Legislation Commons^™

Civil Procedure - Judgments - Res Judicata Effect Of Declaratory Judgments, Robert G. Russell S.Ed..

Michigan Law Review

In a former action brought pursuant to the Colorado Declaratory Judgment Act, plaintiff was declared to have the right to use a certain roadway as dedicated and defendant was enjoined from interfering with or obstructing plaintiff's use of the same. Thereafter, plaintiff brought the present action to recover damages allegedly resulting from defendant's blockading of the road prior to the bringing of the former action. On appeal from a judgment for plaintiff, held, reversed. Where, as here, the damages were antecedent and might with propriety have been determined in the same proceeding in which the declaratory judgment alone was …

Borderland - Where Copyright And Design Patent Meet, Richard W. Pogue

Michigan Law Review

Copyright law and design patent law contemplate basically different objects of protection. Yet at the outer fringes of these types of protection certain concepts overlap to form a rather undefined borderland in which it is difficult to say what law is applicable-copyright law, patent law, neither, or both. It is the purpose of this paper to explore this borderland area in the light of traditional copyright and patent law principles, with attention given to policy considerations involved, and to offer suggestions toward drawing a sharper boundary between the two.

Constitutional Law - State Action - Trade Union's Authority Is Not Derived From The State, S. I. Shuman S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs claimed that defendant union and defendant company conspired to discriminate against Negro cab driver employees by means of a working regulation intended to compel plaintiffs to pick up passengers only in wards inhabited primarily by Negroes. Two bases for original jurisdiction in federal court were advanced. First, it was contended that the cause of action involved more than $3,000 and arose under the laws of the United States because the bargaining power of the union was conferred upon it by the National Labor Relations Act. Second, it was maintained that the Civil Rights Act vested jurisdiction, on the ground …

Constitutional Law - Congressional Powers - Validity Of The 1951 Gamblers' Occupation Tax Act, James W. Callison S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The Revenue Act of 1951 levied a tax on persons engaged in the business of accepting wagers, requiring such persons to register their names and places of business and residence with the Collector of Internal Revenue. The act also required the disclosure of the name and address of each person receiving wagers for the registrant, or, if the registrant himself received wagers for another, the name of that person. Violations of the act were punishable by fine and imprisonment. Defendant was indicted for willful failure to register and pay the tax. The district court granted defendant's motion to dismiss on …

Constitutional Law-Equal Protection-Validity Of State Restraints On Alien Ownership Of Land, Alfred W. Blumrosen S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In the short period of five years, action on three governmental fronts has solved one problem of state legislation which seemed to violate a basic premise of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Congress, the Supreme Court and the courts of last resort of two states have acted to destroy the effectiveness of state laws which prohibited ownership of land by aliens ineligible for citizenship. These laws incorporated whatever classification Congress established for naturalization purposes into state statutes determining rights to own land. This process has resulted in recent years in discrimination against Orientals, particularly Japanese. The purpose …

Labor Law-Labor-Management Relations Act-Emergency Strike Provisions, Walter H. Weiner S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Suit by the United States, under authority of the National Emergency provisions of Title II of the Labor-Management Relations Act, to enjoin a strike in a single plant engaged in the manufacture of pipe used in the construction of atomic energy plants. The district court granted an injunction, and the labor organizations adversely affected thereby appealed. Held, affirmed. The threatened strike would have affected a substantial part of the atomic weapon industry and would have imperiled the national safety. United States v. United Steelworkers of America, C.I.O., (2d Cir. 1953) 202 F. (2d) 132.

