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Full-Text Articles in State and Local Government Law

Mutual Wills, Edwin C. Goddard Jun 1919

Mutual Wills, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

SO LATE as 1822 Sir John Nicholl is reported to have said in Hobson v. Blackburn, that a mutual, or conjoint will is an instrument "unknown to the testamentary law of this country; or, in other words, that it is upknown, as a will, to the law of this country at all. It may, for aught that I know, be valid as a compact." In Darlington v. "Pulteney, Lord MANSFIELD said, "there cannot be a joint will." Following these distinguished and learned judges, Jarman and Williams in their classical treatises accepted the statement of Sir John, and some early American …


Extraterritorial Effect Of The Equitable Decree, Willard T. Barbour May 1919

Extraterritorial Effect Of The Equitable Decree, Willard T. Barbour

Articles

ANYONE whom the study of equity has led into the by-paths of V Canon Law will recall that the Sext ends with a splendid array of imposing maxims, not improbably the source of the Latin maxims with which every lawyer is familiar. The inveterate habit formed by the ecclesiastics of expressing a legal principle in a short and crisp formula persisted when they came into the courts of law and is peculiarly in evidence among the chancellors of the fifteenth century. What may at first have been merely casual became through repetition a habit and the result has been to …


Real Significance Of The Proposed Michigan Beer And Wine Amendment, Edwin C. Goddard Apr 1919

Real Significance Of The Proposed Michigan Beer And Wine Amendment, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

DISCUSSION of proposed prohibitory amendments to Constitutions, State or Federal, are usually regarded as part of the wet and dry fight in which lawyers are interested only as citizens. Before the recent Cleveland Meeting of the American Bar Association the bar of the country was circularized by a protest, signed by a number of very well known lawyers, urging the bar to take action against putting into the fundamental law, the Constitution, such matters as the regulation of what the people shall drink. These lawyers presented their case at the Cleveland meeting and vigorously attempted to induce the American Bar …


Alienation Of Contingent Remainders, Ralph W. Aigler Jan 1919

Alienation Of Contingent Remainders, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

The recent case of Bisby v. Walker, 169 N. W. 467, decided by the Supreme Court of Iowa November 23, 1918, is an interesting instance of an all too common lack of appreciation and understanding of the very fundamentals of property law. Under the will of her grandfather B became entitled to a contingent remainder (at least the court treated it as such) in certain lands; the contingency upon which her taking depended was her being one of the surviving children of her mother at the time of the death of the life tenant, the testator's widow. During the continuance …


Presumptions--Burden Of Proof, Victor H. Lane Jan 1919

Presumptions--Burden Of Proof, Victor H. Lane

Articles

The case of Gillett v. Michigan United Traction Co. (Michigan, April 3rd, 1919), 171 N. W. 536, arose out of the following facts: Plaintiff, driving a Ford car with the curtains down, turned from the curb at the side of the street where he had stopped, to cross the interurban car tracks which ran through the center of the street in the city of Marshall, and as he drove his machine upon the track was struck by an interurban car and seriously injured. The evidence established beyond question, negligence of the defendant, by showing that the car was, at the …


Wills - Revocation By Judicial Legislation, Edwin C. Goddard Jan 1919

Wills - Revocation By Judicial Legislation, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

Wills and their revocation as we know them are peculiarly the result of the actions and reactions of our common and statute law. We are sufficiently familiar with statutes, declaratory of the common law, in derogation thereof, and creating entirely new principles of law. We also know law the result of no legislative act. Whatever may or may not be admitted about court-made law, we see the undoubted fact that the great body of our law is the outgrowth of decisions applying to new conditions principles of law found in analogous cases, whereby the common law is able to adapt …


Juvenile Courts And Privileged Communications, Evans Holbrook Jan 1919

Juvenile Courts And Privileged Communications, Evans Holbrook

Articles

In the case of Lindsey v. People, (Colo., 1919) 181 Pac. 531, the Supreme Court of Colorado has held that Judge Lindsey of the Juvenile Court of Denver could not refuse to testify as to a communication made to him by a child who was at the time of the communication suspected of crime and against whom proceedings were later taken in the Juvenile Court. The decision was by a vote of four to three, and a vigorous dissenting opinion was written by Justice Bailey and concurred in by Justices Scott and Allen.


