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Note And Comment, Gordon Stoner, Ralph W. Aigler, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Bradley Martin Thompson - For a second time within the year death has claimed a member of the Faculty of the Law School. Professor Jerome C. Knowlton died in January, and now on September 29th last, Professor Bradley M. Thompson has completed his life-work.

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Criminal Law - Directed Verdict of Acquittal - The accused was convicted of crime. Error was assigned upon the refusal of the court to direct a verdict of not guilty. Held, that a motion to direct a verdict of acquittal should never be entertained. People i% Zurek (Ill. 1917), uS N. E. 644

Note And Comment, Ralph W. Aigler, John B. Waite, Eugene B. Hewitt

Michigan Law Review

State Legislation Extending to Navigable Waters - In Southern Pacific Company v. Jensen, 37 Sup. Ct. -, decided May 21, 1917, the Supreme Court announces a decision in some respects of far reaching importance. It was held therein, Mr. Justice HOL.Es dissenting, that the WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION AcT of the State of New York did not support an award to the widow and children of a workman killed on board a ship of the' Company while at the pier in New York City. Clearly the terms of the New York act covered the case, unless the fact that the accident occurred …

Book Reviews, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Digest of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of Hawaii, Volumes' i to 22 inclusive, January 6, 1847, to October 7, 1915; by Wade Warren Thayer, Attorney General of Hawaii, 1913-1914, Secretary of Hawaii, 1914- Honolulu, 1916, pp. xvi, 9o7.

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Adverse Possession Mistake - From a decree quieting in plaintiff title by adverse possession, defendants appealed, contending that plaintiff claimed the land only under and by virtue of a will which in fact conferred no legal title, and that such a claim was not adverse. Held, assuming that plaintiff believed he was asserting legal rights only, and that his claim of title was defective, his possession would nevertheless ripen into title by adverse possession. Erickson v. Crosby, (Neb. 1916) x6o N. W. 94.

Extension Of Judicial Review In New York, Edward S. Corwin

Michigan Law Review

There are several reasons why it should be worth while to investigate the operation of the most unique of American governmental institutions in the most important state of the Union. For one thing, in the person of Chancellor KZN" New York furnished one of the founders of American Constitutional Law, while at the same time it was KzNT's fame that early gave New York decisions the importance they still retain in great part in the field of citation and precedent. Again it was YNT'S influence that inclined the fresh shoot of constitutional jurisprudence in New York in a conservative direction, …

Note And Comment, John B. Waite, Samuel D. Frankel, Melville C. Mason

Michigan Law Review

The Death of Professor Knowlton - The loss to the Law School and to his colleagues of the law faculty in the death of Jerome Cyril Knowlton cannot be expressed. For thirty-one years, the longest period of active service ever given by any man to this Law School, Mr. Knowlton was an effective factor in the development of the institution and in the moulding of the character and the legal ideas and ideals of the thousands of graduates who have passed through the Law School into the service of community and state and country, at the bar, upon the bench, …

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Attorney and Client - Attorney's Charging Lien - Having agreed by contract to pay his attorney fifty percent of the proceeds recovered, the client, while suit was pending, and without the consent of his attorney, settled with the defendant for $3o. The attorney then gave notice of his claim to the defendant, and the district court, after hearing the case, gave judgment to the plaintiff attorney for $1oo. There was a statute (N. J. LAWS OF 1914, ch. 201, p. 410) which gave a lien to an attorney on the proceeds of a settlement out of court. Held, the action …

Note And Comment, Ralph W. Aigler, Harry G. Gault, Thomas E. Atkinson, Harry R. Hewitt

Michigan Law Review

Special Assessments Upon Cemetaries - Though the power to tax cemeteries would seem to be'entirely clear, very commonly land devoted to such purpose is declared by constitution or statute to be exempt. See CooLY, TAxATION, (3rd ed.) 354. So also in the case of special assessments such land, in the absence of a clear exemption, is liable thereto. Bloomington Cemetery Assoc. v. People, i39 IIl. 16, 28 N. E. io76; Mullins v. Cemetery Assoc., 239 Mo. 681, i44 S. W. iog; Buffalo City Cemetery v. Buffalo, 46 N. Y. 5o3; Lima v. Lima Cemetery Assoc., 42 Oh. St. 128, 5! …