Labor Law-Labor-Management Relations Act-Effect Of Affirmative Deauthorization Vote Upon Existing Union-Shop Contract, Richard D. Rohr S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

One month after the employer and the union entered into a two-year contract containing a union-shop provision, a group of employees filed a petition under section 9(e)(1) of the NLRA as amended in 1951 seeking an election to rescind the union's authority to make a union-shop agreement. The union argued (1) that the contract was a bar to the election and (2) that even if an immediate election was ordered and an affirmative deauthorization vote cast, the existing union-shop clause should be held effective during the remainder of the contract term. The Board ruled, 3/2, that section 9(e)(1) as …

Constitutional Law-Due Process-Vague And Indefinite Statute, S. I. Shuman

Michigan Law Review

The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by section 301(f) prohibits a factory operator from refusing to permit entry and inspection as provided by section 704. Violation of section 301(f) is made a misdemeanor by section 303(a). Section 704 authorizes persons "duly designated by the Administrator, after first making request and obtaining permission of the . . . operator" of the factory, "to enter" and "to inspect" at "reasonable times." Defendant was convicted by the district court for violating section 301(f), having refused permission to authorized persons to enter and inspect at a reasonable time. The court of appeals reversed, on …

Constitutional Law-Relation Between State And Federal Governments, J. David Voss

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs, employees of a United States Naval Ordnance Plant located in an area of exclusive federal jurisdiction within the State of Kentucky, sued in a state court for a declaratory judgment that a license tax on the privilege of working in the City of Louisville, measured by a percentage of all salaries, wages and commissions earned within the city, was not applicable to them. Defendants' demurrer was overruled, and the collection of the tax enjoined. The Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed, and judgment was entered for the defendants. The court of appeals affirmed. On appeal to the United States Supreme …

Corporations-Power Of Legislature To Revive Corporate Charter, John S. Slavens S.Ed

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, a New York corporation, was engaged in operating steamboats for sightseeing purposes below Niagara Falls. Defendant was incorporated in 1892 for a term of fifty years, the maximum then permitted by statute. Through inadvertence the charter was not renewed in 1942. The corporation continued in its regular course of business, and in 1947 when the oversight was discovered, the board of directors, with the approval of three-fourths of the shareholders, immediately revived the corporation under a statutory provision enacted in 1944. Plaintiffs, shareholders of the corporation, claimed that application of the provision was an unconstitutional deprivation of their rights …

Legislation-Invalidity Of Statutes Framed In Vague Terms, Richard W, Pogue S.Ed

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, president of a corporation which processes apples for shipment in interstate commerce, was convicted of violating §301(f) of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. That section prohibits "the refusal to permit entry oi inspection as authorized by section 704"; section 704 authorizes federal officers, "after first making request and obtaining permission of the owner, operator or custodian" of the factory "to enter" and "to inspect" the establishment "at reasonable times." Federal authorities requested permission to enter and inspect defendant's factory at reasonable hours, but permission was refused. This refusal was the basis of the conviction. The Court of Appeals …

Obtaining The Gift Tax Exclusion On Gifts In Trust: Drafting And Legislative Suggestions, Zolman Cavitch

Michigan Law Review

The purposes of this article are to outline the "future interest" pitfalls in the use of various conventional trust provisions, to explore remedial drafting possibilities even under the present law, and to suggest a statutory amendment which will eliminate the fundamental defects of the present poorly-drafted law.

Advancements: I, Harold I. Elbert

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this monograph is to consider the afore-mentioned topics and other questions inherent in the doctrine of advancements. Different interpretations in the various states will be discussed. The principal objectives of the work are to make a comparative study of advancement legislation and to state the law as it actually exists as a basis for determining whether it can be improved.

Comparative Negligence, William L. Prosser

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this article to inquire, so far as possible, into the actual operation of the damage apportionment statutes, and to offer some conclusions as to the most desirable form of act for any legislature about to set forth upon these relatively uncharted seas.

