Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Constitutional Law Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

University of Michigan Law School

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 1651 - 1680 of 2298

Full-Text Articles in Constitutional Law

Constitutional Law-Interstate Commerce-Congressional Consent To Discriminatory State Taxation, George Brody S.Ed. Jan 1947

Constitutional Law-Interstate Commerce-Congressional Consent To Discriminatory State Taxation, George Brody S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

South Carolina statutes imposed upon foreign insurance companies a tax of 3 per cent of the aggregate premiums received from business done within the state, without reference to its interstate or local character, as a condition to receiving a certificate of authority to do business within the state. No similar tax was imposed upon domestic insurance companies. The Prudential Life Insurance Company, a New Jersey corporation doing business in South Carolina, refused to pay, contending that since it was a discriminatory tax it was unconstitutional. Furthermore, Prudential challenged the power of Congress to consent to the levying of such discriminatory …


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 …


Constitutional Law-Martial Law-Trial Of Civilians By Military Tribunals In Hawaii, Robert Cardon Nov 1946

Constitutional Law-Martial Law-Trial Of Civilians By Military Tribunals In Hawaii, Robert Cardon

Michigan Law Review

On the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Governor of Hawaii suspended the writ of habeas corpus and declared martial law in that territory, acting under authority of the Organic Act of Hawaii. At the Governor's request, the Commanding General of the Hawaiian Department of the Army proclaimed himself Military Governor of the Islands, and established military tribunals to try all violations ,of existing federal laws and military regulations thereafter to be promulgated. The following day all civil courts were closed, and the next day the President approved the Governor's action. One week later, the law courts were …


Constitutional Law - Intergovernmental Immunities - Statutory Construction-Applicability Of Price Control Legislation To Sales By States, John F. O'Connor Nov 1946

Constitutional Law - Intergovernmental Immunities - Statutory Construction-Applicability Of Price Control Legislation To Sales By States, John F. O'Connor

Michigan Law Review

The Administrator, Office of Price Administration, brought action against the Commissioner of Public Lands of the State of Washington to enjoin the sale of timber on state school lands at a price in excess of that fixed by Price Regulation No. 460, implementing the Emergency Price Control Act. The lands were granted to the state for the support of common schools by the Congressional Enabling Act which admitted Washington to the Union. The state law required the sale of such timber to the highest bidder. On certiorari from the circuit court of appeals which reversed a judgment of the district …


Constitutional Law-Removal Of Executive Employees By Act Of Congress-Bill Of Attainder, John A. Huston S.Ed. Nov 1946

Constitutional Law-Removal Of Executive Employees By Act Of Congress-Bill Of Attainder, John A. Huston S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Respondents, three employees of the federal government, were, among other federal officeholders, accused by Congressman Martin Dies of having engaged in subversive activities and were investigated by a special subcommittee of the House of Representatives on that charge. Upon a report of this committee that the respondents were guilty of such activities, the House attached a rider, in section 304, to the Urgent Deficiencies Appropriation Act, 1943, which prohibited, after November 15, 1943, the application of any appropriation to the payment of respondents' compensation, except as jurors or members of the armed forces, unless prior to November 15 they should …


Constitutional Law-Due Process-Retroactive Application Of Statute Of Limitation To Previously Barred Claim, James R. Bliss Jun 1946

Constitutional Law-Due Process-Retroactive Application Of Statute Of Limitation To Previously Barred Claim, James R. Bliss

Michigan Law Review

In 1943 appellee Rowley, filed claim with the Department of Labor and Industry, under the Washington Industrial Insurance Act, for compensation for aggravation of an injury suffered, while employed by appellant in 1937, in the course of his employment. The claim was barred by a provision of the then existing statute which placed a three year limit on the filing of such claims; but by amendment in 1941 the time limit was extended to five years, with a proviso, under which appellee claimed, that "any such applicant whose compensation has heretofore been established or terminated shall have five years from …


Constitutional Law--State Taxation Of Interstate Commerce, George Brody S.Ed. Jun 1946

Constitutional Law--State Taxation Of Interstate Commerce, George Brody S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The city of Richmond by ordinance required all solicitors to pay an annual tax before being permitted to solicit business within the city. Appellant, a representative of a Washington, D.C. firm, was arrested for soliciting without having previously procured the required license. Appellant was convicted and her conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia. On appeal to the United States Supreme Court she contended that the statute upon which her conviction was based was unconstitutional, inasmuch as it was repugnant to the Commerce Clause of the Federal Constitution. Held, reversed. Taxes that discriminate against interstate …


