WHEN LIFE INSURANCE POLICY EFFECTIVE WITHOUT PREPAYMENT OF PREMIUM. The supreme court of the United States has affirmed the decision of the circuit court in the case of The Brooklyn Life Insurance v. Miller. The action was brought on a policy of insurance, issued by the company, the premium on which was to be paid part cash and part in notes, the party insured relying on a friend to make the cash payment. The agent of the company agreed to look to such third party for payment, and sent the insured his policy with the notes to sign, informing him at the same time that no policy was in force until the premium was paid. The insured signed the notes and returned them to the agent, but the cash payment was not obtained. The defense was, that the acts of the agent in the matter did not bind the company, because agents were prohibited to make any contract changing the provisions of the policy. The court held, that the circumstances of the case amounted to a waiver as to the cash payment, and that the act of the agent bound the company. The judgment was accordingly. This court affirm that judgment. Mr. Justice Clifford delivered the opinion. THE HUMORS OF INJUNCTION. New York is not the only State that is distinguished for the facility with which injunctions can be obtained. Recently, in extending a line of railroad in the western part of Maine, some contractors found it more convenient to draw heavy stone over the mowing field in a valuable farm than to waste time by going to the same point by the highway. The owner forbid the trespass on his land, and endeavored to prevent the passage across his field, in a season that would result in much damage. An enterprising attorney, whose fortune would be insured by at once removing to New York, convinced one of the judges, during a quiet Sabbath, that the husbandman was, to some degree at least, retarding a great public enterprise in its completion. And the judge on Monday at early dawn actually issued an injunction restraining the landed proprietor from preventing a trespass on his own land! That is almost as good as was the case where the judge enjoined a man who lived a little over the line of his State, probably on the ground that his jurisdiction extended to a hailing distance from the line. Some judges are apt to go off at the half-cock in these procedures, and to decide the case and hear the evidence after, as witness the following: Some years ago an enterprising individual bought out a line of telegraph running through some of the back towns of Maine, and concluded to operate it as an individual enterprise. As an inducement to keep up communication with the rest of mankind, he sought subscriptions from the leading men of one of the shiretowns over which the wires hung. Some officeholders refused to comply, and he, in turn, notified them they could not be accommodated in the transmission of messages by that line. Soon after this a political friend, and lately the law partner of Judge T., of that county, sought to send a message to one of the nonsubscribing "patrons" in the rural regions, and the metropolitan operator, obeying orders, declined to transmit it. This coming to the ears of the judge, he sent a peremptory order to the owner to direct the transmission of the dispatch, saying if he did not he would at once issue an injunction against his line, and the judge paused for a reply. In a few seconds click, click, came back, and the operator gravely read the following sen·d." tentious reply: "Mr. T.-Injunct and be dThe judge reflected, and didn't issue that process. THE CODE REVISION OF CALIFORNIA. COMMUNICATION FROM GOVERNOR HAIGHT AND GOVERNOR ELECT BOOTH. SACRAMENTO, Nov. 2, 1871. Messrs. Charles A. Tuttle and Sidney L. Johnson: Gentlemen,-The commissioners appointed to revise the statutes have finished the preparation of the Penal Code, the book of Civil Procedure, the Civil Code, and a considerable portion of the Political Code. These codes comprise, it is believed, all the existing statutory provisions which it is desirable to retain, with such changes as are considered by the commissioners to be desirable. After the labor and care expended upon the work, the gentlemen engaged in it feel a natural desire that it should be subjected to such scrutiny as will furnish to the legislature, as well as to the profession and public, all possible guarantee for the fidelity of the work and its adaptation to its avowed objects. In view of the present confusion of our statutes, and the necessity for a careful revision of them, we concur in the expressed wish of the commissioners, and the more so by reason of the large expense which such a work unavoidably involves. It would seem impossible for the legislature, under the pressure of the ordinary business of the session, to devote the time which would be indispensable for a careful examination of the work of the commissioners. Aside from the general business of the session, and the time expended in filling some important public offices, each member has in charge local matters in which his constituents are especially interested, and which make exacting demands upon his time. For these reasons the suggestions of the commissioners seems entirely appropriate, that the legislature and such joint committee as may be appointed by the two houses, should have all the aid which can be afforded. As you are aware no authority exists for such appointment, and your compensation must rest entirely with the legislature in the exercise of its discretion. Our judgment is, that the matter is one of public importance, and in requesting you to discharge the duty of examining the codes and giving to the legislature the results of your examination, while the subject addresses itself mainly to your public spirit and professional zeal, we doubt not the legislature will provide such compensation as will be reasonable and just. The reasons for our uniting in this request are too obvious to require examination. Very respectfully yours, H. H. HAIGHT, NEWTON BOOTH. Josiah Given, Third Deputy of Internal Revenue, tendered his resignation on the 18th inst., to accept the attorneyship of the tenth district, Ohio, to which he has been recently elected. BOOK NOTICE. A Treatise on the Law and Practice of Injunctions in Equity, by William Williamson Kerr, of Lincoln's Inn, barrister at law; edited with notes and references to American cases by Wm. A. Herrick. Boston: Little, Brown & Company. 