Communications Law Commons^™

Space Communications And The Law: Adequate International Control After 1963?, Samuel D. Estep, Amalya L. Kearse

Michigan Law Review

During the current year, a space event of legal and technological significance will occur. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (A.T. & T.), using the launching facilities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), will launch its first satellite for research in the area of commercial communications.† The A.T. & T. sphere will be the first tested by a private, commercial organization specifically for business purposes- to implement a plan eventually to provide increased and improved telecommunications on a grand scale at a lower cost. The satellite will relay television signals from the United States to England, Germany, and …

The Law-Making Treaties Of The International Telecommunication Union Through Time And In Space, J. Henry Glazer

Michigan Law Review

On the twenty-fifth of June, the Government of the United States of America received an invitation to attend in Russia a conference of plenipotentiaries to consider the revision of an important multilateral convention. Since the conference involved matters which, by American municipal practice, were solely within the competence of private enterprise and not subject to the control of government, the United States at first refused to attend. Russia, however, assured the United States that representatives of private enterprises would be welcome. Relations between these two countries were on such a friendly basis that the United States accepted the invitation extended …

Regulation Of Business - Antitrust Laws - Effect Upon A Subsequent Antitrust Suit Of Fcc Approval Of An Exchange Of Television Stations, John F. Powell S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

United States v. Radio Corporation of America-Creation of independent regulatory agencies presented the courts with the problem of allocating jurisdiction whenever the determination of proper judicial action was found to require the resolution of issues which an administrative agency was competent to resolve. To meet this problem the doctrine of "primary jurisdiction" was developed whereby administrative issues are to be decided by the agency prior to the court's determination of issues not within the realm of the agency. Application of the doctrine is based on the need for efficient and uniform agency regulation and the desirability of utilizing agency …

Civil Procedure - Jurisdiction - Service Of Process On Foreign Television Corporation, Arnold Henson S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, a West Virginia corporation, operated a television station in Huntington, West Virginia. Its telecasts regularly reached into Boyd County, Kentucky, where part of its customary viewing audience was located. During a twelve-month period in 1954-1955 the corporation derived $71,310.30 in advertising revenue from Kentucky firms, although the contracts for this advertising were made outside Kentucky. In the course of a newscast defendant published an alleged libel against plaintiff, and suit was brought in Boyd County Court. Substituted service of process was made on the Secretary of State in accordance with the Kentucky "doing business" statute, and defendant then removed …

Criminal Law - Evidence - Wiretapping, James A. Park

Michigan Law Review

Suspecting that petitioner and others were violating state narcotics laws, New York police tapped petitioner's telephone pursuant to a warrant obtained in accordance with New York law. Acting upon information thus gained the police apprehended petitioner's brother. In his possession was found, not the narcotics as suspected, but alcohol without the tax stamps required by federal law. This evidence was turned over to federal authorities. Prosecution for possessing and transporting distilled spirits without tax stamps thereon followed, during which petitioner's motion to suppress the evidence obtained through the wiretap was denied. The Second Circuit affirmed the conviction, holding that although …

Negligence - Breach Of Duty - Liability Of Telephone Company For Failure To Relay Fire Alarm, Cyril Moscow S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Upon discovering a fire within his business building, plaintiff immediately went to the telephone and dialed the operator. After telling her his address and requesting that she call the fire department, he left the telephone to fight the fire. The message was not transmitted. When the fire department finally arrived in response to an alarm by a neighbor, the fire was out of control and the entire building was destroyed. Plaintiff sought damages, alleging that the telephone company held itself out to the public as willing to convey messages in case of emergency, and that failure to transmit his message …

Torts - Nuisance - Personal Annoyance As Sole Injury, Michael Scott

Michigan Law Review

Several thousand sales slips, mistakenly printed to bear plaintiff's telephone number, were supplied to the defendant store and were circulated widely by the latter's employees incident to normal sales transactions. Calls from defendant's customers soon burdened plaintiff's telephone, and despite numerous complaints by plaintiff over a two-year period, defendant refused or neglected to terminate use of the incorrect slips. On appeal from judgment for plaintiff in a suit for damages, held, affirmed. Defendant's acts resulted in an actual invasion of plaintiff's right to enjoy her property without unreasonable interference. Damages for personal annoyance and inconvenience alone are allowable in …

