the topics discussed constitute useful commentaries on these important questions. Most of them were the subject of extended discussion at the London Naval Conference of 1908, rules on the matter being incorporated into the declaration of London.

In the February number of this REVIEW reference was made to a revised and abridged French edition of M. Ostrogorski's Democracy and Political Parties. This French edition is not merely an abridgment of the volume dealing with the United States (such as was published in English in 1910), but is an abridgement of the whole work, with numerous changes and additions. (La Democratie et les partis politiques. Paris, Calmann-Levy. Pp. 728.)

Sir William R. Anson has published a revised reissue of the fourth edition of the first volume of his Law and Custom of the Constitution (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1911), in which he has incorporated the changes made by the Parliament Act of 1911, and has discussed briefly the subject of payment of members of the House of Commons.

Prof. Fritz Fleiner's Institutionen des deutschen Vervaltungsrechts (Tübingen, 1911, pp. 350), is the best treatment of German administration from the strictly legal point of view that has appeared for some years. It follows in its method the lines laid down in the excellent work of Otto Meyer. Within brief compass the book gives a careful juristic discussion of the concepts and principles governing the activity of the administrative organs in Germany.

The supplement to volume six of the Zeitschrift für Völkerrecht und Bundesstaatsrecht consists of a study by Dr. Erich Albrecht on the subject of the requisition of neutral private property in land and in naval warfare. Emphasis is laid upon the requisition of neutral vessels and railroad property. The author concludes that neutral property in enemy states is subject to the same hazards of war as the property of native inhabitants of the belligerent states, regardless of the domicil of its owners. It is not entitled to preferential treatment. Neutral railroad property is governed by the rules of the Hague Conferences by which such property is to be taken in cases of military necessity only, and then upon payment of compensation. The tendency of international law is to give greater security to neutral property.

The Ohio State Library has issued a Digest of State Constitutions (Columbus, 1912, pp. 271) for the use of the Constitutional Convention in that state. The Digest was prepared by a committee of the Municipal Association of Cleveland, and the work seems to have been carefully done, although some errors must necessarily occur in a work of this character. A very serious error is that on page 228, where the digesters have failed to call attention to the fact that most of the states require that a constitutional amendment to be adopted receive only a majority of the votes cast upon the question of its adoption or rejection. Ohio has the provision that an amendment in order to be adopted shall receive a majority of all votes cast at a general election, and such a requirement makes the adoption of constitutional amendments much more difficult than if a mere majority of those voting on the question is required.

The Municipal Association of Cleveland has in other respects taken an active part in connection with matters coming before the Ohio Constitutional Convention. It published in December, 1911, a careful report on The Need of a Short Ballot in Ohio (pp. 26), and issued in January a very useful report on Constitutional Home Rule for Ohio Cities (pp. 34). On January 24 and 25 a conference of Ohio cities was held in Columbus, upon the call of the Municipal Association. Prof. A. R. Hatton, chairman of the committee which prepared the Association's home rule report, later became chairman of a committee representing the cities of Ohio in their effort to obtain constitutional home rule.

Two standard French works on public international law have appeared in new editions within the last two years. Bonfils' wellknown Manuel (sixth edition, Paris, Rousseau, 1912, pp. 1121), preserves all the meritorious features of former editions of the work, to which are added an extensive commentary on the Declaration of London and an account of the present status of ærial law, the additions (as in those of the last three editions) being the work of M. Paul Fauchille, the editor of the Revue générale de droit international public. The exhaustive chatacter of the work, its ample bibliographies, and its accounts of international cases have made it one of the standard reference works on international law.

Despagnet's Cours (fourth edition by Ch. de Boeck, Paris, Larose & Tenin, 1910, pp. 1430) has become a voluminous work. Since the

lamented death of its learned author in 1906, Prof. de Boeck has undertaken to bring the work down to date, and as a result of his labors the book has increased in size from 900 to 1400 pages. Like Bonfils' treatise, Despagnet's is marked by the completeness of its bibliographic references. Despagnet also indulges in much theoretical discussion. The frequency of extended accounts of historical events and international cases is the cause of the bulk of much of the volume. A notable feature of the work is the amount of space (pp. 451-556) devoted to the legal position of the individual in international law.

The fourth edition of Pasquale Fiore's well-known code of international law (Le droit international codifié, French translation by Ch. Antoine, Paris, Pedone, 1911, pp. 893) is practically a new work. The only resemblance to the first edition (1889) is in the codified arrangement of its material. The present (fourth) edition consists of 1962 articles divided into four books, having to some extent the classification of the civil codes of European countries. Books one to three, deal respectively with persons in international law, international obligations, and things in their international relations. Book four deals with the protection afforded by the institutions of international law. Fiore's commentary on some of the sections is an important and useful feature of the book. The current attempts at codification of international law lend added interest to the appearance of this classic work in its new form.

