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University of Michigan Law School

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Articles 991 - 1020 of 1053

Full-Text Articles in Civil Rights and Discrimination

Federal Courts-Disqualification Of District Judge For Prejudice- Sufficiency Of Affidavit, John C. Walker Apr 1949

Federal Courts-Disqualification Of District Judge For Prejudice- Sufficiency Of Affidavit, John C. Walker

Michigan Law Review

Defendants were indicted in a federal district court for conspiring to organize as the Communist Party of the United States and to advocate overthrowing the government by force or violence in violation of a federal statute. During argument on their motion for a 90-day extension, the judge remarked he thought "public policy might require that the matter be given prompt attention . . . when perhaps there may be some more of these fellows up to that sort of thing"; that "I am not going to give them anything like 90 days, I am going to tell you right now"; …

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Constitutional Law--Anti-Lynching Legislation, William B. Harvey S.Ed. Jan 1949

Constitutional Law--Anti-Lynching Legislation, William B. Harvey S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Despite progress in recent years toward the elimination of lynching, the demand for adequate federal legislation to cope with the problem is unabated. For almost three decades Congress has considered a succession of anti-lynching bills, most of which have been favorably reported by committees. None has become law. Legislators and others opposing the enactment of a federal anti-lynching act have placed primary reliance on an asserted lack of constitutionality. It is argued that lynching is merely local crime within the scope of the power and responsibility of the states to enforce their own criminal law. The purpose of this comment …

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Constitutional Law-Equal Protection-Judicial Enforcement Of Race Restrictive Covenant, Charles B. Blackmar S.Ed. May 1948

Constitutional Law-Equal Protection-Judicial Enforcement Of Race Restrictive Covenant, Charles B. Blackmar S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The highest courts of Missouri and Michigan, and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, had held that restrictions against occupancy of land by negroes were enforceable by injunction. On certiorari, held, reversed. Enforcement of such restrictions by state courts constitutes a denial of equal protection of the laws. Enforcement by courts of the District violates the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and also it is contrary to the public policy of the United States to allow a federal court to enforce an agreement which a state court could not constitutionally enforce. Shelley v. Kraemer, (U.S. …

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Constitutional Law -Equal Protection - California Alien Land Law, J. R. Mackenzie Apr 1948

Constitutional Law -Equal Protection - California Alien Land Law, J. R. Mackenzie

Michigan Law Review

A Japanese alien paid for some agricultural land in California which was conveyed to his seven-year-old citizen son. All records indicated that the son owned the land, although the father, his guardian, managed it. The California Alien Land Law prohibits ownership of any interest in agricultural land by aliens ineligible for citizenship. Property acquired in violation of the statute escheats as of the date of acquisition as does land transferred "with intent to prevent, evade, or avoid escheat." This intent is presumed prima facie whenever an ineligible alien pays the consideration for a transfer of land to one who may …

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Constitutional Law--White Primaries--Rice V. Elmore, Irving Slifkin S.Ed. Apr 1948

Constitutional Law--White Primaries--Rice V. Elmore, Irving Slifkin S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The right of the negro to vote has constantly been challenged in attempts to destroy or at least to control the exercise of that right. The Fifteenth Amendment secures the right to vote free from interference on a racial basis by the states or the national government. In the states where there is a large negro population varied efforts have been attempted in order to control and nullify the negro vote. These efforts have been manifested in various forms-the grandfather clause, property ownership requirements, the poll tax, character tests, and literacy tests.

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Constitutional Law--Commerce Clause--Foreign Commerce--Validity Of State Statute Prohibiting Racial Discrimination By Carrier, Bruce L. Moore S.Ed. Apr 1948

Constitutional Law--Commerce Clause--Foreign Commerce--Validity Of State Statute Prohibiting Racial Discrimination By Carrier, Bruce L. Moore S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Appellant owns and operates two steamships for transportation of its patrons between Detroit and Bois Blanc Island, part of the Province of Ontario, Canada. The island is owned by appellant and operated as an amusement and recreation center for the people of Detroit. For refusal to transport a negro girl, appellant was prosecuted and convicted under the Michigan Civil Rights Act which provides that "All persons within the jurisdiction of this state shall be entitled to full and equal accommodations . . . facilities and privileges . . . of public conveyances on land and water . . . ," …

