Legal History Commons^™

Forms Of Anglo Saxon Contracts And Their Sanctions, Robert L. Henry Jr

Michigan Law Review

The several forms of contract will be taken up in the following order: I. the Surety Contract, including (a) the creditor's rights against the debtor, (b) the creditor's rights to sue the surety, and (c) the surety's right of reimbursement; 2. the Warranty Contracts, including (a) warranty of title, and (b) warranty of quality; 3. the Contract of Court Record; 4. the Coitract of Plighted Faith; 5. the Pledge Contract; 6. the' "Delivery-Promise"; 7. the Written Contract; and 8. the "Earnest" Contract.

Supreme Court's Theory Of A Direct Tax, J H. Riddle

Michigan Law Review

The decision of the United States Supreme Court in the Pollock case of 1895 was the beginning of an attempt on the part of the court to formulate a new definition of a direct tax, and since that time in every case which has called for a decision as to whether a particular tax was a direct tax the court has reverted to and tried to harmonize its decision with the reasoning set forth in the Pollock case. This decision overturned a fairly definite and universally accepted definition of a direct tax which had existed for nearly a century. In …

English Law Courts At The Close Of The Revolution Of 1688, Arthur L. Cross

Michigan Law Review

In view of the part which the judges played for a4d against the first two STUARTS, and in view of the grievances of the subject under the law as administered in the ordinary courts 2 -to say nothing of the Star Chamber and the High Commission-it was to be expected that, in the great political and religious upheaval resulting from the Puritan Revolution and the ensuing Civil War, the legal edifice could not remain unshaken. As is well known, one of the early acts of the Long Parliament, in the summer of 1641, was to ab6lish the Star Chambei, the …

Mild Punishments, Robert Mcmurdy

Michigan Law Review

If life, freedom, or hope be taken from man, he is ashes. Therefore we ought not to take away any of them lightly. But some, restraint or punishment is necessary. We often miss our aim, however,'by prescribing punishments that are too severe, whereupon human nature revolts, so that it is "impossible to combine certainty with severity," a lesson we have long since learned from the experience of England.

Extension Of Judicial Review In New York, Edward S. Corwin

Michigan Law Review

There are several reasons why it should be worth while to investigate the operation of the most unique of American governmental institutions in the most important state of the Union. For one thing, in the person of Chancellor KZN" New York furnished one of the founders of American Constitutional Law, while at the same time it was KzNT's fame that early gave New York decisions the importance they still retain in great part in the field of citation and precedent. Again it was YNT'S influence that inclined the fresh shoot of constitutional jurisprudence in New York in a conservative direction, …

The Attaint, John M. Zane

Michigan Law Review

The assize of novel disseisinoriginally lay against the disseisor in possession in favor of the disseisee, and was soon extended to the heir of -the disseisee, but not against the heir or grantee of the disseisor. But the disseisor might be dead or might have conveyed the land, and in such a case the disseisee would be driven to the writ of right with iis delays and chance of battle. But the cases where the defendant had come into possession under a lawful title which was limited in time and had ceased to exist, i.. e., cases where there was …

The Attaint, John M. Zane

Michigan Law Review

The practice of attainting a jury was the method by which for centuries the English law corrected an erroneous finding of fact by the body of men who, in course of time, came to be called a jury. Today this necessary corrective of judicial administration is very inadequately performed by the judge or judges presiding over the trial. The proceeding is now called a motion for a new trial. The new trial is inadequate for the reason that it does not, as did the attaint, substitute a correct verdict for the one given. It merely reverses or sets aside the …

Reception Of The Roman Law In Germany, Charles Sumner Lbingier

Michigan Law Review

As in other countries. it was the universities which prepared the way for the Reception of Roman Law in Germany. Many of those great institutions which still .lead the world in learning date from about the middle of the thirteenth century, and instruction in foreign law was offered from the beginning. At first the emphasis was placed on the Canon law -but chairs of Roman law were established at Heidelberg in 1387, at Basel in 146o, at Ingolstadt in 1472, at Tfibingen in 1477, at Freiburg in 1479, at Vienna in 1493 and at Greifswald in 1498, and were filled …

