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Law reform

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Articles 151 - 180 of 202

Full-Text Articles in State and Local Government Law

Legislative Regulation Of Searches And Seizures: The Michigan Proposals, Jerold H. Israel Dec 1974

Legislative Regulation Of Searches And Seizures: The Michigan Proposals, Jerold H. Israel

Articles

IN March 1971, the Michigan Bar Commissioners appointed a twenty-five-member committee with a directive "to promulgate a recommended revision of the Code of Criminal Procedure codifying existing statutory and case law provisions which, in the judgment of the Committee, should be retained and adding thereto such provisions as the Committee, in its judgment, deems warranted; and to incorporate such recommendations into proposed legislation for submission to the Legislature."' The committee membership included judges, prosecutors, legislators, criminal defense lawyers, law school professors, and representatives of Michigan police and corrections agencies.2 Judge Horace Gilmore served as Chairman, and I served as Reporter.

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Guidelines For Alleviating Local-Emergency Work Disruptions, Joshua Greene Jan 1974

Guidelines For Alleviating Local-Emergency Work Disruptions, Joshua Greene

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The first section of this article summarizes the vast differences between the rights of public and private employees to strike. The second section focuses on likely obstacles to a governmental suit to enjoin shutdowns in the broadest segment of American private industry-the segment in which labor relations are governed by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The final section of the article suggests a legislative solution to the problem, fashioned after existing statutory remedies for limiting certain strikes by public employees.

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Legislative Note: Michigan's Criminal Sexual Assault Law, Kenneth A. Cobb, Nancy R. Schauer Jan 1974

Legislative Note: Michigan's Criminal Sexual Assault Law, Kenneth A. Cobb, Nancy R. Schauer

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Under increasing pressure from women's rights groups and other reform organizations, the Michigan legislature has re-evaluated its centenarian rape statute, found it inadequate for the realities of the mid-twentieth century, and enacted a new sexual assault act. While people may refer to the act as "the new rape law," it should be noted at the outset that the statute is intended to prohibit a variety of sexual acts which involve criminal assault. Michigan's new criminal sexual assault law was formulated to distinguish among degrees of violence as motivated by hostility rather than passion; rape, like other crimes, is more heinous …

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The Roles Of Architect And Contractor In Construction Management, John E. Lehman Jan 1973

The Roles Of Architect And Contractor In Construction Management, John E. Lehman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

For the architect and building contractor the most significant aspect of modern commercial construction may not be the design but rather the management, consisting of coordination and administration, of large-scale building projects. Despite the importance of construction management, especially in mammoth and complex projects such as New York's World Trade Center, legislatures have been slow to respond to the needs and practices of the construction industry. Although the skills involved indicate that the role of construction manager is more appropriately assumed by a contractor, the laws of several states provide that only a licensed architect can take responsible charge of …

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Modern Legislation, Metropolitan Court, Miniscule Results: A Study Of Detroit's Landlord-Tenant Court, Marilyn Miller Mosier, Richard A. Soble Jan 1973

Modern Legislation, Metropolitan Court, Miniscule Results: A Study Of Detroit's Landlord-Tenant Court, Marilyn Miller Mosier, Richard A. Soble

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article is a description of a study of cases filed and tried in the Detroit, Michigan, Common Pleas Court, Landlord-Tenant Division, during 1970 and 1971. The court is in a large urban center and handles a high volume of cases, in most of which one or both parties appear without an attorney. The impetus for the study was Michigan legislation passed in 1968, which gave tenants additional defenses to summary eviction procedures. The main goal of the study was to observe the effects of the legislation on tenants who were subject to summary proceedings in Detroit. The purpose of …

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County Home Rule: An Approach To Metropolitan Problems In Michigan, Stephen M. Silverman Jan 1972

County Home Rule: An Approach To Metropolitan Problems In Michigan, Stephen M. Silverman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This note examines what seems to be the most viable solution for metropolitan problems in Michigan: county home rule, as authorized by the 1963 state constitution. Since the primary obstacle to the use of county- home rule as a vehicle for metropolitan reform appears to lie in the present statutory authority, the Michigan County Home Rule Act of 1966 (Act), considerable attention is given to the Act and to recent legislation proposed to amend the Act, Michigan House Bill 5464, introduced into the Michigan Legislature on June 21, 1971, and currently pending before the Michigan House Committee on Towns and …

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Divorce Law Reform In Michigan, B. H. Lee Jan 1972

