State and Local Government Law Commons^™

Res Judicata---State Court's Dismissal As A Bar To A New Suit On The Same Cause In A Federal Court Exercising Diversity Jurisdiction, Richard J. Archer

Michigan Law Review

A citizen of Virginia brought suit in a North Carolina court against a citizen of North Carolina for a deficiency judgment on a note executed in Virginia ·for the purchase of land in Virginia. Defendant's demurrer to the complaint on the ground that a North Carolina statute precluded recovery was - overruled; defendant appealed. In spite of plaintiff's contention that the statute was an invalid abridgment of the full faith and credit clause of Article IV of the Constitution of the United States, the North Carolina Supreme Court held that the statute effectively barred the action from the state courts …

Torts-Right Of Privacy-Invasion Of Privacy Through Fictional Works, Ira M. Price, Ii

Michigan Law Review

The New York Civil Rights Law prohibits the use of a person's name, portrait, or picture without his consent in writing, for advertising or trade purposes, under penalty of civil and criminal liability. Plaintiff, senior civil affairs officer of the American Military Government in the town of Licata, Sicily, during its occupation by Allied Armies of World War II, brought suit under the statute against the author of the book "A Bell for Adana," and others, alleging that he occupied the position of the book's and play's principal character, "Major Victor Jappolo" in the fictitiously named town of Adano; and …

Sunday Laws-Illegality Of Sunday Contracts, Robert O. Hancox S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The concept of the Sabbath, the setting apart of one day in seven as a day of rest, was derived from the Mosaic code, the Fourth Commandment directs abstention from labor on the seventh day of the week, and although there is nothing in the New Testament relating to Sunday, the Christian world adopted the first day of the week as a day of rest. Constantine, by an edict in 321 A.D., ordered the suspension on Sunday of all business in the courts of law, except the manumission of slaves, and all other- business except agricultural labor.

Application Of Federal Income, Estate And Gift Tax Laws To Community Property, Willard S. Pedersen

Michigan Law Review

The ganancial or community concept of property ownership, by which husband and wife have equal, vested, undivided, one-half interests in property held by them as tenants in community, has been a thorn in the side of federal tax laws ever since some tax-conscious community income earner decided to report as taxable only one-half of the community income, leaving the other half to be reported by and taxed to his wife upon her separate return. Such procedure first became authorized in community property jurisdictions recognizing the wife's interest as "vested" in 1920. Not long thereafter the realization began to dawn upon …

Constitutional Law-Interstate Commerce-Congressional Consent To Discriminatory State Taxation, George Brody S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

South Carolina statutes imposed upon foreign insurance companies a tax of 3 per cent of the aggregate premiums received from business done within the state, without reference to its interstate or local character, as a condition to receiving a certificate of authority to do business within the state. No similar tax was imposed upon domestic insurance companies. The Prudential Life Insurance Company, a New Jersey corporation doing business in South Carolina, refused to pay, contending that since it was a discriminatory tax it was unconstitutional. Furthermore, Prudential challenged the power of Congress to consent to the levying of such discriminatory …

Declaratory Judgment Where Criminal Action Is Pending, Robert E. Walsh S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Subsequent to the filing of an information against him before a Justice of the Peace by the Secretary of Agriculture of the State of Iowa for violation of the Iowa Cream Grading Act, plaintiff applied to the District Court for an injunction against the proceeding before the Justice, and requested a declaration that he was not subject to the act. The District Court denied the injunction, but issued a decree declaring that plaintiff was not subject to the Cream Grading Act. On appeal, held, affirmed. Where complicated legal issues cannot be determined with equal facility by a Justice of …

States-Waiver Of State Immunity To Suit With Special Reference To Suits In Federal Courts, Richard C. Scatterday S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Although deriving its force and effect from the medieval period, the doctrine of sovereign immunity retains much of its original influence. Historically, the doctrine is based upon the rule that no suit may be brought against the King without his consent. This concept found its way into international law, and from this source was derived the freedom from suit that our individual states enjoy in their own courts. With the development of the federal union, new problems arose and many were resolved by the adoption of the Eleventh Amendment, which forbids suit against a state in a federal court by …

