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Articles 91 - 120 of 493
Full-Text Articles in Common Law
Equity, Due Process And The Seventh Amendment: A Commentary On The Zenith Case, Patrick Devlin
Equity, Due Process And The Seventh Amendment: A Commentary On The Zenith Case, Patrick Devlin
Michigan Law Review
The seventh amendment to the United States Constitution requires that "[i]n Suits at common law . . . the right of trial by jury shall be preserved." What exactly is a suit at common law? When the amendment was enacted in 1791, there was no law that was common to all the states. In 1812 Supreme Court Justice Story, in a Circuit Court ruling, held that the common law alluded to was the common law of England, "the grand reservoir of all of our jurisprudence." This means that when today an American judge has to decide whether in any set …
Common Sense About The Age Of Statutes, Steve Macisaac
Common Sense About The Age Of Statutes, Steve Macisaac
Michigan Law Review
A Review of A Common Law for the Age of Statutes by Guido Calabresi
Employment-At-Will Doctrine: Providing A Public Policy Exception To Improve Worker Safety, Daniel T. Schibley
Employment-At-Will Doctrine: Providing A Public Policy Exception To Improve Worker Safety, Daniel T. Schibley
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Occupational safety would be greatly enhanced if employees had a viable option of refusing to work under unsafe conditions without risking their jobs. This Note proposes a public policy exception to the employment-at-will doctrine that would give a cause of action to an employee discharged for refusing to work under unsafe conditions. Part I examines the employment-at-will rule and its recognized exceptions. Part II analyzes the inadequacies of existing statutory remedies for a discharged employee who refused to work under unsafe conditions. Finally, Part III proposes an alternative remedy: providing a common-law exception to the employment-at-will rule that will give …
The Emergence Of A General Reformation Doctrine For Wills, Lawrence W. Waggoner, John H. Langbein
The Emergence Of A General Reformation Doctrine For Wills, Lawrence W. Waggoner, John H. Langbein
Articles
In this article, which both summarizes and updates an extensively footnoted article published last year ("Reformation of Wills on the Ground of Mistake: Change of Direction in American Law?" 130 University of Pennsylvania Law Rmiew 521 (1982)), we report on this new case law and discuss the analytic framework that we think it suggests and requires.
Reformation Of Wills On The Ground Of Mistake: Change Of Direction In American Law?, John H. Langbein, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Reformation Of Wills On The Ground Of Mistake: Change Of Direction In American Law?, John H. Langbein, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Articles
Although it has been "axiomatic" that our courts do not entertain suits to reform wills on the ground of mistake, appellate courts in California, New Jersey, and New York have decided cases within the last five years that may presage the abandonment of the ancient "no-reformation" rule. The new cases do not purport to make this fundamental doctrinal change, although the California Court of Appeal in Estate of Taff and the New Jersey Supreme Court in Engle v. Siegel did expressly disclaim a related rule, sometimes called the "plain meaning" rule. That rule, which hereafter we will call the "no-extrinsic-evidence …
Constitutional Torts, Christina B. Whitman
Constitutional Torts, Christina B. Whitman
Articles
In this Article, I analyze the significance of the overlap between state tort law remedies and remedies under section 1983. I conclude that the dissatisfaction with section 1983 cannot fairly be attributed to the fact that it has been read to provide a remedy that "supplements" state law. I argue that most of the anxiety over constitutional damage actions under section 1983 can be understood - and resolved - only by focusing on two other questions. The first of these concerns the appropriate reach of the Constitution. Ambivalence about section 1983 reflects, in part, a fear that the federal Constitution …
Toxic Substance Contamination: The Risk-Benefit Approach To Causation Analysis, Bradford W. Kuster
Toxic Substance Contamination: The Risk-Benefit Approach To Causation Analysis, Bradford W. Kuster
