receiving for their year's practice, if we except a few in two or three of our largest cities, and what any such received a few years since. The following squib from "Punch" touches on all the above points :

"Well, well, don't be so empressé,
Alexander, O!

There, the waiter's brought your Creci,
We'll contrive, ere long, I dessay;

Take the place de bene esse,
Alexander, O!"

And the learned ATTORNEY GENERAL has signified to
his Southampton constituents that he has taken it.

THE COURT IN A FIX.-On Christmas afternoon, while the Court of Common Pleas at Northampton, (Judge Bishop.) was proceeding with the trial of Commonwealth v. Tower, for abduction, one of the bystanders hinted to the District Attorney that it was Christmas day, and that there was a statute forbidding the holding of courts on that day, whereupon the latter announced the fact to the Court. The judge, and the

whole congregation in the court-room were amazed and amused. That the Court was in a fix, was clearly "a fixed fact," and to get unfixed was of course the first business. The judge said the existence of that statute had escaped his recollection, so that he was until then unaware that the holding of the courts on that day was unlawful. The difficulty was remedied by a waiver of all the parties to the offence, and by common consent business was continued, the law to the contrary notwithstanding. That is, they found themselves all sinners together; so they pardoned each other's sins, and went on sinning through the remainder of the day. "Ignorance of the law excuseth no man," is a maxim which is quoted often by the doctors of the law for the admonition of the unlearned; and many a poor fellow has suffered the penalties of law no less because of his ignorance; but here is a case where the doctors have themselves ignorantly become Sabbath-breakers, and hence are liable (and ought not to be excused therefore) — not to a legal penalty, for there is none, but to be severely talked to by the unlearned. From the Springfield Republican, Dec. 29.

Notices of New Publications.

A GENERAL INDEX TO THE ENGLISH COMMON LAW REPORTS. Vols. I. to LXXXIII. inclusive. Second Edition. By GEORGE W. Biddle and RICHARD C. McMURTRIE, of the Philadelphia Bar. 2 Vols. pp. 676, and 643. Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson. 1856.

This work, as its title implies, is not so much a digest as the digest of a digest; it is an attempt, and a very successful one, to give, in the briefest form, a sufficient guide to enable the lawyer to examine for himself all the cases contained in the very valuable series of reports here indexed, which bear upon any subject of inquiry.

The present edition is an index to Messrs. Johnsons' reprint of the Common Law Reports of England from 5 Taunton to the latest volumes of the Queen's Bench and Common Bench, including the nisi prius cases and one volume of Bankruptcy Reports (1 Deacon). It contains no Exchequer Cases, excepting where these are contained in the same volume with those of the two courts above named, (as is the case with Marshall, J. B. Moore, and a few others,) the Exchequer Reports proper, having been reprinted in a separate series.

The work is very well done, the arrangement being such as is readily understood, and the results of the cases being indicated with brevity and precision. The form of an index has many advantages over any other to the practitioner who is desirous of following out the cases for himself, and we think the learned editors are justified in claiming for their plan “that it affords the best mode of exploring the vast body of law to which the work professes to be a guide.'

We have but one criticism to make upon the execution of this work, which is, that in some instances, the most important of which we will point out, the same notes are repeated in different parts of the volumes, a practice never admitted in the best digests, and which therefore ought not to obtain in a book which professes to be still more compendious.

Thus the cases on the subject of adequacy of consideration to support a prromise, are collected under the head of CONTRACT, and the same notes

are repeated partly under AsSUMPSIT, and partly under BILLS OF EXCHANGE. So under the first named head, we have all the doctrine of the Statute of Frauds, with its appropriate divisions, and the same notes, with the same divisions, are repeated under the head of FRAUDS, STATUTE of. The subject of the rights, duties and liabilities of bankers is given twice, first under the head BANKERS, and next under BILLS OF EXCHANGE, giving in both places the same notes, under the same subdivisions; and the lien of bankers is considered in both these places, and also under LIEN. So of SET-OFF and BANKRUPTCY, and of BILLS OF EXCHANGE and STAMPS, SO far as these heads cover respectively the same ground.

In all such cases, a due regard for brevity and a severe judgment would dictate that the annotations should be made under the principal head, with sufficient and distinct references in all other appropriate places.

We have stated in some detail the only defect which we have discovered in these volumes, and it is one which can very easily be remedied in the next edition, when the number of new decisions to be annotated, will naturally cause an inquiry into all methods of condensation. Meantime the book is a very useful one, and one which, after being once used, will not readily be exchanged by the practitioner for the more cumbrous and difficult digests. The present edition has so many advantages over the former as to amount to a supersedeas, for the first edition made its references to an earlier and condensed reprint made by the same publishers, and to that only, while the present index gives not only the volume and page of the better American edition of the reports, but also the name of each case and its place in the original reporter.

COURT OF CLAIMS. REPORTS AND DIGEST OF OPINIONS delivered since the organization of the Court. By JOHN C. DEVEREUX, Counsellor at Law. With an Appendix, containing, 1. Statement of the Origin and History of the Court. 2. Acts of Congress relating to the Court. 3. Rules of Court. 4. List of Commissioners to take testimony. 5. List of Attorneys and Counsellors of the Court. 6. Articles on the character, functions, and judicial powers of the Court. New York: Banks, Gould & Co. 1856.

This Digest of the Opinions of the Court of Claims, which has, from time to time, (with copyright reserved,) appeared, if we mistake not, in the New York Times, is made with great fulness and precision, so much so, that it will serve nearly as well as the full reports, (which we hope will be collected, as soon and as often as they will fill a volume,) for a guide to counsel or commissioners having business before the Court. To all such it is indispensable; and it is interesting to all professional and even to general readers from the novel character of the Court, and of the questions presented for its judicial action. At the end of the whole are a few decisions given at length, some of which have already appeared in this volume, and which will serve to show the mode in which these questions are discussed.

We have always regarded the establishment of this Court as an important step in the direction of making government responsible for its acts and contracts, like a private person, a result which we do not doubt would benefit the government itself as much as it would all honest men who deal with it. Of all debts, those of honor are least likely to be scrupulously audited, and the ingredient of risk must necessarily enhance the price of every article. We are glad, therefore, to see this Court doing its work so well, and we believe, with a fair trial, it will take a firm hold upon the good sense of the nation.

THE

MONTHLY LAW REPORTER.

FEBRUARY, 1857.

DANIEL WEBSTER.

OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 2 vols. 8vo. Bos

THE PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE Edited by FLETCHER WEBster. ton: Little, Brown, & Co. 1857.

THE letters which are here collected and arranged with filial care by Mr. Fletcher Webster, present to us with great fulness the portrait of his illustrious father in his early life, and in a very pleasing light. They contain abundant evidence of the warm personal feelings and attachments, of the modesty, the diligence, and the grace which marked the beginning of a career destined to be so eminent.

The volumes open with the autobiography, which Mr. Webster wrote in 1828 for Mrs. Lee, and which has never before been given to the public, though many of the facts it contains, had of course been previously stated from various sources, and with greater or less accuracy.

Our concern with the book, is only so far as it enlightens us as to his career as a student and practitioner of law, and in this view there are scattered notes of much interest, some of which we shall cite. Mr. Webster once said that the fame which was dearest to him, and that he hoped and expected most from, was his fame as a lawyer. And it fortunately happens that enough is left in the collection of his works, and scattered in the reports of Wheaton and others, to enable posterity to form some estimate of his