Jurisdiction Commons^™

Admirality - Jurisdiction - Action For Wrongful Death On The High Seas Limited To Admiralty, Robert Knauss S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff as widow and administratrix seeks damages from the United States for the alleged wrongful death of her husband on the high seas. Action was brought at law under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Government's motion to dismiss was sustained. There is no common law cause of action for wrongful death on the high seas. The federal Death on the High Seas Act gives a remedy to the representative only "in Admiralty," and thus jurisdiction is lacking at law in the district court. Kunkel v. United States, (S.D. Cal. 1956) 140 F. Supp. 591.

Compulsory Joinder Of Parties In Civil Actions, John W. Reed

Michigan Law Review

Compulsory joinder cases involving interests in land display one peculiar and important characteristic: there is almost never any need in the state courts to wrestle with the question of whether a person is indispensable as distinguished from necessary. One hastens to add that this attribute of land cases appears to have gone largely unnoticed, but it exists none the less. It arises out of the fact that in a suit involving real property it is never impossible for the court to obtain jurisdiction over all persons interested therein to an extent which will enable the court to adjudicate controversies over …

Trusts - Jurisdiction - Trustee And Trust Assets Outside Jurisdiction Of Forum, Richard J. Riordan

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this comment is to examine these rationales and determine their validity--first as to testamentary trusts and then as to inter vivos trusts.

Admiralty - Jurisdiction - Quasi -Contractual Remedy, Ross Kipka S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioners paid money to respondent for prospective passage to Europe on his passenger vessel held out as a common carrier. When respondent failed to make the voyage or return the passage money, petitioners sued in admiralty for breach of contract. The libel was in the nature of indebitatus assumpsit for moneys had and received and wrongfully withheld by respondent. The district court held this an action based upon the breach of a maritime contract and therefore within the admiralty jurisdiction. The court of appeals reversed, on the ground that the action was in the nature of the common law indebitatus …

Conflicts Of Law - Extended Application Of Res Judicata In Administration Of Decedents' Estates, Norman A. Zilber S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this comment is to examine the existing law and its rationale, and to see in which situations res judicata could beneficially be applied.

Constitutional Law - Courts-Martial - Power Of Congress To Provide For Military Jurisdiction Over Civilians, Whitmore Gray S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

During the past term the Supreme Court decided three cases involving the constitutionality of court-martial jurisdiction over certain groups of civilians. In United States ex rel. Toth v. Quarles the Court held that Congress could not constitutionally provide for military trial of a discharged serviceman for offenses committed during his term of service. In two subsequent cases the Court rejected the contention that the Toth decision announced a principle applicable to any exercise of jurisdiction over civilians by the military courts in upholding the provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for military jurisdiction over civilian dependents accompanying American …

Cml- Procedure - Jurisdiction - Recent Legislation Asserting Jurisdiction Over Nonresident Tort-Feasors, A. Duncan Whitaker

Michigan Law Review

A recent Illinois statute provides inter alia that a nonresident person who commits a tortious act within the state submits to the jurisdiction of the state as to any cause of action arising out of such act. The statute provides that process personally served on the defendant outside the state shall have the same force and effect as though the summons had been personally served within the state. Ill. Rev. Stat. (1955) c. no, § 17.

Determination Of Heirship, Paul E. Basye

Michigan Law Review

Nearly a hundred years have elapsed since the Supreme Court emphatically voiced its conviction as to the necessity of having some method for making a final determination concerning the devolution of the ownership of property upon the death of its owner.

Conflict Of Laws - Torts - Proper Party Plaintiff In Wrongful Death Actions, John M. Webb

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this comment is to examine the differing solutions and determine the vitality of the common law rule in wrongful death actions.

