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Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A list of books received by Michigan Law Review

Crimes-Arrest-Reasonable Cause To Believe

Michigan Law Review

The admission of evidence was objected to, in a recent case, on the ground that it had been illegally secured. Officers had arrested the defendant without a warrant, on a charge of illegally transporting liquor. He was in fact guilty of the offense for which arrested, but contended that the evidence secured by the arrest could not be used. The circuit court of appeals phrased the issue thus : ''Was there probable cause for the officers to believe (that the felony was being committed), or were the facts sufficient to give rise merely to a suspicion thereof? If the former, …

Constitutional Law-Restricting Liberty Without Due Process Of Law-Extorted Confessions

Michigan Law Review

Of recent years the administration of criminal justice has increased many-fold, owing to the constantly increasing size of our great cities and the period of growing social unrest in which we find ourselves. Public opinion has demanded a more effective mode of dealing with those who break the law with seeming impunity. In view of this attitude it is only natural that in a particularly baffling crime the police should seek to obtain some clue of the criminals by grilling suspects. This has resulted in many cases in acts which to say the least are over-zealous. In a recent case …

Review Of Criminology, By E. H. Sutherland, John B. Waite

Reviews

Professor Waite muses that "It seems rather unfair for a lawyer to review a textbook on criminology, especially as the author himself says, and quite truly, 'Little attention has been paid by law schools, lawyers, or judges to the improvement of the criminal law....'"

Happily: "...[T]he reviewer finds nothing but good to say of the book" (once he gets past how thin the paper is) and gives the reader a generous listing of chapters in the first paragraph.

The New Soviet Codes And Soviet Justice, Pitirim Sorokin

Michigan Law Review

Up to 1922 it is scarcely possible to speak of any justice, law, court and trial in Soviet Russia if we want to use these terms in their usual meanings. The years 1918-21 were the years of terror. And what this term means is clear from the following statement of Latzis, one of the heads of "The Extraordinary Commission for the Suppression of Counter-Revolution and Speculation" or the "Che-ka." "We do not carry on the war against the individuals: we are exterminating the bourgeoisie as a class. Do not look in the inquest for any material and for any evidences …

Criminal Assault Through Negligence--Bonding Automobile Drivers

Michigan Law Review

The Supreme Court has recently declared constitutional and valid the New York legislation requiring taxi-cab drivers to file with the state a surety bond or an insurance policy conditioned for the payment of judgments against the driver for personal injuries caused by the operation or the defective construction of his vehicle. Packard v. Banton (Feb., 1924) Adv. Ops. No. 126. The amount of the bond or policy required is only $2,500, though with a continuing liability for that amount during the period of the bond. It appears from the court's opinion that the insurance companies charged a premium of $900 …

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Crimes--Double Jeopardy--Identity Of Offenses

Michigan Law Review

The principle that no person shall be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense appears too clear and precise to afford much opportunity for litigation over its application. Judicial utterances and decisions belie the appearance, however. The difficulty is in determining identity of alleged offenses. The most frequently uttered test is that of Buller, J., in Rex v. Vandercomb, 2 Leach, C. C. 708, that, "unless the first indictment were such as the prisoner might have been convicted upon by proof of the facts contained in the second" indictment, an acquittal on the first indictment can be no …

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Corpus Delicti

Michigan Law Review

The rule that the corpus delicti-the body of the crime -must be satisfactorily established before one accused of the commission of the crime can be properly convicted is of early origin. The first statement of the necessity and the insistence of its requirement appears to be that of Ld. Hale (2 Hale P. C. 290), where he says: "I would never convict a person of murder or manslaughter, unless the fact were proven to be done or at least the body found dead." The reason for this corpus delicti doctrine is that a defendant should never be convicted unless …

The Burden On Particular Defenses In Criminal Cases

Michigan Law Review

If it needs be that excuses be given for further discussion of this hoary question of burden of proof, they may be found in the fact that courts provoke it by doing such unreasonable things. In State v. Morrison (S. C.), 113 S.E. 304, it is held that the burden of proof is on defendant to satisfy the jury that he acted in self-defense, and that if there is not a preponderance of the evidence in favor of the defendant on this issue, and in consequence he fails in this defense, yet that such evidence may be considered in determining …

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

No abstract provided.

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Assignments- Assignment of an Expectancy - Joseph and James were two of six children. A contract witnessed "that Joseph Snyder has sold to James Snyder one undivided sixth of the real estate owned by the mother, Susan Snyder; to secure said interest to James after her death, the mother unites in the conveyance of said interest The said Joseph warrants and defends the interest from all claims." The contract was signed by Joseph and by the mother. Held, Joseph had no estate which he could convey, and the contract, though made with the consent of the mother, was unenforceable either …

Due Process And Punishment, Clarence E. Laylin, Alonzo H. Tuttle

Michigan Law Review

To threaten such a man with punishment," wrote Sir James .LFitzjames Stephen,' "is like threatening to punish a man for not lifting a weight which he cannot move."

