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Full-Text Articles in Common Law

Book Reviews Apr 1926

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.


New Types Of Negotiable Paper Nov 1925

New Types Of Negotiable Paper

Michigan Law Review

Admirers of the common law are prone to point with pride to its adaptability to meet changing conditions. In codification the tendency toward rigidity would seem to be almost inevitable, particularly in so far as there is an indulgence in attempts at definition. The Uniform Negotiable Instruments Law affords examples of the price to be paid in departing from the ready elasticity of the common law.


Rights Of Action Under Death And Survival Statutes, Bowen E. Schumacher Dec 1924

Rights Of Action Under Death And Survival Statutes, Bowen E. Schumacher

Michigan Law Review

Upon the injury of a person by the wrongful act of another and his death subsequent to and as a result of the injury, it would seem at a glance that there has been two wrongs done. First, there is the wrong to the injured person, giving rise to an action of tort against the wrongdoer, and secondly the injury to the relatives who, by the death, are deprived of support or financial contribution from the decedent. At common law the right of action accruing to the person before his death, i. e. the action for the tort, abated at …


Legitimation And Adoption In The Conflict Of Laws, Herbert F. Goodrich May 1924

Legitimation And Adoption In The Conflict Of Laws, Herbert F. Goodrich

Michigan Law Review

Legitimation is defined in Bouvier's Law Dictionary as the act of giving the character of legitimate children to those who were not so born. To make the description complete, it should be added that the natural relation of parent and child must exist between the parties (if strangers in blood the case becomes one of adoption) and that the act or acts of legitimation must be provided for by law.


Contracts--Modern Rules As To Past Consideration Furnished At Request May 1924

Contracts--Modern Rules As To Past Consideration Furnished At Request

Michigan Law Review

Very early in the history of contract law it was recognized that goods delivered or services rendered in the past could not furnish valid consideration for a present promise, for there was no quid pro quo, no element of exchange. But the equities in favor of the promisee in such cases, in view of the fact that assumpsit would lie only on an express promise, were frequently so strong that in 1615 we find an exception created. Lampleigh v. Brathwait, Hobart 105, held, that if the past services or goods had been furnished at request, the present promise …


Arrest Without A Warrant, Horace L. Wilgus Apr 1924

Arrest Without A Warrant, Horace L. Wilgus

Michigan Law Review

The word arrest comes from the Latin through the French, and literally means to stop, stay or restrain. In law it relates to restraints upon a person's liberty of locomotion, movement from place to place. To require one to keep her mouth shut is not an arrest, even if wrongful. Every detention or "confinement of the person is an imprisonment, whether it be in a common prison, or private house, or in the stocks," or in the open street or elsewhere. Where codes define false imprisonment "as the unlawful violation of the personal liberty of another," the gist of the …


Book Reviews Feb 1924

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.


Coke-Parliamentary Sovereignty Or The Supremacy Of The Law?, R. A. Mackay Jan 1924

Coke-Parliamentary Sovereignty Or The Supremacy Of The Law?, R. A. Mackay

Michigan Law Review

Few legal authorities have received such conflicting interpretations as Sir Edward Coke. American jurists have turned to him as the legal father of judicial review, English jurists have found in him the authority for Parliamentary Supremacy, The cause of these conflicting interpretations is partly Coke's obscure style. Coke was an encyclopedist rather than a philosopher of the law: his ideas must be dug out and fused together from an heterogeneous mass of apparently unrelated statements. Even his Reports are legal and literary puzzles, a mixture of advocates' pleas, judicial decisions, and probably Sir Edward Coke's personal opinions as well. Hence …


Perpetuity Statutes, Edwin C. Goddard Dec 1923

Perpetuity Statutes, Edwin C. Goddard

Michigan Law Review

The common law of perpetuities is one of the most interesting examples of almost pure judicial legislation. De Donis, The Statutes of Uses and of Wills, but· gave wider scope to the development by the courts of rules of law to thwart the attempt of the great landowners to tie up their landed estates in their families in perpetuity. One body of rules to this end limited restraints upon alienation, another the creation of future interests vesting at too remote a period. Restriction of restraints upon alienation, and the rule against perpetuities, these two were developed for the same end, …


