State and Local Government Law Commons^™

Postscript: Proposals For A Long-Range Program, Jerome Hall

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Teaching Of Local Government Law, Jefferson B. Fordham

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Municipal Corporations--Municipal Charters--Constitutional Law, J. S. W. Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Municipal Corporations, Oliver A. Rice

Mercer Law Review

The discussion of the cases dealing with the problems of municipal corporations during the survey period will be undertaken schematically rather than chronologically. An effort will be made to effect that classification of the cases which, with the practicing attorney's background of experience, will enable him most easily to fit these new pronouncements of the Georgia appellate courts into the body of Georgia law. The liability of a municipal corporation for tort occasioned by, or nuisance created through the acts of municipal agents, acting in the scope and course of their employment, is ever a perplexing one, due to the …

Municipal Corporations--Liability For Maintenance Of Streets And Sidewalks--Meaning Of Statute A Jury Question, P. L. S.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Municipal Corporations - Rescission By Electorate Of Approval To Issue Bonds - Use Of Referendum Power To Prevent Action By The Majority, Robert P. Griffin S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

At their annual meeting, the voters of a Vermont city approved the issuance of municipal bonds to finance erection of a sewage disposal plant. Before further action was taken, a group of citizens, acting in accordance with a charter provision, presented the mayor with a petition containing one hundred signatures which demanded that a special meeting he called to vote on a proposal to rescind the approval previously given. The voters refused to rescind. Twice thereafter petitions were filed with the mayor asking that special meetings be called to reconsider the question, but on each of these occasions the petitions …

Some Problems In Federal Question Jurisdiction, George B. Fraser, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Congress has given the federal district courts original and removal jurisdiction of all civil actions arising under the Constitution or laws of the United States, but the power of these courts to hear such cases has been restricted by the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court holds that the district courts have jurisdiction of a case if a federal question is raised in the complaint, but jurisdiction cannot be based on a federal question in the answer. This means that the district courts are closed to many cases that involve a substantial federal issue, while many cases …

Labor Law--Federal-State Relations--Validity Of Michigan's Labor Mediation Act, R. L. Storms S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff labor union called a strike against defendant auto corporation in May, 1948, without conforming to the prescribed state procedure. The purpose of the strike was to enforce demands for higher wages and the strike was conducted peacefully. To enjoin possible criminal prosecution the union instituted the instant suit in the state courts, contending that the Michigan labor mediation law, the much publicized "Bonine-Tripp Act," violated the due process and commerce clauses of the Federal Constitution. The Michigan Supreme Court reversed the decision of the trial court which had granted the injunction. On appeal, held, reversed. Congress has occupied …

Municipal Corporations-Obligations Arising From Operation Of Municipal Utilities Beyond Corporate Limits [City Of South Norfolk V. City Of Norfolk, Va. 1950]

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Financial Responsibilities Of West Virginia Municipalities, William H. File Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legislation-Perpetuities-Some Recent Statutory Changes In The Law Of Perpetuities, Thomas L. Waterbury S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

During the past five years the legislatures of several states have wrestled anew with an old problem, that of limiting the permissible duration of indirect restraints upon the alienation of property. Generally speaking, these statutes may be grouped into two classes: those designed to abandon previous statutory modifications of the common law rule against perpetuities and return to the common law rule; and those designed to modify the common law rule or alter existing statutory rules. With respect to the latter group, a further classification is possible between statutes which attempt a general revision of the law as to perpetuities …

The Status Of "Home Rule" In Georgia, J. Alvin Gilmore, Scott Walters Jr.

