Jurisdiction Commons^™

Judgments Rendered Abroad - State Law Or Federal Law, Albert A. Lindner

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

A Resurgence Of The Klaxon Controversy - Contemporary Legal Trends Revitalize An Old Principle, William H. Danne Jr.

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Advisory Opinions As A Problem Solving Process, David Lenefsky

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

The Line Between Federal And State Court Jurisdiction, Leslie A. Anderson

Michigan Law Review

From the beginning of this nation, there have been controversies involving the division of jurisdiction between federal and state courts. Often, these controversies have centered on the diversity of citizenship provision of the federal constitution. Today, however, the more poignant question is whether any division of jurisdiction between the federal and state systems retains logical bases.

Although myriad developments have relevancy with respect to this question, I have here focused upon two of the more important ones: the increasing overlap of subject matter being litigated in federal and state courts and the growing uniformity of standards to be applied in …

The Commerce Clause Held No Limitation To The Jurisdiction Of Federal Courts-Wahl V. Pan American World Airways, Inc., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Three wrongful death actions were brought in a federal district court in New York by United States citizens as survivors of passengers killed in the crash in Turkey of an airplane owned and operated by defendant Middle East Airlines (MEA). MEA is a Lebanese corporation operating in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, whose United States sales are made by its general sales agent, Pan American World Ainvays, Inc. The court held that maintaining a New York office and entering into a general sales agency agreement with Pan American to promote travel on MEA of passengers originating in the United …

Some Comments On The Reapportionment Cases, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

Any appraisal of the Supreme Court's decisions in the legislative reapportionment cases must necessarily distinguish between the basic policy ingredients and social consequences of the decisions on the one hand, and the question whether the results were reached by a proper exercise of judicial power on the other. Respecting the first of these considerations, I have no difficulty identifying the social advantages accruing from these decisions. Because of the stress on the population principle, the decisions will afford a greater voice to urban interests, will make the legislative process more responsive to current needs of particular concern to urban dwellers, …

Court, Congress, And Reapportionment, Robert B. Mckay

Michigan Law Review

In the United States, governmental power is divided vertically between nation and states and horizontally, at the national level, among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The Constitution leaves the lines of demarcation deliberately imprecise. Thus, from the beginning it was easy to predict that among those holders of power there would be tension (at least), conflict (probably), or total collapse (a possibility). The miracle of the American governmental system, with just this complexity and lack of definition, is the fact of its survival. It is not at all surprising that there have been a number of crises, some of …

Congressional Apportionment: The Unproductive Search For Standards And Remedies, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The increasingly complex problems of elucidating congressional apportionment standards and granting appropriate relief when voting rights have been materially diluted were again brought to the fore in the recent districting decision of Calkins v. Hare. This federal district court decision is illustrative of the uncertainty caused by the Supreme Court's opinion in the landmark case of Wesberry v. Sanders. Although Wesberry resolved two previously contested issues by ruling that congressional apportionment disputes are susceptible of judicial determination and by setting a standard of population equality in delimiting districts, two associated questions were left unanswered. First, even though Wesberry …

Reapportionment In The Supreme Court And Congress: Constitutional Struggle For Fair Representation, Robert G. Dixon Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Fair representation is the ultimate goal. At the time of the Reapportionment Decisions, much change was overdue in some states, and at least some change was overdue in most states. We are a democratic people and our institutions presuppose according population a dominant role in formulas of representation. However, by its exclusive focus on bare numbers, the Court may have transformed one of the most intricate, fascinating, and elusive problems of democracy into a simple exercise of applying elementary arithmetic to census data. In so doing, the Court may have disabled itself from effectively considering the more subtle issues …

Constitutional Law-Elections-Jurisdiction Of State Courts To Entertain Actions Arising Out Of Congressional Elections, C. Douglas Kranwinkle

Michigan Law Review

Relator was the losing candidate in an election for the office of Representative to the United States Congress. He commenced proceedings in the House, pursuant to statute, contesting the seating of his opponent, and petitioned the Minnesota Supreme Court to enjoin and restrain the Minnesota Secretary of State from issuing a certificate of election until the contest was finally determined. Relator based his petition on a Minnesota statute which provides that the Secretary of State may not issue a certificate of election in case of a contest until it has been determined by the proper court. A temporary injunction and …

Child Custody In A Federal System, Leonard G. Ratner

Michigan Law Review

Among the most difficult of judicial functions is the determination of a child's custody after its parents have separated. The difficulties are acute enough when all the parties remain in the same place; when the parties are in different states, an additional perplexing problem arises as to which state should have authority to make the custody decision. This broad question can be resolved into three distinct though interrelated issues: (1) what state may initially determine custody; (2) what state may later modify that determination; (3) to what extent is such a determination binding on other states.

