amount to nuisance, the remedies for misuse were, until the passing of the Highway and Locomotive Acts, difficult of enforcement. But the difficulty is diminished by the powers of the new legislation; and this book, in a well-considered division of the Statutes, explains what traffic and what expenses of road repair are extraordinary, and the conditions under which the claim of a highway authority can be prosecuted. In the Index the Author prints the names of two or three leading cases in special type which is valuable to the searcher, as readily catching his eye.

The Law of Libel as affecting Newspapers and Journalists. By W. V. BALL, M.A. London: Stevens & Sons. 1912.-This is a print of five lectures delivered by the Author at the Institute of Journalists; and as neither the editor of a newspaper nor a writer therein possesses, as yet, the privilege of uncurbed disparagement free of cost, the work directs attention to points where a little restraint or vagueness is prudent. Many befitting illustrations are given. Flanders v. Forrester, reported in The Times of 31st January, 1912, for instance, is contrasted with the peculiar case of Jones v. Hulton. The short chapter "on the case for words" is good, and the book throughout is a practical one on that part of detraction to which it is devoted.

The Bread Acts. By J. F. RowE, LL.B., and F. J. MAW, LL.B. London: Office of the Baker and Confectioner. 1912. This is written chiefly for inspectors of weights and measures and for master bakers, but it would be useful to anyone professionally engaged in bread cases.

Pitman's Law of Evidence. By W. N. HIBBERT, LL.D. London: Pitman & Sons.-From the position of Dr. Hibbert as a professor of law at King's College, and from his extensive practice in preparing pupils for examinations, this book may be safely regarded as a useful guide.

Pitman's Law of Repairs. By J. C. WORSFOLD, M.A., LL.D. London: Pitman & Sons.-A book to remove from the mind of a tenant doubts as to what repairs about his house fall upon him and what upon his landlord, cannot fail to appeal to a large number of persons who are sometimes perplexed by such a question.

Cambridge Law Tripos Papers (1907 to 1911). Cambridge University Press. 1912. This collection will be of great use not only to men going in for the Tripos, but to those who are preparing for the Bar.

Vol. V (new

K.C., and DoUGLAS 1912. This continua

Butterworths Workmen's Compensation Cases. series). By His Honour Judge RUEGG, KNOCKER. London: Butterworth & Co. tion of the new series of these cases is a report of those decided during the year ended October 1912, in the House of Lords and the Court of Appeal in England, and of a few selected from the judgments in the Court of Appeal in Ireland and the Court of Sessions in Scotland. These reports together fill 700 pages, and the spacious stretch of the legislation on this subject is well indicated by the fact that the present volume makes, with those of the earlier series, the fourteenth. The compilation is much more convenient for reference than the widely distributed cases in the regular reports, besides having the advantage of presenting between the same covers the included Scotch and Irish decisions. In all the English reports, indeed, it might have been more helpful if the workmen's cases had been printed on a separate division of each volume. For the present publication, the cases have been specially reported by members of the Bar, and they are no doubt precise and complete.

Railway Consignment Notes. By B. O. BIRCHAM. London: Butterworth & Co. 1912. This is a most useful little handbook and will be of great benefit to lawyer and layman alike. The many persons connected with the carriage of goods and animals on railways should insure a wide sale, when its merits become generally known. The information is imparted through the medium of language so plain and uninvolved, that any person without the slightest claim to legal knowledge should readily understand it. It will be seen by a glance at the contents, that within the compass of some hundred odd pages, information is given upon a variety of subjects which crop up in every-day life. If this is, as we gather, the first book that Mr. Bircham has written, his success should tempt him to persevere in some more ambitious work.

Second Edition. The Law of Copyright. M.A., F.C.S. London: Butterworth & Co.

By L. C. F. OLDFIeld, 1912. A new edition

of this work was needed, not only because copyright exists now

solely under the Act, but because the first one was brought out before the Act came into operation, and when no Rules and Regulations under it were ready. These important adjuncts were not issued by the Board of Trade till June 1912, but, being now included, make this one of the earliest complete treatises on the new law. Beside these Rules and the full Act, with notes, the work contains the 1909 Copyright Act of the United States, the Australian Copyright Act of 1905, and the Berlin Convention of 1908.

Eleventh Edition. A. B. C. Guide to Company Law and Practice. By H. W. JORDAN. London: Jordan & Sons. 1913.The Author, who is a company registration agent of great experience, had for the object of the book the desire to meet the needs of company officials, and such other laymen as were interested, by setting out concisely the Companies Act 1908, the Stamp Act, and, so far as they affect companies, a number of other Acts. The reminders to secretaries will be useful to officials, and the Author's purpose has apparently been attained with good effect.

NOTE. The Contemporary Foreign Literature section is held over owing to the exigency of space.

A DISCLAIMER.