Legislation-Michigan Veterans' Re-Employment Act, William Andrew Bain, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A recent Michigan statute provides for the re-employment of former employees of the state or the subdivisions thereof who left their positions, voluntarily or involuntarily, for service in the armed forces of the United States and have been honorably discharged. No opinion as to the interpretation or effect of the statute has been rendered by the Michigan courts or by any official state agency, but an examination of the very similar federal statute, and the litigation which it has fostered, indicates that a number of problems may arise. An insight into some typical problems and their possible solutions may be …

Retroactive Legislation Affecting Interests In Land, John Scurlock

Michigan Legal Studies Series

Professor Scurlock's monograph covers an area of the law which is commonly by-passed in treatises and in classroom instruction. If we could merely tear Maitland's "seamless web" of the law and retain all the shreds, no part of the legal system would escape us. What we actually do, however, is to set up, in a more or less arbitrary fashion, numerous centers of legal classification, such as contracts, torts, property and constitutional law, to which closely related legal materials are attracted as to a magnet. But those legal materials which stand midway between two centers of attraction are likely to …

The Steel Seizure Case: Congress, The President And The Supreme Court, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

Questions relating to the legislative authority of Congress and of the several states have given rise to an immense mass of constitutional litigation ever since the time that the Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison asserted its power of judicial review. Many of these cases have turned on the division of legislative authority between Congress and the state legislatures under our federal system. Yet within this same span of time relatively few cases have arisen to challenge the assertions of presidential power, and in only a few instances has the Court found occasion to speak at length on the questions …

Taxation-Federal Estate And Gift Taxation-Powers Of Appointment Act Of 1951, William O. Allen S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this comment to trace the history of Congress' treatment of powers of appointment in the past and to examine the latest legislative pronouncement, the Powers of Appointment Act of 1951.

Labor Law-Arbitration-Applicability Of The United States Arbitration Act To Collective Bargaining Agreements, Morris G. Shanker S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought an action in the federal district court for Pennsylvania against the defendant labor union for damages caused by a strike, allegedly in violation of a written collective bargaining agreement between them. This contract also provided, inter alia, for submission to arbitration of all differences arising between the parties under the contract. However, no arbitration had been had prior to this suit. Defendant moved to stay all proceedings pending arbitration, allegedly as authorized by section 3 of the United States .Arbitration .Act providing for such stays in " . . . any suit or proceeding . . . brought …

Federal Antitrust Legislation: Guideposts To A Revised National Antitrust Policy, S. Chesterfield Oppenheim

Michigan Law Review

The year 1952 finds various currents of controversy in the antitrust field converging toward the necessity for a survey and reappraisal of the body of congressional legislation generally known as the "federal antitrust laws." The foundation stone in the trio of principal antitrust statutes is the Sherman Act of 1890. Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Clayton Act of 1914, as amended, are the other two members of this major group of antimonopoly laws. While differing in particulars in its impact upon the American economy, each of these basic statutes is avowedly designed to maintain competition …

Ten Probate Codes, Lewis M. Simes

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this article to summarize some of the most important aspects of these codes for the purpose of indicating legislative trends. For the most part, they will be discussed in the chronological order of their enactment. While some of them deal with many other matters besides the law of decedents' estates, such as guardianships and testamentary trusts, this discussion will be limited to the substantive and procedural law of decedents' estates, exclusive of matters of ancillary administration.

Trends In Modern Corporation Legislation, Kenneth K. Luce

Michigan Law Review

Any discussion of trends and developments in modem corporation legislation must assume some understanding of the historical antecedents of that legislation and the judicial approach to its interpretation. As a practical matter the outline of modern legislation has emerged within the memory of living men, but "in order to know what it is, we must know what it has been, and what it tends to become." The state is less concerned today than long ago about the corporation becoming a state within the state and usurping political power, although such concern could and does evidence itself from time to time. …

Loss: Securities Regulation, Arthur H. Dean

Michigan Law Review

A Review of SECURITIES REGULATION. By Louis Loss.

