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questions arising in daily practice on matters of Foreign and Domestic law. We observe that Mr. Foote's treatise incidentally confirms the views expressed elsewhere in our present number regarding the dilatoriness of the authorised Law Reports. At p. 69, the case of Niboyet v. Niboyet is cited, with the ominous addition "not yet reported," though it was decided in May, and Mr. Foote's preface is dated October; and Gomez v. Eames is cited, on p. 20, from the Times of 9th and 10th July, that case also being marked "not yet reported."

The Student's Leading Cases in Constitutional Law, Common Law, Conveyancing and Equity, Probate, Divorce, Bankruptcy, and Criminal Law. By JOHN F. HAYNES, LL.D. Stevens and Sons. 1878.

There are Students' books and Students' books. The fact that a book is professedly written in usum juventutis is quite compatible with its being one of great merit and originality, capable of materially aiding the investigations of those who are indeed. students and seek for honours, without in any way detracting from the thoroughness of their work. Such publications are rare, while the "cram" book for struggling pass-men multiplies day by day. Dr. Haynes has already provided for this latter class "The Student's Statutes" and "The Student's Guide to Probate and Divorce," and we doubt not they will thankfully welcome this additional key to superficial knowledge. Having regard to the wide field which the compiler covers in this volume, the statements of the various cases are fairly full and clear, and many of the notes are good. But since, in his note to Calvin's case, Dr. Haynes has mentioned the Naturalization Act, 1870, we are surprised that he should have ommitted to point out how that Act has completely altered the status of Aliens and naturalized subjects, has created the new persona of a " statutory alien," and, by upsetting the ancient maxim nemo patriam in quâ natus est exuere, aut ligeantiae debitum ejurare, potest, has rendered most of the learning as to allegiance and aliens in Calvin's case a matter of purely historical interest. Many of the cases have their date placed at the head, and it would have been well had this very convenient practice been adhered to throughout. Probably in a future edition Dr. Haynes may see his way to these and some other improve

ments.

A Selection of Precedents of Pleading under the Judicature Acts in the Common Law Divisions, with Notes and an Introductory Treatise. By JOHN CUNNINGHAM and M. W. MATTINSON, Esqrs., Barristersat-Law. Stevens and Haynes. 1878.

Messrs. Cunningham and Mattinson come forward opportunely to take up ground which, since the passing of the Judicature Acts, seemed to be awaiting the first occupant. A work which, in the compass of a single portable, volume, contains a brief Treatise on the Principles and Rules of Pleading, and a carefully annotated body of Forms which have to a great extent gone through the entirely separate sifting processes of Chambers Court, and Judges' Chambers, cannot fail to be a most useful companion in the Practitioner's daily routine. And readiness of reference, clearly one of the desiderata in such a book, has been studied by the authors in their adoption of the alphabetical arrangement for the Precedents. We presume that it was their study of conciseness in the number of headings of Precedents which has caused the authors to omit some cross-references which might have been expected; otherwise under "Medical Man" (p. 433), we should have thought a reference to" Penalty" would have been desirable. On the whole, Messrs. Cunningham and Mattinson show by their present volume that they appreciate the desire expressed by Lord Justice James in Davy v. Garrett, that the Legal Profession should not succumb to the devices of the "Sons of Zeruiah."

SMALLER BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.

The Analytical Digest of Cases decided in the Supreme Courts in Scotland, and, on Appeal, by the House of Lords (Edinburgh, T. & T. Clark, 1878), prepared by Messrs. A. E. Henderson, D. Gillespie, and H. Johnston, Advocates, promises to be a work of considerable practical value to all who wish to master the decided points in cases that have arisen in the Scotch Courts, and been carried up to the House of Lords within the past ten years. The analysis made of each subject of law, as, e.g., Bankruptcy, pp. 57-8, is very full, and the cases follow in the sequence of the analytical divisions. The first instalment extends as far as the heading Fraud, and breaks off somewhat violently, it must be admitted, in the middle of a sentence in the digest of a case thereunder, a mode of publication which,

we should think, can scarcely be other than tantalising to practitioners.

In A Short View of the History and Consequences of Primogeniture in England (Cambridge: Deighton, Bell & Co. London: George Bell & Sons, 1878), Mr. C. J. Cooper, M.A., LL.D., Barristerat-Law, weighs carefully the various aspects of an important question, carrying its history down from Anglo-Saxon times, through Glanville and Bracton to the present day, and indicating an opinion that the principle of primogeniture might be "stripped of much of its present influence" by being removed from its "distinguished place in our Law of Inheritance." But to give England a régime of small ownership" is, in Mr. Cooper's view, "almost impossible," and he is careful to point out that it is against "settlements" that the "shafts of many of the most intelligent assailants of primogeniture are now aimed." Of the general practice of settlements, Mr. Cooper does not think the public mind has as yet taken a cool and intelligent survey, and he is of opinion that it is "not yet prepared to submit to interference in this direction with a good grace."

