Constitutional Law Commons^™

Instruction On Communism And Its Contrast With Liberty Under Law, Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

Powell Speeches

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Legislation On The American Frontier: Adoption Of Laws By Governor And Judges-Northwest Territory 1788-1798: Indiana Territory 1800-1804; Michigan Territory 1805-1823, William Wirt Blume

Michigan Law Review

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 made provisions for legislation by the territorial government in two stages: (1) adoption of laws by the governor and judges from the laws of the original states, and (2) enactment of statutes by a legislature made up of the governor, a council, and elected representatives. The first method was to be followed until the population should reach 5,000 and the second method thereafter. The present study is limited to the first stage.

The Legislative Process And The Rule Of Law: Attempts To Legislate Taste In Moral And Political Beliefs, Samuel D. Estep

Michigan Law Review

In a nutshell, the topic of this paper is "Comstockery and the Bowdlerizing of Ideas." The thesis here asserted is that the Rule of Law is violated when legislatures succumb to modern attempts by the often pathologically-motivated zealot legally to freeze current tastes in moral and political beliefs. The relationship between taste statutes and the seemingly esoteric topic, "The Legislative Process and the Rule of Law," is based on the premise that the maximum possible degree of intellectual freedom for each individual is an essential ingredient in the legal system of a civilized society.

The Supreme Court And The Rule Of Law, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

I should like to approach this afternoon's subject along two lines. On the one hand, I propose to develop the subject in terms of the Supreme Court's contribution to our understanding of the Rule of Law, and, on the other hand, I propose to look at the Supreme Court as a governmental institution subject to the Rule of Law. In short, I propose to discuss the Supreme Court both as an instrumentality for the development of the American concept of the Rule of Law and as an institution governed by the Rule of Law. Needless to say, these two approaches …

The Constitutions Of West Germany And The United States: A Comparative Study, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this article is to present a descriptive overall picture of the fundamental features of the system established by the Basic Law and at the same time point up significant comparisons and contrasts by reference to the Constitution. Eleven years have now elapsed since the Basic Law went into effect, and significant decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht ) noted at the appropriate points, serve to illuminate the working of the system established by it.

Free Will In The Frontiers Of Federalism, John R. Brown

Michigan Law Review

In an assembly dedicated, as this one is, to frontiers in law and legal education in celebration of the centennial of this great Law School and forecasting what is to be expected in the next one hundred years, the idea of states' rights-of the federal-state relationship-has seemed almost ironic.

"Congress Shall Make No Law…":Ii, O. John Rogge

Michigan Law Review

The framers of the federal bill of rights by the First and Tenth Amendments sought to deny Congress power over utterances unless they were connected with criminal conduct other than advocacy. Any power over such utterances was to reside in the states. However, the Supreme Court departed from the framers' intent.

One of the factors in this development was the emergence of an undefined federal police power. This occurred largely under the commerce and postal clauses. It began over a century ago. As early as 1838 Congress passed a law requiring the installation of safety devices upon steam vessels. Beginning …

"Congress Shall Make No Law..."*, O. John Rogge

Michigan Law Review

It is the position of the writer that, at least so far as Congress is concerned, speech is as free as thought, and that unless and until speech becomes a part of a course of conduct which Congress can restrain or regulate no federal legislative power over it exists. State power, despite the Fourteenth Amendment, may be somewhat more extensive. Certainly the framers of the First Amendment intended that it should be. This article will deal with federal power over speech.

Constitutional Law - Due Process -Watkins V. United States As A Limitation On Power Of Congressional Investigating Committees, Allan F. Bioff S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this comment to examine the nature and extent of the restraints imposed by the Watkins case as well as the potential problems raised by the decision.

Constitutional Law - Courts-Martial - Power Of Congress To Provide For Military Jurisdiction Over Civilian Dependents, Gerald M. Smith

Michigan Law Review

Defendants, civilian wives of servicemen living overseas, were tried and convicted of murder by military court-martial under article 118 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Their trials took place in the countries where they were living with their husbands. Defendants brought petitions for a writ of habeas corpus challenging the constitutionality of article 2(11) of the Uniform Code authorizing their trials by court-martial. Initially the United States Supreme Court rejected this contention. On rehearing, held, reversed, two justices dissenting. The guarantee of the right to jury trial contained in article 3, section 2, and the guarantees of the …

Constitutional Law - Executive Powers - Use Of Troops To Enforce Federal Laws, Robert H. Elliott Jr., S.Ed., Richard I. Singer S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The recent use of federal troops in Little Rock, Arkansas to enforce the order of a federal district court requiring school integration has occasioned widespread controversy throughout the nation. It is the purpose of this comment to examine the constitutionality of such action and to consider its broader implications with respect to federal-state and congressional-executive relationships.

Chafee, Jr.: The Blessings Of Liberty, Nathaniel Nathanson

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Blessings of Liberty. By Zechariah Chafee, Jr.

The Legislative Status Of An Unconstitutional Statute, Earl T. Crawford

Michigan Law Review

Once a statute has been found to violate some constitutional provision, a legislature is faced with a difficult problem of how to change the statute so as to effect the desired policy and still not violate constitutional principles. The general nature of this problem is suggested by such inquiries as these: Will the subsequent overruling of a previous judicial decision declaring a statute unconstitutional require any legislative action to put the statute into effect? Can a statute, which has been held violative of the constitution, be amended by corrective or curative legislation without complete re-enactment if the statute as amended …

Church, The State, And Mrs. Mccollum, Clarence Emmett Manion

Journal Articles

On March 8, 1948 the Supreme Court of the United States decided in substance that this language prohibits the tax-supported city school systems of the State of Illinois from assisting and encouraging general religious instruction. Just how a constitutional restriction against specified congressional action can possibly impede the activity of a local Illinois school board is an inglorious mystery of modern constitutional construction.

In one way or another however, and for one reason or many, the Court decided eight to one that when the First Amendment says "Congress" it means, among other things, a local school board and when it …

Book Reviews, Henry M. Bates

Michigan Law Review

This little book makes no pretense of exhaustive, scholarly treatment. It is without notes, citation of cases or authorities, or index; nevertheless it is a work which could be read with interest and benefit by every thoughtful citizen. The purpose of the author is to show the enormous expansion of federal power and actual control, a development, as Mr. West says, which was inevitable if "We the People of the United States" were to become a nation or long endure even as a union of states. But the conditions and circumstances which have produced this extraordinary accretion of power to …

Changing Legal Order, Floyd R. Mechem

Michigan Law Review

I must, I suppose, be considered a dull age which does not have its loyal chronicler who arises to affirm that it is the greatest and most important age in the history of the world. There have been many great periods. Some of them doubtless antedate historic times. Many of these ages doubtless were unconscious of their own importance. Picture to yourself the time when primitive man first learned to make and control a fire. How it differentiated him from all other animals! Not even yet, so far as I am aware, does even the most advanced non-human animal build …

The Guarantee Of Order And Republican Government In The States, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

A short time ago, the whole country was plunged into a condition of anxiety and excitement by the conflicting claims to the executive authority in one of the States, and by the preparations made, and measures set on foot, to support them.