Constitutional Law-Interstate Commerce-State Regulation Of Insurance, Eugene H. Lattin

Michigan Law Review

The California Insurance Code forbids a person to act as agent for an insurance company until a license is obtained from the commissioner, and forbids acting as agent for any non-admitted insurer in the transaction of insurance business in the state. Summarily stated, the provisions for the admission of insurance companies forbid either foreign or domestic companies to do a life insurance business in California other than on a legal reserve basis, thereby excluding the company represented by appellant as its agent. Appellant was convicted for violations of both provisions of the law. He contended that these sections, as applied …

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 …

Mandamus To Review State Administrative Action, Foster H. Sherwood

Michigan Law Review

The appearance of a substantial body of administrative law in the United States preceded its recognition as such by a good many years. In the intervening period, the courts made every effort to fit the new and unfamiliar jurisprudence into old and familiar forms, particularly those of the common law. This was a natural development, both because it accorded with common law traditions of adjustment, and because there was no legislative recognition of the view for action. The recognition that the problems of administrative law cannot invariably be solved within the framework of traditional legal concepts has paralleled the growing …

Foreign Corporations-What Constitutes "Doing Business" For Service Of Process As Contrasted With Domestication Requirement, Kenneth Liles

Michigan Law Review

South Carolina commenced suit against the Ford Motor Company by serving summons upon the South Carolina secretary of state pursuant to statute applicable when no process agent had been appointed, seeking to recover penalties imposed upon this foreign corporation for doing business in the state without having complied with the domestication statutes. Defendant claimed it was not doing business in the state because it had no property or agents therein, its products being handled by private dealers. The company attacked both the summons as against due process and the domestication statutes as a burden on interstate commerce. From judgment for …

Corporations--Foreign Corporations--Doing Business By Agents--Comity, E. M. Deal

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff, an Illinois corporation, offered correspondence courses in refrigeration and air conditioning. One of its agents solicited the defendant in Lincoln, Nebraska. The defendant signed a contract and promissory note for the tuition and made an advance payment, whereupon the agent forwarded the contract, note, payment and other papers to the home office of the plaintiff corporation in Chicago, Illinois. The plaintiff accepted the contract in Illinois. After six months, the defendant refused to proceed with the lessons or make further payments in accordance with the contract. The plaintiff sued for the balance due on the note. The Nebraska …

Administrative Law-Developments: 1940-1945 (A Service For Returning Veterans), E. Blythe Stason

Michigan Law Review

No period in American history has ushered in more sweeping changes in the legal structure than has the last decade and a half. No area of the law has witnessed more rapid development than has administrative law. A sketch of the progress of administrative law during the five-year period 1940 to 1945 reveals an important refining of the "quasi judicial" procedures--procedures which, because of their swift and topsy-turvy growth, can well use a little refining.

The purpose of the following survey is two-fold; first, to outline the more significant developments of the last half decade, relating the new materials to …

Constitutional Law-Protection Of Civil Liberties-Federal Criminal Prosecution Of State Police Officers-Constitutionality And Construction Of Section 20 Of Criminal Code, George Brody

Michigan Law Review

In United States v. Classic the Civil Liberties Unit of the Department of Justice resurrected the long dormant section 20 of the United States criminal code to prosecute successfully election officials in Louisiana for altering and falsely counting ballots cast in a Louisiana primary for representatives to Congress. Although the acts of the defendants were also in violation of state law the court asserted that "misuse of power possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer is clothed with authority of state law, is action taken under color of state law" and therefore within the …

Trusts And Estates-Trends In The Law: 1941-1945 (A Service For Returning Veterans), Lewis M. Simes

