Second Edition. The Devolution of Real Estate on Death under Part I. of the Land Transfer Act, 1 897, with the Act, rules, and forms. By LEOPOLD GEORGE GORDON ROBBINS. London: Butterworth & Co. 1898. Pp. 156. Price 6s. The author has made the first part of the Land Transfer Act his proper study, but he has not omitted to take into account the remaining portions of the statute. The days have long since departed, in which totally irrelevant matters were introduced into the enactments of the Legislature-when, for instance, a divorce was pronounced as an obiter dictum in a boundary statute. Parliament now strives to make its work logical and well-proportioned; and it is, at the present time, a rare thing to find any statute the connection of whose parts cannot be apprehended by a patient and careful reading of the whole. In the work before us, Mr. Robbins explains the connection between the two objects of the Land Transfer Act, 1897, which the preamble states to be (1) to establish a real representative," and (2) "to amend the Land Transfer Act, 1875." The second of these two headings forms the subjects of Parts II. to IV. of the Act. These parts are concerned with the registration of title to land, and with dealings relating to the land the title to which is so registered. Now Mr. Robbins points out that the object of Part I. of the Act is intimately bound up with the same desideratum. The simplification of title is immensely assisted by the appearance upon the scene of this new creature of the law-the "real representative;" for he is one who will have the power to register and to carry into effect the provisions of the latter parts of the Act. There is nothing so fatal to any law as an already existing legal incapacity on the part of divers persons interested to carry out the law; and in no instance has this been more frequently the cause of failure than in that portion of the law of England relating to real property. The legal position of such property, for want of an heir who is sui juris, has often again fallen into the greatest confusion. There has been no person who has willingly done anything wrong; but the one person on whom the moral duty would seem to lie, has perhaps in fact the legal incapacity to carry out that duty. Such, in brief, is Mr. Robbins' diagnosis of this difficult enactment, and in the light of it he has explained Part I. He has brought to bear upon the discussion a considerable knowledge of precedents in equity; and this will be valuable to the reader, for, in spite of all the sweeping revolutions which have passed over the face of the law of real property in recent years, centuries of chancery have left a mark upon that law, which make it an essential to every student of the subject, that he must look at every phrase and expression of a modern legislature, as well as at those of modern judges, in the light of the ancient learning, which has given to real property law its technical terms, and which indeed has permeated it altogether through and through. Second Edition. The Law of Easements, natural rights arising from situation and licenses in India. By R. B. MICHELL, M.A. (Chief Judge, Court of Small Causes, Madras.) Madras: Lawrence Asylum Press, 1898. Pp. 373. According to Section 4 of the Indian Easements Act (Act 5 of 1822), an "easement" is a "right which the owner or occupier of certain land possesses, as such, for the beneficial enjoyment of that land, to do and continue to do something, or to prevent and continue to prevent something being done, in or upon, or in respect of, certain other land not his own." It would be hard to improve upon this definition, if a definition of an "easement" in the English law were required. The whole enactment is most instructive and useful, even if regarded merely as a study of the law of easements, quite apart from the huge tracts of her Majesty's empire where it is the text of the law itself. The learned Chief Judge of the Small Causes Court at Madras has, in the volume before us, amply annotated this Act, and his notes will be found full of suggestive ideas to the student of the subject in general. For instance, in connection with the definition above quoted, the author's illustrations showing what is an easement and what is not, may be profitably read. The Indian law seems to have been most amply treated in this work. Third Edition. The Law of Arbitration and Awards, with an appendix containing statutes relating to arbitration, and a collection of forms and index. By JOSHUA SLATER. London: Stevens and Haynes. 1898. Pp. 207. The lay public is often anxious to form some opinion for itself of the advantages and disadvantages of reference to arbitration, compared with those of having recourse to the tribunals appointed by the State. Even since the establishment of the Commercial Court, a partiality still remains in many quarters for the methods of a private forum. Apart from the questions of what fees must be paid and what time must be expended, the litigant often wishes to obtain a general statement of the law by which the procedure of arbitrations is regulated, and which determines the validity of awards. Persons in search of such lastnamed information will find it concisely stated in the volume before us. Only a moderate number of cases are referred to, sufficient to establish the general principles laid down; and the appendix contains seven statutes only as being of supreme importance. First of all there comes, of course, the Arbitration Act, 1889; the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, follows; and then the Railway Companies Arbitration Act, 1859. The apposite sections (179-181) are selected from the Public Health Act, 1875. And the second schedule of last year's Workmen's Compensation Act brings it to a conclusion-except for certain repealed statutes added for convenience of reference, nine pages of forms, and a complete index. Fourth Edition. A selection of Leading Cases on Real Property, Conveyancing, and the Construction of Wills and Deeds, with notes. By the late OWEN DAVIES TUDOR. This edition by T. H. CARSON and H. B. BOMPAS. London Butterworth & Co. 1898. Pp. 918. Price £2 10s. There is no sort of legal education as regards the common law and equity which is at all equal to that provided by the