in rural districts, and 15 in urban cent. of the total external commerce centers. was with the United States. Sanitation.-During the past year the Sanitation Service has succeeded in reducing the death rate to the lowest level ever recorded in the history of Porto Rico, namely 18.6 per thousand. Nine towns and cities installed water works during the year, making 26 that now possess this modern necessity. The proper construction and plumbing of dwelling houses received special attention with good results. The work of eradicating hookworm was pushed as rapidly as funds permitted. During the year there were reported 1,587 deaths from tuberculosis, a reduction of 24 from the preceding year. Industries and Commerce.-The imports during the year amounted to $36,406,787, a decrease of $493,275, and the exports to $43,102,762, a decrease of $6,000,803. This decrease in the value of exports is almost wholly accounted for by the decline in sugar exportations, which in quantity amounted to a decrease of 62,000 tons, and in value, $6,378,823, in price, $6.43 per ton. Eighty-four per Eighteen new domestic corporations with a paid-in capital of $45,000 and eight foreign corporations were registered and authorized to transact business in the island. Careful attention has been given to the development of agriculture. The Board of Commissioners of Agriculture has been completely reorganized and its work greatly enlarged. The coffee crop exceeded all previous records, although the value thereof was less than for the preceding year, due to a decrease in price of 0.8 cent per pound. The decrease in the value of tobacco exportations was due, in part, to the prolonged strike of the cigar workers, which lasted almost four months, ending June 8. The exportations of unmanufactured tobacco increased 7.7 per cent. The value of fruit shipments shows an increase of about 8 per cent. over the preceding year, and miscellaneous shipments also show a healthy increase. The total exports for the past three years are shown in the following table: AMERICAN SAMOA Commercial Development.-The year in American Samoa has been uneventful. However, the neighboring German islands in the group have temporarily changed hands as a result of the European War. The Governor in his annual report recommends the establishment of an agricultural experiment station which not only would furnish information to the U. S. Department of Agriculture but would teach the natives the proper methods of cultivation of cocoanuts and induce them to establish other industries usually successful in that climate. It is anticipated that the opening of the Panama Canal will stimulate the com 2,305,333 $43,102,762 mercial development of the island, and consideration is being given to the establishment of fuel oil tanks in the harbor of Pago Pago as a distributing point to supply the demand of the natives for oil for steaming and lighting purposes, and also for replenishing passing steamers. Education. The Governor reports that educational facilities are still most unsatisfactory, due to the lack of funds, and renews the recommendation of his predecessor that the education of the natives be taken over by the Bureau of Education. At present there are but two government schools in American Samoa, one being on the Bay of Pago Pago under the supervision of an American teach er, and the other at Leone, maintained the cocoanut beetle from German by a contract with the Marist Order Samoa, has supervised the water supof Brothers, both being for boys only. ply, the diseases of animals, and the The only other schools are the village practical instruction of the natives in schools run by native pastors and mis- sanitary matters. sionary schools. Health. The Samoan Hospital has developed into one of the most important institutions maintained in the island, and as a result of its operations and of the vigorous campaign waged against yaws, tuberculosis and conjunctivitis the general health of the natives has improved. Since Feb. 14, 1914, the new training school for native women nurses has been in operation with satisfactory results. On Jan. 10, 1914, the old Board of Health was abolished and replaced by the Department of Health, with the Senior Medical Officer in control. This Department, aside from carrying on quarantine work incident to the outbreak of smallpox in Australia and New Zealand, 3,062 natives being vaccinated during the year, and against Alaska Finances. As foreseen in the last issue of the YEAR Book (p. 243), the 1913 crop of copra, owing to hurricanes and bad weather, was but little greater than 50 per cent. of the crop of the preceding year. The Governor again, at the request of the natives, handled their copra crop for them and succeeded in selling it at a higher price than was ever paid for copra in the island, $108 per ton. While the revenues have not decreased, they are not sufficient to support the Samoan Hospital, the public schools, and to construct roads and other necessary public improvements in the island. The natives are very anxious to learn the English language, but, owing to lack of school facilities, but little is accomplished in this direction. BIBLIOGRAPHY FLORANCE, J. E.