Constitutional Law Commons^™

Constitutional Law-Validity Of State Statute Forbidding Sale Of Prison-Made Goods Manufactured In Other States-Validity Of Federal Statute Permitting State Control Of Goods In Interstate Commerce

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was prosecuted in an Ohio court for selling in original packages goods shipped to him from an Alabama prison in which they were manufactured. The prosecution was under an Ohio statute prohibiting sale on the open market of goods, wares, or merchandise manufactured or mined wholly or in part in any other state by convicts or prisoners except those on parole or probation. Other Ohio statutes impose a like prohibition on the sale of convict-made goods manufactured in Ohio. The federal Hawes-Cooper Act provides that all goods, wares, and merchandise manufactured, produced, or mined wholly or in part by …

Public Utilities - Charging Companies With Expense Of Investigation - Constitutionality

Michigan Law Review

A Washington statute provides that whenever the public service commission shall deem it necessary in the performance of its duties to make any investigation or valuation of a public service company, the public service company shall pay the expenses reasonably attributable thereto. The statute provides that the commission, after giving an opportunity to be heard, "shall render a bill therefor or for such part thereof as it may find necessary and reasonable." In an appeal by certain public service companies from an assessment made by the commission, held, the statute was unconstitutional because of denial of equal protection of …

Taxation - State Income Tax On Interstate Railway - Constitutionality

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff railway, doing local and interstate business, brought suit to recover payment made under a state net income tax measured by the difference between gross operating revenues for the whole business proportioned by the ratio of track mileage within and outside the state and operating expenses similarly proportioned. Held, such a formula for taxing the local income of a concern doing both intrastate and interstate business was not on its face invalid and the mere showing that the plaintiff's local costs were higher than the system average without also showing that intrastate revenues were not correspondingly greater did …

Constitutional Law - Minimum Wage Decision - Future Of Legislation By States

Michigan Law Review

The shadow of a thirteen-year old decision which many had hoped was laid forever again fell upon the field of minimum wage legislation as the Supreme Court invalidated the New York minimum wage law for women. With this holding, which came as a surprise to many, the issue of the constitutionality of minimum wage legislation was again thrust into the limelight, and with the two great political parties wrestling with the problem of party programs, the decision may have political repercussions, of a force as yet incalculable. Before considering the future of minimum wage legislation, let us take a brief …

Constitutional Law-Due Process--Nonresident Motorist Statute

Michigan Law Review

Petition for writ of prohibition on the ground that the notice provided by the Arkansas nonresident motorist statute did not meet the requirements of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The statute required that service of process be had on the secretary of state and that the plaintiff send notice of such service to the nonresident defendant at his last known address by registered letter, and required that the defendant's return receipt or the affidavit of the plaintiff of compliance with the statute be filed in the office of the clerk of court. Held, the statute is …

Constitutional Law-Separation Of Powers-Legislative Right To Delegate Initiative Power To Public

Michigan Law Review

The act creating the Maryland Milk Commission provided: "The Commission, when requested by a substantial proportion of the producers and/or consumers and/or distributors in any marketing area, shall have power" to do a number of things pertaining to sanitary and trade conditions within the milk industry. Plaintiffs sought to enjoin the Commission from utilizing any power derived from such an act upon the ground that it contained an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. Held, an invalid attempt to delegate legislative authority. The legislature, when acting in its law-making capacity, exercised a power conferred upon it by the people which …

Federal Gross Estate Tax-Constitutionality-Revocable Transfers By Way Of Trust

Michigan Law Review

Five recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court, together with a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, have considerably changed some of the currently accepted theories regarding the taxability under the Federal Estate Tax of transfers reserving various degrees of control to donors, both with respect to what may be considered to be a sufficient reserved control and what the constitutional limits on the taxing power may be. Some perplexing questions have been settled by these decisions while others quite as vexing seem to have been raised and left for future determination.