Constitutional Law-Public Utility Holding Company Act--Validity Of Holding Company "Death Sentence" Clause, John A. Huston Jun 1946

Constitutional Law-Public Utility Holding Company Act--Validity Of Holding Company "Death Sentence" Clause, John A. Huston

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner was the topmost holding company in a public utility holding company system which included eighty subsidiaries and served three million customers in seventeen states. By provision of section 11 (b) (1) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, the Securities and Exchange Commission was empowered to limit the operations of a holding company registered with it under the act to "a single integrated public utility system." Acting under this authority, the commission ordered petitioner, a registered company, to divest itself of all its subsidiary holdings excepting certain interests regarded by the commission as a single integrated system …


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 …


Constitutional Law-Freedom Of Speech And Religion-What Constitutes State Action, George Brody S.Ed. Apr 1946

Constitutional Law-Freedom Of Speech And Religion-What Constitutes State Action, George Brody S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Appellant, a Jehovah Witness, attempted to distribute religious literature in Chickasaw, a town in Alabama, owned by the Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation. Appellant was told by the corporate authorities that the town was private property and that she would not be permitted to distribute her literature. She was also asked to leave and when she refused to do so was arrested and prosecuted under an Alabama trespass statute. In her defense, appellant contended that to apply this statute to her activities in Chickasaw would abridge her right to freedom of press and religion as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. She was …


Constitutional Law-Intergovernmental Immunities-Federal Tax On State Function, Joseph N. Morency, Jr. Apr 1946

Constitutional Law-Intergovernmental Immunities-Federal Tax On State Function, Joseph N. Morency, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

In 1911 the State of New York began to acquire title to all of the lands in the Saratoga Springs area with a view to halting excessive pumping of the mineral waters for which the springs are famous. As a result of state ownership the area became a state reservation which, in 1930, was placed under control of, the Saratoga Springs Commission. A hotel-sanitarium, recreational facilities, bath houses, drink halls, a research laboratory as well as state operation of the springs were part of a state program under legislative authority. During the period from 1932 to 1934, sales of the …


Constitutional Law-Trial By Military Commission Of Enemy Combatant After Cessation Of Hostilities-Scope Of Inquiry In Habeas Corpus Proceedings, L. B. Brody S.Ed. Apr 1946

Constitutional Law-Trial By Military Commission Of Enemy Combatant After Cessation Of Hostilities-Scope Of Inquiry In Habeas Corpus Proceedings, L. B. Brody S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner, the Commanding General of the Fourteenth Army Group of the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippine Islands, surrendered to and became a prisoner of war of the United States Army Forces in Baguio, Philippine Islands on September 3, 1945. By order of respondent, petitioner was served, on September 25, with a charge setting forth a violation of the law of war. On October 8 petitioner, after pleading not guilty to the charge, was held for trial before a military commission of five Army officers appointed by General Styer, and a bill of particulars was filed by the prosecution specifying …


Constitutional Law--Impairment Of Obligation Of Contract--Mortgage Moratorium--Determination Of The Existence Of An Emergency, George Brody Feb 1946

Constitutional Law--Impairment Of Obligation Of Contract--Mortgage Moratorium--Determination Of The Existence Of An Emergency, George Brody

Michigan Law Review

In 1943 the New York State Legislature extended its moratorium legislation for another year, thereby continuing the suspension of mortgage foreclosure proceedings on real property due to default in payments on principal. The legislature declared that an emergency still existed and therefore the continuance of legislative action, first taken in 1933, was justified. The law made payment of interest, taxes, insurance and amortization charges a prerequisite to suspension of foreclosure. Appellant brought an action to foreclose a mortgage on appellee's property for the non-payment of principal, contending that the suspension of foreclosure proceedings resulted in an impairment of the obligation …


Mr. Justice William Johnson And The Common Incidents Of Life: Ii, A. J. Levin Oct 1945

Mr. Justice William Johnson And The Common Incidents Of Life: Ii, A. J. Levin

Michigan Law Review

Here must be the key to Johnson's constitutional jurisprudence, which time, and the effect of the repression of Marshall's domination has obscured. The dynamic pattern of his thought is, however, unmistakable when analyzed without the burden of prepossession. There can be little meaning to what Johnson said in Ogden v. Saunders unless conceived in relation to Johnson's whole approach to man and society and his repeated insistence upon "that communication of thought and experiment without which nothing human can advance in improvement." Otherwise, we are unable to reconcile his repeated dwelling upon the literal meaning of words and their "technical …


Abstracts, Mary Jane Plumer Aug 1945

Abstracts, Mary Jane Plumer

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.


