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occasional singularities in these references, which are probably due to difficulties with native compositors. At p. 426 we have 'Coulanges, Op. Cité," and at p. 428 "Coulanges, Op. Ct.," both of which were evidently intended to stand "Op: Cit:" as the title of the work of M. Fustel de Coulanges, "La Cité Antique," had been already quoted on the former page. But we are less surpised by such occasional shortcomings than by the general excellence of the typography, which adds to the comfort of consulting Messrs. West and Bühler's valuable Digest.

The Elementary Education Acts, 1870-73-74-76, with Introduction, Notes, and Appendix. By HUGH OWEN, Jun., Barristerat-Law. 14th Edition. Knight & Co. 1879.

The practical acquaintance which Mr. Hugh Owen, Jun., has for some years enjoyed with all subjects connected with our new National scheme of education, is sufficient to ensure the continued popularity of his work on the Education Acts. The Introduction amounts in the latest Edition to some fifty pages, and comprises all the information that we can think of as likely to be needed by those who have, in their various capacities, to deal with the operation of the Elementary Education Acts. The Acts regulating the education of children employed in labour, whether under the Factory or Coal Mines Legislation, are duly set forth; and we believe the work, as a whole, to be one which ought to find its way into the hands of all who, whether as employers of labour, or as interested in rural education, find it necessary to have at hand the best information on the Law of National Education.

The Principles of Bankruptcy: with an Appendix containing the General Rules, 1870-71-73-78; a Scale of Costs, and the Bills of Sale Act, 1878. By RICHARD RINGWOOD, B.A., Barrister-atLaw, late Scholar T.C.D. Stevens & Haynes. 1879.

The author of this convenient hand-book sees the points upon which we insist elsewhere in regard to the chief aim of any system of Bankruptcy Law which should deserve the title of National. There is much yet to be done before we can rest content with our administration of that branch of the Law. It is of course to be understood, that neither expenditure nor cheap

ness will, or can, take the place of equitableness in the broader and less technical sense of the term. But that which our cousins in the United States have long been aiming at, viz., uniformity of Bankruptcy Legislation, is clearly the principal aim of our own schemes of amendment in this portion of our Law. There can be no question that a sound measure of Reform is greatly needed, and would be welcomed by all parties in the United Kingdom. Pending any amendment, it is necessary to know the Law as it is, and those who have to deal with the subject in any of its practical legal aspects will do well to consult Mr. Ringwood's unpretending but useful volume.

SMALLER BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.

In A Digest of the Law of Probate Duty, by A. H. Leach, Barrister-at-Law, and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. (W. Maxwell & Son, 1878), we have not only a useful manual compiled for a very intricate, in fact typically intricate, branch of Law, but also some sound observations on the relation of Digests of particular portions of Law to the general subject of Codification. Mr. Leach excuses himself for making Probate Law the subject of this trial of a "prentice hand," by saying that it appeared to him the most suitable in some respects for such an attempt. It may at any rate be said of Mr. Leach that he has expended much pains upon his work, and that not only in his Statements of the Law, but in those illustrations which Sir James Stephen has shown to be so valuable in a Digest, and of which Mr. Leach says truly that they "clothe the dry bones of the Law in flesh and blood."

The Dean's English, by G. Washington Moon, Member of the Council of the Royal Society of Literature (Hatchards, 1878), is the eleventh edition of a work whose popularity has lasted beyond the controversy between its author and the late Dean Alford, which gave rise to the original publication. In pleading earnestly for the maintenance of the purity of the English language, Mr. Moon has the high authority of John Milton for believing that it is not to be considered "Of small importance what language, pure or corrupt, a people has, or what is their customary degree of propriety in speaking it, a matter which oftener than once was the salvation of Athens." It will not be Mr. Moon's fault if England stands not where she did.

Mr. E. H. Bedford, indefatigable in his labours on behalf of the articled clerk, has supervised a new edition of Mosely's Handybook of Elementary Law (Butterworths, 1878). It will certainly not be the fault of either author or editor, if the years spent under articles are not well spent, and if the work required to lay a sound foundation of legal knowledge is not done with that "thoroughness" of which they so emphatically declare the necessity. In a future edition, Mr. Bedford would do well to introduce a new precedent in lieu of the Draft Conveyance in Fee given at page 11, and which he himself acknowledges to be somewhat antiquated.

Mr. Underhill has brought out a Second Edition of his work on the Law of Torts (Butterworths, 1878), in which he has been assisted by Mr. C. C. M. Plumptre. The new volume, while containing much fresh matter, remains a handy guide to the important but complicated branch of law to which it relates, and will be found conveniently arranged for reference by the practitioner no less than the student. Chapters III. and XII. on the Liability of Masters, and on Infringement of Patents and Copyright, deal briefly but clearly with subjects of constant recurrence in Courts. Mr. Underhill carries out the same principle of treatment in his new manual of the Law of Trusts and Trustees (Butterworths, 1878), and we think with great success. Starting with the necessary definitions, he proceeds to throw the law into the shape of articles, after the fashion of a code, and appends to each article such observations and illustrations as may seem required to elucidate the law, thus acting avowedly on Sir James Stephen's dictum, that "the innumerable cases which at first sight appear to constitute the law, are really no more than illustrations of a comparatively small number of principles."

