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their subordinates, ought to take some trouble to acquire a knowledge of their rights and duties), Under-Sheriffs, and lawyers generally, will find this a useful book to have by them, both for perusal and reference.

Roscoe's Digest of the Law of Evidence on the Trial of Actions at Nisi Prius. Fourteenth Edition. By JOHN C. DAY, Esq., one of Her Majesty's Counsel, and MAURICE POWELL, M.A., of the Inner Temple, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, late Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge. Stevens & Sons. 1879.

The Fourteenth Edition of this standard work, which may be said to be an indispensable adjunct to every Common Law barrister's library, is the first which contains the numerous alterations and additions necessitated by the changes in pleading and practice under the Judicature Acts and Rules. The task of adapting the old text to the new procedure was one requiring much patient labour, careful accuracy, and conciseness, as well as discretion in the omission of matter obsolete or unnecessary. An examination of the bulky volume before us affords good evidence of the possession of these qualities by the present Editors, and we feel sure that the popularity of the work will continue unabated under their conscientious care. Notwithstanding the large amount of new matter, including brief statements of the equity rules on equitable points likely to arise under the Judicature Acts, at Nisi Prius, Messrs. Day and Powell have contrived, by judicious excision and compression, to restrain the size of the volume within its former limits, and even slightly to reduce it. In the preparation of the Index, which alone occupies nearly three hundred pages, and in the collation of cases cited (which fill seventy-eight pages) the Editors have had the advantage of Mr. Tudor Boddam's assistance.

The Patentee's Manual, being a Treatise on the Law and Practice of Letters Patent. By JAMES JOHNSON, of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law, and J. HENRY JOHNSON, Assoc. Inst. C.E., Solicitor and Patent Agent. Fourth Edition. Longmans, Green & Co. 1879.

This, the fourth and much enlarged edition of "Johnson's Patentee's Manual," leaves little if anything to be desired in a work of this character. The position of the authors, the one

a Barrister, the other a Solicitor, Patent Agent, and Associate of the Institute of Civil Engineers, affords them a special facility for treating the subject of Patent Law from a comprehensive standpoint, in its legal and scientific, its theoretical and practical aspects. The work is indeed not only instructive but interesting reading, owing to the many inventions which are briefly described in illustration, mainly from decided cases, of the incidents of utility and novelty which must by law accompany patentable inventions. Both patentees, and Inventors who seek to become such, will find in this volume full information of a practical character as to what may be the subject of a patent; who may be a patentee; the requirements as to provisional and complete specification; oppositions to the grants of patents (a new and useful chapter added to this edition); disclaimers; confirmation; extension or prolongation; assignments; infringements (both as to Practice and the Substantive Law); and as to many other topics connected with Patents and Patent Law. The legal part of the work shows evidence of much care, the latest decisions being noted, and for the most part the ipsissima verba of important judgments being given. Members of both branches of the profession, who may have occasion to get up Patent Law and Practice, will find this manual a valuable aid. In the Appendix is given a reprint of all the Acts of Parliament, from the Statute of Monopolies of 21 Jac. I., c. 3 downwards, together with a most useful collection of concise resumés of the Patent Laws of foreign countries, and of our own Colonies. The special attention of inventors is drawn by the authors to the recent very important Patent Law for the whole Empire of Germany, which came into operation on July 1st, 1877, by virtue of which a single patent may now be obtained where formerly many were requisite, and those difficult of procurement.

SMALLER BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.

In Auctioneers: their Duties and Liabilities (Crosby Lockwood and Co., 1879) Mr. Robert Squibb has provided for his brothers of the hammer and their pupils a work" of a semi-legal character," consisting mainly of extracts from reported cases and legal text-books illustrating the various legal duties and liabilities of auctioneers, together with much useful information on Valuing, on Tithes and House Agency, &c. The work will probably

prove acceptable to those for whom it is intended, but on the principle ne sutor ultra crepidam we think it is a pity that Mr. Squibb did not secure the co-operation of some member of the profession to revise the strictly legal portion of his book: had he done so, we should probably have been spared such choice specimens of what we presume is intended for Latinity as "sub hastem venire," atria auctianoria," "reduction ad absurdam," tenant "in capiti," Statute "De Denis," Statute "de prerogative."