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Real Property-Unenforceability Of Restrictive Covenants-Methods Of Protecting Plan, Charles B. Blackmar S.Ed. Mar 1948

Real Property-Unenforceability Of Restrictive Covenants-Methods Of Protecting Plan, Charles B. Blackmar S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The restrictive covenant is a device by which property owners can gain some degree of assurance that neighboring property will not be used in an objectionable way. The restrictions are usually reciprocal and negative, common examples being building restrictions, regulations as to use for business, and prohibitions against occupancy by certain races. By private agreement much greater protection can be had than is afforded by zoning ordinances and nuisance doctrines.

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Carr: Federal Protection Of Civil Rights: Quest For A Sword, Michigan Law Review Mar 1948

Carr: Federal Protection Of Civil Rights: Quest For A Sword, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of FEDERAL PROTECTION OF CIVIL RIGHTS: QUEST FOR A SWORD. By Robert K. Carr.

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Constitutional Law-Fourteenth Amendment-Equal Protection Of The Laws-Racial Segregation In Public Educational Institutions, Neal Seegert S.Ed. Mar 1948

Constitutional Law-Fourteenth Amendment-Equal Protection Of The Laws-Racial Segregation In Public Educational Institutions, Neal Seegert S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Segregation of races, particularly separation of white and colored races, has long been condoned by American courts as permissible under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Underlying the traditional view is the idea that the equal protection clause is not violated by segregation so long as equal facilities are provided for both races. On this basic premise a large number of jurisdictions, particularly the southern states, have predicated constitutional provisions and statutory enactments compelling racial segregation, while a number of other states where segregation has not been forbidden by express constitutional or statutory provision have achieved …

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Constitutional Law-Civil Rights-Denial Under Color Of State Law Of Right To Serve On Federal Jury, William J. Schrenk, Jr. Jan 1948

Constitutional Law-Civil Rights-Denial Under Color Of State Law Of Right To Serve On Federal Jury, William J. Schrenk, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a probationary high school teacher, was dismissed by the Board of Education of New York City upon the complaint of Keyes, the principal of her school, that she was absent from her duties for almost a month while serving on a federal jury. The state commissioner of, education and the state court denied her appeal for reinstatement, on the ground that her status under New York law was merely probationary. Plaintiff sued defendant Keyes in the federal district court, to recover damages under the Civil Rights Act for the deprivation of a right secured to her by the law …

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Torts-Right Of Privacy-Invasion Of Privacy Through Fictional Works, Ira M. Price, Ii Jun 1947

Torts-Right Of Privacy-Invasion Of Privacy Through Fictional Works, Ira M. Price, Ii

Michigan Law Review

The New York Civil Rights Law prohibits the use of a person's name, portrait, or picture without his consent in writing, for advertising or trade purposes, under penalty of civil and criminal liability. Plaintiff, senior civil affairs officer of the American Military Government in the town of Licata, Sicily, during its occupation by Allied Armies of World War II, brought suit under the statute against the author of the book "A Bell for Adana," and others, alleging that he occupied the position of the book's and play's principal character, "Major Victor Jappolo" in the fictitiously named town of Adano; and …

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Constitutional Law-State Court Enforcement Of Race Restrictive Covenants As State Action Within Scope Of Fourteenth Amendment, John A. Huston S.Ed. Apr 1947

Constitutional Law-State Court Enforcement Of Race Restrictive Covenants As State Action Within Scope Of Fourteenth Amendment, John A. Huston S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The current housing shortage with the overcrowded living conditions and substandard accommodations which it imposes on the most numerous classes of society has made particularly significant in the competition for housing areas the discriminations generally enforced against negroes and other racial minority groups. Both normal population growth and the suspension of new construction during the great depression and the late war have contributed to an emergency in which the circumstances of our negro population are materially worse than those of any other group. Aggravating this result has been the shift in negro population occasioned by the wartime demand for industrial …

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Constitutional Aspects Of Federal Anti-Poll Tax Legislation, Joseph E. Kallenbach Apr 1947

Constitutional Aspects Of Federal Anti-Poll Tax Legislation, Joseph E. Kallenbach

