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  Cases on Personal Property

  Levi T. Griffin and A. M. Fletcher

  The following cases have been printed at the request of Levi T. Griffin, A. M., Fletcher Professor of Law in the University of Michigan, for use in connection with his lectures in that school. They have been compiled by Prof. Griffin with the assistance of Walter Denton Smith, Instructor in Law. They have been selected largely from Adams' Cases on Sales.

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  Cases on Equity Jurisprudence

  Harry B. Hutchins

  “The following cases have been printed at the request of Prof. H. B. Hutchins, Dean of the Law Department of the University of Michigan, for use in connection with his lectures in that law school. They have been chiefly selected from Fetter’s Cases on Equity Jurisprudence and Pattee’s Cases in Equity.” -- Title page.

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  Cases on the Law of Damages

  Floyd R. Mechem

  "The following cases have been printed at the request of Professor Mechem, of the Law Department of the University of Michigan, for use in connection with his lectures in that law school."-- Title page.

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  Cases on the Law of Succession to Property After the Death of the Owner

  Floyd R. Mechem

  “The following cases have been printed at the request of Professor Mechem, of the Law Department of the University of Michigan, for use in connection with his lectures in that law school. They have been chiefly selected from Reeves’ Cases on Wills and Abbott’s Cases on Descent, Wills, and Administration.” Title page.

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  Cases on the Law of Agency

  Floyd R. Mechem

  The following collection of cases has been prepared, at the request of several leading educators, to accompany the writer’s treatise on the law of agency, the purpose being to illustrate the text by object lessons gathered from the reports. Nothing in the way of annotation has been attempted, beyond an occasional reference to similar cases, as it is thought that the text of the treatise supplies all that is needed in that direction. To make a selection of cases from the great number upon the subject is a difficult task and one in reference to which opinions will necessarily differ. The attempt here has been to select such as contained clear statements of the principles or furnished striking illustrations of them, and were not too much involved with other matters or too long for reproduction. Some cases which might otherwise have appeared have been omitted because the substance of them has been sufficiently stated in the text or notes of the treatise. In many cases matters irrelevant to this subject have been omitted. Cases on the law of master and servant have also been omitted as they sufficiently appear in other available collections. Many of the cases given are too recent to constitute what may be termed leading cases, nor has there been any attempt to include all that might properly be so designated. As the volume is intended primarily for the use of students, for whom the making of their own abstracts is a most valuable exercise, the cases are printed without head notes. It is believed, however, that they will be thereby rendered no less useful to others who may desire to consult them, as a full index furnishes a ready guide to their contents.

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  An Analysis of the Principles of Equity Pleading : Containing a Compendium of the High Court of Chancery, and the Foundation of Its Rules : Together with an Illustration of the Analogy Between Pleadings at Common Law and in Equity

  D. G. Lube and Bradley M. Thompson

  Since the publication in 1823 by Mr. D. G. Lube of his Principles of Equity Pleading that work has been recognized by the profession as a standard treatise upon that subject. The two generations of lawyers and judges who have come and gone since Lube wrote have contributed little to the a~t and science of equity pleading, so that to-day Lube's work is the best in existence. In this edition of the second part of his work the Editor has added little to the text of importance and has omitted substantially nothing. The only object he had in view in preparing this edition was to obtain a text suitable for the use of the student.

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  A Manual of Equity Pleading and Practice

  Bradley M. Thompson

  The following manual is intended simply as an introduction to the study of Equity Pleading and Practice, and to the course of lectures delivered upon that subject. The manual has been divided into lectures for the purposes of indicating the ground which a particular lecture will cover. It is expected that the student will master the printed synopsis before attending a given lecture.

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  The Dartmouth College Case and Private Corporations: A Paper Presented by William P. Wells, of Detroit, at the Ninth Annual Meeting, Auguest 19, 1886.

