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Books Received.

Taswell-Langmead's English Constitutional History. Philip A. Ashworth. Stevens and Haynes, London, 1896.

Fifth Edition. By

Harris's Principles of the Criminal Law. Seventh Edition. By Charles L. Attenborough. Stevens and Haynes, London, 1896.

Tristram and Coote's Probate Practice. Twelfth Edition. By Thomas Hutchinson Tristram, Q.C., D.C.L., and Henry A. Jenner. Butterworth and Co., London, 1896.

Lyon and Redman's Law of Bills of Sale. Fourth Edition. By J. H. Redman. Reeves and Turner, London, 1896.

Cardinal Rules of Legal Interpretation. Collected by Edward Beal, B.A. Stevens and Sons, Ltd., London, 1896.

The Jewish Law of Divorce.

By David Werner Amram, M.A., LL.B. Edward Stern and Co., Philadelphia, 1896.

A First Book of Jurisprudence. By Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart. Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London and New York, 1896.

A Preliminary Treatise on Evidence at the Common Law. Part I. By James Bradley Thayer. Little, Brown and Co., Boston, 1896.

A Tabular Précis of Military Law. By Captain A. D. Furse. Macmillan and Co., Ltd. London and New York, 1896.

The Institutions of Italy. By John P. Coldstream. Arch. Constable and Co., Westminster, 1896.

Croake James's Curiosities of Law and Lawyers. New Edition. Sampson Low, Marston, and Co., Ltd., London, 1896.

Cassell's Family Lawyer. Part I. Cassell and Company, Ltd., London, Paris, and Melbourne, 1896.

Emmet's Notes on Perusing Titles. Second Edition. Jordan and Sons, Ltd., 1896.

Principes du Droit des Gens. By Alphonse Rivier. Rousseau, Paris, 1896.

Reviews.

Taswell-Langmead's English Constitutional History, from the Teutonic Conquest to the Present Time. Fifth Edition. Revised throughout with Notes by PHILIP A. ASHWORTH of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. London: Stevens and Haynes. 1896.

The death of Mr. C. H. E. Carmichael, M.A., in March, 1895, the talented editor of a work written by his former colleague and college companion, Professor Taswell-Langmead, had left it unprovided with a foster parent to direct its course and

progress. The publishers, as we learn from the Preface to this edition, have entrusted Mr. Ashworth, a pupil of Professor von Gneist, with the honour and responsibility of editing this valuable book, who, whilst leaving the original text of the author untouched, has deemed it desirable to cancel several purely historical notes of Mr. Carmichael, together with his Appendix ; but on the other hand, Mr. Ashworth has added an appendage to the text at the end, briefly reviewing the more recent legislative enactments, as they affect the development of the Constitution. The result of this is that the new edition is less in volume, in respect both of matter and bulk. This undoubtedly has its advantages for the student, but we miss the long and valuable notes, which the genius of Mr. Carmichael delighted to impart to his reader whenever a cognate subject in the text offered an occasion. The loving care of Mr. Carmichael is missing; but Mr. Ashworth had undoubtedly right on his side when he eliminated these interesting and learned notes from a work on English Constitutional History. It is but perfuming the rose and gilding the lily to praise Taswell-Langmead's work —a work universally recognized as the leading text-book on the subject in modern times, and which the new editor appears to have collated with success, and to have brought successfully down to date. We should, however, remark that at page 157, with regard to the institution of Coroners, he permits the statement to continue, that that officer was first created in 1194, neglecting to acquaint the reader that the researches of Dr. Charles Gross, published in Select Cases from the Coroners' Rolls by the Selden Society, throw much doubt on the above statement, and suggest that Coroners existed long before the date in question; for example, the citizens of Norwich claim to have appointed such officers in the reign of Stephen.

Coote's Common Form Practice and Tristram's Contentious Practice of the High Court of Justice in granting Probates and Administrations. Twelfth Edition. By THOMAS HUTCHINSON TRISTRAM, Q.C., D.C.L. The Common Form portion revised by HENRY A. JENNER, Chief Clerk, Personal Application Department, Principal Probate Registry, Somerset. London: Butterworth and Co. 1896.

The Finance Acts of 1894 and 1896, together with the Colonial Probate Act of 1892, and the late decisions on the Contentions

and Common Form Practice, have necessitated a new edition of this well-known work. Dr. Tristram has had a difficult and responsible task in his revision of the work, and we unhesitatingly pronounce the present edition to be a success. Those who are unaccustomed to the difficulties of Probate and Administration, can hardly realize the labour which has been expended on these pages. The work may roughly be divided into four parts: first, the Practice in Common Form on granting Probates and Administrations; secondly, the Common Form Practice on Motions and Summonses; thirdly, Contentious business; and fourthly, an Appendix containing the Statutes relating to the subject from 1837 to the present year, Rules, Forms, and Orders for the Principal Registry, Probate and Administration Duties, Forms used in the Probate Division, Bills of Costs, Rules and Fees. It is interesting to note that the conditions, under which the practice called Common Form was formed and founded, were first set forth in The Law Magazine (1855), Vol. LIII., p. 1, and Vol. LIV., p. 110, and in The Law Magazine and Review (1856), Vol. I., p. 252.

