Family Law Commons^™

Domestic Relations -- 1955 Tennessee Survey, William J. Harbison

Vanderbilt Law Review

A case of some significance concerning rights of inheritance by adopted children was decided by the Supreme Court.' The adoptive parent died in 1950, survived by the adopted child. In 1953, the mother of the adoptive parent died, survived by blood relatives and the grandchild by adoption. The latter claimed a share in the grandparent's estate, claiming by representation through its adoptive parent. The Supreme Court decided the case under the former adoption statutes, which had been repealed in 1951. The former statute provided that "unless restrained by the decree," an adoption conferred upon the person adopted "all of the …

Domestic Relations -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, William J. Harbison

Vanderbilt Law Review

An important case dealing with testamentary restraint upon adoptions was decided by the Tennessee Supreme Court during the survey period.' The case was one of first impression in this jurisdiction and appears to be one of the few decisions upon the subject in the United States. In his will testator created a trust for his granddaughter, the child of his deceased son. He imposed a condition that if the child were adopted before her eighteenth birthday by someone outside testator's immediate family, and if her name were changed, then the trust should terminate and the corpus be distributed to other …

Heir Hunting -- A Profession Or A Racket?, Frank C. Ingraham

Vanderbilt Law Review

Although the cases clearly define the law and public policy applicable to the genealogist's contract, the important variable is the individual factual situation and its implications. The courts have upheld the heir-hunter's contract when the following factors were predominant in the suit: where the services of the genealogist amounted to valuable consideration; where the parties were competent and on equal footing; where there was no implied or express agreement to participate in existing or contemplated litigation; where the beneficiary accepted the evidence which established his claim and received the benefit of the claim; where there was no duty on the …

Domestic Relations, William J. Harbison

Vanderbilt Law Review

There have been several important appellate decisions by the Tennessee courts in the field of domestic relations during the past year, and several significant statutes on the subject were enacted by the 1953 General Assembly. These decisions and statutes are discussed briefly herein according to subject matter.

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Contracts--Ceiling Price Legislation--Effect upon Performance

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Evidence--Declarations against Interest--Third-Party Confessions

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Family Law--Loss of Consortium of the Parent--Right of Child to Recover Against a Negligent Defendant

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Federal Procedure--Statutory Construction--Meaning of "Mentally Incompetent"

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Income Taxation--Surrender of Lease--Capital Gain to Lessee

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Income Taxation--Taxable Stock Dividend--Treasury Stock Held for Investment

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Judgment--Suit to Vacate--Insufficient Allegations of Cruelty Void Divorce Decree

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Labor Law--Filing Requirements--Noncompliance at Time Charges Filed

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Municipal Corporations--Liability for Negligence--Operation of Swimming Pool for Profit

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Process--Constructive Service--Tort Action Arising Without State

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Torts--Res Ipsa Loquitur--Application To Disappearing Airplane

Delinquent Parents And The Criminal Law, Frederick J. Ludwig

Vanderbilt Law Review

"There are no delinquent children; there are only delinquent parents." This tautological truism has long been the speaker's mainstay at Rotary luncheons, parent-teacher meetings, and assorted roundtables and institutes on juvenile delinquency. When a New York Children's Court judge undertook to put the principle into practice five years ago, a storm of controversy was unleashed which has not yet subsided. The case, tragic enough, involved 14-year-old Frankie, who scored hits on three passers-by with a stolen gun. The boy, who had been sleeping in hallways and on buses, was committed as a juvenile delinquent to a state training school. His …

Book Notes, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Book Notes

Selected Essays on Family Law Compiled and Edited by a Committee of the Association of American Law Schools

Brooklyn: The Foundation Press, Inc., 1950. Pp. 1122. $9.50

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The Law of Cadavers and of Burial and Burial Places

By Percival E.Jackson

New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1950. Pp. lxxxvii, 734. $12.50

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Manual of Preventive Law

By Louis M. Brown

New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1950. Pp. 346. $5.00

Informal Marriages In Tennessee--Marriage By Estoppel, By Prescription And By Ratification, Robert E. Kendrick

Vanderbilt Law Review

Tennessee courts have the means for upholding informal marriages whenever the social reasons are sufficiently strong to impel them to do so. This is a very desirable result, and one which is not open to the criticism that the courts are inviting or encouraging informal marriages as against the ceremonial, statutory marriage. These devices are not alternative means of attaining the marriage status ab initio, but are merely remedial devices looking backwards, which the courts may use on occasion when satisfied that it is for the good of the state and society, as well as for the parties and their …

The Tennessee Law Of Adoption, William Merlin

Vanderbilt Law Review

On April 6, 1949, the Tennessee Legislature passed the most comprehensive adoption act in the state's history.' The purpose of this Note is to evaluate that statute, bringing up to date the status of the adoption law in the state. Primarily, it is hoped that this Note will be of help to the practicing lawyer; and for this reason, the text has been divided to show separately the procedural and substantive aspects of the law. Of course, the distinctions made are sometimes arbitrary and unnatural. At times natural sequence has been altered for the sake of clarity. But it is …

Admissibility In Tennessee Of Spouses' Testimony Concerning Their Private Affairs, Barrett B. Sutton

Vanderbilt Law Review

In Tennessee neither husband nor wife may testify to matters occurring between them by reason of the marital relation.' The purpose of this rule is to insure "a free exchange of confidences" between husband and wife upon the theory that mutual confidence is a necessary element of successful marriage. The other states agree in principle; every state places some restriction upon the testimony of husband and wife. Although this Note is primarily concerned with Tennessee law, there are differences in the restrictions imposed by various states which make some comparison desirable. The common law is the starting point.

The Present Status Of Connivance As A Defense To Divorce, Robert B. Deen Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The four usual defenses raised to bar actions for divorce are connivance, collusion, condonation, and recrimination. Connivance is ordinarily defined as consent to the misconduct alleged as grounds for divorce.' It differs from collusion in that there are present actual grounds for divorce, rather than fictitious causes or concealed defenses; from condonation in that consent is given before the misconduct occurs, not forgiveness afterwards; from recrimination in that it has to do with the very grounds on which the plaintiff sues, not some other act of misconduct.

Foreword, Mayo A. Shattuck

Vanderbilt Law Review

In order to get a proper measure of modern Estate Planning I think it may be useful to consider, very briefly, some aspects of its history. The family trust was born into our jurisprudence in an environment which had been moulded in that solid and immovable pyramid called feudalism. In that social order there was nothing of imaginative elasticity. Lateral allegiances or entanglements were as little known as lateral movements. All lines of authority moved from the top; all discharges of duties were rendered vertically to the liege lord next above. As with human relationships so also with property. The …

Family Partnership V. Corporation -- Income Tax Aspects, Bruce Mcclain

Vanderbilt Law Review

At the outset, it must be emphasized that a decision as to the more desirable mode of doing business should never be based solely upon tax considerations. In every instance, the following legal and practical advantages of transacting business as a corporation must always be borne in mind: (1) Limited Liability. The liability of a stockholder for the debts of the corporation is limited to his investment in its stock, while all of the property bf a general partner is subject to the claims of the firm's creditors, if its assets are insufficient to satisfy such claims in full. (2) …