Page images
PDF
EPUB

on clearly-defined principles and has far-reaching consequences. Again, economy of space has sometimes been gained at the expense of clearness of reference. Thus we are told that any interference with an easement appurtenant to land entitles the owner to compensation, and that this has been decided with reference to a private right of way and to an easement of light. Five decisions follow to support the proposition and the examples, but the practitioner is not told which refer to the right of way and which to the easement of light; and so it may be that his time will be wasted in looking through several decisions. But marked as these defects are, they are outweighed by the business merits of the book, which is a valuable one for many practitioners, and many persons engaged about the business of English railways.

The Law of Principal and Agent in Contract and Tort. By WILLIAM EVANS. Second Edition. London: William Maxwell & Son. 1888. 8vo. xxviii and 658 pp.

THE changes effected in this edition call for little comment, the general plan of the work having been retained unaltered. Some eight new sections have been added, and a large number of additional cases, over 500, have been incorporated into the text and notes, with the effect of increasing the former by some sixty-seven pages. New decisions have been carefully discussed where necessary, according to the method adopted in the first edition, and the utility of the book has been greatly increased by being brought down to date.

We miss a few decisions which seem to us of sufficient importance to have merited insertion in their appropriate places, viz. at p. 157, Gordon v. James (30 Ch. D. 249), on the authority of a solicitor to receive mortgage money; at p. 181, Lewis v. Ramsdale (55 L. T. N. S. 179) on the restriction of a power of attorney in general terms to the special purposes for which it is granted; at pp. 231 and 237, Barrow & Bros. v. Dyster Nalder & Co. (13 Q. B. D. 635), and Hutcheson & Co. v. Eaton & Son (ibid. 861), on the question when a broker is personally liable on his contract, and what written terms will exclude evidence of custom to render him responsible; at p. 472, Isaac Cooke & Sons v. Eshelby (12 App. Ca. 271), on the right of a buyer to set off against the seller a claim available against the seller's agent, a case not only important but open to serious criticism.

Again, the citation of Maspons y Hermano v. Mildred at p. 476 should have included the decision in the House of Lords (8 App. Ca. 874), and that of Re Cape Breton Company at p. 302 the decision in the Court of Appeal (29 Ch. Div. 795): the report of the case in the House of Lords (12 App. Ca. 652) was no doubt too late for insertion.

We have also noticed some omissions in the table of cases, omissions the more to be regretted because completeness in this respect enhances the value of a good book.

Wilson's Supreme Court of Judicature Acts, Rules, and Forms, &c. Sixth Edition. By CHARLES BURNEY, M. MUIR MACKENZIE, and C. ARNOLD WHITE. London: Stevens & Sons. 1887. La. 8vo. evii and 956 pp.

In our last issue we credited Wilson's Judicature Acts,' by a clerical slip, with the citation, on a rough calculation, of 1400 cases only. The number of cases really cited approaches double the estimate we then gave, and is more than half the number cited in 'The Annual Practice.'

We may add to the comments which we made on this pair of works last January that Wilson' is admirably adapted for use in the common law courts. We have used it for some time, and we have not found it wanting. It is true that Wilson' does not call in aid the mass of cases from theWeekly Notes' which the industrious practitioner may have 'noted up' on such an Order as LV or on Order LVIII, r. 15. A Chancery practitioner, accustomed to his 'white book,' may cavil at Wilson' for citing too few decisions. But in our judgment there is not always strength in the multitude of cases, and we think that Wilson' has nearly approached the medium of safety. It is always easier for a writer who knows of a case to cite it than to summon up the courage which is necessary to leave it out. Among other things that are admirable in Wilson' are the yellow edging with which the pages containing the Rules of the Supreme Court, 1883, are differentiated, and the exiguous nature of the 'Addenda and Corrigenda' list, which we are glad to have no wish to expand. We believe that this collection of Rules is an exhaustive one, and we think that this analysis of the 'judge-made' law which has quickly accumulated on the Rules is a sound and an accurate digest.

The Merchandise Marks Act, 1887, with special reference to the important sections, and the Customs, Regulations, and Orders made thereunder, together with the Conventions with Foreign States for protection of Trade Marks. By HOWARD PAYN. London : Stevens & Sons. 1888. 8vo. vii and 132 pp.

THIS is a neat and practical little work. The so-called 'General Introduction,' which would have been more fitly termed an Explanatory Chapter, occupies thirty-two pages, the Act and Notes about the same space, whilst the remainder of the book is occupied by the Appendix. We think that Mr. Payn's work will be found a clear and useful guide. Thus he points out by way of example how the words 'superfine make' might be an indirect indication of the English origin of a bale of goods, and so cause them to be liable to detention, as being a false 'trade description.' He then shows the need to add, in the event of these or similar words being stamped on goods, a counter statement as to manufacture abroad so as to secure a free entry for the goods in question. We have taken this particular instance because questions arising under the head of false trade descriptions are the most difficult and calculated to give most trouble both to the Custom-house officers and merchants. Except this introductory statement and a few notes to the Act there is no original matter in the book. But this abstemiousness is to be commended, for commentators on Acts are too fond of padding up their books by pointing out, without need, distinctions between the Act under discussion and prior or similar statutes.

