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Michigan Law Review

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Articles 871 - 900 of 1622

Full-Text Articles in Constitutional Law

Constitutional Law - Federal Occupation Of Field Of Control Of Subversives, John C. Hall S.Ed. Dec 1954

Constitutional Law - Federal Occupation Of Field Of Control Of Subversives, John C. Hall S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was chairman of the Communist Party for the western district of Pennsylvania. He was charged with willfully advocating the violent overthrow of the United States Government, and his conviction under state statute was sustained by the superior court. On appeal, held, reversed. The federal Smith Act pre-empted the field of control of subversive activities and the state law is therefore void. Commonwealth v. Nelson, 377 Pa. 58, 104 A. (2d) 133 (1954).


Crosskey And The Constitution: A Reply To Goebel, Sylvester Petro Dec 1954

Crosskey And The Constitution: A Reply To Goebel, Sylvester Petro

Michigan Law Review

The immediate purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the inadequacies of the most embittered of the reviews of Crosskey's book which I have read, "Ex Parte Clio,'' written by Professor Goebel (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "the reviewer"). Demonstrating these things will involve repeated reference to the thesis and the methodology of the book, and comparison of the book with the contentions advanced by the reviewer. The reading will probably be as tedious as the writing has been, but that cannot be helped, for the longer aim of this paper cannot be achieved in any other manner. That aim …


Constitutional Law - Due Process - Enforced Collection Of State Use Tax From Nonresident Vendor, John Leddy S.Ed. Nov 1954

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Enforced Collection Of State Use Tax From Nonresident Vendor, John Leddy S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Appellant is a Delaware corporation engaging in the retail furniture business in Delaware. It has no place of business in Maryland, nor does it solicit orders in that state. It does not accept mail or phone orders from Maryland, nor does it advertise in any Maryland publications. The only contacts which the appellant has with Maryland customers, aside from direct dealings at appellant's retail store, are occasional direct mail advertisements, which it sends to all of its customers wherever located, and deliveries of goods purchased by Maryland customers. These deliveries are either made by commercial carrier or by appellant's own …


Constitutional Law - Search And Seizure - Evidence Of Prior Search As Bearing On Credibility Of Defendant's Testimony, Ira A. Brown, Jr. Nov 1954

Constitutional Law - Search And Seizure - Evidence Of Prior Search As Bearing On Credibility Of Defendant's Testimony, Ira A. Brown, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

In 1952 petitioner was indicted in a federal court, charged with illegal sales of narcotics. During direct examination by his counsel, petitioner denied ever having had possession of narcotics. On cross-examination by the government, petitioner repeated his denial and continued to do so even when the government questioned him, over his objection, concerning a heroin capsule unlawfully seized in his home in 1950. Evidence of the unlawful seizure in 1950 had been ruled inadmissible in an earlier trial. Petitioner's denials were squarely in conflict with an affidavit he had filed at the earlier trial. In rebuttal, the government introduced testimony …


Release Time And Religious Liberty: A Reply, Leo Pfeffer Nov 1954

Release Time And Religious Liberty: A Reply, Leo Pfeffer

Michigan Law Review

In his generous article-review of this writer's book, Church, State, and Freedom, Paul G. Kauper justified the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Zorach v. Clauson on the basis of its prior decision in Pierce v. Society of Sisters. In the Pierce case, it will be remembered, the Supreme Court invalidated an Oregon statute whose purpose it was to require attendance of all children at public schools. In Zorach v. Clauson, the Court upheld the validity of a New York statute that permitted public schools to release children for one hour weekly to receive religious …


Federal Procedure - Availability Of Coram Nobis In Federal Cases Involving Right Of Counsel, John Leddy S.Ed. Nov 1954

Federal Procedure - Availability Of Coram Nobis In Federal Cases Involving Right Of Counsel, John Leddy S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

ln 1939 Robert Morgan pleaded guilty to a charge of mail theft and was sentenced by a federal district court to four years imprisonment. He served the term and was released. In 1950 he was convicted of a crime in New York state and sentenced as a second offender because of his previous federal conviction. In 1952 he made application to the district court of original sentence for a common law writ of coram nobis, seeking an order vacating and setting aside his conviction by that court on the ground that he was not given assistance of counsel and had …


