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Full-Text Articles in Land Use Law

Future Interests - Possibilities Of Reverter - Constitutionality Of Retroactive Limitation, Paul A. Heinen S.Ed. Apr 1956

Future Interests - Possibilities Of Reverter - Constitutionality Of Retroactive Limitation, Paul A. Heinen S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The township school trustees brought actions under the Reverter Act to have the possibilities of reverter contained in the deeds to two currently unused school tracts declared invalid. In each case the trial court held that the possibility of reverter was alienable and that the Reverter Act was unconstitutional, being an ex post facto law and in violation of the due process clauses of the state and federal Constitutions. On appeal, held, reversed. Since possibilities of reverter in Illinois are merely expectancies subject to change, modification, or abolition by legislative action, the act does not result in an unconstitutional …


Constitutional Law - Equal Protection - Determinable Fee As Devise To Impose Racial Restrictions On Use Of Land, Charles B. Renfrew S.Ed. Mar 1956

Constitutional Law - Equal Protection - Determinable Fee As Devise To Impose Racial Restrictions On Use Of Land, Charles B. Renfrew S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Land was conveyed by deed to the Park and Recreation Commission, a municipal corporation. The grant was in the nature of a determinable fee, with the land to revert to the grantor if it was ever used by members of any race other than the white race. Members of the colored race petitioned the Park and Recreation Commission for permission to use the recreational facilities erected on the land conveyed and the commission then sought a declaratory judgment as to the legal effect of the possibility of reverter contained in the deed, joining the petitioners and the grantors of the …


Real Property - The Effect Of Zoning Ordinances On The Law Of Nuisance, Robert B. Fiske, Jr. S.Ed. Dec 1955

Real Property - The Effect Of Zoning Ordinances On The Law Of Nuisance, Robert B. Fiske, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

One of the most interesting and least explored questions in the law of property is the effect of zoning ordinances on the law of nuisance. Particularly interesting is the extent to which statutory authorization by zoning can legalize a use of land which, in the absence of a zoning ordinance, would constitute a nuisance. In order to understand this problem fully it is necessary to begin with a general analysis of the law of nuisance and the various classifications into which it has been divided by the courts.


Mcdermott: Deskbook On Land Titles And Land Law, Allan F. Smith Dec 1955

Mcdermott: Deskbook On Land Titles And Land Law, Allan F. Smith

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Deskbook on Land Titles and Land Law. By Thomas J. McDermott.


Constitutional Law - Public Use Requirement And The Power Of Eminent Domain, Donald F. Oosterhouse S.Ed. Apr 1955

Constitutional Law - Public Use Requirement And The Power Of Eminent Domain, Donald F. Oosterhouse S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Under the District of Columbia Redevelopment Act, an agency was created to redevelop blighted and slum areas. Pursuant to the mode of operation prescribed in the statute, the agency intended to purchase or take by eminent domain all the property in the vicinity of appellant's property. After getting title to all the property the agency was to lease or sell it to private enterprisers to redevelop the area according to the agency's comprehensive plan, which specified definite boundaries for various uses. Appellant brought this action to enjoin the condemnation of his business property, claiming that the statute was unconstitutional because …


Boundaries: Description V. Survey, Olin L. Browder, Jr. Mar 1955

Boundaries: Description V. Survey, Olin L. Browder, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

These propositions I first encountered as a student in law school. At that time they struck me as rather startling propositions, which could not be reconciled with other things I had learned about the law of conveyancing. I do not recall exactly how they were disposed of: whether they were to be regarded as the law on the subject or merely as a couple of striking aberrations. There were too many other matters demanding attention at that time to allow much fretting over so small a question. Upon returning to the classroom some years later-but now sitting on the other …


Municipal Corporations - Zoning - Amortization Of Existing Noncomforming Uses, James W. Beatty S.Ed. Mar 1955

Municipal Corporations - Zoning - Amortization Of Existing Noncomforming Uses, James W. Beatty S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

ln 1930 defendant Gage acquired several lots in the City of Los Angeles. He constructed a residential building in which he established a wholesale and retail plumbing business, using one room as an office for the conduct of his business. Also used in the business were a garage and racks, bins, and stalls for the storage of materials and supplies. The use to which defendant put the property was permitted under the applicable zoning ordinance of 1930. Later the ordinance was changed so as to make defendant's use of both lots nonconforming. In 1946 another rezoning ordinance provided that the …


Constitutional Law- Zoning - Private High Schools Excluded From Zone In Which Public High Schools Permitted, William D. Keeler S.Ed. Mar 1955

Constitutional Law- Zoning - Private High Schools Excluded From Zone In Which Public High Schools Permitted, William D. Keeler S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Among the uses permitted in the "A" residence zone by the Wauwatosa, Wisconsin zoning ordinance were "(e) Public Schools and Private Elementary Schools." The city building inspector denied to plaintiff, a private, non-profit religious corporation, a permit for the construction of a private high school in that zone. Plaintiff brought an action in mandamus to compel the issuance of such a permit, alleging that the ordinance deprived plaintiff of property without due process of law, and denied to it the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The lower court granted the writ. On appeal, held, …


Real Property - Compensation For Abrogation Of A Restrictive Covenant By Public Authority, Howard N. Thiele, Jr. S.Ed. Jan 1955

Real Property - Compensation For Abrogation Of A Restrictive Covenant By Public Authority, Howard N. Thiele, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this comment to examine the legal consequences produced when the tranquility of the residential district is disturbed by governmental action.


