test.

remarkable career. The son of a hairdresser, he was, according to one story, put into the law because he had "no genius" for his father's profession. The publication of his first book, the Law of Vendors and Purchasers, at once brought him a large business. He "awoke to find himself famous and his table loaded with abstracts of title and cases for opinion:" and success seems to have been nearly as rapid when he decided to go to the Bar. His first attempts to enter Parliament were not equally successful: he failed in his efforts to represent Sussex and Shoreham, and only got in for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis after a severe and expensive conHe was probably not an ideal candidate. We are told that "his manner was self-assured to the verge of annoyance, while a monotonous delivery and a shrill voice which sometimes rose almost to a scream, were not rendered the more acceptable by a rapidity of utterance which frequently baffled the reporters." There is an amusing account of his relations with Brougham when the latter was first Chancellor. He was twice Lord Chancellor of Ireland, once of England, and declined it a second time. He carried some useful reforms in the law and was long "regarded in his own province as an almost infallible oracle of law." He died "the Nestor of the profession." within a few weeks of completing his ninety-third year. Lord Chelmsford, after having for a short time tried the Navy, was saved by the entreaties of Mr. Godfrey Sykes, an eminent special pleader, from going to the West Indian Bar and wasting "his abilities on the planters and mariners of St. Vincent." His first successes were made at the Surrey Sessions, and it is interesting to note that he purchased for £2,000 a place at the Bar of the Palace Court, made so notorious by Jacob Omnium, and was one of the four counsel who " owe their places to their money, not their wits." His success on the Home Circuit was not rapid; it was five years before he got a brief in a civil cause. His first great case was when he defended Hunt, who was charged along with Thurtell and Probert for the murder of Weare; but the case that really made him was, according to Mr. Atlay, an ejectment case, the name of which he does not give, and which was tried no less than three times. It was tried at Chelmsford, and Thesiger, in memory of this, took his title from that town. He had a large Parliamentary practice at one time, and nearly gave up his other work, but was dissuaded by Sir George Rose, who advised him, "Don't take to the House line, stick to the Road." He was a very successful advocate,

but was perhaps less successful as a debater and a judge. Lord Selborne's rather prejudiced judgment was: "He performed his part in the Court of Chancery as well as most Common law Chancellors." We have no space to refer to Mr. Atlay's full accounts of Lord Westbury or Lord Selborne, but we should like to give a few quotations from his account of Lord Cairns, about whom less has been written. He was one of the most successful of lawyer-politicians. To his Party, badly matched with the debating power of parliamentary liberalism in the years before the Reform Bill of 1867, "this calm, unimpassioned lawyer from Ulster, with his remorseless logic, his complete command of language, and the imponderable strength of a great personality, was indeed a very present help in trouble." Mr. Atlay defends him from the criticism of Mr. Bryce, who accuses him of having been not merely a Party man, but a partisan, by saying, "But to many, and to myself among the number, it will always seem that his outlook on matters of national and imperial policy was bolder and more far-seeing than that of Mr. Bryce." It is tempting to quote more from this and other lives, but we must refrain and refer our readers to search Mr. Atlay's pages for themselves. Short and appreciative sketches of the careers of Lord Halsbury and Lord Herschell complete the cycle of Victorian Chancellors. It is gratifying to us to find frequent references to earlier numbers of this Magazine; and an indignant protest is quoted from it of the large use made by Lord Campbell, in his Lives of the Chancellors, of articles from the Law Magazine without acknowledgment.

Real Property. By A. F. TOPHAM, LL.M. worth & Co.

1908.

London: Butter

This is intended as a book for students, and the Author believes that, as regards the law of the present day, it "will probably be found sufficient in itself for the purpose of the Law Special at Cambridge and other similar pass examinations." It does not, however, deal fully enough with the history of the law to be sufficient for honour students, and so far is only intended as "a first explanation," and an introduction to such a work as Williams on Real Property. The book strikes us as a good one for students so far as it goes. The language is always clear, the arrangement judicious, and the rules given are well and frequently illustrated. We are not sure that the Author might not with advantage have cut down even the history of the law he does give us. Portions of

the Principal Statutory Provisions relating to Real Property are given in Chapter XXXVI, and Mr. F. P. Fausset has contributed some test questions which should be useful to students.

International Documents. By E. A. WHITTUCK, B.C.L. London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1908.

