with. The books are different both in size and arrangement, as Mr. Lely gives his Statutes in alphabetical order, and precedes the collection with a summary giving the effect of each; while Mr. Cotton takes the Statutes in chronological order, and puts an introduction, when he considers it necessary, before the Statute. We have found the summary, introductions, and notes to be both accurate and useful.

The Yearly Supreme Court Practice, 1900. By M. MUIR MACKENZIE, B.A., S. B. LUSHINGTON, M. A., B.C.L., and JOHN CHARLES Fox. Assisted by C. G. S. MCALESTER, B.A., ARCHIBALD READ, B.A., and BRUCE L. RICHMOND, M.A. London: Butterworth & Co.

1900.

We are glad to see that experience has justified the issue of this work for another year. The arrangement is decidedly good, and it is a remarkably handy book for the immense amount of matter it contains. The selection of cases to be cited, in notes so concise as those to the present work, involves the greatest care and discrimination, and the names of the editors are a guarantee that this has been employed. There are not many new features to notice, but the notes on Attachment and Committal have been rewritten, and are now a very valuable contribution on the subject. The Judicial Trustees Act, 1896, and the Settled Estates Act Orders, 1878, have been added. It is curious to note how very few cases can be cited on so important a branch of practice as the Summons for Directions.

The Law of Account. By SYDNEY E. WILLIAMS. London: Stevens & Sons, Limited. 1899.

Mr. Williams has supplied a very useful volume on the subject of account. Few subjects are of more practical importance, not only to practising lawyers, but to business men and to most of the public. Many of the most important branches of the subject are dealt with in special works, such as those on Trusts and Executors; but to collect all the cases and rules together in one work, and to deal with them clearly and practically, is to supply an undoubted want. This Mr. Williams has done, and has done well, and the headings of a few of the chapters-namely, Receivers and Liquidators, Guardian and Infant, Committee of Estate of Lunatic, Patents, Trade Marks, etc.—will show that he deals with a wide range of subjects, besides the more ordinary cases of Mortgagees, Trustees, Executors, etc.

252

CONTEMPORARY FOREIGN LITERATURE.

L'Abordage; Étude d'Histoire du Droit et de Droit Compare. By HENRI ROLIN, Docteur en Droit. Pp. 246. Brussels, 1899.

This thesis for the degree of docteur spécial in the Université Libre of Brussels shows considerably more learning and research than most productions of a similar kind. It provides a most instructive study of the gradual development of the rules for assessment of damage by collision from the Lex Aquilia to the present day. The English Admiralty rule, dating from 1789 and sanctioned by the Judicature Act, 1873, differs from that of Continental nations, but has been adopted with modifications by the United States and most of the colonies. It was condemned by the Conference on Maritime Law, held in London in July, 1899, the rule there recommended being that the damage should be apportioned according to the amount of negligence of those in command of each vessel.* Dr. Rolin (p. 194) recognizes in the history of the subject four great periods: (1) that of primitive practice, where the tort-feasor is responsible by virtue of a presumption of dolus; (2) that of the Rôles d'Oléron, where he is entitled to take an oath that he is not guilty of dolus, and if he take such oath, the damage is equally divided; (3) that obtaining during the five centuries from about 1300 to 1800, where the division is made only where the collision is accidental; (4) that of the Roman law principle revived, where no action can arise from accident, and division is made only where, as in France, negligence is doubtful, or where, as in England, both ships are to blame. The work concludes with a hope, or even an expectation, that means may be found for the Nations meeting on common ground and adopting universal principles, as in the case of the Sailing Rules. There seems to be a growing tendency towards such unity in the case of one or two of the more important principles of maritime law. The labours of the author's countrymen, L'Association Belge pour l'Unification du Droit Maritime, may some day be crowned with success.

* A translation of the dissenting opinion of Mr. Douglas Owen was contributed to the Rivista di Diritto Internazionale, 1899, Nos. 7 and 8, by Signor Senigallia. of Naples, who has been good enough to send a reprint of it to the L. M. and R

Die Strafgesetzgebung der Gegenwart in Rechtsvergleichender Darstellung. Vol. ii. Das Strafrecht der Aussereuropäischen Staaten. Edited by Dr. FRANZ VON LISZT, Halle, and Dr. GEORG CRUSEN, Berlin. Pp. 540. Berlin, 1899.

This large quarto volume contains an exhaustive account of criminal law and procedure in non-European States. Vol. i. (published in 1894) had dealt only with European States. As an appendix to the present volume is a sketch of any important matters which have arisen in European States between 1894 and 1898. So that the two volumes together give the student of comparative jurisprudence as full a treatment as he is likely to find of the legal systems of the world from the standpoint of criminal law. The work deals not only with independent States, but with colonies and dependencies, even as remote as Ascension and the Falkland Islands. Since a reviewer is not omniscient, it is impossible to judge of the correctness of the whole. But in those cases in which an English lawyer may be supposed to have some smattering of knowledge, eg. India, Canada, and Australia, the work seems very complete and the best authorities cited. It is noticeable in how many places a judicial declaration of infamy (Ehrloserklärung) is still part of the punishment, e.g. in the Orange River Free State. Peculiar to America are the ante-option laws (something like Sir John Barnard's Act of last century legislation in England), the provisions against pools and trusts in Illinois, the convict-lease system of Alabama.

