Courts Commons^™

Judgments - Default Judgments Rendered Without Jurisdiction - Validating Effect Of A Subsequent General Appearance, Richard B. Maxwell

Michigan Law Review

The effect of a general appearance by the defendant following a default judgment rendered without jurisdiction over the person of the defendant has been again raised by the recent Wisconsin case of Schwantz v. Morris. In this case the original judgment was invalid for lack of jurisdiction over the defendants, but the Supreme Court of Wisconsin held, that by joining non-jurisdictional grounds with jurisdictional grounds in a motion to set the judgment aside, the defendants had waived any defects in or objections to the jurisdiction of the court and that this waiver related back to the time of the …

Federal Courts - Removal Of Causes - Action By State Tax Collector Against National Bank To Recover Taxes - Federal Question, Malcolm L. Denise

Michigan Law Review

The state of Mississippi passed a statute imposing a tax upon national banks, under authority of a federal statute permitting such legislation. The state assessed the tax upon defendant's predecessor, and defendant, in taking over its predecessor's assets, undertook to pay all of its obligations, including taxes due. The state tax collector started suit on the contract in the state court, but upon defendant's application the cause was removed to the federal district court. On appeal it was held the case did not arise under the laws of the United States within the meaning of the removal statute because it …

The Proposed United States Administrative Court, Robert M. Cooper

Michigan Law Review

The last half century has witnessed a constant, almost relentless, increase of governmental responsibilities and services in both federal and state spheres of control. Due to the changing needs of our economic and social order, the desire for speedy, efficient and inexpensive settlement of controversies and the imperative need of specialized administrators, the task of performing these new functions has not infrequently been delegated to administrative tribunals or commissions. Neither the legislature nor the judiciary was capable of administering the myriad details or countless controversies which inevitably accompanied these new functions of government. As a consequence an administrative branch of …

Conflict Of Laws -Enforceability Of Tax Judgment In Courts Of A Sister State - Full Faith And Credit

Michigan Law Review

A court of competent jurisdiction in Wisconsin gave the plaintiff a judgment against the defendants an Illinois corporation, for truces levied by Wisconsin upon income earned in that state. A federal district court in Illinois, relying on a theory that one state should not undertake to enforce the revenue laws of a sister state, dismissed an action on the judgment instituted by the plaintiff. The plaintiff appealed. Held, principles of comity and the "full faith and credit" clause of the Federal Constitution require that the action be entertained. Milwaukee County v. M. E. White Co., 296 U.S. 268, …

The Jurisdiction Of Courts (Part 3), Bernard C. Gavit

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Jurisdiction Of Courts (Part 2), Bernard C. Gavit

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Jurisdiction Of Courts (Part 1), Bernard C. Gavit

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Courts--Jurisdiction To Annul Local Marriage Of Non-Residents, John L. Detch

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Johnson Amendment To The Judicial Code, Edwin C. Goddard

Michigan Law Review

The so-called Johnson bill amending the Judicial Code was passed by Congress and signed by the President on May 14, 1934. The bill was the result of long agitation against the alleged pernicious interference by United States District Courts with rate regulations of the state utility commissions and the state courts. It was charged that the removal of cases from state to federal tribunals was burdening the District Courts and, what was far more serious, was favoring the public utilities and preventing their proper state regulation by submitting controversies to judges having life tenure and who were out of touch …

Admiralty-Venue Of Action Brought In State Court Under Jones Act

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff brought suit in a county court of Pennsylvania to to recover damages for injuries sustained by her while a member of the steamship crew of the defendant. The action was based on the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 which provided: "Jurisdiction in such actions shall be under the court of the district in which the defendant employer resides or in which his principal office is located." Defendant corporation moved to dismiss the action on the ground that the court had no jurisdiction since defendant's principal office was in Baltimore. The motion was granted and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court …

Federal Practice - Appeal And Error - Dismissal Of Counterclaim Because Of Improper Venue Appealable As Interlocutory Order Denying Injunction

