Courts Commons^™

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

Michigan Law Review

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

Kahn: A Court For Children. A Study Of The New York City Children's Court., Maxine Virtue

Michigan Law Review

A Review of A COURT FOR CHILDREN. A Study of the New York City Children's Court. By Alfred J. Kahn.

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 …

Federal Procedure-Mandamus-Review Of Federal District Court Order Of Severance And Transfer Pursuant To 28 U.S.C. §1406 (A), Judson M. Werbelow S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner instituted a treble damage suit alleging violation of the antitrust laws in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida, naming the insurance commissioner of Georgia, the insurance commissioner of Florida, and four insurance companies residing and doing business in the Southern District of Florida as defendants. The Georgia insurance commissioner, who was personally served in the Northern District of Florida, entered a special appearance to dismiss the action for improper venue. Petitioner contended that the Georgia commissioner was "found or has an agent" in the Southern District of Florida on the theory that co-conspirators are each …

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 …

Federal Procedure - Appellate Practice - Duty Of The Court Of Appeals To Grant Rehearings En Banc, Raymond R. Trombadore S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In a suit for accounting, petitioners were denied relief in the district court and a division of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed by a two-to-one vote. Petitioners then applied for a rehearing before the court of appeals en bane. With one dissent, the rehearing was denied by the division, and the request that the rehearing be en bane was stricken as "being without authority in law or in the rules or practice of the court.'' Petitioners moved to vacate the order denying the request for a rehearing en bane on the ground that such a request …

Labor Law - Removal Jurisdiction Of Federal Courts - Action To Enjoin Secondary Boycott, George B. Berridge S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a Michigan trucking company subject to the LMRA, brought suit in a Michigan court against defendant, a local of the Teamsters Union, for an injunction and $50,000 damages. Plaintiff alleged that defendant's conduct in attempting to coerce plaintiff's employees to become members of the Teamsters Union was an illegal combination and conspiracy under Michigan law and a violation of the Michigan antitrust laws. Defendant removed the case to a federal district court on the theory that certain specific acts alleged by plaintiff would constitute an unlawful secondary boycott under the LMRA and that plaintiff had therefore stated a cause …

Constitutional Law-Appellate Jurisdiction Over State Court Decisions-When Is A State Court Decision "Final", Marcus A. Rowden S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought suit to enjoin peaceful picketing of an apartment project by defendant labor organizations. The Circuit Court, Montgomery County, Alabama granted temporary injunction ex parte. Defendants appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court which affirmed the trial court's order denying a motion to dissolve the injunction. Certiorari was sought and granted by the United States Supreme Court. Held, certiorari had been improvidently granted since the Alabama Supreme Court's determination had not constituted a final judgment or decree. Montgomery Bldg. and Constr. Trades Council v. Ledbetter Erection Co.,. 344 U.S. 178, 73 S.Ct. 196 (1952).

Constitutional Law-Due Process-Use Of Television At Congressional Hearings, S. I. Shuman

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, not claiming constitutional protection against self-incrimination, refused to testify before a Senate committee on grounds that his "constitutional rights" would be violated if compelled to give testimony while being televised, photographed, etc. Cited for willfully and without justification refusing to testify on matters pertinent to the purpose of the inquiry, defendant was tried for contempt of Congress. Held, not guilty; defendant's refusal was justified. The court, after stating that there were no precedents, and that no constitutional issue was involved, seemed to rest its decision on the fact that the atmosphere of the forum did not lend itself …

Federal Procedure - Judgments - Motion For Judgment Notwithstanding The Verdict Required Before Appellate Court Can Enter Judgment, Joseph M. Kortenhof, S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner brought suit against respondent railroad under the Jones Act for the wrongful death of her husband. At the completion of all the evidence, the railroad moved to dismiss the complaint and further asked for a directed verdict. The trial court submitted the case to the jury reserving its decision on the motion. A verdict was returned for the petitioner. Within ten days of the verdict, the railroad moved to have the verdict set aside on the ground that it was excessive, contrary to the law, to the evidence, and to the weight of the evidence. Two months later the …

Labor Law-Class Action By Labor Union Members To Enforce Collective Bargaining Agreement-Jurisdiction Of State Courts, John Houck S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff was an employee of defendant corporation, and an officer of the union accredited as bargaining agent. He brought an equity suit in the Ohio courts for specific enforcement of a collective bargaining agreement and to collect back wages, on behalf of himself and other union members similarly situated. The basis of the suit was section 11257 of the Ohio General Code, providing for class actions. The lower court dismissed the petition on the grounds of no jurisdiction under that section. On appeal, held, reversed. Although the defendant corporation's activities in interstate commerce subject it to federal labor legislation, …