Evidence - Admissibility In Federal Courts Of Record Of Telephone Conversation-Meaning Of "Interception", Robert C. Fox S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In a prosecution for perjury committed before a subcommittee of Congress, defendant filed a motion to suppress the record of a telephone conversation which had been made by the other party to the conversation without defendant's knowledge or consent.

Held , motion granted. To record a telephone conversation in this manner is to intercept it within the meaning of section 605 of the Communications Act; under the Supreme Court's ruling in Nardone v. United States, divulgence in court of a conversation so intercepted would be a violation of the Communications Act. United States v. Stephenson, (D.C. D.C. 1954) …

Labor Law-Applicability Of The Lea Act To Activities Of The American Federation Of Musicians, W. J. Schrenk, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, acting as president of a local union of the American Federation of Musicians, requested a new contract with a broadcasting station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, including a provision that the licensee hire three extra musicians, raising to six the total number of musicians employed. When negotiations regarding this provision failed, defendant withdrew from the licensee's services the three musicians (members of the A.F. of M.) already employed by it. An action was, then brought to prosecute defendant under the amendment to the Federal Communications Act, popularly known as the Lea Act, which prohibits the use of threats …

Wittenberg: Dangerous Words, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of DANGEROUS WORDS. By Philip Wittenberg.

Chafee, Jr: Government And Mass Communications, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of GOVERNMENT AND MASS COMMUNICATIONS. Report from the Commission on Freedom of the Press. 2 vols. Zechariah Chafee, Jr.

Recent Books, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to note or review briefly current books on law and matters closely related thereto.

Libel And Slander-Classification Of Defamatory Broadcasts From A Prepared Script, Robert L. Cardon S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In an action for libel or slander, plaintiff's complaint alleged that defendant, a radio commentator, broadcast from a prepared script a charge that plaintiff was the leader of a movement which favored peace because Germany was losing the war and blamed the United States for killing children in Europe and Asia. Defendant moved to dismiss the complaint; held, that the complaint stated a good cause of action. Since the remarks complained of were not defamatory per se, the court considered the decision as turning on whether they constituted libel or slander and held that they were libelous, distinguishing a …

Libel And Slander-Charge Of Communism As Libel, Robert L. Cardon

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff a federal official, brought a libel action based on defendant's publication, in 1944, of an article charging that plaintiff had been campaign manager for a Communist candidate in a New York election; had been employed by the Daily Worker; and had caused defendant's removal from a Bronx ration board because of defendant's opposition to left-wing activities connected therewith. Plaintiff contended that the article was libelous in that (1) it charged that he was a Communist; and (2) it charged that he had conspired, in violation of the duties of his office, to oust defendant. Held, the complaint stated …

Libel And Slander - Absolute Privilege - Intergovernmental Communications, Howard A. Jacobs

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's petition to the common council for a masseur's license was referred to the Department of Health. In making their recommendations, defendants, who were connected with the department, submitted the contents of a report, from the department's files, which contained allegedly libelous statements. Held, defendants' communication to the common council was absolutely privileged. Powers v. Vaughn, 312 Mich. 297, 20 N.W. (2d) 196 (1945).

Libel And Slander - Absolute Privilege - Affidavit To Support Petition To Set Aside Judgment

Michigan Law Review

Judgment in a case against Dorothy Mann by the administratrix of a certain estate was rendered in April, 1934. Action to vacate this judgment was instituted in September, 1936. In May, 1936, Irving Mann, defendant in the principal case, executed an affidavit which contained libellous matter defaming the present plaintiff; this affidavit was used to support the petition to set aside the earlier judgment. Held, the defamatory affidavit would not support plaintiff's defamation action; the occasion was one of absolute privilege. Schmitt v. Mann, (Ky. 1942) 163 S. W. (2d) 281.