Divorce Law Reform In Michigan, B. H. Lee

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Few social questions touch the individual so intimately and foster such widely divergent views as the question of divorce. From those who regard marriage as a perpetual and indissoluble bond instituted by God to those who consider it a terminable contract between a man and a woman, every shade of opinion can be found. The subject of marital breakdown is neither new nor peculiar to our age. As one author has said: "The breakdown of marriage with provisions for divorce and remarriage is a phenomenon widely recognized in Babylonian, Hebrew, Greek and Roman law." Nevertheless, ever since Christianity established a …

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New Jersey Retail Installment Sales Act, Eric A. Oesterle Jan 1972

New Jersey Retail Installment Sales Act, Eric A. Oesterle

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The effect of the enactment of the New Jersey bill is that a "retail buyer" may now assert against an assignee of the installment contract or subsequent "holder" of the negotiable note any defenses he has against the retail installment seller. The new law would appear to be one of the most comprehensive laws of its type to be enacted. However, the draftsmen apparently left a significant loophole, appropriately termed the "specious cash sale,” which, if exploited, could negate the intended effect of the new law. This note will analyze the bill, compare it with the relevant provisions of the …

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Mental Illness And Criminal Commitment In Michigan, Grant H. Morris Jan 1971

Mental Illness And Criminal Commitment In Michigan, Grant H. Morris

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article concentrates on one vital issue: to what extent are differences in treatment justified because of a mentally ill person's "criminal" involvement. While the article is primarily concerned with Michigan institutions and Michigan statutes, the discussion and the solutions proposed are in many respects applicable to all states of the Union. Not only must all states reevaluate their policies toward criminal commitment of the mentally ill in light of ever-changing medical and penal theory, but they must also consider the developing constitutional concepts in this area. These constitutional issues are raised here only to the extent necessary to alert …

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Criminal Law Revision In California, Arthur H. Sherry Jan 1971

Criminal Law Revision In California, Arthur H. Sherry

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The high water mark of criminal law reform in California was reached in 1872 when the legislature, after at least a decade of indifference to requests for action, adopted the Penal Code, the Civil Code and the Code of Civil Procedure.' This emergence into the company of contemporary pioneers of codification, Louisiana and New York, was a source of complacent pride, but it proved to be completely ineffective as a stimulus for continuing revision or even further codification. Renewed interest in improving and modernizing the law was not apparent until well into the twentieth century. When this interest did appear, …

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The Illinois Criminal Code Of 1961 And Code Of Criminal Procedure Of 1963, Charles H. Bowman Jan 1971

The Illinois Criminal Code Of 1961 And Code Of Criminal Procedure Of 1963, Charles H. Bowman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Illinois had no "Criminal Code" in the sense of a codified, systematic body of law functioning as an instrument of social control in a modern community. Many provisions had remained unchanged since Judge Lockwood, in submitting a revised draft of the Laws of Illinois to the Illinois General Assembly of 1827, described the small chapter on criminal jurisprudence as deriving primarily from a volume of the Laws of New York of 1802 which he brought with him to Illinois, and a volume of the Laws of Georgia which he located in the office of the Secretary of State. In fact, …

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Criminal Law Revision In Delaware And Hawaii, Frank B. Baldwin Iii Jan 1971

Criminal Law Revision In Delaware And Hawaii, Frank B. Baldwin Iii

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Criminal law revision has not been limited to the largest states, which have greater resources and legal facilities, but has also occurred in Delaware and Hawaii, states which have relatively small numbers of legal practitioners, no local school of law, and relatively small populations. In both states, criminal law revision efforts were quite similar, in that an early decision was made to rely heavily on published revised codes of other jurisdictions and on the Model Penal Code, rather than undertaking an extensive initial study and preparing a unique code. The following article will compare the criminal law revision projects in …

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New York Specious Cash Sales Act, Craig D. Holleman Jan 1971

New York Specious Cash Sales Act, Craig D. Holleman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The New York Legislature recently moved to protect consumers in that state from unscrupulous retailers of consumer goods and financers of consumer loans by enacting the Specious Cash Sales Act. The new law is the third in a series of measures designed to remedy certain perceived inequities to which the holder in due course doctrine gives rise in the consumer goods field. Earlier this year, the Legislature undercut complicated mechanisms whereby a finance company could procure from a retailer contracts and obligations containing a waiver-of-defenses provision executed by the buyer-consumer. This law in turn complemented a still earlier statute which …