Mr. Justice William Johnson And The Common Incidents Of Life: I, A. J. Levin Aug 1945

Mr. Justice William Johnson And The Common Incidents Of Life: I, A. J. Levin

Michigan Law Review

When Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes filed his brief dissenting opinion in Lochner v. New York in 1905 he must have noticed something new on the American horizon. In this now famous opinion he initiated the first steps which were to usher in a new era in American jurisprudence. "General propositions do not decide concrete cases," he announced with axiomatic brevity and, thus, gave the first telling blow to what may well be termed "introspective jurisprudence." This generalization on the subject of generality was followed in the opinion by a more concrete application, the implementing assertion that a reasonable man might …


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 …


Constitutional Law-Freedom Of Speech For Labor Organizers-Registration Requirement Invalid, Francis Powers Jun 1945

Constitutional Law-Freedom Of Speech For Labor Organizers-Registration Requirement Invalid, Francis Powers

Michigan Law Review

Collins v. Thomas decided by the Supreme Court in January is a decision of great practical importance in that it falls at a point where three recently developed constitutional doctrines enmesh or intersect with one another. The case makes it necessary that the Court integrate these doctrines and distinguish the areas in which they are respectively applicable.


Liberty Under The Fourteenth Amendment: 1943-44, John Raeburn Green Dec 1944

Liberty Under The Fourteenth Amendment: 1943-44, John Raeburn Green

Michigan Law Review

Elsewhere efforts have been made to survey the status of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights with respect to their protection against state abridgment. The decisions of the Supreme Court were examined, from the February term, 1790, through the 1942 term. It was observed that the struggle to obtain for these rights and liberties federal constitutional protection against state abridgment, as well as against federal abridgment, had been almost continuous since the adoption of the Constitution; that Madison had sought, unsuccessfully, to include in the Bill of Rights guaranties against state abridgment for freedom of speech and …


Constitutional Law - Court Of Claims - Separation Of Powers, Benjamin M. Quigg, Jr. S.Ed. Aug 1944

Constitutional Law - Court Of Claims - Separation Of Powers, Benjamin M. Quigg, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued the United States Government for breach of its contract for construction of a water supply tunnel, and in 1932 recovered judgment in the court of claims for approximately one-seventh of the amount sued for. Motions for new trial were denied and the Supreme Court refused to grant a writ of certiorari. In 1942 plaintiff secured the passage of a special act of Congress conferring jurisdiction on the court of claims to render judgment on plaintiff's claim in accordance with the mode of calculation set forth therein, waiving any defenses which the government might have in respect thereto, and …


The Place Of Trial Of Criminal Cases: Constitutional Vicinage And Venue, William Wirt Blume Aug 1944

The Place Of Trial Of Criminal Cases: Constitutional Vicinage And Venue, William Wirt Blume

Michigan Law Review

In 1909 one Henry G. Connor, presumably Mr. Justice Connor of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, published in the Pennsylvania Law Review an article entitled "The Constitutional Right to a Trial by a Jury of the Vicinage." The question discussed was: May a state constitutionally provide by statute that a crime be tried in a county other than that in which it was committed? Or, putting the question in terms of vicinage as distinguished from venue, may a state constitutionally provide by statute that a crime be tried by jurors summoned from a county other than the county …


Constitutional Law-Right To Counsel, Robert M. Barton Jun 1944

Constitutional Law-Right To Counsel, Robert M. Barton

Michigan Law Review

The appellant, a person with a long criminal record, was convicted of receiving and concealing stolen goods. At the trial the attorney appointed by the court to represent him presumably had enough time to prepare a defense but conducted it in a slipshod manner. He failed to object to the admission of important evidence not legally admissible; he failed to see that a witness whom the accused described as important was subpoenaed into court; he objected to none of the prejudicial statements of the trial judge which in effect attacked the credibility of the accused, and he criticized his own …


