those who may hereafter possess the encyclopædia, though they will be found given at least as fully in Law Lexicons which are tiny by the side of this. The identity, by the way, of the cynical author, who informs us that "de jure " is the opposite of "de facto," is not disclosed. We have found this volume accurate, so far as we have been able to examine it; nay, more, in some of the articles we have found considerable learning (as would be expected from the names of the authors) ingeniously pressed into the small space at their disposal: some of the articles again shew much labour in the direction of historical research, an instance of which is that of Mr. Craies (well known as an industrious legal author) on "Duels"; and the whole work is completely up to date, as will be found exemplified on reference to the article on the "Summons for Directions" by Mr. F. A. Stringer.

A Treatise on Joint Rights and Liabilities, including those which are Joint and Several. By WALTER HUSSEY GRIFFITH, of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. Butterworth and Co. 1897.

Price 5s.

This little monologue consists only of 65 small pages, and they are worth reading. There is no subject upon which a young practitioner is more apt to get into difficulties, perhaps in his first county court case, than that which is here discussed. The rules of common law are well stated by Mr. Griffith, and Chancery Division cases which are hard to understand without assistance, such as Richardson v. Horton, 6 Beav. 185, are also luminously explained by him. We wonder how most of our readers would answer the common-law conundrum stated in Chapter I.: "If A. covenants with B. and C. and has a separate covenant with each of them, B. and C. being tenants in common of the demised premises, that he will keep the demised premises in good and substantial repair, must B. and C. both sue for a breach or may one of them recover in proportion to his interest?" Reviewers of novels often take pains to conceal the nature of the denouement, in order not to spoil the reader's interest in the story and so injure the author. For similar reasons we decline to tell our readers how Mr. Griffith deals with this question, but refer them instead to page 16 of the above-named book.

Then and Now. By JOHN GEORGE WITT, Q.C., Bencher of Lincoln's Inn. Author of "The Mutual Influence of the Christian Doctrine and the School of Alexandria." Richard Bentley and Son. 1897.

This is a book "connected with the law" in one sense only. It is a book by Mr. Witt, Q.C., whose connection with the law. is very well known indeed. The author's motto "the old order changeth not" appears upon the title page, and at once puts the author and the late Poet Laureate at issue-verbally at least. It is true, certainly that Mr. Witt agrees with Lord Tennyson that "God fulfils himself in many ways," but his antiquarian researches into ancient religions and nature-worship and the colour which they have given to present practices challenges the impossibility of there being one good custom which shall not corrupt the world. But the distinction between "Then and Now" and the "Passing of Arthur" in this matter is only surface deep. If the custom is not to corrupt the world, it must adapt itself to the changes of time, and the 25th of December, the day of the reappearance of Tammuz, can only be rightly and expediently celebrated as Christmas Day (see page 7 of Mr. Witt's book), just as the Knights of Arthur can only be rightly and expediently perpetuated now by knightserrant who carry on the work of good with weapons other than the lances and swords which did in essence the same work in old Caerleon and Camelot.

The Law of Divorce applicable to Christians in India (the Indian Divorce Act, 1869). By H. A. B. RATTIGAN, B.A. Oxon., of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister-at-Law, and an Advocate of the High Court of the North-West Provinces and of the Chief Court of the Punjab. Wildy and Sons, Lincoln's Inn Archway, London. The Pioneer" Press, Allahabad. Pp. 460. Pp. 460. 1897. Price

18s. net.

The Law of Divorce in India sufficiently resembles the Law of Divorce in England to make the decisions under the Indian Act afford valuable illustrations, which will be useful to those who are studying questions of our own law; and Mr. Rattigan's careful work should therefore be of considerable value in our own country. At the same time there are differences no less important than the resemblances; and the student of comparative legislation will observe these closely and particularly. For

instance, by Sect. 18 of the Indian Act, only the husband or the wife can sue for a decree of nullity of marriage; whereas, in England, any person having a sufficient interest in annulling a marriage, may sue for a declaration of nullity. (See page 127 of the work before us.) Again by the law of England, the children of a void marriage are illegitimate for all purposes; the Indian law on this subject is more lenient, and it is a subject for consideration whether it be not more just. (This portion of the Indian law will be found on page 148.) But the most striking peculiarity of the Indian law is that which appears upon the face of the title page. There is, in India, one law for "Christians" upon this subject and another law for nonChristians. English Divorce Law has so cut itself adrift from considerations of religion that, to those educated in that law, it seems somewhat startling to find that in India this particular enactment (Act No. IV. of 1896) applies only to a petitioner who "professes the Christian religion," and that the fact that the husband and wife were married according to the rites of the Christian religion makes no difference, if, at the time of presenting the petition, this "profession" is not made. This treatise, however, for the reasons we have mentioned, will be valuable in this country, while in India-seeing that it is the only recent edition of the Act in question-we imagine it will be a necessary addition to the library of every lawyer, who practices in divorce, throughout the Empire to which it applies.

