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Articles 421 - 450 of 944

Full-Text Articles in Property Law and Real Estate

Eminent Domain-Effect Of Zoning Ordinances On Measure Of Damages, A. E. Anderson S.Ed. May 1948

Eminent Domain-Effect Of Zoning Ordinances On Measure Of Damages, A. E. Anderson S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In a proceeding to condemn land located in an area subject to zoning restrictions, defendant contended that in fixing value the adaptability for all possible uses should be considered whether or not such uses were forbidden by zoning ordinances. The trial court instructed the jury that it should consider only the uses to which the property was suitable and available. On appeal, held, affirmed. Long Beach City High School District v. Stewart, (Cal. 1947) 185 P. (2d) 585.

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Future Interests - Statute Abolishing The Rule In Shelley's Case Applied To The Worthier Title Doctrine, Joseph W. Morris May 1948

Future Interests - Statute Abolishing The Rule In Shelley's Case Applied To The Worthier Title Doctrine, Joseph W. Morris

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff set up an irrevocable trust of $75,000 to pay the income to himself for life, and upon his death to distribute the remainder of the trust to his heirs at law according to the laws of succession of the State of California in existence at his death. He later brought suit to terminate the trust on the theory that the worthier title doctrine prevented the creation of a remainder in his heirs at law, and that as sole beneficiary of the trust, he was entitled to termination. Held, the worthier title doctrine was inapplicable because of a statute …

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Nuisance-Liability For Injury Caused By Encroaching Tree Roots, L. B. Lea May 1948

Nuisance-Liability For Injury Caused By Encroaching Tree Roots, L. B. Lea

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff and defendant were ad joining landowners. Roots of poplar trees on defendant's land extended onto plaintiff's premises, clogging the sewage system and extracting such nutritional value from the land as to injure her lawn and flower garden. Plaintiff brought an action for damages and equitable relief. Judgment was rendered for defendant on demurrer. On appeal, held, reversed. The encroaching roots constituted an actionable nuisance. Plaintiff was not limited to the self-help remedy of cutting the roots at the boundary line. Mead v. Vincent, (Okla. 1947) 187 P. (2d) 994.

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Associations-Title To Land Conveyed To Church After Expiration Of Charter, R. V. Wellman Apr 1948

Associations-Title To Land Conveyed To Church After Expiration Of Charter, R. V. Wellman

Michigan Law Review

The X Church was incorporated by special charter for a period of fourteen years from 1814. Subsequent charters extended its corporate existence until 1871, since which time, though the members have remained associated under the same name, there has been no attempt to re-incorporate. In 1922, land was conveyed to "X Church, its successors and assigns." Defendant contracted with the chairman and the warden of the Church to buy the land described in the deed of 1922. Subsequently, plaintiff, who had been elected minister of the Church in 1945, was authorized to execute and deliver the necessary deed of …

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Constitutional Law -Equal Protection - California Alien Land Law, J. R. Mackenzie Apr 1948

Constitutional Law -Equal Protection - California Alien Land Law, J. R. Mackenzie

Michigan Law Review

A Japanese alien paid for some agricultural land in California which was conveyed to his seven-year-old citizen son. All records indicated that the son owned the land, although the father, his guardian, managed it. The California Alien Land Law prohibits ownership of any interest in agricultural land by aliens ineligible for citizenship. Property acquired in violation of the statute escheats as of the date of acquisition as does land transferred "with intent to prevent, evade, or avoid escheat." This intent is presumed prima facie whenever an ineligible alien pays the consideration for a transfer of land to one who may …

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Evidence-Hearsay-Impeachment Of Hearsay By Declarant's Inconsistent Statements, Ira M. Price, Ii S.Ed. Apr 1948

Evidence-Hearsay-Impeachment Of Hearsay By Declarant's Inconsistent Statements, Ira M. Price, Ii S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In an action of trespass to try title to land claimed through adverse possession by defendant, the date when defendant first asserted a hostile claim to the premises so as to start the ten year statute of limitations was in issue. Plaintiff's witness, W, was allowed to testify that defendant had told him and others that plaintiffs owned individual interests in the land and that he did not exclusively claim the land. Defendant's witness, Y, then testified over objection that witness, W, had told him that defendant had long claimed the land, and had farmed and fenced …