Effect At The Situs Rei, Of A Decree Ordering Conveyance Of Foreign Land, Edgar N. Durfee Jan 1919

Effect At The Situs Rei, Of A Decree Ordering Conveyance Of Foreign Land, Edgar N. Durfee

Articles

In a recent article in this Review, Prof. Willard Barbour discussed the question indicated by the above title. His cbnclusions may be-briefly slated as follows: that such a decree of a competent court having jurisdiction of the person of the defendant creates a personal obligation upon the defendant which a court of equity at the situs should enforce just as it would a contract or trust concerning this land made in the foreign jurisdiction: and that, as between the States of this Union, the "full faith and credit" clause of the Constitution makes such enforcement of the foreign decree obligatory. …


Is A Contract Necessary To Create An Effective Escrow?, Ralph W. Aigler Jun 1918

Is A Contract Necessary To Create An Effective Escrow?, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

WHERE land has been sold and both parties are desirous of protecting themselves pending full payment of the purchase price, there are two common ways of accomplishing their purpose without any change in legal ownership. There may be (1) a contract of sale properly evidenced so as to be enforceable, and (2) a deed executed by the vendor and placed "in escrow." Sometimes one method is preferred, sometimes the other. If the former is adopted, it is, of course, vitally important that the contract comply with the formal requirements of the law; in the latter there has been some difference …


Acquiring Jurisdiction In Garnishment Proceedings, John R. Rood Jan 1918

Acquiring Jurisdiction In Garnishment Proceedings, John R. Rood

Articles

Garnishment is a proceeding provided by statutes found in every state, for the purpose of laying hold of something belonging to a defendant or judgment debtor but actually in the hands of someone else, and appropriating it to pay the debt due from the defendant or judgment debtor. If the proceeding is instituted ancillary to a pending suit, and before judgment, it is a species of attachment. If it is issued ancillary to a judgment already recovered it is a species of execution. If the third person summoned as garnishee is merely bailee of property belonging to the judgment debtor …


Joy Riding, Simple And Compound, Edgar N. Durfee Jan 1918

Joy Riding, Simple And Compound, Edgar N. Durfee

Articles

The wrongful use of another's automobile, even though accompanied by a trespassory taking, cannot, if followed by a return to the owner or an abandonment, be easily brought within the definition of larceny at common law or under the ordinary larceny statutes, because of the requirement of intent to deprive the owner permanently of his property. Smith v. State, 146 S. W. 547; State v. Boggs (Iowa, 1917), 164 N. W. 759; McClain, Criminal Law, § 566. Of course, such intent, at the time of taking, might be found in spite of return or abandonment, though it is doubtful whether …


Full Faith And Credit And Jurisdiction, Willard T. Barbour Jan 1918

Full Faith And Credit And Jurisdiction, Willard T. Barbour

Articles

The judgment of a sister state, when assailed by collateral attack, is often said to occupy a position intermediate between foreign and domestic judgments. Though the older American cases were inclined to examine into the merits of any foreign judgment, the present tendency is toward the adoption of the English view according to which a foreign judgment may be attacked collaterally only for want of jurisdiction or fraud. Dicey, Conflict of Laws (ed. 2) Ch. XVII; see note to Tremblay v. Aetna Life Insurance Co., 97 Me. 547, in 94 Am. St. Rep. 521, 538. But whereas any statement of …


Public Utility Valuation - Going-Concern Value In Rate Making, Edwin C. Goddard Jan 1918

Public Utility Valuation - Going-Concern Value In Rate Making, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

What is the effect of a city ordinance which proposes to a public utility company the terms on which it may dispose of its product to the users, but which is rejected by the company? As to a company not yet doing business it is clear that the ordinance when rejected becomes a mere legal nullity. It never was more than an offer that might ripen into a binding contract by acceptance. That it is by no means a nullity as to a utility actually operating in the city after the expiration of its franchise and as a mere tenant …


Cost Of Public Justice, John R. Rood Jan 1918

Cost Of Public Justice, John R. Rood

Articles

The common citizen who becomes victim of a wrong and seeks redress in the courts of America soon finds by bitter experience that it is better to bear those ills we have than go to law. The expense is more than the thing is worth. The result depends on who has the longest purse, the most endurance, and the shrewdest lawyer, and little on the merits of the case. When he gets to court he finds his remaining money is being spent, not in the trial of his case, but in deciding whether an absque hoc is a sine que …


The Federal Bankruptcy Act And Its Effect On State Insolvency Laws, Evans Holbrook Jan 1918

The Federal Bankruptcy Act And Its Effect On State Insolvency Laws, Evans Holbrook

Articles

Since Sturgis v. Crowninshield, 4 Wheat. 122, it has been clear that State Insolvency Laws were valid (within certain well-defined limits) during the non-existence of a Federal Bankruptcy Act, and that upon the enactment of a Federal Bankruptcy Act the State laws were superseded and suspended so far as they were in conflict with the Federal legislation. The difficulty has been in determining when there was such conflict, and it has arisen in various ways. For instance, the Federal Bankruptcy Act permits any natural person to become a voluntary bankrupt, but provides that no involuntary proceedings shall be taken against …


