Detroit College of Law - Forum Yearbook (Detroit, MI)

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lFORUM AERONAUTICS AND LAW By LAXVRHNCE M. KELLYW Feb., '31 XVhat goes up must come down! XYith the number of aeroplanes that we have Hying around today it is reasonable to expect that some of them will come down as and when they shouldn't. It is also reasonable to expect that in such a descent some- thing or someone will be damaged or hurt, and, because people are still sensitive, actions at law will arise therefrom: someone too non-progressive to take a joke will believe that his rights have been invaded, Flying has been going on for twenty years and we have heard of no Hedging lawyer who has yet developed wings and soared to heights of eminence in aeronautical law. XX'hoever heard of a new line of endeavor succeeding and remaining successful without enriching a suitable number of the legal profession? Any business that develops a wide utility must of necessity develop a wide field of opportunity for adroit young attorneys. Aeorplane Hight of all kinds, and especially aeroplane transportation, provides possibilities. Perhaps the legal pro- fession has not been attracted to this broad field because of incidents such as the following: Facts: lThis is an English casej: A young pilot in a hedge-hopping mood flew low over a railroad station, and SHXY on the platform three pretty dresses. His quick glance registered amorous possi- bilities. He circled around again over the station platform at a lower altitude. Ap- proaching the spot of his newly found interest he began to wave vigorously to attract the attention of the femmes wearing said dresses, He failed to see a tree, a discon- certing and humiliating mistake. The result was an interruption to the Hight, the ilirtation and his fancy. The aeroplane stopped abruptly after swirling off to the kitchen roof of a neighboring house. The pilot also stopped lthough undamaged and unchanged except in poise, interest and attentionl. The engine went through the roof into the kitchen. Now the legal questions arising out of just such situations as this have dampened the ardor of the legal profession in making the hazards and blunders of flight the object of their ambitions and Held of endeavor. Question: NYho is to be sued? Are the girls with the pretty dresses to be sued for distracting the concentrated thought and attention of a very promising. though indiscreet young airman? Or, is the owner of the tree to be sued for impeding and obstructing the progress of an instrument of a new science? Ur, is the owner of the house to be sued because his building abruptly stopped the whole business? Or, is the seller of the aeroplane, who sold under title retaining contract and to whom the aeroplane belonged subject to the pilot's rights under the contract, which rights immediately became non-existent when the young pilot lost control, to be sued for putting so fickle an instrument in the hands of so young a man inclined to reckless abandon and daring tlirtations? .-Xnswer: tln the words of Raymond li. YanSycklel 2 lt all depends. The girls were the proxi- mate cause: the tree was the instrument of obstruction: the house was the instrument of destruction. You can't prosecute the girls as they had disappeared with three young soldiers. You can't get damages from the owner of the tree as his tree had been standing there for about forty years. It would be hard to get damages from the owner of the house as it couldn't fold up and act as a shock absorber. It had been built long before the real estate boom. It must be that if you are going to sue any- one. with the hope of getting anything, you must sue the vendor under the title retain- ing contract. lYe have not included the possibility of suit against the pilot-he is destitute of money, aeroplane and conhdence. tThis reasoning will show you what a valuable thing a law course has been to the writer.J Encouraged by that one we will propone another: XVe will take the case of The Something and Something Telephone Company vs. Goose Creek Flying School. XF0I'I!ZL'I' rlzicf fz'.vfi115y pilot of fliv BVI-fllfll Royal ljlylillgl C'o1'jv.t, willz eiglifcmz 111011llis' ui'tiz't' flying O11 flit' ll'estz'1'1z l:1'0lIl. illr. Kelly f11'vsv11l.v 501110 Hllllflllll legal 11110550115 i11 this i11fi'1't',vfi11g a1'fii'lt'. Page One Hundred Twenty-eight

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SHOTS tions. D. C. L. annex, union, club, lunch, or what have you ? V Ralph Findley, only student on record who was admitted to the bar before graduation. Havana, Cuba. FORUMl' John Nelson, Senior, grooming his horse for that gruelling test, the final examina- - I 5 - A V-,,,,,....g:gsQ:Lc- . Elmer Dederle, red headed senior, side kick of Geo. Schmeman, and soon to be bridegroom, in characteristic pose. Page One Hundred Twenty-seven

