Courts Commons^™

Plea Bargaining Reexamined, Lynn M. Mather

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Plea Bargaining: The Experiences of Prosecutors, Judges, and Defense Attorneys by Milton Heumann

From Rhetoric To Reality: The Juvenile Court And The Decline Of The Rehabilitative Ideal, Samuel M. Davis

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Best-Laid Plans: America's Juvenile Court Experiment by Ellen Ryerson

Litigation And Mediation In Thailand, Sally Falk Moore

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Code and Custom in a Thai Provincial Court by David M. Engel

Young Adults As A Cognizable Group In Jury Selection, Donald H. Zeigler

Michigan Law Review

In support of its thesis, this Article presents what the literature has failed to provide: a comprehensive analysis of the concept of cognizability and empirical data. Part I traces the history of cognizability; identifies the sources of the cross-sectional right; and defines the criteria of cognizability, drawing special attention to the interests which a designation of cognizability protects. Part I also discusses the different approaches courts have taken to cognizability and suggests several factors which may explain the many treatments of the concept.

Part II reviews the case law concerning the cognizability of young adults in particular. That Part also …

The Proposed Federal Rules Of Evidence: Of Privileges And The Division Of Rule-Making Power, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note proposes that the lower federal courts accord the same binding authority to the Proposed Rules that they give those judicially promulgated procedural rules, such as the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, that have been implicitly approved by Congress.

Part I of the Note analyzes the constitutional division of the rule-making power by examining both the policy considerations involved and the relevant constitutional language and doctrines. That examination indicates that the power to establish such rules is shared by Congress and the Supreme Court. To determine when that power is appropriately exercised by one branch rather than the other, …

The Evolution Of State Supreme Courts, Robert A. Kagan, Bliss Cartwright, Lawrence M. Friedman, Stanton Wheeler

Michigan Law Review

Part I of this Article describes in broad quantitative terms the changing relationship between the caseload of supreme courts and the population of the states in which these courts sit. Part II examines the various means states used to control supreme court caseloads, the political problems involved, and the types of courts that have resulted. Part III presents evidence that changes in court organization in response to caseload pressure are accompanied by changes in the kinds of cases state supreme courts hear, the style of their opinions, and the results of the cases.

Urban Politics And The Criminal Courts, Milton Heumann

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Urban Politics and the Criminal Courts by Martin A. Levin

A Reconsideration Of The Sworn Testimony Requirement: Securing Truth In The Twentieth Century, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this Note is relatively modest-to explore whether the traditional uncritical confidence placed in the sworn nature of testimony is justified in light of twentieth-century practice. As such, its intention is not to propose legal reforms, but rather to invite its readers to pause and reconsider a ritual too often taken for granted by the legal profession. To this end, this Note will examine the following factors influencing the character of the oath in modern times: the common-law and religious roots of the oath, the rise of nonreligious affirmation within the last century, the relationship between the oath …

Reflections On Stare Decisis In Michigan: The Rise And Fall Of The "Rezoning As Administrative Act" Doctrine, Roger A. Cunningham

Michigan Law Review

In an earlier article in this law review, I discussed the new doctrine that in certain municipalities a decision by the local governing body to rezone or not to rezone land should be deemed an "administrative" or "quasi-judicial," rather than a "legislative," act. This doctrine was introduced into Michigan law several years ago in a series of opinions signed by only three justices of the Michigan Supreme Court. The earlier article dealt principally with the merits of the new "rezoning as administrative act" doctrine. The present article discusses troublesome aspects of the Michigan Supreme Court's attitude toward the principle of …

Modeling Relevance, Richard O. Lempert

Michigan Law Review

During the past decade, particularly during the years immediately following the California Supreme Court's decision in People v. Collins, a number of articles have appeared suggesting ways in which jurors might use certain mathematical techniques of decision theory as aids in the rational evaluation of circumstantial evidence. Professor Tribe, in an important response to the post-Collins articles, argues against introducing these techniques into the factfinding process. Problems that Tribe foresees include the necessary imprecision of the probabilistic estimates that these techniques require, the dwarfing of soft variables by those that are more readily quantified, and the potential dehumanization …

