Jurisdiction Commons^™

Book Notes, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

In his discussion of the traditional power framework within which the Supreme Court operates the author covers old ground, dealing with such matters as the jurisdictional limitations upon the Court, its law court function of making case by case determinations, and its self-imposed restraints as to when and how it will hear and determine a controversy. The second broad heading, entitled "Marshalling the Court," forms probably the most fascinating chapter in the book. The author is here concerned with the issue most vital to any policy-oriented Justice: How can he win and hold for his side at least four other …

Equity -- 1961 Tennessee Survey (Ii), T. A. Smedley

Vanderbilt Law Review

During the current survey period, each of the higher Tennessee courts has been called upon to exercise its injunctive powers in significant and perplexing types of controversies. The court of appeals for the western section had to decide whether to take the risk of interfering in a bitter dispute between opposing factions of a church which had been torn by interfraternal strife for several years. In the middle section court of appeals an injunction was sought to restrain a store owner from operating his business under the name of a former manager of the store who had left this position …

Conflict Of Laws -- 1961 Tennessee Survey (Ii), Elliott E. Cheatham

Vanderbilt Law Review

Jurisdiction of courts over foreign corporations is a developing subject. Almost all aspects of it are touched on by decision or discussion in two cases in different courts and under different statutes; one case was in the Supreme Court of Tennessee, the other in the United States district court.

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Tucker v. International Salt Co. was an action in a state court in contract and quasi-contract against a Pennsylvania corporation.

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Shuler v. Wood was an action in tort in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee against two Pennsylvania corporations.

Conflict Of Laws -- 1961 Tennessee Survey, Elliott E. Cheatham

Vanderbilt Law Review

1. Non-Resident Motorists.-The statute subjecting non-residents to suit in Tennessee for injuries inflicted within the state has been extended by interpretation to non-resident parents who join in their minor child's application for a driver's license.

2. Watercraft.-The principle of the non-resident motorists statutes has been applied to watercraft by a statute entitled "Operation of watercraft in state as appointment of agent for process."

III. Support In Thomas v. Thomas a woman had been granted a divorce in Tennessee and custody of the children of the marriage, with a decree of support for the children against the father but with it …

The Objective And Function Of The Complaint: Common Law -- Codes -- Federal Rules, Fleming James, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Before a court can properly decide a case and enter judgment, certain things must have taken place. The court must have obtained jurisdiction over the parties and over the controversy to be decided.'Limits must be set to the controversy so that the court and the parties may know how to direct their efforts, and so that the court may rule on questions of relevancy. The issues of fact and of law must be framed so that each is allocated to the appropriate tribunal for decision and is presented clearly enough so that the tribunal knows what to decide. The adversary …

Federal Jurisdiction In Personam Of Corporations And Due Process, Thomas F. Green Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

A great deal has been written about the personal jurisdiction of state courts and particularly about the applicable due process requirements.' Much less has been contributed by commentators on the subject of due process requirements applying to in personam jurisdiction of a United States district court. Perhaps the reason is the difficulty of finding a rationale in the pertinent decisions. These fail to distinguish between the conditions necessary for valid service of federal court process as contrasted with those essential to the proper service of state process. They also fail to explain why the constitutional provision brings about the result …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Bankruptcy--Assets--Trustee's Rights Under 70(c) Ascertained at Date of Bankruptcy Rather than Anterior Point of Time

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Contempt--Publisher Not in Contempt for Newspaper Articles Which He reasonably did not believe would interfere with Trial

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Federal Procedure--Erie Doctrine--Impeachment Evidence not Outcome--Determinative

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Jurisdiction--Federal Death on High Seas Act Grants Exclusive Jurisdiction to Federal Courts

Conflict Of Laws -- 1960 Tennessee Survey, Elvin E. Overton

Vanderbilt Law Review

A well known text book on Conflict of Laws concludes its opening section with the sentence, "In brief, a Conflict of Laws problem arises whenever a foreign element gets into a legal question." If this definition is accepted, there were about twenty cases of Conflicts of Laws decided during the survey period, in the sense that foreign elements were shown to exist in the facts which appeared. In another sense, there were other cases in which it must be suspected that substantial "other state" contacts existed, but in which no express mention appears of such facts. On the other hand, …

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" …

Contracts -- 1959 Tennessee Survey, Paul J. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

The distinction between an implied contract (implied in fact) and a quasi contract (implied in law) was presented in a somewhat unusual fashion in the federal case of Holbert v. United States decided by the District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Whether or not a federal district court had jurisdiction over plaintiff's case turned on whether the claim was based on implied contract or on quasi contract.