Michigan Law Review

In every generation there are some judicial decisions so revolutionary that any summary of developments in the law, regardless of its author or of its brevity, would include them. Such cases as Erie Railroad v. Tompkins and Williams v. North Carolina will fall into this category no matter who lines up the materials. But such avulsive changes rarely if ever occur in the law of Trusts and Estates; and it is anybody's guess to determine the significant aspects of the day-to-day accretions which actually take place. Thus, the writer has no illusions that he is singling out the trends as …

Constitutional Law-Intergovernmental Immunities-Federal Tax On State Function, Joseph N. Morency, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

In 1911 the State of New York began to acquire title to all of the lands in the Saratoga Springs area with a view to halting excessive pumping of the mineral waters for which the springs are famous. As a result of state ownership the area became a state reservation which, in 1930, was placed under control of, the Saratoga Springs Commission. A hotel-sanitarium, recreational facilities, bath houses, drink halls, a research laboratory as well as state operation of the springs were part of a state program under legislative authority. During the period from 1932 to 1934, sales of the …

The Function Of Will Contests, Lewis M. Simes

Michigan Law Review

To anyone steeped in the doctrines of the common law there is something anomalous about the will contest. First, the will is duly admitted to probate in a proceeding which is almost universally conceded to be judicial. Then at a subsequent time a so-called contest is brought by the heir, in which the precise proposition determined on the probate is retried. In most jurisdictions the heir is not bound to make any sort of a showing to entitle him to contest. He need not allege newly discovered evidence. He need not submit any evidence of · fraud or mistake. Indeed, …

New Legislation Affecting Non-Notification Financing Of Accounts Receivable, Maximilian Koessler

Michigan Law Review

Not less than sixteen new statutes affecting the assignment of accounts receivable have been enacted in this country since the writer's completion of an essay in which he attempted to draw an all-round picture of the legal situation in this recently so much debated field. It is one of the purposes of the present follow-up study to discuss those new legislative developments. This will be done in part II of this article, where the analysis is subdivided into a contemplation of the new validation statutes on the one hand, and the new recording acts, on the other.

Municipal Corporations-Collective Bargaining Contracts-Implied Power To Bargain With A Labor Union, Joseph R. Brookshire S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Under the Ohio Constitution the City of Cleveland had the power to own and operate a street railway system. The city charter authorized the Transit Board to supervise, manage and control the transit system. The authorization included the power to establish wages and working conditions in accordance with the provisions of the charter. An action for a declaratory judgment was brought in order to determine whether the board had the power to contract with a union as the exclusive bargaining agent of the transit system employees, or the power to contract with a union for arbitration of disputes, and finally, …

Criminal Law-A Study Of Statutory Blackmail And Extortion In The Several States, Alice Kramer Griep

Michigan Law Review

In attempting to define the crime of extortion or blackmail, it must be pointed out at the outset that there is a technical crime known as extortion, which stems from the common law, and there is another statutory crime which may be called extortion or blackmail, this latter crime being what the lawyer and laymen usually refer to by the term blackmail. Extortion at common law was the unlawful taking by an officer, by color of his office, of any money or thing of value that was not due him, or more than was due, or before it was due. …

Clearance Of Land Titles-A Statutory Step, Ralph W. Aigler

Michigan Law Review

Public Act of Michigan, No. 200, was approved by the governor on May 17, 1945. Its preparation and enactment are the result of a growing urge for the amelioration of certain conditions in land title transactions.

The Present Status Of "Illusory" Trusts-The Doctrine On Newman V. Dore Brought Down To Date, Edward A. Smith

Michigan Law Review

It has long been the policy of the law to provide for a widow by setting aside some portion of her deceased husband's estate for her future support. Such a policy, it has been said, dates back to the laws of Hammurabi and later evidences of it may. be found in the Justinian Code of the Roman Law, and in English law from the earliest times; its final manifestation being in the well-known common law dower. It is not with dower, however, that we are here concerned, for that institution is sufficiently well understood to require no discussion in this …

Apportionment Of Representation In The Legislature: A Study Of State Constitutions, Elizabeth Durfee