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Adoption - Inheritance from Natural Kindred - The plaintiff, a minor, by his guardian sued to recover his share of his deceased grandfather's estate under the law of succession of the state of California. After the death of his father and mother he had been adopted into another family. The statute of California provides that the natural parents of an adopted child are "relieved *** of all parental duties towards and all responsibilities for the child so adopted and have no right over it," and the child and persons adopting "shall sustain towards each other the legal xelation of parent …

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Adjoining Landowners-Lateral Support.-Defendant was sued for injuries to plaintiff's dwelling on an adjoining lot caused by defendant's having -excavated on his lot after having given plaintiff notice of the intended excavation. Held, defendant, after having given plaintiff reasonable notice of 'the intended excavation, was not liable for injuries to plaintiff's building which resulted from defendant's "ordinarily careful excavation of his own lot:' Vandegrift, et al. v. Boward (Md. I916), 98 AtI. 528.

Note And Comment, Edgar N. Durfee, Harry J. Connine, Harry R. Hewitt, George C. Claassen

Michigan Law Review

The Mortgages in Possession in New York and in Michigan - It is interesting to observe how tenaciously the old common law of mortgages has persisted in the state of New York, the very cradle of the modem lien theory of the mortgage. As early as 18o2 Chancellor KENT began the importation into that state of Lord MANSFIELD'S Civil Law doctrines of mortgage. Johnson v. Hart, 3 Johns. Cas. 322. In 1814, in the case of Runyan v. Mersereau, ii Johns. 534, the lien theory definitely triumphed over the old law. In other cases, both before and since the statute …

Mortgagee In Possession In New York And Michigan, Edgar N. Durfee

Articles

It is interesting to observe how tenaciously the old common law of mortgages has persisted in the state of New York, the very cradle of the modem lien theory of the mortgage. As early as 1802 Chancellor KENT began the importation into that state of Lord MANSFIELD'S Civil Law doctrines of mortgage. Johnson v. Hart, 3 Johns. Cas. 322. In 1814, in the case of Runyan v. Mersereau, 11 Johns. 534, the lien theory definitely triumphed over the old law. In other cases, both before and since the statute of 1828 denying ejectment to the mortgagee, the details of mortgage …

The Sheriff's Return, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

When William the Conqueror found himself military master of Britain, he was confronted by a governmental problem quite different from that which has usually accompanied foreign conquest. He did not subdue a nation already organized, substituting his power for that of its former ruler in the conventional way of conquerors. Britain was a geographical unit but politically and socially it was a congeries of loosely related communities. The natural law of survival of the fittest normally operates upon peoples as upon individuals, and develops centralized power as a means of self-preservation. But Britain had a substitute for this. The sheltering …

The Michigan Judicature Act Of 1915, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

IN 1848 a wave of reform in judicial procedure began to sweep over the United States. In that year the legislature of New York enacted the Code of Civil Procedure, a statute of far-reaching importance, for it became the source of and the model for similar legislation in almost two-thirds of the States in the Union.

Recovery Of The Purchase Price Before Title Has Passed, John B. Waite

Articles

In an action recently instituted by The General Electric Co. to recover on a contract to manufacture certain machinery for the defendant, which machinery the defendant had refused to accept, the trial court adopted the contract price as the measure of damages. The upper court approved this measure of damages, rejecting the argument that the measure should have been the difference between the market value and the contract price, and dismissed, as no longer appropriate to modern conditions, the decisions in Bement v. Smith, 15 Wend. (N. Y.) 493, and Shawhan v. Van Nest. 25 Oh. St. 490. The court …

Note And Comment, Gordon W. Stoner, Newton K. Fox, Walle W. Merritt, Albert E. Meder

Michigan Law Review

The Power of a Court to Compel a jury to Render its Verdict in Accordance with a Peremptory Instruction; The Liability of Municipal Corporations in the Discharge of Public or Governmental Duties and of Private or Corporate Duties; Some views of the Nature and Effect of Corporateness; Mitigation of Damages or Substituted Contract; Limitation of the Amount of a Carrier's Liability