Mercer Law Review

The archaic system of special bills to provide for the local government of cities and counties, which had its inception in this country when the colonies asserted their independence, has long been under fire as not only cumbersome but also contrary to tradition and the intention of those who formed our state governments. The opponents of this system offered in its stead local government of municipalities by a system commonly referred to as "Home Rule." Although this system has not had success commensurate with the glossy pictures painted by its more avid proponents, it has, where accepted, attained the aims …

Municipal Corporations-Circumventing Municipal Debt Limitations, Joseph F. Gricar S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Since municipalities are frequently indebted to the permissible extent of the constitutional, statutory, and charter debt limitations, they are constantly seeking methods of finance which avoid the debt limits. Three devices have received judicial sanction. First: Where a separate and distinct. corporation such as a school or drain district has been created it may operate with a separate debt limit over the same territory as the governing municipality. Second: Where the project to be financed is income-producing, the financing bond issue, if made self-liquidating, will not Gome within the debt limitations. Although incorporated authorities have been extensively used to administer …

Eliminating The Battle Of Experts In Criminal Insanity Cases, Henry Weihofen

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this article to discuss certain procedural devices which have been adopted in some jurisdictions, designed to eliminate the ''battle of experts" which still disgraces criminal procedure in most of our states, and to replace it with a more impartial, more scientific, type of investigation.

Federal Courts-Civil Procedure-Availability To Plaintiff Of Change Of Venue Under Title 28 U.S.C.A. 1404(A), Richard B. Gushée S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiffs filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in order to obtain service on the defendant. The plaintiff then filed a motion for an order to transfer the cause to the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania under Title 28 U.S.C.A. 1404(a) on the grounds that all the plaintiffs and witnesses resided in Pennsylvania, that it would be inconvenient and expensive to transport these witnesses to Ohio, and that the cause of action arose in Pennsylvania. Held, motion denied. Title 28 U.S.C.A. 1404(a) is not available …

Personal Property-United States Savings Bonds--Effect Of Registration In Co-Ownership Or Beneficiary Form As A Transfer Of A Property Interest Therein, Walter L. Dean

Michigan Law Review

In two recent cases, decedents purchased United States Savings Bonds registered in the name of the purchaser and another person which were never delivered to the named co-owner but remained in the possession of the purchaser until his death. In the first case, on appeal from an order of the district court refusing to impose an inheritance tax on the bonds after the death of the purchaser, held, reversed. Mere purchase of the bonds and their registration in the names of the co-owners without delivery transferred no interest to the co-owners during the life of the purchaser and is …

Constitutional Limitation On Indebtedness

Indiana Law Journal

Municipalities Note

The Indiana Annexation Act Of 1949

Indiana Law Journal

Recent Cases: Legislation

Conflict Of Laws-Limitation Of Actions-Statute Of Forum Shorter Than Limitation In Foreign Statute Creating Cause Of Action, John J. Gaskell S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Action was brought in a United States district court of Pennsylvania to recover for a death by wrongful act which occurred in Minnesota. The action was brought within the time limit of two years allowed by the Minnesota statute, but after the period of one year designated by the Pennsylvania statute for commencement of such action. The district court gave judgment for the defendant. On appeal, held, affirmed. Federal courts in diversity cases are bound by state rules of conflict of laws, and consequently the Pennsylvania rule that no action for wrongful death can be brought in Pennsylvania after …

Municipal Corporations-Zoning-Right Of Grantee To Act On Variance Issued To His Grantor, Herbert N. Weingarten

Michigan Law Review

A zoning ordinance prohibited the erection of private garages within twenty feet of the street line. Because of the peculiar shape of the lot in question, a variance was granted to the then owner permitting the building of a garage closer to the street line. However, before the garage was built, the land was sold to the present owner who obtained a building permit and began construction. Plaintiffs, owners of the adjoining lot, objected to the granting of the permit and appealed to the zoning board of review which denied their appeal. On certiorari, held, present owner might act …

Trusts-Spendthrift Trusts-Restrictions On Alienation As A Constitutionally Protected Property Right Of The Donor, Thomas Hartwell

Michigan Law Review

The beneficiary of a spendthrift trust, created in 1921, sought to renounce and terminate her life interest, thereby vesting the fee simple of the trust res in her son, as remainderman, free of the spendthrift provisions. A Pennsylvania statute, passed in 1945, authorized anyone with any interest in real or personal property to disclaim such interest, irrespective of any so-called spendthrift trust provisions. Held, prayer for termination denied on the ground that the statute, as it applied to spendthrift trusts created before its passage, was a violation of the donor-settlor's property rights under the Pennsylvania Constitution. To allow the …

