answer for this disobedience, his only excuse or justification was that the papers were private. We know of no rule of law which exempts any person from producing papers material to any inquiry in the course of justice, merely because they are private. No man is obliged to testify, or to furnish evidence, to criminate himself; but the petitioner did not place his refusal upon this ground. He was not a defendant charged with any crime. He expressly refused to express or form an opinion whether the production of the books could criminate him. The duty of the committee, as appears by the record of the House, was that of general investigation merely. If the entries in the books which he was asked to produce, which were material to the subject of investigation, were shown to be mingled with others not relating to the matters inquired of, which were private in their nature, such parts only as were relevant might have been exhibited, and the others protected from exposure. The contempt thus committed in the presence of the House was a sufficient cause of imprisonment, under the express provisions of the Constitution, and justified a sentence of imprisonment for a fixed time.

But, to avoid misconstruction, the court wish to add that they do not intend to decide that refractory behavior of a witness before a committee would not authorize the House to arrest and imprison him, as a means of compelling his obedience. Such imprisonment would, however, be limited by the duration of the session.

By

We think it no objection to the order and warrant, that it made the imprisonment conditional upon the submission and obedience of the refractory witness, the whole term being within the Constitutional limitation. the Rev. Sts., c. 143, § 1, the common jails are to be used as prisons for the confinement of "all persons duly committed for any cause authorized by law." We think the commitment to the jail was authorized by law, and that the petitioner was lawfully held by the sergeant-at-arms therein, in the custody of the sheriff or his deputy jailer, by vir tue of the warrant of the House of Representatives. Petitioner remanded.

NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

By

A SELECTION OF LEADING CASES IN EQUITY, with notes. FREDERICK THOMAS WHITE and OWEN DAVIS TUDOR, of the Middle Temple, Esqrs., barristers at law. With annotations, containing references to American cases, by J. I. Clark Hare and II. B. Wallace. With additional notes and references to American decisions, by J. I. Clark Hare. Third American from the second London edition. Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson & Co. 1859. 3 vols.

In this country there is, in general, no distinct class of practitioners in equity, and, of course, no special practical training possible for those who wish to master the comprehensive and admirable system administered by courts of chancery. All the more important is it that elementary works upon the sience should be full, reliable and easy to be apprehended.The book before us meets these requirements in an admirable manner. Suggested by the celebrated "leading cases" of the late John William Smith, and published in this country under the supervision of the accomplished editors of that work, its value has been tested by ten years' use, and the verdict of the profession is, that the method and the execution are alike excellent. The present edition is much enlarged, and the notes refer to the latest authorities. The three volumes make a body of equity law which the practitioner can hardly do without, and which the student will find to be more useful than mere text books.

By

COMMENTARIES ON THE LAWS OF ENGLAND. In four books. SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, KNT. With notes selected from the editions of Archbold, Christian, Coleridge, Chitty, Stewart, Kerr, and others; Barron Field's Analysis, and additional notes, and a life of the author, by George Sharswood. Philadelphia: Childs & Peterson. 1859. 2 vols. (For sale in Boston by Little, Brown & Co.)

We believe that this edition of Blackstone's commentaries counts as the forty-fifth which has appeared in the ninety years and a little more which have elapsed since the author first published them; a fact which shows the unparalleled success of the attempt to reduce the laws of England to a form adapted to students of law as well as scholars generally. In the course of this time, there has been a remarkable unanimity of opinion among all those best qualified to decide upon the subject, from Mansfield to Kent, that (in the words of the latter), "He is justly placed at the head of all the modern writers who treat of the general elementary principles of law. By the excellence of his arrangement, the variety of his learning, the justness of his taste, and the purity and elegance of his style, he communicated to those subjects which were harsh and forbidding in the pages of Coke, the attractions of a liberal science, and the embellishments of polite literature."

Judge Sharswood, whose high qualifications for the task are well known to our readers, has prepared this edition, as his preface informs us, with

especial reference to the use of American law students, and has chosen with great judgment, from among the copious sources of the English commentaries, those which are best adapted to this end; besides such original remarks as the progress of American jurisprudence seemed to require.

The American editor has also added a memoir of the author, taken chiefly from the sketch prefixed to the notes of decisions which bear Sir William Blackstone's name, and which, though collected by him, were published after his death, by his brother-in-law and executor.

The edition is well printed on paper slightly and agreeably tinted, and is embellished with a copy of the well-known portrait of the author.

