Civil Procedure Commons^™

Actions-Single Injury To Person And Property As One Cause Of Action

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff suffered personal injuries and damage to his truck when the truck which he was driving collided with an automobile driven by the defendant's intestate, the latter being killed instantly by the collision. The plaintiff then brought this action alleging that the collision was caused by the intestate's negligence and asking damages for both personal and property injuries. The defendant contended that since his intestate was killed by the very blow which caused damage to the plaintiff no action lay against the intestate in his lifetime and since there was no statute giving an action against his administrator, the …

Appeal And Error - Application For Separate Trials - Nature Of Order Denying

Michigan Law Review

The decedent was riding with his brother as a guest when a collision with another automobile caused his death. The executrix of his estate sued his brother and the driver of the other car jointly. The defendants were suable jointly for their concurring negligences but a statute authorized the court in its discretion to allow separate trials. Upon an appeal from an order overruling an application by the defendants for separate trials the court held that it was an "intermediate order involving the merits or materially affecting the final decision" and thus directly appealable. Manley v. Paysen, (Iowa 1932) …

Civil Pleading In Scotland, Robert Wyness Millar

Michigan Law Review

Said Lord Chancellor Loreburn, in his answers to the questions addressed to him by Mr. Justice Lurton, preparatory to the drafting of the Federal Equity Rules of 1912: "It may be worth while for Mr. Justice Lurton and his coadjutors to consider the Scottish method of pleading which, in my opinion, is the best." This can only mean that the Lord Chancellor regarded the method in question as superior to that obtaining under the English Rules - certainly a high testimonial coming from such a quarter. Whether the opinion is justified or not is a question which may be left …

Process--Privilige Of Nonresident Attorney

Michigan Law Review

The defendant, an attorney at law and resident of Minnesota, came into Wisconsin to take depositions to be used in suits pending in Minnesota. Upon arrival he and the witnesses were served with an injunction restraining the taking of the depositions. While awaiting a hearing upon the injunction, in which he intended to appear in his own behalf and as attorney for the witnesses, personal service of a Wisconsin summons in the instant action was made upon him, naming as defendants himself and the law firm of which he was a member. A motion to set aside the service of …

Contempt-Punishment Of One Not A Party To An Injunction

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff sued A and B for infringement of patent rights. The suit was dismissed as to A and B testified that the business was solely his. A decree was then entered against B, "his agents, employees, associates and confederates * * *," which enjoined them from "infringing, or aiding or abetting, or in any way contributing to the infringement * * *" of the patents. When the decree was entered, A was an employee of B, but subsequently A left B's employ, began his own business, and infringed the patent. The plaintiff began contempt proceedings against A in the …

Cases On Pleadings And Procedure, Mason Ladd

Michigan Law Review

A review of CASES ON PLEADINGS AND PROCEDURE By Charles E. Clark.

An Appraisal Of English Procedure, Edson R. Sunderland

Michigan Law Review

On paper the program of the London meeting of the American Bar Association last year was not a crowded one. No busy morning sessions hurried the members away from their hotels; at noon there was a leisurely opportunity for comfortable luncheons; and the drowsy summer afternoon was far advanced before the real business of the day began. But the printed program only marked the high points of the meeting. All through the week, by day and by night, there was London to be seen, the Abbey, the Tower, the Thames, palaces, parks and galleries, and the thousand historic spots which …

Arbitration Under The Modern Statutes

Michigan Law Review

Of late years the way of the "fair and free trial in open court," to which every man is deemed to have an inalienable right, has become so long, devious, intricate and costly, that the law faces the danger of falling into general disrepute. The calendars of courts in most jurisdictions ·are crowded and filled for months and years in advance. the situation being most acute in the larger cities and commercial centers. the very places where delays are most undesirable. New York City serves as a horrible example-here an ordinary case generally takes three years to come to trial. …

The Trial Brief, Edson R. Sunderland, Clifford W. Crandall

Book Chapters

From the chapter Introduction: "The object of the preceding chapters is to show the brief maker where to find the material for his brief, how to find it, and how to select out of the mass of material found that which will be suitable for his use.... The present purpose is to outline a course of investigation suitable to the preparation of a case for trial and to suggest methods of making the material collected during the search for authorities readily available." [p.417-418]

Conciliation Of Controversies

Michigan Law Review

It is a matter of common criticism more or less just that the administration of law is unnecessarily tedious and expensive. Particularly among those of the poorer classes is it true that the delay and expense incident to the enforcement of small claims amounts to a practical denial of justice. With a view toward relieving this situation, North Dakota adopted the first state-wide act for the conciliation of controversies. Chapter 38, Laws of North Dakota, 1921. That act has recently been put to the test and upheld in the case of Klein v. Hilton (N. D., 1922), 191 N. W. …

Bringing Third Parties Into Actions At Law—Set-Off Against The Assignor, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

It frequently happens, in an action by an assignee, that the defendant wishes to use as a cross-action a claim against the assignor. This results in no diffiulty unless the amount of the set-off against the assignor is greater than the claim of the plaintiff, or unless the cross-action calls for a specific remedy against the assigner in addition to its defensive effect upon the plaintiff's demand. In each of these cases we have a three-sided controversy. In the first, the set-off operates against the plaintiff to the extent of his claim and against the assignor for the balance. In …