La philosophie du droit. Par DIODATA LIOY. Traduit par LOUIS DURAND et précédé d'une préface par LOUIS DURAND et JEAN TERREL. Paris: Chevalier-Marescq & Cie. 1887. cxxxvi and 587 pp. THIS book had already been translated into German. The French translator has taken advantage of the notes in the German edition, and added original ones of a comparative character. The author moreover has himself revised the translation.

Lioy's work is one of the best which have yet been written upon the subject. It is abreast of modern ideas, research and learning, though the author rather combats than espouses modern views. He is a follower of neither the

[ocr errors]

utilitarian nor the interest theory. He holds the sources of law to be of a spiritual nature. However, it is one of the merits of the book that the author does not harp much on an independent line of thought of his own. He divides his subject-matter into two parts, the first called 'Objet du droit,' the second 'Sujet du droit,' a division obviously borrowed from the Germans. In the former part, Lioy deals under separate headings with Religion, Science, Art, Industry, Trade, Morality, and Law; in the latter, with the Individual, the Family, the District (Commune), the Province, the State, the Community of States and Humanity. The term Philosophy of Law is perhaps somewhat too limited a title for so wide a subject. Be that as it may, the book is certainly interesting and instructive.

Questions de droit maritime.

Par ALFRED DE COURCY. 4ème série.

Paris F. Pichon. 1888. 8vo. xxi and 481 pp.

THE able manager of the Compagnie d'assurances générales expects this volume to be the last of the interesting series, the publication of which he began ten years ago. His essays are upon questions of the day which have fallen within his personal experience, and have no consecutive bearing on each other. Two long chapters of the present volume deal with employers' liability. Another is devoted to exoneration of liability for negligence. One which will be read with interest by Englishmen gives the author's views upon the procedure of our Courts. His strictures on trial by jury in civil causes, and his contrast between our costly safeguards of justice and the more practical and less expensive French procedure, are worthy of the attention of English reformers.

Code de Procédure civile pour l'Empire d'Allemagne. Traduit et annoté par E. GLASSON, E. LEDERLIN and F. R. DARESTE. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. 1887. xc and 354 pp.

THIS valuable translation by thoroughly competent men, of whom M. Glasson is well known to English jurists, forms one of the series of translations of foreign Codes in course of publication by the Foreign Legislation Commission at the Ministry of Justice in Paris. The historical and analytical introduction and the abounding comparative notes give the work a value quite apart from that which it possesses as an excellent translation. Not the smallest merit of the book is its exhaustive and careful index.

The Elements of Jurisprudence. By THOMAS ERSKINE HOLLAND. Fourth Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1888. 8vo. xx and 378 pp. MR. HOLLAND has succeeded in keeping the additional pages of this new edition within a small number. If the book continues to enjoy the welldeserved favour it has hitherto done, the author may yet have hard work to save it from being oppressed by details, and thereby losing some of its merit and convenience as an elementary book of instruction and reference. We would suggest for consideration whether in a future edition the German phrases and extracts might not be reduced. We cannot have an adequate scientific treatment of English law without an adequate English terminology which can be understood without reference to forms of speech cast in the mould of another language. So long as we set before English students such

signs as Juristic Act,' so long will they mostly neglect and refuse to believe that the thing signified has any real existence in English law.

A few references to recent cases, given only by date or from newspapers, need posting up; and on p. 170 Ex parte Gilchrist is, by one of those vexatious little slips which recent changes in the Law Reports have multiplied, cited as being reported '17 Q. B. 521' instead of '17 Q. B. Div. 521.'

Charitable Trusts: the Jurisdiction of the Charity Commission, being the Acts conferring such Jurisdiction, 1853-1883, with Introductory Essays and Notes on the Sections. By RICHARD EDMUND MITCHESON. London: Stevens & Sons and W. Maxwell & Son. 1887. 8vo. xxxii and 415 pp.

THIS work is what on its title-page it pretends to be. It will be useful to the equity practitioner as giving him the Acts collected together, with references to the cases decided on the various sections. We notice that a case reported in June (St. Botolph's Estates, 35 Ch. D. 142) is not mentioned; nor is the Act of last Session, 50 & 51 Vict. c. 49. In other respects we have found this part of the work fairly complete. A very instructive part of the Introduction consists of the history of Charity Commissions in general, and of the present Charity Commission in particular. It appears that the Commissioners perpetually hunger after new powers. One of their favourite ideas is to lay a tax on charities to support their ever-increasing staff-all for the good of the charities, of course. But what would have been said of the Livery Companies if they had proposed to do anything of that kind?