Jacobs: Law Writers And The Courts, Richard. A. Edwards Nov 1954

Jacobs: Law Writers And The Courts, Richard. A. Edwards

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Law Writers and the Courts. By Clyde E. Jacobs


Constitutional Law-Commerce Clause-State Taxation Of Interstate Commerce, Theodore J. St. Antoine S.Ed. Jun 1954

Constitutional Law-Commerce Clause-State Taxation Of Interstate Commerce, Theodore J. St. Antoine S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Appellant express company, a Delaware corporation, did only interstate business within the state of Virginia. Virginia levied a state tax on intangible personal property and money owned by express companies doing business within the state, and set off their real estate and tangible personal property for local levies. In addition to the property tax, the Virginia statute provided for an "annual license tax . . . for the privilege of doing business in this State." The tax was "equal to two and three-twentieths per centum upon the gross receipts . . . earned in this State on business passing through, …


Constitutional Law-Congressional Powers-Validity Of The 1953 Submerged Lands Act, William D. Keeler Jun 1954

Constitutional Law-Congressional Powers-Validity Of The 1953 Submerged Lands Act, William D. Keeler

Michigan Law Review

In 1947 and 1950 the Supreme Court held that the coastal states had no property interest in the submerged lands lying seaward from the low water mark, whether ownership of this land was held by the state prior to admission into the Union or not, and that the federal government had paramount rights in and power over this land, including the resources of the soil beneath it. In 1953 Congress passed, and the President signed, the Submerged Lands Act, which vested in the coastal states title to and proprietary power over this land. Alabama and Rhode Island petitioned the Court …


Constitutional Law - Criminal Procedure - Federal Immunity Statute Applicable To State Court, Raymond R. Trombadore S.Ed. Jun 1954

Constitutional Law - Criminal Procedure - Federal Immunity Statute Applicable To State Court, Raymond R. Trombadore S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

ln response to a summons, petitioner appeared to testify before a congressional committee investigating crime, and confessed to having run a gambling business in Maryland. This confession was used in the criminal court of Baltimore to convict petitioner of conspiring to violate the state's anti-lottery laws. The conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals of Maryland, which rejected petitioner's contention that use of the committee testimony was forbidden by a federal statute which provides that no testimony given by a witness in congressional inquiries "shall be used as evidence in any criminal proceeding against him in any court." On …


Evidence-Presumtions-Alabama Statute Making Compliance With Federal Wagering Tax Law Prima Facie Evidence Of Violation Of State Gambling Law, John C. Hall S.Ed. May 1954

Evidence-Presumtions-Alabama Statute Making Compliance With Federal Wagering Tax Law Prima Facie Evidence Of Violation Of State Gambling Law, John C. Hall S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In 1953 the Alabama legislature, taking advantage of the federal occupational tax on professional gamblers, enacted legislation making possession of the federal wagering tax stamp prima facie evidence of violation of the state gambling laws.


Constitutional Law-Church And State-Distribution Of Gideon Bible In Public Schools, Raymond R. Trombadore S.Ed. May 1954

Constitutional Law-Church And State-Distribution Of Gideon Bible In Public Schools, Raymond R. Trombadore S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The Gideons International, a non-profit religious corporation, applied by letter to the Board of Education of the Borough of Rutherford, New Jersey, for permission to distribute free copies of the Gideon Bible to pupils of the public schools of that community. By resolution passed at a regular meeting of the board, permission was granted for distribution to pupils whose parents requested copies of the Bible. Prior to distribution, suit for injunction was commenced by parents of Jewish and Catholic pupils to determine the validity of the distribution under the federal and New Jersey constitutions. The trial court found for defendants. …


Constitutional Law - Judicial Powers - Legality Of The Grand Jury Report, Alan Reeve Hunt S.Ed. Mar 1954

Constitutional Law - Judicial Powers - Legality Of The Grand Jury Report, Alan Reeve Hunt S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

