consideration of the Jurisdiction of Courts Martial, the Courts of Law in relation to Naval Jurisdiction, and other important points. A full series of forms of warrants, minutes, charges, &c., and a good Index, complete the utility of a work which should be in the hands of all who have to deal with the " regulating and governing of the Fleet, according to the Laws of War and Ordinances of the sea established by the Parliament of England."

Conveyancing and other Forms and Precedents relating to Companies incorporated under the Companies Acts, 1862 and 1867, with Copious Notes. By FRANCIS BEAUFORT PALMER, of the Inner Temple, Esq., Barrister-at-law. Stevens and Sons. 1877.

The multitude of companies which has sprung into existence under the Acts of 1862 and 1867, and the numerous additions to their ranks which almost daily occur, make the subject of Company Law interesting not only to the lawyer, but to a very large and important section of the lay public. Notwithstanding the treatises which have already appeared on the subject, there had never, to our knowledge, been any attempt to collect and edit a body of Forms and Precedents exclusively relating to the formation, working and winding-up of companies. This task Mr. Palmer has taken in hand, and we are glad to say with much success. Not only the draftsman when instructed to draw Articles of Association or an Agreement for sale to a proposed Company, but the Secretaries, Managing Directors and other officials, will find in this volume varied precedents and forms which cannot fail to be of the greatest service to them. The Precedents are divided under the headings of Agreements, Memoranda of Association, Articles of Association, Resolutions, Notices, Certificates, Debentures, Reconstruction Schemes, Amalgamation Schemes, Petitions, and Winding-up Petitions. To each set of precedents are prefixed concise, and clearly expressed "Introductory Notes," which afford an epitome of the law bearing on the special instruments about to be set out, and among the instruments themselves are intercalated short explanatory notes with references to the decided cases and the statutes. Extracts from the Rules of the London Stock Exchange are also given, and such of the Provisional Orders of the Board of Trade as relate to Gas and Water Works, Piers and Harbours, Oyster and Mussel Fisheries, and Tramways. Tables of Cases, of Statutes, and of References to the Companies Acts,

1862 and 1867, have been added, and the information contained in the 650 pages of the volume is rendered easily accessible by a good and full index. The author has evidently not been sparing of labour, and the fruits of his exertions are now before the legal Profession in a work of great practical utility.

Code d'Instruction Criminelle Autrichien. Traduit et Annoté par MM. EDM. BERTRAND, Juge Suppléant au Tribunal Civil de la Seine, et CH. LYON CAEN, Agrégé à la Faculté de Droit, Paris. Paris, Cotillon et Cie. (Imprimé par Ordre du Gouvernement), 1875.

The acceptance of the Presidency of Council by M. Dufaure is a fact of good omen for the progress in France of the science of Jurisprudence, which he has steadily helped forward whenever the tenure of office has given him the power to do so. The work to which we now desire to draw the attention of our readers, is an example in point. It is the first of a series of Foreign Codes, to be printed at the National Press, with the assistance of the State, and under the editorship of the most competent French Jurists furnished by the able ranks of the Society of Comparative Legislation, of which M. Dufaure is himself a Past President, and in whose work he has ever taken an active and sympathetic interest. While Keeper of the Seals, M. Dufaure instituted, as a department of the Ministry of Justice, a Committee of Foreign Legislation, and we are glad to learn, by a recent number of our contemporary, the Revue Générale, that the wise liberality of the French Chambers has, in the space of a few months, made that Ministry the possessor of the richest special library in France, perhaps, it is even said, in Europe. For the work committed to them in translating and annotating the Cisleithan Code of Criminal Instruction, M. Bertrand and M. Lyon Caen had special qualifications, due to the studies which have made them eminent among French Jurists. The Code which their learned labours have so ably illustrated, is the fourth promulgated in Austria since the commencement of the present century, and it bears the marks of the growth of a broader and more liberal feeling among Austrian Statesmen and Jurists, of which we lately noticed other symptoms in the works of Ritter von Harrasowsky. There are, indeed, in Austria, as in other countries, conflicting currents of thought. It may seem somewhat curious that a country, in which, as we saw recently by Professor Benedikt's pamphlet on Capital

Punishment, there is a party eager for the entire abolition of the penalty of death, should, by its Code of Criminal Instruction, decree the execution of that penalty by Extraordinary Tribunals (Standgerichte) within two hours after the delivery of judgment (Art. 445), and only at most allow the possibility of the expiration of three hours between the sentence and its execution.

We trust soon to see some fresh volumes issue from the National Press similar in character to the excellent work of M. Bertrand and M. Lyon Caen, but we may express our hope, in the interests of Jurisprudence, that their issue will not be limited, as is that of the present work, to five hundred copies.

The Principles of Equity, as administered in the Supreme Court of Judicature and other Courts. By THOMAS ARCHIBALD ROBERTS, of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-law. 3rd Edition. Butterworths. 1877.

