The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-10
Howard, Crosby & Co., 9 so ssi9''i MS. S.
PERTAINING TO LAW.
Feminine Legal Club
Formed to Protect
Women Lawyers.

The women lawyers of New York city
to the number of twenty-five met re-
Gently in St. Paul building, 220 Broad
way, and organized the Women Law
yers' club, whose objects are to fur
Their the interests Of women lawyers and
for professional and social intercourse
The new organization is believed to be
the first of the kind in this country. Its
scope will be large, as any woman law
yer in the United States, in good stand
ing, will be eligible to membership
There was some interesting talk among
the members after the meeting had adj
journed as to when the first woman
lawyer appeared in this country The
first place was accorded to Myra Clark
Gaines of Maryland, who, although not
admitted to the bar, pleaded her own
case and defeated Daniel Webster in
the early thirties in q cause at issue in
the supreme court of the United States.
The constitutionality of the Atkinson
railroad taxation law was practically
denied by the Michigan supreme court
in a decision rendered recently.
The decision was rendered in the case
instituted by Gov. Pingree and the Te-
cumseh Telephone company against the
auditor general for the purpose of OBJ
tanning a judicial construction upon a
similar law providing for the taxation
of telephone and telegraph property.
The result is that the law fails the
governor wins case which he preferred
to lose, and the Atkinson law must be
replaced by one providing for taxation
of railroad property on the bases of the
companys earnings. The decision was
unanimous.
In brief the court holds that the tele-
phone and telegraph taxation law,
which is very similar in its operation
to the Atkinson law, provides for tax
on property based on it's value, and is
therefore not a specific tax. AS it is not
a specific tax, and does not provide a
uniform rule of taxation, as required
by the constitution, for all property not
paying specifix tax, it is void and I'M
constitutional.
The attorney general says this is a
death blow to the Atkinson law, and
means defeat for the governor in his
long fight. So far as the telephone and
telegraph companies are concerned 1t is
the opinion of the attorney general that
they should now be assessed locally
under the general tax law.
The trustees Of the New York and
Brooklyn bridge, in April, 1894, con-
tracted with the Connecticut Valley
Granite & Mining Company for the de-
livery of about $4,000 granite paving
blocks, either in New York or Brook
Ign, as directed by the engineer the
deliveries ITO commence within six
weeks aSter the date of the contract,
the rate of delivery being subject to
the order of the engineer" The con-
tract then provided that, eff at any
time the contractor shall fail to comply
with the terms of these specifications.
and If, in the judgment of the en-
gineer, he is manifestly unable to fur
nish the blocks as required. then the
trustees may declare his contract null
and void" The contract about a
month subsequently, after 40 600 paw
ing blocks had been furnished, was
annulled by the trustees, and the con-
tract was let to the next lowest bid
der, by whom the blocks were deliv-
cred, the trustees paying S95 per 1000
for them. instead of SS2 30, as the
agreement with the Connecticut VAL
ley company called for. The company
then brought suit to recover the diff
ference between the amount realized by
disposing of the blocks on hand, and
the sum the trustees had agreed to
pay, besides the loss upon refusal to
accept the remaining 10000 blocks, not
yet manufactured. The court of ap-
peals has dismissed the appeal from
the judgment of the second appellate
division, which sustained a Judgment
on a verdict in favor of the plaintiff
The last named court held that the
question as to the ability of the con-
tractors to deliver the stone was not
left exclusively with the engineer of
the trustees, but that a jury might
properly consider whether, under the
circumstance of the case the engineer
had any sufficient justification for the
conclusion at which he arrived in the
decision of that question adversely to
the contractors.
A suit which is of the greatest i'm
portance to the proprietors of and
dealers in all proprietary medicines, has
just been finally settled by a decision
of the circuit courts Of the United
States sitting in the ninth circuit OF the
northern district of California. The
case was that Of the California Fig
Syrup Company manufacturers Of 6
well-known preparation of figs, VS.
Clinton r. Worden & Co, corporation
A temporary injunction was prayed fol
the complainant to restrain the respon.
dents from the manufacture of an al
legged imitation Of the company's pro.
duct, and after a very lengthy lega
contest, the injunction has recently
been made permanent by the court
above mentioned. This case settles
without further litigation a great mann
similar suits In various parts of the
country 1t being considered that al
important definition of the rights Of pa.
tent medicine proprietors has thus beer
given.
The Postal Telegraph Gable Com.
pany, having put up two telegraph poles
in front of property owned by Thomas
Comisky, the latter brought suit in the
New York supreme court FOR an in.
junction and damages, and on the trial
was awarded verdict of $3.50 An
order granting a new trial, on the
ground that the verdict was excessive
has been affirmed by the second annel.
late division, which held that The
plaintiff had been enormously allowad
to prove, by the opinion of a Witness
the depreciation of the value ~ M
property because Of the erection and
maintenance OF these poles. The coi,ri
held that opinion evidence was ineorn.
petent to prove that fact, and the fact
itself was incompetent. 1t was oniy
in equity that a recovery could be haS
for damages to the fee Of the property
from permanent nuisance of contin.
Ued trespass.
The contractors with the city Of New
York for putting In relief sewer II
(4reaua aVantia prooklup ba.,torx -. =. a