One of the grounds on which the Tucker Act confers jurisdiction on federal district courts to entertain actions against the United States is where the claim is based "upon any express …

Conflict Of Laws -- 1957 Tennessee Survey, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

Martin v. Martin' involved a bill in equity by a wife to set aside a divorce decree as fraudulently obtained by the husband. The parties had been domiciled in Pennsylvania. While in Tennessee as a member of the armed forces the husband obtained the divorce in the state. He was subsequently transferred outside the United States. Complainant's bill to set the decree aside for fraud was sustained by the chancellor, defendant being served by publication. Defendant then made a special appearance to contest the jurisdiction of the court and appealed from an adverse ruling.

The Supreme Court held that there …

Equity -- 1957 Tennessee Survey, Thomas F. Green Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

JURISDICTION:

Among what is said' to be the largest number of public laws ever passed by a Tennessee Legislature, the General Assembly passed an act which creates a statutory exception to the doctrine that equity will not enjoin the commission of a crime unless the conduct comes within some recognized head of equity jurisdiction.

EQUITABLE REMEDIES:

Hall v. Briton was a suit in the chancery court to enjoin defendants, who were complainant's former employees, from selling a product produced with the aid of complainant's trade secret.

CONTEMPT:

One of the peculiarities of equity is that its decrees frequently consist of …

Molding The Corporate Form To Particular Business Situations: Optional Charter Clauses, F. Hodge O'Neal

Vanderbilt Law Review

This paper looks into the usefulness of optional (or as they are sometimes called, "permissive" or "special") charter provisions' in molding the corporate form of business organization to meet the diverse needs of particular business situations. It first examines statutory materials and judicial decisions bearing on the validity and effect of optional provisions. It then considers optional clauses in current use and typical legal and business problems that optional clauses may help to solve. It shows that optional clauses often can be used to clarify the rights and other relations of participants in an enterprise, to avoid disadvantageous corporate "norms," …

Equity -- 1956 Tennessee Survey, Val Sanford

Vanderbilt Law Review

One of the most important characteristics of the administration of justice in Tennessee is the maintenance of separate courts of law and equity. While numerous statutes have been enacted from time to time in an effort to clarify the jurisdiction of the two courts and the boundaries of their respective jurisdictions have been further defined by the courts, nevertheless, cases are still dismissed because they are brought in the wrong court...

Conflict Of Laws -- 1956 Tennessee Survey, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

Personal Jurisdiction: In State v. Perry, the Tennessee Department of Public Welfare, which had paid sums for the support of dependents of certain nonresidents, brought an action against the nonresidents for reimbursement and for an order to pay money in the future. No personal service was had on the defendants, and the court held that the Tennessee statute does not authorize the court "to enter a personal judgment against a non-resident husband-father upon the ex parte petition, when that husband-father is not personally before the Court, and afforded no opportunity to be heard.' It correctly implied that such a proceeding …

The Place Of The Federal Rules In The Teaching Of Procedure, Delmar Karlen

Vanderbilt Law Review

If there is any proposition upon which teachers of procedure seem to agree it is that the Federal Rules ought to be a focal point of interest in the study of their subject. Most casebooks on general procedure published in recent years emphasize their concentration upon the Federal Rules: Vanderbilt's Cases on Modern Procedure and Judicial Administration, Field and Kaplan's Materials on Civil Procedure, Brown, Vestal and Ladd's Cases and Materials on Pleading and Procedure, to mention only a few. And when older casebooks, like Scott and Simpson's Cases and Other Materials on Civil Procedure or Clark's Cases on Modern …