-"Alaska Coal Fields, STEESE, J. G.-"Transportation Conditions in Alaska." (Rev. of Rev., January, 1914.) TARR, R. S., and MARTIN, L.-Alaskan Glacier Studies of the National Geographic Society in the Yakutat Bay, Prince William Sound and Lower Copper River Regions. (Washington, National Geographic Society, 1914.) WILSON, O.-"To Railroad Prosperity into Alaska." (World's Work, March, 1914.) Hawaii CLARK, V. S.-"Hawaii and its Labor Problem." (Outlook, July 25, 1914.) GOODRICH, J. W.-Coming Hawaii. (Chicago, McClurg, 1914.) Philippine Islands in CROW, C.-America and the Philippines. (New York, Doubleday, 1914.) JENKS, A. E. "Assimilation in the Philippines as Interpreted in Terms of Assimilation in America." (Am. Jour. of Sociology, May, 1914.) LEROY, James A.-The Americans the Philippines; with an introduction by W. H. Taft. (Boston, Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1914.) A history of the conquest and first years of American occupation, with an introductory SHELTON, George H.-"Filipino Capacaccount of the Spanish rule. ity for Self-Government." (North American Review, January, 1914.) WILLIAMS, F. W.-"Problem of Labor in the Philippines." (Am. Pol. Sci. WORCESTER, Dean C.-The Philippines, Rev., February, 1914.) Past and Present. (New York, Macmillan Co., 1914.) Porto Rico HOVEY, E. O.-"Porto Rico Survey." IX. LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE FRANCIS M. BURDICK and NATHAN ABBOTT1 FOREIGN JURISPRUDENCE Legislation. The most important | certain cases" (4 & 5 Geo. V, Ch. 26); piece of legislation in Belgium during the year was the revision of that part of the Commercial Code relating to commercial associations.2 France has found it necessary to amend its code provisions relating to the legal status and rights of natural children, as well as those securing to pregnant women and women recently become mothers exemption from contract duties to labor and financial assistance in certain cases. It has also added an experiment in the way of state assistance to large families, and has increased the safeguards for laborers by new provisions in Art. 159 of the Second Book of the Code of Labor and Social Provisions. The British Law Journal, in the issue of Aug. 29 (xlix, 505), says: Whatever may be the case in other countries, the Rule of Law still holds in England, and the maxim inter arma silent leges might also be said to be displaced by the flood of new legislation which the war has brought about. The supremacy of law is recognized and the freedom of the lieges is not left entirely to the tender mercies of military and navy departments. This "flood of new legislation" em braces such statutes as "An Act to enable food, forage and stores for His Majesty's forces to be requisitioned in 1 The sections on "Foreign Jurisprudence" and "Legislative Tendencies" are by Professor Burdick; the section on "Judicial Decisions" by Professor Abbott. 2 An extensive summary of this reletin of the Comparative Law Bureau of the American Bar Association, July, vision is contained in the Annual Bul 1914. Defense of the Realm Act (Ch. 29); Unreasonable Withholding of Food Supplies Act (Ch. 51); Postponement of Payments Act (Ch. 11); and Aliens Restriction Act (Ch. 12). The statute last named is cited by the Law Journal as an example of the speed with which the Parliamentary law mill can grind its grist when all parties are agreed upon a bill. The most important statutes not evoked by war conditions include, first, "An Act to consolidate and amend the laws relating to bankruptcy in Scotland" (3 & 4 Geo. V, Ch. 20), which went into effect on Jan. 1, 1914. This Act has been characterized as a very comprehensive codification of existing Scotch law. It provides for a searching examination of the bankrupt, his wife and family, clerks, servants, factors, law agents and others. A bankrupt is not to be discharged unless a dividend or composition