Legal History Commons^™

State Utilities And The Supreme Court, 1922-1930, Thomas Reed Powell

Michigan Law Review

While enterprises that are "affected with a public interest" or "devoted to a public use" or that come within the class of strict public utilities may be compelled to do a number of things that strictly private enterprise may avoid, the power over utilities is not unlimited. Requirements deemed onerous may be contested as denials of due process of law. The constitutional issue thus raised under the Fourteenth Amendment entitles protestants to start injunction proceedings in federal courts and to seek appeals to the United States Supreme Court from unfavorable decisions of state courts. Often the complaint is not of …

Review: The Revival Of Natural Law Concepts, Fowler Vincent Harper

Michigan Law Review

A Book Review of THE REVIVAL OF NATURAL LAW CONCEPTS By Charles Grove Haines.

Succession By Murderer-Applicability Of Constructive Trust

Michigan Law Review

There do not seem to have been any decided cases in the early common law on the question whether a murderer could succeed to the title to property left by his victim, or derive any benefit from his crime. By the civil law the legal title passed to the criminal, and was afterwards confiscated by the state. What may be said to be the modem rule is not so definitely determined, The numerical majority of cases, beginning with the first case to be decided on the exact question in 1888, have held that he could not succeed. But the decisions …

Review: International Adjudications, Edwin D. Dickinson

Michigan Law Review

A Review of : INTERNATIONAL ADJUDICATIONS Edited by John Bassett Moore.

Review: Stephen J. Field: Craftsman Of Tbe Law., Everett S. Brown

Michigan Law Review

A Review of: STEPHEN J. FIELD: CRAFTSMAN OF TBE LAW

Review: Annual Survey Of English Law 1929. London School Of Economics And Political Science (University Of London) Department Of Law., Everett S. Brown

Michigan Law Review

A Review of ANNUAL SURVEY OF ENGLISH LAW 1929. London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) Department of Law.

Some Comments On The Reserved Power To Alter, Amend And Repeal Corporate Charters, Gustavus Ohlinger

Michigan Law Review

The old theories as to the nature, creation and powers of corporations which during the last hundred years have been obscured, but today are coming more and more to the fore in legal literature, in the adjudications of the courts, and in recent revisions of corporation acts suggest a re-examination of the power of state legislatures to alter, amend and repeal corporate charters under the reservations contained in many state constitutions and statutes, both as related to those theories and as they apply to recent and impending social and economic changes.

Legislative Principles, Carl H. Manson

Michigan Law Review

A review of LEGISLATIVE PRINCIPLES By Robert Luce.

The Book Of English Law

Michigan Law Review

A Review of THE BOOK OF ENGLISH LAW By Edward Jenks.

Divorce - Recrimination As A Defense

Michigan Law Review

If both parties have a right to divorce, neither party has. This judicial pronouncement, paradoxical and puzzling as it must seem, at least to the lay mind, nevertheless embodies the kernel of the doctrine of recrimination as it is applied in divorce cases by modem courts. One party seeks divorce and proves beyond doubt that he or she is entitled to relief. But, if it is found that the complaining party too, is guilty of conduct for which a divorce may be granted, the court turns a deaf ear to both. For, in the oft quoted words of Chancellor Wallworth, …

The Laws And Liberties Of Massachusetts, Randolph G. Adams

Michigan Law Review

A Review of THE LAWS AND LIBERTIES OF MASSACHUSETTS reprinted from the copy of the 1648 edition in the Henry E. Huntington Library, with an Introduction by Max Farrand.

The Supreme Court's Construction Of The Self-Incrimination Clause, Edward S. Corwin

Michigan Law Review

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution reads as follows: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized." The so-called "self-incrimination clause" of Amendment V reads as follows: "No person * * * shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself."

