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A TREATISE ON THE MODERN LAW OF EVIDENCE. By CHARLES FREDERIC CHAMBERLAYNE, Esquire, of the Boston and New York Bars. Vol V., Media of Proof. Matthew Bender & Company, Inc. Albany, N. Y. 1916.

This second posthumous volume of the late Mr. Chamberlayne's great work on evidence is edited by Mr. Howard C. Joyce, author of a number of well-known law books. By taking up the various media of proof, such as Public Documents, Judicial Records, Official Registers, Private Documents, Evidence by Perception, Witnesses and other related matters, a broad and thorough survey of practical value is given. Each chapter is amply provided with case references and illustrations. Appended to this volume is a lengthy Table of Cases Cited in all five volumes and an admirably arranged index, strictly alphabetical in character, for the whole work. It is not too much to say that Mr. Chamberlayne, whose articles have frequently appeared in this Review and whose volumes have been reviewed from time to time, has left an enduring monument in the shape of The Modern Law of Evidence. The publishers are to be commended for bringing the work to completion and Mr. Joyce for his able editorial supervision.

THE LAW OF UNINCORPORATED ASSOCIATIONS AND SIMILAR RELATIONS. By SIDNEY R. WRIGHTINGTON, of the Boston Bar. Little, Brown & Company. Boston. 1916.

Mr. Wrightington has given us an excellent text-book on a vital and increasingly important phase of associations. The reaction from corporate to unincorporated associations is already quite marked in eastern States, notably Massachusetts, and attention by courts and legal practitioners to questions raised by the operation and constitution of such associations is becoming more and more necessary. This volume aims to clarify the material in regard to unincorporated associations and to classify them into different groups.

The introductory chapter deals with definitions, classification, and general legal viewpoint and tendencies. Chapter II is of great length and importance and discusses Associations for Profit. There are abundant foot notes and a clear and consistent topic arrangement is adopted. The treatment is clear and comprehensive in the extreme while keeping along strictly practical lines. Chapter III deals with various types of Trusts and, taken in connection with the forms of trust given in the Appendix, Is extremely illuminating. Chapter IV takes up Unassociated Groups such as Lloyd's insurance, underwriters, tenants in common, and common agents. The final chapter (V), discusses Non-Profit Associations of various kinds and their relation to the law and the courts.

A valuable Appendix of Forms covers over one hundred and fifty pages and increases the practical value of the work. The Index might, however, be better. It is not scientifically alphabetized, especially in the sub-heads which should take a noun as index word not particles such as "of," "by," and "as." In all other respects the volume is creditable to the publishers.

CASES ON THE LAW OF PUBLIC SERVICE. By CHARLES K. BURDICK, Professor of the Law of Public Service in Cornell University, College of Law. Little, Brown & Company. Boston. 1916.

The editor of this interesting case book is one of our younger teachers of law and the son of a well-known and distinguished teacher and legal writer. In compiling this series of Cases on the Law of Public Service, the younger Professor Burdick has given evidence of scholarly knowledge and discrimination. Teachers of the law of Public Service will certainly find this collection of inestimable value in their work.

The contents are arranged by chapters and sub-sections. The first division is that of "The Bases of the Duties of Public Service." Some eighteen examples from English and American sources are given illustrating the common callings, exercise of franchises, legislation and economic monopoly. Many of these cases furnish an interesting historical background and show the relationship of medieval and modern law. The cases cited in Chapter II illustrate the service to be rendered and are well selected and comprehensive besides being fortified with many footnotes. Chapter III deals with the right to make rules for the service and contains sixteen leading cases relating mainly to railroads and telegraph companies. Chapter IV is devoted to the important subject of Rates and covers over one hundred pages. There are six subdivisions and a large number of important cases are given. The three final chapters deal with Discrimination (V), Duty to Furnish Adequate Facilities (VI), and Withdrawal from Public Service (VII). The Appendix contains the Act to Regulate Commerce as amended and the Elkins Act, while a Table of Cases is prefixed containing about five hundred references.