Public Participation In The Adoption Of Interpretive Rules And Policy Statements, Michael Asimow

Michigan Law Review

Section I of this article surveys the practices of a selected group of federal agencies in the adoption of interpretive rules and policy statements. It emphasizes the importance of these rules both to members of the public and to the administrative process. Section II analyzes the cases that have considered the AP A exemption of interpretive rules and policy statements from preadoption notice and comment procedures. These cases are in disarray for several reasons. For one thing, the bright lines traditionally assumed to distinguish interpretive rules and policy statements from legislative rules have become blurred and indistinct. Moreover, the courts …

Adjudication Of Federal Causes Of Action In State Court, Martin H. Redish, John E. Muench

Michigan Law Review

The first section of this article considers the power of state courts to hear federal cases. Since it is now well established that state courts have the constitutional power to adjudicate federal causes of action if Congress so desires, the significant questions concern the method by which the judiciary is to decipher congressional intent. Although the courts have no difficulty where Congress has explicitly addressed the issue of state court jurisdiction, problems do arise in situations where Congress has remained silent on the question. The first section critically examines the traditional criteria employed by the courts for determining congressional intent …

Judicial Review Of Private Hospital Activities, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note will examine the judicial review of hospitals under state law and the fourteenth amendment and will suggest that unless certain clear requirements for "publicness" are met, judicial restraint based on the failure of legislative institutions to mandate judicial interference is the better course.

Measuring The Duration Of Judicial And Administrative Proceedings: A Comment, David P. Doane

Michigan Law Review

Professors Clark and Merryman propose a useful indirect measure of the duration of litigation whose primary virtue is its ease of computation from published court data. As the authors note, such a measure of duration may be useful to persons involved in judicial administration and to attorneys formulating strategy in litigation, and the legal community should find informative their illustration of the concept with Italian court data. Concluding on a pragmatic note, Professors Clark and Merryman appear to suggest that attorneys, clients, judges, court administrators, and social scientists must ultimately assess the utility of their concept. In making this assessment, …

Measuring The Duration Of Judicial And Administrative Proceedings, David S. Clark, John Henry Merryman

Michigan Law Review

A method of estimating the probable duration of litigation is useful for a variety of purposes. First, the probable duration of a case may, to some extent, determine strategy in litigation since prolonged litigation is often perceived as an appreciable cost to one party and as a benefit to the other. An estimate of the duration of a criminal case, for example, probably influences the respective postures of a defendant and a prosecutor in plea bargaining. Similarly, civil litigants may be able to use an estimate of the probable duration of litigation, together with other factors, in deciding whether to …

Admiralty Procedure And Jurisdiction After The 1966 Unification, David W. Robertson

Michigan Law Review

From the nation's beginning, the federal district courts have been vested with jurisdiction in cases "of admiralty or maritime jurisdiction." Like its predecessor statute, section 1333 of the present Judicial Code asserts that the jurisdiction is "exclusive of the courts of the states," but the infamous "saving clause" goes on to negate that exclusivity in the bulk of maritime cases by giving the plaintiff the option of maintaining his action in any other court having jurisdiction over it. In "saving clause" cases--that is, cases that could have been brought in federal court under the admiralty jurisdiction, but which were maintained, …

Some Observations On The Disposition Of Ccw Cases In Detroit, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Part I of this Note details the disposition of cases alleging violations of the Michigan CCW statute that were brought in the Detroit recorder's court during 1973. Although the statute is only part of the current scheme of gun control in Michigan, it is the principal weapon available to the police and prosecutor in the preventive battle against the illegal use of firearms. To give meaning to the dispositional statistics and to aid in perceiving the over-all judicial attitude toward CCW cases, the statistical results of the study are compared with statistics on the disposition of cases involving felonies similar …