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Landlord And Tenant-Lease Covenant Against Unlawful Business, Bruce L. Moore S.Ed. Apr 1948

Landlord And Tenant-Lease Covenant Against Unlawful Business, Bruce L. Moore S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In an action to dispossess defendants of certain leased property, plaintiff alleged that defendants breached an express covenant in the lease by which defendants covenanted that they would use the premises for a store, and would not use the premises "for any unlawful business or purpose whatever." Defendants used the premises for a general mercantile store, operating under the trade name "Stop 'N Shop." In so doing, defendants failed to comply with a statute which provided that "It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in a business . . . under any name which does not plainly show …

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Real Property-Easements-Extinction Of Easements Created By Implication Or Prescription On Sale Of Servient Land To Bona Fide Purchaser, Howard W. Haftel Apr 1948

Real Property-Easements-Extinction Of Easements Created By Implication Or Prescription On Sale Of Servient Land To Bona Fide Purchaser, Howard W. Haftel

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs and defendants owned adjoining farms. About thirty years ago their predecessors in title had constructed an underground tile drain from plaintiffs' farm to and across defendants' farm. In 1934 this drain was obstructed. In 1941 the servient farm was sold to defendants, who gave value and had no knowledge of the existence of the drain. Plaintiffs sought an injunction to compel removal of the obstruction. The lower court found that plaintiffs had acquired a prescriptive right to use the drain before it was obstructed, but refused to grant the injunction on the ground that defendants as bona fide purchasers …

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Real Property-Unenforceability Of Restrictive Covenants-Methods Of Protecting Plan, Charles B. Blackmar S.Ed. Mar 1948

Real Property-Unenforceability Of Restrictive Covenants-Methods Of Protecting Plan, Charles B. Blackmar S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The restrictive covenant is a device by which property owners can gain some degree of assurance that neighboring property will not be used in an objectionable way. The restrictions are usually reciprocal and negative, common examples being building restrictions, regulations as to use for business, and prohibitions against occupancy by certain races. By private agreement much greater protection can be had than is afforded by zoning ordinances and nuisance doctrines.

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Future Interests-Rule Against Perpetuities--Validity Of An Option Incident To A Lease Exercisable After The Expiration Of The Lease, Irving Slifkin S.Ed. Mar 1948

Future Interests-Rule Against Perpetuities--Validity Of An Option Incident To A Lease Exercisable After The Expiration Of The Lease, Irving Slifkin S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

On November 13, 1941, plaintiff entered into a lease with defendant granting defendant the exclusive right to mine and remove coal from plaintiff's mine for twenty years. Incident to the lease defendant was granted the option, "at any time subsequent to November 1st, 1945, to purchase the remaining tonnage of recoverable coal" at a specified price. A deed thereto was placed in escrow. In January, 1946, defendant elected to exercise the option, tendered the price, and received the deed from escrow. Plaintiff refused to recognize the validity of the option and commenced an action in equity to cancel the deed …

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Rights In Land-Legal Status Of The Spite Fence, Leroy Redfern Mar 1948

Rights In Land-Legal Status Of The Spite Fence, Leroy Redfern

Michigan Law Review

Defendants erected a brick wall upon their lot in a manner that cut off light and air to the first floor window of the adjoining premises belonging ,to plaintiffs. Plaintiffs brought a bill in equity to compel removal of the wall. Upon finding that the wall was built merely to annoy plaintiffs, and that it was of no beneficial use to defendants, the chancellor ordered it removed. On appeal, held, reversed. Defendants being lawfully entitled to erect the wall upon their land, the court will not inquire into their motive for so doing. Cohen v. Perrino, (Pa. 1947) …

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Trusts-Rule Against Perpetuities-Tetamentary Trust For Maintenance Of Testatrix' Home As Depository For Ashes Of Testatrix And Daughter, Richard L. Eckhart S.Ed. Mar 1948

Trusts-Rule Against Perpetuities-Tetamentary Trust For Maintenance Of Testatrix' Home As Depository For Ashes Of Testatrix And Daughter, Richard L. Eckhart S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Testatrix provided that her body should be cremated, the ashes mixed with the ashes of her deceased daughter, and both placed in a designated room on the second floor of testatrix' home. The executors were directed not to sell the home but to use rentals from the first floor to maintain it, such rentals to be obtained from any member of the Socialist Party whom the executors should find proper and able to pay the rental. Held, the attempted disposition was invalid as a violation of the rule against restraints on alienation. Alexander v. House, (Conn. 1947) 54 …

