which of Banks is examined with care. The learned Author is not slow to point out practices and beliefs on the part of Bankers which he believes to be unsound. He refers to the "common superstition among Bankers that the collecting Banker is not concerned with the indorsement on an order cheque," and gives instances where omissions in consequence have been treated as negligence. The practice of Bankers to require the ostensible payee to sign on back of cheque he considers not only "without justification," but of very doubtful utility. A very interesting chapter is that on "valuables for safe custody," and Sir John supports the view adopted by the Central Association of Bankers. Second Edition. 1909. Supplement to the Judicial Dictionary. By F. STROUD. London: Sweet & Maxwell. This supplement brings down the decisions comprised in the second edition of Mr. Stroud's well-known work to the end of the year 1906. Later references are introduced because they were decided in the first instance before that date and afterwards heard on appeal, or because they are of exceptional importance. Mr. Stroud is also in this volume making a strenuous endeavour to further the complete union of England and Scotland by including "the definitions of English Affairs which have been given by the Scottish Judges." A very considerable number of references will have to be added to the former volumes, and with this one Mr. Stroud has supplied an ingenious marker, with marks and figures which form a gauge to find any particular line in the Judicial Dictionary. Among the many decisions, one strikes us as, at first sight, rather quaint, namely, that a dog does not walk when he goes on three legs. As might be expected, there are several references to Workmen, but we have not found any to "Casual" or "Whisky." Over both these words there has been much discussion, but we do not think any decision was given by a superior Court as to the latter word. Second Edition. The Companies Act 1907 and the Limited Partnerships Act 1907. By Sir F. BEAUFORT PALMER. London: Stevens & Sons. 1908. The recent Companies Act has made so many important changes in the law that it is well to have an interpreter to it. It would be impossible to have a better interpreter than Sir Francis Palmer who combines the advantage of an unrivalled knowledge of Company law with that of having been a member of the Departmental Committee of the Board of Trade, of whose report the Act was an outcome. The Act begins by dealing with prospectusless Companies, and requiring them to file a statement in lieu of prospectus analogous to the information required from companies that issue prospectuses. As a specimen of a note we call the reader's attention to that on (2) "The above enactment is a specimen of the worst style of Parliamentary drafting, and it is no easy matter even for a lawyer to translate its obscurity into plain English. Apparently it should be read as if the words following were added after the last word," and here follows over a page of provisions. The law as to payment of commission for underwriting shares is altered, but the note points out that a perfectly free hand is not given to vendors, etc. By removing doubts as to the validity of perpetual debentures, the Act "over-rides an antiquated rule of equity and brings the law into accord with what has been the practice." Another provision of importance is that which enables a company which pays off debentures to keep the same alive for re-issue. Probably the two other most important sections are those authorising payment of interest out of capital during construction of works, and enabling a company to enforce specific performance of a contract to take debentures. The Limited Partnerships Act 1907 is subjected to rather severe criticism, and the Author considers, "not without some reason," that it "falls very short of a workable scheme, and that the facilities afforded by it compare unfavourably with those afforded by the Companies Acts." Third Edition. Simpson on the Law of Infants. By E. J. ELGOOD, B.C.L., M.A. London: Stevens & Haynes. 1909. The Law of Children and Young Persons. By L. A. Atherley JONES, K.C., M.P., and H. H. L. BELLOT, D.C.L., with an introduction by the Right Honourable H. GLADSTONE, M.P. London: Butterworth & Co. 1909. Mr. Elgood edited Mr. Simpson's work so long ago as 1890, and it is not surprising that considerable additions have been made in the present edition. As some of the statutes affecting the subject passed since 1890, Mr. Elgood mentions the Custody of Children Act 1891, the Trustee Act 1893, the Sale of Goods Act 1893, and the Married Women's Property Act 1907. Many more statutes might be mentioned, such as the Betting and Loans (Infants) Act 1892, the Dangerous Performances Act 1897, and the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act 1904, which, with others, are referred to in the body of the work. The main subject of the treatise being what we may perhaps call the civil position of children, no detailed references are given to the penal Acts, with the exception of some references to the Cruelty to Children Act 1904. There is no reference to the recent and important Children Act 1908, as it only received the Royal Assent on December 21st 1908. The work is divided into four parts. Part I deals with the capacities and incapacities of infants. In this part is considered the much debated subject of "Necessaries." Part II-Parent and Child -is concerned mostly with the rights of the parents, and judicial and legislative interference with them. Part III-Guardian and Ward is by far the longest part, and deals very fully with such subjects as maintenance, advancement, marriage, and the duties of guardians as to their wards' property. The concluding part is concerned with procedure. A large number of decisions has been incorporated in this edition, and the whole forms a complete digest of the law on the subject. As Mr. Elgood's book gives the civil aspect of the status of infants, that by Mr. Atherley Jones and Mr. Bellot gives the penal aspect, both as regards the