Year Book Of Richard Ii, John M. Zane

Michigan Law Review

The Publication of a year book in this country is an event for our legal scholarship. The trustees of the Ames Foundation in a spirit that is Worthy of the great legal scholar in whose honor the foundation was instituted, have made the publication possible, but it is to be inferred from the Introduction by the Editor that the book was not prepared at their instance. He tells us that he has had, for correcting various inaccuracies, the assistance of certain members of the Harvard law faculty, but it is not to be supposed that they have given a critical …

Early History Of Equity, W S. Holdsworth

Michigan Law Review

Mr W. T. BARBOUR'S Essay on the History of Contract in early English Equity, which has been published this year in Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History, is one of the most, if not the most, valuable of the contributions to English Legal History which has yet appeared in that series. Mr. BARBOUR is to be congratulated on his first appearance in a field in which the harvest, though somewhat difficult to collect, is very abundant,-- in a field in which the labourers are all too few. I think too that the Essay is important not only because it …

Corporations And Express Trusts As Business Organizations, Horace L. Wilgus

Books

The advantages of incorporation have long been recognized and frequently referred to in our law ... Upon the other hand the special advantages of Express Trusts have recently been stated .... It is my purpose to compare these two, -- Corporations and Express Trusts, -- in such detail as my time will permit, to discover, if perchance we may, something of the strength and weakness of each, for business purposes, under present day conditions.

The Inefficiency Of The American Jury, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

What is proposed in the present article is to show that in attempting to preserve the independence of the jury in its exclusive juris- diction over questions of fact, the people and the courts in most American jurisdictions have departed from the common law practice and have introduced a principle calculated to undermine the very institution which they wish to strengthen. That is to say, through the rules prohibiting judges from commenting on the weight of the evidence, juries tend to become irresponsible, verdicts tend to become matters of chance, and the intricacy of procedure, with its cost, delay and …

English Judicature Act Of 1873, Willis B. Perkins

Michigan Law Review

It seems to be the general impression that reform in judicial procedure is a new and radical thing in the history of jurisprudence. This is far from the fact. It is as old as jurisprudence itself. From Solon to Justinian, from Justinian to the Magna Charta, from the Magna Charta to Bentham, from Bentham to Field, and in every civilized country, radical changes have taken place from time to time, touching both procedure and substantive law. Court systems have been codified, systematized and rearranged to meet advancing and changing social and industrial conditions. From the religious ceremonies, constituting the methods …

The History Of Contract In Early English Equity, W. T. Barbour

Books

“Mr. Barbour’s contribution to the Studies is an attempt to characterize with some precision and detail the functions of the Chancery in the fifteenth century. The court was gradually differentiated from the King’s Council, and the writs of Edward III’s time calling on persons to appear under penalty of a fine or imprisonment (subpoena), and other special injunctions, was generally framed in terms which leave it undecided whether proceedings were to be taken by the King’s Council, or by the Council under the chairmanship of the Chancellor himself with or without the aid of assessors. By the time of Richard …

Corporations And Express Trusts As Business Organizations, Horace Lafayette Wilgus

Articles

PRESIDENT BUTLER of Columbia University is reported to have said in an address before the New York Chamber of Commerce in 1911, that "the limited liability corporation is the greatest single discovery of modem times, whether you judge it by its social, by its ethical, by its industrial, or, in the long run--after we understand it and know how to use it,--by its political, effects." 1

Editorial Preface To This Volume, Joseph H. Drake

Other Publications

In his editorial preface to Formal Bases of the Law, Professor Drake offers a detailed summary of Del Vecchio’s historical survey of the philosophy of law. Drake reiterates that “the struggle for better definition of law has resulted in continually widening the practical application of law. In like manner it may be shown that the constant broadening of the metaphysical bases of law has been accompanied by improvements in its practice, and to this purpose we may well address ourselves.” From Aristotle to Grotius, to neo-Kantians and neo-Hegelians… “Law is neither force simply nor growth simply, but law is right …