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Reflection On The Law Reforming Process, Sanford J. Fox Jan 1971

Reflection On The Law Reforming Process, Sanford J. Fox

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This paper is based on three experiences as draftsman or reporter in penal law legislation projects. The first such experience was as sole draftsman for a New Hampshire criminal code, an undertaking commenced in November 1967, which produced a proposed code in April 1969. I am continuing this activity at the present time as assistant to a committee of the New Hampshire legislature that is currently holding hearings on the proposal in preparation for reporting out a criminal code bill this spring. Since work on the New Hampshire code represents the most extensive experience, it is the basis for most …

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Reducing The Size Of Juries, David M. Powell Jan 1971

Reducing The Size Of Juries, David M. Powell

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In recent years, court dockets have become increasingly congested. The resulting delays place a great burden both on civil litigants and on the criminally accused who often await trial for more than two years. In responding to this problem, jurists have focused on trial by jury and have typically suggested modifications of two types: either limiting access to juries by litigants, or increasing the efficiency of the juries themselves. Some critics have even contended that the anachronistic procedure of jury trials is such an undue burden on the judicial system that it should be abolished in the interest of efficient …

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Family Support From Fugitive Fathers: A Proposed Amendment To Michigan's Long Arm Statute, Robert L. Nelson May 1970

Family Support From Fugitive Fathers: A Proposed Amendment To Michigan's Long Arm Statute, Robert L. Nelson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

It is the purpose of this article to propose and discuss an amendment to Michigan's long arm statute which will allow the entry of extraterritorial alimony, separate maintenance, or child support decrees when Michigan is the state of the marital domicile and the defendant-spouse cannot be located for personal service of process. A plaintiff employing the proposed provision in a divorce action will be able to seek alimony, separate maintenance, or support payments as if the defendant were before the court, and the court will have the authority to grant her the necessary relief. If and when the wife later …

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California Family Law Act, Meredith A. Nelson May 1970

California Family Law Act, Meredith A. Nelson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

California's Family Law Act has been heralded as the first major change in the State's divorce provisions in one hundred years. The Act is an attempt to remedy two major criticisms of current divorce practice both in California and throughout the United States. First, those advocating reform believe that laws controlling the granting of divorces are in conflict with modem concepts of marriage and divorce. Many divorce laws impose punitive sanctions in an attempt to deter those who would otherwise seek a divorce. Second, notwithstanding their intent, divorce laws have not, in fact, reduced the frequency of divorce. The inability …

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Consumer Protection In Michigan: Current Methods And Some Proposals For Reform, Michigan Law Review Apr 1970

Consumer Protection In Michigan: Current Methods And Some Proposals For Reform, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

During the past decade, a great deal of effort has been expended at all levels of government in the United States to enhance the prosperity of the poor and underprivileged elements of society. Much legislation has been passed-especially at the federal level--but it has been incomplete in that its main thrust has been simply to increase the income levels of poor people without a corresponding effort to ensure that they receive their money's worth as consumers. As a result, the long-standing evil of fraud in the market place has not been significantly reduced, but has contributed to the serious economic …

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Michigan Air Pollution Control: A Case Study, William A. Irwin Jan 1970

Michigan Air Pollution Control: A Case Study, William A. Irwin

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The State of Michigan began its fight against air pollution with the passage of two Acts in 1965: the Air Pollution Act and the Tax Exemption for Air Pollution Control Act. In adopting these acts the legislature hoped to solve the state's special needs for immediate air pollution control, created by the heavy concentration of automobile manufacturers and their suppliers in the state. The fight was to be waged through the efforts of a newly-created Air Pollution Control Commission and its staff. To present an evaluation of the success of these efforts, this comment concentrates upon two case studies of …

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Water Pollution Control In Vermont: A System Of Effluent Charges, Hobart Birmingham Jan 1970

Water Pollution Control In Vermont: A System Of Effluent Charges, Hobart Birmingham

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In the final hours of a three month session, Vermont's legislature adopted a water pollution control law which imposes fees on polluters. Control of water pollution has been a popular issue in Vermont-its first comprehensive laws on the subject were passed in 1949 -and this new legislation is designed to be a major step toward upgrading much of that state's water resources. Increasing industrial and municipal water use has resulted in such widespread pollution that the traditional private law of riparian rights provides an inadequate remedy to the problem of unclean water. Consequently, state intervention has become essential to the …

