Elias Finley Johnson

A biographical sketch of Elias Finley Johnson at the time of his appointment as a Supreme Judge of the Philippines. Includes a photograph

Quasi-Contractual Obligations of Municipal Corporations

We have constructive fraud, constructive trusts, constructive notice, and why not constructive contract, a contractual obligation existing in contemplation of law, in the absence of any agreement express or implied from facts? With this apology we shall use the term quasi contract as covering an obligation created by law and enforceable by an action ex contractu. We are not for the present interested in the circumstances which may give rise to this obligation as between individuals; nor as between an individual and a private corporation, or quasi public corporation, so-called, as a railroad or other public utility. In these cases the doctrine of unjust enrichment usually controls. Our inquiry relates to the conditions under which an individual may recover in implied assumpsit for money or property received from him by a municipal corporation and applied to municipal purposes under an invalid express contract-invalid for want of power to make the contract, or by reason of an irregular exercise of power. Does the fact that a municipality has been enriched at the expense of the individual, in such cases, give him a remedy in quasi contract

Elias Finley Johnson

A biographical sketch of Elias Finley Johnson at the time of his appointment as a Supreme Judge of the Philippines. Includes a photograph

Thomas McIntyre Cooley

In the early fifties, there were four young men practicing at the bar of the State of Michigan who became so influential during the formative period in the jurisprudence of the state that we cannot name one of them without thinking of the others. James V. Campbell, Isaac P. Christiancy, Thomas M. Cooley and Benjamin F. Graves came from New York parentage and from New England stock. The three last named received their education in the primary schools and academies of New York. As young men seeking their future they came west and settled in different parts of this state. Mr. Campbell\u27s parents had moved from Buffalo to Detroit when he was three years old, where he continued to reside up to the time of his death

Recollection of the Law Department

In 1859 the Department of Law began its work in education at the the university of Michigan, with three professors and ninety students. The faculty consisted of Thomas M. Cooley, James V. Campbell and Charles I. Walker. Judge Cooley resided in Ann Arbor and the other gentlemen lived in Detroit. At this time these men were young and inexperienced in educational work and had not achieved in any marked degree, success at the bar. Today the lives of Cooley, Campbell and Walker make up some of the best chapters in the history of the State of Michigan, and the better part of their lives was spent in teaching law at the University of Michigan. These three truly great men and great teachers have passed away, but the walls within which they taught still stand and the books they wrote still instruct and inspire

Labor Organizations in Legislation

During the first months of the current year, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down three decisions on important questions in labor legislation.1 The Employers\u27 Liability Act was declared unconstitutional, but on grounds that may be avoided by subsequent legislation; the boycott was decided to be an unlawful conspiracy against interstate commerce, and in violation of the Anti-Trust Act and the congressional enactment providing criminal punishment for the discharge of an employee because of his membership in a labor organization was also held unconstitutional. These decisions have been unjustly spoken of by some, as unreasonably severe on labor organizations. The benefits that have come to laborers through the labor unions are recognized by the Court, but it is also pointed out that they can not secure their ends, however desirable they may be, through unlawful means and cannot abridge the constitutional personal rights of others through state or national legislation

Freedom of Contract

The liberty mentioned in the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution means not only the right of the citizen to be free from the mere physical restraint of his person, as by incarceration, but the term is deemed to embrace the right of the citizen to be free in the enjoyment of all his faculties; to be free to use them in all lawful ways; to live and work where he will; to earn his livelihood by any lawful calling; to pursue any livelihood or avocation, and for that purpose to enter into all contracts which may be proper, necessary and essential to his carrying out to a successful conclusion the purposes above mentioned. This was written by MR. JUSTICE PECKHAM in Allgeyer v. Louisina1 where it was held that a state statute prohibiting in effect a contract of insurance with a company resident in a foreign state of the Union was unconstitutional

Recollection of the Law Department

In 1859 the Department of Law began its work in education at the the university of Michigan, with three professors and ninety students. The faculty consisted of Thomas M. Cooley, James V. Campbell and Charles I. Walker. Judge Cooley resided in Ann Arbor and the other gentlemen lived in Detroit. At this time these men were young and inexperienced in educational work and had not achieved in any marked degree, success at the bar. Today the lives of Cooley, Campbell and Walker make up some of the best chapters in the history of the State of Michigan, and the better part of their lives was spent in teaching law at the University of Michigan. These three truly great men and great teachers have passed away, but the walls within which they taught still stand and the books they wrote still instruct and inspire

Joseph Hardcastle Vance

On December 20, 1900, after a quarter of a century\u27s services in the University of Michigan, Joseph H. Vance died at his rooms on Monroe street in the city of Ann Arbor. He had been confined to the house for only a few days and the announcement of his death shocked many of his friends, who had not learned of his illness. He was seventy-three years of age and to those most intimately associated with him his death was not a surprise. During the past two years marked indications of senility had appeared with painful frequency

Thomas McIntyre Cooley

In the early fifties, there were four young men practicing at the bar of the State of Michigan who became so influential during the formative period in the jurisprudence of the state that we cannot name one of them without thinking of the others. James V. Campbell, Isaac P. Christiancy, Thomas M. Cooley and Benjamin F. Graves came from New York parentage and from New England stock. The three last named received their education in the primary schools and academies of New York. As young men seeking their future they came west and settled in different parts of this state. Mr. Campbell\u27s parents had moved from Buffalo to Detroit when he was three years old, where he continued to reside up to the time of his death