Libel And Slander - Extension Of The Doctrine Of Absolute Privilege To Inferior Executive And Administrative Officials, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In accordance with the Ohio Constitution, which provides that a copy of proposed amendments shall be distributed to the electorate together with an argument both for and against the proposed amendments, the governor of the state appointed defendant to prepare arguments against certain proposed amendments to the state constitution. The report contained the statement that plaintiff, sponsor of the proposed amendments, was "a paid lobbyist for the single tax movement." Plaintiff brought suit for libel. Held, that since the defendants were members of the commission appointed by the governor acting in the discharge of their official duty, they were …

Libel And Slander - Classification Of Radio Defamation - Liability Of Broadcaster, William F. Hood

Michigan Law Review

The advent of radio has added an interesting problem to the field of defamation. The chief aspects of this problem are twofold: First, should the broadcast of defamatory matter over the air be treated as libel or slander? Second, which of the several parties to a defamatory broadcast should be held responsible?

Slander Of Title - Nature Of The Action - Statute Of Limitations, Herbert R. Whiting

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought an action to recover damages occasioned by certain letters, alleged to be false and malicious, written by the defendant of and concerning the title to plaintiff's property. Since the letters were written more than one year prior to the commencement of the action, defendant argued that the action was barred by a clause in the local statute of limitations providing that "actions for libel and slander shall be commenced within one year after the cause of action shall have accrued." On the other hand the plaintiff asserted that the case came under the statute's two-year limitation of actions …

The Right Of Privacy, Louis Nizer

Michigan Law Review

It is only during the last half-century that the law has recognized the "right to be let alone"-the right under certain circumstances to protect one's name and physiognomy from becoming public property.

No mention of such a right will be found in the works of the great political philosophers and tract-writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries-Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Spencer, Paine. In discoursing on "natural rights," "the state of nature," "social contract," and "the inalienable rights of man," they were concerned only with the power of the state to abridge the liberties of the people. Society had not yet …

Council And Court: The Handbill Ordinances, 1889-1939, James K. Lindsay

Michigan Law Review

The extent to which a municipality may regulate or prohibit the distribution of handbills and circulars on its streets and from house to house has been thoroughly considered by the courts in the last two years. These recent cases reveal one phase of a battle historically rich and presently important to the American people. It is the thrust of a principle-the right of free speech and press-against the encroachments of municipal governing bodies concerned with the practical problem of keeping their streets clean. The municipal official sees the problem thus: "One of the small but aggravating nuisances which most cities …

Libel And Slander - Implied Representation That Plaintiff Consented To Write Her Love Story As Libel Per Se, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought an action for libel against defendant for publishing in its magazine a story, which it represented as being written by plaintiff, purporting to relate indiscreet intimacies between plaintiff and a certain man. Defendant admitted the false representation of authorship, but requested a directed verdict after submitting in evidence testimony given by plaintiff in a prior law suit, in which she was said to have admitted intimacies fully as capable of bringing her into disrepute as were those published by defendant. On refusal by the court to direct a verdict, defendant excepted and appealed on the ground that the …

Evidence - Federal Communications Act - Admissibility Of Evidence Which Became Accessible By Wire-Tapping, Edmond F. Devine

Michigan Law Review

Petitioners were convicted under a federal indictment for frauds on the revenue. The United States Supreme Court reversed the conviction on the ground it was obtained by use of evidence secured in violation of section 605 of the Communications Act of 1934 by wire-tapping. A new trial resulted in conviction and eventually the Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari to consider the question whether evidence indirectly obtained by that wire-tapping could be admitted despite the first holding. Held, such evidence is inadmissible on the basis that to rule otherwise would largely nullify the doctrine previously laid down. Nardone …

Torts- Death As A Result Of Worry Over Libel-Survival Of Actions - Legal Cause, Edmund R. Blaske