  William P. Wells

  The Dartmouth College Case and Private Corporations. Chancellor Kent, writing in 1826, thus expressed himself concerning the Dartmouth College case: "It contains one of the most full and elaborate expositions of the constitutional sanctity of contracts to be met with in any of the reports. The decision in that case did more than any other single act proceeding from the authority of the United States to throw .an impregnable barrier around all rights and franchises derived from the grant of government and to give solidity and inviolability to the literary, charitable, religious and commercial institutions of our country."

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  Commentaries on the Laws of England : in Four Books

  William Blackstone and Thomas M. Cooley

  From Editor's Preface, v.1: "Believing that the time has come when this work would be increased in value by discarding altogether the notes of English editors, and substituting matter more especially important to American practitioners and students, the editor has prepared this edition under that conviction.... To the Review of the recent progress of the law appended to the Fourth Book, there has been also added a summary account of the British Colonial System and the System of Local Government, and the means given for comparison of these with analogous institutions in the United States."

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  Commentaries on the Laws of England : in Four Books

  William Blackstone and Thomas M. Cooley

  "Believing that the time has come when this work would be increased in value by discarding altogether the notes of English editors, and substituting matter more especially important to American practitioners and students, the editor has prepared this edition under that conviction.... To the Review of the recent progress of the law appended to the Fourth Book, there has been also added a summary account of the British Colonial System and the System of Local Government, and the means given for comparison of these with analogous institutions in the United States."

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  The Law of Expert Testimony

  Henry Wade Rogers

  The purpose which the writer had in mind in the preparation of this monograph, was to furnish to the practitioner a more extended presentation of the law relating to expert testimony, than is afforded in the treatises on evidence. It seemed desirable that the law on this important subject should be set forth with more of detail than it has been found practicable to do in the general treatises of the law of evidence. The cases relating to expert testimony are so numerous and so diversified in character, that any attempt to bring them all together, and give to them that consideration they merit in a work devoted to the general subject of evidence, would seem to be out of the question. Moreover, within the last few years, many and important cases on this subject have been decided by the courts, which have not yet found their way into the larger treatises on evidence. It was for the purpose of supplying this evident want that this work was undertaken.

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  Reports of Cases Determined in the Court of Chancery of the State of Michigan

  E. Burke Harrington and Thomas M. Cooley

  Originally published in 1845, covers cases from 1836-1842. Cited as: Harr. Ch. (2ed) and commonly known as Harrington's chancery reports.

  From the Preface to the Second Edition: "Harrington's Reports having been for some time out of print, the undersigned ... has taken charge of a new edition....

  "Some improvement ... has been introduced, particularly in the head notes... The original paging has been preserved, for the convenience in tracing former references." Thomas M. Cooley, Ann Arbor, October 1872.

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  Report of Messrs. Thurman, Washburne, & Cooley, Constituting an Advisory Committee on Differential Rates by Railroads Between the West and the Seaboard.

  Allen G. Thurman, E. B. Washburne, and Thomas M. Cooley

  In January, 1882, the undersigned were notified that they had been selected by the New.York Central & Hudson River Railroad Company, W. H. Vanderbilt, P1·esident; the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company, H. J. Jewett, President; the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, G. B. Roberts, President, and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, John W. Garrett, President, to act as an Advisory Commission upon " the differences in rates that should exist, both eastwardly and westwardly, upon all classes of freights between the several terminal Atlantic ports," and to report upon the same.

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  The General Principles of Constitutional Law in the United States of America

  Thomas M. Cooley

  The manual which follows has been prepared for the use of students in law schools and other institutions of learning. The design has been to present succinctly the general principles of constitutional law, whether they pertain to the federal system, or to the state system, or both. Formerly, the structure of the federal constitutional government was so distinct from that of the States, that each might usefully be examined and discussed apart from the other; but the points of contact and dependence have been so largely increased by the recent amendments to the federal Constitution that a different course is now deemed advisable. Some general principles of constitutional law, which formerly were left exclusively to state protection, are now brought within the purview of the federal power, and any useful presentation of them must show the part they take in federal as well as state government. An attempt has been made to do this in the following pages.

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  Law Abridgment: Closing Address Delivered Before the Graduating Law Class of the University of Michigan, March 20, 1879.