The Minnesota Legislature of 1911, by Lynn Haines, is a pamphlet of 128 pages. (H. W. Wilson Company: Minneapolis.) It is dedicated "to the Progressives of Minnesota" and is written from their point of view. It purports to be an inside view of the activities of the last legislature. The records of the members are set forth on all the important measures together with the comments of the author thereon. The preface names and describes the chief actors, under the following heads: special interests, the reactionary, the professional politician, state departments, "Alumni coaches," and the insurgent. Chapter I is entitled "About the Plunderbund" and contains an itemized list of supplies purchased by the legislature with comments on the lobby and the patronage "parasites"; there are 19 chapters in all; the remaining 18 contain accounts of the legislative struggle over important measures. The author is keen, fearless, and outspoken. He gives the reader an intimate personal view of the legislature as he

saw it. He names his man and then proceeds to handle him in a rough shod fashion, unless he is a good radical. Of course the pamphlet is partisan and highly colored. It does not pretend to be scientific or impartial, but it is nevertheless useful as a detailed account of the legislative activities and of some of the forces which influence legislation.

The constant increase in the frequency of international intercourse has emphasized the growing importance of private international law. The Hague Conferences on private international law in 1893, 1894, 1902, 1905 and 1910 have brought certainty into the rules governing many classes of international relations. Thus the rules governing the international aspects of marriage and divorce, guardianship, procedure, bankruptcy, the execution of judgments, bills of exchange, and other matters have in many formerly doubtful respects become fixed by treaties and international agreements.

The growing importance of private international law has in recent years brought forth new editions of standard works on the subject. French jurists have made the most important contributions, the works of Weiss, Rolin, Lainé, and Pillet having secured a permanent place of the highest rank. On an almost equally high plane, except that they are intended more particularly for students, are the works of Despagnet and Surville, the fifth editions of both of which appeared in 1909 and 1910, respectively. Despagnet's book, after his death in 1906, was edited by Professor de Boeck, who added several hundred pages to its compass (Paris, Larose, 1909, pp. 1250). The work develops methodically the principles of private international law with their application in municipal legislation, treaties, court decisions, and legal criticism, particular reference being made to French experience and practice.

Surville's work, in which he had the coöperation of Professor Arthuys, (Paris, Rousseau, 1910, pp. 807) confines itself to positive law with little attempt to theorize, although the doubtful character of many branches of the subject is well adapted to this form of As in Despagmet's work, legislation, court decisions, and the treaties are constantly used as the bases of the doctrines advanced. The introduction deals with nationality and the legal position of aliens. Persons and things are then treated of. A long chapter is devoted to legal acts, especially contracts. It is confined closely to the French literature and jurisprudence. Only slight refer

ence is made to comparative law; thus no notice has been taken of Beale's contributions to this important subject. Family law, things and their relations to persons, literary property, judicial competence, form, judgments, commercial acts, transportation and bills of exchange, bankruptcy, and maritime law-not a very logical sequence-constitute the subject matter of the remainder of the book.

Within the last two years, four of the leading English treatises on international law-Lawrence, Hall, Oppenheim and Westlake-have appeared in new editions. The rapid progress of the science of international law is the moving cause of these accessions to the literature of the subject. The last fifteen years have witnessed many important international events-three wars, the Spanish-American, the Boer and the Russo-Japanese, the two Hague Conferences, the London Naval Conference, the Pan-American Congresses, the Central American Peace Conference, the revised Geneva Convention, to mention only the more prominent among them-all of which by their results have contributed greatly to define and enlarge the scope and content of international law.

The works above mentioned do not all answer the same purpose. Lawrence (London, Macmillan, 1910; fourth edition, pp. 745) has written a text-book for students. The author presents the principles of international law in plain statement following the usual divisions of English books on the subject: the relations of states under the several conditions of peace, war and neutrality. The work is in places colored by the optimistic ethical views of the learned author as to the future of international law and its mission in reducing the frequency and rigor of armed international conflict. Few illustrative cases are cited. While a standard work, it is the most elementary of the books under discussion.

Hall's book (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1909; sixth edition, pp. 768) is, like that of Lawrence, an encyclopædic work covering the whole field of international law. It does not resemble it, however, in being merely a presentation of principles. Hall has been accorded a leading place among international publicists by reason of the legal acumen of his discussions of doubtful or controverted doctrines of international law. By the originality of his views and his clear reasoning, his work has for years been considered a standard modern treatise on the subject. The fact that his opinions on public questions to which Great Britain has been a party, are at times influenced by a