Declaratory Judgments, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

The Declaratory Judgments Act of Michigan (Act No. 150, P. A. 1919) provided as follows: (Sec. 1) "No action or proceeding in any court of record shall be open to objection on the ground that a merely declaratory judgment, decree or order is sought thereby, and the court may make binding declarations of rights whether any consequential relief is or could be claimed, or not, including the determination, at the instance of anyone claiming to be interested under a deed, will or other written instrument, of any question of construction arising under the instrument and a declaration of the rights …

Should A Correct Verdict Be Set Aside Because The Jury Failed To Follow Erroneous Instructions?, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

One of the common grounds of a new trial is that the verdict is contrary to law. What law is meant,--the law as it really is, or the law that was given to the jury by the court's instruction? Most cases hold to the latter view. It is the duty of the jury to take the law from the court, whether the court in so giving it is right or wrong. Hence, the jury violate their duty if they fail to follow instructions, even if the instructions are wrong, and a verdict based on a breach of the jury's duty …

The Trial Brief, Edson R. Sunderland

Book Chapters

From the chapter Introduction: "The object of the preceding chapters is to show the brief maker where to find the material for his brief, how to find it, and how to select out of the mass of material found that which will be suitable for his use.... The purpose of this lesson is to outline a course of investigation suitable to the preparation of a case for trial, and to suggest methods of making the material collected during the search for authorities readily available." [p.353]

Cases On Procedure, Annotated. Common Law Pleading, Edson R. Sunderland

Books

“No subject is more intimately connected with the history and development of our law than common law pleading. In sharp contrast with the other great system of law, that founded by the Romans, the common law has not been the product of legislation, but of litigation. It has grown up in the atmosphere of courts of justice. Such a genesis would necessarily give it a strong procedural favor, and would tend to emphasize remedies at the expense of rights. Procedure might therefore be expected to play a much larger part in the development of the common law than in the …

Cases On Procedure, Annotated. Code Pleading, Edson R. Sunderland

Books

“In the present volume on Code Pleading, the editor has aimed to present the subject, in all of its more important features, as a complete working system of pleading. The code has frequently been treated as the mere ‘antithesis’ of common law pleading, and this has resulted in throwing the subject completely out of balance by unreasonably extending the discussion of those elements which are ‘characteristic’ of the code, while unduly restricting or entirely ignoring those principles which the code shares with the common law….

“The student should be able to obtain a clear conception of the system as a …

Directing A Verdict For The Party Having The Burden Of Proof, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

The practice of moving for a directed verdict is the modern substitute for the old demurrer to the evidence. The reason for its development at the expense of the older procedure is not far to seek. The demurrer to the evidence was in the first place cumbersome and difficult to draw, for it was required to contain a full written recital of all the facts shown in evidence by the opposite party, together with all reasonable inferences favorable to the party who introduced the evidence.1 The preparation of such a demurrer usually required the expenditure of much time and labor.

Note And Comment, Sigmund W. David, Newton K. Fox, Harold R. Curtis, Aquilla C. Lewis, Albert R. Dilley

Michigan Law Review

Civil Liability for False Testimony; Review by the Courts of the Decisions of the Land Department; Right of One Partner to Sue His Co-Partners in Conversion; Does a Tax Deed, Void on it Face, Give Color of Title; Interference With Employment by Trade Union;

Cases On Procedure, Annotated. Trial Practice, Edson R. Sunderland

Books

“The present volume is intended to develop and disclose the rational basis for the main principles of practice employed in the trial of civil actions at law. Recourse has been had to the whole body of American case law, and the choice of cases has been determined by the clearness with which the court has shown a logical justification for the decision made….

“The cases have been very freely edited, and everything not germane to the subject for which the case was chosen has been omitted….” --Preface

Pleading Estoppel, W. Gordon Stoner

Articles

No subject is fraught with more difficulties for the pleader than that of estoppel. The problems of "when" and "how" to plead seem never so perplexing as when they arise in connection with this subject. That these problems are not confined to any day or age is evidenced by the reports from the time of Lord COKE down to the latest advance sheets of the present day reporter systems, and the lawyers of no generation have been wholly agreed on their solution. No system of pleading yet established has been free from these questions and with each general change in …

The Trial Brief, Edson R. Sunderland

Book Chapters

Professor Sunderland writes in introduction to his chapter: "As this is not a book of practice, an extended discussion of the general subject of 'Preparation for Trial' would manifestly be out of place.... The purpose of this part is to outline a course of investigation suitable in preparing a case for trial and to suggest methods for making the materials so obtained readily available." [p.207]

Cases On Equity Pleading And Practice, Bradley M. Thompson

Books

The cases contained in this volume have been selected with a view of assisting both the student and the instructor, with illustration of the practical application of the general principle and rule of equity pleading and practice. Only so much of the statement of fact and of the opinion of the court have been retained in each case as is sufficient to make the decision upon the question of pleading before the Court intelligible and clear. As far as possible all padding has been excluded. Littleton ha aid: "And know, my son, that it is one of the most honorable, …

A Manual Of Equity Pleading And Practice, Bradley M. Thompson

Books

The following manual is intended simply as an introduction to the study of Equity Pleading and Practice, and to the course of lectures delivered upon that subject. The manual has been divided into lectures for the purposes of indicating the ground which a particular lecture will cover. It is expected that the student will master the printed synopsis before attending a given lecture.