On December 2, 1952, a federal grand jury for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, in a "presentment" made to that court, took the State Department severely to task for what it considered to be a conspicuous failure in handling the problem of subversive employees, United States citizens, at the United Nations. It further charged the State Department with impeding the grand jury's progress in attempting to fix responsibility for the failure upon certain State Department officials. On October 11, 1951, the Camden County grand jury presented to the Superior Court of New Jersey …


Constitutional Law-Legislative-Power To Reduce Grade Of Criminal Offense In Order To Avoid Jury Trial, Chester F. Relyea S.Ed. Mar 1954

Constitutional Law-Legislative-Power To Reduce Grade Of Criminal Offense In Order To Avoid Jury Trial, Chester F. Relyea S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A complaint was made in the Municipal Court of Hoboken against the defendant charging that he had willfully committed an assault and battery by spitting on another, in violation of the Disorderly Persons Law, which states: "Any person who commits an assault or an assault and battery is a disorderly person." The defendant moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that the statute violated his constitutional right to prosecution by indictment and trial by jury. The municipal court denied the motion. On certification to the New Jersey Supreme Court, held, the statute did not wrongfully deny defendant a …


Constitutional Law-Commerce Clause-State Taxation Of Interstate Air Carriers, Robert B. Olsen Mar 1954

Constitutional Law-Commerce Clause-State Taxation Of Interstate Air Carriers, Robert B. Olsen

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, an interstate air carrier, was incorporated in Delaware, and the home port of its planes was in Minnesota. It conducted regularly scheduled flights in and between twelve states. No landings were ever made in Delaware. Nebraska, one of the states in which landings were made by plaintiff, levied an ad valorem tax on a proportion of the Hight equipment of the plaintiff measured by the proportion of the total use of the equipment that was attributable to Nebraska. Plaintiff contended that the commerce clause of the United States Constitution precluded Nebraska from imposing any tax whatever upon such Hight …


Conflict Of Laws - Full Faith And Credit - Foreign Custody Decrees, Theodore J. St. Antoine S.Ed. Feb 1954

Conflict Of Laws - Full Faith And Credit - Foreign Custody Decrees, Theodore J. St. Antoine S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Husband and wife were domiciled in Wisconsin. When marital troubles developed, the parties agreed that the wife should. take their children to Ohio and. there decide on her future action. Shortly afterward the wife informed the husband. she was not returning. The husband secured. a divorce in Wisconsin, with the decree purporting to award. him custody of the children subject to visitation rights in the wife. Service on the wife was · obtained by publication, but she made no appearance in the Wisconsin proceedings. After one of the visits of the children, the wife refused. to return them and. the …


Constitutional Law - Civil Rights - Right Of Negro To Vote In State Primary Elections, John C. Hall S.Ed. Feb 1954

Constitutional Law - Civil Rights - Right Of Negro To Vote In State Primary Elections, John C. Hall S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The Jaybird Democratic Association was formed in Fort Bend County, Texas, in 1889. Membership was open to all white voters in the county. The association was not governed by the state statute regulating political parties. Candidates nominated by the Jaybird Party entered the Democratic county primary as individuals, not as Jaybird candidates, but those candidates won both the Democratic primary and the general election with only one exception in the entire history of the Jaybird Party. Terry, a Negro, sought a declaratory judgment and injunction permitting Negroes to vote in the Jaybird primary. The federal district court ruled that the …


Criminal Procedure - Standing Of The Press To Protest Exclusion Of Public From Criminal Trial By Order Of The Trial Judge, M. Fred Mallender, Ii Feb 1954

Criminal Procedure - Standing Of The Press To Protest Exclusion Of Public From Criminal Trial By Order Of The Trial Judge, M. Fred Mallender, Ii

Michigan Law Review

Defendant judge, believing that great harm to public morals and decency was to be apprehended from the testimony in the vice trial of Minot F. Jelke, exercised his discretion to exclude the general public including plaintiff newspapers from the court room during the state's case. The family and friends of the accused along with officers of the court, witnesses, and jury were not excluded. The plaintiffs applied for a writ of prohibition to restrain the defendant from enforcing his order. The court denied the application on the grounds that the defendant judge had the power to make the exclusion order …