reading of leading cases. And when the old landmarks of the past are exhibited in a modern shape, with such excellent up-to-date notes as those contained in the present edition of Tudor's well-known work, we heartily commend them to the student as the best possible lesson-book upon the subject. If, for instance, he would become acquainted with the main principles of the law relating to rent, distress for rent, and the extinguishment and suspension of rents, he could hardly do better than study the great William Clun's case as it here appears, with careful notes, including notices of all the modern. cases, such as Howitt v. Harrington [1893], 2 Ch. 497. The present edition has a table of cases with full references, after the most approved modern style, and the notes are now arranged with one column to the page. Otherwise, the general features of the book. remain as before, and the excellent arrangement of the index has not been disturbed. Sixth Edition. Shaw's Manual of the Vaccination Law, containing the Vaccination Acts, 1867, 1871, 1874 and 1898, with introduction, rotes, and index. By a Barrister-at-Law. London: Shaw & Sons and Butterworth & Co. 1898. Pp. 148. Price 5s. The introduction to this little book contains, in a short space, the whole history of the Vaccination Laws and some discussion of the why and wherefore of each of the statutes in question. The object of the present edition is, of course, to include the Act of 1898, which has made such important alterations in the law. Everything which could throw any light upon this enactment has been here collected together by the author-even to Sir John Bridge's decisions reported in the Times of the 1st and 2nd of September last. The book seems well fitted to be the standard practice-book upon the subject with which it is concerned. Sixth Edition. Pratt's Income Tax, being a full analysis of the provisions of the Income Tax Acts, with cases of illustration, explanatory notes, and a copious index. This edition by JOSEPH HAWORTH REDMAN. London: Shaw & Sons and Butterworth & Co. Pp. 200. Price 7s. 6d. 1898. This is not a complete collection of the Income Tax Acts, like that of Mr. Dowell, but is a much shorter statement of the law. It is just such a manual of the law upon the subject as will be most useful to business men. In these days of keen commercial competition, a close computation of all probable outgoings is a necessity for the successful business man. And the calculation of income tax is sometimes a matter of very great difficulty, especially in those businesses which are agencies of foreign undertakings. Such businesses require a careful consideration-not only of the forms supplied by the income tax authorities, when the day of reckoning with those authorities arrives-not only with the statute law as it appears upon the face of it, but also with the recent decided cases such as Grainger v. Gough [1896], A. C. 325, and Watson v. Sandie [1898], 1 Q. B. 326. These cases are noted on p. 69 of the present edition. It is also to be observed that the legal profession, in both its branches, has now a new interest in the law relating to income tax which it did not possess before the passing of the Finance Act, 1898 (Stat. 61 & 62 Vict. c. 10). It is now lawful for the General Commissioners to permit any barrister or solicitor "to plead before them on any appeal for the appellant or officers either viva voce or by writing." Those who are so instructed to plead, or hope to be so instructed, may well prepare themselves for the task by mastering the analysis of the law which is here presented to them in the work before us. Seventh Edition. The Factory Acts. By the late ALEXANDER REDGRAVE, C.B. This edition by JASPER A. REDGRAVE and H. S. SCRIVENER, M.A. London: Shaw & Sons and Butterworth & Co. 1898. Pp. 378. Price 6s. Mr. Redgrave's original work requires no commendation from us. It is the recognized text-book upon the Factory Acts. These statutes are full of small pitfalls for the unwary; and it is more easy for a careless man to proceed under the wrong section than under the right section. This book, in its present revised form, is an almost essential vade mecum to those who are concerned with the application of these Acts of Parliament. As in the case of "Shaw's Vaccination Acts" already reviewed, the work begins with a historical introduction about the legislation of the century; and such a subject is always best understood in the light of the knowledge of its history. The present edition includes the Factory and Workshops Act, 1895 (Stat. 58 & 59 Vict. c. 37); the Cotton Cloth Factories Act, 1889 (Stat. 52 & 53 Vict. c. 62); and the Quarries Act, 1894 (Stat. 57 & 58 Vict. c. 42). There are most useful cross-references between these Acts and the earlier statutes. Fifteenth Edition. T. BROOKE LITTLE, B.A. & Co. 1898. Pp. 1078. Archbold's Poor Law. This edition by If this work has been falling into disuse, it is only because until now there has been no edition of it since the year 1885. Thirteen years of legislation have made great differences in the poor law of this country; and a book on this subject must be revised from time to time to keep pace with the alterations of the law. The present edition contains the changes effected by the Poor Law Acts, 1889 and 1897; and, of course, frequent reference has also been made to the Local Government Acts of 1888 and 1893. Settlement and removal, perhaps the most thorny study of all the thorny studies which the law of England affords, naturally occupies a large part of the volume. We also specially recommend the advantages of the Table of the General Orders issued by the Local Government Board, which have been from time to time published in the London Gazette, and which are of the greatest importance. This revision will doubtless restore "Archbold's Poor Law" to its former place of high favour in the eyes of the public and of the profession. CONTEMPORARY FOREIGN LITERATURE. Kosmodike. Nos. 8 and 9. This cosmopolitan law review is published at Frankfort, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, and London. It contains articles and advertisements in German, French, English, and Polish, to class them according to their respective bulk. The effect is a little bewildering, though one |