Constitutional Law-Due Process-Punishment For Acts Done Without Consciousness Of Wrongdoing, Benjamin M. Quigg, Jr. S.Ed. Jun 1944

Constitutional Law-Due Process-Punishment For Acts Done Without Consciousness Of Wrongdoing, Benjamin M. Quigg, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In the recent case of United States v. Dotterweich the United States Supreme Court (four justices dissenting) held the president of a drug jobbing company personally liable for violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act on informations charging misbranding and adulteration of products. There was no evidence of any personal guilt on the defendant's part, nor was there any proof or claim that he ever knew of the introduction into commerce of the adulterated drugs in question. The disagreement among the members of the court was essentially one of statutory interpretation, but in view of the fact that …


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 …


Constltutional Law - Labor Unions - Injunction Feb 1944

Constltutional Law - Labor Unions - Injunction

Michigan Law Review

Complainants owned and operated a small cafeteria conducting the business without the aid of any employees. Defendants, a labor union and its president, picketed the cafeteria in an attempt "to organize it." The picketing was carried on by parade of one person at a time in front of the premises, at all times in an "orderly and peaceful" manner. Signs were carried which tended to give the impression that the complainants were "unfair" to organized labor and that the pickets "had been previously employed in the cafeteria." These representations were knowingly false in that there had been no employees in …


Municipal Corporations - Constitutional Law-Exemption Of Homesteads From Taxation For State Purposes, Hobart Taylor, Jr. Oct 1943

Municipal Corporations - Constitutional Law-Exemption Of Homesteads From Taxation For State Purposes, Hobart Taylor, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

A taxpayer brought a class suit in his own name for the use and benefit of himself and other taxpayers against the city of Wichita Falls to have an ordinance exempting from all taxes $3,000 of the assessed taxable values of all residence homesteads of the city declared void, and for a permanent injunction restraining the city from allowing such exemption and issuing certificates therefor to owners of homesteads. The ordinance had been passed under authority of a constitutional amendment permitting a similar exemption for "state purposes." Held, a homestead is taxable under the constitution for all purposes other …


Constitutional Law - Freedom Of Religion - Compulsory Flag Salute, Michigan Law Review Oct 1943

Constitutional Law - Freedom Of Religion - Compulsory Flag Salute, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The state of West Virginia enacted an amendment to its statutes in 1941 requiring all schools to conduct courses in history and civics for the purpose of fostering "the ideals, principles and spirit of Americanism," and pursuant thereto the Board of Education adopted a resolution ordering that the flag salute and declaration of allegiance should be a regular part of the program of activities in the public schools. Expulsion from school was provided for nonconformity- and until compliance the child was considered unlawfully absent from school and the parents were liable to fine and imprisonment for causing child delinquency. Appellees …


Abstracts, Katherine Kempfer Oct 1943

Abstracts, Katherine Kempfer

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.


Constitutional Law-Right To Impose A License Tax Upon Dissemination Of Religious Literature - Jones V. Opelika Reversed, Michigan Law Review Aug 1943

Constitutional Law-Right To Impose A License Tax Upon Dissemination Of Religious Literature - Jones V. Opelika Reversed, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Petitioners were members of the religious sect "Jehovah's Witnesses," who "sold" and/ or donated religious tracts and literature, and in connection therewith used phonographs and records, in their door to door activities to spread their religious beliefs. They failed to obtain a license for the privilege of canvassing and soliciting, as required of all persons by an ordinance of the city of Jeannette, Pennsylvania, and were convicted and fined for violation thereof. Petitions for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania were denied; the case came before the United States Supreme Court on petition for writ of certiorari. …


Constitutional Law - Highways - Billboard Regulations-Application Of Easement Principles, Ruth I. Wilson Aug 1943

Constitutional Law - Highways - Billboard Regulations-Application Of Easement Principles, Ruth I. Wilson

Michigan Law Review

In Kelbro, Inc. v. Myrick, where the license and setback requirements of the Vermont outdoor advertising law were sustained together with provisions for summary removal of nonconforming advertisements, the Vermont Supreme Court declared that the commercial billboard companies have no common-law right to the privilege of visibility on which their business depends. Their exploitation of this privilege, it held, is a commercial use of the public thoroughfares which has been permitted only by sufferance and has always been subject to prohibition or regulation by the legislature.