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Adverse Possession--Actual Possession--Occupation of Part; Banks and Banking--Payment of Deposits on Forged Checks--Liability--Affirmative Defense; Banks and Banking--Payment of Check--Forged Indorsements; Cancellation of Instrument for Want of Consideration--Stauts Quo; Charities--Charitable Gift--Validity; Commerce--Interstate Commerce--Continuous Shipment--Violation of Elkins Act; Constitutional Law--Power of Judicial Department--Infringement on Executive; Conversion--Return of Goods as Defense; Conveyancing--Grantee's Name Left Blank; Courts--State Courts--Jurisdiction over National Banks; Criminal Law--Harmless Error in Admission of Evidence; Equity--Subrogation of Mortgagor to Rights of Mortgagee; Evidence--Admissibility of Statements in Corroboration of Testimony of Discredited Witness; Evidence--Other Offenses as Evidence of Offense Charged; Fixtures--Between Vendor of Chattel and Mortgagee of Land; Husband and Wife--Action Against …

Preserving A Special Appearance, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

No personal judgment against a defendant is valid unless the court which renders it has first obtained jurisdiction over the person of such defendant. This is elementary and fundamental, and goes to the essence of the judgment. And such jurisdiction must be secured through the actual service of process upon the defendant against whom the judgment is sought or through his voluntary appearance in the action.

Prosecuting And District Attorneys, Henry M. Bates

Book Chapters

Professor Bates defines his subject matter "Prosecuting and district attorneys are judicial officers of the state, within their respective districts, although not officers of the state at large. Under some statutes they are county officers, while under others they are not, but are circuit or district officers.... Like other attorneys, prosecuting and district attorneys are officers of the court; but they are not a part of the court because of their office." A two-page outline precedes the entry.

A Treatise On The Powers And Duties Of The Justices Of The Peace In The State Of Michigan, Under Chapter Ninety-Three Of The Revised Statutes Of 1846, Being Chapter Thirty-Four Of The Compiled Laws Of 1897; With Practical Forms And An Appendix Containing The Justice Court Acts Of Those Cities Having Provisions Differing Materially From The General Justice Court Act., Alexander R. Tiffany, Victor H. Lane

Books

“Judge Alexander R. Tiffany, its author, put out the first edition of this work in 1849. In the years 1851, 1858 and 1866, he put out the second, third and fourth editions, respectively. The fifth edition was published in 1873 with Judge Andrew Howell as its editor and he edited the succeeding editions to the ninth inclusive ….

“The editorship of the present edition has been undertaken at the request of the family of Judge Tiffany, and while the editor is persuaded that better can be done, yet it is hoped that the present edition may share the favor so …

Note And Comment, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Is Commerce Between a State and a Territory Interstate Comerce?; Right of Court to Instruct upon the Failure of Defendant to Testify in a Criminal Action; The Last of the Kentucky Bank Cases, and the Relations Between the State and Federal Courts; The Last of the Kentucky Bank Cases--Federal Tax Judgementss in STate Courts; Power of the Court to Order a Physical Examination in Personal Injury Cases; The Porto Rican is not an Allien; Mimicry as Infringement of Musical Composition;

Some Legal Aspects Of Special Assessments, Frank L. Sage

Articles

Taxes have been defined as "the enforced proportional contributions from persons and property levied by the state by virtue of its sovereignty for the support of the government and all public needs." The essential elements that we will notice particularly are two; first, that the contributions are proportional, that is, levied upon all in the same class according to some impartial standard, and second, that taxes can be levied for public purposes only.

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Agency--Action by Undisclosed Principal; Agency--Authority to Sell Land--Notice of Revocation by Record; Agency--Good Faith--Commissions; Bankruptcy--Intent of Insolvent; Carriers--Damages for Loss of Market--Carriage of Goods Destined for Enegies--Seizure of Ships; Constitutional Law--Cigarettes--Original Package; Constitutional Law--Municipal Corporations--Validity of Ordinance Requiring Union Label; Constitutional Law--Vested Rights--Alimony; Contract--Rescission as Affecting Rights of a Stranger to the Consideration; Contract--Public Policy--Agreement to ASsist Attorney to Secure Clients; Courts--contempt--Publication of Evidence in Newspapers; Criminal law--burglary--Sufficient Breaking; Criminal Law--Embezzlement; Damages--Exemplary--Parol License--Revocable--Trespass; Damages--Reversing Judgment for Defendant in Order to Give Plaintiff Nominal Damages; Deeds--Grantees--Constructions; Deeds--Reservation--Construction--Extent of Property; Deeds--Reservation--effectin Equity--Implied Trust; Fraudulent Conveyance--Who are Creditors--claimant in Tort Action; Highways--Street Car …