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Criminal Law Revision In Kentucky: Part Ii--Inchoate Crimes, Robert G. Lawson Jan 1970

Criminal Law Revision In Kentucky: Part Ii--Inchoate Crimes, Robert G. Lawson

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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Controlling The Controllers In Parent-Subsidiary Relations, James C. Bruno Jan 1970

Controlling The Controllers In Parent-Subsidiary Relations, James C. Bruno

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article will examine the rights and responsibilities of a party in control of a corporation. The discussion of these rights and responsibilities focuses principally on the law of Michigan. However, passages on policy, discussion of the development of relevant Michigan law, and recommendations for changes in the law are pertinent to the general problem-area of parent-subsidiary relations encountered in all jurisdictions.

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Michigan Environmental Protection Act Of 1970, Susan Pearce Jan 1970

Michigan Environmental Protection Act Of 1970, Susan Pearce

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Widespread public preoccupation with environmental quality is a recent development, and one that has provided the impetus for a thorough examination of existing governmental structures in order to establish a functional system for the environment's protection and improvement. Commenting on this development, a leading environmental lawyer recently noted: "[T]he explosion of concern for the environment, at every private and governmental level, is the great political phenomenon of the last twelve months." As concern has grown about the quality of the environment, so too has skepticism increased about the ability of present institutions to cope with the problem. A constitutional amendment …

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Michigan Environmental Protection Act, Roger L. Conner Jan 1970

Michigan Environmental Protection Act, Roger L. Conner

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Each of the questions discussed in this note revolve around the same basic issue: the propriety of vesting broad power in the courts to prevent environmental destruction, and to develop an environmental common law. The need for the broad standard of the Act derives from the complexity of the problem. The clear authority of the courts to decide cases which have been, or should have been dealt with by an administrative agency is important both for the relationship it establishes between citizens and agencies, and to insure that the policies of the Act will be implemented. In responding to these …

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The Proposed Michigan Business Corporation Act, Stanley Siegel Jan 1970

The Proposed Michigan Business Corporation Act, Stanley Siegel

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The author of this article was selected by the Commission as Reporter, to draft and revise the statute. It is the purpose of this article to describe the drafting process, to outline the general structure and to examine some unique aspects of the proposed Michigan Business Corporation Act. In this discussion, the author expresses his own views only, and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Law Revision Commission or its members.

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New York Minimum Wage Act For Migrant Workers, Karen E. Kuntz Dec 1969

New York Minimum Wage Act For Migrant Workers, Karen E. Kuntz

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The abject state in which most migrant workers in this country exist has recently become a matter of national concern. The increasing stridency of the migrants, personified by César Chavez in California, has resulted in recognition of the need for legislative assistance to rescue them from their plight. The migrant worker is unable to help himself, being burdened by a low annual income and an education level of only eight and a half years in school. In New York, the migrant's situation is aggravated by the powerful position of the crew leader or "farm labor contractor," who often determines workers' …

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Constitutional Reform Fails In The Free State: The Maryland Constitutional Convention Of 1967-68*, John P. Wheeler, Jr. Sep 1969

Constitutional Reform Fails In The Free State: The Maryland Constitutional Convention Of 1967-68*, John P. Wheeler, Jr.

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

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Penal Code Reform In Indiana: Piecemeal Amendment Is Not The Answer, Richard C. Lague Apr 1969

Penal Code Reform In Indiana: Piecemeal Amendment Is Not The Answer, Richard C. Lague

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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Overcoming Barriers To Scattered-Site Low-Cost Housing, Darrel J. Grinstead Apr 1969

Overcoming Barriers To Scattered-Site Low-Cost Housing, Darrel J. Grinstead

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The effect of most zoning devices which have been used in suburban and non-ghetto city planning in the past few decades has been to erect substantial economic barriers around entire cities. These devices include minimum lot size requirements, density zoning, frontage requirements, single family restrictions, and minimum living space requirements. While such zoning practices may not be exclusionary in purpose, exclusion of minority groups has been the result. Moreover, since most minorities are heavily concentrated in low income groups, economic segregation will bring about a high degree of racial and ethnic segregation. Indeed, it has been suggested that these economic …

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Criminal Law Revision In Kentucky: Part I--Homicide And Assault, Robert G. Lawson Jan 1969

Criminal Law Revision In Kentucky: Part I--Homicide And Assault, Robert G. Lawson

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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