, expended and used in procuring his nomination and election at said primary and general elections, a greater sum than the laws of Michigan permitted and above ten thousand dollars," etc. The Act of …

Constitutional Law In 1919-1920 Ii, Thomas Reed Powell

Michigan Law Review

Two important cases sustained objections to applications of the federal income tax. In each there was vigorous dissent. Evans v. Gore2 held that the constitutional provision that the federal judges shall receive "a compensation which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office" applies to diminution by inclusion of that compensation in the assessment of the general federal tax on net income. The case at bar involved a tax on the i918 compensation of a judge appointed in 1899. While not directly qualified by anything in the opinion, the decision would seem to have no application to judges appointed …

Full Faith And Credit And Jurisdiction, Willard T. Barbour

Articles

The judgment of a sister state, when assailed by collateral attack, is often said to occupy a position intermediate between foreign and domestic judgments. Though the older American cases were inclined to examine into the merits of any foreign judgment, the present tendency is toward the adoption of the English view according to which a foreign judgment may be attacked collaterally only for want of jurisdiction or fraud. Dicey, Conflict of Laws (ed. 2) Ch. XVII; see note to Tremblay v. Aetna Life Insurance Co., 97 Me. 547, in 94 Am. St. Rep. 521, 538. But whereas any statement of …

State Regulations Affecting Interstate Commerce, Horace Lafayette Wilgus

Articles

The line between regulations of intrastate and interstate commerce is difficult to draw and hard to maintain. This is well illustrated in the recent case of St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company v. Arkansas, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States April 4, 1910, Advance Sheets, May I, 1910, p. 476, 30 Sup.Ct. 476.

The Constitutionality Of The Federal Corporation Tax, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

During the special session of Congress held the past summer there was enacted as an amendment to the new Tariff Law what is generally known as the Federal Corporation Tax.1 At the time of its consideration in Congress and since its enactment there has been considerable discussion regarding the constitutionality of the measure, and no little doubt has been expressed as to its validity.

A Treatise On The Constitutional Limitations Which Rest Upon The Legislative Power Of The States Of The American Union, Thomas M. Cooley, Victor H. Lane

Books

“At the request of the late Judge Cooley I have undertaken the preparation of this edition of the Constitutional Limitations. It seemed desirable, in view of all the circumstances, that the text of the last edition should stand as the text for this, and the work of the present editor has been confined to the bringing of the book down to date, by the addition of such matter to the notes as will fairly present the development of this branch of the law since the publication of the last edition.” --Preface to the Seventh Edition, Victor H. Lane, Ann Arbor, …

A Suggestion Concerning The Law Of Inter-State Extradition, Edwin F. Conely

Articles

While yet the nation was forming-indeed as early as 1643-the impolicy of the colonies' suffering themselves to become asylums for criminal refugees was seen and appreciated by the public men of the time. But, though continued efforts were made in the right direction and much was accomplished, the rendition of fugitives from justice remained, either legally or practically, a matter of comity for nearly a century and a half, or until the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. Then, made mandatory by the organic law of the Nation, inter-state extradition ceased to be subject to State control or …

The Element Of Locality In The Law Of Criminal Jurisdiction, Henry W. Rogers

Articles

THE Federal Courts have no common law criminal jurisdiction. The question was raised in the United States Circuit Court for the District of Pennsylvania, in 1798, in United States v. Worrall, 2 Dallas, 384, and the Court was equally divided in opinion. Iii 1818, Mr. Justice STORY, in United States v. Coolidge, 1 Gallison, 488, decided that there were common law offences against the United States. But this, as we shall see, was overruled by the Supreme Court. As early as 1807, Chief Justice MARSHALL, in Ex parte .Bollman, 4 Cranch, 75, had said, "This Court disclaims all jurisdiction not …

The Surrender Of Fugitives From Justice, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

The Constitution of the United States provides that "a person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in another State, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime." The act of Congress of 1793 imposed the duty of surrender upon the executive of the State in which the fugitive should be found, and provided the manner in which the charge of crime should be authenticated for his action. It …

A Treatise On The Constitutional Limitations Which Rest Upon The Legislative Power Of The States Of The American Union, Thomas M. Cooley

Books

In the Preface to the first edition of this work. the author stated its purpose to be, to furnish to the practitioner and the student of the law such a presentation of elementary constitutional principles as should serve, with the aid of its references to judicial decisions, legal treatises, and historical events, as a convenient guide in the examination of questions respecting the constitutional limitations which rest upon the power of the several State legislatures. …

Preface to the 4th Edition: "New topics in State Constitutional Law are not numerous; but such as are suggested by recent decisions have been …