Harris's Principles of the Criminal Law. Seventh Edition. By CHARLES L. ATTENBOROUGH, of the Inner Temple and of the Midland Circuit, Barrister-at-Law. London: Stevens and Haynes. 1896.

The seventh edition of this well-known work requires little notice. Since the present editor has had the book in hand, it has been carefully and successfully edited; we find an entire absence of those unfortunate blunders to which we drew attention when we reviewed the edition of the previous editor. The Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1894, the Summary Jurisdiction (Married Women) Act, 1895, and parts of the Sale of Goods Act, 1893, referring to the restitution of stolen goods have been added in their proper places, and in all other respects the work has been carefully annotated up to date, save, we notice at p. 301, respecting the University Court at Cambridge, that the statute passed in 1894 (57 and 58 Vict., c. lx.) to amend the law relating to the jurisdiction of the authorities of that University is not quoted. But since the omission depends on the inadvertence of the editor to a Local Act only, the fault is very excusable.

A First Book of Jurisprudence for Students in the Common Law. By Sir FREDERICK POLLOCK, Bart., Barrister-at-Law, M.A. London and New York: Macmillan and Co. 1896.

This book is designed for those students who intend to enter upon the study of the Common Law, that is to say, for those who propose to become lawyers in the true sense of the word. It is useless to men who set out with the design of becoming solicitors, whose faith is bound up between the four corners of an Act of Parliament, Rules of the Supreme Court Practice, and Bills of Costs. Nor is it intended for those aspirants to the Bar, whose minds do not rise above practice in Criminal Courts, or the patrimony of family briefs. It is intended for the University man, who desires to acquaint himself with the principles of Law, as introductory to plunging hereafter into the deep waters of Jurisprudence. The book is academic. It discusses the nature and meaning of law, the subject-matter of law, claims of persons on persons, relation of obligations to property, sources of English law, case law and precedents, et similia. It is a useful work, and pleasant reading.

A Preliminary Treatise on Evidence at the Common Law. Part I. Development on Trial by Jury. By JAMES BRADLEY THAYER, Weld Professor of Law, Harvard University. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1896.

This is the first part of an interesting work; it deals with the older modes of trial, including Trial by Oath, by Ordeal, and by Battle; then Trial by Jury and its developments to the present day. Written by an American jurist, we have the advantage of the history of trials, both in the United States and in our own country. It will be a surprise to many to hear of compurgators in our courts as late as 1824; such form of trial being abolished in 1833, while ordeal appears to have died out as early as 1214. It was forbidden by the Fourth Lateran Council in the following year; Henry III. informing his judges cum prohibitum sit per Ecclesiam Romanam judicium ignis et aquæ.

The Jewish Law of Divorce according to Bible and Talmud with some references to its development in Post-Talmudic times. By David

WERNER AMRAM, M.A., LL.B., Member of the Philadelphia Bar. Philadelphia: Edward Stern & Co., Inc. 1896.

The author tells us that in 1888 a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was tried in the Ecclesiastical Court of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, his chief offence being his second marriage after he had been divorced from his first wife because of her desertion, a ground of divorce not recognized by the Church. This led the writer to enquire into the Jewish law, for the purpose of understanding the relation of the two dissimilar texts, Deuteronomy xxiv., 1—4, and Matthew xix., 3-9. It is unnecessary to say that the work is most interesting, while the references to the Talmud throw a strong side-light of explanation on the Biblical text.

The Institutions of Italy. By J. P. COLDSTREAM, Writer to the Signet. Westminster: Arch. Constable & Co. 1896. In about 150 small pages the author has given us a concise exposition of the government, courts of justice, laws, religion, commerce, and trade of Italy. With regard to land, he tells us that there is no law of entail, and every owner can deal with land as he desires by testament, donation, or sale; that there is a well kept Register of Land Rights, in which the description and extent of every estate in land is recorded, and every deed of transfer or mortgage is required to be recorded in this Register. The book will well repay an attentive perusal.

Lyon and Redman's Law of Bills of Sale. Fourth Edition. By JOSEPH HAWORTH REDMAN, of the Middle Temple, Barristerat-Law. London: Reeves and Turner. 1896.

The fact that this work has again passed into another edition is of itself evidence of the favour with which it is received by the profession. The editor says, and with truth, that the death of his former colleague in the work, Mr. Lyon, has thrown the entire responsibility on his shoulders. We are glad to find that he has adequately supplied the additions which new modifications of the law of Bills of Sale had rendered necessary. There is no doubt but that the jurisprudence on this subject is difficult; few counsel, and fewer solicitors still, understand anything about it. It is therefore a great desideratum for practitioners in the Law to have the means of obtaining so readily information, at once concisely explained and so trustworthy.

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