be enforced, are well set out. It may be noted that in the Index to this subject a reference is given to page 433. This should be 438. The Prescription Act of 1832 is inserted in the Appendix; but no notes are given referring to the chapters of the text which illustrate the sections of the Act. In the decisions quoted as authorities, the dates of the reports are seldom given either in the foot notes or the Index of Cases. But, on the other hand, references are supplied to all the reports.

Ninth Edition.-Powell's Law of Evidence. By W. BLAKE ODGERS, K.C., M.A., LL.D. London: Butterworth & Co. 1910. The Examination of Witnesses in Court. By F. J. WROTTESLEY. London: Sweet & Maxwell. 1910.

The first book under review, a well-known work by a most competent Author, has been re-written and re-arranged by Dr. Blake Odgers. Divided into the four heads of Relevancy, Proof, Cogency, and Procedure, the two relating to Relevancy and Cogency are entirely new in the present edition. The principles and rules of the law of Evidence under each division are printed in large type, the decisions which bear out these rules and principles are printed in small type. Since the eighth edition, there have been incorporated more than eight hundred and fifty new cases, brought up to March 1st, 1910. As before, the Appendix comprises all the statutes germane to this intricate subject, and the Index is comprehensive and illuminating. There is little to be said beyond the fact that in Dr. Blake Odgers the publishers have obtained the services of a writer lucid in style and erudite in knowledge.

Mr. Wrottesley's book is a kind of pot pourri, founded upon The Art of Writing Cases, by Henry Hardwicke, an American writer, and Serjeant Cox's book, The Advocate, the latter being brought up to date, whereas the former has been adapted to English consumption. · There is not a great deal that is not already known to the busy practitioner, still to the beginner and inexperienced student it will prove to be of great practical utility. However, one must never forget that, in this particular subject, quot homines tot sententiæ, and what may be "one man's meat" may be "another man's poison." There is probably no profession which lends itself so much to personal idiosyncrasy as the Bar, and probably no two practitioners act exactly similarly under the same circumstances. Subject to these

qualifications, there is a great deal of useful information printed between the two curiously tinted covers.

By

A Digest of Cases under the Workmen's Compensation Acts. FRANK BEVERLEY. London: Stevens & Sons. 1910.-These Acts have given rise to such numerous contentions that this publication, complete, it is said, to June last, and devoted exclusively to the one subject, will supply a reference of authority in a very convenient form. Upwards of six hundred cases-English, Irish and Scotchare collated, and are arranged under the usual divisions of the Digest of the Law Reports. Some of these, taken quite at random, have been examined, and the Author's versions have been found satisfactory. There is a useful list comprising cases which have been over-ruled, and cases which have become of no effect in consequence of the Act of 1906; but it would have been still more useful if it had been bound next after the Index of Cases digested. Another feature of the work is that, by the use of two different types in setting out the Acts of 1897 and 1906, these can be read as one with a clear perception of the additions and variations made by the latter Act.

The Law relating to the Hire-Purchase System. By Robert DUNSTAN. London: Sweet & Maxwell. 1910.-The public who interest themselves in hiring or lending goods and the practising lawyer who sustains the contracting parties' rights, are the wide spread classes for whom this book is designed. It brings to bear upon the hire-purchase law of yesterday, enactments extending back nearly 650 years. It quotes the principal decisions, down at any rate to Brooks v. Beirnstein, and Provincial Bill Posting Co. v. Low Moor Iron Co., decided last year; so that it is comprehensive, and it will no doubt be found a useful book. There are a few trifling errors which have escaped the proof reader. For instance, "J. Walton," at page 72, is not the best way of indicating a late distinguished ornament of the bench.

The Alphabetical Stamp Guide. By HUMPHREY H. KING, LL.B. London: Butterworth & Co. 1910.-The Finance Act 1910 effected certain changes in the stamp duties, and Mr. King's book is certain to be of use. The alphabetical method is convenient so long as the headings are well selected, with sufficient cross-references. Such appears to be the case here. The Author expresses in his Preface.

the hope that no instrument likely to be used in ordinary practice has been omitted. The book is well produced.

Costs on the High Court Scale. By G. A. KING. London: Stevens & Sons. 1910.-The Author, Master King, describes this book as forming a section of a larger work on Costs. It strikes us as being most useful, dealing, as it does, very thoroughly with its subject. An Introduction explains when the Higher Scale is given and when not given. Then follows a particularly good Table of Cases with the gist of the decisions annexed. Thereafter all such matters as the Costs on Writs, Instructions, Printed Copies, Counsels' Fees, &c., are set forth with reference to the guiding cases. The book is serviceable and incidentally interesting, as on page 114, where the origin of "refreshers" is given.