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This article argues that the dilemma described above requires change and proposes a new standard for causation in this type of toxic contamination case. Part I examines the difficulties posed by conventional common law relief mechanisms, and the inadequacies of existing statutory relief mechanisms. Part II scrutinizes a more lenient burden of proof standard, the risk-benefit approach, which some courts have applied when faced with situations involving scientific uncertainties. The risk-benefit approach will be applied to causation analysis in the context of damage recoveries, using the. Hemlock, Michigan, situation as a case study. Part III discusses present congressional proposals, and …
Allocation Of Scarce Goods Under Section 2-615 Of The Uniform Commercial Code: A Comparison Of Some Rival Models, James J. White
Allocation Of Scarce Goods Under Section 2-615 Of The Uniform Commercial Code: A Comparison Of Some Rival Models, James J. White
Articles
Section 2-615 of the Uniform Commercial Code authorizes a contract seller to allocate goods in short supply when full performance has become commercially impracticable. Most of the cases under and commentary on that section have focused on the issue of commercial impracticability. The allocation aspects of the section have attracted much more modest attention in the cases and in the scholarly journals. The purpose of this article is to examine critically the allocation rule set out in section 2-615(b). That subsection authorizes a seller, upon a finding of commercial impracticability, to allocate "in any manner which is fair and reasonable." …
Prohibiting Nonaccess Testimony By Spouses: Does Lord Mansfield's Rule Protect Illegitimates?, Michigan Law Review
Prohibiting Nonaccess Testimony By Spouses: Does Lord Mansfield's Rule Protect Illegitimates?, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Not surprisingly, there has been widespread disagreement concerning the validity of the policies advanced in support of Lord Mansfield's Rule and the efficacy of the rule to promote those policies. This Note assesses the validity of this rule of evidence in order to determine whether it is the most appropriate method of safeguarding the interests affected by the litigation of legitimacy. First, the historical development and justifications for Lord Mansfield's Rule are identified, and, in section II, the extent of the current acceptance of the rule in the United States is delineated. Section III analyzes traditional arguments advanced in support …
Proposal For A Model Name Act, Ellen Jean Dannin
Proposal For A Model Name Act, Ellen Jean Dannin
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This note will discuss the common law of names relating to such issues as identity, contract, civil procedure, and criminal procedure, as well as discussing common law and statutory change of name methods. The failure of some courts to apply the existing law of names in a manner consistent with the state interest in record keeping and the personal interest in freedom of expression will be reviewed. Finally, a model act will be proposed attempting to reconcile and promote these interests.
The Jury And The English Law Of Homicide, 1200-1600, Thomas A. Green
The Jury And The English Law Of Homicide, 1200-1600, Thomas A. Green
Articles
The early English jury was self-informing and composed of persons supposed to have first-hand knowledge of the events and persons in question. The judge instructed the jury on the law, but was himself almost entirely dependent upon the jury for his knowledge of the case. By stating the evidence in a way that made the result it wanted a necessary conclusion, the medieval jury was able to alter the impact of formal rules of law to conform with prevailing social attitudes.
The Right Of Married Women To Assert Their Own Surnames, Roslyn Goodman Daum
The Right Of Married Women To Assert Their Own Surnames, Roslyn Goodman Daum
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This article, then, will attempt to frame the issues involved in the name change controversy and to suggest not only ways to implement reforms, but also the consequences attending these measures. Massachusetts has been chosen as the setting for an in-depth analysis of each problem, and examples of legislative, judicial, and administrative action in that state will be interspersed throughout. The results of the efforts in Massachusetts may be politically and legally instructive for people with similar interests in other jurisdictions.