  James V. Campbell

  We hear on all sides complaints of the increasing mass of printed Reports and text-books, which it is said the lawyer must find some means of mastering, but which no life is long enough to read. The young lawyer, as he scans the dreary catalogues, and wonders what Croesus can buy or what brain can learn all this lore, is sorely puzzled what books to choose from the thousands that have found printers. And when a few years of practice have shown him how small a share of these books have done any good in the world, he is forced to consider, whether the evil can not in some way be removed. The remedy has not yet been found, and perhaps may not be, unless some great convulsion should come, which shall destroy laws altogether. This is not the relief we desire.

  It may be that one reason why we find no remedy is because we have no clear idea of the mischief. And while it may need some greater pressure, and some intolerable grievance, to make any of us see the true condition of affairs, I have thought it could do no harm than to spend this hour in making some suggestions on the subject.

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  A Treatise on the Law of Taxation Including the Law of Local Assessments

  Thomas M. Cooley

  "The following pages have been prepared with a view to present in a shape for practical use, the general rules which must govern the action of all authorities acting in matters of taxation ….

  The preparation of any treatise on taxation necessarily involves the presentation of disputed points, and the expression of opinions upon them. This has been done in the following pages. It has not been the purpose, however, to take any positions which it was not believed the authorities would justify; and if this has been done in any instance, the references which are made to authorities will doubtless enable the reader to detect the error." --Preface

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  A Treatise on the Law of Torts or the Wrongs Which Arise Independent of Contract

  Thomas M. Cooley

  In preparing the following pages the purpose has been to set forth with reasonable clearness the general principles under which tangible and intangible rights may be claimed, and their disturbance remedied in the law. The book has been written quite as much for students as for practitioners, and if some portions of it are more elementary than is usual in similar works, this fact will supply the explanation.

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  Annotations...Walker's Chancery Reports

  James V. Campbell

  The occasion which has arisen for publishing a new edition of Walker's Chancery Reports, renders it proper to accompany it with some notice of the Court, and of the changes which have taken place since the decision of the C'ases reported in this volume. The Court of Chancery, which was organized immediately on the formation of the State government, was presided over by a Chancellor, who held his courts at regular terms in, at first, three, and afterwards four different places, but with general jurisdiction over the entire State. The first Chancellor was Elon Farnsworth, a gentleman of singularly excellent qualities to become the founder of an Equity system, from his thorough training and his fairness and breadth of mind. He at once proceeded, with the aid of faithful assistants, to complete a system of Rules which were to a grt•at extent moclified or copie"d from the New York Rules in Chancery, which had been shaped by the experience of Chancellor Kent and his sncce;;sors, under a body of Statutes very closely resembling those of Michigan. Chancellor Farnsworth succeeded in simplifying the practice, and in providing for a much speedier disposition of causes than had before been reached in either England or New York. The rules of admission to the Chancery Bar were so framed as to prevent the danger of incompetent practitioners, by requiring a previous admission after a three years' novitiate to the Common Law Courts, and a special examination of the Attorney after his common law admission by a committee of Equity Lawyers. With well trained practitioners it was not difficult to secure the orderly transaction of business; and at the same time our Chancellors were always careful never to allow any substantial equity to be lost by the misprision of officers or counsel. The system, as applied, was a very good one, and the jurisdiction was useful.

  Chancellor Farnsworth's decisions, previous to his resignation in 1842. are reported in Ihrrington's Chancery Ueports-a second edition of which was not long since published under the careful revision of Judge Cooley. The few 1leP.isions rendered by thnt Chancellor during his brief resumption of the office in 1846 and 1847 have not been collected.

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  A Treatise on the Constitutional Limitations Which Rest Upon the Legislative Power of the States of the American Union

  Thomas M. Cooley

  In the Preface to the first edition of this work. the author stated its purpose to be, to furnish to the practitioner and the student of the law such a presentation of elementary constitutional principles as should serve, with the aid of its references to judicial decisions, legal treatises, and historical events, as a convenient guide in the examination of questions respecting the constitutional limitations which rest upon the power of the several State legislatures. …

  Preface to the 4th Edition: "New topics in State Constitutional Law are not numerous; but such as are suggested by recent decisions have been discussed in this edition, and it is believed considerable value has been added to the work by further references to adjudged cases.” --Thomas M. Cooley, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, April 1878.