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, administratrix of her husband's estate, brought an action against defendant newspaper to recover damages for the death of her husband, which she claimed resulted from worry over an alleged libel that defendant published. The trial court sustained defendant's demurrer to the declaration and plaintiff appealed. Held, since the "survival statute" does not preserve actions affecting character, the libel abated with the husband's death; and since mental anguish, worry, fear and loss of health are the several results of the wrongful act of libel, they cannot be made the basis of a new cause of action. Judgment for defendant …

Libel And Slander - Charging Physician With Lack Of Skill In Particular Case, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a practicing physician, sued to recover damages for an alleged libel committed when defendant falsely published in its newspaper an article stating that plaintiff examined a prisoner in the city jail, diagnosed his condition as "alcoholic paralysis," and ordered his removal to a city hospital, and that a post mortem disclosed that the prisoner's neck was fractured. Held, that to charge a physician with having made a wrong diagnosis in a particular case is not actionable per se, and since there is no allegation of special damage, there can be no recovery. Blende v. Hearst Publications, Inc., …

Subjective Judicial Review Of The Federal Communications Commission, Harry P. Warner

Michigan Law Review

The basis for judicial review of administrative agencies in one form or another is the Union Pacific rule, originally developed to govern the relationship between the courts and the Interstate Commerce Commission. Variations in the application of this judicial formula to different agencies have been shaped for the most part by the character of the governmental power exercised and the nature of the subject matter under review. For example, the judicial control exercised over taxing authorities is circumscribed by the sovereign demand for revenue essential to the maintenance of government. The scope of judicial review has been extended in deportation …

Administrative Law - Review Of Administrative Orders - Elimination Of The "Negative" Order Doctrine, Robert J. Miller

Michigan Law Review

The recent decision of the Supreme Court in Rochester Telephone Corporation v. United States is of importance in determining the reviewability of administrative orders that are negative in character. In the principal case, under authority of the Federal Communications Act the Federal Communications Commission issued a general order directing that every telephone carrier file statements concerning its business and affairs. The Rochester Telephone Corporation, the petitioner, failed to file such statements, claiming it was not subject to the commission's jurisdiction because of an exemption under section 2(b) (2) of the Communications Act of 1934. This section provides that the commission …

Torts - Right Of Privacy - Radio Broadcasting, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a chauffeur, had been the victim of a hold-up and shooting, suffering serious injury. Defendant sponsored a radio broadcast in which plaintiff's name was used dramatizing the affair. On hearing the broadcast, plaintiff sued in tort alleging that he suffered mental anguish and physical shock which resulted in impairing his ability to drive and caused him to be discharged from his job. Held, defendant's motion to dismiss denied, as plaintiff had stated a cause of action for invasion of a right of privacy. Mau v. Rio Grande Oil, Inc., (D. C. Cal. 1939) 28 F. Supp. 845.

Libel And Slander - Absolute Immunity Under Statute, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The Board of Regents of the Colored Agricultural and Normal University of Oklahoma, charged with the statutory duty of governing the university "in all its interests," directed the defendant, president of the university, to report to the board "any misconduct" or "any irregularity" on the part of any "teacher or employee of the University." At a regular session of the board the defendant made an oral statement to the board, imputing moral misconduct to the plaintiff, who was then employed as a matron at said university. Held, in making said statement the defendant was acting "in the proper discharge …

Libel And Slander - Privilege - Liability Of A Telegraph Company For Transmtiting A Libelous Message, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Defendant telegraph company transmitted to ten officers of an international union a telegram from members of a local union. The contents related to labor affairs and were admittedly libelous per se as to the plaintiff, naming him as "responsible for the murder of our brother officer Borson." Held, verdict for plaintiff set aside and new trial ordered, because plaintiff has failed to justify recovery by furnishing evidence of actual malice or bad faith by the defendant. Klein v. Western Union Tel Co., 257 App. Div. 336, 13 N. Y. S. (2d) 441 (1939), appeal withdrawn, (N. Y. 1939) …