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Real Property-The Doctrine Of Presumption Of Grant As A Substitute For The Statute Of Limitations, Charles B. Blackmar S.Ed. Feb 1948

Real Property-The Doctrine Of Presumption Of Grant As A Substitute For The Statute Of Limitations, Charles B. Blackmar S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant claimed ownership of a barren island named Palmyra through a series of conveyances extending back nearly eighty years, but his chain of title was defective in that no grant away from the Hawaiian government was shown. He and his predecessors had paid taxes for many years, but had occupied the island only during occasional visits and had made no sustained efforts at commercial exploitation. The United States brought an action to quiet its title as successor to the Hawaiian government but the district court ordered title quieted in defendant on the basis of a presumed grant, and the Circuit …

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Contracts--Statute Of Frauds--Validity Of Memorandum Made Prior To Oral Contract, Edward S. Tripp S.Ed. Feb 1948

Contracts--Statute Of Frauds--Validity Of Memorandum Made Prior To Oral Contract, Edward S. Tripp S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff and defendant exchanged several letters concerning six contiguous lots which defendant owned. In one letter plaintiff made an offer to purchase the lots which was declined by defendant. Plaintiff then requested defendant to name her price. She replied that they were worth at least $12,000 but made no offer to sell. Subsequently they orally contracted for sale of the lots for $11,000. As a down payment plaintiff gave defendant a $500 check which contained a notation that it was "to be applied on purchase of property on E. Central Ave., Albuquerque, N. M. . . ." Defendant indorsed and …

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Some General Aspects Of Michigan Community Property Law, William E. Burby Jan 1948

Some General Aspects Of Michigan Community Property Law, William E. Burby

Michigan Law Review

The common law, in recognition of the fact that one spouse is entitled to some economic security in the property of the other spouse, evolved the interests known as dower and curtesy. These interests, of course, apply only with respect to land. The husband enjoyed an additional economic advantage that came from the management and control of his wife's property. This latter advantage has disappeared with the advent of Married Women's Property Acts that confer upon married women the right to manage their own estates. Statutes have also expanded on the concept of dower and curtesy by providing for a …

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Real Property-Tenancy By Entireties-Estate Created By Parol Gift Followed By A Voluntary Settlement, Ralph J. Isackson Jan 1948

Real Property-Tenancy By Entireties-Estate Created By Parol Gift Followed By A Voluntary Settlement, Ralph J. Isackson

Michigan Law Review

Prior to his death in 1892, X made a parol gift of 60 acres in a 360 acre tract to his daughter, W, or to W and her husband, H, and put them into actual possession but gave them no deed to the land. No evidence was shown to indicate that either W or H had paid the taxes or made any improvements on the land during X's lifetime. X died intestate and left surviving him five children, including W. All the heirs, except W, conveyed the 60 acre tract to W and H in …

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Some Income Tax Aspects Of Community Property Law, Paul R. Trigg, Jr. Nov 1947

Some Income Tax Aspects Of Community Property Law, Paul R. Trigg, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

The recent enactment of community property law in Michigan and other states has created new problems for lawyers. Not the least of these is the question of the income tax consequences which flow from the existence of a community between the spouses. Nor is this the type of problem which can be shrugged off by reference to tax counsel. Local community property law and federal .income tax law are too closely enmeshed to be intelligently divided. No authority is needed for the statement that recently enacted community property laws are a product of high surtaxes. At the same time, these …

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Municipal Corporations-Validity Of "Piecemeal" Zoning As Applied To Building Under Construction, Robert J. Walsh S.Ed. Nov 1947

Municipal Corporations-Validity Of "Piecemeal" Zoning As Applied To Building Under Construction, Robert J. Walsh S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Shortly after plaintiff obtained a building permit and commenced work on the excavation for a laundry and dry-cleaning plant in an unzoned section of the City of Huntsville, the city adopted a new zoning ordinance which limited to residential uses an area of approximately two blocks in which plaintiff's property was situated. On appeal from a decree dismissing a bill to enjoin enforcement of the new zoning ordinance, held, reversed. Since the enabling statute required that zoning regulations should be adopted in accordance with a comprehensive plan, an ordinance which did not zone the whole municipality was void. Johnson …