Constitutional Law - Censorship Of Obscence Literature, Donald M. Wilkinson, Jr. S.Ed. Feb 1954

Constitutional Law - Censorship Of Obscence Literature, Donald M. Wilkinson, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The right to a free expression of ideas, without interference from governmental authorities, is inherent in the very nature of a democracy. On the other hand, it is also clear that the greater interests of the state at large will conflict with certain forms of expression, and in such circumstances obviously the former must prevail. It is the purpose of this comment to discuss the constitutional limitations on the governmental suppression of literature on grounds of obscenity.


Constitutional Law - Due Process - Scope Of Inquiry In Habeas Corpus Petitions From Military Prisoner, Eugene Alkema Feb 1954

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Scope Of Inquiry In Habeas Corpus Petitions From Military Prisoner, Eugene Alkema

Michigan Law Review

Petitioners, military personnel, were convicted by courts martial of rape and murder. After exhausting military appellate remedies, they petitioned federal civil courts for writs of habeas corpus on the ground that they had been convicted in proceedings denying them basic constitutional rights. The petitions were denied. On appeal, held, affirmed, two justices dissenting. When the record shows that military courts have fairly considered all of the allegations of the petitioners and have found no denial of constitutional rights, civil courts in habeas corpus proceedings will not hear evidence on the merits of the allegations. Burns v. Wilson, 346 …


Constitutional Law - Due Process - Freedom Of Expression - Motion Picture Censorship, Constantine D. Kasson S.Ed. Feb 1954

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Freedom Of Expression - Motion Picture Censorship, Constantine D. Kasson S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The New York Court of Appeals upheld the denial of a license to exhibit the French motion picture "La Ronde'' upon the grounds that it was "immoral'' and "would tend to corrupt morals." Censorship of the picture, which dealt with promiscuous sex relations, was held to be a proper exercise of the police power, since its exhibition would present a clear and present danger to the morals of the community, and the words "immoral" and "tend to corrupt morals" were held sufficiently definite for purposes of due process. In another censorship case, the Supreme Court of Ohio affirmed the rejection …


Federal Control Of Health And Safety Standards In Peacetime Private Atomic Energy Activities, Samuel D. Estep Jan 1954

Federal Control Of Health And Safety Standards In Peacetime Private Atomic Energy Activities, Samuel D. Estep

Michigan Law Review

This article is directed to the question of the power of Congress to provide for such regulation of those who handle radioactive materials in private industry and not to the policy question of whether Congress ought to attempt such regulation.


Evidence - Wiretapping And The Congress, Richard W. Pogue S.Ed. Jan 1954

Evidence - Wiretapping And The Congress, Richard W. Pogue S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The familiar cry that "there ought to be a law" is frequently raised concerning the practice which Justice Holmes long ago characterized as "dirty business" - the tapping of telephone wires. Although existing legislation on both federal and state levels deals with interception of telephone messages, the almost universal conclusion of commentators on the subject has been that many of the present day statutes are inadequate. It is particularly apparent that the famous section 605 of the Federal Communications Act of 1934 has long been in need of replacement or thorough revision. The purpose of this comment is to examine …


Constitutional Law - Due Process - Coerced Confessions And The Stein Case, Marvin O. Young S.Ed. Jan 1954

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Coerced Confessions And The Stein Case, Marvin O. Young S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Stein v. People of State of New York, a coerced confession case decided by the Supreme Court last June, at first suggests some rather startling propositions about the effect of a denial of procedural due process. Since Brown v. Mississippi in 1936 it has been well settled that the admission of a coerced confession into evidence in a state criminal proceeding contravenes the due process guaranty of the Fourteenth Amendment. In the confession cases subsequently considered by the Supreme Court it has been consistently held that the admission of an extorted confession vitiates the entire proceeding and renders the …


Corporations - Sale Of Assets As A Means Of Avoiding State Constitutional Limitation On Corporate Life, Judson M. Werbelow Jan 1954

Corporations - Sale Of Assets As A Means Of Avoiding State Constitutional Limitation On Corporate Life, Judson M. Werbelow