Municipal Corporations-Fencing Ordinances

Michigan Law Review

Defendant city passed an ordinance which prohibited the erection of fences that exceeded four feet in height, or which were composed wholly or in part of barbed wire. Plaintiff was refused permission to build a woven wire fence, six feet high with barbed wire attached to arms extending inward at the top. Plaintiff thereupon sued to enjoin defendant city from enforcing this ordinance, claiming that it deprived her of property without "due process." Held, by the court, that the right to fence one's land is a right of property that cannot be unreasonably interfered with. The ordinance in question …

Constitutional Law-Securities Act Of 1933-Right Of Registrant To Withdraw Registration Statement Filed With Commission

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner filed a registration statement with the Securities Exchange Commission covering a proposed issue of securities. After examining the statement, the commission concluded that it contained false and misleading information concerning certain material facts, and thereupon instituted a proceeding to compel petitioner to appear and answer certain questions pertinent to the papers filed. At the hearing, petitioner sought to withdraw the registration statement but was denied permission to do so. Upon application of the Securities Exchange Commission to the district court, an order was granted compelling petitioner to appear and answer the questions. On appeal to the Supreme Court of …

The Reduction Of Income Taxes Through The Use Of Trusts, William C. Warren

Michigan Law Review

Obviously the draftsmen of the first Revenue Act under the Sixteenth Amendment could not foresee every possibility of tax avoidance and adequately prevent such avoidance by express statutory provisions. Since the enactment of the Revenue Act of 1913, Congress has made constant efforts in each succeeding Revenue Act to close the loopholes discovered by tax lawyers. The success of these efforts has been most remarkable, particularly in comparison with the similar efforts of England under her income tax laws. Indeed, it may fairly be said that the enactment. of the Gift Tax Act in 1932 wrote the final chapter of …

Congress And The Appellate Jurisdiction Of The Supreme Court, Ralph R. Martig

Michigan Law Review

A democratic government such as ours, based upon the theory of popular sovereignty, presents many curious political phenomena. For example: in order to insure a proper balance of the powers, it has been necessary for the Supreme Court to assume the onerous task of passing upon the constitutionality of congressional legislation. It is unfortunate, but necessary, that the Court be obliged to exercise this power of judicial review at a time when the entire country is suffering from the effects of a severe and sustained economic depression. It is unfortunate, too, that the legislation under judicial examination should involve questions …

Future Interests - Effect Of Eminent Domain Proceedings

Michigan Law Review

This study is concerned with the effect of condemnation proceedings upon future interests. The problems which arise are chiefly whether the owner of a future interest has such an interest in land as to be awarded a share of the fund given as compensation for the land, and if he does have such an interest as to be awarded a share, how it will be determined or apportioned to him and at what time. The first part of the study is a consideration of the question: what types of future interests are compensable? The second part involves an examination of …

Municipal Corporations-Standards Required In Licensing Ordinances

Michigan Law Review

Defendant appealed from conviction for operating a used auto business without obtaining a license for such business under a city ordinance requiring same to be granted by the city commission if in its opinion applicant was a proper and suitable person, the place to be used was proper, having in mind the nature and character of the business and possibility of commission of crime, and the sanitary facilities thereon were proper. There was no specific legislative grant for passage of such ordinance. Defendant's application was rejected by the commission mainly because of lack of proper sanitary facilities. Held, standards …

Constitutional Law-Agricultural Adjustment Act-The General Welfare Clause And The Tenth Amendment

Michigan Law Review

In what is without question the most important decision rendered in recent years the Supreme Court of the United States has swept away the legal basis of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. The processing tax, an essential part of a plan for the control of production, has been ruled unconstitutional as involving an invasion of the powers reserved to the states. Unlike the case of Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States, in which the National Industrial Recovery Act was held invalid by a unanimous Court, this pillar of the New Deal's vast recovery program was destroyed by a six-to-three decision, …

Constitutional Law-Martial Law-Suspension Of The Law

Michigan Law Review

Fifteen thousand workmen in a county struck, forced business houses to close, cut off the milk supply even to hospitals, threatened electric and water company employees with violence, stopped all transportation services, and congregated in mobs. On request of the local authorities the governor issued a proclamation suspending the right to carry arms, the right of assembly, and the right to enter or leave the county, and directed the military to disperse all crowds, picketers, or other assemblages. A striker imprisoned by the military forces sued to enjoin the governor and military officials from carrying out the proclamation on the …

Constitutional Law-Due Process-Fair Trade Acts

Michigan Law Review

The recent decision of the New York Court of Appeals in Doubleday, Doran & Co. v. R. H. Macy & Co., holding unconstitutional section two of the New York Fair Trade Act, presents another interesting aspect of the long struggle by manufacturers of widely known trade-marked articles to secure some adequate protection for themselves and the public against the destructive practice of retail price cutting.

