Counterrevolution in State Constitutional Law

1963 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 309 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
State Constitutional Law

State Constitutional Law in 1929–1930

1930 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 666-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver P. Field
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
State Courts ◽  
State Constitutions ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
The Subject ◽  
State Constitutional Law

State courts determine, in the absence of constitutional provision to the contrary, whether amendments to state constitutions have been proposed and adopted in the manner provided for these constitutions. Not every minor deviation from the course of action marked out in the constitution for its amendment is deemed sufficient to justify the court in declaring that the amendment has been “unconstitutionally adopted,” but whether these deviations are serious enough to warrant such a declaration is a question to be determined by the courts themselves. Statutes supplementing constitutional provisions on the subject of amendment are valid if not in conflict with the constitutional provisions themselves, and substantial compliance with these rules is also required by the courts. Sometimes the provisions regulating the subject of publication of proposed amendments are constitutional; at other times they are statutory. In either case, publication in the manner provided for, and for the period of time provided for, is necessary to the validity of the amendment. Publication for two weeks, when the period should have been four weeks, was deemed sufficient by the Nebraska court to invalidate the amendment involved.

State Constitutional Law in 1932–33

1933 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-596
Author(s):  
Charles G. Haines
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Courts ◽  
State Constitutions ◽  
State Constitutional Law ◽  
Unusual Stress ◽  
Emergency Measures

One of the best known members of the bench in the United States raised the query whether constitutional law was not becoming so textual and so formal in its applications that it was losing touch with the realities of life. For the operations of government to be “cabined and confined” under ordinary circumstances raises difficulties not readily surmounted; but in times of unusual stress, either constitutional limitations unduly restrict urgent and necessary action or they must be ignored to permit emergency measures. A resumé of the decisions of state and federal courts affecting state constitutions for the year 1932–33 indicates the tendency both toward undue formality in interpretation and toward the warping of the constitutional mold to sanction ways and means of dealing with extraordinary conditions. Law, like life, is a matter of growth, and, as Lord Bryce long since observed, under written constitutions ways of growth must be found either within or without the provisions of fundamental laws.

State Constitutional Law in 1936–37

1937 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 659-679
Author(s):  
J. A. C. Grant
Keyword(s):  
Fair Trade ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Labor Relations ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
Resale Price Maintenance ◽  
Resale Price ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Price Maintenance ◽  
State Constitutional Law

The invalidation and consequent abandonment of the N.I.R.A. did not bring to an end the trends of which it was, in fact, merely a manifestation rather than a cause. Section 7a had its precursors in the Railway Labor Act of 1926, the Norris Anti-Injunction Act of 1932, and similar state laws, and has been carried over in the National Labor Relations Act. The price maintenance provisions of the codes were the result of years of effort on the part of the American Fair Trade League to legalize resale price maintenance contracts. Today, various state Fair Trade Acts go much farther than the codes dared to go in establishing resale price maintenance even apart from privity of contract. Trade associations have continued their efforts to “rationalize” industry through the collection of statistics on capacity, production, sales, and prices, trusting that the courts will permit this to be done through a more liberal interpretation of the anti-trust laws. Pending further national legislation to be built upon the broader interpretation of the commerce power enunciated in the Labor Relations Act decisions, business efforts to set minimum prices have been carried on under a mantle of state and local legislation. Various trades and professions, desiring to carry forward their efforts to standardize minimum working conditions and professional practices in their fields, have also sought the aid of the states and of their local governments. Consequently, much of the work of the state courts during the year 1936–37 concerned the validity of these undertakings. There was also the normal run of cases in the various fields of state constitutional law. As last year (see this Review, Aug., 1936, pp. 692–712), the decisions will be discussed under the following headings: (1) separation and delegation of powers; (2) inter-governmental relations; (3) individual rights: procedural; (4) individual rights: substantive; and (5) fiscal powers. However, the nature of the material has necessitated a complete rearrangement of the subject-matter within each heading.

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