Anarchismus und Strafrecht. By Dr. HERMANN SEUFFERT, Professor des Strafrechts in Bonn. Pp. 219. Berlin, 1899.

The learned author cites works on Anarchism and Nihilism which are sufficiently startling. From Netschajew's Katechismus der Revolution (p. 22), we gather that the revolutionary is the implacable foe of the world, and if he continue to live in it, it is but to destroy it the more surely. He knows but one science, destruction. Among the duties of a revolutionary is that of habituating himself to endure torture (p. 23). The Freiheit of April 21, 1894, states that bombthrowing is not Anarchie or Anarchismus, it is tactics pure and simple. In the face of these and even stronger sentiments it is not to be wondered that Dr. Seuffert suggests that the law as it stands is, in most civilized countries, not sufficiently stringent for the protection of society. He accordingly drafts one for which he would ask general reception. The usual charges of harbouring anarchists are made against England.

PERIODICALS.

Journal du Droit Internationale Privé. (1899. Nos. VII.-X.) Paris.

The principal case of interest is that of Marquis de Santa Cristina v. Prince and Princess Del Drago (p. 744). It lays down the rule, no doubt equally good in England, that a husband and wife before their marriage may contract that the marriage settlement is to be governed by the law of a particular State, and such contract will be enforced, if not contrary to public policy, on the principle of locus regit actum. The case also discusses the maxim of old French law, Nul ne plaide par procureur, aimed at the attempted withdrawal of X from liability to exceptions by putting forward Y as the nominal plaintiff. This will remind the English lawyer of some of the cases in the law of agency. In Lord Abdy v. Lady Abdy (p. 804), the decision that a gift between husband and wife in France must be made in accordance with French law is not avoided by the fact that there is no such person as Lord Abdy known to the peerage.

The

Rivista Politica e Letteraria. (October-December, 1899.) Rome. The article on the relations of this country with the South African Republic is a sample of the opinion generally held by Continental jurists, one, it is hardly necessary to say, not favourable to us. "Lord Abdy" of the French writer is paralleled by the "Lord Balfour" and "Sir Cecil Rhodes" of the Italian. This is the age of books on Comparative Jurisprudence, and the Rivista in the November number contains a notice of what appears to be an interesting one by Antonio Monzilli on joint-stock companies in various countries. They have apparently been overdone in Italy, and the reviewer remarks bitterly, Ne basta Giuda a sostenerne il pusso.

La Giustizia Penale. (September-December, 1899.) Rome.

This well-known periodical continues to be interesting. Immense quantities of criminal law are supplied for the modest subscription of ten lire a year. Some of the cases reported are not devoid of the humorous element. Thus, at p. 1290, there is a decision that to generally "make hay" of a chapelle ardente and at the same time utter violent and outrageous slanders against the deceased and spit in his face constitutes the crime of outrage to a corpse and not of slander to his memory. At p. 1476 it was held that to deposit a legitimate child at a foundling hospital for illegitimate children

rendered the depositor guilty of truffa, the nearest approach to which in England would be obtaining money by false pretences.

Deutsche Juristen-Zeitung. (October-December, 1899.) Berlin. These numbers are almost entirely occupied with discussions on different questions, hypothetical and practical, arising out of the new Civil Code which came into operation last New Year's Day, and with a case as to club law (Klub der Harmlosen), which seems to have excited much interest in Germany.

Kosmodike. (September-November, 1899)

There is no article in the English language in any of these numbers of this cosmopolitan review. It contains very interesting sketches of the profession of advocate in Austria, Russia, Belgium, Spain, and Monaco. In Russia an advocate appears to be paid by results, i.e. a percentage on the amount claimed. In reference to the war in South Africa there is a useful abridgment of the laws of most European countries as to the length of time necessary for naturalization and as to the jurisdiction of their tribunals over aliens.

Also received Revue Générale, Revue Bibliographique Belge, Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift, but they contain no contributions of legal interest. JAMES WILLIAMS.

SOME WORKS OF REFERENCE.

The Royal Blue Book: Court and Parliamentary Guide, 1900. London: Kelly's Directories, Ltd.—This invaluable directory now makes its appearance for the seventy-eighth year in succession, and this circumstance is one which appears to render superfluous any detailed reference to the work. Glancing through the pages of the current issue, we do not note any important changes in the method of compilation, and indeed we fail to see where there would have been room for any fresh improvements. Clearness and conciseness have ever been the watchwords of those responsible for the Royal Blue Book. The work is not simply a street directory, as it contains much valuable information respecting the Royal Household, the Judiciary, the Services, etc.

Whitaker's Almanack, 1900 (32nd year.) Whitaker & Sons. Pp. 776.-It is again our pleasant task to call attention to this indispensable publication. Amongst the new features we notice that "Our Ocean Mail" has this year been entirely rewritten, and is now incorporated in an article entitled "Ocean Mercantile Fleets, British and Foreign," which will be found to contain several interesting statistical tables. An historical record of South Africa, showing the origin of the Boer grievances in the early part of the century, has also been added, whilst in the supplementary portion will be found, in addition to the usual contents, an article