Legislation Commons^™

Facially Neutral Criteria And Discrimination Under Title Vii: "Built-In Headwinds" Or Permissible Practices?, Dianne Brou Fraser

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article discusses how Title VII affects the operation of these facially neutral practices and attempts to determine when such practices are unlawful under Title VII. It also discusses the possible effects of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 on this problem.

Alternatives To Civil Commitment Of The Mentally Ill: Practical Guides And Constitutional Imperatives, David L. Chambers

Articles

In 1930, Ford sold Fords only in black and states offered treatment for mental illness only in public mental hospitals. Today, new views of mental health care and mental health problems have begotten a galaxy of new treatment settings. Few cities can boast community-based programs sufficient to meet their needs, but almost all cities of any size rely increasingly on outpatient programs. The large public mental hospitals still stand, of course. Indeed, every year more people enter public hospitals than entered the year before. Over 400,000 Americans were admitted as inpatients to state and county mental hospitals last year.1 Partly …

State Law Of Patent Exploitation, Edward H. Cooper

Articles

The main purpose of the present inquiry is to determine whether second thoughts support or undermine the instinctive supposition that the doctrines surrounding cooperative use of patents should be federal. The original creator of a patented invention is seldom in a position to exploit its commercial potential alone; even if the invention is created by the employee of a vast enterprise, it is almost inevitable that the patent will be assigned to his employer. Patent licensing plays a vitally important role in the development of many inventions. The contract doctrines surrounding such transactions, and various other consensual undertakings relating to …

The Federal Priority In Insolvency: Proposals For Reform, William T. Plumb Jr.

Michigan Law Review

In 1970, the ABA approved a revised version of its insolvency priority recommendation which is now before the Senate Judiciary Committee as S. 2197, having been introduced by Senator Quentin N. Burdick. "by request," for the purpose of inviting public comment. The suggestions and criticisms made in the following analysis of the proposal are meant to detract nothing from the great desirability of the reform, for which I have worked for many years, but are intended to facilitate the kind of accommodation to the legitimate interests of the Government that ultimately paved the way for the adoption of the Federal …

The Presidential Veto Power: A Shallow Pocket, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Problems created by the uncertain scope of the President's pocket-veto power do not often arise, but neither are they a matter of purely academic interest. Indeed, two Senators who have questioned President Nixon's use of the pocket-veto power base their challenge on the ambiguous language of the pocket-veto provision. They argue that the pocket-veto provision was intended to apply only in circumstances involving a final adjournment at the end of a term or a session of Congress and was not intended to apply to brief adjournments-such as the 1970 Christmas recess-occurring within a session of Congress. Senator Kennedy contends that …

Direct Judicial Review And The Doctrine Of Ripeness In Administrative Law, Joseph Vining

Articles

There has been recent interest in rationalizing and codifying the opportunities for judicial review of federal administrative determinations outside an enforcement context or special proceedings designated by statute. Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner culminated the development of a strong judicial presumption in favor of such review, founded in general considerations and justified by the broad language of the Administrative Procedure Act (AP A or Act). Since the petitioners in Abbott had theoretical rights to later review of the agency position in enforcement proceedings, the Court called the procedure "pre-enforcement" review. But similar opportunities for immediate and direct review of agency positions …

Bankruptcy--1970 Amendments To The Bankruptcy Act--An Attempt To Remedy Discharge Abuses, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

December 18, 1970, marked the end of a fifteen-year chapter in the history of American legislative proceedings dealing with "personal'' bankruptcy. On that date Public Law Number 91-467 took effect and thereby instituted changes in the Bankruptcy Act designed to "effectuate more fully the discharge in bankruptcy by rendering it less subject to abuse by harrassing creditors." The legislative steps leading to the 1970 amendment began with the introduction of the first "dischargeability" bill in 1955. This initial effort at reform stimulated a continuing flow of similar proposals leading to the ultimate acceptance of new substantive and procedural rules for …

Judicial Development Of The Law Of Selective Service Reopening, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this Comment is to restate the law of reopening as developed by the Act, the regulations, and the courts. The discussion will necessarily include a look at the abuses committed by local boards, the judicial reaction to these improprieties, and the availability of judicial review in various reopening situations, as well as comments on the various aspects of the substantive law of reopening.