Interstate Commerce Commission - Intrastate Rates, Edwin C. Goddard Jan 1918

Interstate Commerce Commission - Intrastate Rates, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

The marvelous possibilities for collision between State and Nation involved in our dual form of government are nowhere better or more often exhibited than in commerce regulation. We have long been learning the definition of the commerce which the constitution gives Congress power to regulate. It is only recently that we are finding how this power reaches over into purely intrastate business done by a carrier also engaged in interstate commerce. That nearly all rail carriers are now engaged in such business, even when their lines are wholly intrastate, has been often illustrated under the Second Employer's Liability Act. In …


Effect Of Change Of Law Upon Obligation To Pay Rent, Ralph W. Aigler Jan 1918

Effect Of Change Of Law Upon Obligation To Pay Rent, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

In McCullough Realty Co. v. Laemmle Film Service, (Nov. 16, 1917), 165 N. W. 33, the supreme court of Iowa had occasion to pass upon a question which has become increasingly frequent with the spread of prohibition laws, namely, the effect upon the obligation of a tenant to pay rent, of a subsequent law that makes it unlawful for him to use the premises for the purpose for which he leased them. The case before the Iowa court was not one arising out of a lease of premises for saloon purposes, but the question involved was precisely the same, and …


The Disposition To Be Made Of Property The Subject Of A Power If The Power Is Not Exercised, John R. Rood Mar 1917

The Disposition To Be Made Of Property The Subject Of A Power If The Power Is Not Exercised, John R. Rood

Articles

The object sought in this article is to collect and classify the cases in which the courts have passed on the question as to what shall be done with property over which a power of appointment has been given; when it finally turns out for some reason that the power has not been exercised. It is not the object to establish any particular thesis, but rather to ascertain how the adjudicated cases stand.


State Legislation Extending To Navigable Waters, Ralph W. Aigler Jan 1917

State Legislation Extending To Navigable Waters, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

In Southern Pacific Company v. Jensen, 37 Sup. Ct. -, decided May 21, 1917, the Supreme Court announces a decision in some respects of far reaching importance. It was held therein, Mr. Justice HOLMEs dissenting, that the WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACT of the State of New York did not support an award to the widow and children of a workman killed on board a ship of the Company while at the pier in New York City. Clearly the terms of the New York act covered the case, unless the fact that the accident occurred on navigable waters of the United States …


Constitutionality Of Segregation Ordinances, John B. Waite Jan 1917

Constitutionality Of Segregation Ordinances, John B. Waite

Articles

The effort of various southern states to segregate white persons and colored ones into mutually exclusive residential districts has received a final quietus, unless the Supreme Court of the United States shall reverse itself, by the decision in Buchanan v. Warley, handed down November 5, 1917. The suit in this case was for specific performance of a contract to buy land. The contract expressly stipulated that the buyer, a colored man, was not to be held to his purchase unless he had "the right under the laws of the state of Kentucky and the city of Louisville to ocupy said …


Liability Of Public Officer For The Loss Of Private Funds Entrusted To His Keeping, W. Gordon Stoner Jan 1917

Liability Of Public Officer For The Loss Of Private Funds Entrusted To His Keeping, W. Gordon Stoner

Articles

There is much contrariety of decision concerning the liability of public officers for the loss of funds with which they have been entrusted. A recent case illustrates some of the more important phases of the law of such a situation. People for use of Hoyt et al. v. McGrath et al. (Ill. 1917), I17 N. E. 74. In this case the public brought an action of debt on the official bond of the clerk of court for the use of Hoyt and others. Usees had tendered into court a sum of money which the clerk took under the court's order …


Recovery Of Money Paid Under Duress Of Legal Proceedings In Michigan, Edgar N. Durfee Jan 1917

Recovery Of Money Paid Under Duress Of Legal Proceedings In Michigan, Edgar N. Durfee

Articles

THE case of Welch v. Beeching, recently decided by the Supreme Court of Michigan, raises puzzling problems conconcerning the recovery of money paid under pressure of legal proceedings. It is the purpose of this paper to give that case a more adequate setting, in relation to the whole field of law to which it pertains, than was provided by the brief opinion of the court. We shall not attempt to exhaust the authorities, nor to present a rounded treatment of the whole subject touched upon.


