President/Executive Department Commons^™

The Life Of George Washington, By John Marshall, C. V. Ridgely

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Problems Under Lincoln, By James G. Randall, Oliver P. Field

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

Abraham Lincoln, William O. Lynch

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

President Roosevelt And The Judiciary, Rex M. Petterf

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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 …

Pardons In Impeachment Cases, Maurice Taylor Van Hecke

Michigan Law Review

A year ago, Governor Miriam Ferguson, of Texas, approved an act of the legislature of that state, the gist of which reads as follows:

"That every person against whom any judgment of conviction has heretofore been rendered by the Senate of the State of Texas in any impeachment case, shall be and is hereby granted a full and unconditional release of any and all acts and offenses of which he was so convicted by said Senate of the State of Texas, upon any charge or proceedings of impeachment.

"That any and all penalties or punishment inflicted by or resulting from …

The Technique Of Judicial Appointment, Harold J. Laski

Michigan Law Review

It is difficult to overestimate the significance of the judiciary in the modern state. The work of the executive has become so vast, the powers delegated to it by the legislature are so wide, that judges are, perhaps more than at any previous time, the real safeguard of personal liberty. It is only necessary to recall cases like Coppage v. Kansas, or R. v. Halliday, to realize how nearly judicial activity goes to the very heart of freedom. That is, of course, even more the case when, as with America, the constitution of the state is written, and …

The Federal Trade Commission, By Gerard C. Henderson (1924), K. E. Leib

Washington Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Judicial Review Of Executive Acts, Albert Levitt

Michigan Law Review

The relation of the judiciary to the executive branch of the Government is a perplexing one. According to the Constitution, the government of the United States is threefold in character, legislative, executive and judicial. Each of these is supposed to be independent of the others. One cannot usurp the function of any one of the others. At the same time, this is a "Government of laws and not of men." It is equally true that this is a government of laws and not of political subdivisions or of the subdivisions of governmental mechanisms. Legislators, executives and judiciary must abide by …

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 …

Unrecognized Government Or State In English And American Law (Part 2), Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

PROBABLY no one in the British Empire or the United States would question the doctrine that it belongs exclusively to the political departments to recognize new governments or states. The difficulties involved are those which arise in the application of a doctrine so broadly stated. Not every situation involving an unrecognized government or state requires the decision of a question of recognition. If the decision of a political question is not involved, then it is entirely proper for the courts to take cognizance of a mere de facto government or state. In what situations may the courts appropriately take account …

Unrecognized Government Or State In English And American Law (Part 1), Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

From the decision of this novel case, reported as Pelzer v. United Dredging Co., we may infer that the New York courts regard unrecognized Mexico as a sort of legal vacuum. In granting the corporation's motion for judgment on the pleadings, the Supreme Court said: "The administratrix plaintiff is an officer of a foreign court. It is syllogistically true that if the foreign court has no recognized power here she may not assert a right derived through her appointment therefrom. The Mexican government is not de facto here, since recognition alone can make it so. It may have all the …

The Supreme Court's Adjudication Of Constitutional Issues In 1921-1922, Thomas Reed Powell

Michigan Law Review

The power of Congress over the territories was involved in three cases. Balzac v. Porto Rico held that Porto Rico has not been "incorporated" into the United States so as to make applicable the constitutional requirement of trial by jury in criminal cases. This had been substantially settled in some of the Insular Cases, leaving only the question whether the situation had since been changed. In holding that it had not, Chief Justice Taft placed chief reliance on the absence of any explicit declaration by Congress and on the fact that in the Organic Act of Porto Rico of March …

Indemnity Act Of 1863 A Study In The War-Time Immunity Of Governmental Officers, James G. Randall

Michigan Law Review

One of the familiar measures of the Union administration during the Civil War was the suspension of the habeas corpus privilege and the consequent subjection of civilians to military authority. The essential irregularity of such a situation in American law is especially conspicuous when one considers its inevitable sequel-namely, the protection of military and civil officers from such prosecution as would normally follow invasion of private rights and actual injury of persons and property. Such protection was supplied by a bill of indemnity passed in 1863, and this law, with its amendment of i866, forms a significant chapter in the …

Termination Of War, John M. Mathews

Michigan Law Review

The termination of war must, at the outset, be distinguished Ifrom the termination of hostilities or actual warfare. As has been said, war is "not the mere employment of force, but the existence of the legal condition of things in which rights are or may be prosecuted by force. Thus, if two nations declare war one against the other, war exists, though no force whatever may as yet have been employed."' Similarly, it follows that, although actual hostilities have ceased, the status of war may continue until terminated in some regular way recognized by international law as sufficient for that …

Newton D. Baker Scrapbook, May 19, 1920-February 20, 1921, Newton D. Baker

Newton D. Baker Scrapbooks

No abstract provided.

United States Department Of State, John M. Mathews

Michigan Law Review

In the conduct of foreign relations, the President, though ultimately responsible to the people for the general success or failure of such conduct, is unable, of course, to give his personal attention to any except what he deems to ,be the most important and momentous questions of policy. For handling the great mass of routine matters and even for the determination of many questions of policy which are of considerable importance, he is dependent upon the assistance of the agencies supplied for that purpose. These agencies are, principally, the department of state, the diplomatic service, and the consular service. These …

British War Cabinets, John A. Fairlie

Michigan Law Review

During the progress of the present world war there has been a remarkable series of developments in the British Cabinet and, ministry, involving not only many changes of personnel but also fundamental alterations in the constitution of the Cabinet and its relations to Parliament. An analysis of these is not only of interest as an important phase of the history of the war, and the evolution of political institutions; but is also of value in dealing with problems and proposals for governmental reorganization in the United States.