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In the second edition of his "Digest of the Law relating to Public Libraries and Museums" (Stevens & Sons, 1879), Mr. G. F. Chambers has extended its scope so as to include the Law relating to all kinds of institutions connected with Literature, Science and Art. The statutes are given in full, together with brief notes of leading cases; and there is also much other information of a practical nature which managers and officers of clubs and associations will find very handy in its collected form.

Mr. James Walter may claim to have anticipated to some extent the practice of stating the law in the form of a Digest, of which we have lately had several examples. The first edition of his Manual of the Statutes of Limitations, published in 1862, attracted the favourable notice of Lord St. Leonards. A third edition (London: Wyman & Sons, 1879) is now called for, and we can confidently recommend it to those who wish to see at a glance the substance and effect of recent changes in this very important branch of the law. Mr. Walter has arranged the provisions of all the Limitation Statutes in tabular form, stating against each head of the subject the rule of Limitation by which it is governed. Laymen in particular will be grateful for what in effect is a Dictionary of a very difficult series of Acts.

**

* Pressure on our space compels us to postpone several Reviews, including the second Vol. of Sir Travers Twiss's "Bracton," just published, as well as our usual "Quarterly Notes" and "Select Cases"

THE

LAW MAGAZINE AND REVIEW.

No. CCXXXIII.-AUGUST, 1879.

I. THE LAW OF PERSONAL CAPACITY AS APPLIED TO CONTRACT.

A

STATEMENT of Lord Justice Cotton in a recent

judgment delivered by him as the judgment of the Court of Appeal, the other Judges being Lords Justices James and Baggallay, has been commented on with considerable severity by two writers; Mr. Foote in his book on Private International Law and Mr. Patrick Fraser in his great work on the Scotch Law of Husband and Wife. The case which the Appeal Court had to decide was whether a marriage solemnized in England between two Portuguese subjects, domiciled in Portugal and first cousins to each other, was valid, first cousins being by the law of Portugal incapable of marrying, and a marriage between them being held to be incestuous and therefore null and void. The Court of Appeal decided that the marriage was null and void, apparently on the ground that the question of personal capacity must be decided by the law of domicile, and in the course of the judgment, Lord Justice Cotton, as reported, said, "It is a well recognised principle of law that the question of personal capacity to enter into any contract is to be decided by the law of domicile."* It is to this statement that Mr. Foote and Mr. Fraser have taken objection, on the ground that the principle stated has never been recognized by the Courts of this country.

*Sottomayor v. De Barros, L.R. 3 P.D. 1.

Now, I have no intention here of entering into the question whether it is proper to treat marriage as a contract, or to decide the validity of marriages by the light of principles which are applicable to contracts, or whether a law prohibiting the marriage of first cousins. has anything to do with personal capacity. All I propose to consider is, what is the true application of International Law to personal capacity, what are the different theories which have been held on the subject, which of them prevails on the Continent, which in England, and how far Lord Justice Cotton's statement is correct.

In the first place, it must be borne in mind that personal capacity, which means the capacity of a person to take rights and to incur duties, is a part, and only a part of personal status. The status of an individual, says Lord Justice Brett, in the recent case of Niboyet v. Niboyet (L.R. 4 P.D. 1), " means the legal position of the individual in or with regard to the rest of the community." According to Austin it signifies the set of rights and duties, and the capacities and incapacities to incur them, affecting and peculiar to a particular class of persons. It will be seen that to make the two definitions quadrate, "an "an individual ". must be substituted in Austin's definition for "and peculiar to a particular class of persons." But whether "status" be taken to signify the rights, &c., of each individual citizen, or whether it be more correctly limited to the rights, &c., of particular classes, such as husband and wife, infant, or trader, does not matter for the purpose of the present discussion. For our purpose the "status" of an individual may be defined as the sum of his rights, duties, capacities and incapacities.

The question will thus assume this form: What is the true principle of International Law with regard to personal status? Have statutes which affect it an extra-territorial or only a territorial force ? Is it governed by the lex

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