What Service Gives Jurisdiction In Person, John R. Rood Jan 1917

What Service Gives Jurisdiction In Person, John R. Rood

Articles

On March 6th, 1917, the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of McDonald v. Mabee, reversing the decision of the Supreme Court of Texas, in 175 S. W. 676, held that a judgment in foreclosure proceedings in which the defendant was served only by publication did not merge the cause of action so as to bar a suit on the original notes for the balance unpaid by the sale of the mortgaged property on the foreclosure, although the statute of the state declared such service sufficient to give jurisdiction in personam, and the defendant was a citizen …


Prohibiting Advertising On Walls And Buildings Under The Police Power, W. Gordon Stoner Jan 1917

Prohibiting Advertising On Walls And Buildings Under The Police Power, W. Gordon Stoner

Articles

There have been many unsuccessful attempts by city authorities of late to abolish or prevent unsightly billboards and advertising. In a recent case A was arrested and fined for violating a city ordinance prohibiting the display of advertising matter on walls and buildings within the city without the consent of the city council. On refusal to pay the fine A was held in the custody of the city marshal, and brought habeas corpus to secure his release. The court held that the affidavit charged no violation of the ordinance unless it were construed as prohibiting the painting of any sign …


Safeguarding The Criminal Defendant, Edson R. Sunderland Jan 1917

Safeguarding The Criminal Defendant, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

Every now and then a new attack is made somewhere in the United States upon the rule prohibiting comment before the jury upon the fact that the defendant in a criminal case has not testified as a witness in his own behalf. At the present time an effort of this kind is being made in the Michigan legislature, and the introduction of the bill drew quite a little storm of protest from the State press as a dangerous inroad upon our ancient guarantees of personal liberty and security. In fact, however, it directly touches nothing more ancient than a statutory …


State Legislation Extending To Navigable Waters, Ralph W. Aigler Jan 1917

State Legislation Extending To Navigable Waters, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

In Southern Pacific Company v. Jensen, 37 Sup. Ct. -, decided May 21, 1917, the Supreme Court announces a decision in some respects of far reaching importance. It was held therein, Mr. Justice HOLMEs dissenting, that the WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACT of the State of New York did not support an award to the widow and children of a workman killed on board a ship of the Company while at the pier in New York City. Clearly the terms of the New York act covered the case, unless the fact that the accident occurred on navigable waters of the United States …


Mortgagee In Possession In New York And Michigan, Edgar N. Durfee Jan 1916

Mortgagee In Possession In New York And Michigan, Edgar N. Durfee

Articles

It is interesting to observe how tenaciously the old common law of mortgages has persisted in the state of New York, the very cradle of the modem lien theory of the mortgage. As early as 1802 Chancellor KENT began the importation into that state of Lord MANSFIELD'S Civil Law doctrines of mortgage. Johnson v. Hart, 3 Johns. Cas. 322. In 1814, in the case of Runyan v. Mersereau, 11 Johns. 534, the lien theory definitely triumphed over the old law. In other cases, both before and since the statute of 1828 denying ejectment to the mortgagee, the details of mortgage …


Performance Of Legal Obligation As A Consideration For A Promise, John B. Waite Jan 1916

Performance Of Legal Obligation As A Consideration For A Promise, John B. Waite

Articles

At a time when the true reasonableness of the common law and its responsiveness to the actualities of life are under criticism, it is interesting to find several cases, within the past year, affirming the old rule that performance of a legal duty is not consideration for a promise. In Vance v. Ellison, (V. Va.) 85 S. E. 776, suit was brought to enjoin the enforcement of a deed of trust executed by plaintiff to defendant, to secure payment of $1000 promised for legal services. It was admitted that when the deed was executed the defendant was already bound by …


Recovery Of The Purchase Price Before Title Has Passed, John B. Waite Jan 1916

Recovery Of The Purchase Price Before Title Has Passed, John B. Waite

Articles

In an action recently instituted by The General Electric Co. to recover on a contract to manufacture certain machinery for the defendant, which machinery the defendant had refused to accept, the trial court adopted the contract price as the measure of damages. The upper court approved this measure of damages, rejecting the argument that the measure should have been the difference between the market value and the contract price, and dismissed, as no longer appropriate to modern conditions, the decisions in Bement v. Smith, 15 Wend. (N. Y.) 493, and Shawhan v. Van Nest. 25 Oh. St. 490. The court …


Estates In Fee Tail, Ralph W. Aigler Jan 1916

Estates In Fee Tail, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

Quite generally estates in fee tail under the Statute de Donis were recognized by the states as a part of the common law. Statutory provisions in the way of modification and abolishment of such estates, however, are very common. The nature and scope of the statutory provisions have varied.