improvements on the land should be allowed. It was inevitable that they should conflict, for they involve matters of mere opinion, and, moreover, the practical application of any possible principle on such a question must depend upon the cases in each case; as, for instance, whether the improvements are such as were natural and reasonable, or were mere fancy improvements, or arose from accidental causes. This appears to have been the author's opinion, and it is reasonable and just; but then the practical application in each case must be for the jury. Still, the judicial discussion of the subject in the various cases that have arisen, must tend to enlighten the legal mind on the subject, and to enable it to form a sound judgment upon it. And the real value of such a book is, that it contains a vast number of cases that have actually arisen, and have been made the subject of judicial discussion and decision, aided in every instance by the opinion of practical men in the form of verdicts of juries, and the result of the whole is a body of enlightened and instructed opinion on the subject which must be very valuable to practitioners or students.

A TREATISE ON THE LAW OF CARRIERS (of goods and passengers). By J. H. Balfour Browne.-There were already, as Mr. Browne mentions, with becoming frankness, in his Preface, more than one work on the law of carriers, but for various reasons, which, with modesty, he states, he thought there was room for another. One of these is the rapid developement which the law on the subject has lately reached, especially with reference to railways, and conveyance of passengers by railway, and when the law on any subject has reached a rapid stage of development and extension, there are obvious reasons in favour of a new work upon it, rather than new editions of an older book. It is difficult, in the form of notes or additions to work in the new matter on the frame of the original work, and an author feels freer and less fettered in the plan of his book and the use of his materials. On the other hand there is, of course, scope for greater ability in the construction of an original work, and we may at once say that Mr. Browne is certainly not deficient in ability. He shows a capacity for grasping principles and tracing out in their practical application. The author observes, truly "The importance of any department of law is in direct proportion to the importance of the interests affected by it. The relative importance of various legal questions has, consequently, varied with its varying conditions of civilization." And hence he deduces the importance of the law of carriers. As regards the present treatise, the author says: "Some parts of the

subject have received a greater degree of attention than others, because the author found that the statement of the law in other text books was sufficiently adequate, while he has bestowed greater attention upon those questions which had received inadequate answers in other books upon the same department of law." The author, in the first chapter, discusses the principles of the law of bailments. In chapter ii., he treats of carriers without hire. Chapter iii., Carriers for hire, who are not common carriers. Chapter iv., who are common carriers. Chapter v., of the common law duty of carriers to receive goods. Chapter vi., of the common law duty of carriers to convey and deliver goods safely. Chapter vii. of the restrictions on the liability of common carriers by statute or special contract. Chapter viii. of delivery and non-delivery. Chapter ix. of restrictions upon carriers. Chapter x. of the rights of carriers. Chapter xi. of carriers of passengers. Chapter xii. of actions by or against carriers. Finally, there is an appendix, with introduction to pleading and forms of pleading. Throughout the work the cases are clearly and carefully stated down to those which are most recent, and including the American cases on the subject. There is also a constant endeavour to render the law on the subject clear and intelligible even to laymen. The principles upon which the law is founded, says the author, are those of common sense, and in this belief he always strives to take a common sense view of the law. The work is most copious upon those heads of the law which have acquired most recent development; for instance, as to railway companies, and as to passengers. The chapter, "Restrictions on Carriers," contains about 150 pages, and the chapter as to "Carriage of Passengers" about as many; and the chapter as to "Limited Responsibility of Common Carriers" is very full, containing about 90 pages, while the last and most practical head, "Actions by or against Carriers," comprises with the Forms nearly 150 pages.

Some passages in Mr. Browne's work lead us to suppose that he intended it for laymen, not less than lawyers; certainly the clearness of its style and arrangement render it, perhaps, the best book of the kind for that purpose. He says, "the principles upon which all laws are founded are those of common sense, and thus, therefore, it is within the power of each man by ordinary intelligence to understand what his duties are." He says, "that unless laws have been formed with regard to the customs and habits of mankind, they are bad;" but, he intimates that this is not the case with the law of carriers, and he, again and again, speaks of it as "in accordance with the common sense of the customs and habits of mankind." We fancy some recent

decisions as to railway accidents must be taken as exceptions from the rule, but certainly Mr. Browne's exposition of the law on the subject is clear and easy of apprehension; in his statement of the cases upon a question, he is clear, copious, and correct. If here and there there is a little looseness of expression it is only in some preliminary observations or general remarks. Mr. Browne says he found some branches of the law inadequately stated in previous works, probably those of more recent growth and development, and he has sought to bring these out more fully and copiously; and he has certainly done so. Mr. Browne especially mentions in his title page "references to the most recent American decisions," and, in his preface, he speaks with high approval of Mr. Angell's work on the subject, and says he has introduced many leading American cases not to be found in that book, especially those which are more recent. These cases no doubt add to the value of the work for American authorities are not so accessible to our practitioners, as English cases are. Generally speaking, the cases on the subject are brought down to the date of publication, which was October, 1872. We are bound in homage to critical truth to say that in the latter part, as to pleadings and evidence Mr. Browne falls into one or two errors; as to pleadings, for instance, in forgetting that the Common Law Procedure Act does away with actions on promises unless where the action requires an actual contract; and as to evidence, in confounding (at p. 528) evidence of agents with evidence as to statements by agents: a very different thing. But these, with a little looseness of expression in one or two preliminary sentences, are the only faults or defects which appear to us to require notice; and, on the whole the work is creditable to Mr. Browne as a man of learning and ability, and will be found by laymen or students a very clear and complete exposition of the law on the subject.