Statutory Construction In Resolving Conflicts Between State And Local Legislation, Charles S. Rhyne

Vanderbilt Law Review

My contribution to this symposium will consist of the advancement of one main thesis and four subordinate and supporting ones. My main thesis is simple indeed. Procedural rules must be viewed as grants or creations of judicial power. My subordinate theses then indicate certain complications showing that in practice the matter cannot be thus wholly disposed of. Though too much reform has so assumed, it turns out that telling a court it has power does not guarantee exercise of that power. Judicial inertia, prece- dent-mindedness, love of technical niceties-all play their part in halting procedural improvement. So does, even more, …

Statutory Construction In Resolving Conflicts Between State And Local Legislation, Charles S. Rhyme

Vanderbilt Law Review

As creatures of the states, our municipalities occupy a unique position in our governmental scheme. Not endowed with sovereignty, the municipality possesses no inherent powers, and can only do that which is authorized by the state.' The exercise of local powers, therefore, becomes the exercise of those powers which have been conferred upon it by state legislative action. Possible exceptions to this are those states in which "home rule" has been constitutionally conferred upon municipalities, by which authority to form local governments and to administer municipal affairs in the manner desired by the local electorate prevails. In view of the …

Witnesses-Prior Conviction Of Crime To Impeach-Circumstances Of Sentencing Not Admissible, J. D. Mcleod S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

ln an action to recover for personal injuries sustained in 1945, at which time he was a prisoner of the State of Virginia, plaintiff testified in his own behalf at the jury trial. On cross-examination, he admitted that he had been convicted of assault in 1943, that sentence had been suspended on condition that he enter the service, and that he had been sentenced to jail when he failed to enter the service. In his argument, defendant's attorney declared that the action had its inception in 1943, and emphasized that plaintiff had failed to enter the service when the sentence …

Book Reviews, Joseph C. Hutcheson, Jr., W. Raymond Denny (Reviewer), Robert G. Storey (Reviewer), W. W. Berry (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

BOOK REVIEWS

The Power in the People

By Felix Morley

New York: D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., 1949. Pp. xii, 293. $3.50

reviewer: Joseph C. Hutcheson, Jr.

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Men and Measures in the Law

By Arthur T. Vanderbilt

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1949. Pp. xxii, 156. $3.00

reviewer: W. Raymond Denny

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The Case of General Yamashita

By A. Frank Reel

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949. Pp. v, 324. $4.00

reviewer: Robert G. Storey

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Tax Planning for Estates

By William j. Bowe

Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1949. Pp. 93. $2.00

reviewer: W. W. Berry

Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure-Statute Of Limitations Not Tolled By Filing Complaint Under Rule 3, Clinton R. Ashford S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's cause of action arose out of a highway accident that occurred on October 1, 1943. Basing jurisdiction on diversity of citizenship, he brought suit in a United States District Court in Kansas. The complaint was filed on September 4, 1945, and defendant was served on December 28, 1945. In Kansas, the two-year statute of limitations applicable to such tort claims is tolled by service on the defendant, not by filing the complaint. Held, plaintiff is barred by the Kansas statute of limitations. Ragan v. Merchants Transfer & Warehouse Co., Inc., (U.S. 1949) 69 S.Ct. 1233.

Torts--Right Of Privacy In Kentucky, Dempsey Cox

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Judicial Law Making: Intent Of Legislature Vs. Literal Interpretation, James R. Richardson

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Survey Of Metropolitan Courts: Detroit Area, Maxine Boord Virtue

Michigan Legal Studies Series

It has long been recognized that the social problems of the city are something more than a mere multiple of the social problems of the rural community. The bigness of the metropolitan area breeds its own difficulties, which find no counterpart outside its borders. Only recently, however, have experts begun to suggest that this same uniqueness inheres in the problems of the organization of metropolitan courts.

Should the organization of the metropolitan court system differ from court organization elsewhere? How should it differ? Before these questions can be answered, we must know something of existing court organizations in metropolitan areas …

Torts--A Summary And Critique Of The Law Of Statutory Negligence In Kentucky, Robert F. Stephens

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.