Jurisdiction Of United States District Courts In Multiple-Claim Cases, Thomas F. Green Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The jurisdictional problem peculiar to a case which involves more than one claim is: Shall the court entertain the entire action when it would have jurisdiction of one or more of the claims, but not all, if they were sued separately?' The application of this question to the United States district courts raises conflicting considerations. On the one hand is the fact that most of the claims which would not be within federal jurisdiction if sued alone, present questions of state rather than federal law. In general the more appropriate tribunals to deal with such questions in the first instance …

Amendments To The Federal Rules: The Function Of A Continuing Rules Committee, Charles A. Wright

Vanderbilt Law Review

No development in American procedural history in the last century has exceeded in importance the adoption by the United States Supreme Court in 1938 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. These rules, the product of a distinguished Advisory Committee, introduced a system and a philosophy differing as markedly from the code pleading then in vogue as code pleading, in its day, had differed from common-law pleading. This new system has worked well in the federal courts, so well indeed as to stimulate a reexamination of procedure in many of the states, with nearly a dozen jurisdiction shaving already adopted …

Suits Between States In The Supreme Court, William S. Barnes

Vanderbilt Law Review

A study of contemporary procedure and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is a prerequisite of any plans for the expansion of the business of the World Court in the future. The present emphasis on international organization may lead to new legal problems in much the same manner as the growth of federal power has done in this country in the last quarter-century. This paper will discuss only those cases in which an opinion was rendered, omitting the admittedly significant memorandum reports for lack of space. Due to the complicated and detailed nature of many of the decrees, analysis of the …

Jury Trial In Chancery Court In Tennessee, Frank C. Ingraham

Vanderbilt Law Review

Tennessee has since 1827 maintained, in some degree, a separate court of equity, presided over by a chancellor. Though most states have abolished the procedural distinction between cases in law and suits in equity, Tennessee still retains this dichotomy in its court system. Prior to 1827 law and equity were dispensed in Tennessee by a single court of general jurisdiction, the Superior Court of Law. This practice grew out of the North Carolina Act of 1782 and the continuation of that Act by the First Territorial Legislature in 1794, both of which gave equity jurisdiction to the Superior Court of …

Overlapping, Duplication And Conflicts Among Municipal Corporations, Alvin E. Evans

Vanderbilt Law Review

There is a well-known principle of municipal government that there cannot be two municipalities possessed of the same or similar powers, privileges and jurisdiction covering the same territory at the same time. Perhaps the earliest expression of this principle may be found in an early English dictum to that effect where the court explains why such a proposition must be true, viz., "[F]or, instead of good order, that would only be productive of anarchy." Whether in our conglomerate of municipalities we have abided by this principle or have created duplications, overlappings and conflicts due to the vast multiplicity of municipal …

Annual Survey Of Tennessee Law, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

The idea of an annual survey of the law of a particular jurisdiction is not a new one, either in this country or abroad. During a period of at least 25 years an increasing number of publications have undertaken to present such a survey. The task is a delicate one, and performances have been somewhat uneven. A mere digest of appellate opinions or a scissors-and-paste collection of expressed rules of law serves some useful purpose but scarcely justifies separate existence. On the other hand an exhaustive discussion of most of the individual decisions prevents a view of the forest for …

Utility Of The Jurisdictional Principle In A Policy Centered Conflict Of Laws, Edwin W. Briggs

Vanderbilt Law Review

Various recent studies' have confirmed the suspicion that courts continue to find it necessary to approve and rely heavily on the principle of "legislative jurisdiction" residing in some one state, even though they do not often admit it in so many words. Since the discussion of the problem by courts generally assumes that the single question in conflicts is choice of law, and since one of the most influential writers on the subject in recent times has denied the validity of the jurisdictional principle at the common law as a means of solving a conflicts problem, a study giving further …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

RECENT CASES

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--INTERSTATE COMMERCE--VALIDITY OF CARRIER REGULATION REQUIRING RACIAL SEGREGATION