The Powers Of Home Rule Cities In Colorado, Howard C. Klemme

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Constitution And Preclusion/Res Judicata, Allan D. Vestal

Michigan Law Review

The interrelation of lawsuits is one of the most troublesome, yet least commented upon, areas of the law. The ramifications are great; related lawsuits may be pending concurrently, either brought by the same individual-repetitive litigation--or brought by different parties-reactive litigation. Such lawsuits may occur serially over a period of time. The courts are then faced with problems which have traditionally been discussed in terms of res judicata, bar, merger, or estoppel. It is impossible to cover the whole area or even a sizable part of it in a single article, but it is feasible to examine one facet which certainly …

Ripeness And Reviewable Orders In Administrative Law, Louis L. Jaffe

Michigan Law Review

The requirement of "ripeness" as a condition for judicial review is not so much a definable doctrine as a compendious portmanteau, a group of related doctrines arising in diverse but analogically similar situations. In its most general sense ripeness is a requirement not of the administrative action to be reviewed but of the judicial controversy between the plaintiff and the agency. Consider the case where an agency has gone no further than to threaten a certain action which the plaintiff in an equity or declaratory proceeding claims would be contrary to law: here, in all strictness, the controversy concerns …

Abstracts Of Recent Cases, Frank Thomas Graff Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Political Thickets And Crazy Quilts: Reapportionment And Equal Protection, Robert B. Mckay

Michigan Law Review

If asked to identify the two most important cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in the twentieth century, informed observers would be likely to name, in whichever order, Brown v. Board of Education and Baker v. Carr.

Legislative Apportionment And Representative Government: The Meaning Of Baker V. Carr, Jo Desha Lucas

Michigan Law Review

In three recent cases the Supreme Court has reopened the question of the extent to which federal courts will review the general fairness of state schemes of legislative apportionment. It is a question on which the Court has had nothing to say for over a decade, leaving the bar to patch together the current state of the law from the outcome of cases disposed of without opinion considered against a backdrop of language used in earlier decisions.

The Constitution And Contempt Of Court, Ronald Goldfarb

Michigan Law Review

Few legal devices find conflict within the lines of our Constitution with the ubiquity of the contempt power. These conflicts involve issues concerning the governmental power structure such as the separation of powers and the delicate balancing of federal-state relations. In addition, there are civil rights issues attributable to the conflict between the use of the contempt power and such vital procedural protections as the right to trial by jury, freedom from self-incrimination, double jeopardy, and indictment-to name only the most recurrent and controversial examples. Aside from these problems, there are other civil liberties issues, such as those involving freedom …

Territorial Courts And Law: Unifying Factors In The Development Of American Legal Institutions-Pt.1-Establishment Of A Standardized Judicial System, William Wirt Blume, Elizabeth Gaspar Brown

Michigan Law Review

The United States first became a sovereign nation when individual states of the Confederation ceded to the states collectively their several interests in the lands west of the Appalachians which lay east of the Mississippi, north of Spanish Florida, and south of the Great Lakes. This area had been relinquished by Great Britain by the Treaty of 1783 and, with the exception of Kentucky, now became the property of the United States. It was the first area over which the states as a group had complete sovereignty, subject only to the claims of the various Indian tribes. Colonies fresh from …

Abstracts Of Recent Cases, Charles Henry Rudolph Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

State Control Of Radiation Hazards: An Intergovernmental Relations Problem, Samuel D. Estep, Martin Adelman

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this article is to set forth the nature of the intergovernmental problem. This involves an analysis of the extent and limitations of federal power, a determination of congressional intent on the issue of federal pre-emption, and an appraisal of the steps now being taken by the Atomic Energy Commission to turn over part of the radiation safety regulatory program to the states.

