Jurisdiction Commons^™

The Court Of Claims, J. H. Toelle

Michigan Law Review

The Court of Claims was established by Act of Congress in 1855. The original Act provided that at the commencement of each session of Congress, and at the commencement of each month during the session, the Court should report the cases upon which they should have finally acted, stating in each the material facts which they found established by the evidence, with their opinion in the case, and the. reasons upon which such opinion was founded, and the opinion of any judge who should dissent from the majority. It also directed the Court to prepare a bill or bills in …

Jurisdiction Over Unincorporated Associations Composed Of Nonresidents

Michigan Law Review

New York has a statute which provides for suits against unincorporated associations consisting of seven or more members. It reads as follows: An action or special proceeding may be maintained, against the president or treasurer of such an association, * * * upon any cause of action, for or upon which the· plaintiff may maintain such action or special proceeding, against all the associates * * *· Any partnership; or other company of persons, which has a president or treasurer, is, deemed an association within the meaning of this section." General Associations Law (Consol. Laws of N. Y.), sec. 13. …

The Uniformity Of The Maritime Law, George L. Canfield

Michigan Law Review

In 1871, Richard Henry Dana commenced a masterly article on the "History of Admiralty Jurisdiction in the Supreme Court of the United States,'' by writing, "After seventy yea.rs of baffling winds and cross currents in the region of admiralty jurisdiction, the Supreme Court of the United States has sailed out into deep water." In 1924, Charles Merrill Hough concludes his delightful "Admiralty Jurisdiction-of Late Years," with the statement, "The years since 1906 have not increased the certainty of maritime law, and they have impaired the tradition of enforceable customs of the sea." And others writing in current legal periodicals have …

Taxation-Bonds-Inheritance Tax

Michigan Law Review

Albert, Prince de Monaco, died possessed of bonds in two Utah railway corporations, which had been purchased and were payable at the New York office of the companies. He was a citizen and resident of France and the bonds had never been within the territorial confines of the state of Utah. The bonds were secured by a trust mortgage on all of the property of the respective corporations, only a fraction of which was within Utah. The state of Utah levied an inheritance tax on these bonds which was paid under protest, the present action being to recover back the …

Conflict Of Laws-Adoption-Jurisdiction

Michigan Law Review

Sociologists treat of the subject of adoption very sparsely. It is but a desired end in their work, and having its foundation in law, yields but slightly to sociological supervision. However, there exist many reports and treatises in the field of child placement and the effect thereof on the child. The most cursory examination of these works reveals that from the social point of view, at least, the work is conducted with but one end in view, i. e., the welfare of the child. Adoption, as a means to this end, has the same reason for its foundation. To this …

Courts--Jurisdiction To Vacate Order Of Adoption After Term (Comment On Recent Cases), Bernard C. Gavit

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Power Of The Written Assertion, Gustavus Ohlinger

Michigan Law Review

In his Outline of History Mr. Wells comments on the exaggerated estimate which people generally, through reading the Old Testament account, have come to entertain of the wisdom of Solomon and of the glory and prestige of the Israelitish Kingdom during his reign. By way of contrast, the facts, which are readily available and discernable even in the scriptural narrative, reveal this much advertised monarch as a rather insignificant chieftain and his kingdom as a pawn in the policies of his powerful neighbors-a striking example, according to Mr. Wells, of the power of the written assertion over realities in men's …

Taxation-Inheritance Tax-Power Of Appointment

Michigan Law Review

An inheritance tax in general is a tax on the exercise of a right. It is in the nature of an excise tax. Knowlton v. Moore, 178 U. S. 41. In recent years many states, as well as the federal government, have extended their taxing activities in this field. 4 COOLY, TAXATION, 4th ed. p. 3439. New York passed a statute in 1892 taxing the exercise of a power of appointment. The statute declared that whenever any person exercises a power of appointment, such appointment when made shall be deemed a transfer taxable as though the property belonged absolutely …

International Law--Witholding Of Political Recognition--Suit By Russian Corporation In Court Of Equity, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

"The plaintiff corporation was incorporated in Russia under the Imperial government. Prior to the Russian Revolution it had deposited certain securities and moneys with the defendant, as trustee, as required by the New York statutes, for the protection of policy-holders and creditors. In this suit to compel the return of the funds the defendant claimed that the plaintiff corporation was no longer in existence because of the Russian Soviet decrees.... Held, that although the court cannot recognize the legal validity of the decrees of the Soviet government, the facts of the situation are such that justice and reason require …

The Russian Reinsurance Case, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

Professor Dickinson's second commentary on Russian Reinsurance Company v. Stoddard and Bankers Trust Company: "The facts in the Russian Reinsurance Company case were without precedent. The Reinsurance Company had been incorporated in Russia in 1899 under a special statute constituting its charter and by-laws.... In 1917 the revolutionary Soviet Government was established in Russia and seven of the eight persons constituting the company's board of directors was driven into exile. In 1918 Soviet decrees nationalized the company, confiscated its property, and apparently terminated its corporate existence. Nevertheless, the exiled directors held meetings in Paris and continued to direct the …

Waiver Of State Immunity, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

"English and American courts have come to regard it as 'an axiom of international law' that foreign states should be immune from suit in the national tribunals unless they to the expressly or impliedly waive their immunity and submit to the jurisdiction.... Yet it has not been doubted that states may waive immunity and submit to the local jurisdiction if they wish. In practice they frequently find it advantageous to do so. Some difficult questions arise when it becomes necessary to define the requisites of a waiver or to determine its precise effect in a particular case."

