Legislation Commons^™

The Securities Act Of 1933, Laylin K. James

Michigan Law Review

In 1907 a Pennsylvania superior court stated in one of its opinions that, "'there is no reason why a man should not be a fool.' As a corollary to that saying, it may be added that there is no reason why a court should protect a fool against the result of his folly. No new feature of rapacity in the buyer is apparent in this instance [ the purchase of property worth $ 5,000 prospectively for $ 500] to make him a worse offender against the law of fair dealing than an army of Shy locks who have preceded him. …

Constitutional Law - Moratory Legislation

Michigan Law Review

A Minnesota statute, in view of the economic emergency, provided, among other things, that courts might, upon petition of a mortgagor, extend the period of redemption from mortgage foreclosure sales for a definite time not beyond May 1, 1935. If a court took such action, the mortgagor was to remain in possession of the premises and pay a reasonable rental to the mortgagee. Held, by the United States Supreme Court in a five-to-four decision, that this statute did not violate the contracts, or due process, or equal protection clauses of the Constitution. Home Building and Loan Association v. Blaisdell …

National Industrial Recovery Act - President's Re-Employment Agreement - Injunction By Labor Union

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a Wisconsin labor union, was granted a temporary injunction restraining defendant shoe company, a party to the President's Re-employment Agreement, from "further interference with the right of its employes to organize into unions of their own free will and choice" and from "interfering with . . . the freedom of its employes in the designation of representatives of their own choice for the purpose of bargaining collectively" with the company. The court decided that defendant had violated its agreement with the President to comply with section 7 (a) of the National Industrial Recovery Act. This last was based on …

Federal Anti-Trust Law And The National Industrial Recovery Act, Howard E. Wahrenbrock

Michigan Law Review

The economic struggle for existence - the competitive system - which has been principally depended upon to equate the production and consumption of economic goods, is not self-sustaining. Extreme forms of that struggle - engrossing, forestalling, regrating, contracts in restraint of trade, monopoly, unfair competition, to mention some forms at the higher stages of legal development - have had to be restrained by law. Their restriction has been called for to protect the poor and economically weak from oppression by the rich and economically powerful; under a system of complete laissez faire, competition would bring about the elimination of the …

Control Of Securities Selling, Watson Washburn

Michigan Law Review

President Roosevelt in his inaugural address stated as one of the most important immediate necessities of the country "a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments." This statement is in line with his campaign criticism of the failure of the Republican national administration to check the inordinate inflation of security prices in 1929. There is no doubt that the President's program in this respect received a sympathetic hearing throughout the country. Many state legislatures are now considering changes in state laws regulating securities. It is interesting that some States with rigid blue sky laws seem to be quite …

Constitutional Law - The Delegation Of Federal Legislative Power To Executive Or Administrative Agencies

Michigan Law Review

The range of governmental activity, ever expanding both because of the adoption of new functions and because of the increase in proportions of the old, has developed a frequent need for supervision by specialized administrative agencies. In addition to the normal trend toward increased administrative control, present-day economic difficulties have provided additional impetus in that direction. Hence the question of how far Congress can go in turning over its duties to executive or administrative agencies has become of immediate and vital concern.

Undiscovered Fraud And Statutes Of Limitation, John P. Dawson

Michigan Law Review

Statutes of limitation are framed in terms of the interval between the accrual of a "cause of action" and the filing of suit. How far is the operation of this mathematical formula varied by the circumstance that the existence of the cause of action was for some time unknown to the suitor? In most American States statutes have given a partial answer to the question, but in uncertain terms. There, as well as in States where statutes are silent, an effort to provide a full and final answer would face a tangled web of history and legal doctrine, interwoven with …

Housing Legislation And Housing Policy In The United States, Ernest M. Fisher

Michigan Law Review

Passage by Congress of the "Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1932" just prior to adjournment in July has served to arouse widespread hope for a revival of the construction industry as a whole, and especially those activities of the industry that are bent upon producing new housing facilities. One of the provisions of the Act authorized the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to "make loans to corporations, formed wholly for the purpose of providing housing for families of low incomes, or for reconstruction of slum areas, which are regulated by state or municipal law as to rents, charges, capital structure, rate …

Congressional Redistricting And The Constitution, Harold M. Bowman

Michigan Law Review

Is congressional redistricting by state legislatures an exercise of the lawmaking function, subject to the governor's veto power? Is fairness in such redistricting secured today either by federal statute or by the federal Constitution? Of these two questions, posed by recent events, the first has been completely answered; the second has been answered in part only -- breeding in its answer new and troublesome problems.