A Treatise on the Law relating to Debentures and Debenture Stock issued by Trading and Public Companies and by Local Authorities, with forms and precedents. By PAUL FREDERICK SIMONSON, M.A., Oxon., of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. Effingham Wilson, and Sweet & Maxwell, Ltd. Pp. 521. 1898. Price 21s.

Here we return again to the region of strict law; and law in one of its most complicated and difficult departments. This book supplies a want. Excellent as are the books of Mr. Palmer, Mr. Buckley, Mr. Chadwyck-Healey, and the Master of the Rolls, in one or other of which nearly everything that is to be said about Company Law has been said, there is still room for a special treatise on Debenture Law. For the position of debenture-holders is something quite different from that of the other persons most generally interested in Company Law. It is the position of persons who have invested their savings, often at a

moderate interest, in what they believe to be a safe security, and who are completely innocent of all the chicanery and manipulation which is frequently being carried on by those having other interests in the same company. Mr. Simonson

has collected into his one volume a vast number of cases (which are well tabulated at the beginning of his work, with the date appended to each case), and a large body of statutes and rules bearing upon this particular aspect of Company Law; and when it is observed that the whole fills more than 500 royal cctavo pages, it will be obvious that there is more matter to be found here for study of Debenture Law than in any of the general volumes concerning Company Law to which we have alluded-none of those works being of sufficient dimensions to admit of so large a wealth of illustration upon this one subject in conjunction with all the other subjects therein discussed. We should certainly not advise a debenture-holder's action or other proceedings to be commenced without some consultation of this work, and we know of no other" forms and precedents " so particularly adapted for the purposes of a debenture-holder's action or proceedings as those which are contained at the end of this volume. The work is completely up-to-date, and includes a notice of such recent cases as In re The Western Counties Steam Bakeries Company, [1897] 1 Ch. 617, and Madeley v. Ross, Sleeman and Company, [1897] 1 Ch. 505, and The AttorneyGeneral v. The New York Breweries, Limited (41 Sol. Jo. 454).

The Law of Master and Servant; with a chapter on Apprenticeship. By ERNEST ALBERT PARKYN, M.A., of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. Butterworth and Co., and Shaw and Sons. Pp. 214. 1897.

"Domestic and menial servants, clerks, shopmen, omnibus and tramway men, and those employed in professional pursuits," says the author of this hand-book quite correctly, "come under the common law, with which this work more particularly deals." We wish that the author had known enough of his own mind to definitely fix upon the subject which he intended to discuss. The very small space which he had at command was barely enough for a most fragmentary notice of the common law of the subject alone, and certainly not a tenth part of the important cases are given. The whole vast subject of "wilful disobedience to lawful orders" is dismissed with less than two pages. And

this presumably to make room for the text of certain statutes which the author deals with "less particularly." We should have preferred that he had omitted them altogether, and had devoted more space to informing us what the lawful orders are which we may give to our domestic servants. A half-commentary on one subject, and an appendix of difficult and unexplained statutes on another subject, make a volume which is of no practical use to anybody, whether lawyer or layman.

Handbook to the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1897; with approved Schemes of Compensation, Statutes referred to, Notes and Decisions on Accidents, Negligence and Misconduct, Employers' and Workmen's Liability, Actions independent of the Act, Arbitrations, Forms of Notices, &c., together with the principal explanatory remarks of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Herschell, the Home Secretary, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, Mr. Asquith, and other Statesmen. By M. ROBERTS-JONES, Barrister-at-Law of Gray's Inn, Coroner for South Monmouthshire, and Member of the Board of Management of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Miners' Provident Society. Cardiff: Western Mail, Ltd. London: 82, Fleet Street. Pp. 80. Price 2s.

As a rule we do not consider an annotated edition of an Act of Parliament, which has only just become the law of the land and has not been tried or submitted to the fire of judicial decision, to be of any great value to the lawyer. The Lord Chancellor's remarks and those of the other statesmen whose names appear on the title-page of the Bill are of hardly any assistance at all to the lawyer who wishes to interpret the meaning of the words of the Statute, now that it has become law. Mr. Roberts-Jones, however, has done something more than merely cut out extracts from the Times debates and paste them opposite to a Queen's Printers' copy of the Act. He has made a careful study of the whole subject and has supplied some useful forms; and if the book does not afford much assistance to a Court which has to interpret the meaning of the sections, yet we think it will be a good book for any solicitors to consult who have at an early stage to put the Act in force. The advertisements at the beginning cite the review of our contemporary The Tarian, as saying "It should be in the hands of every workman." With deference, we cannot see that that would lead to any desirable result: and it is not a result likely