protection of the young and their punishment and reformation. It is of course largely concerned with the Act of 1908, "the Magna Charta of Children," and the Authors are sufficiently sanguine to hope that "if local authorities efficiently discharge their duties under this statute, the cruel treatment and wilful neglect to which child life has hitherto been exposed will henceforth be impossible. The text of the work may be said to be this Act with copious notes and references to Cases and such statutes as the Criminal Law Amendment Act; but between Part II and Part III are interpellated three chapters on the Custody and Guardianship of Infants, Employment of Children and Young Persons, and Offences against Children and Young Persons. The first of these chapters deals with a difficult subject in what strikes us as an excellent manner. The Children Act is then resumed with Part III. The rest of the work is entirely taken up with the remaining parts of the Act, of which the most important are those dealing with Reformatory and Industrial Schools and Juvenile Offenders. The Appendix contains the Prevention of Crimes Act 1908, Probation of Offenders Act 1907, and the Criminal Evidence Act 1908. The numerous important provisions contained in the Act well deserve close attention, and the learned Authors are entitled to thanks for their efforts to facilitate the perusal. Third Edition. The Law and Custom of the Constitution. Vol. 2. With this volume Sir William Anson completes his survey of the Departments of Government, their constitution and working, and of the relations of the Crown to the Church and the Courts. After a short introduction on the growth of the Departments, and how an ignorant minister is supplied with advice and information, the Author treats concisely, but clearly, the various Dominions and Dependencies of the Crown. There is a short chapter on the Crown and Foreign Relations; and the remaining chapters are on the Revenues of the Crown and their Expenditure, the Armed Forces of the Crown, the Crown and Churches and the Crown and the Courts. All these chapters combine an historical résumé with details of modern constitution and working. The whole work is one of authority, and an invaluable work for reference on all subjects connected with the Constitution. Third Edition. Foreign Judgments and Jurisdiction. By Sir F. T. PIGGOTT, M.A., LL.M. London: Butterworth & Co. 1908. Nothing more elaborate could be imagined than Sir F. T. Piggott's book. He penetrates into every ramification of the subject; and if his work has not the same lucidity and coherence as mark that which he has published on Exterritorial Jurisdiction, it is in part due to the way in which the ground is encumbered with decaying cases. Perhaps it may be partly due, however, to the scientific zeal with which the Author digs down to the very foundations of the law; a process which is apt to result in unsettling them. The complexity of the subject is enormous, and its intricacy may be measured by the fact that a Colonial judgment, approved by the Privy Council, might conceivably be ignored, as proceeding upon wrong views of jurisdiction, by every Court in England. The present edition is practically a new book. The revolutionary Faridkôt case is accorded the serious importance it deserves and the Author draws attention to a case of In re King (40 W. R. 508) which appears to dictate a general power of English jurisdiction over the whole world in respect of rights registered in terms of any English statute. At p. 230 he is open to the charge of confusing Public International law with Private; but in general his doctrine is as sound as his research is exhaustive. We do not observe that Lett v. Lett (See L. M. & R., Aug. 1906, p. 472), has been noted by the Author when dealing with restraint of foreign proceedings. He regards Carron Iron Co. v. Maclaren as of comparatively little authority since Ellis v. McHenry; we trust with reason. The difficulties of proof-correction from Hong Kong must be great, and in spite of a free use of inserted slips, and a generous list of errata, trifling typographical errors occur on many pages. Third Edition. Modern or Equitable Estoppel and Res Judicata. By A. CASPERSZ, B.A. Calcutta: S. K. Lahiri & Co. 1909. The plan of dividing the treatise into two parts, each part with a separate Table of Contents, Table of Cases, and Index, is hardly to be commended, and one fails to see any advantage in the system adopted. The first part deals with "The doctrine of changed situations," and the second with "The conclusiveness of judgments, decrees and orders." Twelve years have elapsed since the second edition was printed, and the learned Author has found it necessary to largely augment his List of Cases. Naturally, such local idiosyncracies of Native law as Adoption, the Hindu Widow, and the Joint family, produce the evolution of principles unfamiliar to the English practitioner, but taking it as a whole, there seems little difference between the law of Estoppel as administered in India and in England. We gather that the two former editions have met with considerable success in India, and see no reason why the present one should not do the same. The work is based on the Tajou lectures of 1893, and Mr. Caspersz appears to have exercised no small amount of research, comprehension and industry, in preparing this treatise. Third Edition. Anglo-Muhammadan Law. By Sir R. KNYVET WILSON, Bart., M.A., LL.M. London: Thacker & Co. 1908. The present edition has been so extensively revised that the whole character of the work has been altered. In the Preface the learned Author-who was reader in Indian law at Cambridge Universityhas enumerated the various decisions during the last five years which merit special mention, but as to their general effect the uninitiated reader is quite unable to judge. Even to the casual reader the historical and descriptive introduction must present many attractions. It is a miniature history of Islam in India, the origin and development of Muhammadan law, both before and after English rule was |