The reviewer, while commending this work in general, regrets to notice that the Index is poorly arranged. Instead of having the sub-heads alphabetically listed, they are arranged in order of pages. This is all right in an outline or detailed table of contents but is not good indexing, though found in many law books. Law book publishers in general are now adopting a strictly alphabetical method of indexing and thereby inrceasing the usefulness of their publications.

A MANUAL OF THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION. By RICHARD S. HARVEY, of the New York Bar, and Ernest W. Bradford of the Washington, D. C., and Indianapolis, Ind., Bars. John Byrne & Company, Washington, D. C.

1916.

This is a useful manual in regard to the operations of the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Clayton Law as well. These two important pieces of legislation are practically a business constitution for the United States guaranteeing fair and impartial treatment in commercial matters to the people of the country. The authors discuss the scope, character and importance of the famous Sherman Act and the inquiry into changes necessary in the case of corporations engaged in Inter-State Commerce. A valuable Appendix contains the reports and debates of this inquiry upon the results of which was based the Federal Trade Commission and the Clayton Law.

This volume takes up fully and carefully the origin and development and construction of the Anti-Trust Law, with decisions upon the constitutional and unfair trade questions involved. It also contairs the rules of procedure with forms, texts of statutes, debates in Congress and complete memoranda of all Anti-Trust cases instituted by the United States. The Index, unfortunately, lacks alphabetical arrangement of sub-heads so that it is less satisfactory for rapid reference than if arranged strictly alphabetically.

AN OUTLINE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW. BY ARNOLD BENNETT HALL, J. D., Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin. La Salle Extension University. Chicago. 1915.

This is a timely volume of popular and yet scholarly character which should receive a welcome from the American public. A reading of Professor Hall's work will correct many misconceptions generally prevalent in regard to the scope and character of International Law. The idea that international relations, particularly in times of war, are governed by some fixed code based on justice and humanity is entirely erroneous. No general moral and ethical principles govern the relations of nations and all that International Law amounts to is “a series of comparatively brief and fairly definite agreements between nations" on specific matters. A study and interpretation of these agreements is essential to any definite or authoritative knowledge of the subject and Professor Hall supplies the need of texts and commentary in the present volume.

The work is divided into two fairly equal parts devoted respectively to discussion and documentation. In the seventeen chapters or sections of the first or discussion part, the author takes up such topics as General Conceptions of International Law; Independence and Equality of States; Territorial and Other Types of Jurisdiction; Relations Between States in Times of Peace; War and Its Accompaniments; Neutrality; and Blockade. These subjects are all handled with judgment and clearness, although it is clear that the emphasis is against war and in favor of any kind of pacific settlement of disputes. The second or documentary portion of the manual is ushered in by a Table of Cases Cited and a fairly comprehensive Bibliography. Then follow the great series of Hague Peace Conventions of 1907 with a Table of Ratifications, of considerable value, and the text of the much-discussed Declaration of London. The whole volume has less than three hundred pages and is remarkably compact and usable. The author's style is clear and forceful while the book is well printed and serviceably bound. An Index of thorough and comprehensive character is a meritorious feature of the work. The La Salle Extension University can again be congratulated of bringing out an interesting and up-to-date text or manual.

LAW AND ITS ADMINISTRATION. BY HARLAN F. STONE, LL. D., Dean of the School of Law, Columbia University. Columbia University Press. New York. 1915.

These Columbia University Lectures before a lay audience do not claim to be anything more than a popular presentation of present day Law and

its Administration. The lecturer and author is known as a successful and versatile lawyer and business man, one of the youngest law school deans in this country, and an occasional contributor to legal publications. In this volume he appears as a clear and capable interpreter of law for the ordinary layman and has made a popular contribution to legal literature.

The lectures making up the volume are eight in number. The first four deal with the Nature and Functions of Law, Law and Justice, and Fundamental Legal Conceptions (two lectures). The discussion of these topics is necessarily somewhat abstract and it is difficult to make the subject matter as interesting as in the case of Procedure, Bench and Bar, Constitutional Limitations, and Law Reform, which make up the other four chapters of the volume. Throughout the discussion Dean Stone maintains a judicial attitude of great impartiality and seems fully conscious of both the merits and defects of our legal system. The chapters entitled "Bench and Bar" and "Law Reform" are particularly devoted to criticism and appraisement of the American legal profession and the attitude of the author is well shown in his concluding paragraph, when he says:

"If, in my occasional critical references to some features of our legal system, I have given the impression of any want of faith or belief in our legal institutions, I desire to close by correcting that impression. As a lawyer and a citizen, I am proud of our legal institutions and have unwavering faith that their future will be even greater than their past. In our legal system lies the assurance of protection of our lives, liberty, property and happiness, and that of our children and children's children. No more sacred duty rests on the lawyer and layman alike than that of defending, maintaining and improving it."