Real Property - Easements - Right To Take Water From A Pond As Absolute, Exclusive Profit In Gross, Stephen J. Martin S.Ed. Dec 1954

Real Property - Easements - Right To Take Water From A Pond As Absolute, Exclusive Profit In Gross, Stephen J. Martin S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

One Divine owned a small natural lake and a mill nearby. He dammed the lake, and ran a pipe from it to his mill. At times he sold water after it left the mill to defendant's assignor, who owned a hotel near the mill. In 1919 Divine sold the lake to plaintiff's assignor, reserving to himself the right to dam the lake and draw off water from it, so long as the level stayed between high and low water marks. Then Divine sold the mill lot to defendant's assignor, who closed it down, but continued to take water through the …


Future Interests - Effect Of Change Of Conditions On Rights Of Entry And Possibilities Of Reverter Created To Control The Use Of Land, Rinaldo L. Bianchi Dec 1954

Future Interests - Effect Of Change Of Conditions On Rights Of Entry And Possibilities Of Reverter Created To Control The Use Of Land, Rinaldo L. Bianchi

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this comment to examine the skills which courts have developed to avoid inequitable results which might arise from forfeiture of estates, and, further, to attempt to demonstrate that judicial opinion may be in a transitional stage, tending to incorporate into law the equitable doctrine of change of conditions in disposing of cases involving rights of entry and possibilities of reverter.


Defeasance As A Restrictive Device In Michigan, William F. Fratcher Feb 1954

Defeasance As A Restrictive Device In Michigan, William F. Fratcher

Michigan Law Review

Quite apart from any question of their validity, the imposition of use restrictions by means of a prohibition was not practicable before the development of equitable remedies because the common law afforded no method of enforcing such a prohibition. One who conveyed land in violation of a prohibition on alienation might attempt to enforce the prohibition by attacking the validity of his own conveyance but one who violated a prohibition on use had neither motive nor method for challenging his own acts. Hence attempts to restrict use by common law devices are necessarily confined to penalty restraints and to limitations …


Waters And Watercourses-Fishing-Right Of Public In Floatable Streams Feb 1944

Waters And Watercourses-Fishing-Right Of Public In Floatable Streams

Michigan Law Review

Through defendants' lands flowed a stream, a little over thirty feet in width and averaging in depth approximately one foot. It had a flow of less than fifty cubic feet per second. The stream was not capable of "commercial travel by any kind of boat" and it was doubtful whether it was "practical to use a boat on it in fishing." Some testimony indicated that in logging days some loose timber had been floated down the stream, but it was also testified by oldsters that it was "never possible to run logs down the stream without the use of dams." …


Constitutional Law - Special Assessments - Property Owner's Right To Hearing Under Due Process Clause - Legislative Determination Of Benefits, Richard S. Brawerman Jun 1939

Constitutional Law - Special Assessments - Property Owner's Right To Hearing Under Due Process Clause - Legislative Determination Of Benefits, Richard S. Brawerman

Michigan Law Review

The California legislature created the Los Angeles Flood Control District, empowered a board of supervisors to construct improvements and acquire property necessary or useful for carrying out the purposes of the act, and provided for the organization of drainage districts within the flood control district. An amendatory act provided that the board of supervisors might accept a transfer of "all, but not less than all," improvements of defined classes lying within the flood control district, whereupon the district should become liable for principal and interest of bonds afterward maturing which had been issued by any drainage district to cover the …


Covenants - Effect Of Change Of Conditions On Equitable Restrictions, Dan K. Cook Jun 1938

Covenants - Effect Of Change Of Conditions On Equitable Restrictions, Dan K. Cook

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff was a lot owner in a residential district consisting of twenty-three blocks. Each lot in the district was subject to a restriction, imposed by the grantor, which limited the use of the lots to residence purposes. Subsequent to the imposition of this restriction, numerous oil and gas wells had been drilled in the territory surrounding the district, so that the lots in the district had depreciated in value approximately thirty-five to fifty per cent. By ordinance, the use zoning area which included the district had been changed from a residence use to an oil and gas use. At the …