Mr. Whittuck has made a valuable collection of what he describes as law-making treaties, which he thinks may be regarded as "the statutory part" of the law of nations. This statute-making had its great impulse at the Congress of Paris 1856, and has recently been much developed by the Hague Conferences. The treaties are set out in French and English. The English translation is mostly taken from the official English translation, though in some cases an independent version is substituted. Part I contains the Declaration of Paris 1856; the Convention of Geneva 1864; Additional Articles 1868; and the Declaration of St. Petersburg. Part II consists of the Hague Peace Conference 1899 and the Geneva Convention 1906. Part III contains the Acts of the Conference of 1907. In a most valuable Introduction Mr. Whittuck discusses shortly the different treaties, and points out how they affect or modify each other. The Acts of the Hague Conference 1907 he examines one by one, and points out what different views were expressed, and how far agreement was arrived at. On some points, such as the immunity of the private property of a belligerent at sea, and the question of contraband, the Conference could not agree on conventions. Reduction of military armaments could not be approached. The result was thirteen Conventions and one Declaration. Most of these have been since signed with or without reservations, but the Convention relative to the establishment of an International Prize Court has not yet been signed by Great Britain, who has till the 30th June, 1909, to do so. Many disappointments were caused by the result of the Conference, one of the chief being the meagre results of the discussion on automatic mines. The propositions for the establishment of a new Court of Arbitral Justice, and for compulsory arbitration in certain cases, failed to be embodied in Conventions. It is rather a pity Mr. Whittuck did not delay the issue of his work till he could give us a complete table of signatures and réserves up to the 30th June, 1908, instead of the incomplete table on pages 229-234. The whole forms, however, a body of International Documents of the highest value, the examination of which is much aided by Mr. Whittuck's Introduction.

International Law applied to the Russo-Japanese War. By SAKUYÉ TAKAHASHI, LL.D. London: Stevens & Sons. 1908.

Professor Takahashi, who is a Vice-President of the International Law Association, and an acknowledged authority on the Law of Nations, published at the close of the war with China a volume dealing with points which arose in that conflict. The more recent war with Russia is the occasion of the present work. It is divided into five parts, of which the last is devoted to a report of the many cases decided in the Japanese Prize Courts. The four previous sections are respectively concerned with the topics of Commencement of Hostilities, Land Warfare, Naval Warfare, and Neutrality. Under each main division the various ramifications of the different topics are discussed in separate chapters. The arrangement is admirable, and the facts of every case (and none, however insignificant, appears to have been overlooked) are set forth with the utmost precision and detail. Documents and State papers are quoted verbatim. It is for the sake of the facts thus minutely and officially reported that the volume is so exceedingly valuable. Professor Takahashi does not refrain from expressing his own views on occasion, but in the main he limits his rôle to that of a chronicler. The whole work is packed full of the most interesting and authentic information. It is perhaps a pity that it must inevitably wear the colour of an ex parte statement. The conduct of the Japanese was so immeasurably superior to that of the Russians that it might well. have been the part of an entirely neutral observer to record it. On the questions raised by the events of which Professor Takahashi is the historian we must refrain from entering here. We have not even space to indicate many which must be new to Western lawyers. It can only be said that there is here material afforded for a library of monographs. Important matters outside the sphere of law, such as, for instance, the best lights for hospital ships to display, are also the subject of careful memoranda. We will allow ourselves the observation that the statement (p. 487) that "International law imposes an obligation upon a neutral government to prevent its subjects from selling any war materials to either party of the belligerents" is clearly open to grave exception. It would amount to requiring neutrals to stop contraband traffic, and this is certainly not their duty. Apparently the book has not been very carefully revised for press by the six gentlemen who assisted in that process. At p. 488, The Franche-Comté ought seemingly to follow the

succeeding two lines. On p. xii (and elsewhere), "Old Hamia" should be one word, and "Tetatos," Tetartos. On p. 370 the report of Pavlof v. Ward abruptly determines, without any note of the decision, and seems to be resumed on p. 402. On p. 641, the heading "Decision of the Higher Prize Court" is wrong, The section relating to the armistice in N. Korea is couched in the present tense. Misprints of less importance are not infrequent. We must not close without calling attention to the tabular statements in which the exact particulars of merchant ships attacked by Russian vessels, and the damage done in each case, are recorded: also the offences committed by prisoners of war, the articles forwarded through the Prisoners' Effects Bureau, and many other valuable statistics. To the jurist, to the naval or military officer, to the anthropologist, and indeed to every serious reader, Dr. Takahashi's book of 805 closely printed pages recommends itself by its own merit.

The Law and Practice of Civil Proceedings by and against the Crown. By G. S. ROBERTSON, M.A. London Stevens & Sons. 1908.

It has been an open secret in legal circles for some considerable time past that Mr. Robertson was preparing the work under review, and much curiosity was aroused regarding the lines upon which he would carry it out. The subject has never before been treated of in its entirety, so that in reviewing this work one has no standard for comparison. In the year 1820 Chitty wrote a book on the Prerogative of the Crown, which contained two chapters only dealing with proceedings by and against the Crown. We find parts of this great subject dealt with by such writers as West, Serjeant Manning, Fowler and Clode. In the Annual Practice of 1908 Mr. J. Johnston. gave an outline of Revenue Practice. In the present work we find a complete survey of this intricate and technical branch of law. The treatise is divided into seven books, each one of which might well have furnished sufficient matter for a text-book. Civil proceedings by and against the Crown, Members of the Royal Family, and Government Departments are dealt with in the first book. Therein in rapid survey pass the individuals composing the Royal Family, together with their several official representatives. Next appear the several Government Departments, so numerous as to occupy two and a-half pages of the list of contents. Proceedings on the Revenue side of the King's Bench Division is the subject of the