Legislative Committees And Commissions In The United States, John A. Fairlie

Michigan Law Review

In the Congress of the United States and the legislatures of the forty-eight states committees composed of a limited number of members play an important part and to a large extent the predominant part, in legislation both by making preliminary inquiries and by planning the detailed provisions of measures. While important changes are at times made in the general sessions, the final result is in a large measure determined by the several committees. In most American legislative bodies there are numerous committees of various kinds, such as select committees for limited special purposes, standing committees regularly appointed, conference committees, and …

Limiting Jurisdiction Of Federal Courts-Pending Billscomment By Members Of Chicago University Law Faculty

Michigan Law Review

At the time the last session of Congress adjourned four important bills affecting the jurisdiction of federal district courts were being considered. The Norris-La Guardia bill would abolish the jurisdiction of federal district courts in suits of a civil nature "between citizens of different states." The Attorney General's bill would not eliminate any of the language of the first paragraph of section 24 of the Judicial Code but would add a provision that a foreign corporation carrying on business in a state other than the one wherein it was organized shall be treated as a citizen of the state wherein …

Comment Upon Failure Of Accused To Testify, Robert P. Reeder

Michigan Law Review

Last year the American Law Institute and the American Bar Association adopted resolutions declaring that when the defendant in a criminal trial does not testify the prosecution should be permitted to comment upon that fact. They urged the overthrow of a rule of law which have prevailed in the federal courts ever since accused persons were first permitted to give testimony, over fifty years ago, and which has governed the courts of forty-two out of the forty-eight states. The discussions which preceded the adoption of the resolutions have been published. In them the advocates of the change do not show …

President Hoover's Recommendations - Waiver Of Right To Accusation By Grand Jury Indictment

Michigan Law Review

In Illinois also the time between arrest and indictment is considerable. According to the figures of the Illinois Crime Survey the median time after preliminary hearing before indictment of persons who pleaded guilty ranged from thirteen days in Chicago to thirty-seven days in other parts of the state. An average of another two days is added by the time between arrest and preliminary hearing. In Missouri, too, the time interval is long. It seems reasonable to assume, therefore, that in the federal courts the time between arrest and indictment is at least as long, especially in districts where grand juries …

Legislation - Wisconsin Unemployment Insurance Act

Michigan Law Review

Culminating years of activity in its state legislature, Wisconsin on January twenty-eighth adopted the Groves Bill (Bill No. 8, A) providing for compulsory unemployment insurance, the first legislation of the sort to be enacted in the United States. For a discussion of unemployment insurance measures introduced at the 1931 legislatures see 30 MICH. L. REV. 410 (January, 1932). The compulsory plan is to become operative July 1, 1933, unless Wisconsin employers employing more than 175,000 workers in the state have by that date established approved voluntary insurance systems.

Insolvency Statutes Preferring Wages Due Employees, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

Insolvency statutes of a majority of American states and the bankruptcy acts of the United States and England allow a preference to the claims of employees for wages accruing prior to the employer's insolvency or bankruptcy. Related types of legislation such as statutes creating an absolute lien on the employer's property to secure payment of wages, giving a preference to the employees of a deceased employer in the administration of his estate, exempting the wages of laborers from attachment or garnishment, making stockholders of a corporation individually liable for debts representing wages due employees, allowing employees to interpose their claims …

Legislation - Old Age Pensions

Michigan Law Review

Out of our changing social theories has grown modern social legislation. The tendency is nowhere better illustrated than in the development of legislation for the care of aged persons. During the last decade great strides have been made in enacting such legislation, and the present year has seen increased activity, leading to the passage of old age pension laws in five states and to numerous other legislative accomplishments.

Legislation - Unemployment Insurance Bills

Michigan Law Review

The ever-present problem of unemployment is today particularly acute. The ultimate aim, of course, must be to put an end to unemployment. But achievement of this aim is not in sight, and in the meantime we are set the task of mitigating, so far as possible, the sufferings incident to unemployment. The laissez-faire attitude toward social problems is passing, and an increasing opinion accepts this task of mitigation as resting on society. In 1908 Sir William Beveridge was able to write: "There has been thus a steady, if gradual, growth of the sense of public responsibility for the case of …

Anti-Chain Store Legislation, Hugh A. Fulton

Michigan Law Review

During the past few years chain store merchandising has made such serious inroads upon the trade of independent wholesale and retail merchants that they have been forced to use every expedient within their reach in order to survive. They have banded together in order to achieve the economies which have made chain store merchandising so successful and have been rewarded with a large measure of success and even with the hope of competing on an equal basis with the average chain system. But they have not been satisfied with merely seeking to operate on a smaller margin of profit. They …

Statutes-Indefiniteness As Affecting Vaudity

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sought to enjoin the enforcement of Public Acts Conn. 1929, c. 296, section 4 of which prohibits the "sale or delivery of lubricating oil for use in motor vehicle engines, that shall not be 'equal to or better in quality and specifications' than that !mown as United States Government Specifications for Motor (Class D) Lubricants." Section 5 provides for all tests to determine quality to be made in accordance with methods contained in a certain technical paper of the Bureau of Mines, made a part of the act. The act further provided fines and imprisonment for violations. The district …

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.