The Change In The Meaning Of Consortium, Evans Holbrook Nov 1923

The Change In The Meaning Of Consortium, Evans Holbrook

Michigan Law Review

Lawyers have long boasted of the flexibility of the common law, or its ability to adapt itself to the needs of changing conditions of society, of its responsiveness to sociological progress. And while eager reformers have often--and with much reason--complained that the law is laggard in its response to the needs of the people, yet it is clear that sooner or later the courts generally bring themselves into accord with "what is sanctioned by usage, or held by the prevailing morality or strong and preponderant public opinion to be greatly and immediately necessary to the public welfare." This responsiveness to …


Rights Of Finders, Ralph W. Aigler Apr 1923

Rights Of Finders, Ralph W. Aigler

Michigan Law Review

Much of the confusion and uncertainty in the law regarding the topic indicated above is due to a failure to distinguish between several types of situations and to appreciate the applicability of certain fundamental principles. The words "lost" and "find" are used in such widely varying senses that the all too common method of reaching a conclusion by first applying a name to a thing or situation has 'in this particular field led to special difficulty.


Challenges To The Array Mar 1923

Challenges To The Array

Michigan Law Review

Trial by jury demands impartial jurors as the indispensable basis for public confidence. And the first requisite for obtaining impartiality is indifference on the part of those who select the jury. This was fully recognized at the common law, and ever since the days when jurors ceased to be witnesses and became triers of facts, it was a good objection to the entire panel that the sheriff was not indifferent between the parties in the selection and summoning of the jury. Prejudice on the part of individual jurors could be met by challenges to the polls, but when favor lurked …


Labor And The Law In The Public Utility Field, George Jarvis Thompson Nov 1922

Labor And The Law In The Public Utility Field, George Jarvis Thompson

Michigan Law Review

To the cynical this title may suggest a rhetorical antithesis, and the average citizen cannot but be a bit cynical as a result of his observation and experience of the actuality of the failure of the law to function for the preservation of the continuity of these essential public services in the frequently recurring outbreaks between organized capital and organized labor. In a great measure, he has only himself to blame for this unfortunate condition. He lent ear to the vote-seeking politician and to the propaganda of the interested parties, taking sides with one or the other without thought of …


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review May 1922

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Assignments- Assignment of an Expectancy - Joseph and James were two of six children. A contract witnessed "that Joseph Snyder has sold to James Snyder one undivided sixth of the real estate owned by the mother, Susan Snyder; to secure said interest to James after her death, the mother unites in the conveyance of said interest The said Joseph warrants and defends the interest from all claims." The contract was signed by Joseph and by the mother. Held, Joseph had no estate which he could convey, and the contract, though made with the consent of the mother, was unenforceable either …


Book Reviews, Edwin W. Patterson, Edson R. Sunderland, C E. Griffin May 1922

Book Reviews, Edwin W. Patterson, Edson R. Sunderland, C E. Griffin

Michigan Law Review

The title of this brilliant little volume might, more accurately, have been, "The Spirits of the Common Law," for it depicts the common law as the battleground of many conflicting spirits, from which a few relatively permanent ideas and ideals have emerged triumphant. As a whole, the book is a pluralistic-idealistic interpretation of legal history. Idealistic, because Dean Pound finds that the fundamentals of the 'common law have been shaped by ideas and ideals rather than by economic determinism or class struggle; he definitely rejects a purely economic interpretation of legal history, although he demands a sociological one (pp. io-ii). …