1871, pp. 736. The editor says: "This edition of Kerr on Injunctions in Equity is a reprint of the English edition with the author's addenda et corrigenda inserted in the proper places in the text and notes. The editor has prefixed to the chapters and sections of the author a considerably minute analysis of the same, and made such notes and references to American cases as he thought would serve to make the work more acceptable to American lawyers. The English cases which have been reported since the publication of the English edition are added to the original notes and not distinguished from them." This treatise of Mr. Kerr's is undoubtedly the most thorough and valuable work on injunctions extant either for the English or American practitioner. Eden's was valuable in its day, but the recent editions, especially the American, have been so over burdened with the notes rendered necessary by later decisions as to render the work a weariness to the flesh. Hilliard's, the only American treatise on the subject, is the productions of a professional book-maker and not entitled to any considerable praise either for method or accuracy. The editorial labors of Mr. Herrick on the work before us have certainly added much to its value, although his citations of American cases appear not to be very exhaustive. The book is admirably printed and bound. LEGAL NEWS. It is doubtful whether a decision in the case of Mrs. Fair will be rendered before the 1st of January. "Brick" Pomeroy, the well-known newspaper man, has been admitted to the New York bar. Hon. Ben. Wade has been appointed attorney for the Northern Pacific Railroad Co. The United States attorney-general's report will not be completed until the first week in January. Hon. Loyal C. Kellogg, ex-judge of the supreme court of Vermont, died at Benson, in that State, on the 26th inst., aged fifty-five. Gov. Claflin, of Massachusetts, has nominated Hon. John W. Bacon, of Boston, as the successor of Judge Reed in the superior court. The Bar Association of New York will appoint a committee of twenty-one to draft amendments to the Code of Procedure and the laws relating to judicial administration, which will be submitted to the next legislature. Timothy S. Banker, Esq., a prominent member of the Rensselaer county bar, and district attorney for that county, died on the 15th inst., aged forty-four years. Mr. Banker was re-elected district attorney at the late election. A congress is to be held in London next year to discuss the improvement of prison discipline and the general treatment of crime. Representatives from all parts of Europe and from America are expected to be present. The Virginia and Maryland commissioners, who were appointed about a year since to settle the boundary line between these States, have failed to agree, and the question will now be referred to the United States supreme court. At a recent fair for the benefit of the New Hampshire Orphans' Home, a copy of "Coke upon Littleton," annotated in pencil by Daniel Webster, and used by him when a law student, was sold by auction to a gentleman for $100. He immediately put it up again when it was struck off at $60. The Czar of Russia has appointed a commission of jurists for the purpose of examining the question of corporal punishment, and it is believed that upon the receipt of their report he will abolish that penalty. At present any criminal judge may inflict the penalty of one hundred lashes on any prisoner brought before him. In 1870, the legislature of Vermont appointed the judges of the supreme court and the State librarian a committee to procure the preparation and publication of a digest of the decisions of the supreme court of that State. That committee have just made arrangements with Hon. Daniel Roberts of Montpelier, to perform the work. The United States supreme court has affirmed the decree of the circuit court of Maryland in the case of The Brooklyn Life Insurance Co. v. Miller, that the act of an agent accepting another party than the assured, to make a cash portion of payment on a premium, even though the latter was not made, was binding upon the company, who are liable for the policy. The following appointments have been made by the President: Morrison R. Waite of Toledo, Ohio, Counselor to Geneva, vice Curtis, resigned. Horace H. Harrison to be United States Attorney for the middle district of Tennessee. Datus E. Coon of Alabama, United States Consul to Rio de Janeiro, and Charles G. Dyer of Illinois, Consul-General to Beiruit. The health of Judge Gresham, of the United States courts at Indianapolis, has become seriously impaired, and he will spend the fall and winter months in Florida, in order to recuperate. During his absence Judge Treat, of Illinois, will probably hold the United States district court, and Judge Drummond, the circuit judge, will hold the United States circuit court. Should Judge Gresham not return in time to hold the courts in this city at the January term, Judge Ballard, of Kentucky, will probably preside. In 1851, says the Ogdensburg Journal, Judge James was the whig candidate for supreme court justice in this district, then strongly democratic. In one county, Fulton, we believe, the democratic ballots were indorsed "for Judge of the Supreme Court," when