Subrogation-The Effect On Equity Jurisdiction Of The Legal Remedy Becoming Adequate

Michigan Law Review

As the common law courts develop and discard many of their technical rules it often happens that a remedy at law formerly inadequate becomes perfectly adequate to administer substantial justice to all parties concerned. When such a situation arises the question is raised as to whether or not equity jurisdiction in that field has been ousted. Historically the greatest factor in equitable relief was the inadequacy of the remedy at law. From a strictly logical point of view it would seem that when the remedy at law becomes adequate the Chancellor is pro tanto deprived of his· right to give …

Recent Recognition Cases, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

"The prolonged interval during which the United States declined to recognize the government functioning in Mexico, and the still more protracted period during which recognition has been withheld from the de facto government in Russia, have produced some unusually interesting problems with respect to the appropriate judicial attitude toward an unrecognized de facto foreign government."

War Crimes, Elbridge Colby

Michigan Law Review

Grant that as far as military jurisdictions are concerned, the superior order justifies the act of the subordinate. Yet is such a judgment valid outside of military circles? Grant that public armed troops and soldiers have generally been held exempt when acting under the orders of their sovereign, and are responsible only to their own government. Is this an absolute protection? Is it true that, by the authority vested in him, "the commanding general determines what measures are necessary unless restrained by the orders of his government, which alone is his superior." Are there no qualifications to the idea that …

Permanent Court Of International Justice, Edwin D. Dickinson

Reviews

"The author of this volume of collected papers and addresses is well known as the Bemis Professor of International Law in Harvard Law School, sometime member of the Legal Section of the Secretariat of the League of Nations, and the most efficient advocate of the new Permanent Court of International Justice in America. His enterprise as an advocate is sufficiently attested by the fourteen brilliant papers reproduced in this volume and the nine other titles of similar nature listed in the bibliography, all of them produced during the last three years....

"The exceptional timeliness of the book and the quality …

Is The Crime Of Piracy Obsolete?, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

"A few years ago it might have been surmised that in America at least a good deal of the old code in respect to piracy had passed from the law in reserve into the law in history. The important cases were nearly all one hundred years old or more....

There have been recent events, however, which challenge the assumption that the law of piracy is chiefly of historical significance. The country had hardly entered upon the new period of national prohibition when the rum ships descended upon its coasts... There sprang up, in consequence, to prey upon the rum ships, …

International Political Questions In The National Courts, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

"Much has been made of the principle, in England and America, that international law is part of the national law to be applied by national courts in appropriate circumstances. As Mr. Justice Gray has expressed it, in the Paquete Habana: 'International law is part of our law, and must be ascertained and administered by the courts of justice of appropriate jurisdiction, as often as question of right depending upon it are duly presented for their determination...'

This principle is useful, where it is applicable, but it is subject to limitations which are sometimes inadequately appreciated ..."

Right To Determine The Place Of Burial Of A Corpse

Michigan Law Review

A dead body is not property, but a sort of quasi-property, so in a strict legal sense there are no property rights in a corpse. This is especially true after burial, as many courts make a distinction between rights existing prior to burial, and those after burial. Nevertheless, relatives have certain rights against others for mutilation, removal, etc. of a corpse, whether based on property or not. Cases where damages are recovered for mutilation before burial are common, and in England v. Central Pocahontas Coal Co. 86 W. Va. 575, the plaintiff was allowed an action of trespass against …

International Law, Edwin D. Dickinson

Reviews

Professor Dickson reviews "International Law," by C. G. Fenwick, noting that there are many such books available on the topic: monographs, casebooks, digests, collections of documents etc. He finds some of the material worthy of passing criticism and notes that "The chapters vary somewhat in quality and quantity." But Dickinson also praises "the fine tone of impartiality which makes it possible to present matters both recent and controverted in the restrained and temperate manner of the true scientist."

