until 1878, when they went to Eureka. Upon the death of Judge Hillyer, he was appointed United States District Judge, in July, 1882, and removed to Carson City, which continued to be his home up to the time of his death.

Judge Sabin was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Loyal Legion. In appearance he was a man of fine physique, standing fully six feet high. He was esteemed, both as a practitioner and upon the bench, as a man of sterling honesty and ability, his uniform courtesy as a Judge rendering him much respected by all who came in contact with him. He never married, but spent a great deal of money upon needy friends. His sister-inlaw, who is a widow, lives in this city, and, with her son, comforted his dying moments. He had been afflicted with sciatica and rheumatic troubles for the past ten years. A short time ago he visited Portland, Oregon, and was received by the members of the bar, who gave him a banquet.-Alta California.

A CORRECTION.—In the annotation to the case of Pullman Palace Car Co. v. Lowe, in the April number of the AMERICAN LAW REGISTER, I say on page 261: "It does appear somewhat singular, that none of the cases were either called to the attention of the Court, or cited by the Judge in his opinion. That such is the case, however, one is led to presume," etc. This statement, although justifiable from the report as published in 44 Northwestern Reporter, page 226, seems to need some qualification, inasmuch as Mr. Howard B. Smith, the counsel for the plaintiff, assures me that he called the attention of the Court to the cases mentioned. It would therefore not be fair to him, knowing the circumstances of the case, to allow such a statement to go without some amendment.

ERNEST WATTS.

CURRENT COMMENT and LEGAL MISCELLANY has evidently found that there was an extensive field to be covered by such a publication for it grows and grows and is becoming one of the standard periodicals of the day. It will be found almost invaluable to the young lawyer, and in the family as well, for it is sure to be correct in the law, while it is so clear in the exposition that no one need be misguided by it. Published by the D. B. Canfield Co., Philadelphia. Peabody Reporter.

A General View of the Criminal Law of England, by Sir James Fitzjames Stephen. 2d edition. London, MacMillan & Co. 1890. Received from J. B Lippincott Co., Phila.

This work was originally published in 1863 and the author seems to have thought of letting it remain out of print, or be superseded by his more elaborate History of the Criminal Law, published in 1883. But demand is not cramped by author's ideas, and finally in this second edition, there is a re-written work containing the essence of the author's experience of thirty-six years as a barrister, member of the Indian Council, author, draftsman of a proposed Criminal code and judge.

To begin at the beginning, the reader will do well to supply himself with a trusty paper cutter, for the leaves are not cut at the top, whereby deliberation in the reading is secured. In the near future, every such volume will have its own cutter, sheathed in the recesses of the cover. Why not? Purchasers have demanded such things with uncut works, some even asserting that their own knives had positively worn out in the delightful explorations of partly open leaves. Great evidence alike of thrift and the hurry of an age that must skim the head lines and turn the leaves to form less than an idea of an author's labor.

A crime, in the strict legal sense of the word, is an act forbidden by law under pain of punishment. Thus the author, in one breath, gives a definition and a distinction ; because the definition includes grossly wicked actions and things no worse than nuisances; but they are alike crimes, so that a murderer and the president of a turnpike company which fails to keep its road in good order, may alike stand in the criminal's dock and be a convict. Of course, the man who drives his carriage to smash on such a turnpike has also his civil remedy, just as the murdered man's family may have theirs; but this is a civil consequence of an act which in the criminal court is charged to be a crime. Hence the author explains that the moral atrocity and infamy are the main reason for treating any action as a crime, but when the action is charged upon any man, the moral character of the act is quite distinct from the criminality of the act. Το those who master this result of the great science of the law, the escape of many criminals will probably seem to be a necessary piece of public immorality. A corrective is to give the jury (in criminal cases) the function of judges of both the law and the facts, so that the average common sense may strike an average result. This practical solution lies outside of the work, and those who wish to learn the theory of the Criminal Law, will not be troubled with

such practical digressions. Nor should they; to understand what criminal law aims at, should be a portion of every citizen's knowledge, and there seems no better work for the purpose than this. Likely enough, an American work for American readers would be better, but at present the American writer has not learned to omit the footnote digest and the timid form of stating the propositions, and hence the ponderous two and three volume (literal) works. Oh for a condenser amid this salt sea of criminal writers.

"The arrangement of the work is as follows. I begin with an historical introduction, setting forth the steps by which the criminal law reached its present condition. I then proceed to give an account of certain general principles relating to crime and of certain general exceptions which are virtually contained, or implied, in the definition of every crime. These may collectively be called the conditions of criminality. They include the subjects of age, sanity, compulsion, necessity, ignorance of law, and ignorance of fact. I then proceed to the questions of the parties to the commission of crimes, and to the steps taken towards a crime-incitement, conspiracy, and attempts. From this I pass to the definitions of particular crimes, treating successively of crimes which affect public order, abuses and obstructions of public authority, offences which are regarded as injurious to the public at large; offences against the person, the parental and conjugal rights, or the reputation of individuals; and lastly offences against property, by way either of force or of fraud. I next give a sketch of the subject of criminal procedure, and of that of the law of evidence in relation to criminal cases." And all this done in a most interesting manner; as witness this paragraph upon the degree of knowledge, essential to criminality :-"The answer is, that knowledge of the law is never required at all. This is a blunt and possibly ungracious equivalent for the well-known statement that everyone is conclusively presumed to know the law, a presumption opposed to notorious facts, and closely resembling a forged release to a forged bond."