Banks And Banking-Constitutional Validity Of Statutes Allowing Reorganization Of Insolvent Bank

Michigan Law Review

A statute of Mississippi permitted the reopening of a closed bank, for the purpose of paying off creditors, upon terms proposed by three-fourths of the bank's creditors. The statute required that the proposition of the creditors be approved by the state superintendent of banks and confirmed by the court of chancery. Dissenting creditors opposed such a plan on the ground that the statute was unconstitutional because it impaired the obligation of contracts, and was contrary to the due process clause of the Federal Constitution. The court held that the statute was valid, that all it did was to change the …

Constitutional Law-National Power Over Navigable Streams - Property Clause - Corporations - Stockholders' Suit

Michigan Law Review

The recent decision of the Supreme Court in the TVA case raises issues of extreme importance not only in regard to the interpretation of the property clause of the federal Constitution, but also in regard to the requisites for a suit by minority stockholders of a corporation questioning the actions of the corporate management.

Constitutional Law-Application Of Joint Resolution Of Congress To Gold Clause In Bonds Of Corporations Of Other Countries

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a South American corporation, brought suit to recover on bearer bonds of a Finland corporation sold to plaintiff in New York. The bonds contained the stipulation that they were to be paid "in gold coin of the United States of America of the standard of weight and fineness as it existed on July 1, 1924." Both the principal and interest on these bonds were payable in New York. Held, the Congressional Joint Resolution declaring gold clauses in obligations to be against public policy and providing for discharging such obligations on payment, dollar for dollar, of legal tender coin, …

Constitutional Law-Taxation-Equal Protection-Privileges And Immunities Under The Fourteenth Amendment

Michigan Law Review

Reports having shown that Vermont capital for investment purposes was, due to the existing tax system, being driven out of the state, and that it was difficult to obtain capital from outside at low rates, a statute was enacted which was expected to remedy the difficulties by providing that interest up to five per cent on loans made within the state should be exempt from taxation while income from loans made outside the state should be taxed at a set rate. In a proceeding to test the validity of the measure, the state court upheld the tax, but on appeal …

Constitutional Law-Conservation Of Waters-Validity Of Statute Limiting Riparian Rights

Michigan Law Review

By the common law a riparian owner on a non-navigable stream has a vested right in the continuous natural flow of the stream on or bordering his land. An Oregon statute undertakes to cut down this right; it provides that a riparian owner's vested right to the continuous flow of the stream is limited to such flow as is necessary to preserve to him the beneficial uses to which he is already putting the water. Inasmuch as the right to the full continuous flow as against non-riparian appropriators is really a right to insist upon the availability of the stream …

Constitutional Law - Regulation Of Employment Agencies - Denial Of License Where Field Is Overcrowded

Michigan Law Review

A Minnesota statute required the Industrial Commission to refuse to license an employment agency whenever the Commission should find "that the number of licensed employment agents . . . in the community in which the applicant for a permit proposes to operate is sufficient to supply the needs of employers and employees." Plaintiff's application was denied because the Commission found that sufficient agencies existed in the city of Duluth. In an appeal from a mandamus proceeding the Supreme Court of Minnesota held, Deveny, C. J., dissenting, that the statute denied plaintiff due process of law. The court reached this …

Constitutional Law - Power Of State Legislature To Provide For Jury Trial In Proceedings For Contempt Of Court

Michigan Law Review

The defendants, an independent union, and members thereof, were cited for contempt before a court of common pleas for the violation of an in junction restraining them from interfering with the operation of the plaintiff's mines. The alleged contumacious acts took place some ten miles from the court house and consisted of gathering about automobiles containing employees of the plaintiff company, throwing stones at them, breaking windows of the cars, and injuring some of the occupants. The contempt proceedings arose on petition of the company and were before the same judge who granted the injunction. The defendants claimed that under …

