he was acting within the scope of his employment, sufficient to cast upon the masters the onus of rebutting this inference. Here the inference had not been rebutted, and the evidence as to his uncontrolled discretion in the user of the car, as to the petrol charge, and as to the drive giving him an opportunity of advertising and showing the car, went to strengthen it. The Court threw out a very important suggestion, on which they expressly refrained from deciding, but to which it is submitted that the law on this subject is tending. It is suggested that "scope of employment" must be or may be as extensive as the "authority" given to a servant; so that when a master authorises a servant to use a car for the servant's own purposes, as well as the master's, every user of the car by the servant is deemed user as servant. Rylands Glass Co. v. Phoenix Co. ([1911], 2 Ir. R. 532), is a rather curious little practice-case, dealing with the service of a writ against a company by post. Such a writ could be served by sending it in an ordinary posted letter. In this particular case the sender for greater security registered the letter. The result of registering it was that it was not delivered till a day later than "the ordinary course of post." The plaintiff believed that it had been delivered in the ordinary course of post, and counted the time for entering an appearance from the day when it would have been so delivered. Immediately this time was up, he marked judgment for default of appearance. The Court held that his judgment was marked prematurely-a day too soon-and set it aside: but as he had acted in good faith, they gave no costs against him. He had in fact, by his own conduct, taken his service out of the ordinary course of post. J. S. B. 118 Reviews. [SHORT NOTICES DO NOT PRECLUDE REVIEWS AT GREATER The Law and Practice of the Probate Division. By H. CLIFFORD MORTIMER, B.A., LL.B. London: Sweet & Maxwell. 1911. Mr. Mortimer is to be congratulated upon his contribution to a subject upon which much has been written. In fact, there seems to be so much law regarding wills that the ordinary man might be forgiven if he were afraid to make his will at all, or if, perchance, driven to desperation, he purchased a penny form from a Law Stationer and trusted to luck. The learned Author brings to his task the experience gained as a practitioner in the Probate and Divorce Division. He has striven, as far as possible, to, as it were, make each section of the book encyclopædic, that is to say, he has aimed at placing in each section all information germane to the point with which it deals. Quite openly he acknowledges his indebtedness to the old text-books on Ecclesiastical Law, to such standard works as Sir Edward Vaughan Williams on Executors, and Tristram and Coote's Probate Practice, and we admire his frankness. The text is divided into four Parts; Part One gives us the law affecting Probate; Part Two deals with "The practice of the Court in non-contentious business; the Third Part treats of the "Practice of the Court with regard to Caveats, Citations, Summonses and Motions ;" and in the Fourth Part we have a dissertation on the "Practice of the Courts in contentious business;" and here Mr. Mortimer's practical experience stands him in good stead. In the notes to the text we find that the judgments cited are given with greater amplitude than is usual; this will be found most useful to country and other practitioners who have not large reference libraries at their command. The Appendix of Precedents of Pleading, is undoubtedly a new and valuable departure in a book on Probate Practice. Many whose names are familiar as legal writers have assisted the learned Author in his work, with advice or otherwise. The Appendices are comprehensive, and the Index is a trusty key to the contents. We gather that this is Mr. Mortimer's first book, and he is to be complimented on it; we shall look with interest for other emanations from his facile pen. Judgments in Vacation. By His Honour Judge E. A. PARRY. London Smith, Elder & Co. 1911. Judge Parry is well-known as an author, dramatist, and last but not least as an able and experienced County Court judge. He possesses in a high degree the saving grace of humour, which must have been of the greatest value to him in his often depressing day's work. All the essays in this volume are worth reading, but the most important are connected with the County Court. As is natural, the judge has a high opinion of the value of the County Court, and would like to relieve it of much of its function of a debt-collecting agency, so that it might devote more time to the trial of cases, in which direction he would desire to have its jurisdiction considerably enlarged, which desirable consummation has been hitherto hindered by the opposition of the wicked "London lawyers." To carry out the first part of this programme he would alter the law of imprisonment for debt. This is the sanction which has produced the credit system which has been so disastrous to the working classes. The judge is personally in favour of the abolition of imprisonment for debt, but suggests as a measure of practical reform "that no summons should be issued or committal made for a less sum than forty shillings." This proposal he tells us is generally regarded as "a fair experiment which would injure no one but traders who deliberately give credit to the poorer working classes under the sanction of imprisonment for debt." The arguments he puts forward are well worth careful perusal, and the subject is enlivened with stories of many amusing experiences. In these days one remark is particularly worth noting. Judge