Our Chief Executive, Lena Madesin Phillips

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Power Of The President Over Foreign Affairs, Allen Welsh Dulles

Michigan Law Review

In a recent article former Assistant Attorney General James M. Beck challenges the constitutionality of the measures which President Wilson has taken in the carrying out of the foreign affairs policy of this government. While his criticism is especially directed against the action of the President in appointing such confidential agents as John Lind and Colonel House without the consent of the Senate, he makes the sweeping assertion that the President must share the general control of foreign affairs with the Senate. Mr. Beck's position is clearly shown in the following quotations from his article: "Those provisions of the Constitution …

Note And Comment, John B. Waite, Henry Rottschaefer, Roswell B. O'Harra, Leslie C. Mcclelland, Russell B. James, Hollis Harshman

Michigan Law Review

The Completion of a Contract by Posting of Acceptance - In the recent case of Kennedy Mcrcantile Co. v. Western Union Telegraph Co., the court says, "It is well settled law in this state that,where an offer is submitted by letter, an acceptance is conclusive and binding when a letter is deposited in the post-office accepting the same. The delivery to the one making the offer is not the test; for when the offer is submitted in that way it is equivalent to an invitation to accept by the same means, and when the acceptance is delivered to the agency …

The State Governor Ii, John A. Fairlie

Michigan Law Review

The power of the governor over the executive administration includes on the one hand his general control over the whole administration, and on the other hand the special authority conferred in certain particular branches of administration. His general authority is based on his control over the personnel of the administration, by means of his powers of appointment and removal; and by his power to see that the laws are executed, and more specific authority to direct and control the actions of subordinate officials. His special administrative powers include those in relation to military affairs and the external affairs of the …

The State Governor I, John A. Fairlie

Michigan Law Review

In all the States of the American Union there is an official known as the governor, who is at the head of the executive department of the State government. Most of the State constitutions provide that "the supreme executive power" shall be vested in the governor; and in some States, the phrase "chief executive power" is used; while others have the simpler form, "the executive power," as found in the national constitution. The qualifying adjective, "supreme" or "chief," found in most of the State constitutions serves to indicate at the outset a difference in the position of the governor from …

United States Department Of Justice, John A. Fairlie

Michigan Law Review

The Department of Justice has been developed from the English office of Attorney-General, with important features added in the course of American experience. As early as the reign of Edward I, almost contemporaneous with the appearance of a special legal profession in England, we find Crown Attorneys (Attornati Regis) employed for guarding the royal privileges in the courts. By the time of Edward IV the official title of Attorney-General appears for the first time. A little later, as the distinction between barristers and solicitors became established, the Crown lawyers are distinguished as the King's Attorney and the King's Solicitor. These …

Removal Of Public Officers From Office For Cause, Ii, Alonzo H. Tuttle

Michigan Law Review

We have seen by the great weight of authority that removal for cause requires notice, charges and a chance to defend. It remains for us to discuss the most difficult question of all. What is the nature of this power? Is it judicial or executive in character? The importance of this question is two-fold. 1. If executive in nature, the courts have no power to review it by the writ of certiorari. If judicial, they have. 2. If judicial, the question arises, is it constitutional to confer such a power on an executive officer? Upon the question whether the power …

Removal Of Public Officers From Office For Cause, I, Alonzo H. Tuttle

Michigan Law Review

Decidedly the most important and best considered debate in the history of Congress, is what Wm. Evarts calls the debate that took place in 1789 in the first session of Congress, under the Constitution, on the question of the nature of the power of the President to remove his appointees from office. The character of this debate is discussed elsewhere in this magazine." Suffice it to say that as a result it was decided then by Congress that under the Constitution the President has the absolute power of removal of all his appointees, without the assent of the Senate. This …

The Power Of The Senate To Amend A Treaty, Bradley M. Thompson

Articles

The recent refusal of the Senate to ratify eight general arbitration treaties which the President had concluded with Austria-Hungary, Switzerland, Great Britain, France, Portugal, Germany, Mexico, and Norway and Sweden, until, against the protest of the President, it had modified them materially by amendment, has called public attention to the treaty-making power, and has raised the question as to whether or not any of that power is vested in the Senate.

The Power Of The Senate To Amend A Treaty, Bradley M. Thompson

Articles

The recent refusal of the Senate to ratify eight general arbitration treaties which the President had concluded with Austria-Hungary, Switzerland, Great Britain, France, Portugal, Germany, Mexico,' and Norway and Sweden, until, against the protest of the President, it had modified them materially by amendment, has called public attention to the treaty-making power, and has raised the question as to whether or not any of that power is vested in the Senate.

Administrative Powers Of The President, John R. Fairlie

Michigan Law Review

Turning now to those particular branches of administration where the Constitution confers on the President special powers, we shall find that in these fields he has still more ample authority. Not only do the constitutional grants guard him from encroachment on the part of Congress, but they enable him at times to assume a large degree of legislative power.