It is not necessary for us to add a word in commendation of a work which the testimony of a century has stamped as the great institute of the laws of England. Judge Sharswood well says that the whole body of American lawyers, since the revolution, have drawn their first lessons in jurisprudence from its pages; and we may add that, from its great and singular merits, and especial adaptation as an elementary work, it is likely to last as long as the system of jurisprudence which it illustrates.

THE LAWS OF TORTS OR PRIVATE WRONGS. BY FRANCIS HILliard, author of "The Law of Mortgages," &c. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1859. 2 vols.

This work is a well-conducted attempt to do for the law of private wrongs what has been so often and so elaborately done for simple contracts, to collect in one book the principles and cases applicable to all the various departments of the general subject: an attempt, as the author justly says, never made before, either in England or America, excepting in a very general way, as, for example, in Blackstone's Commentaries. We quote the author's statement. After remarking that the various titles into which his subject is naturally divided must be sought for in books upon evidence - nisi prius — and pleading, and showing the objections to such an arrangement, he says, "Without, however, attaching undue importance to mere titles or arrangements, I proceed to remark, that, in considering the extensive subject of private wrongs in the precise aspect which I have indicated; that is, in looking at the wrong itself, its nature, its subject, its author, its recipient or victim, and subordinately its remedy, I have, at least to my own partial satisfaction, evolved a series of principles, far less fragmentary and disconnected than they have always appeared to me when stated in connection with mere forms of action. In illustration of this remark, I take the liberty of referring to the first four chapters, occupying nearly one-sixth part of the whole book, and treating successively of Tort and Contract, Tort and Crime, General Nature and elements of a tort, and the applications and limitations of the general principle In pari delicto. Also to the tenth chapter, which relates to possession, as affecting the liability for a tort. From the very nature of these topics it may be inferred, and upon examination it will be found, that they involve principles of great comprehensiveness, not modified or colored by diverse forms of action, and therefore not requiring to be disconnectedly set forth, as merely illustrative of such forms. I have myself been surprised to find, for example, how many general principles are common to the great trio of remedies, trespass, case and trover; and also to injuries done, respectively, to the two grand divisions of property, real and personal.

"I then proceed with Injuries to the body, including Assault and Battery, False Imprisonment, and Injuries to Health. Then follows Injuries to Reputa

tion, including an extended view of the copious subject, Libel and Slander, (which are treated together, as being virtually one and the same, with only occasional variations.) and Malicious Prosecution. Then followafter two introductory chapters, one upon Property, as the subject of wrong, and the other, already referred to, upon Possession injuries to property, consisting of nuisance, (in the broad sense of the term.) which includes all Incorporeal rights; Trespass; Conversion; Waste; Fraud. This completes the view of injuries to absolute rights. I proceed to those which grow out of the various relations recognized by the law. First, public relations, embracing all wrongs committed by judicial and ministerial officers, more especially sheriffs in the execution of civil process. Then private relations; Joint Ownership, Corporations, Master and Servant, Husband and Wife, Parent and Child, Bailment (in its various forms,) including Innkeepers, Carriers and Railroads."

We have given this long extract from the preface, that our readers might see clearly the design of the work, as drawn by its author. We will add that the book is marked by the fidelity, accuracy and learning which Mr. Hilliard always displays in his treatment of his subjects, and that it is well calculated to fill the important place among books of reference for practitioners which its plan indicates that it should, but which its author, at the conclusion of his preface, modestly declines to demand for it.

REPORTS OF CASES ARGUED AND DETERMINED IN THE SUPREME COURTS OF RHODE ISLAND. By SAMUEL AMES, chief justice and reporter. Vol. II. Rhode Island Reports, vol. V. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1859.

Chief Justice Ames' reports are always welcome visitors at our table. They are marked by accuracy and care of preparation; and the opinions of the court are nearly always well expressed, brief and forcible in style, while they contain the requisite learning and sound judgment to commend themselves to acceptance as precedents.

The cases decided are upon both the law and the equity side of the court; the Supreme Court of Rhode Island having full equity powers. In looking over this volume, we have noted the following cases as containing points or arguments of interest :- Skinner v. Waterman, p. 43; Thompson v. Berry, p. 95; Hodges v. Howard, p. 149; Bullock v. The Waterman Baptist Society, p. 273; State v. Wright, p. 287; Simmons v. Brown, p. 299; Nichols v. Baxter, p. 491; State v. Paul, p. 185.

It is apparent from an examination of this volume, that Rhode Island, whose State reports are so few and recent, is determined to make up for lost time, and that, if she continues in her present course, she will soon have a body of law worthy of comparison with that of any of her sisters.