Courts Commons^™

Six-Member And Twelve-Member Juries: An Empirical Study Of Trial Results, Lawrence R. Mills

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The most convincing basis for criticism of the Supreme Court's conclusion that there is "no discernible difference" between the results reached by the six-member juries and those reached by the twelve-member juries would be empirical data suggesting a contrary conclusion. A recent study by the Institute of Judicial Administration comparing twelve-member and six-member juries in over 650 civil cases in New Jersey courts disclosed less than a two percentage-point difference between the respective percentages of verdicts rendered for plaintiffs by the two different-sized juries. The same study seemed to indicate that the damage awards in twelve-member jury cases were higher …

The Impact Of The Uniform Probate Code On Court Structure, Ralph P. Dupont

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

After considering the present pattern of probate court structure in the United States, this article considers the need for probate court reform as reflected in the deficiencies of the present system. It further indicates that a realistic choice of court structure by legislatures will ultimately be made from among three options: (1) to enlarge the jurisdiction of the present probate court of the state more nearly to approximate the form currently obtaining in several states; (2) to appoint a new body of probate judges and thus create an entirely new court; and (3) to enlarge the jurisdiction of the present …

Substance And Procedure In The Construction Of The National Environmental Policy Act, Lloyd A. Fox

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In 1969 Congress enacted the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA or Act) in an effort to deal with the many environmental problems facing the United States. In the three years that the Act has been in force, a large number of suits has been filed by environmental organizations seeking to enforce the standards enunciated in NEPA. The courts hearing these cases generally agree that NEPA imposes only procedural duties on administrative agencies. This implies that the courts will merely determine whether the agency in question has complied with the procedural requirements contained in Section 102 of the Act. This further …

An Empirical Study Of Six And Twelve-Member Jury Decision-Making Processes, Joan B. Kessler

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article employs the techniques of the social sciences in testing a legal proposition. After setting forth the hypotheses and methodology utilized by the experiment discussed herein, it presents the results obtained by examining the deliberations of different-sized juries concerning the same civil litigation. This article does not purport to be definitive; it does, however, attempt to indicate one methodology of interdisciplinary research which can be undertaken and the utility of this research to both the social sciences and the legal profession.

The Abolition Of Self-Help Repossession: The Poor Pay Even More, James J. White

Articles

In this paper I propose to identify possible ways in which a court could uphold the constitutionality of section 9-503 without an explicit rejection of Fuentes v. Shevin. It is my thesis that Fuentes v. Shevin is probably an undesirable outcome, and that the application of the same doctrine to self-help repossession is certainly undesirable and would constitute due process gone berserk. My arguments will not be novel; each has been suggested by the courts that have considered this matter, or by the briefs of the lawyers who have argued these cases. I cannot even claim to have collected the …

Friesen, Gallas & Gallas: Managing The Courts, William A. Mcrae Jr.

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Managing the Courts by Ernest C. Friesen, Edward C. Gallas, and Nesta M. Gallas

Cappellitti: Judicial Review In The Contemporary World, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Judicial Review in the Contemporary World by Mauro Cappellitti

Voter Registration Lists: Do They Yield A Jury Representative Of The Community, Fred A. Summer

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The passage of the Federal Act was primarily a response to the inability of the prevailing jury selection process to achieve the goal of a representative jury. The Act requires that voter registration lists be used as the primary source of names for jury selection in federal courts. A similar provision applicable to state courts is included in the Uniform Jury Selection and Service Act, adopted by the Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1970.6 This article will examine the rationale and effectiveness of the use of voter registration lists as a means of achieving the goal of …

Juvenile Courts--Juveniles In Delinquency Proceedings Are Not Constitutionally Entitled To The Right Of Trial By Jury--Mckeiver V. Pennsylvania, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