We regard

THE NORWALK DAILY REFLECTOR kindly says: CURRENT COMMENT AND LEGAL MISCELLANY as one of the best monthly magazines for the lawyer published. Especially will young lawyers find valuable hints and stores of information in its bright and sparkling pages. The price is only one dollar a year, placing it within the reach of everyone likely to be interested in the subjects treated. It is published by the D. B. Canfield Co., Philadelphia, on the 15th of each month.

The Western Law Times. Editors, Archer Martin and J. T. Huggard, Barristers at law. Winnipeg, Manitoba. $5.00 per annum. Vol. I, No. 2, May, 1890.

As the CURRENT COMMENT believes that there are not enough law journals and consequently not enough lawyers reading about the art of getting a client justice or otherwise, there can be nothing to do with a new comer like The Western Law Times, but hail its advent and call attention to its make-up. A leading article, a review of Manitoba legislation, Notes and Comments, and other miscellany, with that usual agony," Recent Decisions,"—is not a remarkable table of contents, and indicates that the conservative members of the bar can safely subscribe for this journal. The great difficulty about the initial numbers is their eminent respectability and conservative following of the other law journals. Surely such a growing country could furnish curious points of application of old law to new facts; equally certain is it, that the notes of cases must eventually expand into something like the reports of the Ohio Circuit Courts in the Ohio Law Journal,—a paper whose form is just as convenient and valuable for a monthly like this new Canadian friend as the weekly from the Hoosier State. Of course, most law journals do not show any such feeling among their editors, but then this is also indicated by the relatively small circulation which most of them claim. The mechanical part of the new Times is very good and pleasing to the eye; the blue cover reminds of the old series of The American Law Register, whose cerulean hue became like that of the Virginia clay, after the armies began to tramp through the fields of the F. F. V. It is to be hoped that the fertile North West has had its fill in the recent rebellion, and will strictly avoid that silence of the law which necessarily arises inter arma.

Lawyers' Reports Annotated. Book V. All current cases of general value and importance, decided in the United States, State and Territorial Courts, with full annotation by Robert Desty, editor. Rochester, N. Y. The Lawyers' Co-op. Pub. Co. 1889.

In this volume appear Dean v. Depot Co., the dangerous employee case, without an annotation, which the owners of this volume will find well done in 29 AMERICAN LAW REGISTER 22. It is remarkable that Mr. Desty should be content with the head note by the Court. Then there is the Forepaugh Case, where the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania proceeded to quote the former coadjutor of one of its justices, as a greater authority than "the persistent recognition of a mythical commercial law" by the Supreme Court of the

United States. This would be an undignified way of writing down the greater Court, if the result of the Pennsylvania decision were not to indirectly magnify the very Court which is faulted. That is, enforcing a contract simply by the law of the place where made, even though the law of the former invalidates such a contract (e. g. a liquor contract)—all this seems very just until the very large and wholly uncertain exception is observed. For the Court say that they enforce the law of New York on that contract, and not the law of Pennsylvania, as "the contract does not directly affect the State or its citizens in any way." Who can say when the exception applies? If not applicable, then as in the Forepaugh case, a carrier is allowed to contract for release of liability through negligence. Who shall be faulted for struggling for the policy of his State, as against a mere comity, unless uniformity be of greater value than theory? The annotation seems based upon the idea that the absence of any common law of the United States as a Nation, has some effect upon the question.

The DeWitt Natural Gas Case is reported but without annotation; that was well done in 29 AMER. Law Register 93. The Hayes Libel Case is reported with annotation upon the imputation of insolvency, and privileged communication to a commercial agency. The latter topic is again meagerly annotated in the Bradstreet case in New York, where a reference is made by the annotator to the Texas Bradstreet Case (see 28 AMER. LAW REGISTER 125). The Neagle case, when before the United States Circuit Court of California, is printed with head notes covering over a page, though the points of law involved were few though momentous: see 28 Amer. LAW REGISTER 585. There is no annotation, and no other law journal than the REGISTER furnished any statement of the law. What was elaborately explained in the REGISTER'S annotation has since become the law of the land by a process perfectly natural when the historical drift of the subject is considered, as in the REGister. Another interesting case is the Sugar Trust Case, on appeal to the New York Supreme Court. A review of the law points published is printed in the back of the volume, as usual, and it is only necessary to add that the volume is of the same standard of excellence as its predecessors.

THE RIGHTS of Minority Stockholders and What Legislation, if any, is needed for their protection. By Eugene D. Hawkins.

This is a twenty-page, post-graduate essay of the New York Bar Association. Its author received a prize of $250 for his production.