Michigan Law Review

To plaintiffs' suit for patent infringement defendants counterclaimed upon an unrelated patent asking for an injunction and an accounting. Plaintiffs' motion to dismiss on the ground of improper venue was sustained by the district court. Defendants appealed and plaintiffs moved to dismiss on the ground that dismissal of a counterclaim was not a refusal of an injunction and therefore not appealable under Sec. 129, Judicial Code. The circuit court of appeals allowed the appeal and this decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court. General Electric Co. et al. v. Marvel Rare Metals Co. et al., 287 U.S. 430, 53 …

Wills And Administration - Jurisdiction Over The Probate Of Lost Or Destroyed Wills

Michigan Law Review

Under Mich. Comp. Laws (1929), sec. 15547, a will lost, suppressed or destroyed may be admitted to probate upon its being established in a prescribed manner in the probate court. And under sec. 15543 no will is effectual to pass title to property unless probated as required by law. Plaintiff coal company, apparently under the direction of its manager, King, filed a bill of interpleader for a judicial determination as to whether it should pay rent as lessee of certain property to the administrator of the estate of the deceased lessor, or to King, who claimed as devisee of the …

Injunctions Of State Courts Restraining Parties From Proceeding In The Tribunals Of Other States

Michigan Law Review

It has long been accepted that a court of equity, acting in personam, can enjoin one over whom it has jurisdiction from bringing an action in a foreign tribunal. A nice question is presented when an effort is made to determine on what occasions the court will exercise that power. It is frequently said that it will be exercised but sparingly, and then only where a clear equitable right is established by the petitioner. This, in spite of the strong language commonly accompanying such statements, is no more than that which the court requires for the issuance of any …

Limiting Jurisdiction Of Federal Courts-Pending Billscomment By Members Of Chicago University Law Faculty

Michigan Law Review

At the time the last session of Congress adjourned four important bills affecting the jurisdiction of federal district courts were being considered. The Norris-La Guardia bill would abolish the jurisdiction of federal district courts in suits of a civil nature "between citizens of different states." The Attorney General's bill would not eliminate any of the language of the first paragraph of section 24 of the Judicial Code but would add a provision that a foreign corporation carrying on business in a state other than the one wherein it was organized shall be treated as a citizen of the state wherein …

Federal Injunction Against Proceedings In State Courts: The Life History Of A Statute, Edgar Noble Durfee, Robert L. Sloss

Michigan Law Review

The Judicial Code provides, in section 265, that "the writ of injunction shall not be granted by any court of the United States to stay proceedings in any court of a State," except where authorized by the Bankruptcy Act. This provision, minus the bankruptcy exception, first appeared in an act of 1793, amending the Judiciary Act of 1789. We know next to nothing of the parliamentary history of this statute. We do, however, know that the basic political issue in the framing of the Constitution was that of states' rights, the question how far the new government should be a …

Bankruptcy-Secured Debts-Jurisdiction Of State Courts

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Limitation Of Diversity Jurisdiction In Cases Affecting Foreign Corporations, Gustavus Ohlinger

Michigan Law Review

On February 29, 1932, President Hoover sent to the Senate and House of Representatives a message recommending that the jurisdiction of federal courts based on diversity of citizenship be modified by "providing that where a corporation, organized under the laws of one State, carries on business in another State it shall be treated as a citizen of the State wherein it carries on business as respects suits brought within that State between it and the residents thereof arising out of the business carried on in such State."

Courts-Discretion To Refuse Jurisdiction-Forum Non Conveniens

Michigan Law Review

In these days of frequent travel and of corporations doing business in many states, a plaintiff with a transitory cause of action often can get personal service on defendant in more than one jurisdiction. This privilege may be abused, and to meet such abuse a plea of forum non conveniens is proper, the substance of which, as its name implies, is that the forum is not appropriate for the trial of the suit. Where either of the parties is a resident, or where the cause of action arose within the jurisdiction, the forum will usually be as appropriate as any, …

Courts-Removal Of Causes-Jurisdictional Amount

Michigan Law Review

Two suits for personal injuries, in each of which a claim for $5,000 was made, were removed to the federal court by defendant. Plaintiff's counsel in his opening statement said that as the result of the injuries one plaintiff was unable to work for two weeks and visited his doctor seven times and that the other was away from work for three weeks and also saw his doctor seven times. The wages of the first plaintiff were $55 a week; those of the second averaged $75 a week. He further stated that the injuries were not permanent, and that, except …

