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A Manual of the Practice of the Supreme Court of Judicature in the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, Exchequer, and Chancery Divisions. Intended for the use of Students. By JOHN INDerMAUR, Solicitor. Stevens & Haynes. 1878.

Mr. Indermaur again comes to the aid of the Students, who are his especial care, with an elementary work on the Practice in the Common Law and Chancery Divisions. Omitting all details not required for examination purposes, he has succeeded in producing a volume which, within a very moderate compass, concentrates all the information on the subject treated that is specially adapted for reproduction in the Examination-room of the Incorporated Law Society. The Student will do well, however, to peruse some one of the more exhaustive Treatises if he wishes his knowledge to be sufficient not only for examination purposes, but for actual practice afterwards. But whether as an Introduction to the perusal of the larger works, or as a useful refresher to the memory at all times, Mr. Indermaur's book cannot fail to be most acceptable. In an Appendix will be found a handy Time Table of Proceedings, and brief precedents of a set of Pleadings in an imaginary action in the Common Law Divisions. As usual with Messrs. Stevens & Haynes's publications, the preparation of a good Index has not been lost sight of.

The Supreme Court of Judicature Acts, Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876, Rules of Court and Forms, with Practical Notes. By ARTHUR WILSON, of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. Second Edition. Stevens & Sons. 1878.

The special success of Mr. Arthur Wilson in dealing with the Rules of Court, which we pointed out on the first appearance of his valuable work, continues to be a distinguishing feature of the second edition. Little, if any, change has been made in the general plan of the book, except that the Introductory Chapter, necessary on the first adoption of the great legal changes under the Judicature Acts, has been judiciously omitted, with the view of keeping the size of the volume within convenient limits. All the various Acts, Orders, Rules, and Regulations issued since the previous edition have been incorporated in the present, the new Rules of Court being combined with those in the schedule to the Act of 1875, and short marginal notes added. The most important of the many decisions on the construction of the Acts and Rules have been duly noted; and, while continuing

ordinarily to give a reference to one report only of each case cited, the convenience of practitioners has been consulted by affording them, in a Table of Cases, a reference to all the reports of each case, on the principle which in the Law Magazine Digest has met with such wide approval. Mr. Biddle, of the Master of the Rolls' Chambers, and Mr. Harry Greenwood, of the Chancery Bar, have assisted the learned author in preparing the present edition, which bears marks throughout of careful and thoughtful workmanship.

A Treatise on the Law of Mines and Minerals. By WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. Fourth Edition. By ARCHIBALD BROWN, Esq., M.A., B.C.L., Barrister-at-Law. Butterworths. 1878.

In this new edition of a well-known standard work Mr. Archibald Brown has found it necessary, with a view to convenience of consultation no less than conformity with the most recent expressions of the Law, to make considerable alterations in the original language and arrangement of the author. Several chapters are entirely new, and others practically re-written, though upon the lines of the original. A statement of the chapters so affected is given in general terms in the introduction, but beyond this we are unable to distinguish in the body of the work the views of Mr. Bainbridge from those of his editor. In chapter VI., sec. 2, it appears to be laid down, or at least suggested, that a body of Laws, including apparently Mining Laws, was brought into this country by the Saxon invaders, "which presented certain resemblances (from whatever source derived) to the Laws of the Roman Empire." At the same time it is suggested that "considering the long occupation of these islands by the Romans, it is only natural to conclude that some traces of their Mining Laws would remain in Britain." But no direct evidence is given of the importation of a Teutonic Code of Mining Laws by the invaders, and it may be remarked that if such a Code existed it would almost certainly be simply Roman or adapted Roman Law. A Glossary of Terms in English Mining Language, appended to the Precedents and Local Customs, will probably be of scarcely less interest to the philologist than utility to the practitioner who has to deal with Mining Law.

Chronological Tables and Index of Statutes, 1235-1877. Fortyfifth Edition. By Authority. Eyre & Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen. 1878.

We receive with much pleasure this revised issue of what will, we trust, become an annual volume of great utility alike to the Practitioner and to the Student of our Legal History. Under the anxious supervision of the members of the Statute Law Committee, and entrusted in its several parts to some of the most competent men in the various branches of Legislation which form the subject of the volume, the work cannot fail to help forward the cause which we believe the Committee, in common with the highest juridical intellects of our country, have in view, the Codification of our Law. Having already given considerable extracts from Sir Henry Thring's "Instructions for an Index to the Statute Law," in our Number for August, 1877, we need only point out that the present volume, under the general Editorship of Mr. W. L. Selfe, of the Chancery Bar, has enjoyed the advantage of the labours of such competent workers as Mr. C. S. Maine, Mr. C. P. Ilbert, Mr. G. A. R. Fitzgerald, Mr. H. T. Banning and others, on subjects with which the names of several of them have already been specially connected.

Our Malay Conquests. By Sir P. BENSON MAXWELL, formerly Recorder of Penang, Singapore, and Malacca, and Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements. P. S. King. 1878.