Judicial Reform In Michigan Between Two Constitutions, 1835-1850, Clark F. Norton

Michigan Law Review

The first fifteen years of Michigan's existence as a state were marked by much experimentation and change in state government. In this short period two state constitutions, a basic constitutional amendment, two general revisions of the statutes, and numerous fundamental laws were enacted and put into effect. Both the legislative and executive branches underwent extensive renovation in these years, but it was the state court system in particular that was subjected to constant pressure for alteration and which was most radically modified, both in structure and procedure.

Federal Procedure-Jurisdiction-No Appeal Allowed Under Rule 54(B) When Separated Claim Not Final, Wilber M. Brucker, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Flegenheimer sued Manitoba Sugar Co., a Canadian Corporation, in a Vermont state court for breach of an employment contract to gain jurisdiction, Flegenheimer attached parcels of beet pulp which he claimed were the property of the Manitoba Co. After this action was removed to the federal district court, General Mills, Inc., was granted leave to intervene to establish ownership of the beet pulp. The claim of General Mills was dismissed after being heard on the merits. The order dismissing the claim contained a determination that "no just reason for delay" existed, and it therefore directed an "entry of judgment" under …

Trade-Marks And The Monopoly Phobia, Beverly W. Pattishall

Michigan Law Review

If it can be said that trade-mark rights are, in fact, monopoly rights, it must be added that they are monopoly rights justified in the same way that one's own particular physiognomy is a monopoly or one's rights enumerated in the first ten amendments to the Constitution are individual monopolies.

The Uniform Code Of Military Justice-New Rights And A Means To Enforce Them, John F. Spindler

Michigan Law Review

The Uniform Code of Military Justice, designed to govern the entire military establishment of the United States, was enacted May 5, 1950, replacing the three separate systems of law theretofore applied to the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Pressure for a uniform code was a reflection of the great surge toward unification of the Armed Services which followed World War II. The new Code, however, is not just a revision and consolidation of the prior systems of military law. World War II, with its great increase in the size of the Armed Services and in the percentage of the population …

Evidence-Examination Of Witnesses-Use Of Pardoned Conviction To Attack Credibility Of Accused As Witness, Bernard A. Petrie S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

To attack the credibility of defendant charged with larceny of an automobile, the prosecution cross-examined him as to a prior conviction based upon unauthorized use of an automobile. Defendant had received a full pardon pursuant to a Presidential proclamation of general amnesty for federal offenders with one year or more of honorable World War II service. On appeal after conviction, held, affirmed, one judge dissenting. A full pardon does not deprive the state of the right to use a prior conviction in attacking the credibility of the accused as witness. Richards v. United States, (D.C. Cir. 1951) 192 …

Hospitalizing The Mentally Ill, Henry Weihofen

Michigan Law Review

It is hard for lawyers and doctors to see eye to eye on the fundamental problem of how to eliminate needless legalistic formality in hospitalization procedures and at the same time maintain adequate legal safeguards against error and abuse.

Lawyers are inclined to emphasize the need to guard against "railroading" sane persons into institutions without giving them a chance to prove their sanity. They therefore stress the importance of a fair trial, with adequate notice and a chance to be heard before being deprived of one's liberty. As a special committee of the American Bar Association said a few years …

Promissory Estoppel: Principle From Precedents: I, Benjamin F. Boyer

Michigan Law Review

The doctrine of promissory estoppel is an outstanding modem example of the way in which the Anglo-American legal system develops significant rules and principles out of the day-to-day decisions of our courts.

Progress in the law comes about through the formulation and acceptance of generalizations. However, merely stating the results of a number of different instances does not result in clarification and simplification. That comes only when the precedents are studied with a view to discovering the ''binding thread of principle that runs through them all." Such a principle, if discovered in the course of the appraisal of a series …

Discipline Of Judges, Frederic M. Miller

Michigan Law Review

In most of the states, judges of the appellate courts and of the trial courts of general jurisdiction are subject to discipline or removal from office by impeachment at the hands of the legislature, pursuant to constitutional provisions analogous to those applicable to the Federal Judiciary. Such proceedings are seldom instituted. The survey indicates that, during the 20 year period from 1928 to 1948, only three impeachment proceedings were prosecuted and in all three the defense prevailed.