MICHIGAN. 



575 



for erecting and maintaining at least one water- 

 ing-trough in each road-district. 



The liquor-tax law was so amended as to 

 largely increase the taxes on the manufacture 

 and sale of both distilled and malt liquors. The 

 taxes prescribed are : Distilled liquors manu- 

 facturing, $500 a year ; selling at wholesale or 

 at wholesale and retail, $500 ; selling at retail, 

 $300. Brewed or malt liquors manufactur- 

 ing, $65 for 1,500 barrels, and $25 for each 

 additional 1,000 barrels; selling at wholesale, 

 or at wholesale and retail, $200. The strin- 

 gency of the provisions of the tax law and of 

 the police laws was also increased. In the 

 same line of legislation is " an act for the pro- 

 tection of children," which prohibits the em- 

 ployment of children under sixteen years old 

 by showmen of various grades ; their admission 

 to bar-rooms, saloons, or other places where 

 liquors of any kind are sold ; the admission to 

 or maintenance in any county poor-house of 

 "any child admissible to the State public schools ; 

 the giving of obscene books, pamphlets, prints, 

 papers, police reports, etc., to any minor ; em- 

 ploying minors to distribute such prohibited 

 printed matter, or the exhibition on any public 

 street or highway in view of passing children 

 of obscene prints, pictures, or prohibited arti- 

 cles. 



The game laws were amended and made 

 more stringent. At least one section of Act 

 No. 151 is of interest to non-residents of the 

 State. Section 2 reads: "No person, corpo- 

 ration, or company, shall kill, or expose for 

 sale, or have in possession, except alive, at any 

 time, any deer, ruffed grouse, colin or quail, 

 pinnated grouse, nor wild turkey, or any part 

 of the carcass of the same, with the intention 

 of sending or transporting, or having the same 

 sent or transported, beyond the limits of this 

 State." The penalty for the violation of this 

 provision is fifty dollars' fine for each offense, 

 or thirty days in jail if the fine is not paid. 



Act No. 18 is in the interest of women the 

 possessions of whose husbands consist largely 

 in personal property, and is entitled "An act 

 to restrict the disposition of personal property 

 by last will and testament." The first restrict- 

 ive clause reads : " If the testator shall leave 

 surviving him a wife, the testamentary dispo- 

 sition shall be subject to the election of such 

 wife, to take any interest that may be given to 

 her, by the testator in his last will and testa- 

 ment ; or, in lieu thereof, to take the sum or 

 share that would have passed to her, under the 

 statute of distributions, had the testator died 

 intestate, until the sum shall amount to $5,000, 

 and of the residue of the estate one half the 

 sum or share that would have passed to her, 

 under the statute of distributions, had the tes- 

 tator died intestate; and, in case no provision 

 shall be made for her in said will, she shall be 

 entitled to the election aforesaid." 



The statute under which persons on trial 

 charged with crime have been permitted to 

 make statements to the jury, not under oath, 



was amended by Act No. 245, which provides 

 that a defendant in a criminal case may be 

 sworn as a witness at his own request. When 

 sworn, he is to be subjected to cross-examina- 

 tion, the same as any other witness. His neg- 

 lect to testify shall not create any presumption 

 against him, nor be commented upon before 

 the jury. Former conviction may be shown 

 for the purpose of affecting his credibility. 



By the provisions of Act No. 187, all that is 

 necessary to constitute a written instrument 

 a full warrantee deed of conveyance, is that it 

 shall be worded in substance as follows: "A. 

 B. conveys and warrants to C. D." (here de- 

 scribe the premises) " for the sum of " (here in- 

 sert the consideration), such conveyance to be 

 dated and duly signed, sealed, and acknowl- 

 edged. It shall not be necessary to use the 

 words "heirs and assigns of the grantee "to 

 create in the grantee an estate of inheritance. 

 If any lesser estate is to be conveyed, it must 

 be so expressed. A similar form is provided 

 for a quit-claim deed, for a mortgage, and for 

 the acknowledgment. 



Provision was made for turning over the 

 bodies of persons dying in the poor-houses and 

 prisons of the State, not claimed by relatives, 

 to the demonstrator of anatomy in the Uni- 

 versity of Michigan, for the use of the medical 

 schools of the State in the advancement of 

 anatomical science. Under the operations of 

 this law, the provisions of which are well 

 guarded, grave-robberies in the State have sub- 

 stantially ceased. Provision was also made 

 "for the medical and surgical treatment of 

 dependent children at the hospital of the Mich- 

 igan University," including board, lodging, nurs- 

 ing, and other proper care. 



Several amendatory railroad laws were 

 passed ; also important amendments made to 

 the insurance laws ; a commission established 

 to " provide for the adoption and use of a stand- 

 ard form of fire-insurance policy ; an act passed 

 for the incorporation of plate-glass insurance 

 companies ; one to prevent the soliciting or 

 issuing of unauthorized fire or inland marine 

 insurance policies in this State ; and one for a 

 millers' insurance company. Acts were passed 

 to prevent the adulteration of food, to prevent 

 foul brood in bees, to prevent the spread of 

 yellows in peaches, and to enlarge the powers 

 of boards of health in villages and townships. 

 A commission was provided to revise the tax 

 Jaws of the State, and the Governor appointed 

 as such commission Messrs. John Moore, E. 0. 

 Grosvenor, William Chamberlain, C. A. Kent, 

 and H. II. H. Hatch. The commission has com- 

 pleted the labor assigned to it, and the several 

 bills prepared will be submitted to the Legis- 

 lature convened in special session on the 23d 

 of February, 1882. 



The three most hotly contested measures 

 considered during the session, or for many 

 sessions, were: 1. A bill providing for the pur- 

 chase of a sufficient number of copies of a com- 

 pilation of the general laws of the State, made 