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, a Michigan corporation, was incorporated in 1923 for a term of thirty years, the maximum term permitted by the Michigan constitution. Shortly before this thirty-year term was to expire, majority and minority stockholders engaged in unsuccessful negotiations, each group attempting to purchase the other's interest in the corporation. A special stockholders' meeting was then called to consider a proposed renewal of the corporate term. This proposal failed to gamer the vote of two-thirds of the outstanding shares which was required for approval. The attorneys representing the majority shareholders proceeded to organize a dummy corporation, which in tum offered the …


Aliens - Naturalization - Netural Aliens Who Sought Relief From Military Service Barred From Becoming United States Citizens, John Houck S.Ed. Dec 1953

Aliens - Naturalization - Netural Aliens Who Sought Relief From Military Service Barred From Becoming United States Citizens, John Houck S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

During World War II, an alien who was a citizen or a subject of a neutral country was allowed to escape service in the armed forces of the United States by signing Selective Service Form DSS 301. A release thus obtained carried with it a disability ever to become a citizen of the United States. A substantial number of neutral aliens availed themselves of this relief from military service. Today, the courts are faced with the problem of whether signing Form 301 shall in every case prevent the alien from becoming a citizen. It is the purpose of this comment …


Constitutional Law - Civil Rights Act - Civil Liability Of State Judicial Officers, John C. Hall S.Ed. Dec 1953

Constitutional Law - Civil Rights Act - Civil Liability Of State Judicial Officers, John C. Hall S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In 1940 defendant, a state judge, granted an ex parte order transferring plaintiff, then a voluntary inmate of a Massachusetts school for the feeble-minded, to the Department of Defective Delinquents. Released on habeas corpus in 1951, plaintiff brought suit under the Civil Rights Act, claiming a denial of notice and hearing in violation of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. On appeal, held, a judge is not liable at common law or under the Civil Rights Act for acts done in the exercise of his judicial function. Francis v. Crafts, (1st Cir. 1953) 203 F. (2d) …


Constitutional Law - Equal Protection - Damage Action For Breach Of Racial Restrictive Covenant, Raymond R. Trombadore S.Ed. Dec 1953

Constitutional Law - Equal Protection - Damage Action For Breach Of Racial Restrictive Covenant, Raymond R. Trombadore S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioners sued at law for breach of a racial restrictive covenant, alleging that respondent violated the covenant by conveying restricted realty without incorporating restrictions in the deed, and by permitting non-Caucasians to enter and occupy the premises. The trial court sustained a demurrer to the complaint, the California court of appeals affirmed, and hearing was denied by the state supreme court. On certiorari the United States Supreme Court held, affirmed, Chief Justice Vinson dissenting. An award of damages by a state court for breach of racial restrictive covenants would constitute state action which would deprive the excluded class of …


Borderland - Where Copyright And Design Patent Meet, Richard W. Pogue Nov 1953

Borderland - Where Copyright And Design Patent Meet, Richard W. Pogue

Michigan Law Review

Copyright law and design patent law contemplate basically different objects of protection. Yet at the outer fringes of these types of protection certain concepts overlap to form a rather undefined borderland in which it is difficult to say what law is applicable-copyright law, patent law, neither, or both. It is the purpose of this paper to explore this borderland area in the light of traditional copyright and patent law principles, with attention given to policy considerations involved, and to offer suggestions toward drawing a sharper boundary between the two.


Constitutional Law - Public Trial In Criminal Cases, Carl S. Krueger S.Ed. Nov 1953

Constitutional Law - Public Trial In Criminal Cases, Carl S. Krueger S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The criminal trial has been traditionally open to the public in Anglo-Saxon procedure, as it was in Roman and other civilized societies of an earlier time. The public trial of today, however, has been subjected to considerable criticism on the ground that there is a tendency for criminal trials to degenerate into public spectacles, frequently interrupting the orderly procedure of justice, and not infrequently actually prejudicing the accused. If no useful purpose is served by the presence of the idle public during the deadly serious determination of guilt or innocence, should not the judge, subject to the right of admittance …