Fraudulent Intent In Trade Mark Cases, Grover C. Grismore

Michigan Law Review

One of the troublesome questions which confront the trade mark lawyer is that as to the extent to which a fraudulent intention is an essential element in trade mark litigation. Must a plaintiff who is seeking injunctive relief, or damages, or an accounting against a defendant who", it is alleged, has simulated his trade mark, trade name or other identifying device, show that the latter has consciously sought to mislead the purchasing public? Judges and legal writers leave the matter in doubt. It is the purpose of this paper to discover, if possible, how this doubt has arisen and to …

The Italian Magistracy Of Labour A Fascist Experiment, Leonard Manyon

Michigan Law Review

The legislators of Fascist Italy, although they vigorously affirm the unprecedented and original character of their achievement, do not despise history--or even pre-history--as a measure of that achievement. In the social and economic no less than in the political sphere, they claim the merit of vast innovations, whose true significance, they tell us, can be gauged only by surveying, across the course of centuries, the evolution of human civilization.

The United States And The League Of Nations, Clarence A. Berdahl

Michigan Law Review

With the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles by the necessary number of Powers on January 10, 1920, there came into existence that new experiment in international cooperation and government known as the League of Nations. It has grown from a membership of 43 states in 1920 to 55 in 1929. Including Great Powers and Small Powers, states of Europe, Asia, Africa, South, Central, and even North America, it can in no sense of the word be properly characterized as a European league merely, or another Holy Alliance, but is truly a world organization. Only Afghanistan, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, Russia, …

The Fifteenth Century-The Dark Age In Legal History, Joseph F. Francis

Michigan Law Review

Everywhere during the last few decades there has been a revolution in the thinking of educated men. I refer to the revolution in logical method and thought that had its impetus first in the non-Euclidian mathematicians. was then carried on by the logicians and philosophers and finally culminated in the startling conclusions announced by Einstein. This revolution has been an attack on absolutism and on the metaphysical nonentities that pervade all man's learning. The attack is not new, it is only new in vigor, in scope, and in promise.

When The Importer Is A State University, May The Government Collect A Duty?, Sweinbjorn Johnson

Michigan Law Review

The Tariff Act of 1922 has raised a question which may turn out to be one of great importance as well as one of unusual interest. It appears that in previous acts exemptions were granted, more or less general, in favor of schools, libraries and educational institutions with the result that on imports for their use no duties were levied or collected. In the law of 1922, however, no such exemptions appear, and the customs officers throughout the country have required state universities to pay a duty when the title passed abroad and the articles imported by them were intended …

Forestalling, Regrating And Engrossing, Wendell Herbruck

Michigan Law Review

The earliest attempts in English Law to regulate trade are to be found in the enactments against forestalling, regrating and engrossing and in them, it has been asserted, is the basis of our modern legislation against monopolies and combinations in restraint of trade. Aside, however, from the mention that is occasionally made of these crimes in connection with the history of the laws of trade, the words as a part of legal terminology are almost obsolete, although the word "forestalling" is used to define a crime punishable under the laws of Ohio and doubtless is to be found in other …

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

Going Value And Rate Valuation, Ben W. Lewis

Michigan Law Review

From the mere circumstance "that a controversy has been long kept on foot, and remains still undecided, we may presume that there is some ambiguity in the expression, and that the disputants affix different ideas to the terms employed ...... " Although David Hume was not here concerning himself with twentieth century utility regulation, his observation finds appropriate employment as a preface to a present day study of the problem of going value. The problem is an open one-temptingly open. Years of contention, an impressive array of publications by economists, attorneys, and engineers, and hundreds of opinions of courts and …

Due Process Of Law In State Labor Legislation, Fowler Vincent Harper

Michigan Law Review

Any regulation on the part of the state of the relations between the laborer and his employer must necessarily deprive the one or the other of his liberty or property, by interfering with his freedom to contract. The protection of freedom of contract which the Constitution affords is not, however, an absolute right. There is nothing necessarily unconstitutional about such legislation unless it is "without due process of law." In other words, legislation of this kind is usually a valid regulation if it can be justified as coming within the due process of law provision.

Interstate Ferries And The Commerce Clause, C. M. Kneier

Michigan Law Review

The Constitution of the United States confers upon Congress the power to regulate commerce among the several states; the transportation of passengers and freight across a navigable river from one state to another by ferryboat, however short the distance traversed, or frequent the trips made, is interstate commerce. It is the purpose of this study to point out what action Congress has taken under the power thus conferred upon it relative to interstate ferries and to determine the relative spheres of authority of the states and of the National Government over this subject.

