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and prosperous, he lent timely and generous aid when they most needed it; and the collection of works of art and virtù with which his chambers in Gray's Inn were filled, afforded evidence of his refined taste and acquaintance with these subjects.

There are not a few-we wish there were more-in the legal profession at the present day, whose habits and tastes lead them to cultivate both science and art, and who delight in the studies and recreations which formed the chief pleasure of Mr. Broderip. But we could not name another so fortunate and successful in combining these with the performance of the active duties of the business of life. The allurements of preferment, the sæva necessitas of professional avocations, and the whirl of politics, generally prevent this combination; and it is therefore the more delightful to witness the almost exceptional case of a man like Broderip. He died somewhat suddenly on the 27th of February last, at the age of seventy, in his chambers at Gray's Inn; nor will the peculiar place which he occupied in metropolitan society be easily refilled.

Notices of New Books.

[*** It should be understood that the notices of new works forwarded to us for review, and which appear in this part of the Magazine, do not preclude our recurring to them at greater length, and in a more elaborate form, in a subsequent number, when their character and importance seem to require it.]

A Hand-book of the Law of Scotland, adapted to the use of the General Public, and of Students and Strangers. By James Lorimer, Advocate. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. London: Stevens & Norton, and Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., 1859.

THIS book contains a popular account of the law of Scotland, and as such will be found useful to those classes for whom the author intends it. Its arrangement is simple, and its statement of the law sufficiently exact and extensive for the purposes of the stranger and the student.

Perhaps, in theory, one might hold that the law of Great Britain and Ireland ought to be uniform. But practically it is found much better that the jurisprudence of countries should be in harmony with the habits, history, and feelings of the inhabitants; and it is therefore desirable, as the law and procedure of Scotland and England have been, are, and will be different, that the lawyer and educated man of each land should at least know something of that which is in operation amongst his neighbours. Each may learn in his neighbour's system something whereby his own may be improved. We may be prejudiced to what we have been most accustomed, or be too patient of inconveniences which we have long been doomed to endure. In either case a consideration of the experience of others is a wholesome process. It cannot fail to be instructive to observe the differences subsisting in the common law of England and Scotland respectively. Some of the points in the latter are amusing to the Southerners. In the chapter upon "Master and Servant,

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we find decisions on points of detail of a curious character. Thus it is laid down (§ 580), that "the master is in no case bound to assign any reason for a command which is lawful in itself, and within the fair meaning of the contract, and it is an act of disobedience on the servant's part to insist for such reasons before performing what he is commanded." This must be a sad regulation to those of the rather large class of Scotch people of all degrees, who delight in what the Germans call "raisonieren," which is something like "argufying" with us. We find, moreover, that the master has a right of regulating the hours of sleeping and church-going, which we take to be an unreasonable interference with the pious but somnolent members of the Kirk. Again, in the case of Hamilton v. M'Lean, it was laid down that—" a female servant having fallen sick, her master administered calomel to her on a Sunday, and commanded her to stay at home. Notwithstanding this, she went to church, on the ground that, by the custom of the place, she was entitled to her Sunday out.' The master dismissed her, and the court held him entitled to do so." The arguments on this point must have been very edifying. So also those in Philips v. Juner, when it was decided in the House of Lords, on appeal reversing the judgment of the Second Division, that a barber's apprentice is not bound to shave his master's customers on Sunday morning, shaving being an act neither of "mercy nor necessity," but only of cleanliness and comfort, or even perhaps of mere worldly vanity. In Mr. Lorimer's little work will be found, by those seeking it, much information in a small compass, and sufficient for many purposes of the "student and stranger.'

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Commentaries on the Criminal Law. By Joel Prentiss Bishop. Vol. II., second edition, revised and enlarged. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1859.

MR. BISHOP'S Commentaries on the Criminal Law have apparently reached a second edition, though we have not seen a copy of the first volume of the new edition. We have already expressed our favourable opinion of the work before us, and opportunity will

probably soon occur when we shall undertake the consideration of some of the topics the author has handled, and we shall then be able to enter upon a more extended notice of his views, and the result of his labour. We see from his preface that Mr. Bishop intends to publish shortly two more volumes, which shall include pleading, practice, and evidence in criminal courts, and thus complete a valuable treatise, which we shall then be glad to introduce again to English students.

Popular Tables, Arranged in a New Form, giving Information at Sight for Ascertaining, according to the Carlisle Table of Mortality, the Value of Lifehold, Leasehold, and Church Property, Renewal Fines, &c., the Public Funds Annual Average Price, and Interest on Consols from 1731 to 1858; also various Interesting and Useful Tables, equally adapted to the Office and the Library Table. By Charles M. Willich, Actuary and Secretary to the University Life Assurance Society. Fourth Edition. London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, 1859.

THIS excellent little volume is, for many of the practical purposes of the office, the best we have met with. Most lawyers have to consider an infinite variety of cases concerning investments, the interests of parties, the value of lives and of reversions, &c.; whilst some of our fraternity, who are much occupied with assurance offices, banks, and building societies, ought to be perfectly acquainted with the principles which govern their operation, and further, should possess the means of solving, easily and rapidly, any particular problem which may occur in business.

We extract from Mr. Willich's preface the following remarks as to some of the objects and contents of his volume :-" Investment of Capital―The most important to the man of business, are the new tables IV., VI., and VII., which show the prices which may be paid for property depending on the duration of life, so that the purchaser may receive a certain high rate of interest on the capital invested, while the re-investments to re-place capita are calculated on an average, to be made at 3 per cent. It may be unnecessary to point out to a purchaser of annuities, whether

depending on life or for a fixed term of years, the great advantage it is, to be enabled to ascertain at sight what the price should be, so that he may enjoy 5 or 6 per cent., according to the description of property purchased, and to know that the price paid will afford him that interest, should the re-investments to re-place capital be made at not less than 3 per cent. I incline to the opinion, that, if we take all circumstances into consideration, a purchaser cannot safely calculate on a greater average rate." Expectation of Life.-Law of Mortality.-For several years my attention has been directed to the subject of an approximation to a law of mortality. In 1857, I submitted to the meeting of the British Association a paper, proposing a simple formula for determining the expectation of life between the ages of 5 and viz. :

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60, "If a

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"Then (81-a) = expectation, or years of after lifetime.

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"The results obtained by the use of this formula correspond very nearly, for a lengthened period, with the expectation deduced from the Carlisle Table of Mortality.

"Bank Discounts.-The change which takes place in the value of money is of the highest importance, at it affects all the transactions of the world. I have therefore prepared a statement, obtained from many authentic sources, embracing the last fourteen years, from 1844 to 1858. This table includes the various rates of discount adopted by the Bank of England, and on each of the respective dates the amount of bank-notes issued or in reserve, with the amount of bullion held, and the price of 3 per cent. stock on that particular day. I have also added the average price of wheat in each year. This table presents at one view the progress of the money market during fourteen years, and how it was affected by the panics, the war with Russia, and the Indian mutiny."

The tables giving the value, according to the Carlisle tables of mortality, of reversionary estates, are both copious and well arranged, and the miscellaneous information connected with the subjects of coin, currency, prices, &c., is well presented in Mr. Willich's pages.

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