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Records at the Rolls Office. The law of defamation is a study of itself. What is slander? and when is it actionable? Again, what are the niceties of the law when slander affects a person in his professional business? Again, the intricacies of slander of title, the question of absolute privilege, restrictions on free discussion, criticism on works of art or literary publicationsall these are matters of the highest importance to the legal practitioner, as well as to the public at large. Mr. Folkard has dealt with all these matters in an exhaustive and lucid manner. He further supplies us with deep learning on pleadings in actions for defamation, as well as with copious information on that momentous branch of law-Criminal Information for libel. A patient investigation of the volume has not disclosed to us any omissions, nor do we find a single mistake in the law as laid down therein. We deem it to be a work of the greatest value, and the one book of authority on the subject, beside which all cognate publications are cast into the shade. No lawyer's library can be said to be complete without it.

A Treatise on the Law of Guarantees and of Principal and Surety. By HENRY ANSELM DE COLYAR, of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law. Third Edition. London: Butterworth and Co. 1897.

This erudite work is so well known to the profession, that it is hardly necessary for us to pass any lengthy comment on it. Written by Mr. de Colyar, at a time when the principles of the Law of Guarantees were but ill-digested and chaotic, the work, unpretending as it is, has made for itself a name, which must ever shed an unfading lustre on its Author. Our American cousins have shown their admiration of it by reprinting it, whether with or without the consent of its Author we are unaware. In the edition before us, Mr. de Colyar has fully maintained the standard of his work.

He has brought it up to date, adding all the more important decisions on the subject which have been made since his last edition; the statute law also. The book continues to hold its own as a valuable exponent of this branch of law.

Bullen and Leake's Precedents of Pleadings, with Notes and Rules relating to Pleading. Fifth Edition. By THOMAS J. BULLEN, of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law, CYRIL DODD, of the Inner Temple,

Q.C., and CHARLES WALTER CLIFFORD, of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. London: Stevens and Sons, Ltd. 1897.

The intention of the framers of the Judicature Act, 1873, was to establish a uniform system of pleading, to take the place of the very various methods of pleading thitherto in use in the several Superior Courts. The new body of Rules then promulgated, in addition to the general prohibition against pleading evidence, contained many Rules directed to check prolixity, and bring the parties to a point. Probably the most important of these, were those which established that each party should be taken to admit what he did not deny, and which prohibited mere general denials in the first instance, until each party had first dealt with the subject matter in detail. The old and trusted friend of all good pleaders, viz., Bullen and Leake, was by the operation of the above Rules completely thrown out of gear, and able to shed but very insufficient light on the new practice. It was a distinct boon to the Profession when the present Editors determined to publish a new edition of their valuable work, but good as that edition was, time, and especially the new practice was requisite to enable them to produce a work of the same authority and learning, as that which had preceded the passing of the Judicature Acts. But time passes away, decisions on the Acts and Orders and Rules are made, the crude procedure is elaborated, and after a period of nearly a quarter of a century, the Editors are able to give their imprimatur to a book which in no degree falls short of the first production of the illustrious Authors of the earlier work. The precedents given as examples by the Rules of the Supreme Court, 1883, now in force, are more concise than those in the Schedule of the Judicature Act, 1875, and less rigid; therefore the precedents in this Edition are in form somewhat more in accordance with those of earlier editions, than the precedents of the last edition were. It is impossible to exceed the measure of praise which we bestow on this Edition; it is terse and to the point. Many pages, and far more space than we can bestow are necessary to analyse this edition completely. The reader therefore must take it from us, that the Editors have in every way preserved the high standard of the work, and brought it down to date effectively and conscientiously. It is, under the present régime, bound to hold its own as the book on Pleadings, and the Profession will accept it as such.

The English Constitution, a Commentary on its Nature and Growth. By JESSE MACY, M.A., Professor of Political Science in Iowa College. London: Macmillan & Co., Limited. 1897.

The writer gives us his views on the nature of our Constitution, and of its growth to the present day, dealing with Magna Charta, the Petition of Right 1628, the Habeas Corpus Act 1679, the Bill of Rights 1689, and the Act of Settlement 1700. The work is primarily intended for the American reader, who is not satisfied with knowing what a Constitution is, but also wishes to know how it was made. The work is easy reading, and useful to beginners who are not yet capable of investigating the heavier pages of Professor Dicey.

