\u3ci\u3eMerrill on Notice\u3c/i\u3e, by Maurice H. Merrill (1952)

Merrill on Notice is more than a digest or encyclopedia; it is a treatise which presents a fresh analysis of the subject. It abandons the old dichotomy of actual and constructive notice and introduces a new one: cognitive and absolute. A change in familiar terminology is justified only if it serves to clarify the subject and make for sharper analysis. Merrill has demonstrated, to this writer at least, that the change was justified, if for no other reason than that the old terms, as employed by legislatures, courts, and writers, were used in a great variety of situations to describe vastly different things. As used by Merrill cognitive notice refers to knowledge, actual or presumed, and absolute notice refers to notification which has legal effect whether or not the noticee actually has knowledge of the facts contained in the notice

PUBLIC POLICIES UNDERLYING THE LAW OF MENTAL INCOMPETENCY

Mental incompetency, or legal insanity, has usually been studied in the patchquilt fashion. It appears as a sub-heading of incidental interest in such widely diversified subjects as crimes, contracts, domestic relations, torts and wills. It can, however, be conceived of as a single strand in the seamless web. So viewed, it may appear to wind in and out of the various artificial subdivisions of the law, cutting across each at one particular place or another. And so conceived, it can be studied according to the second and less orthodox method of analysis. Few are the isolated areas in the law which are not intersected by this strand. Hence, any exhaustive, analysis, even according to the single strand method, would bulk too large for one article. A beginning may be made, however, by scrutinizing the strand itself, and tracing its windings through one or two of the usual subdivisions of the law

Preparation for Trial

It is often said that trials are won in the office and not in the courtroom. We are told that a case well prepared is half-won. These, and similar statements, are truisms, but because of their vague generality they do not help us much in going about the actual business of preparation. In order to be really helpful, any discussion of preparation for trial must get down to practical, specific details. I am going to try to be specific and I am going to try to cover, at least in outline, the steps which a lawyer must take in order to be adequately prepared for trial. In doing so it may sometimes be necessary to labor the obvious, and for this I apologize in advance. But in justification may I remind you that neglect of the obvious is frequently one of the causes of disaster

Procedural Progress in Washington

In writing the present article the author has in mind no more ambitious purpose than to indicate exactly what changes have been made by the new court rules in the hope that by so doing he may save the members of the bar some time, energy, and temper