At a hearing in the juvenile court of Philadelphia in October 1968, Joseph McKeiver was declared a "delinquent child" and placed on probation by a juvenile court judge who determined that McKeiver had violated a Pennsylvania law. The juvenile court petition charged McKeiver, then sixteen years old, with robbery, larceny, and receiving stolen goods as the result of an incident in which McKeiver and twenty or thirty other youths took twenty-five cents from three teenagers. Despite the fact that the evidence against McKeiver consisted primarily of the weak and inconsistent testimony of two of the victims, the juvenile court judge, …

Invoking Summary Criminal Contempt Procedures--Use Of Abuse? United States V. Dellinger --The "Chicago Seven" Contempts, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In late August of 1968, while delegates to the Democratic National Convention were arriving in Chicago, a group of several thousand demonstrators gathered in the city's Lincoln Park to protest the Convention, the Vietnam War, and the city's refusal to grant the group a permit to hold rallies and marches during the Convention. The week that followed was marred by violent confrontations between the demonstrators and the city's police.1 This violence in Chicago provided the impetus for an indictment by a federal grand jury of the defendants in United States v. Dellinger.

Direct Judicial Review And The Doctrine Of Ripeness In Administrative Law, Joseph Vining

Articles

There has been recent interest in rationalizing and codifying the opportunities for judicial review of federal administrative determinations outside an enforcement context or special proceedings designated by statute. Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner culminated the development of a strong judicial presumption in favor of such review, founded in general considerations and justified by the broad language of the Administrative Procedure Act (AP A or Act). Since the petitioners in Abbott had theoretical rights to later review of the agency position in enforcement proceedings, the Court called the procedure "pre-enforcement" review. But similar opportunities for immediate and direct review of agency positions …

Social And Political Aspects Of Civil Procedure--Reforms And Trends In Western And Eastern Europe, Mauro Cappellitti

Michigan Law Review

It is my intention first to analyze the reforms accomplished in Europe in the relatively recent past. I shall then turn to the principal current problems and trends of reform. Finally, I will reflect on the intellectual and socio-political background of such reforms, problems, and trends. This approach will also give us the opportunity to discuss what kind of scholarship in the field of civil procedure is demanded today, at least in Europe but probably elsewhere as well, in order to meet the changed needs of our time.

An American Lawyer In The Queen's Courts: Impressions Of English Civil Procedure, Benjamin Kaplan

Michigan Law Review

While the words "English Civil Procedure" in the title of this lecture might suggest that there is a single English system, there are in fact a number of them. In the High Court itself, the court of general jurisdiction, a suit in Chancery Division proceeds differently from an action in Queen's Bench Division: the English have made less of a fetish of the "one form of action" than we have. Procedure in the County Courts, the courts for small-debt collection and miscellaneous claims, contrasts with those of the High Court. But Queen's Bench procedure for the staple cases of some …

Devising Procedures That Are Civil To Promote Justice That Is Civilized, Maurice Rosenberg

Michigan Law Review

In a democracy, process is king to a very large extent, and this is especially so in the judicial branch. Even though substantive laws command attention, procedural rules ensure respect. Why is this true? One powerful reason is that when people end up in court, their case typically is not a matter of right against wrong, but of right against right. Decent process makes the painful task of deciding which party will prevail bearable and helps make the decision itself acceptable.

To put my position plainly, I believe that the road to court-made justice is paved with good procedures. Later …

Metropolitanization And Land-Use Parochialism--Toward A Judicial Attitude, Michael H. Feiler

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this Article is to explore those situations in which courts have given meaning to the Euclid caveat in operation, and, from those instances, to attempt to evolve a judicial approach to the problems posed by the conflict between purely local interests on the one hand and more comprehensive regional interests on the other. Four basic premises are herein indulged: (1) that strictly local zoning is unsatisfactory; (2) that new and innovative legislation will not be readily forthcoming; (3) that the burden of mediating these conflict situations will continue to fall upon the judiciary; and (4) that present …

Judicial Review Of Agency Action: The Unsettled Law Of Standing, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Traditionally, the doctrine of standing has existed as the major obstacle frustrating the attempts of numerous plaintiffs to obtain relief for the injuries they have suffered as a result of allegedly illegal action by federal administrative agencies. Frequently, the rigid standards effectively have prevented any feasible plaintiff from challenging the actions of an administrative agency. The ultimate consequence of this problem has been practically to insulate a wide range of administrative activity from judicial review.

