NEW LAW-BOOKS. STATE CONTROL OF TRADE AND COMMERCE by This treatise cannot fail to deeply interest all students of political science whether lawyers or laymen. The subject is one of much importance at the present time, and Mr. Stickney has collected a great amount of very valuable material bearing upon it. He treats it from a historical as well as legal standpoint. Beginning with a history of English legislation on prices, consisting of divers attempts to regulate prices by statute and by statutory tribunals, he shows that these attempts to regulate prices covered both labor and merchandise, and that the right to regulate both was placed on the same legal footing. These attempts to control prices by statute went beyond a mere fixing of prices, gave to buyers the definite legal right to buy at the prices so fixed, and provided a legal procedure for enforcing the buyers' legal rights. Therefrom naturally and logically came the statutes which made the selling at prices above the lawful rates a crime. The offense was the same, whether by an individual or a combination of individuals. Out of this position came the statute making it a criminal conspiracy to combine for the raising of prices, whether of labor or merchandise. This entire body of legislation, as the author shows, rested on the assumption, which was universally conceded in ancient times, that the state had the legal right to fix the prices of labor and merchandise of all classes. The author then traces the growth of the distinction between public and private employments, which is in the main a development of the American law. He then shows that both in England and America the development and tendencies of the law, until very recent decisions in two of the highest courts in this country, have been steadily towards complete contractual freedom in private employments, and, on the other hand, towards a high degree of State control in public employments. A TREATISE ON THE LAW AND PRACTICE OF FORE- interest and importance to practitioners generally. Mr. Kerr's Supplement " is practically a new treatise on the same general plan and arrangement adopted in the enlarged edition of Wiltsie. The chapters on "Mortgage Redemption " are, however, entirely new and contain a very exhaustive and thorough treatment of the subject. Those who have the original work by Mr. Wiltsie will find this supplement an indispensable companion volume. PROBATE REPORTS ANNOTATED. Vol. I. Containing cases of general value decided in the courts of the several States on points of probate law. With notes and references. By FRANK S. RICE. Baker, Voorhis & Co., New York, 1897. Law sheep. $5.50 net. This is the first volume of a new series of reports covering the subject of probate law, and is in reality a successor to the American Probate Reports," so well known to the profession. The plan of this new series is to give in an annual volume the most important and most recent decisions of the courts of the different States upon all matters cognizable in probate and surrogate courts. The publishers have secured an editor in every way capable of making these reports of great value to the practicing lawyer, and for his work, as shown in this first volume, we most heartily commend the series to the careful consideration of our readers. COMMON-LAW PLEADING: its History and Principles. Including Dicey's rules concerning parties to actions, and Stephen's rules of pleading. By R. ROSS PERRY. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1897. Law sheep. $3.50 net. Mr. Perry's experience as a lecturer on commonaw pleading in the Georgetown (D. C.) University Law School has eminently fitted him to produce a work upon the subject. His treatise seems to us excellent in every respect, and the science of pleading is made exceedingly clear and intelligible. It is a treatise which will be read with interest and advantage by the practicing lawyer as well as by the law student. THE LAW OF TAXABLE TRANSFers, State of New YORK. With annotations and forms. Edited by H. NOYES GREENE of the Troy (N.Y.,) Bar. Matthew Bender, Albany, N.Y., 1897. $1.50net. Mr. Greene has made a compact and excellent digest of the New York law relating to taxable transfers, and it will undoubtedly be appreciated by the lawyers of that State. It will be of great aid and value to all desiring a complete epitome of the law to date. FAMOUS LEGAL ARGUMENTS. With several cases on Circumstantial Evidence. By MOSES FIELD. E. J. Bosworth & Co., Rochester, N. Y., 1897. Law sheep. $1.00. Mr. Field, in this little volume, has collected some of the notable arguments made by the most distinguished lawyers in the United States. The list of advocates whose speeches and arguments are quoted includes such men as Webster, Curran, Pinckney, Beach, etc. The book will prove entertaining, not only to the legal profession but to the general reader as well, and the aspiring advocate will find therein many useful ideas and hints. THE LAW OF SALES OF PERSONAL PROPERTY. By FRANCIS M. BURDICK. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1897. Cloth. $2.50 net. In this volume, Professor Burdick furnishes the law student with a most admirable text-book upon the law of sales of personal property. Questions apt to trouble and perplex are discussed with a fullness and clearness rendering a mistake on the part of the student almost impossible. The provisions of the Statute of Frauds bearing upon the sale of goods are treated in connection with the common-law topics to which they relate. This method is novel, avoiding much repetition, and giving economy of space and equal economy of time and perplexity to the student, each topic being presented to him as an entirety instead of in detached and widely separated parts of the book. We unqualifiedly recommend this work to students and to the consideration of instructors in our law schools. A SELECTION OF CASES ON DOMESTIC RELATIONS and the Law of Persons. By EDWIN H. WoodRUFF. Baker, Voorhis & Co., New York, 1897. Cloth. $4.00. This selection of cases has evidently been prepared with great care, and almost every point likely to arise in the law of domestic relations, etc., seems to be fully covered. The work has already been adopted as a text-book by Cornell University, and its excellence certainly demands a careful consideration of the work by our other law schools. AMERICAN ELECTRICAL CASES. Vol. VI, 1895-97. Being a collection of all the important cases (except Patent Cases) decided in the State and Federal