Alphabetical Reference Index to recent and important Maritime Law Decisions. Compiled by ROBERT R. DOUGLAS. London: Stevens & Sons. 1888. 8vo. xvi and 240 pp.

THIS book may be of use to business men, but will be of little use to lawyers. It is described on the title-page as a Reference Index, but it refers to no law or newspaper reports or to any other authority for its versions of the decisions abstracted. As a digest of reported cases it is therefore useless; as an index to the columns of the Times and Shipping Gazette it may be of use, for the dates of the decisions are given, and apparently it is the reports of these or other newspapers that have been indexed. Occasionally a case is referred to in the Courts of which the only report is in a newspaper, but this rarely happens, and newspaper authorities are of little weight. Some of the decisions summarised by Mr. Douglas are startling: for example, p. 62, that the appearance of a steamer's mast-head light indicates that it is that of a steamer whose side-lights are obscured by fog. Under the head (p. 77) of Compulsory Pilotage is a vague and inadequate summary of the law of pilotage at various ports; 'about,' p. 5, is an odd heading for an Index; and the cross-references (pp. 8, 9, 28, and passim) are whole pages in length and altogether excessive.

Attachment of Debts and Receivers by way of equitable execution. Second Edition. By MICHAEL CABABÉ. London: Maxwell & Son. 1888. 8vo. xii and 164 pp.

In this edition of a work on Interpleader and Attachment Mr. Cababé has dropped Interpleader' and taken in Equitable Execution' as a cognate subject to Attachment of Debts, and we think he has done wisely. Both

subjects are as a general rule neatly and carefully dealt with. But it is not enough to say that 'the provisions of the Common Law Procedure Acts, 1854 and 1860, are almost identical with those of Order XLV of the Rules of the Supreme Court, 1883;' the reason for the considerable variations of language between the two sets of provisions (both of which are printed at length)ought surely to have been pointed out. We read with some surprise that a legacy is not attachable (M'Dowall v. Hollister, 3 C. L. R. 933; 25L.T. O. S. 185), and think it should have been stated whether or not, looking to the fact that since the Judicature Acts an equitable debt is attachable (see In re Cowan's Estate, L. R. 14 Ch. D. 638), this would still hold good. Equitable execution is dealt with more shortly, but with more and better original writing, and there is a short collection of forms, one or two of which are original. There is the doubtful convenience of a double index, one to each part of the work, and the few statutes cited' are given in each index instead of being placed in a table of statutes' at the beginning of the book in the usual and more convenient fashion. Lastly, we must complain that only one set of reports (the Law Reports) is referred to.

A Treatise of the Law and Practice relating to Vendors and Purchasers of Real Estate. By the late J. HENRY DART. Sixth Edition. By WILLIAM BARBER, Q.C., R. B. HALDANE, and W. R. SHELDON. 2 vols. London: Stevens & Sons. 1888. La. 8vo. ccciv and

1669 pp. MANY members of both the branches of the legal profession will be glad to hear that the new edition of this well-known and highly-appreciated work has at length been published. It has been long in preparation, and the extensive changes and numerous improvements which have been introduced are the result of assiduous labour combined with critical acumen, sound knowledge, and practical experience. The popularity of the treatise is too well established to stand in any need of commendation; but it is probable that on a future occasion we shall give some further account of the special features upon which the present edition relies for enlarging, if possible, the wide circulation of its predecessors.

We have also received :

Le Droit de la Guerre. Par le Professeur EMILE ACOLLAS. Paris: Delagrave. 1888. 12mo. 166 pp.-This is a neat little handbook, but contains rather more of purely individual speculation than seems desirable in a work of elementary instruction. The author has a strong opinion that no State is entitled, under any circumstances, to cede any part of its territory without the consent of the inhabitants; and on the other hand, that any and every section of a State (la commune, le canton, la province) has an absolute natural right of secession. This may be arguable, but it is not the general opinion of publicists. Bluntschli is often referred to, seldom with assent, and sometimes with dissent only just within the bounds of literary comity.

Precedents of Deeds of Arrangement between Debtors and Creditors, with Introductory Chapters; also the Deeds of Arrangement Act, 1887. By GEORGE WOODFORD LAWRANCE. Third Edition. London: Stevens & Sons. 1888. 8vo. viii and 142 pp.-Since the last edition of this work the Deeds of Arrangement Act, 1887, has materially affected the subject of this treatise; and the author has now duly set out the Act, together with some notes and with the consequent new rules and orders. In a short time-possibly

« PreviousContinue »