Federal Practice--Unconstitionality Of A State Statutye-Requirement Of A Three-Judge Court

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff corporation applied for a preliminary injunction in a suit to restrain the collection of a state franchise tax on the ground that the tax law was unconstitutional under the federal Constitution. After the complaint had been filed and a temporary restraining order had been granted, the defendant moved to dismiss the bill for want of equity, and upon a hearing of the motion the bill was dismissed. The plaintiff then appealed to the circuit court of appeals where the law was held to be unconstitutional and the judgment was reversed. Held, the single judge had no jurisdiction …

Administative Tribunals-Judicial Review Of Legislative Functions

Michigan Law Review

On refusal of the Federal Radio Commission to renew its license for a broadcasting station with the existing terms, on the ground that public convenience and necessity did not require it, the applicant company availed itself of a statutory appeal to the court of appeals of the District of Columbia which reversed the finding as to public convenience and necessity. The commission applied to the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. Held, writ dismissed on the theory that the court had no jurisdiction to review the exercise pf an administrative or legislative power, and that the …

Prohibition-Against Enforcement Of Order To Produce Documents-Availability Of Other Appellate Relief

Michigan Law Review

Application was made to the circuit court of appeals for a writ of prohibition against a district judge to restrain him from compelling petitioner to allow an inspection of his ledger. Held, that although in the opinion of the court the order had been entered improperly, the circuit court of appeals had no jurisdiction to issue a writ of prohibition against enforcement of the order. Keaton v. Kennamer (C. C. A. 10th, 1930) 42 F.(2d) 814.

Venue--Waiver Of Objection In Federal Courts

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff, a fireman for the defendant railroad, was injured by a defective "chafing-block" while engaged in switching cars onto a siding, in order to permit an interstate train to pass. The injury took place in West Virginia, where the plaintiff was a resident. The defendant was incorporated under the laws of Maryland. Suit was brought in the federal court of the northern district of Ohio. The plaintiff based his right to recover on the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U. S. C. A. sec. 51-59, and the Federal Boiler Inspection Act, 45 U. S. C. A. sec. 22 et …

Origin Of Equity Jurisdiction And Jurisprudence, Edward Murphy

Student Theses

Introductory Statement

It is not our purpose in this thesis to attempt a complete and detailed history of equity as it exists in England and in the United states. To do this would involve little more than a compilation of what has already been quite elaborately treated by some of the great legal minds of England and America.

We propose to treat rather of the nature of Equity as it existed in the Roman Law,its influence in the English law, the primitive condition of the law at the time of the origin of Equity, and of the causes which made …

History Of The Statutory Rules Of Federal Jurisdiction And Procedure, Robert C. Brown

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Jurisdiction Of The Federal Courts Based On Diversity Of Citizenship, Robert C. Brown

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Book Review. Federal Appellate Jurisdiction And Procedure By Elijah N. Zoline, Robert C. Brown

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

The Court Of Claims, J. H. Toelle

Michigan Law Review

The Court of Claims was established by Act of Congress in 1855. The original Act provided that at the commencement of each session of Congress, and at the commencement of each month during the session, the Court should report the cases upon which they should have finally acted, stating in each the material facts which they found established by the evidence, with their opinion in the case, and the. reasons upon which such opinion was founded, and the opinion of any judge who should dissent from the majority. It also directed the Court to prepare a bill or bills in …

The Uniformity Of The Maritime Law, George L. Canfield

Michigan Law Review

In 1871, Richard Henry Dana commenced a masterly article on the "History of Admiralty Jurisdiction in the Supreme Court of the United States,'' by writing, "After seventy yea.rs of baffling winds and cross currents in the region of admiralty jurisdiction, the Supreme Court of the United States has sailed out into deep water." In 1924, Charles Merrill Hough concludes his delightful "Admiralty Jurisdiction-of Late Years," with the statement, "The years since 1906 have not increased the certainty of maritime law, and they have impaired the tradition of enforceable customs of the sea." And others writing in current legal periodicals have …