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CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--POLITICAL QUESTIONS--GEORGIA COUNTY UNIT VOTE SYSTEM

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DIVORCE--ALIMONY IN DEFAULT DECREES--POWER OF COURT TOWARD ALIMONY IN ABSENCE OF PRAYER THEREFOR IN COMPLAINT

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EVIDENCE--PROOF OF CORPUS DELICTI--CORROBORATION OF DEFENDANT'S CONFESSION BY HIS OWN SPONTANEOUS STATEMENTS

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FEDERAL COURTS--VENUE--USE OF STATE NONRESIDENT MOTORIST STATUTE TO IMPLY WAIVER

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GIFT TAXES--TRANSFER MADE UNDER DIVORCE DECREE INCORPORATING PREDIVORCE PROPERTY SETTLEMENT--EFFECT OF PROVISION IN SETTLEMENT THAT IT WOULD BE BINDING REGARDLESS OF TERMS OF DIVORCE DECREE

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INSURANCE--NOTICE TO AGENT REPRESENTING TWO INSURERS--ESTOPPEL PREVENTING COMPANY SECONDARILY LIABLE FROM CLAIMING AGAINST COMPANY …

Recent Constitutional Developments On Personal Jurisdiction Of Courts, Virginia B. Cowan

Vanderbilt Law Review

In strict logic, the concept of the power of courts to deal in personam with controversies is said to be a constant and the extension of jurisdiction merely an appropriation of pre-existing power. More realistically, it is obvious that, as institutions and citizens become increasingly mobile and migratory, the courts are obliged to keep their jurisdictional machinery abreast of the times in order that legal processes may continue to be the effective arbiter of disputes in our society. Regardless of what terms are used to describe the source of the power, it is traditionally conceived to be limited by the …

Jurisdictional Amount In The Federal District Courts, William W. Hurst

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1925, Judge Dobie, then professor of law at the University of Virginia, advanced a formula for determining the value of the matter in controversy in all federal question and diverse citizenship cases in the federal district courts. He called it a "plaintiff-viewpoint rule," and stated it thus: "The amount in controversy in the United States District Court is always to be determined by the value to the plaintiff of the right which he in good faith asserts in his pleading that sets forth the operative facts which constitute his cause of action."

Since then, the rule has received sanction …

Some Statutory Construction Problems And Approaches In Criminal Law, James C. Quarles

Vanderbilt Law Review

Statutory construction and interpretation, important in every field of law, is vital in a field containing a large number of legislative acts and a considerable body of appellate court decisions construing them. For this reason alone, statutory construction problems are particularly significant in criminal law. Many American jurisdictions punish no activity other than that expressly declared criminal by statute.' The Federal Government, which of course punishes no crimes except those defined by Congress, has contributed to this growth of the criminal law through the imposition of many duties and the proscription of various activities relating to the collection of revenue, …

The Tidewater Case And Limited Jurisdiction Of Federal "Constitutional" Courts, Joe H. Foy

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the recent case of National Mutual Insurance Ca. v. Tidewater Transfer Co.,' the Act of April 20, 1940, allowing citizens of the District of Columbia and of the territories to sue and be sued in the district courts on the basis of diverse citizenship, was held constitutional insofar as it applies to citizens of the District of Columbia. The practical effect of the decision, in allowing Congress to remove a basic inequality among citizens of the United States, is perhaps commendable. However, there are broad theoretical implications in this holding, emphasized by sharp debate among the justices, which could …

Assignments Of Accounts Receivable And The Conflict Of Laws Under The Bankruptcy Act, Eugene J.T. Flanagan

Vanderbilt Law Review

Under our system of government there is no constitutional requirement that the laws of the various states be uniform. On some points there are considerable differences between the laws of sister states. Such is the case with respect to the test for priority of right among successive assignees of an account receivable. This difference becomes of great importance when a multi-state transaction raises the question of the choice of the applicable law.

Fundamentally the problem is whether the jurisdiction in question follows the rule of Dearle v. Hall,' or the so-called American rule. The former establishes the order of precedence …