of at least five shillings in the pound has been paid or secured, or the proper officer is satisfied that the bankrupt's failure to pay that percentage is a matter for which he is not responsible. For England and Ireland a similar recodification of the of arrangements was effected by Chaplaw relating to bankruptcy and deeds ter 34 of 3 & 4 Geo. V, which became operative on April 1, 1914. The material changes in existing law are pointed out in the Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation, xxx, 34-37. The second portion of this statute has been modified by the Deeds of Arrangement Act of 1914 (4 & 5 Geo. V, Ch. 47). Parliament attested its appreciation of the esthetic by authorizing the London County Council to acquire lands and make expendi tures for "enhancing the dignity of the approach to the Mall from Charing Cross" (4 & 5 Geo. V, Ch. 28); and its humanitarian interest, possibly its tendency to paternalism, by its amendments to the statutes for the education of defective and epileptic children (Ch. 45); by the Milk and Dairies Act (Ch. 49), a health law with drastic provisions; and by the Housing Act (Ch. 52). The Merchant Shipping Act (Ch. 50) was passed to give effect to the International Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea signed at London on Jan. 20. Japan shows the effect of democratization by taking from the graduates of state law colleges the privileges formerly secured to them over other law students as candidates for judicial positions. In Latin America, stringent whiteslave acts, pure-food laws, conservation laws and statutes affecting banking corporations are deemed as important as in the United States. Cuba now requires a law degree from the University of Havana or an approved foreign university for the practice of law. Uruguay permits a wife to obtain a divorce upon application therefor, by convincing the judge that she and her husband cannot be reconciled. The Philippine Islands are already rivaling our states in the volume of their output of legislation. It is said that the Public Utilities Act passed at the last session of the legislature is a verbatim copy of one of the "seven sisters" of New Jersey. Recent legislation in Denmark provides for public assistance to widows in the education of their minor children; regulates the legal relations between illegitimate children and their parents; gives protection to the trademarks of coöperative societies, and subjects the sale of drugs and medicines to careful supervision. Norway empowers its sanitary council to order the cremation of the bodies of those dying from certain epidemic diseases, and regulates by statute the cremation of other corpses. Coöperative fishing and old-age pensions are subjects of recent statutes in Sweden. Judicial Decisions.-The new constitution of China provides for a judiciary to be fashioned upon Occidental models. If the constitution becomes operative, we may expect to see the development of a body of law from judicial decisions. At present the only reported cases are those arising in courts maintained by foreign nations. An example is afforded by the divorce suit of Cavanagh v. Warden in the United States Court for China.1 It was brought to annul a marriage for duress. The defendant claimed that the court had no jurisdiction, but the court held that it had, such jurisdiction being derived from (a) various treaties with China,. (b) various acts of Congress, and (c) the inherent powers of a court of chancery. In France, as in China, divorce actions often involve novel questions of fact and law, as, for example, an action for divorce on the ground of nonconsummation, without plaintiff's fault." The Employers' Liability Act of France does not enforce itself, any more than similar legislation in this country and Great Britain, witness Antipoul v. Hersent Frères (Cass. Civ., 10 Mai, 1913). The litigation under the British statutes relating to employers' liability and workmen's compensation is enormous. Some of it is quite petty, as shown by Woodhouse v. Midland Railway (49 L. J. 510, July, 1914) which involved a claim for 7s. 10d. and no general principle. At times persons who have received all that the Compensation Act gives them attempt to recover additional damages under Lord Campbell's Act, as in Codling v. John Mowlem & Co. (1914, 2 K. B. 61, 49 L. J. 499, 83 L. J. K. B. 445). The volume of this litigation has so increased as to put the Court of Appeal in arrears. This is not surprising, as actions are brought under these statutes not only by employees for compensation but by employers for redemption from periodical payments (Marshall, Sons & Co. v. Prince, 49 L. J. 455, July, 1914), or for the cessation of all payments (Gibson & Co. v. Wishart, 84 L. J. H. of L. 321, May, 1914; Taylor & Co. v. Clark, 49 L. J. 454, July, 1914). In the case last 1 Decided April 18, 1914, and reported in the Annual Bulletin of Comparative Law Bureau, July, 1914, pp. 45-53. 