Conflict Of Laws--Effect Of Forum's Statute Of Frauds On Foreign Oral Contract To Bequeath Property, David D. Dowd, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought an action in New York for specific performance of an oral agreement allegedly made by testator in Florida not to change his will without plaintiff's consent. Defendant's motions for dismissal of the complaint and summary judgment were dismissed. The appellate division on reargument entered orders reversing the lower court. On plaintiff's appeal to the court of appeals, held, affirmed. The New York Personal Property Law, which states that oral contracts to bequeath property are void, is controlling, regardless of whether this section of the statute of frauds is procedural or substantive. If the section is procedural, the …

Federal Procedure-Venue-Use Of State Nonresident Motorist Statute To Imply Waive, Raymond R. Trombadore S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

An Illinois corporation brought suit based on diversity of citizenship in a United States district court in Kentucky against a resident of Indiana, alleging a cause of action arising from a collision which occurred on a Kentucky highway. Plaintiff secured personal jurisdiction over defendant by serving process upon the Secretary of State of Kentucky who in tum gave notice to the defendant in accordance with the Kentucky nonresident motorist statute. Defendant entered a special appearance and moved that the case be dismissed on the ground of improper venue. The motion was overruled and the Court of Appeals for the Sixth …

Securities - Effect Of Certificate Of Title Acts Of Sales On Encumberd Vehicles To Purchasers In Ordinary Course, Charles G. Williamson, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The primary purpose of this comment will be to examine the various legislative schemes in use and the bearing of the certificate of title acts on the case of mortgagee v. purchaser in ordinary course.

Labor Law - Labor - Management Relations Act - Further Comments On Federalism, Robert B. Olsen S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Until a decade ago, the nation's lawyers paid little attention to the status of federal-state relations in the regulation of labor disputes. Today there hardly appears a volume of a legal journal that does not contain the product of new efforts to bring order out of the chaos that prevails in this area. A number of writers have apparently given up the task of reconciling statutory provisions with case law and case law with sound federal policy, and have resorted to the simpler, yet challenging, method of proposing amendments to existing federal statutes. Worthy as these efforts may be in …

Municipal Corporations - Tort Liability - Purchase Of Liability Insurance As Waiver Of Immunity, Alice Austin S.Ed., William C. Becker

Michigan Law Review

According to a well-established common law rule, a municipal corporation is immune to tort liability for wrongs committed in the performance of governmental or public functions, although it is liable for torts committed in the performance of corporate or proprietary functions. This immunity generally cannot be waived without the authorization of the state legislature, and this authorization must be very clearly stated. Interesting questions arise, therefore, when a municipality, with or without statutory authorization, takes out a liability insurance policy covering itself or its agents, or when it causes its agents to take out bonds for faithful performance. The questions …

Regulation Of Business - Fair Trade Laws - Application Of The Mcguire Act To Mail Order Sales Emanating In A Non-Fair Trade Jurisdiction, Lawrence W. Sperling S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant's store was located in the District of Columbia, a jurisdiction which does not have a statute permitting resale price maintenance. The defendant sent advertising and made mail order sales of plaintiff's product to consumers in Maryland, at prices below the resale price established by the plaintiff in accordance with the Maryland Fair Trade Act. Plaintiff sued to enjoin such advertising and sales on the ground that they were violations of the Maryland statute. On defendant's motion to dismiss, held, overruled without prejudice. On the main point in issue, however, the court ruled that neither the Maryland Fair Trade …

Labor Law - Lmra - Substantive Application By A State Court Of Section 8(B), George E. Ewing S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The defendant unions peacefully picketed the Valley Lumber Company to force the adoption of a closed shop agreement. The employees had indicated that they did not desire union affiliation or representation and the employer had not recognized any union. The NLRB Regional Director refused to assert jurisdiction over the company for certification purposes because the employer's interstate business was below the Board's jurisdictional yardsticks. The trial court asserted jurisdiction to award damages and an injunction against the picketing. On appeal, held, affirmed, three justices dissenting. Not only was the trial court's jurisdiction proper but it could apply section 8 …

Labor Law - Federal Procedure - Stay Of State Court Proceedings Involving Matters Within The Exclusive Jurisdiction Of The Nlrb, Arne Hovdesven S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Richman Brothers sought and was granted a state court injunction against organizational picketing conducted by the union. The complaint alleged acts which were unfair labor practices under section 8 (b) (2) of the amended National Labor Relations Act. The union, after failing to obtain removal of this action, unsuccessfully applied for a federal district court injunction against the state court proceedings. On appeal, held, affirmed. Section 2283 of the Judicial Code prevents a federal court injunction of a state court proceeding, despite the fact that the activities involved are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board. …