Michigan Law Review

The proposal to abolish by national law the requirement now prevailing in seven Southern states that voters shall have paid a poll tax in order to vote in any national election involves a constitutional issue of the first magnitude. In the decade immediately following the Civil War the constitutional division of authority between the national and state governments in dealing with the question of Negro suffrage became a point of bitter controversy in Congress. Out of this struggle came the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, with certain supporting legislation, the aim of which was to prohibit disfranchisement of …

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Criminal Law-Prosecution Of Mormon "Fundamentalists'' Under The Mann Act-Doctrine Of Caminetti V. United States, John A. Huston S.Ed. Apr 1947

Criminal Law-Prosecution Of Mormon "Fundamentalists'' Under The Mann Act-Doctrine Of Caminetti V. United States, John A. Huston S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioners, Mormon "Fundamentalists," transported one or more plural wives in interstate commerce. They were convicted in the district court on the authority of Caminetti v. United States for violation of the Mann Act which prohibits the transportation of women or girls in commerce "for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose." The circuit court affirmed and the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari. Held, affirmed. The phrase "or for any other immoral purpose" was properly interpreted in Caminetti v. United States to extend the prohibition of the act to cases where the ·transportation was …

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Constitutional Law-Interstate Commerce-Carriers-Validity Of State Statute Requiring Racial Segregation Of Passengers, George Brody S.Ed. Dec 1946

Constitutional Law-Interstate Commerce-Carriers-Validity Of State Statute Requiring Racial Segregation Of Passengers, George Brody S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Appellant, a passenger on a motor common carrier, was traveling from Virginia to Baltimore. Pursuant to a Virginia statute requiring all passenger motor carrier vehicles to "separate without discrimination the white and colored passengers in their motor busses so that contiguous seats will not be occupied by persons of different races at the same time" the driver of the carrier upon which appellant was traveling requested her to vacate her seat so that it could be used by a white passenger. She refused and was arrested and convicted under authority of a statute punishing such refusal. The Virginia Supreme Court …

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Federal Courts--Jury Selection--Exclusion Of Wage Earners, John R. Dykema Dec 1946

Federal Courts--Jury Selection--Exclusion Of Wage Earners, John R. Dykema

Michigan Law Review

In an action for personal injuries, removed to a federal court, petitioner, a salesman, demanded a jury trial. He moved to strike out the entire panel, alleging that "mostly business executives or those having the employer's viewpoint are purposely selected on said panel . . . [thus] discriminating against other occupations and classes." The evidence showed that the clerk of the court and the jury commissioner had as a matter of practice excluded from the jury list all persons working for a daily wage. They gave as their reason the fact that such persons, called for jury service, invariably requested …

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Constitutional Law-Protection Of Civil Liberties-Federal Criminal Prosecution Of State Police Officers-Constitutionality And Construction Of Section 20 Of Criminal Code, George Brody Apr 1946

Constitutional Law-Protection Of Civil Liberties-Federal Criminal Prosecution Of State Police Officers-Constitutionality And Construction Of Section 20 Of Criminal Code, George Brody

Michigan Law Review

In United States v. Classic the Civil Liberties Unit of the Department of Justice resurrected the long dormant section 20 of the United States criminal code to prosecute successfully election officials in Louisiana for altering and falsely counting ballots cast in a Louisiana primary for representatives to Congress. Although the acts of the defendants were also in violation of state law the court asserted that "misuse of power possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer is clothed with authority of state law, is action taken under color of state law" and therefore within the …

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The Divided Supreme Court, 1944-1945, C. Herman Pritchett Dec 1945

The Divided Supreme Court, 1944-1945, C. Herman Pritchett

Michigan Law Review

The United States Supreme Court has in recent years been supplying fascinating material for students interested in the interplay of personal and institutional factors in the judicial decision-making process. Contrary to the more restrictive practices of some other legal systems, the traditions of the American judiciary have never insisted that justices sitting en banc should hide the existence of division among themselves behind a facade of pretended unanimity. Justices who dissent from a decision of their brethren have been permitted to say so, and to give their reasons. This practice has had an immeasurably great effect in facilitating the growth …

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Apportionment Of Representation In The Legislature: A Study Of State Constitutions, Elizabeth Durfee Jun 1945