Municipal Corporations - Police Power - Billboard Regulations For Aesthetic Purposes, Bertram H. Lebeis Feb 1938

Municipal Corporations - Police Power - Billboard Regulations For Aesthetic Purposes, Bertram H. Lebeis

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff applied to defendant superintendent of buildings for permits to erect billboards for general advertising purposes on plaintiff's, property in the city of Troy. Defendant refused to issue the permits on the authority of an ordinance which made it unlawful to erect any billboard and/ or signboard within the city limits, except upon real property owned or leased by the occupants thereof and for the sole purpose of advertising the sale of such property or of merchandise kept for sale upon such premises. Plaintiff petitioned for a writ of mandamus to compel defendant to issue the permits. Held, that …


Constitutional Law - Zoning - Amendment Of Zoning Ordinance As Impairing Vested Rights, Ralph Winkler Jan 1938

Constitutional Law - Zoning - Amendment Of Zoning Ordinance As Impairing Vested Rights, Ralph Winkler

Michigan Law Review

The town plan commission amended the municipal zoning ordinance to permit the erection of an incinerator in a class C residence district. The particular tract upon which the incinerator was to be located had been a municipal garbage dump, and as such, a non-conforming use under the zoning ordinance. The board of health by ordinance declared the garbage dump to be a nuisance. The facts revealed there was an immediate need to dispose of the garbage, etc.; that the erection of an incinerator was the best means of so doing; that the proposed site was a suitable location; that the …


Eminent Domain - Public Housing And Slum Clearance As A "Public Use", Wayne E. Babler Dec 1937

Eminent Domain - Public Housing And Slum Clearance As A "Public Use", Wayne E. Babler

Michigan Law Review

The recent legislation providing for housing and slum clearance raises the interesting and practical problem of whether a taking of land for such housing and slum clearance purposes by means of an eminent domain proceeding is condemnation for a "public use," within the meaning of that term in eminent domain proceedings. Such a taking was held to be for a public use in the recent case of Spahn v. Stewart.


Constitutional Law - Zoning Ordinances Prohibiting Repair Of Existing Structures, William F. Fratcher Feb 1937

Constitutional Law - Zoning Ordinances Prohibiting Repair Of Existing Structures, William F. Fratcher

Michigan Law Review

The rapid development and expansion of the zoning movement during the last ten years has been directed mainly toward guiding new construction in accordance with modern ideals of city planning. There has been, however, a concomitant attempt to restrict the use and repair of existing structures which, if built after its passage, would not conform to the provisions of the zoning ordinance. This at first glance may seem only an insignificant part of the whole zoning problem. But when it is considered, from the point of view of city planners, that it is nearly impossible to make a high grade. …


Municipal Corporations-Fencing Ordinances May 1936

Municipal Corporations-Fencing Ordinances

Michigan Law Review

Defendant city passed an ordinance which prohibited the erection of fences that exceeded four feet in height, or which were composed wholly or in part of barbed wire. Plaintiff was refused permission to build a woven wire fence, six feet high with barbed wire attached to arms extending inward at the top. Plaintiff thereupon sued to enjoin defendant city from enforcing this ordinance, claiming that it deprived her of property without "due process." Held, by the court, that the right to fence one's land is a right of property that cannot be unreasonably interfered with. The ordinance in question …


Future Interests - Effect Of Eminent Domain Proceedings Feb 1936

Future Interests - Effect Of Eminent Domain Proceedings

Michigan Law Review

This study is concerned with the effect of condemnation proceedings upon future interests. The problems which arise are chiefly whether the owner of a future interest has such an interest in land as to be awarded a share of the fund given as compensation for the land, and if he does have such an interest as to be awarded a share, how it will be determined or apportioned to him and at what time. The first part of the study is a consideration of the question: what types of future interests are compensable? The second part involves an examination of …


Municipal Corporations-Regulation Of Gas Stations-Delegation To Property Owners Of Power To Modify Zoning Restrictions Jan 1936

Municipal Corporations-Regulation Of Gas Stations-Delegation To Property Owners Of Power To Modify Zoning Restrictions

Michigan Law Review

A city ordinance prohibited the installation of gasoline filling stations within the city except after obtaining the written consent of 51 per cent of the property owners within a radius of six hundred feet from the site. Relator, without obtaining the required consent, asked for a writ of mandamus, which was refused. The court held the regulation not arbitrary but substantially relating to the public safety and welfare, and not a delegation of legislative powers. State ex rel. Standard Oil Co. v. Combs, 129 Ohio St. 251, 194 N. E. 875 (1935).