The Columbia University Press deserves credit for the attractive appearance of this little volume which is made more usable by the presence of a good Index of persons and matters referred to.

AMERICAN STATE TRIALS. A Collection of the Important and Interesting Criminal Trials which have taken place in the United States from the beginning of our Government to the Present Day. With Notes and Annotations. JOHN D. LAWSON, LL. D., Editor. Volume 5. F. H. Thomas Law Book Co. St. Louis. 1916.

The prompt appearance each six months of another volume of this important series is a matter for congratulation for both the editor and his public. Judge Lawson is showing how a succession of volumes can be brought out with regularity in spite of difficult editorial work. The volume now before us has over nine hundred pages of text and notes and contains nineteen cases of interesting criminal character, of which six are important murder cases. This review will attempt an analysis of the contents from the viewpoints of scope, character and importance.

The scope of the volume is from 1696, the Quaker slander and blasphemy case, to 1893, the Grasty libel case. In between these extremes lies seventeen other cases. Three of these, the Boston piracy trials, are colonial and belong to the year 1704. Then there are four early nineteenth cen

tury trials at New York and Philadelphia while the ten remaining cases, the most important in the volume, belong to the middle nineteenth century. Thus in general we can say that this volume makes a particularly interesting contribution to the legal and social history of the thirty years between 1838 and 1868. Furthermore, there is only one southern trial in the collection so that the emphasis is on Yankee law and society almost exclusively.

The fact that only six of the nineteen cases are murder trials indicates that the remaining thirteen are varied in character. Save in the cases of piracy and riot the trials are not duplicates in regard to the offense committed but cover a wide range such as slander, libel, assault and battery, escaping from slavery, common scolding, misdemeanor in office, robbery and kidnaping. It is noteworthy, however, that the great murder trials take up about two-thirds of the volume, or approximately five hundred and fifty pages, while another one hundred pages is covered by the two historically interesting Alton riot cases. There is probably no one case in the present volume that can rank in interest and importance with some of the celebrated trials that have appeared in previous volumes. To the lawyer the most interesting trials will be the four chief murder cases of Prescott (1834), Simpson (1850), Arrison (1854), and Cunningham (1857). Each of these contains matters of importance in the history of American criminal procedure and throws valuable light on the characteristics and weaknesses of our criminal law. Among the minor cases lawyers will be interested in the Grasty et al. libel case of 1893 and in the decision of the Hall robbery case of 1865, an excellent example of technical pleading. The student of American social, religious, and political history will find much of interest and value in this volume. The Quaker trial of 1696 is historically noteworthy, also the Boston piracy cases, the Alton riots, the trial of the scolding wives of New York, and the Bogart trial for misdemeanor in office.

As usual the editor has supplied an interesting preface and valuable introductions and notes, while the volume is adequately indexed. The dedication to Mr. Oliver H. Dean of Kansas City, is a sympathetic and deserved tribute to an eminent middle western jurist. Again let us express the hope that Dr. Lawson may continue to bring out his volumes in regular succession. N. M. T.

MISCELLANEOUS INSCRIPTIONS IN THE YALE BABYLONIAN COLLECTION. By ALBERT T. CLAY. New Haven. Yale University Press. 1915.

The discovery of the Code of Hammurapi was the introduction for most law students to Babylonian law and proved a land mark in the study of Oriental jurisprudence. From the first, it was clear that the great code represented but the end of a long period of legal development, which found its beginning among the Shumerians, the earlier non-Semitic peoples who originated Babylonian civilization. Already in the days before Hammurapi, the commercial documents contain formulae identical with those used in his code and we had long known late legal phrase books

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