DECLARATORY JUDGMENT WHERE CRIMINAL ACTION IS PENDING

Authors

Robert E. Walsh S.Ed., University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Subsequent to the filing of an information against him before a Justice of the Peace by the Secretary of Agriculture of the State of Iowa for violation of the Iowa Cream Grading Act, plaintiff applied to the District Court for an injunction against the proceeding before the Justice, and requested a declaration that he was not subject to the act. The District Court denied the injunction, but issued a decree declaring that plaintiff was not subject to the Cream Grading Act. On appeal, held, affirmed. Where complicated legal issues cannot be determined with equal facility by a Justice of the Peace because of his lack of knowledge of law, a declaratory judgment is proper. Dissent: since the State Constitution grants jurisdiction to the Justice of the Peace, his lack of legal skill is no basis for making an exception to the rule that a declaratory judgment will not be granted after information has been filed in a criminal proceeding. Ostrander v. Linn, (Iowa 1946) 22 N.W. (2d) 223.

Recommended Citation

Robert E. Walsh S.Ed., DECLARATORY JUDGMENT WHERE CRIMINAL ACTION IS PENDING, 45 Mich. L. Rev. 371 (1947).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol45/iss3/10