Contracts, Conditions, And The Clayton Act: Causes Of Action Available To A Dealer Injured By An Exclusive-Dealing Arrangement, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this Comment to re-examine two of the three requirements of section 3 of the Clayton Act-with particular emphasis on the sale-or-contract-for-sale requirement-in an attempt to determine whether the formidable obstacle that judicial interpretation has made of these requirements is consistent with either the letter or spirit of the section. In discussing these requirements, this Comment will only consider the rights of parties who have at one time made purchases from a seller who utilizes exclusive-selling arrangements.

Religious Discrimination And The Role Of Arbitration Under Title Vii, Harry T. Edwards, Joel H. Kaplan

Michigan Law Review

One of the major thrusts of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, passed by the 88th Congress of the United States after much procrastination and debate, is title VII, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, which prohibits selected forms of employment discrimination.

In drafting title VII, the proponents of the Act were chiefly concerned with racial discrimination in employment. In fact, the entire Civil Rights Act was written with an eye toward the elimination of the "glaring ... discrimination against Negroes which exists throughout our nation." Given this intent, it is not surprising that, during the hearings and debates preceding the …

Federal Jurisdiction--Protective Jurisdiction And Adoption As Alternative Techniques For Conferring Jurisdiction On Federal Courts In Consumer Class Actions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

"Consumer protection" has come of age. The heightened appreciation of the consumer's plight has not been matched, however, by an equal commitment to providing effective programs for vindicating his cause. As a practical matter the consumer may be unable to assert his rights. Suits to enforce consumer rights are costly and are not likely to be brought when each individual claim is counted only in the tens of dollars.

Retroactive Laws--Environmental Law--Retroactive Application Of The National Environmental Policy Act Of 1969, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

On January I, 1970, Congress took a major step in the continuing struggle to control man's exploitation of his environment by enacting the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). This Act, hailed by some conservationists as one of the most important environmental developments of the decade, is designed primarily to prevent the misuse and abuse of the environment resulting either directly or indirectly from federal agency activity. In essence, by establishing a broad national policy giving a strong priority to the consideration of ecological factors and by implementing procedures designed to bring agency action into line with this policy, …

Criminal Law Revision In California, Arthur H. Sherry

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The high water mark of criminal law reform in California was reached in 1872 when the legislature, after at least a decade of indifference to requests for action, adopted the Penal Code, the Civil Code and the Code of Civil Procedure.' This emergence into the company of contemporary pioneers of codification, Louisiana and New York, was a source of complacent pride, but it proved to be completely ineffective as a stimulus for continuing revision or even further codification. Renewed interest in improving and modernizing the law was not apparent until well into the twentieth century. When this interest did appear, …

The Illinois Criminal Code Of 1961 And Code Of Criminal Procedure Of 1963, Charles H. Bowman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Illinois had no "Criminal Code" in the sense of a codified, systematic body of law functioning as an instrument of social control in a modern community. Many provisions had remained unchanged since Judge Lockwood, in submitting a revised draft of the Laws of Illinois to the Illinois General Assembly of 1827, described the small chapter on criminal jurisprudence as deriving primarily from a volume of the Laws of New York of 1802 which he brought with him to Illinois, and a volume of the Laws of Georgia which he located in the office of the Secretary of State. In fact, …

Criminal Law Revision In Delaware And Hawaii, Frank B. Baldwin Iii

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Criminal law revision has not been limited to the largest states, which have greater resources and legal facilities, but has also occurred in Delaware and Hawaii, states which have relatively small numbers of legal practitioners, no local school of law, and relatively small populations. In both states, criminal law revision efforts were quite similar, in that an early decision was made to rely heavily on published revised codes of other jurisdictions and on the Model Penal Code, rather than undertaking an extensive initial study and preparing a unique code. The following article will compare the criminal law revision projects in …