Federal Procedure - Jurisdiction - Appeal From Judgment On Some Of Several Multiple Claims Under Rule 54(B), Lawrence N. Ravick S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff filed a complaint in a federal district court alleging in six counts that defendant was engaged in unfair competition against business ventures carried on by the plaintiff. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. The court ordered two counts to be stricken, found that there was no just reason for delaying the final determination of the issues raised by these counts, and directed that judgment be entered thereon against the plaintiff. The plaintiff appealed and the defendant moved to dismiss the appeal on the ground that the order and judgment appealed from was not a final or …

Labor Law - Collective Bargaining - Enforceability Of Collective Agreements Under Section 301(A), Douglas Peck S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, an unincorporated labor organization, filed suit in federal district court to enforce a collective bargaining agreement with defendant. The complaint alleged that defendant was obligated by the agreement to pay employees represented by the plaintiff their full salary for the month of April 1951 regardless of the fact that they had been absent on certain working days. The suit was brought under section 301 (a) of the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947.On appeal from a court of appeals decision directing dismissal for lack of jurisdiction, held, affirmed, two justices dissenting. An action by a labor organization to enforce …

Federal Procedure - Interlocutory Appeals - Appealability Of Stay Of Proceedings Under Section 1292 Of The Judicial Code, Lawrence W. Sperling S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought an action for an accounting of the profits of a joint adventure. The defendant moved to stay proceedings pending arbitration pursuant to section 3 of the United States Arbitration Act. This motion was denied and defendant appealed the ruling, claiming as justification for the appeal that an interlocutory order denying a stay was a denial of an injunction under section 1292 of the Judicial Code. The court of appeals dismissed the appeal. On certiorari to the Supreme Court, held, affirmed, two justices dissenting. A stay of proceedings in a suit where plaintiff's action is equitable in nature …

The Antitrust Laws In Foregin Commerce, Robert A. Nitschke

Michigan Law Review

The Sherman Act applies to trade or commerce "with foreign nations." Are there differences in the act's application to foreign trade compared with its application to domestic commerce? The Attorney General's National Committee to Study the Antitrust Laws was constituted at a time when this question was pressing for an answer.

During the 1920's and 1930's, the international cartel movement was in full Hood. American companies participated in some of these international arrangements, often in the belief that they were a necessary condition for world trade and upon the legal premise that restrictions adjunctive to patent and know-how licenses were …

Conflict Of Laws - Contracts - Enforcement Of Foreign Contract Though Contrary To State, William G. Cloon, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a citizen of Texas, obtained from the defendant an insurance policy which was written and delivered in Texas. The defendant agreed to pay for any damages to plaintiff's truck caused by fire, but stipulated that any dispute over the amount of the loss should he determined by arbitration proceedings in accordance with the terms of the contract. The truck was damaged by fire in Arkansas and a dispute arose over the amount of the loss. Plaintiff refused to submit the question to arbitration and brought this suit in the Federal District Court for Arkansas. Defendant argued that the action …

Suits Against Unincorporated Associations Under The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure, John Kaplan

Michigan Law Review

Concepts, Benjamin Cardozo has said, "are useful, indeed indispensable, if kept within their place. We will press them quite a distance. . . . A time comes, however, when the concepts carry us too far, or farther than we are ready to go with them, and behold, some other concept, with capacity to serve our needs is waiting at the gate. 'It is a peculiar virtue of our system of law that the process of inclusion and exclusion, so often employed in developing a rule, is not allowed to end with its enunciation, and that an expression in an opinion …

Civil Procedure - Process - Amendment When A Partnership Is Served As A Corporation, Donald W. Shaffer