the law required they should be indorsed, "for Justice of the Supreme Court." By throwing out these votes Judge James would have been elected, but when informed by the State canvassers that they proposed to give him the certificate in order to test the question, he replied, that he was not a candidate for a certificate, but for an election by the people, and directed that the certificate be given to the gentleman the people had unquestionably chosen. Two years later enough Democrats remembered the act, and Judge James was elected by a large majority. The Albany Law Journal. ALBANY, DECEMBER 9, 1871. ADMISSION TO THE BAR. may prosecute or defend a suit for any other person provided he is specially authorized for that purpose, by the party for whom he appears, in writing, or by personal nomination in open court." But this act was declared unconstitutional by Mr. Justice Edwards in the first, and Mr. Justice Willard in the fourth district, and no attempt has since been made to take advantage of it. But the public sentiment exerted itself in other ways. The court could determine the qualifications, ability and learning only by examination of the can| didate, and this examination was necessarily brief and cursory. Whether made by the court or by examiners, it has usually occupied only a few hours, no matter how large a number presented themselves for examination at the specified time. Nothing but a vague and uncertain estimate could be made concerning any individual, and the examiners, not wishing to do injury, gave each applicant the benefit of any doubts they might have concerning his claims for admission. This slackness enabled many who were notoriously unqualified to pass the ordeal, which at Ten years ago it seemed probable that the practice of the law would soon be open to every one, without regard to capacity or acquirements. The framers of the New York constitution of 1846 inserted in that instrument a provision designed to take from the legislature and the courts all power of making effective general rules with regard to admission to the bar. The declaration that " any male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, of good moral character, and who possesses the requisite qualifications of learning and ability, shall be entitled to practice in all the courts of this State," theoretically permitted all intelligent men to enter the profession. It was intended to do even more than this, that is, to allow every man who wished to set up a law office. The popular impression of that day was, that the lawyers were a privileged class. And there was some grounds for this impres-length came to be regarded as a mere technical ceresion. Almost all the public offices were filled by members of the bar. They were exempt from jury duty, and, practically, from service in the militia and from civil arrest. They seemed to do little labor for large pay, and their business was secure from the dangers of a commercial crisis. It is not surprising that those who followed other callings believed that a position at the bar was an open sesame to honor and wealth, and that they regarded, with jealousy, the existence of certain rules and customs which rendered the attainment of that position difficult. The most obnoxious rule, under the old system, was the one which made a long apprenticeship essential for admission to the bar. This rule, in effect, excluded the great body of the people as the time required was greater than could be afforded by one compelled to earn his own livelihood. Seven years were necessary to educate the lawyer, and though a concession was made to graduates of colleges by allowing the time passed in college to count as part of the needed years, this concession probably tended to make the rule, if any thing, more unpopular. Then the requirement could not be evaded, as the time must be spent, and it was not easy or profitable for the candidate to mislead the court concerning that matter. The popular sentiment at last found expression in the fundamental law, but it was found that the way had not become entirely smooth inasmuch as the courts, though no longer permitted to insist upon a term of clerkship, established a standard of intelligence and qualifications which could be attained to only through the instruction and discipline of a clerkship of some length. The legislature of 1847 undertook to take away this last barrier against indiscriminate admission, by providing that "any person of good moral character, although not admitted as an attorney, mony that the most stupid and ignorant need not fear. Now and then an examining committee, with a desire to put a stop to indiscriminate admissions, would recommend the rejection of a large proportion of the class brought before them, but this proceeding had only a temporary effect, as most of the rejected ones usually came through by the next committee. Then it grew to be not unusual to admit upon motion, and this in cases where the applicant was known to be unable to pass a satisfactory examination. This ease of access has, of course, done great injury to the bar, both in character and reputation. Great numbers of uneducated men have entered. Thus the average culture of the profession is lowered. Very many become attorneys in order to profit by chicanery and trick. These injure the moral character of the bar and destroy its good name. The result, however, which has been most keenly felt, especially in the city of New York, is that arising from over-competition. Thousands have taken up the law as a means of livelihood, spent as short a time as possible in preparation, and, immediately upon admission, opened for business. The metropolis is a rich field for the lawyer; so those desiring fame and profit, are apt to go there. It is said that upward of three thousand attorneys hold forth for business in New York