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Particulars of Conditions of Sale (Published for the Incorporated Law Society of Liverpool), will be found very useful as furnishing a common form of sale, brought out under the careful supervision of the Liverpool Law Society, and settled by some of the most eminent conveyancing Counsel of the local Bar. The conditions are, generally speaking, favourable to the purchaser; but they are also framed in such a manner as to protect the vendor from any merely vexatious expenditure which the purchaser may have caused him to incur. The whole spirit of the Liverpool Conditions of Sale is equitable, and their application to a wider than local sphere would, we believe, be attended with excellent practical results.

The object of Mr. Walter Robinson, Barrister-at-Law, in his pamphlet on The Straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus (W. Ridgway, 1878), appears to be to show that under the general principles of International Law, apart from Treaties," the straits in question are natural and free thoroughfares open alike to the merchant vessels and the ships of war of all countries for the purpose of ingress to and egress from the Black Sea." But the question as to ships of war is, under the circumstances, just one of those not to be settled "apart from treaties," and this consideration creates a difficulty in limine for the acceptance of Mr. Robinson's view.

Mr. Alexander Oliver, of the New South Wales Bar, in his Collection of Real Estates Acts (Sydney, 1877. London: Trübner), provides both the "professional and non-professional inquirer" with a book in which he hopes-not, we believe, unfairly-that he has facilitated the "tedious and often difficult task of finding, amidst a mass of sections, the particular enactment sought for." Mr. Oliver further pleads for the creation of a "permanent College or Commission of Jurists" for his Colony, whose work he would fain have to be the presentation to the local Parliament, from time to time, of "well-designed and carefully-prepared groups of Consolidation Acts" covering the entire domain over which the Statute Law ought to range. This is a comprehensive scheme not, very dissimilar to that of the work advocated in this country by Sir Henry Thring, and taken in hand by the Statute Law Revision Commissioners.

We have also received the second volume of the Digest of Civil Procedure (Allahabad, 1877. London: Stevens and Sons), in which Mr. Knox carries on his useful labours to completion. The concluding portion covers the important subjects of Evidence, Limitation, and Contracts, and comprises the Civil Court Act, the Specific Relief Act, 1877, &c. The pagination adopted by Mr. Knox is continuous throughout, but the index to each volume is complete in itself.

The Report of the Antwerp Conference of the Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations contains, amongst other interesting matter, a précis of the work of the Committee which sat on General Average, under the presidency of Sir Travers Twiss and Lord O'Hagan. Looking at the Report as an account of discussions on questions of considerable importance and affecting very powerful interests, we must say that it appears to us not yet to rise to the literary level which it ought to have attained. And we think that a good critical narrative of the proceedings, similar in kind to that which appeared in our own pages on the occasion of the foundation Conference at Brussels (Law Magazine and Review, December, 1873) would be of greater practical utility and of wider interest than the fragmentary reprints now given of papers, most of which have already seen the light elsewhere.

The Student's Guide to the Bar, by Walter W. R. Ball, M.A. (Macmillan, 1878), is a useful endeavour to give, within the compass of a Primer," an account of the principal points which need setting before all who may think of adopting the Bar as a

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profession. Mr. Ball is not devoid of a touch of quiet sarcasm in his detail of some of the time-honoured institutions connected with the four Inns. The " eating of dinners," for instance, is characterised as a "survival;" and some of the eccentricities which pervade the allowance of exemptions from portions of the examinations for the Bar, also receive notice. Why a student who has passed the examination for a specified degree, but not yet taken it, should lose the benefit of the examination which he has nevertheless passed, seems a mystery that it would be hopeless to try and solve.

In these days of many a bubble company, Mr. F. B. Palmer, who has already made the subject of companies his own, has acquired an additional title to the gratitude of investors by providing them with a clear and concise Shareholders' and Directors' Legal Companion (Stevens and Sons, 1878). This handy little book is full of forms for all sorts of contingencies, references to the Companies Acts, 1862 and 1867, and information on most of the varied points of law which are at different times liable to arise in regard to the position of shareholders.

A Summary of the Law of Companies (Stevens & Haynes, 1878), by T. Eustace Smith, is the result of a practical acquaintance with the difficulty experienced by Articled Clerks and Law Students in mastering the principles of this important branch of Law. Numerous marginal notes and a full Index render Mr. Eustace Smith's book easy for the student's use, and constant reference is made to the sections of the Acts of 1862 and 1867.

In the Easter number of the Bar Examination Journal (Stevens & Haynes, 1878), Messrs. Tyssen and Edwards carry on a work for which they, no doubt, receive the grateful thanks of many a student. Besides the Questions set at the Easter Examination. and the Solutions furnished by the Editors, the student's attention is directed to the Legislation of the year 1877, some of which is textually cited and commented upon, especially 40 & 41 Vict., caps. 33, 34, and 39, each of which is criticised in some detail.

Mr. W. P. Thompson, C.E., has brought out a Third Edition, revised, of a useful Handbook of Patent Law of all Countries (London, Stevens & Sons; New York, Van Nostrand, 1878). The information which it contains is clearly, though of necessity, briefly stated.

In an Epitome of Fearne on Contingent Remainders (Stevens & Sons, 1878), the convenience of the student has been, we

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