In recent years the courts have been under increasing pressure to liberalize the law of standing and to provide a judicial forum where administrative agencies …

Plea Bargaining: A Model Court Rule, Kenneth A. Kraus

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

It is not the purpose of this note to discuss the justification for the plea bargaining process, for it is clear that this system will of necessity be continued in the foreseeable future. Instead, this analysis is designed first to present the functional role, constitutional status and existing abuses in the plea bargaining process, and then to discuss the goals and the proposed standards relevant to reform of the present plea bargaining procedures. The culmination of this analysis is the proposed Model Court Rule for Plea Agreements in part III.

Title I - Special Grand Jury, Jeffrey J. Greenbaum

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Title I establishes special grand juries to sit in major population areas and other areas designated by the Attorney General. These grand juries are protected from arbitrary dismissal by the district court before completion of their work. They can sit for extended periods (a maximum of thirty-six months), and are authorized to issue reports concerning (a) noncriminal misconduct of appointed government officials or employees involving organized criminal activity; and (b) organized crime conditions within the district. When reports are issued concerning governmental misconduct, individuals named are given notice, afforded the opportunity to present evidence, file an answer, and obtain judicial …

Reducing The Size Of Juries, David M. Powell

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In recent years, court dockets have become increasingly congested. The resulting delays place a great burden both on civil litigants and on the criminally accused who often await trial for more than two years. In responding to this problem, jurists have focused on trial by jury and have typically suggested modifications of two types: either limiting access to juries by litigants, or increasing the efficiency of the juries themselves. Some critics have even contended that the anachronistic procedure of jury trials is such an undue burden on the judicial system that it should be abolished in the interest of efficient …

Long-Arm And Quasi In Rem Jurisdiction And The Fundamental Test Of Fairness, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Comment is focused upon the errors that may result from the confusion surrounding the question of jurisdictional limitations. It is suggested that such confusion is the natural result of the prevailing concern of courts with the extreme limits of permissible jurisdiction, and that this confusion has so clouded the basic issues that erroneous results have been reached in more routine cases that do not even approach those limits-the "easy" cases. Cases decided in the past few years indicate that these erroneous results occur most often in three areas. Following a brief examination of the body of law and theory …

Wright & Miller: Federal Practice And Procedure, Civil Procedure, William H. Becker, W. Brown Morton Jr.

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Federal Practice and Procedure, Civil Procedure Vol. 4 & 5 by Charles Alan Wright and Arthur R. Miller

Direct Judicial Review Of The Actions Of The Selective Service System, Bruce J. Winick

Michigan Law Review

A registrant may obtain judicial review of Selective Service action in any of three possible ways. If he submits to induction into the Armed Forces, the registrant may challenge the validity of his induction order by petitioning for habeas corpus. If the registrant refuses to submit to induction, and is subsequently indicted for that refusal, he may defend the criminal prosecution on the ground that the order for his induction was unlawful. In addition to these two well-settled methods of obtaining postinduction judicial review, the registrant may have a third alternative. In certain circumstances, he may be able to secure …

Sovereign Immunity And Nonstatutory Review Of Federal Administrative Action: Some Conclusions From The Public-Lands Cases, Antonin Scalia

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of the present Article is not to propose yet another route toward logical reconciliation of the sovereign-immunity cases; but, on the contrary, to urge general acceptance of the fact that such reconciliation is, and will probably remain, unattainable; to explain why this is so; and to suggest why it is not so bad. This modest goal will be attempted through a detailed examination of two recent Supreme Court cases and their most pertinent antecedents.