Soverign Immunity - Suit For Specific Relief Against Federal Officers - United States Not A Necessary Part, Steven P. Davis

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, claiming right to possession, brought an ejection action in a Georgia court against both the government officer in possession of the land and the United States. Defendants removed the case to a United States district court and moved for dismissal. The district court granted defendants' motion to dismiss, holding that the court had no jurisdiction over the claim because the suit in substance and effect was against the United States and the United States had neither consented to be sued nor waived its immunity from suit. On appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, held, …

Conflict Of Laws-State Cession Of Territory-Effect Of Exclusive Jurisdiction By Federal Government On State Law, William R. Nicholas

Michigan Law Review

County welfare board refused claimant, a civilian resident on a federal military reservation, assistance under a state aid program for needy disabled on the ground she did not satisfy the requirement of residence within the county. The state had ceded the reservation land to the federal government giving it "exclusive jurisdiction for all purposes whatsoever," reserving to the state only the right to serve civil and criminal process. On appeal, the State Board of Public Welfare found claimant qualified and ordered payment. In a declaratory judgment sought by the welfare board, the state district court held the claimant met the …

Escheat - Abandoned Property - Full Faith And Credit As A Bar To Multiple Escheat Of Intangibles, Clarold L. Britton S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Escheat of abandoned or unclaimed property by the sovereign is as old as the common law. Recast in constitutional form, this ancient right of kings has become a significant source of revenue in an increasing number of American states. While the right of escheat is inherent in the power of a sovereign, its exercise requires specific legislative authority. Until recently this authority was sparingly given and escheat was generally limited to the administration of estates and abandoned tangible property. However, in this past decade, state legislatures have greatly expanded the scope and extent of escheat by authorizing the escheat of …

The Constitution And The Standing Army: Another Problem Of Court-Martial Jurisdiction, Robert D. Duke, Howard S. Vogel

Vanderbilt Law Review

With the emergence of the Soviet menace after World War II, the United States has, for the first time in its history, found it essential to maintain, both here and abroad, a large standing armed force in what is technically peacetime. That has in turn brought to the fore important and novel questions concerning the jurisdiction which courts martial may constitutionally exercise. With millions of Americans serving and likely to serve in the armed forces, it is to be expected that the Supreme Court will scrutinize, with more care than ever before, legislation which purports to strip from these"citizen soldiers" …

Conflict Of Laws - Custody Decrees - Jurisdiction To Modify And Effect In Sister States, Donald R. Jolliffe S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Husband and wife were divorced in Wisconsin in 1956 by a judgment which awarded alimony, custody of the children, and support money to W. The custody decree provided that W be permitted to remove the children to California but that they be allowed to visit H each summer. While H was visiting California in October 1957, he was served in an action commenced by W seeking absolute custody. H returned to Wisconsin and on November 5 asked the Wisconsin court to modify its divorce judgment by awarding custody of the children to him. That court set a hearing and …

Constitutional Law - Due Process- Residence Substituted For Domicile As Basis For Divorce Jurisdiction, Paul Gerding S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff husband brought a divorce action under an Arkansas statute, which granted state courts divorce jurisdiction on the basis of residence of one of the parties within Arkansas for three months, to terminate a marriage performed in another jurisdiction. Defendant wife, domiciled in California, filed a cross complaint for separate maintenance and attacked the court's jurisdiction to grant the divorce. The lower court held the act unconstitutional in eliminating domicile of one of the parties as a jurisdictional requirement in a divorce action, and, finding that the plaintiff was not domiciled in Arkansas, dismissed the suit. On appeal, held, …

"Federal Question" Jurisdiction -- A Snare And A Delusion, Ernest J. London

Michigan Law Review

Poorly defined criteria in the area of jurisdiction are especially wasteful, generating as they often do expensive and protracted litigation over threshold issues, rather than promoting the speedy determination of lawsuits on their merits. One of the most perplexing exercises in American law practice is the effort to define with certainty the original jurisdiction of the lower federal courts in matters where there is no diversity of citizenship. Although this general head of federal jurisdiction has persistently and pervasively been characterized as "federal question" jurisdiction, it is doubtful whether there is, in fact, original jurisdiction in the lower federal courts …

Book Reviews, Fleming James Jr., Kenneth H. York, A. G. Murphy Jr., Stefan A. Riesenfeld, Maynard E. Pirsig, Richard Lloyd Strecker, William P. Murphy, James K. Marshall, Wirt Peters, Phil C. Neal, Edward D. Re, Robert Kingsley, Lehan K. Tunks

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law - Courts - Martial - Power Of Congress To Provide For Military Jurisdiction Over Retired Servicemen, Stephen B. Flood

Michigan Law Review

A retired naval officer was charged with violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice based upon acts of sodomy occurring after his retirement. At arraignment he challenged the jurisdiction of the military tribunal on the ground that Article 2(4) of the U.C.M.J., providing for court-martial jurisdiction over retired servicemen, contravenes the Fifth Amendment. The court-martial and the board of review overruled this objection, and the accused was convicted and sentenced. On appeal, held, while jurisdiction is proper, reversed on other grounds for further proceedings. A retired member of the armed forces who is entitled to pay is a …