Constitutional Law - Eminent Domain - Power Of Federal Government To Condemn Land For Slum Clearance Project Apr 1935

Constitutional Law - Eminent Domain - Power Of Federal Government To Condemn Land For Slum Clearance Project

Michigan Law Review

In proceedings by the United States government to condemn certain lands in the city of Louisville for the purpose of a slum clearance and low cost housing project, several property owners demurred to the condemnation petitions as being beyond the constitutional powers of the federal government. Although the United States contended that the property was being taken for a public use, in the sense of general public advantage, and that the project was a valid expenditure of public funds for the general welfare, it was held that this condemnation was not within the power of the federal government. United States …


Rights In Land - Lateral Support - Statute Increasing Common Law Rights And Duties - Constitutionality Mar 1935

Rights In Land - Lateral Support - Statute Increasing Common Law Rights And Duties - Constitutionality

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued for damages to his building which collapsed during excavating operations on defendant's adjoining land. A Michigan statute makes it the duty of land owners excavating to a depth of 12 feet or more below grade level to furnish sufficient lateral support to protect adjacent land and structures thereon from injury "due to the removed material in its natural state, or due to the disturbance of other existing conditions caused by such excavation," and imposes liability for injuries due to failure to comply with the act. The excavation on defendant's land, reaching a depth of 14 feet below grade …


Segregation Of Residences Of Negroes, Arthur T. Martin Apr 1934

Segregation Of Residences Of Negroes, Arthur T. Martin

Michigan Law Review

Most white people do not want Negroes for neighbors. For many years this race prejudice alone seemed adequate to secure the type of domiciliary segregation which the majority desired. In recent years, however, Negro incursions into so-called white territory have become more numerous, and white landowners have resorted to legal devices to secure race exclusiveness in residential sections. In considering the validity of these segregation devices the courts have not ordinarily purported to take into account the social desirability of the end sought. No examination has been made of the factors back of Negro migration into white territory. No thought …


Quasi-Contracts-Waiver Of Tort-Suit Against Governmental Agency Apr 1933

Quasi-Contracts-Waiver Of Tort-Suit Against Governmental Agency

Michigan Law Review

County officials forcibly ejected plaintiff from five acres of his land, harvested and used plaintiff's oat crop thereon, and converted the land into a road. Held, that although a county, being an agency of the State, is not liable in tort in the absence of statute, the tort may be waived and recovery allowed on the implied promise to pay for the taking of private property for public use without just compensation. Kerns v. Couch, (Or. 1932) 12 Pac. (2d) 1011.


Municipal Corporations-Power Of Board Of Appeals To Vary Application Of Zoning Ordinance Nov 1932

Municipal Corporations-Power Of Board Of Appeals To Vary Application Of Zoning Ordinance

Michigan Law Review

Although there was some dispute among the earlier authorities, it is the rule today that comprehensive zoning ordinances, if enacted under proper legislative authority, are constitutional and will be upheld in so far as they are reasonable in application. In order to give aggrieved property owners an opportunity to obtain relief upon the basis of the ordinance itself without attacking its constitutionality, it has become common practice to give the board of appeals the power to vary the operation of the ordinance in specific cases.


Municipal Corporations - Validity Of Setback Ordinances In Improved Districts Mar 1932

Municipal Corporations - Validity Of Setback Ordinances In Improved Districts

Michigan Law Review

Mulleady sought but was refused permission to inclose with glass a porch on a lot located in the city of Trenton. The municipality was authorized to make building regulations for the purpose of lessening congestion in streets, securing safety from fire, panic, or other danger, promoting health, morals, or general welfare, providing adequate light and air, or avoiding concentration of population. Section 12 of the municipal ordinance provided that no building should be erected, reconstructed, or altered so as to project in any wise beyond the average setback lines observed by the buildings on the same side of the street …


Landlord And Tenant- Fraud - Nondisclosure Of Concealed Dangers By Lessor Nov 1931

Landlord And Tenant- Fraud - Nondisclosure Of Concealed Dangers By Lessor

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff rented an unfurnished apartment to the defendant without any covenants regarding habitable condition or repairs. After six months defendant moved out. Plaintiff sued for rent, and the defense was that the house was infested with vermin, bugs, and disease germs. Held, concealment of the presence of disease germs amounted to fraud, but by delay, with knowledge of the facts, defendant lost her right to rescind. A defense based upon constructive eviction was also rejected. Leech v. Husbands (Del. 1930) 152 Atl. 729.


Landlord And Tenant-Covenants-Effect Of A Municipal Ordinance Jun 1931

Landlord And Tenant-Covenants-Effect Of A Municipal Ordinance

Michigan Law Review

L. let a building to T. with the provision in the lease that if the premises should be rendered unfit for occupancy by reason of fire or other casualty, L. would rebuild the same at his own expense. Subsequently the city council passed a building code prohibiting the rebuilding of a structure destroyed more than sixty per cent by fire. The building in this case was almost entirely destroyed by fire and L. was refused a permit to rebuild. Previous to the refusal of the commissioner to grant a permit, T. had preferred L. the monthly rent which L. had …