Apportionment Of Representation In The Legislature: A Study Of State Constitutions, Elizabeth Durfee

Michigan Law Review

This paper is concerned with the rules found in our state constitutions for apportionment of representation in the state legislature. It does not attempt to solve the problems of high-tension politics that are involved in the making and remaking of such rules; it goes no deeper than an exposition of existing rules. Even on this level it is not exhaustive. Since the constitutions exhibit manifold variations, from simple directions which are scarcely more than a declaration of policy to complex rules for the formation of districts, no attempt will be made to classify all the different types of provisions. With …

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Constitutional Law-Congressional Primaries-Voting Rights Of Negroes, Everett S. Brown Apr 1944

Constitutional Law-Congressional Primaries-Voting Rights Of Negroes, Everett S. Brown

Michigan Law Review

The petitioner, Lonnie E. Smith, a Negro citizen of Harris County, Texas, brought suit for damages against election judges who refused to give him a ballot or to permit him to cast a ballot in the primary election of July 27, 1940, for the nomination of Democratic candidates for federal and state officers. The refusal was alleged to have been solely because of Smith's race and color and consequently violated sections 31 and 43 of title 8 of the United States Code by depriving Smith of rights secured under provisions of the Federal Constitution. The District Court of the United …

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Covenants-Restrictions Upon The Use Of Land-Negroes Apr 1944

Covenants-Restrictions Upon The Use Of Land-Negroes

Michigan Law Review

Many years ago a subdivision in Detroit was platted, with recorded building restrictions. When ready for the sale of lots, the intended high character of the subdivision and its desirability for expensive residences was much advertised. An association, an informal organization of some of the owners of houses in the subdivision, assumed the right to pass upon the desirability of prospective lot purchasers, and there was some indication that the person who advertised and marketed most of the lots verbally agreed to submit to the association the names of prospective purchasers and assured some intending purchasers that colored persons would …

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Courts - Federal Courts - Diversity Of Citizenship Requirement - Persons Evacuated To Other States By Government Order, Michigan Law Review Oct 1943

Courts - Federal Courts - Diversity Of Citizenship Requirement - Persons Evacuated To Other States By Government Order, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs were United States citizens of Japanese ancestry domiciled in California. By order of the Western Defense Command, United States Army, they were removed to the Gila River Relocation Center, Arizona. Defendants were residents of California. After their relocation plaintiffs brought this action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California "to terminate trust, for an accounting, and for appointment of a receiver," and jurisdiction of the federal court was based solely on allegations of diversity of citizenship. Held, action dismissed for want of jurisdiction. A person moving under legal or physical compulsion, from his …

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Torts - Wrongful Exclusion From An Elevator - Damages For Mental Pain And Humiliation, Michigan Law Review Jun 1942

Torts - Wrongful Exclusion From An Elevator - Damages For Mental Pain And Humiliation, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's wife, a Caucasian, having business with a tenant on the fifteenth floor, entered defendant's elevator containing other whites. She and a Negro woman were directed by the operator to take an elevator in the rear of the store used for freight and Negro passengers; and being ignorant of this latter fact, she used this elevator. Asserting that she was wrongfully excluded from the elevator for white people and thereby was considered to be a negro by both whites and colored people, she claimed to have suffered mental anguish, humiliation, and physical suffering. Held, the defendant, while not a …

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Carriers - Common Carriers - Segregation Of Races - Discrimination, John C. Johnston Jun 1941

Carriers - Common Carriers - Segregation Of Races - Discrimination, John C. Johnston

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a negro, had purchased a railroad ticket entitling him to first class accommodations from Chicago, Illinois to Hot Springs, Arkansas. When the train entered Arkansas, the conductor, in purported compliance with an Arkansas statute requiring segregation of colored from white persons forced plaintiff to leave the Pullman car and ride in the second-class car set aside for colored passengers. Plaintiff alleged that this car was not equipped with the same conveniences which were provided for white passengers traveling first class, and he filed a complaint with the Interstate Commerce Commission claiming that he had been discriminated against in violation …

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Parties - Representative Suits As Res Judicata- Rejection Of Doctrine Of Class Suits In Successive Actions To Enforce Mutual Covenants In Land, Gerald M. Lively Mar 1941