city. What the amount of professional receipts may be we do not understand. It is stated, however, that considerable over half the paying business is done by one hundred and fifty persons, and, probably, one thousand do four-fifths of all. The great majority, then, of the lawyers in the city, must derive from their profession only a meagre income. That the profession, as a whole, does not occupy, in this State, the position held by it twenty-five years ago, is apparent to every one. Some have attributed this circumstance to the adoption of a code of procedure; others, to the establishment of an elective judiciary. That each of these has had considerable influence we cannot doubt; but the chief cause of the social and political decline of the legal guild will, we are confident, be found in that mass of incompetence and ignorance which has crowded into every department of practice. It may be urged that the bar in England is in the same condition as ours, filled to overflowing, and containing many persons of small ability and learning. This is true as to the bar there, but the bar in England get only a small share of legal business, and even that comes through the hands of attorneys. The whole profession does not materially suffer from the facility of entrance to a single department. But with us, where all distinctions are merged, admission to the bar of a multitude of improper persons affects injuriously every lawyer. The constitutional convention of 1867, by their amended judiciary article, designed to allow a restoration of something like the ancient system, and the legislature and courts have seconded such design, by requiring, in addition to the usual examination, a preliminary clerkship or course of study. While an apparent discrimination, by the statute, in respect to certain law schools, has raised a cry about favoritism, the profession generally seem to be well pleased with the change. It is perhaps too early to feel the effects of such change, but we have little question that if the bench and bar use the means now in their power for the exclusion of improper persons from the practice of law, the legal profession will, in a few years, regain its old position. CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. The civil service commissioners have been recently active enough at Washington. But we think there is a very good precedent already open to their adoption. They could not do better than to take the English system in globo, or as much of it as will be pleasing to congress. When once a practical beginning is made in the matter, it will be the easier to make still further amendments. But a beginning should be at once made. Dirnidium facti qui capit, habet. The public are impatient, and are most anxious that, even though the constitution contains no doctrines of divinity, our civil service, at all events, should have more or less of a moral basis. The States will doubtless all follow suit in this matter of civil service reform. Sauce for one description of domestic pets will equally well suit all the rest. Such reforms will tend more than any number of septuagint committees to reform and purify State administration. implied in the proposed change that civil service offices are to be for life, else no one in his senses would devote much time and labor to studying what would bear him fruit only for a few years. A freehold in an office is, in its nature and results, like to a It is similar tenure of land. A tenant at will is rarely unwilling to commit waste. A tenant for life, on the contrary, will endeavor to discover new modes of economizing his own labor and dispatching the public business He will ever seek to improve the field of his labors in order that he may rise still higher in the scale of promotion. The present system operates as a bounty against all these advantages both to the office-holder and the public. An ulterior result of civil service reform will be, that it will lead to a desire on the part of the public to see the tenure of judicial offices likewise extended to a reasonable period. It ought to be much easier to pass a civil service reform bill in the legislature of our democratic country than it was, in 1855, for the British government to carry such a measure for England, where even commissions in the army have been bought and sold from the earliest times down to the last session of parliament. That preserve of the nobility, indeed, was so well hedged and protected by the house of lords, that Gladstone was obliged to have recourse to the somewhat unusual, and almost unconstitutional, measure of accomplishing the reform by means of a warrant under the queen's sign manual, and not by the more difficult process of a parliamentary bill. But, as regards almost the whole civil service of England and India, including customs, excise and the post-office, appointments in all these departments are now filled up by candidates who succeed in passing an examination in certain specified branches of knowledge. Other qualifications, indeed, besides mere literary ones, are necessary to constitute a good official. Still, proficiency in studies that require industry for their successful prosecution, raises a presumption that the best answerers in those departments of learning are the most likely to fill posts in the civil service with credit to themselves and advantage to their country. Mr. Boutwell is disinclined to attracting young men to the public service, and, for the same reasons, he is opposed to a long tenure of office. He is, however, we believe, in a minority in the cabinet on this point. At all events, a reform in our civil service, by commuting it from being a reward for political adhesion to a prize for merit, may be now regarded as a fait accompli. All that remains is to carry out the details of the change. POLICE COMMISSIONS. The question