•Davies Speaks on  Criminal Law Reform in England  •Larceny in Lawyers Club •Miscellaneous Morsels •At the Frat •Res Gestae Sports Staff Pix •At the Flicks •Quadsville Quote

University of Michigan Law School

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Vol. 13, No. 8, October 26, 1962

University of Michigan School of Law

University of Michigan Law SchoolUniversity of Michigan Law School Scholarship RepositoryRes Gestae Law School History and Publications1962Vol. 13, No. 8, October 26, 1962University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow this and additional works at: http://repository.law.umich.edu/res_gestaePart of the Legal Education CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School History and Publications at University of Michigan Law School ScholarshipRepository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Res Gestae by an authorized administrator of University of Michigan Law School ScholarshipRepository. For more information, please contact mlaw.repository@umich.edu.Recommended CitationUniversity of Michigan Law School, "Vol. 13, No. 8, October 26, 1962" (1962). Res Gestae. Paper 940.http://repository.law.umich.edu/res_gestae/940DAVIES SPEAKS ON "CRIMINAL LAW REFORM IN ENGLAND". In his first two lectures, D. Seaborne Davies, Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Liverpool, noted the trio of "Beccaria who begot Bentham who be-got Romilly" that introduced the first great reform in the English criminal law. The next great step came in the 1860's when the work of the First and Second Criminal Law Commissions produced a consoli-dation of the previous 800 years law. In 1907-the Court of Criminal Appeal was established, finally allowing an accessible appeal for indictable offenses. Non-indictable offenses had had an appeal through the Queen's Bench Division. Professor Davies has read every case hand~ down by the Court of Criminal ~ppeal for 40 years. He complains' :·of several processes of this court. There are 35 judges on this court ·at one time, 3 to 1 of whom sit on one case. Each judge is also· a trial judge on the King's Bench. Continuity and consistent decisions are thus diffi-cult, and the work load is appalling. Each judge reads about thirty sets of papers over the week-end! To avoid frivolous appeals, a single judge of the Court of Criminal Appeal listens to each case. He disposes of about 800 cases per year, but an appellant can go beyond him to the usual three judge panel. An interesting proviso governing the court is that which al-lows the court to dismiss an appeal even though it agrees with ap-pellant's case, when it appears that no signi_ficant miscarriage of justice occurred below. · The Court of Criminal Appeal hears only 300 of the 2000 cases er.~·~aled of the 30,000 indictable offense trials. (In the non-inJict-~hle:; division, out of 1,000,000 cor'~.rictions, half of which are traffic con"i.1ict1_ons, only 2000 appeal) lbnetheless the court 1 s super--.-:isicn has i~7tproved police practices trial procedure, evfdence and sectencing. Much can yet be improved: however, and in 1959 Parli~l-:1~ent established a criminal law revision committee of which ProfeGsor Davies is a member. Such a committee is greatly needed be-cause of the way the higher courts had so tightly bound themselves by their own decisions. On Monday Professor Davies will talk on "The Law of Homicide in England", and on Tuesday and Wednesday, he will deal with fraudulent offenses. LARCENY IN LAWYERS CLUB. Last Friday and Saturday nights, a series of six thefts occurred in the Lawyers Club. About $?..:!0 was stolen, Dave Serotkin being one of the victims. A suspect ,;v-~~s nabbl";d in West Quad on Monday and is being held on charges of larceny from a build-ing. The police see no evidence of a connection, however. The tech-nique appears to begin with a friendly knock on the door. The thief then has an option: if someone answers, he asks where Meyer Sniffen, for example, lives; if no one answers he walks in and selects what treasures capture his fancy. Reside-rt~S are urged to keep their doors locked inasmuch as spring-guns are frowned upon. · MISCELL.ANEOUS MORSELS: A 161 "Ensian", U of M yea1.·book,_ has been placed in the Law Club Lounge for the conveuieuce and enlightenment of all who wish to check out their bl:f.nd dates, etc. • • • The Vir-ginia Law Weekly won the ALSA first prize for law school newspapers for the seventh consecutive time. • • • For those who wish to supple-ment their reading of the !£! Gestae there is a publication called "Law Quadrangle Notes" available on the third floor of Hutchins, intended for alumni but applicable to all, published in November, February, May and Pugust. , • •  The Law Library has more than 306,000 volumes • •  , • On Monday at 2:15 in room 218, a West German will speak on the Common Market • • • • AT THE FRAT: TER: Homecoming events Saturday night at the V.F.w • • • • Foot­ball playoffs next week. Delta: Festive frivolity after the game. A la carte refresh­ments. S�6rgasbord--all you can eat $2.00/person, 6 p.m. Party with band and entertainment $2.50/coup1e, 9:30 to 1:30. Phids: Open house after the game. Members $1.00, non-members $2.00. Party at 9, members free, non-members $1.00. RES GE STAE SPORTS STAFF PIX: Princeton over Cornell Dartmouth over Harvard Colgate over Yale Purdue over Iowa Minnesota over Michigan Northwestern over Notre Dame Ohio over Wisconsin Texas over Rice Oregon State over West Virginia Washington over Oregon u.c.L.A. over Stanford Pittsburgh over Navy PT THE FLICKS: G''i:-'12.�..!: "A Coming Out Party" ·� · ::_:.�: &gr!.: "If A Man Answers" • .�.: 11l,.Jest Side Story�' :::._ _ _  ·: :J-·:-.�2��·� ld: J .· L. . - "Ug.�tsu" A ·, , A.: .__, ··-- -Sun. - "Tr�e Cou-rt Jester" "Ghosts" (lbser<) I _ _! Record to date: 34 correct 8 wrong 1 tie �-QUADSVILLE QUOTES by Meyer Sniffen ·----------------------------� The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the poor as well as the rich to restrain trade in violation of the antitrust laws. - Pnon. A man may as well open an oyster without a knife, as a law­yer's mouth without a fee. - Barten Holyday l -- -- - - ----- ----- -

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Vol. 13, No. 8, October 26, 1962

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