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FORUM Facts: Goose Creek Flying School tVVill teach you to fly in two hours-I'ilot's license in six-55100.00 per hour. Perfect flyer in less than a week. Approved by Someone. See ad in Brief Casenl is situated in a stubbly held located at the junction of two busy highways. B, a student, has completed ground work and dual instruction and is ready for a solo flight. He has the aeroplane in the middle of the field facing up-wind. XYith a last safe, prolonged, and wistful look at the ground he gives it the gun tvery technical expression meaning open the throttleg all lawyers should know these scientific, aeronautical termsl. The plane starts off across the ground. He manages to get the tail up enough so that the plane will run. It takes off, the power of the engine in this case making the take-oil, not the pilot. After rising about twenty feet in the air, said pilot, his nlind frozen in the icy grip of fear and his muscles bound in an enthralling dismay. gets the machine in a steep bank turn and proceeds to do a Ruggles, reversing his held. NYithout knowledge of where the goal is, and with less knowledge and total disregard for the sidelines, he plunges in the reverse direction, imperiling the life of one of Goose Creek's intrepid, heroic, war veteran instructors tsee advertisementsl tsaid instructor received ground school training during the war at Army's Primary Ground School and learned to Hy, after being canned as unfit from said Army School, in a second hand, barn-storming plane owned by an old time saloon keeper of progressive mind who saw the possibilities of aeroplanes at the inception of the 18th .-Xmendmentl. As I said, the said student, imperiled this worthy hero's life and the life of his latest pupil as they were coming down and about to land. They didn't crash. why is unexplainable, but it was so close that said pupil lost all desire to continue in the instruction and said instructor was so annoyed that he said things worthy of record in the annals of aeronautics. FZ proceeded across the field, or rather we should say the aeroplane containing B proceeded across the field, as it was flying B - Il not tlying it. In crossing the road. busy with Sunday traffic, the tailskid of the plane caught on the telephone wire. He ditln't crash! The Guardian Angel that watches over babes, drunken men, fools, and married women, together with the power of the engine still pulled the crate along. Ry some fortuitous circumstance the plane turned and proceeded back to the air-drome, and whether aided by said student or not, it lost its gliding grace and plankcd down on the ground with a wham. As the age of miracles is not past, neither nor the plane was damaged. He had taken off by the power of the engine, and had flown by the power of the principalities of the air, and had landed by the grace of God. XYhen he was able to hear, for the noise of the engine had deafened him, and was able to shut his mouth, for fear had opened it and kept it open during the whole procedure, he was soundly clapped on the back by the owner and optimistic proprietor of the said Goose Creek Flying School. He was told and enthusiasticaly assured that from henceforth and forevermore he was to be known as one of .-Xmerica's great flying men, and after one more flight like that he would be entitled to a license to fly any kind of a machine, in any kind of weather. anywhere, with any load. passengers, freight, or both, and that he was sure to get his name in the headlines of the paper when he crashed and killed himself lthe 111Ore passengers he should be carrying at the time of such crash, the greater his newspaper column spacel. The possibilities were all to be available on the payment of his final 3100.00 and the cost of the repair to the tailskid. Now the Telephone Company wants its money for the repair of the telephone wires This is where the attorney comes in, that is, on the side of the telephone company. Question: How can you collect any money from the Goose Creek Flying School: Answer: Get a big bag of salt and a butterfly net-crawl stealthily toward the tlock ot planes and pilots in front of the hangar and-well anyhow it is commonly believed that a law student innnediately upon graduation is of inestimable value to any business so you may start a flying school for yourself. No doubt there are many law students and possibly a few attorneys who would feel perfectly at home in aeronautical law. Their minds have been for a long time in as great a whirl with as much rattle and whir as any propeller. In thought of them- selves they have soared to greater heights than any aeroplane will ever attain. Figure it out for yourself. XVarm air goes up. An aeroplane flies because its hurried forward motion through the air forms a vacuum on top of the wings which lifts it up. How many young attorneys we see rush from law school expecting to boost themselves by hot air and who too are so firmly and securely held in a vacuum while slithering about at great speed trying to impress their public by their great though misapplied industry and self-inflation! XVell, as I said in the beginning-XVhat goes up nmst come down, therefore. control yourself! V Page One Hundred Twenty nzne