Mr. Roberts has brought out a carefully revised edition of his Treatise on Equity, adapted to the change under the new practice. His system differs somewhat from that of many textwriters, in that he does not attempt to discuss every branch even of a special subject, but contents himself with laying down the main principles, which form, as it were, its great trunk line, referring his reader for information on the branch or loop lines to authors who have devoted themselves specially to such branches. Thus, for instance, at a very early stage, Mr. Roberts refers his readers to Mr. Locock Webb, for information as to the Stannaries Courts, and in almost his last page he sends them to Shelford and Elmer for full details of Chancery Jurisdiction over persons of unsound mind. What he does set himself to expound, however, whether in relation to the late Court of Chancery, or with a view to the exposition of the actual practice in the Equity Divisions, is clearly and simply written, and must make it both a useful text-book for the student, and a convenient work of reference for the practitioner. Its utility is greatly enhanced by a table of statutes with the dates of the civil as well as the regnal years prefixed, thus affording a ready insight into the historical aspect of the legislation cited in the work.

Practical Legislation; or the Composition and Language of Acts of Parliament. By SIR HENRY THRING, K.C.B., the Parliamentary Counsel. Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery

Office, and sold by Messrs. Longmans, Stevens & Sons, &c. 1878.

Sir Henry Thring has, we are glad to see, followed up the subject opened in a Paper of Instructions for an Index to the Statute Law, reprinted by us in our number for August last, by the issue of a Treatise on "Practical Legislation." In this new work Sir Henry deals with some of the matter with which our readers are already familiar; but besides making numerous practical suggestions of value to Parliamentary draftsmen, he gives further assistance by analysis of some specimen Acts. For the better understanding of this portion of his work, Sir Henry has provided a tabular analysis of the Bankruptcy Act, 1869, and sketched the arrangement of the Artizans Dwellings Act, 1875, giving the latter as "a good illustration of the mode of arranging provisions in which the subject-matter is divisible, so to speak, into different stages of action." Lastly, we have set before us the skeleton of a Draft Bill, as a precedent, though not, Sir Henry is careful to say, as a model general form applicable to all cases indiscriminately. An Index has been carefully prepared by Mr. C. S. Maine, and Sir Henry speaks with gratefulness of the aid rendered to him by Mr. Jenkyns, the Assistant-Counsel, Mr. C. P. Ilbert, and Mr. G. A. R. Fitzgerald, in the preparation of the present work. We need scarcely insist upon the fact that Sir Henry repeats his conviction of the necessity of taking up the subject of Codification from its practical side, and to that end shows the draftsmen of Acts of Parliament how much they may facilitate the ultimate attainment of this desirable object by first thoroughly mastering the existing Law, and then adhering to simplicity in the expression of the proposed legislation. "The real problem," says Sir Henry, "is to attain the advantages of a systematic Code without destroying the fulness of expression and copiousness of illustration which characterise English Law." That this is possible, the author believes he has already shown; but the possibility cannot be too often demonstrated, and our thanks are due to the Parliamentary Counsel for his fresh support to so important a movement.

The Proceedings in an Action in the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer Divisions of the High Court of Justice. By SAMUEL PRENTICE, Esq., of the Middle Temple, one of Her Majesty's Counsel. Stevens and Sons. 1877.

It is not often that we find one of Her Majesty's Counsel devoting some of the fruits of his long experience in the Courts to the instruction of students, as is the case in the volume now before us. Mr. Prentice, Q.C., has steadily kept in view the two great desiderata of conciseness and clearness. He is perfectly aware of the difficulty which exists in writing upon the present Practice, and frankly admits it at the outset. But his consciousness of this fact seems to have tended to the exercise of great care in the language used throughout the work, and in the keeping up of constant reference to those sections of the Judicature Acts, and the Rules and Orders, upon which the several parts of his book are founded. Though confining his title to actions in the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer Divisions, Mr. Prentice takes care to notify to the student that his statements will, "for the most part, apply also to actions in the Chancery Division," when brought "in respect of causes and matters not specially assigned" to that Division. Mr. Prentice includes in his survey the proceedings in appeals, in actions for the recovery of land, in District Registries, and under Arbitration. His forms of writs, statements, affidavits, &c., cover an unusually wide area, and he prints from the Orders in Council of 1875 and 1876, the schedules of the District Registries and Circuits of England and Wales. Altogether, the result of Mr. Prentice's thoughtful labour has been the production of a very convenient and trustworthy guide through the intricacies inseparable from the early days of the new Practice.

A Treatise on the Power and Duty of an Arbitrator, and the Law of Submissions and Awards. By FRANCIS RUSSELL, Esq., M.A., Barrister-at-Law. Fifth Edition. Stevens & Sons; H. Sweet. 1878.

"Russell on Arbitrations" is so well and widely known and esteemed in the profession that it is hardly necessary to do more than announce the publication of a new edition, especially having regard to the fact that it is brought out by the author himself. The last edition appeared in 1870. Since then, in addition to the ordinary accretion of decided cases, which appear to have been carefully noted up and incorporated with the text, two Acts of Parliament bearing upon the subject here treated have been passed, the "Arbitration (Masters and Workmen) Act, 1872" (35 & 36 Vict., c. 46), and the "Board of Trade