Debt Of The Modern Law Of Guardianship To Roman Law, Charles P. Sherman

Michigan Law Review

The Roman law of guardianship grew out of the family organization. It is also quite closely connected with the law of inheritance. The power of a guardian is that form of family power which ordinarily takes the place of paternal power when there is no one to exercise the latter. It was originally at Rome but an extension of the paternal power. In this respect the conception of guardianship is different in English law -- English guardianship rests on the principle of protecting the bodily and mental immaturity of youth.

Debt, Assumpsit, And Consideration, W S. Holdsworth

Michigan Law Review

Lord Mansfield is said to have remarked that "nothing in law is so apt to mislead as a metaphor;"' and if the remark is applied to branches of the law, the principles of which are fully developed and abundantly illustrated by decided cases, it is doubtless very true. But the historian of law, who looks at the efforts of the courts to create these principles 'by the expansion and adaptation of a few narrow remedies, will not be inclined to undervalue the use of the metaphor or analogy, 'when used to give effect to the requirements of public policy, and …

Ingenuity Of The Infringer And The Courts, Edward S. Rogers

Michigan Law Review

The person who imitates a trademark has by common consent come to be described as a "pirate." At the time the designation was first applied, it was more or less appropriate. The pirate saw and coveted his neighbor's successful business, and like any MORGAN, TEACH, SHARKEY, or L'OLLONOIS, sighting a fat galleon laden with plate wallowing in the trade winds, homeward bound from the Indies, he laid himself alongside and took what he wanted. He counterfeited marks and labels as exactly as he could, not as he dared. There was no limit to his impudence. He was deterred only by …

Pecote': A Bit Of Legal Archaeology, Joseph H. Drake

Articles

In the case of Pusey v. Pusey, 1 Vern. 273 (1684), the "bil was, that a horn, which time out of mind had gone along with the plaintiff's estate, and was delivered, to his ancestors in ancient times to hold their land by, might be delivered to him; upon which horn was the inscription, viz. pecote this horn to hold huy thy land." The bill was demurred to in that the plaintiff did not by his bill pretend to be entitled to this horn, either as executor or devisee; nor had he in his bill charged it to be an …

Editorial Preface To This Volume, Joseph H. Drake

Other Publications

"American juristic thinking at the present time needs a von Ihering. Our jurists, our legislators and our courts, both bench and bar, are still holding fast to an historical 'Naturrecht' built up on the precedents of the Common Law.... The public is crying out against our crystallized and inelastic theory and practice of law. The practical application of the idea of law as purpose would, in many cases, loosen our legal shackles and open the way out of our legal difficulties ...."

"The days of 'laissez faire' in legal matters have gone by in America as well as in Germany. …

The Pelatiah Webster Myth, Edward S. Corwin

Michigan Law Review

For several years Mr. Hannis Taylor has been endeavoring to persuade the American public that the Constitution, instead of being the work of the Convention of 1787, acting under the guidance of men like Madison, Hamilton, Pinckney, Patterson, Ellsworth, and others of similar caliber, was really the invention of a single individual, Pelatiah Webster by name, whose fame, till Mr. Taylor's resurrection of it in The North American Review for August, 1907, had dropped quite out of historical notice. Since this first publication of his discovery, Mr.Taylor has returned to the attack time and time again, now in a memorial …

Trusts And Duties Of Trustees: Instruction Paper, George L. Clark

Books

“Trusts and Duties of Trustees: Instruction Paper” is an overview of the history and current [1912] practice regarding express trusts. Chapters: Chapter I. Origin and Requisites of Expressed Trusts; Chapter II. Nature and Requisites of Express Trusts; Chapter III. Nature of Cestui Que Trust’s Interest; Chapter IV. Resulting and Constructive Trusts; Chapter V. Transfer of Trust Property; Chapter VI. Relinquishment of a Trust; Chapter VII. Duties of a Trustee. Included is an “Examination Paper” for self-testing -- the material is designed to facilitate distance learning under the auspices of the American School of Correspondence based in Chicago, Illinois, as of …