Conflict Of Laws--Law Governing The Performance Of A Contract--Validity Of Power Of Attorney To Confess Judgment (Comment On Recent Cases), Bernard C. Gavit

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

International Law-Extraterritorial Seizures In Times Of Peace-The Recent "Rum" Treaties

Michigan Law Review

It is commonly accepted as a general rule of the law of nations that the territorial jurisdiction of a littoral state extends three miles into the adjacent sea. 1 HYDE, INTERNATIONAL LAW, §141; EVANS, CASES ON INTERNATIONAL LAW, 2nd ed., p. 152, note. It has been held that even this rule does not preclude rights of innocent passage within three miles of the coast, The Queen v. Keyn (1876) L. R. Z. Exchq. Div. 63; EVANS, supra, p. 155 note; HYDE, supra; or of involuntary entrance by "stress of weather or by inevitable necessity'', 1 HYDE, supra, …

Tort Obligations And The Conflict Of Laws, Herbert F. Goodrich

Articles

"This article is an extract from a textbook on 'The Conflict of Laws,' by Professor Goodrich, now in course of preparation, and is here published by permission of the West Publishing Company."--Footnote

Contracts With The United States, Grover C. Grismore

Michigan Law Review

It has been settled since a comparatively early day in the history of our government that "the United States being a body politic, may, within the sphere of the constitutional powers confided to it, and through the instrumentality of the proper department to which those powers are confided, enter into contracts not prohibited by law, and appropriate to the just exercise of those powers." While this proposition became established without much of a struggle, it has not been so freely admitted that such contracts are to be given the same construction and effect as the contracts of individuals. In Smoot's …

Legitimation And Adoption In The Conflict Of Laws, Herbert F. Goodrich

Michigan Law Review

Legitimation is defined in Bouvier's Law Dictionary as the act of giving the character of legitimate children to those who were not so born. To make the description complete, it should be added that the natural relation of parent and child must exist between the parties (if strangers in blood the case becomes one of adoption) and that the act or acts of legitimation must be provided for by law.

Cases On Procedure Annotated. Trial And Appellate Practice, Edson R. Sunderland

Books

“A dozen years ago the present editor published a case-book for law school use on Trial Practice. It was then a subject unknown in the law school curriculum. But in the years that have passed the teaching of trial practice has become a common feature in American legal education….

The editor’s earlier volume on Trial Practice has not been incorporated in the present book, but that subject has been entirely reorganized and rewritten. Legal Ethics in connection with trial work has been treated more adequately, new sections on the Verdict and Judgment have been added, certain topics, such as Instructing …

The Permanent International Court Of Justice

Michigan Law Review

The writer has already commented, in an earlier number of this Review, upon the plan for a Permanent Court of International Justice which was formulated by a committee of jurists at The Hague in the summer of 1920 and amended and approved by the Council and Assembly of the League of Nations in December of the same year. 19 MICH. L. REV. 413. The plan became operative upon ratification by a majority of the members of the League in September, 1921, and judges were elected immediately thereafter. The Court's first session opened at The Hague in January, 1922. The present …

Prize Cases Decided In The United States Supreme Court, 1789-1918, Edwin D. Dickinson

Reviews

"It seems something of a paradox that our first and only complete collection of Supreme Court prize decisions should be published at last under the auspices of an endowment for international peace... And it has been the admirable purpose of the Carnegie Endowment to promote peace by rendering more available all authoritative sources of information about international affairs.

"There is more in common, indeed, between peace and prize cases than a mere matter of contact with international affairs. The development of international law, both as a general system and as a part of municipal law, has been developed by prize …

The Ship Mortgage Act Of 1920, George L. Canfield

Michigan Law Review

Maritime loans have been usually secured by either bottomry bonds or ship mortgages. The former constituted maritime liens of high and privileged character, while the latter had no standing in admiralty at all except as to remnants after all other claims against the ship had been satisfied. The statute now under discussion, being part of general legislation for the revival of the American merchant marine, makes "preferred mortgages" thereunder maritime liens, enforceable by admiralty process in rem. The changes made by the statute in existing law are radical and its construction by the Supreme Court will be of great …

Venue--Jurisdiction In Criminal Cases

Michigan Law Review

In a recent case in Oklahoma the defendant was prosecuted for bigamy, under a statute which read as follows: "It shall be unlawful for either party to such divorce to remarry any other person within six months from the degree of divorcement. * * * Any person marrying contrary: to the provisions of this statute shall be deemed guilty of bigamy, and such marriage shall be absolutely void." The defendant remarried in another state and returned to Live in Oklahoma. The court held that it had no jurisdiction. Jennings v. State, 17 Okla. Cr. R. 698.

The Supreme Court's Adjudication Of Constitutional Issues In 1921-1922, V, Thomas Reed Powell

Michigan Law Review

By the terms of Article III of the Constitution the federal judicial power extends to cases and controversies of various kinds, and it is established that no dispute, even though otherwise cognizable, can be brought before the federal courts unless they are technically a case or a controversy. In illustration of this, Fairchild v. Hughes held that a private citizen with no other interest at stake than his personal opposition to woman suffrage can not bring a bill to restrain the Secretary of State from issuing a proclamation declaring the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.