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff instituted a negligence action for personal injuries by serving a summons and complaint on one Moriarty as an officer of Moriarty Manufacturing Company, intending thereby a substituted service on this company. Plaintiff believed the named firm to be a corporation, but it was in fact a partnership of which Moriarty was a member. There was no appearance or answer. Two and one-half years after the initial service, an amended summons and complaint were served on all of the partners. In answer, defendants pleaded a two-year statute of limitations and moved for a summary judgment, which was granted. On appeal, …

Criminal Procedure - Venue - Federal Offenses Committed Outside The Jurisdiction Of Any State Or District, Richard R. Dailey

Michigan Law Review

The defendant, an army staff sergeant, was under custody at Fort Meade, Maryland, awaiting disposition of charges of sodomy lodged against him under the Articles of War. After a delay of four months, the charges were dropped and he was shipped by the Army to Fort Jay, New York, where he was separated from the service. Immediately upon his release, he was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation under a commissioner's warrant charging him with treason committed in Japan during a prior enlistment in the army. At the trial in the District Court for the Southern District of New …

Federal Procedure - Jurisdiction - Suit Under Direct Action Statute Where There Is Diversity Of Citizenship Between Claimant And Insurer But Not Between Claimant And Wrongdoer, William R. Jentes

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a citizen of Louisiana, was injured in an automobile accident allegedly caused by the negligence of another citizen of Louisiana. Defendant insurance company, an Illinois corporation, had issued a public liability policy insuring the latter against claims arising from the negligent operation of his car. Pursuant to a Louisiana statutory provision that "the injured person or his or her heirs, at their option, shall have a right of direct action . . . against the insurer alone or against both the insured and the insurer, jointly and in solido,'' respondent brought an action against the petitioner alone in the …

Criminal Law - Delay In Imposition Of Sentence As Destroying Jurisdiction Of Trial Court, M. Fred Mallender, Ii S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was tried for burglary in April 1952. Before judgment was rendered, a petition for his commitment to the Indiana Village for Epileptics was granted, and the trial court entered judgment in July 1952 that it continue the matter under advisement so long as defendant remained in the Epileptic Village and complied with the rules and regulations. In September 1952 defendant escaped from the Epileptic Village and was later apprehended. He was brought to trial in April 1953. The court found that he had not complied with the judgment of July 1952, found him guilty as charged, and sentenced him …

Constitutional Law - Commerce Clause - Federal Jurisdiction In Trade-Mark Infringement Proceedings Under The Lanham Act, Richard R. Dailey

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's trade-mark, "Minute Maid," had been registered under the Lanham Act in 1952 and had been used in interstate commerce in connection with the sale of frozen fruit juice concentrates since that time. Defendant's trade-mark consisted in part of the words "Minute Made." Defendant used its mark wholly within the State of Florida in the processing and sale of frozen meat products. Both plaintiff and defendant were Florida corporations. In a suit for trade-mark infringement, jurisdiction of the federal district court depended. on the provisions of the Lanham Act. The complaint alleged damage to plaintiff's good will established in interstate …

Justice Jackson And The Judicial Function, Paul A. Weidner

Michigan Law Review

Much of the pattern of division in the present Supreme Court is traceable to basic differences of opinion regarding the proper role of a judge in the process of constitutional adjudication. Some students of the Court, yielding to the current fashion of reducing even intricate problems to capsule terms, have tried to explain the controversy by classifying the justices as either "liberals" or "conservatives." A second school poses the disagreement largely in terms of judicial "activism" as opposed to judicial "restraint." It is this view that has the greater relevance for the present discussion. C.H. Pritchett, one of the leading …

Labor Law - State Jurisdiction Over Acts Which Are Unfair Labor Practices Under Federal Labor Legislation, Eugene Alkema S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Extensive federal labor legislation under the commerce clause has created a perplexing jurisdictional problem in the state courts, which are confronted increasingly with the critical issue of possible conflict with a federal preemptive area of operation. The extent to which the federal government has superseded state jurisdiction over labor matters has remained unsettled under the current case law and the legislative history of the federal acts, and the need for clarification is apparent at a time when labor cases are reaching the courts in increasing numbers. It is natural for unions to raise the issue of lack of jurisdiction in …