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Wills--Construction-Testamentary Intent, J. R. Swenson Jun 1947

Wills--Construction-Testamentary Intent, J. R. Swenson

Michigan Law Review

In a will drawn for her by a layman, testatrix inserted in her own words a clause reading, "It is my belief that 120 acres . . . owned by my deceased husband, John Cagley, subject to a life estate willed to me, be distributed to his four nieces and nephews . . . . " In fact, her husband's will had not specifically disposed of the remainder, and testatrix had in addition to the life estate, taken the remainder as residuary devisee. Held, The clause was a valid devise of the property to the four named beneficiaries. Layton …

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Evidence-Documentary Proof Of Market Value Of Personal Property-Admissibility-Relationship To Oral Testimony Based Thereon, P. F. Westbrook, Jr. S.Ed. Apr 1947

Evidence-Documentary Proof Of Market Value Of Personal Property-Admissibility-Relationship To Oral Testimony Based Thereon, P. F. Westbrook, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Even the most casual observer of modern business practices will accede to the general proposition that the most accurate reflection of market value for many commodities can be found in documentary sources. This is particularly true of those commodities of an homogeneous character which are sold in well-organized markets characterized by price uniformity and free access to price information. Of them, it may well be said that no more satisfactory evidence of market value than the newspaper market reports can be found, barring the possibility of personal observation of "the board" at the market itself. However, the average businessman will …

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Duress Through Civil Litigation: Ii, John P. Dawson Apr 1947

Duress Through Civil Litigation: Ii, John P. Dawson

Michigan Law Review

Where litigation has progressed to the stage of a final judgment under which execution is immediately available, the initial obstacles already suggested to relief for duress appear to exist in magnified form. The judgment itself establishes the legitimacy of the original demand. Though the coercion threatened is immediate, it has been supplied by general rules of procedure for the specific purpose of compelling satisfaction. It appears from numerous decisions and is even more frequently assumed that a settlement induced by threat of immediate issuance of execution under a valid, final money judgment cannot be duress, whatever the nature of the …

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Constitutional Law-State Court Enforcement Of Race Restrictive Covenants As State Action Within Scope Of Fourteenth Amendment, John A. Huston S.Ed. Apr 1947

Constitutional Law-State Court Enforcement Of Race Restrictive Covenants As State Action Within Scope Of Fourteenth Amendment, John A. Huston S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The current housing shortage with the overcrowded living conditions and substandard accommodations which it imposes on the most numerous classes of society has made particularly significant in the competition for housing areas the discriminations generally enforced against negroes and other racial minority groups. Both normal population growth and the suspension of new construction during the great depression and the late war have contributed to an emergency in which the circumstances of our negro population are materially worse than those of any other group. Aggravating this result has been the shift in negro population occasioned by the wartime demand for industrial …

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Executors And Administrators-Priority Of Payment Of United States Claims, E. M. Deal S.Ed. Mar 1947

Executors And Administrators-Priority Of Payment Of United States Claims, E. M. Deal S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

When decedent died in 1940, his personal estate was consumed by the widow's exemption and expenses of administration, leaving only a one-sixth interest in certain real estate formerly owned by his deceased father. Proceedings to partition this property resulted in a sum of $2,306.17 payable to decedent's widow, subject to the payment of his debts. The executors of one Davidson who had obtained a $24,588.00 judgment against decedent in 1933 claimed the entire fund as did the United States under tax liens entered in 1940 and 1941 of $2,202.89 and $8,904.67. The government based its claim on section 3466 of …

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Quasi-Contracts-Assumpsit For Use And Occupation Of Land, R. O. Hancox S.Ed. Jan 1947

Quasi-Contracts-Assumpsit For Use And Occupation Of Land, R. O. Hancox S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant had a right of way over plaintiff's land limited to the transportation of coal mined on that land. Plaintiff seeks to recover for use and occupation of his land by defendant when he exceeded his right by transporting coal mined on adjacent property. Held, the plaintiff is entitled to quasi-contractual recovery of the value of the benefit to defendant based on the prevailing rate of purchase of right of way for transportation of coal over another's land. Raven Red Ash Coal Co., Inc. v. Ball, (Va. 1946) 39 S.E. (2d) 231.