WINSLOW'S MANUAL OF LUNACY.-This is a handbook relating to the legal care and treatment of the insane in the public and private asylums of Great Britain, Ireland, United States of America, and the Continent. It is by Mr. Lyttleton Winslow, a son of Dr. Forbes Winslow, whose long experience in the subject is so well known, and who very naturally, and in the very excussable pride, introduces his son's work to the world. He says he believes "the book will be of great value as one of reference to lawyers, as to all persons associated with lunatic asylums and interested in the legal care of the insane." He hopes that the work will fill a gap in medico-psychological literature. No medical practitioner, having access to it, can for the future plead

ignorance of the law as an excuse for its violation, as he will find here clearly specified everything he is required to know in regard to the legal confinement of persons alleged to be of unsound. mind." Thus, in its legal aspect, it is of great practical utility, no doubt, to the members, both of the legal and medical professions. But it contains a great deal which renders it a work of much interest to the public. The reader, says Dr. Winslow, will find in this manual valuable statistical facts relating to the insane in this and other countries, with an account of the prin ciple asylums. We may here remark that from the statistics it would appear that lunacy is rapidly increasing in this country, but we strongly suspect from cases that have come before courts of law, and also some that have come to our knowledge from private sources, that the reason of this apparent increase is the frequency of seclusion of persons by their relatives from interested motives. Against this evil no official inspection is of the least avail, and there is no security but the ancient one of enquiry by a jury. Nor should any one be allowed to be permanently confined without such enquiry. In this book will be found ample illustration of this, and is its most important feature. The author has briefly indicated the course to be pursued should it be necessary to petition the Chancellor to issue a writ de lunatico inquirendo, in order to enable the court to protect and administer the property of insane persons. And, in the recent remarkable case of Beall v. Smith, the vigorous and masterly judgment of Lord Justice James expounded the necessity for such an enquiry in order to authorize any proceedings in Chancery as to property. But the enquiry, unhappily, only had reference to persons with property, and the majority of cases are dealt with summarily, and without an enquiry by jury. Yet, as Sir James Hannen lately observed, in an able judgment on the subject, eccentricity often approaches very near to insanity in its appearances, and yet is very different; and there is reason to believe that persons are often incarcerated upon mere pretences of insanity. In the final chapter of the work there is an exposition of the various forms of lunacy or eccentricity, from idiocy to mere melancholy or temporary derangement, and this is, perhaps, the most interesting portion of the book. It is especially interesting with reference to the question how far the existence of insanity is a medical question at all. The true legal principle is that it is never so, but that it is a practical question of fact to be determined by men of ordinary intelligence from their judgment of the words, acts, and conduct of the person. This was the view taken by the House of Lords in Earl Ferrer's case, and the departure from it, in our own time, has led to the most enormous

evils, one of which is the apparent increase of lunacy, and the easy seclusion of persons as supposed lunatics, and the easy impunity of criminals under pretence of a lunacy which rarely exists. This defence is now always set up, in the absence of any other, in cases of murder, especially if of any atrocity, or if the murderer has had the sense to veil his motive in secrecy. The very atrocity of the crime and the absence of apparent motive are then made the evidence of insanity, and so the worst murderers usually escape by, the aid of medical "experts." But they have no right to be heard on the question at all, as the existence of insanity is not a medical question, though its causes may be-where they are physical-and in such cases its cure of course is also a medical question, but it is clear from this book that insanity is not always nor usually the result of physical causes or disease. And even whether it is or not, the prior question is whether it exists; and that really resolves itself into this, whether the person speaks and acts as no rational person would do. And surely that is eminently a question for a jury, and is not a medical question at all. Yet the whole scope of the Lunacy Act is to make the question medical, and to place the liberty of every person at the mercy of any one who is interested in getting a couple of medical men to certify to insanity. This is a most scandalous and dangerous state of the law, and we are satisfied that numbers of persons are secluded under the false pretence of insanity which does not really exist. There are certain portions of this book, in which the medical view of insanity is given which strangely conflicts with the legal view, that is, the view of practical sound common sense, and strongly confirms the impression we entertain as to the vicious and dangerous state of the law. But the book is well written, and contains a vast deal of interesting information, that is of mania, acute, chronic, or recurrent; monomania, melancholia, acute and chronic; dementia, acute and chronic; imbecility, idiocy, kleptomania, delusions, hallucinations and illusions, delirium, dipsomania, homicide, and moral insanity, perciperal insanity, general paralysis of the insane, feigned insanity, and medical evidence in court. It may be gathered from the heads of this, the most interesting chapter in the work, that it is written rather in the medical than in the medico-legal view, and it may be said of the whole work that it is written rather in the view of the medical practitioner who may be called upon to take part in the administration of the law as to lunacy, than either in the interest of the public generally or of the legal profession. But it is not the less interesting on that account to all classes of the community; and, though it is to be borne in mind, in reading it, that it is written by a lunacy doctor, and the son of