Mr. G. F. Chambers has brought out two new volumes. In his Law Relating to Highways and Bridges and the Lighting of Rural Parishes (Stevens and Sons, 1878), while so much is made of the Watching and Lighting Act, 3 & 4 Wm. IV., we are surprised to find so little said of the power of rural authorities to become urban authorities, in which case the Act of Wm. IV. is superseded by the Public Health Act, 1875. The other volume contains the Law Relating to Rates and Rating (Stevens and Sons, 1878). In both the most striking feature may be said to be the pictorial illustrations, the Royal Arms, with lion and unicorn complete, being depicted on page after page, while the

Digest, or what constitutes a Digest in Mr. Chambers's eyes, occupies a relatively small space.

Leading Statutes Summarised (Stevens & Haynes, 1878), by Ernest C. Thomas, late Bacon Scholar of Gray's Inn, will doubtless prove of much use to students, for whom it is in tended. The principal Acts in the Statute Book are grouped under the two main divisions of (I.) Common Law (with Bankruptcy and Criminal Law), and (II.) Equity and Conveyancing. Within these divisions the arrangement seems to us somewhat confused, being what the author terms "chronological, except that statutes on the same subject are collected together where the subject is first handled." A strictly topical arrangement would have been far preferable. Still, any student who with. this brief summary as a guide, carefully studies the actual enactments themselves in the Revised Edition of the Statutes cannot fail to gain a very considerable acquaintance with every branch of English Law.

Messrs. Henderson, Gillespie, and Johnston, have brought out the concluding Part of their valuable Analytical Digest of Cases decided in the Supreme Courts in Scotland, and on Appeal in the House of Lords (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1878). The present and concluding part commences with the peculiarly Scotch title of "Service of Heirs," and practically concludes with the important subject of "Writs." The very full Index appended enables the reader to see at once the Report, or Reports, to which he is referred from the Digest, and under the heading "Statute" will be found a list of Laws from 1469 to 1876, with the numbers of the relative cases. The work, as now completed, forms a useful addition to legal literature.

Mr. Darcy B. Wilson, M.A., of Balliol College, Oxford, Barrister-at-Law, has brought together in the compass of a very handy little volume the Law and Practice under the Bills of Sale Acts, 1854, 1866, and 1878 (Law Times Office, 1879). The annotation of the Act of 1878 commences on p. 21, and from that page to the close there will be found constant references to cases, notes, illustrative or declaratory of the Law, and precedents well arranged for readiness of reference. The Agricultural, Mechanical, and Mineral interests are duly represented in the precedents, as well as the more ordinary requirements of everyday life.

Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, B.A., Barrister-at-Law, whose name

will be familiar to readers of the Law Magazine and Review, and who has made himself a position as an authority on Sanitary Law, publishes in a most portable form a small volume of Notes of Statutes and Legal Decisions affecting the Public Health Act, 1875, from 1875 to 1878 inclusive (Longmans, 1879). Those who possess Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald's Edition of the Act of 1875 will not fail to procure this useful, we might say, indispensable sequel.

Mr. H. H. Walker, of the Judgment Department, Exchequer Division, is from his official status eminently well qualified to deal with the subject which he undertakes to illustrate in his Practice on Signing Judgment in the High Court of Justice (Stevens & Sons, 1879). The last thirty pages of his book are devoted to Forms. We cannot say that we like the formula “J. Lindley," and "J. Blackburn," which Mr. Walker employs instead of the usual "Lindley, J." and "Blackburn, J." There is no saving of space, while there is the obvious inconvenience of the apparent introduction of the initial of a Christian name.

Mr. Wyatt Hart and Mr. E. Eiloart, Barristers-at-Law, have devoted themselves to the extraction from recent Judgments of the Rules now obtaining in the High Court of Justice relating to the Law of Discovery and Inspection (W. Maxwell & Son, 1879). Wherever the Rules thus formulated have appeared to require comment, this has been added beneath the text by the editors, who deserve praise for the care which they have bestowed on a work which they have yet brought within pocket dimensions.

Mr. G. Manly Wetherfield's Concise View of Liquidations and Compositions (Longmans, 1878) has reached a second edition, in which he has included a Precedent of a Solicitor's Bill of Costs under sec. 126 of the Bankruptcy Act, 1869.

From the Delegates of the University Press, Oxford, we receive a new instalment of the Select Titles from the Digest, edited by Professor Holland and Mr. Shadwell (Part IV., No. 1. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1878). The present issue contains the first portion of those Titles which deal with the Law of Obligations, and extends as far as xlv. 1, "De Verborum Obligationibus.” Having on a previous occasion indicated the points on which we differ from the judgment of the learned editors in their present recension, we need only say that in all other respects

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