Parties - Representative Suits As Res Judicata- Rejection Of Doctrine Of Class Suits In Successive Actions To Enforce Mutual Covenants In Land, Gerald M. Lively

Michigan Law Review

Some 500 frontage owners in a certain described residential district entered into mutual covenants which stipulated against the sale to, or occupation of, such land by negroes. In an action to enjoin a breach of one of these covenants the defense was asserted that a condition precedent requiring ninety-five per cent of the frontage owners to sign the agreement had not been performed. On a trial of the merits it was found that only about fifty-four per cent of the frontage owners had actually signed. However, in a prior action, an owner, on behalf of herself and other like property …

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Federal Courts - Jurisdiction Over Violations Of Civil Liberties By State Governments And By Private Individuals, Eugene Gressman Dec 1940

Federal Courts - Jurisdiction Over Violations Of Civil Liberties By State Governments And By Private Individuals, Eugene Gressman

Michigan Law Review

The long-term security of civil liberties in the United States must in the end depend upon the spirit and attitude of the public. Many violations of these rights never reach the stage of justiciable issues. But even when they do, public sentiment is often reflected in the courts. Especially is this true in the state courts, which are often too near local prejudices and entrenched mores to withstand their effect. This situation was recognized as long ago as the Reconstruction Era, when the various civil rights acts provided for federal protection of civil liberties. Apparently it was felt that from …

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Constitutional Law - Equal Protection Of The Laws - Exclusion Of Negro From Law School Of State University, Fred C. Newman Feb 1939

Constitutional Law - Equal Protection Of The Laws - Exclusion Of Negro From Law School Of State University, Fred C. Newman

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner, a negro, was refused admission to the law school of the State University of Missouri solely upon the ground of his race. While the state of Missouri assumed to provide reasonable tuition fees for the legal education of negro residents of Missouri in other states and possibly contemplated providing opportunities for professional training for negroes within the state at some future date, it did not provide for any instruction in law for negroes within the state. The Supreme Court of Missouri affirmed the judgment of the circuit court quashing an alternative writ of mandamus and denying a peremptory writ …

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Municipal Corporations - Official Misconduct As Ground For Removal Of Officer, Leonard D. Verdier Jr. Dec 1938

Municipal Corporations - Official Misconduct As Ground For Removal Of Officer, Leonard D. Verdier Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a member of the council of the city of Highland Park, Michigan, was removed by the council, as provided in the charter because of membership in the Black Legion. The Black Legion was a secret society founded on principles of racial, religious, and political discrimination. Its members took an oath to further these purposes by any means ordered by the officers of the organization, including violence and terrorism. Members were forbidden to expose the organization under penalty of death, and membership was supposedly permanent. The council found that membership in such a society rendered Wilson incompetent to perform the …

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Labor Law - When A "Labor Dispute" Exists Within Meaning Of The Norris-Laguardia Act, Erwin B. Ellmann May 1938

Labor Law - When A "Labor Dispute" Exists Within Meaning Of The Norris-Laguardia Act, Erwin B. Ellmann

Michigan Law Review

Two recent Supreme Court decisions, interpreting the Norris-LaGuardia Act at its most troublesome area, confirm the Congressional revision of the rules governing scrimmages between capital and labor in the federal courts. In holding in Lauf v. Shinner that the struggle by an outside union for unionization of a shop, none of whose employees were affiliated with the organizing union, and in New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co. that agitation by members of a negro racial protective organization to compel employment of negro workers were "labor disputes" within the meaning of section 13, the Supreme Court has substantially put to …

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Constitutional Law - Race Segregation Ordinance - Effect Of Military Order Of Governor Issued For Same Purpose Nov 1936

Constitutional Law - Race Segregation Ordinance - Effect Of Military Order Of Governor Issued For Same Purpose

Michigan Law Review

A "segregation ordinance" of Oklahoma City, prospective in nature, made it unlawful for any negro to occupy as a residence any house or building located in a block wherein a majority of the buildings used were occupied by white persons. The initial step in the segregation of races in the city occurred when the Governor issued a military order for the separation of the races, because it appeared that riot and bloodshed were imminent; such order to remain in effect until an ordinance was passed in lieu of the order. Held, the ordinance was an invalid exercise of the …

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