Law In The Making, Burke Shartel

Michigan Law Review

A review of LAW IN THE MAKING By Carleton Kemp Allen.

Legislative Principles, Carl H. Manson

Michigan Law Review

A review of LEGISLATIVE PRINCIPLES By Robert Luce.

Review: Annual Survey Of English Law, 1928 And State Law Index-An Index And Digest To The Legislation Of The United States Enacted During Ths Biennium 1925-1926.

Michigan Law Review

A Review of ANNUAL SURVEY OF ENGLISH LAW, 1928. By the London School of Economics and Political Science., and STATE LAW INDEX-AN INDEX AND DIGEST TO THE LEGISLATION OF THE UNITED STATES ENACTED DURING THS BIENNIUM 1925-1926. By the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress.

When Is A Treaty Self-Executing, Leslie Henry

Michigan Law Review

A self-executing treaty is a treaty which of its own force furishes a rule of municipal law for the guidance of municipal courts in deciding cases involving the rights of individuals.

Ordinarily treaties are simply agreements or contracts between two or more sovereignties, obligating them to carry out the mutual promises contained therein. But under our Constitution a treaty is of greater force. It may operate as a law, just like an act of Congress. But the constitutional provision is not mandatory. Not every treaty provision is necessarily a law. For example, a promise to secure the passage of legislation …

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 …

Constitutional Law-Partial Unconstitutionality Of Statutes-Effect Of Saving Clause On General Rules Of Construction

Michigan Law Review

In recent legislation it has become fairly common to incorporate so-called "saving" clauses or sections. In effect, these usually state with variations in phraseology, that the adjudication of invalidity of any part of the act shall not affect the validity of the balance or any of the remaining parts of the act and, in some instances in addition, that notwithstanding a portion of the act is declared objectionable, the legislature would have passed the residue of the statute or any of its parts or that the remaining portions or any part thereof shall be enforced without reference to that invalidated.

Early American Price-Fixing Legislation, Arthur S. Aiton

Michigan Law Review

One of the most pernicious delusions of legislators is the persistent notion that the enactment of a law is the panacea for any human ill from short sheets in hotels to the immodesty of certain styles of female apparel. The history of law-making is strewn with the wreckage of freak legislation of this character but the law-mills, heedless of the past, continue to spew forth new monstrosities and to revive old failures. That the human family cannot be legislated into a set mold of behavior and that the economic laws which underlie trade and intercourse cannot be enacted out of …

Police Legislation Under Federal Powers

Michigan Law Review

A recent case decided by the United States Supreme Court United States v. Daugherty (Jan. 4, 1926) 46 Su. Ct. 156 (Adv. Opn. 303) sustained a conviction and sentence under the Harrison Anti-Narcotic Act, 38 Stat. 785, for "making unauthorized sales of cocaine to three different persons on different days" The indictment was in three counts, one covering each sale involved. The sentence imposed was "five years on each of said three counts. * * * * Said term of imprisonment to run consecutively and not concurrently."

Legislation And Judicial Decision, Rudolf Stammler

Michigan Law Review

The discussions of the theme indicated by the title usually start from Montesquieu's theory of the three powers. This famous doctrine is developed in his work "De 1' esprit des lois" (1748) Bk. II, Ch. 6. This chapter is entitled "Of the English Constitution". It discusses however all states in general. In every state there are three sorts of powers, the legislative authority, the executive authority in matters dependent upon the law of nations, and the executive authority in everything dependent upon civil law. The last Montesquieu calls the judicial power, while the one mentioned in the second place is …

The Federal Uniform Procedure Bill

Michigan Law Review

After eleven long years of reposing in the files of the judiciary committees, the Federal Procedure Bill (S. 2061), sponsored by the Committee on Uniform Judicial Procedure of the American Bar Association, has finally been favorably reported by the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, and the patron of the bill, Senator A. B. Cummins, will call it up for passage during the early days of the December session of Congress. For eleven long years opponents of the bill have succeeded in keeping it in committee files, and it is to be expected that the proponents of the measure will have …