Parry states that the Select Committee of 1893 reported in favour of imprisonment for debt mainly because the working class uphold it. "They uphold it for one reason—and a powerful one-because without imprisonment for debt there would be no reckless credit, and without reckless credit there would be no possibility of prolonging a strike after their own accumulated funds began to give way." He notes a curious fact connected with his experience of "running down" cases, namely, that a large proportion of witnesses give evidence against the vehicle coming towards them. Annotated Civil Code of Japan. Vol. IV. By J. E. DE BECKER. London: Butterworth and Co. 1910. This is the volume succeeding those reviewed in our issue of August 1910, Vol. XXXV, No. 357; and it contains the "Book of Succession." As appropriate to the subject in the romantic mind of the East, the first chapter opens with philosophic reflections that recall Marcus Aurelius. "Life is a gleam of time between two eternities"; "transient as the dew of the morning, and existence but a dream of greater or lesser duration"; "So completely do men pass away from the remembrance of men that the very tombstones over their graves soon crumble away and fail to preserve their names." But the minute care, the labour and polish, bestowed upon the practical parts could not have been exceeded if life had been a possession much prolonged. The notes on the "Meanings of Words" in the original, and the "Explanations" of the translation of each article, are so full of information that an English reader can have no difficulty in clearly comprehending the Code. Some excellent Tables are furnished, and the manner in which the whole work is produced, from the literary material to that of the paper, print and binding, is a credit to all concerned. It stands without competitor as an exposition of Japanese law. Third Edition. Church Law. By B. WHITEHEAD, B.A. London Stevens & Sons. 1911. This book is in the form of a dictionary, and so can be readily consulted by anyone in search of information. Although quasiecclesiastical matters are often affected by statute or decision, it is not often that we get any dealing with matters of doctrine or ritual. We would suggest to Mr. Whitehead that in future editions it might be as well to compile a list of cases together with the pages of the text upon which they occur. In matters of ritual we notice a new decision, declaring the ringing of the "sacring" or one of the Church bells during celebration of Holy Communion, to be illegal, namely, St. John, Clevedon, L. R. [1909], P. 6. Among the new cases appear Rex v. Archbishop of Canterbury, bearing on the question of objections to bishops. Once more has the rule been laid down in the House of Lords that a question of law, when once decided in a particular way by that tribunal, cannot be decided otherwise. This has an important bearing on Ecclesiastical law, where there are many conflicting decisions. If this rule holds good, then Hebbert v. Purchas is still sound law, in spite of inroads made by subsequent decisions, with the result that the "Eastward position," and the "Mixed Chalice" are illegal per se. There is little to add with regard to the present edition, except to mention that it has been thoroughly overhauled and brought up to date. Fourth Edition. Lunacy Practice. A. S. MASSEY, M.A., and R. C. ROMER. 1911. By N. A. HEYWOOD, The law relating to Lunacy is certainly caviare to the bulk of legal practitioners. At the same, time the learned Authors are quite entitled to plume themselves on the necessity of a fourth edition within eleven years, proving the scope for a work of this nature. To the layman a knowledge of the subject is chiefly confined to rare, sensational cases reported in the papers, when the condition of mind of some person is inquired into. All the details of administering the estates of lunatics, the duties of the Government in safeguarding the interests of lunatics, and the work of Masters, Visitors, and Commissioners in Lunacy, are quite unknown to him. A movement is on foot, headed by the Lord Chancellor, with a view to making considerable alterations in the law. A Bill is to be introduced into the House of Lords for the purpose of amalgamating several offices, and of transferring to the Chancery Division the jurisdiction hitherto exercised by the Judge in Lunacy. A Bill has been introduced, and has reached the Second Reading stage in the Commons, for the improvement of the status and conditions of employment of nurses and other asylum officers. Since the publication of the third edition of this work, several important decisions have been made; for example, Re Baggs (L. R. [1894], 2 Ch. 416), and Re S. S. B. (L. R. [1906], 1 Ch. 713). The anomalous position of receivers as compared to Committees has been rectified by the Lunacy Act 1908. All these matters have received notice in the present edition. The learned Editors record their thanks to Mr. F. A. Corley for revising the precedents of bills of costs, and for drafting the preliminary remarks appended thereto. By reason of his position in the Lunacy Taxing Office, Mr. Corley is well qualified to carry out this important duty. The arrangement of this work shows careful thought and a sense of arrangement, and the Index enables the reader to carry out his investigations with thoroughness and despatch. Fifth Edition. The Law of Evidence. M.A. London: Stevens & Haynes. 1911. By S. L. PHIPSON, It seems a pity that Mr. Phipson's excellent book on the law of Evidence could not be set up in larger type, as the present arrangement is very trying to the reader's eyes, but perhaps it is not so |