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  Outlines of the Political History of Michigan

  James V. Campbell

  Written in 1876 this work was originally intended as a sketch of the political development of the State of Michigan to be used for the purposes of its Centennial Committee. Chapters span Michigan political history beginning with early explorations by France and England, colonization, French and then British rule, military conquest, the administration of colonial governors, relations with adjacent territorial entities, the last years of the Territory and the first Constitution of 1835; and lastly, Michigan under the Constitution of 1850.

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  A Treatise on the Law of Taxation Including the Law of Local Assessments

  Thomas M. Cooley

  "The following pages have been prepared with a view to present in a shape for practical use, the general rules which must govern the action of all authorities acting in matters of taxation ….

  The preparation of any treatise on taxation necessarily involves the presentation of disputed points, and the expression of opinions upon them. This has been done in the following pages. It has not been the purpose, however, to take any positions which it was not believed the authorities would justify; and if this has been done in any instance, the references which are made to authorities will doubtless enable the reader to detect the error." --Preface

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  A Treatise on the Constitutional Limitations Which Rest Upon the Legislative Power of the States of the American Union

  Thomas M. Cooley

  In the Preface to the first edition of this work. the author stated its purpose to be, to furnish to the practitioner and the student of the law such a presentation of elementary constitutional principles as should serve, with the aid of its references to judicial decisions, legal treatises, and historical events, as a convenient guide in the examination of questions respecting the constitutional limitations which rest upon the power of the several State legislatures. … The second edition being exhausted, the author, in preparing a third, has endeavored to give full references to such decisions as have recently been made or reported, having a bearing upon the points discussed.

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  Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States : with a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States Before the Adoption of the Constitution

  Joseph Story and Thomas M. Cooley

  From the Editor’s Preface, Vol. I: “In preparing for the press a fourth edition of Mr. Justice Story’s Commentaries on the Constitution, it has been thought proper to preserve the original text without alteration or interpolation, and to put in notes all discussions by the editor, as well as all references to subsequent adjudications, public papers, and events, tending to illustrate, support, or qualify the positions assumed in the text. The new amendments, however, seemed to demand treatment in the body of the work, and additional chapters are given for that purpose….”

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  Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States : with a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States Before the Adoption of the Constitution

  Joseph Story and Thomas M. Cooley

  From the Editor's Preface: “In preparing for the press a fourth edition of Mr. Justice Story’s Commentaries on the Constitution, it has been thought proper to preserve the original text without alteration or interpolation, and to put in notes all discussions by the editor, as well as all references to subsequent adjudications, public papers, and events, tending to illustrate, support, or qualify the positions assumed in the text. The new amendments, however, seemed to demand treatment in the body of the work, and additional chapters are given for that purpose….”

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  Commentaries on the Laws of England : in Four Books

  William Blackstone and Thomas M. Cooley

  “The main purpose in giving to the public a new edition of the Commentaries of Blackstone, was to present the changes in the law which had taken place since the last preceding edition appeared, that the reader, while informing himself concerning the law of England of a century since, might not be misled in respect to its present condition. With this object before him, while avoiding the detail which might be useful to the English practitioner, but which would merely cumber the pages for American use, the editor has sought to indicate the statutory changes sufficiently to give a general idea of the advancement made in the English law since our commentator’s time, and also to enable the American student to compare the law of his own country with the system from which it was derived, as modified by the experience of another land enjoying free institutions under circumstances and with a state of society considerably differing from our own….” --Author’s Preface to the First Edition reprinted in 2nd Ed.

  “A new edition of this work having become necessary, the editor has made some changes and additions, but not such as will call for special notice here. They consist in the main of references to new cases, though some new notes have been added which may prove of practical value.” --Authors Preface in 2nd Ed.