The "Torrens Acts": Some Comparisons, James H. Brewster

Articles

The widespread discussion during the last ten years of the general scheme of registration of title to land, popularly known as the "Torrens System," has served to satisfy most disinterested lawyers and laymen of the general merits of the system. Consideration of the matter has been confined to no one section of the country, but has extended from Maine to California, and from Oregon to Texas. The result has been that laws embodying the general principles of the system have been enacted in six states, and proposed laws are before the legislatures of several others. The fact, however, that some …

Power To Appoint To Office--Its Location And Limits, Floyd R. Mechem

Articles

At no other time in the judicial history of this country, if the evidence of the reported cases is to be relied upon, have there been so many and so bitter contests over all of the questions growing out of the title to public offices, as during the last ten or twelve years. This is undoubtedly largely accounted for by the fact that within that period a large number of the states have put in operation radically changed methods of conducting elections, based upon or practically incorporating what is popularly known as the Australian ballot system. In making these changes, …

Note & Comment, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Announcement; Note and Comment: The Right of a De Jure Officer to Recover Salary or Fees Paid to a De Facto Officer; Exemplary Damages Where Acutal Damages Merely Nominal; Seduction--Fiction of Service; Negligence--Druggist Selling Proprietary Medicine Without Knowing Contents; Physician--Duty to Respond to Call; Wills--Contract to Make--Fraud in Obtaining Charity--Relief in Equity; Sale--Bank Cashing Draft Drawn Against consignment of Goods as Purchaser--Liability Upon Express or Implied Warranty of Title or Quality; Voters--Right to Vote for Candidate whose Name is not on the Official Ballot; Constitutional Law--Fourteenth Amendment--Due Process--Equal Protection; Statute of Limitations--Failure to Leave Subjacent Support in Mining--When Statute begins …

Recent Decisions

Michigan Law Review

Agency--Ratification--Knowledge Necessary; Agency--Undisclosed Principal--Defence Against Agent; Bailments--Action by Bailee against Third Person; Bankruptcy--Homestead Exemption--State Law not Enforced; Bankruptcy--Homestead Exemption; Bills and Notes--Cashier's Check--Indorsed for Illegal Consideration; Carriers--Street Railway--Track Used by Another Company; Chattel Mortgage--Sufficiency of Description; Conflict of Laws--Statute of Frauds--Statute Affecting Remedy--Representations as to Another's Credit; Constitutional Law--14th Amendment--Class Legislation--License Law; Evidence--Physical Examination of Plaintiff in Personal Injury Suit; Insurance--Construction of Terms of Indemnity Policy; Insurance--Agreement to Issue New Policy--Effect of Failure to Surender Old Policy and Make Demand Within Time Stipulated; Landlord and Tenant--Covenant for Re-Entry--Re-Entry by Ejectment Only--Summary Proceedings; Landlord and Tenant--Covenant Not to Assign--Runs with the …

The Remedies For The Collection Of Judgments Against Debtors Who Are Residents Or Property Holders In Another State, Or Within The British Dominions, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

Whenever a party who has obtained a judgment in one state or county has occasion to take proceedings for its enforcement in another, he finds-perhaps to his surprise-that his judgment as such has no extra-territorial force, but that in other jurisdictions it is merely evidence of a settled demand, upon which judgment must be obtained in a new suit before there can be process for its enforcement. A creditor cannot, for example, upon a judgment recovered in New York, have an execution in Pennsylvania; for courts issue executions only upon their own judgments; and while it would no doubt be …

Reports Of Cases Determined In The Court Of Chancery Of The State Of Michigan, E. Burke Harrington, Thomas M. Cooley

Books

Originally published in 1845, covers cases from 1836-1842. Cited as: Harr. Ch. (2ed) and commonly known as Harrington's chancery reports.

From the Preface to the Second Edition: "Harrington's Reports having been for some time out of print, the undersigned ... has taken charge of a new edition....

"Some improvement ... has been introduced, particularly in the head notes... The original paging has been preserved, for the convenience in tracing former references." Thomas M. Cooley, Ann Arbor, October 1872.