An Alphabetical Guide to the Law of Costs. By J. L. M. BENEST. London: Stevens & Sons. 1910.—While the older school of lawyers might be shocked at the application of the A. B. C. system to the law, that system is now quite recognised, and there is much to be said for a handy guide of the kind to so practical a subject as Costs: and many busy solicitors will welcome Mr. Benest's enterprise. The chief objection to the method chosen is that the reader does not always know under what heading to find the information he seeks. But we must admit that the book has answered the tests we have put it to. There is a sufficiency of cross-references. The law seems to be adequately expressed with, as far as we can judge, the inclusion of the necessary references. A later edition might admit of amplification. For instance, no differentiation apparently is made between Parliamentary and Municipal Election Petitions. On the latter we believe there exists considerable doubt as to the rule of costs.

Second Edition. The Record Interpreter. By C. T. MARTIN, F.S.A. London: Stevens & Sons. 1910. Students of medieval documents will be glad to see a second edition of Mr. Martin's book. The expert reader of our ancient records, whether legal or historical, is often met by words in Norman-French or "Law Latin,” for which his classical learning will supply no meaning. Mr. Martin's complete glossary will save him much weary research, while the amateur who finds it necessary to consult some particular document has here not only a list of the abbreviated words most commonly

found, but also a clear and concise statement of the various signs of contraction which at first seem so baffling. The list of Latin Place names, and of the Latin forms of modern surnames, will be valuable to the historian and fascinating to the etymologist. The mediæval clerk must surely have smiled when he thought of Ventusfrigetmare as a suitable equivalent for Winchelsea and Cum barba for Witheberd; it is interesting, too, to note that bearers of the names of D'Eyville and Dibble alike had a common equivalent in the name of Diabolus.

Second Edition. A Short View of the Law of Bankruptcy. BY EDWARD MANSON. London: Sweet & Maxwell. 1910.—This book forms one of Messrs. Sweet & Maxwell's excellent "Student's Series." That it has reached a second edition is proof alone that it has supplied a want. The ordinary text-books on bankruptcy are far too comprehensive and technical for even the most voracious student of legal treatises, and this series is designed "to contain just what the diligent student or ordinary practitioner should carry in his head." No more capable writer on this subject could have been found than Mr. Manson, who has also the added experience of a lecturer in bankruptcy at the London School of Economics. As might therefore be expected, the student is enabled from this work to obtain a clear and comprehensive view of the subject, whilst the practitioner in a hurry may find any ordinary point of practice. The double purpose of this volume is completely achieved. The Table of Cases is unusually long, as the learned Author has inserted every reported case decided during the last twelve years. This adds materially to its value to the practitioner.

Second Edition. An Analysis of Williams on the Law of Real Property. By A. M. WILSHERE, LL.B. London: Sweet & Maxwell. 1910.-There is probably no branch of law more difficult of comprehension than the English law of real property, and few text-books so formidable to the beginner as Williams' Law of Real Property. An analysis such as this should prove invaluable not merely, as the learned Author suggests, as an assistance to the memory, but as a guide to the principles involved. The principal change in the present edition is the addition of references to a few leading cases which the student is advised to read for himself.

Second Edition. The Miner's Guide. By L. A. ATHERLEY JONES, K.C., M.P., and HUGH H. L. BELLOT. London: Methuen & Co. 1910. The preface says "the book is mainly intended for the use of miners," and has been prepared in response to a suggestion from many of the leading officials of Miners' Associations. And, on this ground, it discusses the Trade Disputes Act, the Conspiracy Act, and the law affecting Trades Unions.

By

Fifth Edition. Saint's Digest of Registration Cases. THEOBALD MATHEW. London Butterworth & Co. 1910.-To all connected with this branch of the law the value of Saint's Digest is well known. Since the previous edition the cases on the subject have not been many, but some of such decisions as there have been are of great importance. The oft-recurring Kent v. Fittall, vulgarly known as the Latchkey Case, Pitts v. Michelmore, and Storey v. Town Clerk of Bermondsey, are examples. The notes to the cases in the Digest are admirable. We observe that the Appendix dealing with the Costs of Appeal has been omitted as of "archaic interest only."

Sixth Edition. Lawrance's Deeds of Arrangement. By S. E. WILLIAMS. London: Stevens & Sons. 1910.-In all cases where the misfortunes of mercantile trading impose a cessio bonorum, a composition or an inspectorship upon the unsuccessful dealer, precedents of the enforcing documents are of primary importance. This volume contains a considerable number, filling about eighty pages; and as, presumably, they have all survived the assaults of actual practice, they should afford assistance and impart confidence to anyone who has occasion to use them. Included in the volume, also, are the Acts which regulate these arrangements between debtors and creditors, and an essay on the whole subject. In this, at about page 20, a reference might appropriately have been made to Kitto v. Bilbie Hopson & Co. (72 L. T. 266).

Eighth Edition. A Compendium of the Law of Torts. By HUGH FRASER. London: Sweet & Maxwell. 1910.-This work, which had its origin over 20 years ago in rough notes prepared by the Author for a series of lectures for a Board of Legal Studies, has in the present edition been revised and brought up to date. It is one of the "Students' Series," and the student's needs, which to the Author, as Reader in Common law in the Inns of Court, must be