Title Iii - Recalcitrant Witnesses, Jeffrey J. Greenbaum

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This title represents a congressional attempt to codify the court-developed civil contempt practice. When a witness is granted immunity and still refuses to answer the question presented to him he can be ordered by a court to answer the specific question. Upon his continued refusal, a court can have him confined summarily until he complies with such order, or until he is no longer able to comply. Such confinement is not intended to be punitive in nature, but rather to coerce compliance with the court's order by imposing imprisonment as an alternative to answering the question. The witness will be …

Title Vi - Depositions, Peter A. Kelly

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Title VI expands Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to permit the Government to depose its witnesses in certain limited classes of cases. Previously only the defendant had been accorded this right. Upon the motion of either party at any time after a criminal indictment or information has been filed, the court may order that the testimony of the party's witnesses be taken by deposition if "due to exceptional circumstances it is in the interest of justice" that such testimony be taken and preserved. Such exceptional circumstances were intended by Congress to include the existence of a …

Title Vii - Litigation Concerning Sources Of Evidence, Peter A. Kelly

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

There are two operative provisions of title VII, both of which mitigate previous judicially imposed restrictions on governmental collection and presentation of evidence in "any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any court, grand jury, department, officer, agency, regulatory body, or other authority of the United States.” The first purports to set aside the Supreme Court's holding in the 1968 case of Alderman v. United States, in which the Court held that, in cases involving unlawful electronic surveillance, the government must make full disclosure to the defendant of all records in its possession which contain any of …

Title Viii - Gambling And Organized Crime, Richard Levy

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

With these words, President Richard Nixon underscored the dangers presented by organized crime's use of gambling. The proceeds of such syndicated gambling activities are universally acknowledged to be the financial lifeblood of organized crime. With the capital initially obtained from illicit gambling, organized crime operatives are able to bribe government officials, make political contributions, engage in loan sharking operations, infiltrate and contaminate legitimate businesses, and hire the vast number of attorneys, accountants and other professionals necessary to the success of the operation. In an effort to launch a frontal attack on syndicated gambling throughout the United States, Congress enacted title …

New York Specious Cash Sales Act, Craig D. Holleman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The New York Legislature recently moved to protect consumers in that state from unscrupulous retailers of consumer goods and financers of consumer loans by enacting the Specious Cash Sales Act. The new law is the third in a series of measures designed to remedy certain perceived inequities to which the holder in due course doctrine gives rise in the consumer goods field. Earlier this year, the Legislature undercut complicated mechanisms whereby a finance company could procure from a retailer contracts and obligations containing a waiver-of-defenses provision executed by the buyer-consumer. This law in turn complemented a still earlier statute which …

A Guide To The Estate And Gift Tax Amendments Of 1970, Douglas A. Kahn

Articles

The Excise, Estate, and Gift Tax Adjustment Act of 1970 [Pub. L. No. 91-614 (Dec. 31, 1970) made a number of amendments to the federal estate and gift tax laws. The estate tax laws were amended to shorten the period of time for filing estate tax returns and for the alternate valuation date and for several related items. In addition, for income tax purposes, the holding period of property that was included in a decedent's gross estate and that was acquired from the decedent was altered; and fiduciaries were granted additional means of obtaining a discharge of their personal liability …

Symposium: Recondification Of The Criminal Laws, Francis A. Allen

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The revision of American criminal legislation, both state and federal, has been for many years one of the most insistently required tasks of law reform. Even yet its urgency and importance are not fully realized. There are, however, signs that a genuine movement toward rethinking and restating our criminal jurisprudence is under way. This Symposium seeks to give encouragement and guidance to the revision movement by collecting relevant experience and reflections from a few of those who participated in pioneering ventures in criminal law codification.