Private Trusts For Indefinite Beneficiaries, George E. Palmer
Private Trusts For Indefinite Beneficiaries, George E. Palmer
Michigan Law Review
Recently, in McPhail v. Doulton (In re Baden's Deed Trusts), the House of Lords reached a decision that marks an important change in the English law of trusts which could be important also for American law. It held that there is a single test of validity for private trusts and for powers of appointment where the issue is whether the beneficiaries of the trust or the objects of the power are sufficiently definite, and that this single test is that applicable to powers of appointment. For nearly 170 years, since the decision in Morice v. Bishop of Durham, …
Review Of The Law Of Restitution, Whitmore Gray
Review Of The Law Of Restitution, Whitmore Gray
Reviews
The appearance of this excellent treatise is a major step toward a better understanding of the place of restitution in Anglo-American law. The authors' exhaustive treatment of the English case law and the inclusion of much American authority give a perspective on the field which has not previously been available. Like the 1937 Restatement of Restitution, this is a presentation in one volume of legal and equitable remedies for enforcing a substantive right to restitution.' It goes well beyond the uneasy, loose association of the legal and equitable parts of the Restdtement, however, and gives us a unified treatise. Until …
Statute Of Frauds--The Doctrine Of Equitable Estoppel And The Statute Of Frauds, Michigan Law Review
Statute Of Frauds--The Doctrine Of Equitable Estoppel And The Statute Of Frauds, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
In 1677 the English Parliament enacted the first Statute of Frauds to prevent "many fraudulent practices, which are commonly endeavored to be upheld by perjury and subornation of perjury." The trial system then existing in England was forced to depend upon unreliable juries, and relied upon few rules of evidence besides the rule treating parties to an action as incompetent witnesses. Thus, in passing the Statute, Parliament sought to minimize the abuses possible under the trial system by providing that virtually no important contract would be enforceable unless reduced to writing.
Reformation And The Parol Evidence Rule, George E. Palmer
Reformation And The Parol Evidence Rule, George E. Palmer
Michigan Law Review
The parol evidence rule of itself is never an obstacle to reformation, provided there is satisfactory evidence of a mistake in integration. If the parties intend to express the terms of a transaction in a writing, which is then to be looked to as the sole repository of those terms, the longstanding tradition of the law courts, described as the parol evidence rule, has been that the writing is controlling. If through mistake the writing failed to express correctly what the parties meant to express, the law courts still regarded the written word as decisive, but it has been recognized …
Federal Rule 44.1 And The "Fact" Approach To Determining Foreign Law: Death Knell For A Die-Hard Doctrine, Arthur R. Miller
Federal Rule 44.1 And The "Fact" Approach To Determining Foreign Law: Death Knell For A Die-Hard Doctrine, Arthur R. Miller
Michigan Law Review
The objective of this article is to analyze Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 44.1, which was developed as part of the reforms of the last decade and became effective on July 1, 1966 and to assess its capacity to rationalize the process of determining foreign law in the federal courts. What follows is an excursion through the past doctrine and into the probable future treatment of foreign law in the federal courts, an exploration of the interrelationship between the new Rule and other phases of federal civil procedure, and an analysis of the prospect that the Rule's effectiveness may be …
Bank Statements, Cancelled Checks, And Article Four In The Electronic Age, Norman Penney
Bank Statements, Cancelled Checks, And Article Four In The Electronic Age, Norman Penney
Michigan Law Review
My task was to prepare a short article dealing in some depth with specific problems which have arisen under Article Four of the Uniform Commercial Code (Code). Unfortunately for purposes of criticism, but happily for those affected by Article Four, a canvass of recent reported cases as well as bank operations people and bank counsel has revealed very few problems of any significance to either the general practitioner or even the so-called commercial law specialist. This prompts two comments: (1) Article Four seems to be working so smoothly that to develop a "problem" would be to make a mountain out …
Damages-Compensation For Curtailment Of Life Expectancy As A Separate Element Of Damages-Downie V. United States Lines Co., Michigan Law Review
Damages-Compensation For Curtailment Of Life Expectancy As A Separate Element Of Damages-Downie V. United States Lines Co., Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