The Law In The United States In Its Relation To Religion, Edwin C. Goddard

Other Publications

Man is a religious being. To him, everywhere and always, religion and religious institutions have been and will be of prime concern. He is also a social being. As such he has always found it necessary to live in an organized society, under some form of government. Man never has lived to himself alone. Government is not an invention, a necessary evil, to which men submit. On the contrary, from the most primitive beginnings it has been man's natural though imperfect instrument for controlling and developing the social estate so essential to his very existence. And universally this government has …

The Mosaic Law, Clarence A. Lightner

Michigan Law Review

In recent years much has been learned of the civilization, which developed in early times in Mesopotamia. In Babylon, laws appropriate to a vast and wealthy agricultural nation, which was engaged, also, largely in commerce, had been developed many centuries before the authentic history of other peoples begins. This civilization was Semitic. A great light, where formerly but dim reflections had been seen, was thrown upon this jurisprudence by the discovery, in 1901, of the codification of the laws of Babylonia, which was promulgated by King Hammurabi about 2350 B. C. Migration from Babylonia occurred from time to time, and …

The Law In Its Relation To Morals And Religion, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

"Man is a religious being... Man has never lived to himself alone. His natural state has ever been a social one, in which development and enjoyment became possible only by mutual inter-dependence and social intimacy. Government is not an invention, not a necessary evil to which men submit. On the contrary... it has been man's natural instrument for controlling and developing the social estate so essential to his very existence ... [a]nd universally this government has been more or less closely related to religious institutions."

The State's Power Over Foreign Corporations, Harold M. Bowman

Michigan Law Review

This paper is devoted to a consideration of certain phases of our constitutional law governing the authority of the states over foreign corporations as that authority developed between the end of the fourth decade of the last century and the end of the first decade of this, and as it has been altered by a remarkable group of decisions rendered by the Supreme Court of the United States only about a year ago. The subject is one which concerns the frame of our institutions, for the final view which the Court shall take upon the questions involved in this matter …

The Judicial Reforms Of The Reign Of Henry Ii, Richard Hudson

Michigan Law Review

Inasmuch as this paper is to deal with the judicial reforms of the reign of Henry II, and more particularly with the extension of the jurisdiction of the king's court during that period, we must at the outset, for the purpose of comparison, make a brief study of the courts, their jurisdiction, and their methods of procedure at the close of Saxon and the beginning of Norman times. Mention should first be made of the courts of the hundred and of the shire, for it was in these public local courts, particularly in the former, that in early times justice …

The Establishment Of Judicial Review Ii, Edwin S. Corwin

Michigan Law Review

In tracing the establishment of judicial review subsequently to the inauguration of the national government it will be important to bear in mind that there are two distinct kinds of judicial review, namely, federal judicial review, or the power of the federal courts to review acts of the State legislatures under the United States Constitution, and Judicial review proper; or the power of the courts to pass upon the constitutionality of acts of the coordinate legislatures. That the Judiciary Act of 1789 contemplated, in the mind of its author, Ellsworth, the exercise of the power of review by the national …

Power Of Governor-General To Expel Resident Aliens From Insular Territory Of The United States, Horace Lafayette Wilgus

Articles

In the case of Forbes et al. v. Chuoco Tiaco, decided by the Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands July 30, 1910, 8 Off. Gaz., p. 1778, some of the most interesting, important, and fundamental questions were presented and determined for the time being, but not settled, it is reasonably safe to say until passed upon by the Supreme Court of the United States. The questions involved were whether the Governor General of the Philippine Islands has the power to expel resident Chinese aliens without a hearing or an opportunity to be heard, and whether the Governor, if he exceeded …