The Judicial Public Policy Doctrine In Tax Litigation, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note evaluates the merits of Revenue Ruling 74-323. First, it asserts that, while not arbitrary, the Service's resolution of the preemption issue was not mandated by the language of amended section 162 or by the relevant legislative history. Second, it maintains that it is both appropriate and procedurally feasible to apply the judicial public policy doctrine to violations of federal civil rights laws that impose no fine, imprisonment, loss of license, or other criminal penalty. The denial of a deduction in this situation would extend the public policy doctrine beyond both section 162(c)(2) and the judicial doctrine as it …

Post-Conviction Review In The Federal Courts For The Service-Member Not In Custody, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines the availability of nonhabeas federal court review for those convicted by courts-martial. Part I discusses the function of such review and suggests a scope of review that would serve that function without unduly burdening the federal courts; Part II sketches the evolution of nonhabeas review and analyzes the jurisdictional problems surrounding its present status; Part III recommends statutory and judicial changes to make the review of courts-martial more equitable and efficient.

Uncovering "Nondiscernible" Differences: Empirical Research And The Jury-Size Cases, Richard O. Lempert

Michigan Law Review

My point is not that verdict differences associated with jury size cannot be revealed through careful empirical investigation. Indeed, at several places in this article I will suggest research strategies likely to reveal such differences. Rather, it is that typical strategies of legal-impact research, such as those utilized in the Colgrove real-world studies, are unlikely to uncover differences associated with jury size however well they control for those plausible rival hypotheses that form the usual threats to the validity of impact research. The reason lies in the unamenability of the jury-size problem to the usual techniques of aggregate data analysis.

Limiting The Criminal Contempt Power: New Roles For The Prosecutor And The Grand Jury, Richard B. Kuhns

Michigan Law Review

This article will briefly describe the development and scope of the law of criminal contempt, and then tum to the question of whether the current exercise of the power is consistent with the rationale for its existence. The analysis will suggest not only that the answer to this question in many instances is negative, but also that substantial benefits would result from requiring that criminal contempts be treated as ordinary criminal prosecutions.

En Banc Review In Federal Circuit Courts: A Reassessment, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note will examine the validity of the traditional justifications for en bane review, discuss the recent circuit court attempts to modify the procedure, and suggest possible changes that might make more effective use of it.

The Politics Of Federal Judicial Administration, Paul D. Carrington

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Politics of Federal Judicial Administration by Peter Graham Fish

The National Court Of Appeals: A Constitutional "Inferior Court"?, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Objections have been raised to the necessity for and the practicality of such a court. These objections are, however, tangential to the subject of this Note and are fully discussed elsewhere. An additional question has been raised regarding the constitutionality of the proposed court. Article III, section 1, of the Constitution provides: "The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish." Several commentators have challenged the proposed court as violative of the provision for "one supreme Court." There is, …

Limited Government And Judicial Review, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

A Book Review of Limited Government and Judicial Review by Durga Das Basu

Enforceability Of Religious Law In Secular Courts--It's Kosher, But Is It Constitutional?, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In several different contexts-for example, in enforcing contracts that refer to religious law or in enforcing secular laws that use religious terminology-secular courts may be called upon to apply and even to interpret laws established by religious bodies. The limitations imposed by the first amendment on the courts in these areas will be discussed here in the specific context of Judaism. It is the thesis of this Note that the courts may not be as constrained in enforcing laws of religious bodies and in resolving disputes about those laws as would appear at first glance.

Disqualifications For Interest Of Lower Federal Court Judges: 28 U.S.C. § 455, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Disqualification of a judge occurs when he is ineligible by law to sit in a particular case. At the Supreme Court level, disqualification is a personal decision of the individual justice, who seldom records the reasons for his decision. Thus, there is little material on the Court's disqualification practices that can be subjected to legal analysis. However, substantial case law on disqualification has developed in the lower federal courts, where the decision of a trial judge to sit or step down in a case may appear in the trial record and is subject to review by a court of appeals. …

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

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, …