of local government by commissions,, not chosen by popular vote, is now securing considerable attention in the public press, and is being discussed with less bitterness and more candor than at any time heretofore. In the discussion, we of to-day have one advantage which those of an earlier time did not, namely, that of experience. The system has been tried, and its good and evil qualities practically made evident. In the State of New York, where, if it did not originate, it has had the most ex R tensive application, the residents of cities have become citizens. In the cities of New York and Brooklyn, one of these commissions preserved the public peace, with a single exception, from 1857 to 1870, during four years and more, of which time all the disorders incident to a civil war were present in the community. In the capital district a commission organized and maintained for five years, probably the best disciplined and most efficient police force ever seen upon the American continent. In other sections the experiment had a shorter probation, for the legislature of 1870 either destroyed wholly every State commission, or so modified the statute creating it, as to strip away most of its power. The old system of police management has not, however, been restored, but commissions appointed in other ways still control. These new bodies do not seem to accomplish all that was hoped and promised. They may do better after a while, but we have no great confidence in their ability to give the people of their respective localities as good a police force as existed under the previous system. REPORTS OF LAW CASES. These institutions, whether good, bad or indifferent, were aimed at the idea of popular government, or, perhaps, we should say, local government, by the local majority. That idea was, in the fundamental law of New York, carried to a point beyond that which the most radical democrats of the last century even contended for. Every office, legislative, judicial and executive, from the governor of the State to the town constable, was, by the last constitution, to be filled by the people. Experience, however, soon demonstrated ENTERPRISE OF AMERICAN JOURNALISTS. that in certain localities the majority of the people were not in favor of law and order, or, at least, of its enforcement in their own neighborhood, and that the officers chosen by them would be a terror to good instead of evil-doers. In the cities this trouble first appeared, and, of course, among the lowest grade of officials. The consequence was, that the right of suffrage was invaded, so to speak, and the management of the police, in certain sections, taken from the people. In this matter a certain difficulty arose. By the constitution all county officers, whose appointment was not fixed by that instrument, must be chosen either by the electors of the counties or by county authorities; and city, town and village officers of the same character by electors of such cities, towns and villages, or of some division thereof, or appointed by some of the authorities thereof. It was intended, evidently, that the officials in every locality must be chosen by some authority in that locality, which authority was chosen by local, popular vote. While provision was made for every political division in existence, the contingency of a different kind of division was not provided against, so that, when the legislature deemed it expedient to take away from a town, county or city all control over local officers, it was only necessary to unite it with some adjacent territory, and form a district, whose officers might be chosen as the legislature should direct. In that way was built up the metropolitan police district, and, afterward, other police districts in different sections. Whatever may have been the disadvantages and dangers of organizing an institution so radically antagonistic to the generally accepted theory of a democratic form of government, it cannot be denied that in the matter of police management, the commissions gave very general satisfaction to the better class of American newspapers often publish glorifications of themselves on the ground of their "enterprise." There is one department of news, however, in which England far outstrips us. The London Times, and, indeed, all the daily journals of that city, give copious reports of all the cases decided in the superior courts, and also brief sketches of every complaint before the city magistrates, if the matter is worth noting. The result is, that every legal practitioner in London takes The Times or some other British daily, in order to learn how the legal breeze blows, and also to see the state of the cause list. For the English newspapers apprise their readers not only of the past but also of what is to come. They contain a legal diary of the cases to be tried during the day. Now, we may look in vain in most of our daily contemporaries for any thing like a didactic narrative, with citations of cases, in any law suit that is not of a political character. Here surely is room for journalistic enterprise. The publisher has the news cut and dried for him if he only sends a reporter to take it down. Even if it is not interesting to the public in general, it will be so to that very numerous section of readers who are concerned in legal affairs. It is strange that this mine of wealth is so badly worked by our enterprising contemporaries. They compass sea and land for early intelligence, even though it be only the merest shadow of a coming event. They detail reporters, at considerable expense, to various districts of city and country in search of news. Their embassadors often have to return as ignorant as they set out. But in the courts there never can be any dearth of material for the journalistic compiler. We hope our suggestion will be acted upon. Newspaper accounts never can |