DELINEATION OF TRACKS OF HEAVY COSMIC RAYS AND NUCLEAR PROCESSES WITHIN LARGE SILVER CHLORIDE CRYSTALS

Delineation of tracks of heavy cosmic rays and nuclear processes with in large silver chloride crystal

BANKS AND BANKING-NIGHT DEPOSITORY-RELATION CREATED BETWEEN BANK AND DEPOSITOR

By payment of a nominal charge, the plaintiff became entitled to use the night depository service offered to its customers by the defendant bank. On Christmas day, 1942, plaintiff made use of this service by depositing some currency, coins, and a check which were placed in a canvas bag supplied by the defendant bank for this purpose. Plaintiff never received credit for this deposit. Defendant bank was unable to find the bag which the plaintiff had deposited, and plaintiff sued to recover the value of its contents, obtaining a judgment in the trial court. Defendant bank appealed. Held, judgment affirmed. The relationship created between the bank and the user of the night deposit facility was a bailment for mutual benefit, and the bank owed the depositor the duty to use reasonable care in seeing that the deposit was credited to his account. Bernstein v. Northwestern National Bank in Philadelphia, (Pa. Super. 1945) 41 A. (2d) 440

CRIMINAL LAW-INCOMPETENCE OF DEFENSE COUNSEL AS GROUND FOR NEW TRIAL

To represent the defendant, accused of robbery, the court at public expense, appointed an attorney, designated the public defender. After conviction, the defendant, by another attorney, petitioned for a writ of error coram nobis on the ground that his attorney had made only a perfunctory defense because of his incompetence and negligence. The petition having been denied in the circuit court, the defendant appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court. Held, affirmed. When the record shows no incompetence or negligence on the part of the defense counsel prejudicial to the accused, a writ of error coram nobis will not be granted. Fluty v. State, (Ind. 1947) 71 N.E. (2d) 565

FUTURE INTERESTS-RULE AGAINST PERPETUITIES--VALIDITY OF AN OPTION INCIDENT TO A LEASE EXERCISABLE AFTER THE EXPIRATION OF THE LEASE

On November 13, 1941, plaintiff entered into a lease with defendant granting defendant the exclusive right to mine and remove coal from plaintiff\u27s mine for twenty years. Incident to the lease defendant was granted the option, at any time subsequent to November 1st, 1945, to purchase the remaining tonnage of recoverable coal at a specified price. A deed thereto was placed in escrow. In January, 1946, defendant elected to exercise the option, tendered the price, and received the deed from escrow. Plaintiff refused to recognize the validity of the option and commenced an action in equity to cancel the deed on the ground that the option, being exercisable at any time, extended beyond the period of the lease and was void under the rule against perpetuities. Held, the option is valid. The parties intended this option to be exercised only during the term of the lease; therefore it did not violate the rule against perpetuities. Poland Coal Co. v. Hillman Coal and Coke Co., (Pa. I947) 55 A. (2d) 414

PARTNERSHIP-EFFECT OF PROVISION THAT EXECUTOR OF DECEASED PARTNER SHALL CONTINUE PARTNERSHIP AS PARTNER

In a recent decision the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the validity of a provision in a partnership agreement to the effect that the personal representative of the deceased partner should continue the business as a partner, and also stated: There is no doubt that a partner may provide by his will that the partnership shall continue notwithstanding his death. The deceased partner by his will gave to his executor broad discretionary powers of sale over all of his property. To his widow the deceased partner bequeathed a share of his interest in the partnership business. The executor of the deceased partner continued the business as a partner for several months at which time he changed his mind and decided to sell the deceased partner\u27s interest to the surviving partner. The executor secured permission of the court to sell and the surviving partner to buy the deceased partner\u27s interest in the partnership. The hearing was had without the knowledge and consent of the widow and she brought an action to set aside the sale on grounds of fraud. The trial court dismissed the petition of the widow and upheld the sale as fair and without fraud. On appeal the Wisconsin Supreme Court affirmed the holding of the trial court on the ground that the acts of the executor in continuing the business and then selling the decedent\u27s interest were within his delegated authority

FEDERAL COURTS--RULE 33 OF RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE--POWER TO GRANT A NEW TRIAL AFTER AFFIRMANCE

One John Memolo was convicted of tax evasion in the District Court of the United States for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The defendant\u27s motion for a new trial, on the ground of prejudicial conduct of the trial judge, was denied. He then appealed assigning as error all of the grounds stated in his motion and also the denial of the motion for a new trial. The circuit court of appeals affirmed the conviction. The sentence was executed and the defendant imprisoned in a federal penitentiary. Then the district judge reconsidered, and in the interest of justice directed that the judgment be vacated and a new trial granted. The United States petitioned the circuit court of appeals for a writ of mandamus directing the district. judge to set aside his order vacating the judgment and for a writ of prohibition against further proceedings in the cause. The petition for the writs was denied. The government appealed. Held, reversed. The granting of a new trial on the district court\u27s own motion after an affirmance of the original judgment by the circuit court of appeals was improper. United States v. Smith, 331 U.S. 469, 67 S.Ct. 1330 (1947)

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-TAXATION-GROSS RECEIPTS TAXES IN RELATION TO INTERSTATE COMMERCE-FREEMAN v. HEWIT

The scope of state taxation of interstate commerce has been redefined in two recent Supreme Court cases involving the application of state gross receipts taxes. In Freeman v. Hewit and Joseph v. Carter and Weekes Stevedoring Co., the Court discarded the cumulative burdens test, which for the past eight years had served as the basis for determining the extent of state taxation of interstate commerce, and readopted the direct and indirect burden test

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--WHITE PRIMARIES--RICE V. ELMORE

The right of the negro to vote has constantly been challenged in attempts to destroy or at least to control the exercise of that right. The Fifteenth Amendment secures the right to vote free from interference on a racial basis by the states or the national government. In the states where there is a large negro population varied efforts have been attempted in order to control and nullify the negro vote. These efforts have been manifested in various forms-the grandfather clause, property ownership requirements, the poll tax, character tests, and literacy tests