While plaintiff was aboard ship as an employee of the defendant, he suffered a heart attack which was aggravated by the negligence of one of defendant's employees. In suing under the Jones Act for damages caused by this aggravation of his condition, plaintiff sought recovery for the eight year curtailment of his life expectancy as a separate and distinct item of damages, independent of the economic loss sustained as a result of such curtailment. The jury made a general award of $86,900 of which $25,000 was a special award for the curtailment of plaintiff's life. On defendant's motion, the trial …
Habeas Corpus--Custody And Release From Custody Requirements Of Habeas Corpus--Viability Of Mcnally V. Hill In The Moden Context, Michigan Law Review
Habeas Corpus--Custody And Release From Custody Requirements Of Habeas Corpus--Viability Of Mcnally V. Hill In The Moden Context, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Section 2241 of Title 28 of the United States Code requires that a petitioner for a writ of habeas corpus be "in custody." As a corollary of the "custody" requirement, the common law tradition required that the effect of the writ must be the petitioner's "release from custody.'' Because the United States Constitution and the federal habeas corpus statutes guarantee the availability of the writ in general terms, it is to the common law that the courts have consistently turned for the definition of these terms and for the restrictive effect of these requirements on the availability of the writ …
Joint Tenancy: The Estate Lawyer's Continuing Burden, John E. Riecker
Joint Tenancy: The Estate Lawyer's Continuing Burden, John E. Riecker
Michigan Law Review
The discussion which follows will be divided into three major parts. First, it will be important to see why so much real and personal property remains in joint tenancy between husband and wife or in entireties tenancy. It has been almost eighteen years since Congress eliminated the necessity of holding property in this form in order to split income therefrom for income tax purposes. Is inertia the only reason for the popularity of joint ownership, or are there other reasons? Second, we shall review the familiar but false assumptions most laymen (and even a few attorneys) commonly make regarding the …
Commercial Law--A Farmer Is Not A "Merchant" Under The Uniform Commercial Code--Cook Grains, Inc. V. Fallis, Michigan Law Review
Commercial Law--A Farmer Is Not A "Merchant" Under The Uniform Commercial Code--Cook Grains, Inc. V. Fallis, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Plaintiff grain company allegedly entered into an oral contract to purchase 5,000 bushels of soybeans from the defendant farmer. The grain company signed a written integration of the alleged oral agreement and mailed it to the farmer, with a request for his signature. The farmer neither signed the document nor attempted to communicate with the grain company and later refused to deliver the soybeans pursuant to the terms of the plaintiff's memorandum. In an action for breach of contract, the grain company contended that the farmer was precluded from relying on the statute of frauds, as incorporated in the Uniform …
Courts-State Substantive Law Applies In Non-Diversity Actions When Local Interests Predominate-United States V. Yazell, Michigan Law Review
Courts-State Substantive Law Applies In Non-Diversity Actions When Local Interests Predominate-United States V. Yazell, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Respondent and her husband received an authorization for a Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loan and were referred by the SBA Disaster Loan Office to a local counsel employed by the SBA to aid them in complying with the terms of the loan. After personal negotiations with the counsel, a promissory note was signed by the couple on SBA forms specifically tailored to conform to the requirements of state law. This contract was then submitted to the SBA along with a signed chattel mortgage on the Yazell's store fixtures and inventory and a certification by the local counsel that all …
Legal History In The High Court--Habeas Corpus, Dallin H. Oaks
Legal History In The High Court--Habeas Corpus, Dallin H. Oaks
Michigan Law Review
Ever since Chief Justice Marshall declared that courts could resort to the common law to determine what Congress meant by the term "habeas corpus" in a federal statute, the history of this venerable remedy has played an important role in the Supreme Court. Over the years, however, courts have moved away from using the writ of habeas corpus for its historic functions of eliciting the cause of commitment and compelling adherence to prescribed procedures in advance of trial until today it has become primarily a means by which one court of general jurisdiction exercises post-conviction review over the judgment of …
Antitrust Significance Of Covenants Not To Compete, Michigan Law Review