Reflection On The Law Reforming Process, Sanford J. Fox

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This paper is based on three experiences as draftsman or reporter in penal law legislation projects. The first such experience was as sole draftsman for a New Hampshire criminal code, an undertaking commenced in November 1967, which produced a proposed code in April 1969. I am continuing this activity at the present time as assistant to a committee of the New Hampshire legislature that is currently holding hearings on the proposal in preparation for reporting out a criminal code bill this spring. Since work on the New Hampshire code represents the most extensive experience, it is the basis for most …

Organized Crime Control Act Of 1970: Introduction, J. Brian Williams

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The purpose of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 is to facilitate the eventual eradication of organized crime in the United States, by strengthening the evidence-gathering process, by adopting new penal prohibitions, and by creating increased sanctions and numerous remedies to deal with unlawful activities. The primary thrust of the Act is aimed at three areas: the investigation of organized crime; the punishment of organized crime; and the examination of existing laws to determine their effectiveness in dealing with organized crime.

Title I - Special Grand Jury, Jeffrey J. Greenbaum

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Title I establishes special grand juries to sit in major population areas and other areas designated by the Attorney General. These grand juries are protected from arbitrary dismissal by the district court before completion of their work. They can sit for extended periods (a maximum of thirty-six months), and are authorized to issue reports concerning (a) noncriminal misconduct of appointed government officials or employees involving organized criminal activity; and (b) organized crime conditions within the district. When reports are issued concerning governmental misconduct, individuals named are given notice, afforded the opportunity to present evidence, file an answer, and obtain judicial …

Title Ii - General Immunity, Jeffrey J. Greenbaum

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This title repeals or conforms the over fifty existing federal immunity statutes and establishes a uniform federal immunity statute to apply to proceedings before or ancillary to a court, grand jury, or agency of the United States, either house of Congress, or its joint committees, committees or subcommittees. The scope of immunity granted protects a witness from the use of his testimony or its fruits in a future criminal prosecution, but does not protect him from prosecution itself. This reflects a positive decision by Congress that the fifth amendment self-incrimination clause only requires a grant of what has been referred …

Title Iv - False Declarations, Jeffrey J. Greenbaum

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Title IV was designed to facilitate the bringing of federal perjury prosecutions, thereby strengthening the deterrent value of the perjury penalties and acting as a greater incentive for truthful testimony. It establishes a new false declarations statute applicable to court and grand jury proceedings, with maximum penalty slightly increased over that allowable under the previously controlling perjury statute.

Title X - Dangerous Special Offender Sentencing, Richard Levy

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Undoubtedly the most controversial new provision in the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 is title X. Title X authorizes a federal prosecuting attorney to notify the defendant and the court before trial that the defendant, if found guilty of the felony on which he is being tried, is in the prosecutor's opinion also subject to the dangerous special offender provisions embodied in the title. Should the defendant be judged guilty of the felony, he then will fall subject to an additional penalty beyond that received for the conviction if the judge finds that he qualifies as one of three …

Title Ix - Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations, Richard Levy

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Organized crime's penetration of legitimate business has long been a major congressional concern. Although the means employed to effect such penetration may vary, the result remains constant; organized crime is provided with additional economic power and a facade of legitimacy behind which it can more easily spread its influence and pursue its goals. At the same time, organized crime's monopolistic tendencies, furthered by its use of various forms of coercion, pose a serious threat to free trade and lawful ownership. Prior law proved inadequate in curtailing these abuses. Federal law was piecemeal and not designed to meet the challenge of …

Secondary Boycott: From Antitrust To Labor Relations, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

The ethos of the labor movement cuts against the American grain at several points. Our national instinct, reflected in many statutes and much judge-made law, is to exalt the rugged individualist over the anonymous group, to favor wide-open competition rather than a controlled market, and to prize the right of each person to remain aloof from the quarrels and concerns of his neighbors. It is not for nothing that our most universal folk hero is the frontiersman, who proudly stands alone and self-sufficient. Yet the ordinary workingman does not have the capacity to assume that heroic stance. For him strength …