courts of the United States from 1873 on subjects relating to the Telegraph, the Telephone, Electric light and power, Electric railway and all other practical uses of Electricity. With annotations. Edited by WILLIAM W. MORRILL. Matthew Bender, Albany, N. Y., 1897. Law sheep. This volume brings the collection of decisions upon the subject of electricity down to April 1st of the present year, and the series, as a whole to date, fully covers all the law upon the subject and is invaluable to every practitioner. We advise those of our readers who do not possess this work to give it at once a careful examination. JEWETT'S MANUAL FOR ELECTION OFFICERS AND VOTERS IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 5th edition, 1897. By F. G. JEWETT, clerk to the Secretary of State. Matthew Bender, Albany, N. Y., 1897. Paper. $1.50. This is a valuable compilation for the voters of New York State, containing, as it does, the general election law, town meeting law and provisions relating to school meetings. It also includes the provisions of the penal code, general laws and constitution of the State of New York relating to elections and election officers. A number of valuable annotations, forms, and instructions are added. By JUSTIN A MANUAL OF LEGAL MEDICINE. In preparing this work the author has endeavored to lay before medico-legal students the great principles of the science and the leading facts which serve for its foundation. To do this he has condensed into a comparatively small space all the important facts in more elaborate works and added thereto considerable original material. All that is practical and useful seems to have been inserted, and all immaterial matter dispensed with. The result is a work in every way admirably adapted to the students' and practitioners' needs. 66 A TREATISE ON MARINE, FIRE, LIFE, ACCIDENT, AND ALL OTHER INSURANCES, including Mutual Benefit Societies; covering, also, General Average, and, so far as applicable, Rights, Remedies, Pleading, Practice and Evidence. By JOSEPH A. JOYCE. Bancroft-Whitney Co., San Francisco, 1897. 4 vols. Law sheep. $24.00. Almost anyone can make a fairly satisfactory Digest" of cases, but when it comes to making clear the why and wherefore" of legal decisions, and presenting satisfactorily the principles upon which the law to which such decisions relate is founded, then a clear, logical and reasoning mind is necessary. That Mr. Joyce possesses such a mind is demonstrated beyond doubt in this treatise on the law of insurances. The work is one of the most important legal publications of the year, and covers fully the whole law upon the subject and its practice before the courts. Eight years have been spent by the author in collecting and arranging the material, and so thoroughly and conscientiously has this been done that, after a rigid test, we can fully endorse Mr. Joyce's statement that it is believed that no errors exist as to the authorities relied upon." The system of arrangement adopted is admirable, and the index unusually full and satisfactory. The practitioner will find the work of the greatest aid, and we heartily commend it to the profession as worthy their entire confidence. It certainly is one of the ablest textbooks which has appeared for many a year. MASSACHUSETTS YEAR BOOK, and City and Town Register, No. 3, June 1, 1897 - June 1, 1898. Compiled by ALFRED S. ROWE. F. S. Blanchard & Co., Worcester. Map. Cloth. $1.75. While not coming properly under the head of Law Books, this volume furnishes much of value and interest to the lawyer. Nowhere can so much data pertaining to the commonwealth of Massachusetts be found as in this compilation of Mr. Rowe's. Information upon every conceivable subject relating to State affairs is contained therein. A complete list is given of the cities and towns, their officers, population, valuation, debt, tax rate, election returns; National and State governments; courts, banks, insurance companies, railroads, newspapers, professional directory, etc. In addition to data, much interesting historical information is given. mere AN OUTLINE OF THE LAW OF LIBEL. Six lectures delivered in Middle Temple Hall during Michaelmas term, 1896. By W. BLAKE OGDEN of the Middle Temple. Macmillan Company, New York, 1897. Cloth. $1.00. In this compact little volume Mr. Ogden gives an exceedingly clear and succinct exposition of the law of libel. The writer's style is well adapted to interest the laymen as well as the lawyer, and the book will prove a source of entertainment while at the same time imparting much valuable information. SELECTED CASES ON THE LAW OF SALES OF PERSONAL PROPERTY. Arranged to accompany Burdick's Law of Sales. By FRANCIS M. BURDICK, Dwight Professor of Law in Columbia University School of Law. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1897. Cloth. $4.50 net. In compiling this new volume in the very useful set of Case Books accompanying the Students' Series, Professor Burdick follows the arrangement of the topics which makes his text-book on the law of sales of personal property a most desirable book on the subject for the student. His design has been to give the cases needed to make clear the law of sales in a form in which they can be available at a small expense, that all the students of a class may get access to the needed cases at the same time, which is not possible, even in the best libraries, when the cases must be studied in the official reports. Three principal considerations have been borne in mind in the selection of the cases: First, to secure at least one case on each question involved in the law of sales upon which the instructor would feel that he ought to give his class information. Second, to select cases which present the principles of the subject by way of adjudication of actual controversies before the court, and not merely by way of dictum or argument in laying down the general propositions of law on the subject. Third, to choose cases which state what is believed to be the correct or preponderating rule as to any particular question where there is a conflict. The 262 cases are taken from the reported decisions of the Federal courts, from the courts of thirty-four States, and (about one-fourth of them only) from the English courts. Among them will be found very late cases on interesting points, given sometimes in advance of the official publication. The appendix also gives the English Sale of Goods Act and a proposed redraft of Section 17 of the Statute of Frauds." 66 |