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Real Property-Determinable Fee-Alienability Of Possibility Of Reverter, Joseph N. Morency, Jr. S.Ed. Jan 1947

Real Property-Determinable Fee-Alienability Of Possibility Of Reverter, Joseph N. Morency, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In 1895, Scofield conveyed a small portion of his farm to the defendant, Town of Charlotte, by quitclaim deed which provided: " . . . to be used by said town for school purposes, but when said Town fails to use it for said school purposes it shall revert to said Scofield, his heirs and assigns, but the Town shall have the right to remove all buildings located thereon. The Town shall not have the right to use the premises for other than school purposes." The title to the farm vested in plaintiff by mesne conveyances. The land in question …

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Soviet Law Of Inheritance: Ii, Vladimir Gsovski Jan 1947

Soviet Law Of Inheritance: Ii, Vladimir Gsovski

Michigan Law Review

Wills. Neither the Civil Code nor any other statute sets forth any specific requirements for capacity to make a will. Therefore, the soviet jurists deem any person who is generally competent to enter into legal transactions (Civil Code, Section 8) capable of making a will. Thus, minors under the age of eighteen years and persons adjudged unable to manage their affairs because of mental disease or weak-mindedness do not have testamentary capacity. Likewise, a will executed by a testator while "in a state of mind which precluded his understanding the significance of his acts," has no validity (id., Section 3r).

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Agency-Liability Of Agent On Contract For Principal-Effect Of Adding "Agent" To Signature, John A. Huston Dec 1946

Agency-Liability Of Agent On Contract For Principal-Effect Of Adding "Agent" To Signature, John A. Huston

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, a real estate broker purporting to act for X, made a contract with plaintiff for the sale to plaintiff of X's farm. The only evidence in the writing of defendant's agency was the word "agent" which he appended to his signature. Plaintiff paid defendant $1000.00 as a deposit which defendant tendered to X who returned $500.00 to defendant as his commission for the sale. Upon destruction of an important part of the premises before execution of the contract, plaintiff brought suit against X and defendant to rescind the contract and recover the deposit. Recovery against X was …

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Municipal Corporations--Regulation Of House Trailers Under Building Code As Permanent Dwellings, John W. Potter S.Ed. Dec 1946

Municipal Corporations--Regulation Of House Trailers Under Building Code As Permanent Dwellings, John W. Potter S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

An ordinance of the township in which defendant maintained a trailer camp defined a house trailer as any vehicle used for living or sleeping purposes, and provided that any house trailer so used within the township for an aggregate of more than thirty days in a period of one year should be considered a single family dwelling for all purposes of the building code. Many trailers in defendant's camp rested on boxes or jacks, and they had been used as dwellings for several years. While all trailers were connected with water and electric lines and provided with communal lavatory and …

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Adverse Possession-Possession Under Mistake As To True Boundary, Rosemary Scott S.Ed. Dec 1946

Adverse Possession-Possession Under Mistake As To True Boundary, Rosemary Scott S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Land purchased by the plaintiff's husband in 1911 was surrounded by a fence which included the land in dispute. All of the enclosed area was of a different grading from the land to the west of it. The plaintiff's husband cultivated the area later disputed, tore down buildings on it and improved the entire property during the succeeding seventeen years. When the defendant purchased the adjacent land in 1935 the dividing fence was down but the difference in grading between the two parcels of land remained the same. The defendant, after a survey was made of the land in 1939, …

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Future Interests--Effect On Contingent Remainders Of Widow-Life Tenant's Election To Take Against A Will, Niel Mckay S.Ed. Dec 1946

Future Interests--Effect On Contingent Remainders Of Widow-Life Tenant's Election To Take Against A Will, Niel Mckay S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Testator devised one half of the income from an undivided one-third interest in certain real estate to the defendant, his wife, and provided that on her death the undivided one-third interest was to go to his brother and sister, plaintiffs here, if living, otherwise to his children in a certain named order if living. The defendant, testator's widow, elected to take her statutory share against the will, and the county court decreed her a one-half interest in the undivided one third, the other one-half interest going to the plaintiffs. Plaintiffs, also having title to the other two thirds of the …

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