The Uniform Code Of Military Justice-New Rights And A Means To Enforce Them, John F. Spindler

Michigan Law Review

The Uniform Code of Military Justice, designed to govern the entire military establishment of the United States, was enacted May 5, 1950, replacing the three separate systems of law theretofore applied to the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Pressure for a uniform code was a reflection of the great surge toward unification of the Armed Services which followed World War II. The new Code, however, is not just a revision and consolidation of the prior systems of military law. World War II, with its great increase in the size of the Armed Services and in the percentage of the population …

Bills And Notes-Right Of Maker Of Promissory Note To Set-Off In An Action By A Post-Maturity Transferee, Harold S. Lentz S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In an action upon a promissory note by a holder who was a transferee after maturity, the maker sought to set-off collateral claims which he held against the holder's transferor. Section 58 of the Negotiable Instruments Law provides: ''In the hands of any holder other than a holder in due course a negotiable instrument is subject to the same defenses as if it were non-negotiable." Another statute of the jurisdiction allowed set-off of collateral claims against third persons in actions on negotiable instruments. The lower court refused to allow the set-off. On appeal, held, reversed. Section 58 of the …

Labor Law-Jurisdiction Of Nlrb Under Self-Imposed Limitations, Bernard L. Goodman S.Ed., Robert S. Griggs S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Under the original National Labor Relations Act of 1935 and that act as it stands amended by Title I of the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947, Congress has conferred upon the National Labor Relations Board regulatory authority in certain areas of industrial relations, the jurisdictional extent of which is conterminous with the power of the federal government under the commerce clause of the Constitution. At an early date, however, the Board determined that ''budgetary limitations as well as the need to avoid diffusion of its time and energy ... [justified] it in not exerting its jurisdictional authority to the legal …

Federal Procedure-Jurisdiction-Determination Of Amount In Controversy In Class Actions Under Federal Rule 23, James W. Callison

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff owned 50 shares of common stock valued at $950. She brought an action in behalf of herself and all other stockholders to enjoin a sale of unissued stock by the corporation to its president, claiming a violation of her preemptive right. The district court ruled on the merits. On appeal, held, the plaintiff's interest was but a small fraction of the $3,000 required to invoke the jurisdiction of the federal courts. Although the action was representative, the claims of other stockholders in a like situation could not be cumulated. Ames v. Mengel Co., (2d Cir. 1951) 190 …

Legislation-Statutes In Pari Materia-Administrative Board Rulings, Robert B. Krueger

Michigan Law Review

Lane's application for an annuity under the Railroad Retirement Act to the lower adjudicative branches of the Railroad Retirement Board was denied. Lane, by claiming that a "grievance" had been created by the railroad's insistence that he had voluntarily resigned from its service in 1933, then brought the matter before the National Railroad Adjustment Board, which found that Lane had been an "employee" of the railroad from 1905 to 1937. When Lane's case was subsequently heard before the Retirement Board, the findings of the lower adjudicative branches of the Board were affirmed and the Board held that it was not …

Current Trends In State Legislation 1952, University Of Michigan Law School

Michigan Legal Studies Series

The Legislative Research Center of the University of Michigan Law School herewith presents the first of a series of volumes which will, over the years, assume very substantial proportions-a series prepared and published by the Center dealing with current problems of statute law.

A major aspect of the work of the Legislative Research Center involves a continuing study of contemporary trends in state legislation- studies to show where the legislative process is leading us. The present volume on "Current Legislative Trends" is the first in a continuing series of annual or biennial monographs dealing with statute law as it is …

Actions Quasi In Rem Under Section 1655, Title 28, U. S. C., William Wirt Blume

Michigan Law Review

Section 1655 of Title 28, U.S.C. (1948) was originally section 8 of an act of Congress approved March 3, 1875. A somewhat similar statute, limited to equity cases, had been enacted in 1872. Paragraph one of the present section reads:

"In an action in a district court to enforce any lien upon or claim to, or to remove any incumbrance or lien or cloud upon the title to, real or personal property within the district, where any defendant cannot be served within the State, or does not voluntarily appear, the court may order the absent defendant to appear or plead …