Michigan Law Review

This paper is concerned with the rules found in our state constitutions for apportionment of representation in the state legislature. It does not attempt to solve the problems of high-tension politics that are involved in the making and remaking of such rules; it goes no deeper than an exposition of existing rules. Even on this level it is not exhaustive. Since the constitutions exhibit manifold variations, from simple directions which are scarcely more than a declaration of policy to complex rules for the formation of districts, no attempt will be made to classify all the different types of provisions. With …

Administration Of Estates-Requirement Of Notice For Probate Of Will Or Grant Of Letters Of Administsration, Elizabeth Durfee

Michigan Law Review

To lawyers and judges in states which require notice for the initiation of probate or administration, it may come as a shock to discover that there are many jurisdictions in which these proceedings can be had without any notice whatever. It is the purpose of this note to investigate the situation in the various states, in order to show that in nearly half of them notice is not considered essential. The sole question to be considered is notice or no notice; this comment is not concerned with the kind of notice required, nor with the possibility of waiver of notice …

Constitutional Law-Freedom Of Speech For Labor Organizers-Registration Requirement Invalid, Francis Powers

Michigan Law Review

Collins v. Thomas decided by the Supreme Court in January is a decision of great practical importance in that it falls at a point where three recently developed constitutional doctrines enmesh or intersect with one another. The case makes it necessary that the Court integrate these doctrines and distinguish the areas in which they are respectively applicable.

The Venue Of Probate And Administration Proceedings, Paul E. Basye

Michigan Law Review

With the division of each state into counties or districts and the creation in each such subdivision of some court for the probate of wills and the administration of estates, it became necessary to designate which of such courts should undertake these functions in a particular estate. It is not the purpose of this study to consider problems arising out of conflicts of jurisdiction as between states insofar as independent determinations of domicile of a decedent may be made. That a decedent died a resident of the state undertaking an administration upon his estate will be assumed; or, if he …

Law Enforcement In Colonial New York: A Review, Albert J. Harno

Michigan Law Review

This book is a landmark in American legal history. Legal scholars have long lamented the fact that there was no authoritative work on colonial law. Historians have, to be sure, taken excursions into the field, but for the most part this, until the study here reviewed, was virgin territory. The undertaking called for more than the gifts of a historian. It demanded the talents and insight of a legal historian. The authors are legal historians. Professor Goebel particularly is a well-known figure in the field of legal history. The study covers a limited field; it is restricted to criminal procedure …

The Function Of The States, William B. Cudlip

Michigan Law Review

For the second time in this century, thoughtful men are studying plans for the stabilization of a post-war world, determined to devise a pattern of peace which shall embody new moral and economic standards and the highest ideals of human liberty, intent on fashioning a design for living under which the nations of the world may find freedom, justice, dignity, and prosperity. In this high adventure the United States has a full role to play, for, without our interest and cooperation, there can be no enduring compact. But, important as this quest may be, another task of at least equal …

Is The Business Of Insurance Commerce? A Re-Examination In The Light Of Modern Times, Nathan R. Berke

Michigan Law Review

A question of considerable import which has arisen time and again in recent years, particularly since the enactment of the various federal regulatory acts within the past decade, is whether the business of insurance is commerce. Although not a new question, and by no means unanswered by the courts, it has been a subject of recent reconsideration and in all probability will be reviewed by the United States Supreme Court.

Public Utilities-Smythe V. Ames Again, Thomas G. Long

Michigan Law Review

The suit arose in 1893 over railroad freight rates prescribed by an act of the legislature of Nebraska approved April 12, 1893 which went into effect August 1, 1893. The claim was that the rates prescribed were so low that the plaintiff stockholders' railroads were deprived of property in contravention of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The state officials showed "that the railroads of Nebraska can be reproduced completely for about $20,000 per mile." Eleven railroads were concerned. The lowest funded debt was $12,324 per mile with four over $20,000 per mile. The par value …