Antitrust Significance Of Covenants Not To Compete, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Covenants not to compete, despite their increasing prevalence and their obvious tendency to restrain competition, have seldom been attacked under either federal or state antitrust laws. In January 1965, however, William H. Orrick, Jr., then Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, noted that the Division was becoming concerned about one aspect of the problem-the taking of overbroad covenants not to compete in connection with the purchase of a competitor. He suggested that such an agreement might have anticompetitive effects under either the Sherman Act or section 7 of the Clayton Act. This note will explore the present …
Prescriptions Issued To Deceased And Fictitious Patients Are Forgeries Under New York Penal Law Although Signed With True Name Of Issuing Doctor--People V. Klein, Michigan Law Review
Prescriptions Issued To Deceased And Fictitious Patients Are Forgeries Under New York Penal Law Although Signed With True Name Of Issuing Doctor--People V. Klein, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Defendant, a licensed New York physician, issued five prescriptions for narcotics, signing his own name and giving his correct address and narcotics registry number. On four of the prescriptions deceased patients were represented as the intended recipients of the drugs; on the fifth the name of a fictitious patient was used. The defendant used these forms to obtain the prescribed narcotics and administered them to an addict. He was convicted of ten counts of third-degree forgery under sections 889-b and 881 of the New York Penal Law. On appeal, held, affirmed. Prescriptions issued to deceased and fictitious patients are …
Television Sponsor And Advertising Agency Held Vicariously Liable For Copyright Infringement--Davis V. E.I. Dupont De Nemours & Co., Michigan Law Review
Television Sponsor And Advertising Agency Held Vicariously Liable For Copyright Infringement--Davis V. E.I. Dupont De Nemours & Co., Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
DuPont sponsored a dramatization of Edith Wharton's novel Ethan Frome presented by the CBS television network. Petitioner claimed an infringement of his earlier copyrighted dramatization of the same novel and sought a declaration of liability against CBS, the producer of the program, DuPont, and its advertising agency, Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, Inc. (BBDO). Although DuPont and BBDO were notified before the performance of the possibility of copyright infringement liability and could have stopped the producers from using petitioner's play, they made no attempt to interfere. In petitioner's action in the federal district court, DuPont and BBDO contended that they …
Reasonable Mistake Of Age: A Needed Defense To Statutory Rape, Larry W. Myers
Reasonable Mistake Of Age: A Needed Defense To Statutory Rape, Larry W. Myers
Michigan Law Review
Hernandez represents the first positive judicial step toward changing the irrational rules which currently control the crime of statutory rape, and its import should furnish a touchstone for the future development of the law of all sex crimes. In the brief period since the Hernandez decision was handed down it has been reaffirmed by its authors, and the legislatures in two other states have enacted statutes which embrace its sound reasoning. However, at least one state has evidenced an intent to follow the traditional judicial approach of imposing strict liability, notwithstanding the defendant's reasonable mistake with respect to the true …
Widow's Succession In Common-Law Property State To Husband's Rights In Her Half Of Community Property Is Taxable And Valued At One-Half Of Entire Community--In Re Kessler's Estate, Michigan Law Review
Widow's Succession In Common-Law Property State To Husband's Rights In Her Half Of Community Property Is Taxable And Valued At One-Half Of Entire Community--In Re Kessler's Estate, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
While residing with his wife in California, decedent purchased stock, which under California law became community property. The couple later moved to Ohio, a common-law property state, where decedent died. An Ohio probate court approved the executor's determination that the widow's one-half interest in the stock was not subject to the Ohio succession tax. On appeal by the state tax commissioner to the Ohio Supreme Court, held, reversed, three judges dissenting. A wife's succession to her husband's right to manage and control her half of the community property is subject to the Ohio succession tax on joint and survivorship …
Noise And The Law, George A. Spater
Noise And The Law, George A. Spater
Michigan Law Review
For practical purposes the discussion of the law of noise can be considered in two parts: first, the rights of a complainant against a private person and second, the rights of a complainant against the government or an agency acting by government authority.