Constitutional Law - State Police Power - Regulation Of Advertising By Dentist

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a practicing dentist, brought an action to enjoin the enforcement of a section of Oregon legislation regulating the practice of dentistry, which defined certain types of advertising and solicitation as unprofessional conduct and, as such, ground for the revocation of a license to practice. The section was upheld by the state supreme court and plaintiff appealed to the United States Supreme Court, alleging that the statute was unconstitutional in that it impaired the obligations of existing contracts and violated the "due process" and "equal protection" clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Held, that the statute was a valid exercise …

Utilization Of State Commissioners In The Administration Of The Federal Motor Carrier Act, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

The problem of securing effective governmental regulation of economic interests that overlap state boundary lines, while at the same time curbing the growth of a centralized bureaucracy and preventing the disintegration of local government, becomes daily more disturbing. For this reason the passage of the Motor Carrier Act in the closing days of the 74th Congress and its approval by the President on August 9, 1935, was an event of singular importance for students of American governmental administration. Important as the legislation is in its substantive aspects, it is equally noteworthy because of its administrative provisions. The striking feature of …

Constitutional Law - National Industrial Recovery Act

Michigan Law Review

Defendants conducted wholesale poultry slaughterhouse markets. They had been convicted in a District Court of violating the following provisions of the "Live Poultry Code," promulgated under Section 3 of the National Industrial Recovery Act: (1) Minimum wages; (2) Maximum hours; (3) Requirement of "straight killing"; (4) Requirement of compliance with the inspection ordinances of the City of New York; (5) Requirement of filing of true reports of volume of business, etc., to the Code Authority; (6) Requirement of sale to dealers licensed by the City of New York. On a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United …

Constitutional Law -Validity Of State Mortgage Moratorium Statutes - Effect Of Emergency

Michigan Law Review

A Maryland statute provided that mortgagees holding less than a 25 per cent interest in a mortgage could not have recourse to summary remedies for sale of mortgaged property during an emergency period declared to exist until June 1, 1935. Plaintiff, the holder of such an interest in a mortgage providing for summary proceedings for sale upon default, had the right to foreclose in this manner, mortgagor having defaulted, if the statute did not bar his action. Held, the remedies denied were so interwoven with the rights contracted for that the abolition of such remedies impaired the right, and …

Taxation - Delinquency Statute - Constitutionality Of Provision Remitting Back Taxes

Michigan Law Review

Mandamus proceedings were begun to compel a county auditor to accept four-fifths of the taxes as originally assessed on certain land in full payment and discharge of those taxes for the years 1929 and 1930, in accord with the tax remission provision of Minnesota Laws 1933, c. 414, sec.1. Held, that allowing discharge of past taxes during the redemption period by payment of a fraction of those originally assessed was contrary to the uniformity clause of the state constitution as an unreasonable and arbitrary classification, since it resulted in allowing a lower tax rate to delinquent taxpayers than was …

Has The Constitution Gone?, John A. Fairlie

Michigan Law Review

As far back as 1828, Chief Justice Marshall is quoted as saying: "Should Jackson be elected, I shall look upon the government as virtually dissolved." A few years later, when Taney was appointed Chief Justice by Jackson, Daniel Webster wrote: "Judge Story thinks the Supreme Court is gone, and I think so too." Soon afterwards, when the newly constituted Court rendered decisions upholding statutes from which Story dissented, the latter wrote to Judge McLean: "There will not, I fear, ever in our day, be any case in which a law of a State or of Congress will be declared …

Admiralty-Power Of Congress To Extend Jurisdiction Constitutional Limitations

Michigan Law Review

"The judicial Power shall extend . . . to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction."

"The Congress shall have Power . . . To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution . . . Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States."

These clauses of the Constitution of the United States provide the foundation for the exercise of jurisdiction in admiralty causes by the federal courts. The recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in the case of The Thomas Barlum, upholding the constitutionality of the Ship …