In the August number of this Magazine, at page 490, in reviewing Collard's The Money Lenders Acts 1910-1911, our Reviewer, whilst congratulating Mr. Collard upon a successful piece of work, remarked on the similarity of the book to Bellot's Bargains with Money Lenders. Mr. Collard joins issue with our Reviewer and states that "The scheme of the book was carefully con"sidered by myself, and personally I can see no similarity to the book you "mention. The Text is throughout based on reported cases and the 'Precedents of Pleading' were compiled in consultation with well-known practitioners of the 66 Chancery and Common Law Bars." We are glad to accept Mr. Collard's statement that there is absolutely no foundation for our Reviewer's assertion.

WORKS OF REFERENCE.

Fry's Royal Guide to the London Charities. Edited by JOHN LANE. London: Chatto & Windus. 1913. This handy and reliable Guide, of which the present is the 49th edition, comprises an alphabetical list of all the charitable institutions in London, with a short summary of the objects, results, &c., of each, and in an Appendix is given, in greater detail, information concerning the more important of the hospitals and institutions. Persons concerned with the settlement of testamentary dispositions, and others having money for distribution for charitable purposes, will find this work of the greatest possible assistance.

The Lawyer's Remembrancer and Pocket Book for 1913. By A. POWELL, K.C., and H. BAKER WELFOrd. London: Butterworth & Co.-The present issue of Mr. Powell's useful pocket book well maintains the high standard reached by previous ones. The contents appear to have been carefully revised and brought up to date, and the diary space has been enlarged. Mr. Powell now has the assistance of Mr. Baker Welford in the preparation of this little work, the latter being responsible for articles on Probate and Administration, Transfer and Registration of Land, Bills of Sale and Deeds of Arrangement, &c.

Sweet & Maxwell's Diary for Lawyers for 1913. Edited by F. A. STRINGER and J. JOHNSTON.-In this Diary the numerous alterations rendered necessary by the Acts, Rules and Orders of the past year, appear to have been carefully noted. With each succeeding year new features are added to the work, the chief one in the present edition being a complete list of the members of the Law Society. How these new features have increased the bulk of the book may be gathered from the fact that during the past five years no less than 250 pages of information have been added. A complete Index makes for ready reference, and the Diary should be of great assistance to solicitors.

The Companies' Diary and Agenda Book, 1913. Edited by J. H. DAVENPORT. London: Jordan & Sons.--Secretaries and others concerned with Companies and Company work will find this Diary exceedingly useful. In the first part it sets out the principal requirements of the Companies (Consolidation) Act 1908, and gives specimen forms of Returns for both private and public Companies; the diary space is ample, and the book is completed by about 50 pages of general information which a secretary will find useful to have at hand in a form so readily accessible for reference. The Diary may be had in various styles and prices.

Books received, reviews of which have been held over owing to want of space :-Kuhn's Comparative Study of the Law of Corporations; Chitty's Statutes; Struycken's Engelsche Staatsstukken; Coote's Law of Mortgages; Davey's Law of Rating; Harrison's Legal Levities and Brevities; Moyle's Imperatoris Justiniani Institutionum; Oppenheim's The Panama Canal Conflict.

Other Publications received:-Sovereignty over the Air, by Sir H. Erle Richards (Clarendon Press); Bischopp's Roman Dutch Law in South Africa; Gorrell Barnes and de Montmorency's The Divorce Commission; Escobedo's Il Titlio per la Constituzione; Borchard's State Indemnity for Errors of Criminal Justice; Dewar's Criminal Procedure in England and Scotland.

The Law Magazine and Review receives or exchanges with the following amongst other publications:-Juridical Review, Law Times, Law Journal, Justice of the Peace, Law Quarterly Review, Irish Law Times, Australian Law Times, Canada Law Journal, Canada Law Times, Chicago Legal News, American Law Review, American Law Register, Harvard Law Review, Case and Comment, Green Bag, Madras Law Journal, Calcutta Weekly Notes, Law Notes, Law Students' Journal, Bombay Law Reporter, Medico-Legal Journal, Indian Review, Kathiawar Law Reports, The Lawyer (India), South African Law Journal.

THE

LAW MAGAZINE AND REVIEW.

No. CCCLXVIII.-MAY, 1913.

I. THE FRENCH JUDICIAL SYSTEM:

I.-CIVIL.

HE North and South Poles are no nearer each other

THE

than are many of the principles of justice and procedure of England and the United States to those of France, and, in fact, to those prevailing as a rule in Latin countries. It is not only the divergence in many elementary principles, but the manner of their enforcement-the different way of regarding and dealing with fundamental ideas of right and wrong and of the best methods of ascertaining the truth-that makes it so difficult for the Anglo-Saxon to understand French jurisprudence and the administration of justice in France. Although at first view the AngloSaxon is apt to derive the notion that justice between man and man is not evenly administered under a system so completely divergent from his own, yet with experience and a closer knowledge he soon realises that the scales of justice in France are as evenly balanced as in his own land. But for the stranger to come to this conclusion takes time; it requires an understanding of the constitution, jurisdiction, and operation of the various courts, the rules of procedure, and the administration of justice.

While French civil practice differs materially from that of American and English courts, yet the machinery of