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Carriers of Passengers - Duty to Stop at Station to Permit Passenger to Alight-Contributory Negligence of Passenger Plaintiff's intestate was riding in the front end of a crowded vestibule car in the coach next to the tender of the eengine. When the train stopped at his station he tried to leave by the front end, but found the door from the vestibule closed. As he did not know how to open it, or was unwilling to be carried by his station, he stepped from his platform to the bumper of the tender and tried to follow it to the side …

The 'Hot Trail' Into Mexico And Extradition Analogies, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

The recent decision of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Dominguez v. State, 234 S. W. 79, has given us an important precedent and also a valuable example of the solution of novel problems by means of analogies. A detachment of the military forces of the United States had been authorized by the War Department to enter Mexico on the "hot trail" in pursuit of bandits. While following a "hot trail" this detachment arrested Dominguez, a native citizen and resident of Mexico, and returned with him to the United States. It developed later that he was not one of …

Are Charges Against The Moral Character Of A Candidate For An Elective Office Conditionally Privileged, Jeremiah Smith

Michigan Law Review

The above specific question, upon which there is a conflict of authority, cannot be intelligently discussed without first considering some features of the general law as to conditional privilege.

Political Crimes Defined, Theodore Schroeder

Michigan Law Review

Continental Europe is in the midst of revolutions. The immediate antecedents are such as to suggest the probable accompaniment of more widespread and perhaps even more intense passions of various sort, than have ever before been brought into being with a revolution. This in turn suggests the likelihood that there will follow more political plots and counter-revolutions than is usual in such cases. From such causes it is highly probable that the juridical meaning of the statutory words "an offense of a political character" will be a matter of frequent controversy, as successive crops of exiles claim the right of …

Joy Riding, Simple And Compound, Edgar N. Durfee

Articles

The wrongful use of another's automobile, even though accompanied by a trespassory taking, cannot, if followed by a return to the owner or an abandonment, be easily brought within the definition of larceny at common law or under the ordinary larceny statutes, because of the requirement of intent to deprive the owner permanently of his property. Smith v. State, 146 S. W. 547; State v. Boggs (Iowa, 1917), 164 N. W. 759; McClain, Criminal Law, § 566. Of course, such intent, at the time of taking, might be found in spite of return or abandonment, though it is doubtful whether …

Mild Punishments, Robert Mcmurdy

Michigan Law Review

If life, freedom, or hope be taken from man, he is ashes. Therefore we ought not to take away any of them lightly. But some, restraint or punishment is necessary. We often miss our aim, however,'by prescribing punishments that are too severe, whereupon human nature revolts, so that it is "impossible to combine certainty with severity," a lesson we have long since learned from the experience of England.

Note And Comment, Walter F. Whitman, William C. Mullendore, Myron Mclaren, Harry B. Sutter, Renville Wheat

Michigan Law Review

Attempt, Assault, and Assault with Intent - The case of State v. Lewis, decided in October, 1915, by the Supreme Court of Iowa, has an interesting bearing upon the law of assault and of criminal attempts. Two men, Tropp and Cox, observed a third, Dunlevy, asleep on a cot with a pocketbook under his pillow. Tropp armed himself with a leather sap and a loaded revolver and moved quietly to the head of the cot, when Dunlevy, feeling the presence of some one in the room, sprang to his feet. Tropp fled from the room with Dunlevy after him, but …

Note And Comment, Gordon Stoner, Edgar N. Durfee, Werner W. Schroeder, Albert J. Mickelson, Maurice Weinberger

Michigan Law Review

The Form of the Summons Under the Recent Michigan Judicature Act - It would be rather remarkable if in revising such a large portion of the statutes as was undertaken by the Commission on Revision and Consolidation of Statutes of the State of Michigan, appointed in 1913, which reported to the legislature the recently enacted Judicature Act (Public Acts of Michigan, 915, § 314), some ambiguity or uncertainty were not to appear in the revision. The Judicature Act is no exception to the general rule, as the lawyer who attempts to begin suit by summons under it will discover at …

Some Sociological Aspects Of Criminal Law, Harriette M. Dilla

Michigan Law Review

There is a vast need for something that will sometime be written upon the subject of Sociology as a basis of Criminal Law and Procedure. The science of what may be termed Sociological Jurisprudence is in an embryonic state at present and the nearest approach perhaps is what we call Criminal Sociology or Criminology. The progress of this study has been rapid but we may still hope for .a more general application of principle! to practice. It is true that readjustment in law is more difficult than in other fields, as necessary formalities of procedure often seem to impose unreasonable …

Note And Comment, Edwin C. Goddard, John G. Cedergren, Henry C. Bogle, Henry Rottschaefer, Marcy K. Brown

Michigan Law Review

Limitation as to the Amount of Liability for Loss of Goods by Carriers - A carload of automobiles was shipped by express, under an express receipt limiting recovery to $50, unless a greater value was named and a greater carrying charge paid. The shipper knew of this stipulation, and deliberately chose the restricted liability so as -to secure the lower rate. On a suit for loss of the automobiles, recovery was limited to $5o. Geo. N. Pierce Co. v. Wells Fargo & Co., I89 Fed. 561, commented on in 10 MICH. L. RSv. 317. The United States Supreme Court has …