Torts-Imputed Negligence-Common Enterprise

Michigan Law Review

The Supreme Court of Iowa has recently held that a family group engaged in a pleasure ride was a "common enterprise which no one had any particular right to control" and negligence on the part of the driver might be imputed to the other occupants of the car, barring recovery for an injury caused by the concurring negligence of the driver and the defendant. This, to say the least, is an expansion of the generally accepted doctrine of imputed negligence in America.

Cum Jocis Seriisque, Hon. William Renwick Riddell Lld., Dcl.

Michigan Law Review

The ruthless times of the later Stuarts can never be forgotten by anyone who takes an interest in the history of human freedom and the growth of law.

The extraordinary prosecutions for what was called Treason-not unfrequently Treason ex post facto, only-almost always resulting in a bloody death, were and are an object-lesson which cannot be too strongly impressed upon the minds of all who love freedom of thought and action. The times were cruel, the authorities from the King down disregardful of everything but control of men and money, and the gallant resistance of the few was an …

Congress And The National Administration, John A. Farlie

Michigan Law Review

Under the Constitution of the United States, Congress is vested with legislative powers; and under the classical doctrine of the separation of powers, it is primarily a law-making organ. A recent writer on government has, however, analyzed its functions under seven heads, as follows: as a constituent assembly, a canvassing board and electoral college, an organ of public opinion, a board of directors, an organ of legislation, an executive council, and a high court of justice. In its capacity as board of directors, he also states that "the whole power of direction, supervision and control of administrative affairs is legally …

Equality In International Law, Arnold D. Mcnair

Michigan Law Review

Under this title 1 propose to discuss the present position of the old doctrine of the Equality of States, to consider whether it has been helpful in the development of international society, and what prospect there is of that society finding in international law an instrument wherewith to bring about less inequality between States than at present exists.

Natural Law In American Constitutional Theory, Fowler Vincent Harper

Michigan Law Review

Natural law has had many meanings and diversified interpretations. Whether in the form of jus naturale, the law of nature, the law of reason, lex naturalis, lex aeterna, natural justice, or due process of law; natural law, in the broadest sense, has evolved as the needs of a particular civilization and the endeavors of its legal scholars have directed. It is significant, however, that as a philosophy of law, natural law continues to thrive, although the particular system which one community constructs may be abandoned by succeeding generations. Periods of growth in the law have been frequently accompanied …

A Rational Theory For Joinder Of Causes Of Action And Defences, And For The Use Of Counterclaims, William Wirt Blume

Michigan Law Review

In discussing, first, the joinder of actions it will be convenient to consider three groups or classes of cases:

Class I : Where one plaintiff (or joint plaintiffs) unites in a single proceeding two or more causes of action against one defendant (or joint defendants).

Class 2: "Where two or more plaintiffs, each having a cause of action against the same party (or parties), unite their causes of action in one proceeding.

Class 3: Where one plaintiff (or joint plaintiffs) having several causes of action, each against a different party, unites them in one proceeding.

In considering each group or …

The Early Liability Of A Bailee, Norman F. Arterburn

Michigan Law Review

All discussion of the origin of the absolute liability of a common carrier of goods naturally harks back to the earliest conception of a bailment and its related remedies. We have had two diametrically opposed views urged as to the first liability of the ordinary bailee. Justice Holmes and numerous other authorities take the view that the liability in the' first instance was absolute in the case of all bailees. Professor Beale is the exponent of the opposing view, that such liability was qualified to such an extent that it amounted in fact, only to negligence liability. An interpretation of …

The Primitive Character And Origin Of The Bonorum Possessio, George M. Bush

Michigan Law Review

The Bonorum Possessio, or Praetorian inheritance or succession, is one of the most important, complicated and difficult sections in the study of the Private law of Rome. This subject is not well known to students of Roman law, although so far it has been the object of much research on the part of many German and a few French, scholars.