Departure From Precedent, H W. Humble Apr 1921

Departure From Precedent, H W. Humble

Michigan Law Review

With the death of the reason for it, every legal doctrine dies.' * * * The fact that the reason for a given rule perished long ago is no just excuse for refusing now to declare the rule itself abrogated, but rather the greater justification for so declaring; and if no, reason ever existed, that fact furnishes additional justification. The doctrine of stare decisis does not preclude a departure from precedent established by a series of decisions clearly erroneous, unless property complications have resulted and a reversal would work a greater injury and injustice than would ensue by following the …


Damage Liability Of Charitable Institutions, Carl Zollman Feb 1921

Damage Liability Of Charitable Institutions, Carl Zollman

Michigan Law Review

The question of the liability of charitable institutions to actions for damages presents great difficulties. This is not due how- -ever to a lack of cases. The question has peculiarly "engaged the attention of the bench and bar of the country. The problem has been scrutinized from every conceivable viewpoint. The arguments for and against have well nigh been exhausted, and little, if anything, new remains to be advanced".' In their opinions the courts have frequently gone back to certain English cases disregarding the points decided but stressing certain dicta which have been uttered by the judges which decided them. …


Interest On Claims In Receivership Proceedings, Ralph E. Clark Nov 1920

Interest On Claims In Receivership Proceedings, Ralph E. Clark

Michigan Law Review

Outside the cases of receivership, the Supreme Court of the United States has said: "We reach the conclusion that whatever may have been the English and early American rule, the tendency in Virginia as elsewhere in this country, is to allow interest on contracts to pay money from the date that the debt becomes due."'


Writs Vs Rights An Unended Contest, Lyman P. Wilson Feb 1920

Writs Vs Rights An Unended Contest, Lyman P. Wilson

Michigan Law Review

It is desired in the following pages, even at the expense of repeajing much that is already common knowledge, to emphasize that as yet we are not done with the formulary system of the common law, despite the fact that codes of civil procedure in most of our states have purported to end the varied and interesting career of forms of action at common law by legislating them out of existence. However, that legislative edict has been about as effecttive as was the famous, but probably mythical, order of King Canute to the waves of the sea. Certain well-known illustrations …


Fictitious Payee, Victor H. Kulp Feb 1920

Fictitious Payee, Victor H. Kulp

Michigan Law Review

It is proposed to discuss the doctrine that negotiable instruments with fictitious payees are deemed payable to bearer, and to note the conditions and limitations of the rule.


Doctrine Of Bad Faith In The Law Of Negotiable Instruments, George W. Rightmire Jan 1920

Doctrine Of Bad Faith In The Law Of Negotiable Instruments, George W. Rightmire

Michigan Law Review

This rule is now enacted in all but two of the states of the United States; the history of its development and of its application since it became undisputed is well illustrative of the process of the common law system, and this discussion is undertaken for the purpose of discovering the general principles which a trial court should have in mind when charging a jury in a case involving the application of this doctrine.


Are Charges Against The Moral Character Of A Candidate For An Elective Office Conditionally Privileged, Jeremiah Smith Nov 1919

Are Charges Against The Moral Character Of A Candidate For An Elective Office Conditionally Privileged, Jeremiah Smith

Michigan Law Review

The above specific question, upon which there is a conflict of authority, cannot be intelligently discussed without first considering some features of the general law as to conditional privilege.


Note And Comment, Ralph W. Aigler, Charles L. Kaufman, Edwin D. Dickinson, Lester S. Hecht, Leon L. Greenbaum Jun 1919

Note And Comment, Ralph W. Aigler, Charles L. Kaufman, Edwin D. Dickinson, Lester S. Hecht, Leon L. Greenbaum

Michigan Law Review

Judicial Reform in Michigan - The legislature which has been in regular session this year has enacted a measure enlarging the scope of judicial action in a way likely to add very greatly to the iusefulness of the courts. This law authorizes courts of record to make binding declarations of the rights of parties prior to the commission of a wrongful act