American Bar Association Project On Minimum Standards For Criminal Justice: Standards Relating To Trial By Jury (Approved Draft), Melvin M. Belli

Michigan Law Review

A Review of American Bar Association Project on Minimum Standards for Criminal Justice: Standards Relating to Trial by Jury (Approved Draft). Recommended by the Advisory Committee on the Criminal Trial

Nonstatutory Review Of Federal Administrative Action: The Need For Statutory Reform Of Sovereign Immunity, Subject Matter Jurisdiction, And Parties Defendant, Roger C. Cramton

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this Article is to generate support for three legislative proposals that will rectify the problems exemplified by the Gnotta case and hosts of other cases: (1) The elimination of the doctrine of sovereign immunity as a barrier to judicial review of federal administrative action; (2) a modest expansion of the subject matter jurisdiction of United States district courts to accommodate such review and, in addition, to provide a remedy against the United States for the resolution of property disputes; and (3) the total elimination of the remaining technicalities concerning the identification, naming, capacity, and joinder of parties …

The Language Of Involuntary Mental Hospitalization: A Study In Sound And Fury, Steven H. Levinson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Involuntary civil commitment is the business of hospitalizing and treating, without their consent, persons whom a court, with the aid of professional diagnosticians, determines to be psychologically disturbed or mentally ill. The purpose of the present study will be to demonstrate that the medical diagnoses of mental illness which justify involuntary civil commitment are achieved on the basis of at least unreliable and at worst invalid sets of diagnostic categories and assessments. For the purpose of determining the reliability of these diagnostic findings, the author selected a representative sample of the involuntary mental hospitalization proceedings of the Wayne County Probate …

Massachusetts In The Federal Courts: The Constitutionality Of The Vietnam War, Anthony A. D'Amato

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

One of the most singular pieces of legislation in American constitutional history passed both houses of the Massachusetts legislature on April 1st, 1970, and was signed into law on the following day by Governor Francis W. Sargent. It provides that, except for an emergency, no inhabitant of Massachusetts inducted into or serving in the armed forces "shall be required to serve" abroad in an armed hostility that has not been declared a war by Congress under Article 1, Section 8, clause 11 of the United States Constitution. The bill further directs the state's attorney general to bring a suit testing …

The Standard Of Proof In Juvenile Proceedings: Gault Beyond A Reasonable Doubt, James Hillson Cohen

Michigan Law Review

Some of those who have studied the question of the appropriate standard of proof in juvenile proceedings have determined that the "preponderance of the evidence" standard-the standard applied in civil cases-is sufficient, and that the criminal standard should not be applied in such cases. Others have suggested that the standard-of proof question is unimportant since the particular standard which is required will seldom, if ever, make a difference to the outcome of a case. The first of these views is the subject to which the bulk of this Article is addressed; the second can be rebutted by the observation that …

Representing The Low Income Consumer In Repossessions, Resales And Deficiency Judgment Cases, James J. White

Articles

The goal of this article is to lend a helping hand to the debtor's lawyer in his job of defending deficiency judgment suits brought following the repossession and resale of a debtor's encumbered personal property. Although some of the following discussion is relevant to the defense of any creditor's suit, and some applies to representation of the debtor prior to repossession or resale, the focal point of the discussion is the low-income consumer who has lost his automobile, television or some other "hard good" and has become a defendant in a suit brought by his secured creditor for a deficiency …

Aftermath Of Apprehension: Juvenile Court Judge's Response, John P. Steketee

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

It would appear that juveniles find apprehension to be a reinforcement of their delinquent behavior. Being apprehended and questioned by the police, referred to juvenile court, meeting a probation officer, and going before a judge, not to mention the status one gains in one's group from police and/or court contact, can be a very significant chain of events for many adolescents who have never known the excitement of personal recognition by parents, school officials or even friends. For the first time, they are recognized and listened to, albeit for the wrong reasons. The attention need not be positive; shouting, scolding, …