The Theory of International Trade with some of its Applications to Economic Policy. Second Edition. By C. F. BASTABLE, M.A., LL.D., Professor of Political Economy in the University of Dublin. London: Macmillan & Co., Limited. 1897.

This book is specially intended for serious students of economic theories, and the principles of the subjects are considered as free as possible from unnecessary details. It is about ten years since the first edition of this work saw light, and for those who are desirous of becoming learners of this interesting subject we are unacquainted with any better elementary book.

Il Tabellonato o Notariato. By EDOARDO DURANDO. (Turin, 1897.)

In this book the whole history of the notariate is traced from the Roman Republic through mediæval Italian and later Piedmontese law down to modern days. The office of notary has been at all times more important in Continental systems than in England, and the English reader is amazed at the amount of monographs on the subject cited by Signor Durando. In England we have not much to show, except Brooke's treatise. The notary, though apparently not of ecclesiastical origin, soon became more or less ecclesiastical in his appointment and functions. In England he is still nominated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, though his duties are now mainly commercial, and almost confined in practice to the notarial protest of foreign bills of exchange. In Signor

Durando's learned and complete work there are two tables of diagrams of various notarial signs used in Italy, and it is interesting to find that in all the signs later than the year 1200 the sign of the cross-more or less disguised-appears. This seems to point to the fact that it must have been about that date when the notary became an ecclesiastical rather than a lay official, and attained the prominent position which he occupied in Canon law. In that system it was a maxim that the evidence of a notary was worth that of two ordinary witnesses. His gradual rise from the position of a slave in the earlier Roman law to that of a trusted public official is fully described in the work under notice. His duties-originally humble developed into the ars notaria, and Rolandini Rodulphini published a Summa Totius Artis Notaria (Venice, 1546). Italy in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries produced several notaries whose names are known to every student of history and literature. Among others, were the fathers of Dante (possibly) and of Petrarca respectively, Brunetto Latini the master of Dante, Pier delle Vigne the Chancellor of Frederic II., and Cola di Rienzi.

The Harvard Law Review. (Cambridge, Mass., January and February, 1897.)

In these numbers the articles most interesting to English lawyers will be one on "Unfair Competition," beginning with the case of Knott v. Morgan, 2 Keen, 213 (1836), and another on "The Judicial Characteristics of the late Lord Bowen."

American Law Review. (St. Louis, January-February, 1897.) There are interesting articles on Bracton, Coke, and Bacon, and a by no means enthusiastic estimate of "The Law as a Profession for Young Men."

The University Law Review. (New York, February, 1897.) This review is extremely technical, and most of the articles deal with points of American law.

Canada Law Journal. (Toronto, February, 1897.)

This is chiefly a collection of reports, among which English decisions are well represented, though perhaps some of them are a little belated.

Journal du Droit International Privé et de la Jurisprudence Comparée, Nos. XI.-XII. (Paris, 1896.)

The number opens with an interesting sketch of the English law of intestate succession, by M. Stocquart, of Brussels. Later on there is a discussion of the case of Sun-Yat-Sen and the rights of legations. The writer agrees with the view taken by Professor Holland in a letter to the Times of the 24th October, 1896, that though every man's house is his castle, it is not his prison, even in the case of an ambassador. A curious case noticed is that of the process in Italy against Prince Barberini Colonna di Sciarra for an offence impossible in England, viz., selling to a foreigner part of his collection of pictures and sculpture. The family had held through successive generations the collection bequeathed to it by Urban VIII. in 1628. In the end judgment was given against the Prince by the Court of Appeal of Ancona, not without some difficulties as to the interpretation of the law.

Among periodicals we notice: The Chicago Legal News; 1 he Law Book News, of St. Paul, Minn.; The National Corporation Reporter, of Chicago; The American Law Register and Review; The Canadian Law Times; The Western Law Times, of Canada; The Madras Law Journal; The Law Times, London; The Law Journal, London; Bulletin Mensuel de la Société de Législation Comparée; Annuaire de Législation Française; Annuaire de Législation Etrangère, Paris; La Revue Générale; Revue Bibliographique Belge; Case and Comment, Rochester, N.Y.

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