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review Jun 1919

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Arrest - Right of Officer to Kill when Serving Warrant for Misdimeanor- Defendant-had a warrant for the arrest of one White, charging him with being drunk and disorderly. When the defendant served the warrant, White advanced upon him with an open knife. Although the defendant had a chance to escape through an open door, he shot and wounded White. In the prosecution of defendant for shooting and wounding White, it was held that the defendant was justified in shooting him. State v. Dunning (N. C., igig), 98 S. E. 530


Note And Comment, Edwin C. Goddard, Ralph W. Aigler, Victor H. Lane Feb 1919

Note And Comment, Edwin C. Goddard, Ralph W. Aigler, Victor H. Lane

Michigan Law Review

Wills - Revocation by Judicial Legislation - Wills and their revocation as we kno* them are peculiarly the result of the actions and reactions of our common and statute law. We are sufficiently familiar with statutes, declaratory of the common law, in derogation thereof, and creating entirely new principles of law. We also know law the result of no legislative act. Whateyer may or may not be admitted about court-made law, we see the undoubted fact that the great body of our law is the outgrowth of decisions applying to new conditions principles of law found in analogous cases, whereby …


Note And Comment, Henry M. Bates, Ralph W. Aigler, James William Thomas, John B. Waite, Charles Lott Kaufmann Jan 1918

Note And Comment, Henry M. Bates, Ralph W. Aigler, James William Thomas, John B. Waite, Charles Lott Kaufmann

Michigan Law Review

Power of the US Supreme Court to Enforce Judgments Against States - In the year 1460, when the perogatives of sovereignty or at least of the Crown were asserted in England much more vigorously than they are today, "the Counseill of the right high and mighty Prynce Richard Duc of York, brought into the Parliament Chambre a writyng conteignyng the clayme and title of the right, that the seid Duc pretended unto the Corones of Englond and of Fraunce, and Lordship of Trelond, and the same writyng delyvered to the Right Reverent Fader in God George Bishop of Excestre, Chaunceller …


Forms Of Anglo Saxon Contracts And Their Sanctions, Robert L. Henry Jr Jun 1917

Forms Of Anglo Saxon Contracts And Their Sanctions, Robert L. Henry Jr

Michigan Law Review

Including (a) Warranty of Title, and (b) Warranty of Quality. Perhaps the most primitive commercial transaction affecting legal rights was the executed barter; in a more 'advanced state when money had been introduced, the executed sale.


Forms Of Anglo Saxon Contracts And Their Sanctions, Robert L. Henry Jr May 1917

Forms Of Anglo Saxon Contracts And Their Sanctions, Robert L. Henry Jr

Michigan Law Review

The several forms of contract will be taken up in the following order: I. the Surety Contract, including (a) the creditor's rights against the debtor, (b) the creditor's rights to sue the surety, and (c) the surety's right of reimbursement; 2. the Warranty Contracts, including (a) warranty of title, and (b) warranty of quality; 3. the Contract of Court Record; 4. the Coitract of Plighted Faith; 5. the Pledge Contract; 6. the' "Delivery-Promise"; 7. the Written Contract; and 8. the "Earnest" Contract.


Mild Punishments, Robert Mcmurdy Apr 1917

Mild Punishments, Robert Mcmurdy

Michigan Law Review

If life, freedom, or hope be taken from man, he is ashes. Therefore we ought not to take away any of them lightly. But some, restraint or punishment is necessary. We often miss our aim, however,'by prescribing punishments that are too severe, whereupon human nature revolts, so that it is "impossible to combine certainty with severity," a lesson we have long since learned from the experience of England.


The Attaint, John M. Zane Dec 1916

The Attaint, John M. Zane

Michigan Law Review

The assize of novel disseisinoriginally lay against the disseisor in possession in favor of the disseisee, and was soon extended to the heir of -the disseisee, but not against the heir or grantee of the disseisor. But the disseisor might be dead or might have conveyed the land, and in such a case the disseisee would be driven to the writ of right with iis delays and chance of battle. But the cases where the defendant had come into possession under a lawful title which was limited in time and had ceased to exist, i.. e., cases where there was …