2 Ibid., p. 57 (M. v. M. Cass.-reg., 17 Fev., 1913). draulic Power Co. (83 L. J. K. B. 116, 1913, 3 K. B. 442), in which it was held that the defendants were liable for damages done to plaintiff's electric cables by the bursting of water mains which defendants had laid in the streets although they were not negligent in the matter. Having brought a dangerous thing into the street, they were bound at their peril to keep it from doing harm. Judicial decisions are multiplying in Japan. Some of them rest upon legal principles which are familiar to students of English law. For example, the principal is bound by the acts of an agent which are within the scope of his apparent authority though cited the employee had recovered from his injuries, but while recovering had become so obese as to incapacitate him for his former occupation. However, as he had recovered from the injury sustained in the course of his employment, his employer was absolved from making him further compensation. Another statute which is giving the English courts some novel problems is the Minimum Wage Act of 1912 (see Randle v. Clay Cross Co., 83 L. J. K. B. 167, July, 1914). The liberal treatment accorded to foreign judgments by English courts is again attested in Robinson v. Fenner (83 L. J. K. B. 81, April, 1914). The purchaser of the good will of a business from the assignee for the benefit in excess of his actual authority (No. of creditors cannot prevent the debtorassignor from soliciting his former customers; such alienation by the assignee is involuntary so far as the debtor-assignor is concerned; he is not the seller of the good-will and is not derogating from any grant of his when he solicits former customers (Green & Sons v. Morris, 1914, 1 Ch. 562, 83 L. J. Ch. 559). An interesting question in the law of nuisance is presented in Lyons, Sons & Co. v. Gulliver (1914, 1 Ch. 631, 84 L. J. Ch. 281). The daily performance at defendant's theater was so popular that crowds filled the street during considerable parts of the day to buy tickets and seriously obstructed access to plaintiff's store. This was held an actionable nuisance for which defendant was liable. Justice Phillimore's dissenting opinion is worthy of careful perusal. That English courts are disposed to apply the doctrine of Rylands v. Fletcher (L. R. 3 H. L. 330) without flinching is shown by Charing Cross Railway Co. v. London Hy 2, Taisei 3, 1914). A person is not guilty of the embezzlement of $3,000, who receives and retains that amount from a bank teller who intends to hand him only $300; being entitled to the $300, he can be guilty of embezzling only $2,700 (State v. S. Tono, No. 1211, Dec. 23, Taisei 2, 1913). Other decisions present legal doctrines quite novel to us, such as those governing the surrender of the headship of a family (Administration Court, Nov. 8, Taisei 2, 1913), and the judicial abolition of the eldest son's right of succession and inheritance because of the fact that he is an idle vagrant (Tokyo Dist. Court, No. 206, 3. 2. 6). It is interesting to learn that LatinAmerican courts, especially those of the Republic of Colombia, are following the example of our courts in guarding the integrity of the constitution and the rights of person and property (Annual Bulletin of The Comparative Law Bureau, 1914, p. 101). LEGISLATIVE TENDENCIES Volume of Legislation. The year 1914 was an off year in state legislation as less than a third of the states held legislative sessions. In some instances, however, the legislators who did meet seemed to think it their duty to make a record in the quantity of statutory output. For example, the session laws of New York fill three large tomes, aggregating nearly four thousand pages. It is true that the in dices and table of amendments to prior statutes occupy about a third of the space, and that these additions are most commendable as labor-saving devices. But after these pages are deducted the text of new statutes remains an enormous mass. Our state constitutions might well borrow from British parliamentary practice devices for obstructing the restless statutory dabblers who infest our legislatures. |