There is probably not much use in suggesting to the British mind in its present condition that annexation and aggressiveness are not confined to one State or to one century. Were it otherwise, we might hope that the story which is here told by so competent a pen as that of the late Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements might avail to show that there is a possibility of the existence of a British "Old Man of the Mountains" under the fair-seeming name of a "Resident." The Malay Peninsula is somewhat out of the beaten track, and such a strange-sounding potentate as "the Bandahara of Pahang" is not so well known to the home student of Eastern affairs as Holkah or Scindiah. But it may be well to realise that the "Timeo Danaos" feeling is apt to be roused in the Far East even when we proffer friendly offers of explaining "the advantages which would be derived from a good system of taxation and collection of revenues," and send officers who are instructed to "place themselves at the disposal" of a Rajah or Bandahara, "to assist him with advice, and to instruct him as to the best mode of opening up the resources of his State." Perhaps, as the learned Chief Justice observes, these potentates may have learned how "advice and

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administration' "" are apt to get blended in English official minds," and so have come to entertain some suspicion of them, "et dona ferentes." It would be impossible, in the limited space at our disposal, to deal properly with the elaborate historical account of the rise and progress of our relations with the Malay Peninsula given by Sir P. Benson Maxwell. Nor can we pledge ourselves to agreement in all particulars with his judgment of the transactions which he narrates. But the learned author refers throughout to the unquestionable authority of Blue-Books and other official documents, so that his reader can, if he will take the trouble, form an independent opinion from the same sources as have served Sir P. Benson Maxwell in drawing up what is at once a severe indictment against some of "our own methods of aggrandisement," and an "appeal to our power of self-criticism and our love of justice." Those who are open to such an appeal will do well to read and ponder "Our Malay Conquests."

Stone's Practice for Justices of the Peace. By THOMAS SIRREL PRITCHARD, of the Inner Temple, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, Recorder of Wenlock. Eighth Edition. Stevens and Sons; H. Sweet; W. Maxwell and Son. 1877.

Justices of the Peace and Practitioners at Petty and Special Sessions who wish to have a handy volume by their side for ready reference will find this new edition of Stone's Practice very convenient and useful. The copiousness of detail to be found in "Burn" and " Oke," combined with the full discussion of principles which "Paley on Convictions" affords, cannot of course be expected within the compass of this single volume; but the editor has considerably enlarged both the design and particulars of the original work, and now offers to the profession "a complete general account of the Procedure at Petty Sessions in Summary Matters and Indictable Offences, in such a consecutive form, according to the usual order of events, as to render easily attainable information on any point of procedure as it may arise at any given period of the proceedings." The list of Forms of Proceedings appended to the first part, which treats of Summary Convictions and Orders, is a feature of much practical utility. In the Addenda and Corrigenda care has been taken to keep well up to date by introducing such cases touching points of procedure or statutes referred to, as have been decided while the work was passing through the press, and also the Prison Act, 1877, and the Justices' Clerks Act, 1877.

References are always given to the appropriate page in the body of the work, and these additions have also been incorporated in the Index, and in the List of Cases and Table of Statutes.

A Digest of Civil Procedure prevalent in British India. By G. E. KNOX, Esq., C. S. Officiating Judge, Small Cause Court, Allahabad. Vol. I. Allahabad: Church Mission Press. London: Stevens and Sons. 1877.

Mr. Knox appeals to his "Lector et Judex" in Gothic black letters which his Indian printers seem to have had some difficulty in setting up. We gather from it, however, that he has toyed with his present work in hours of leisure, and the result is a very respectable one, taking the shape of some 400 closely printed pages, full of matter requiring the closest attention. The first cause of Mr. Knox's work has been the Indian Code of Civil Procedure, which suggested the preparation of a Digest of rulings and orders bearing upon its subject-matter. The text of the Code itself is printed throughout on the left hand page, and the Digest is given on the opposite page. We fail, however, to see why the letter "M" should be prefixed to those sections of the Act VIII. of 1859 which are only applicable to Small Cause Courts. And the Allahabad Press, though it has gene. rally served Mr. Knox remarkably well, must be credited with some eccentricities which should be corrected in a future edition, e.g., p. viii., “Re-enacted." And we must say that to an English practitioner there might seem to be an arguable case for mistaken identity in regard to the parties denominated in the Table of Cases, Shekh Goburdhan v. Sheikh Sadu, and at p. 353 of Mr. Knox's Digest, Sheikh Govardhan v. Sheikh Sadoo. Perhaps, Mr. Knox may see his way to some greater uniformity in future issues of his laborious and useful Digest.

M. GEORGES Louis, one of the secretaries of the Society of Comparative Legislation, publishes, under the title Des devoirs des Particuliers en temps de Neutralité (Paris, Cotillon, 1877) a lucid and able review of Neutrality Law, as laid down for his countrymen by the Official Declaration of the French Government, 6th May, 1877. In the present state of European Politics, the subject to which M. Louis has devoted his attention is one demanding the closest scrutiny both of statesmen and jurists.

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