Reviews of New Books.

Revue de Législation, Ancienne et Moderne, Française et Etrangère. Publiée sous la direction de MM. LABOULAYE, DE ROZIÈRE, Gide, DARESTE, BOISSONADE, FLACH. Paris: E. Thorin. Last No., November-December. 1876.

Revue Générale du Droit, de la Législation, et de la Jurisprudence en France et à l'Etranger. Dirigée par MM. DELOCHE, de l'Institut; H. BROCHER, de Genève; Sir H. SUMNER MAINE, &c. Secrétaire de la Rédaction, Joseph Lefort, Avocat à la Cour d'Appel, Laureat de l'Institut. Paris: E. Thorin. No. 1, JanuaryFebruary. 1877.

Nouvelle Revue Historique de Droit Français et Etranger. Publiée sous la direction de MM. EDOUARD LABOULAYE, de l'Institut; EUGÈNE DE ROZIÈRE, de l'Institut; PAUL GIDE, Professeur de Droit; RODOLPHE DARESTE, Avocat au Conseil d'Etat; GUSTAVE BOISSONADE, Agrégé. Secrétaire de la Rédaction, Jacques Flach, Dr. en Droit, Avocat à la Cour d'Appel, Paris. Paris L. Larose. Nos. 1 and 2, January-February, March-April. 1877.

We have here satisfactory evidence of considerable activity in the field of Juridical Literature in France. The Review so long under the direction of M. Laboulaye and his colleagues has changed its title and its publisher, and promises a career of renewed usefulness to the student of historical and comparative jurisprudence, under its old leaders, "aliusque et idem." M. Thorin, on his part, deserves well of the Republic of Letters for the prompt enterprise with which he has brought out a fresh Review, to which the Corpus Professor of Jurisprudence in the University of Oxford, M. H. Brocher, Professor of Law in the University of Geneva, and our old friend M. Joseph Lefort, together with distinguished members of the French Bar and Magistracy, lend their aid. It appears to us, so far as the materials for forming a judgment are as yet before us, that the "Revue Générale" is likely, under the inspiration of M. Lefort and others, to devote no small portion of its labours to the elucidation of subjects connected with Penal Law, and Economical Science in its relations with Jurisprudence, branches

in which the author of the history of "Locations Perpétuelles," and the "Cours de Droit Criminel," is thoroughly at home. These important subjects are already opened up in articles by M. Lefort, on the "Droit de Marché," and M. Labatut, in the first of a series of papers on " Moral and Legal Responsibility in Crime and Madness." In the "Nouvelle Revue Historique," the title assumed is amply justified by Professor Rivier, of Brussels, in a valuable essay on the little-worked field of the "History of the Science of Law in the Middle Ages ;" and by M. René de Maulde, who contributes, in a paper extending over the first two numbers, a most graphic and interesting account of the "Customs of the Republic of Avignon in the Thirteenth Century." In the second number, M. Dareste brings out into strong relief the light thrown by an Ephesian Law of the first century, B.C., discovered by Mr. Wood in his excavations at Ephesus, on Greek and Roman Law, and so on all Jurisprudence. We must add that the Bibliographical Appendix to the "Nouvelle Revue Historique" is at once wide in its field and well classified, and promises to be a very useful feature.

The Law of Mortgage and other Securities upon Property. By WILLIAM RICHARD FISHER, of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister-at-Law. Third edition. 2 vols. Butterworths. 1876.

During the twenty years which have elapsed since the appearance, in one volume, of the first edition of Mr. Fisher's Treatise on the Law of Mortgage, but more especially since its second edition -when the author's exhaustive treatment of his subject necessitated a division into two volumes-this work has built up for itself in the experienced opinion of the profession a very high reputation for carefulness, accuracy, and lucidity. This reputation is fully maintained in the present edition. The author has availed himself of the results of his labours while employed by the Digest of Law Commission, to effect several improvements in the form of the work, which add to its value as a scientific legal treatise. Some of the earlier portions, more particularly those parts of the first and second chapters which treat of Equitable Mortgages, Pledges, Hypothecations, and Possessory Liens, have been re-written, and are now presented to the reader in a shape as nearly as possible identical with the completed part of the intended "Digest of the Law of Mortgage and Lien." A valuable Appendix to the second volume contains a selection of Judgments, and statutory

securities, such as those under the Ecclesiastical Benefices Act (Gilbert's Act), 1798, Charitable Trusts Acts, Commissioners' Clauses Act, 1847, The Companies Acts, Copyhold Enfranchisement Acts, Improvement and Inclosure Acts, Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, Municipal Corporation Acts, and the Railway Companies Securities Act, 1866. The Appendix concludes with an Analytical Table of stamps upon securities. The entire work is divided, not only into chapters and parts, but also into numbered paragraphs, amounting, including those of the Appendix, to 1857. This arrangement is, no doubt, useful, but in the absence of any direction to the reader, the frequent references to previous and subsequent paragraphs scattered throughout the Appendix, are apt at first to be somewhat puzzling.

The foot-notes throughout Mr. Fisher's Treatise throw light upon his text, from the varied sources of the Roman Law, the Laws prevailing in our Colonies, the Code Napoléon, and other Foreign Systems.

The Law of Securities upon Property is confessedly intricate, and, probably, as the author justly observes, "embraces a greater variety of learning than any other single branch of the English Law." At the same time an accurate knowledge of it is essential to every practising barrister, and of daily requirement among solicitors. To all such we can confidently recommend Mr. Fisher's work, which will, moreover, prove most useful reading for the student, both as a storehouse of information and as an intellectual exercise.

Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science. Liverpool Meeting, 1876. Edited by C. W. RYALLS, LL.D. Longmans. 1877.

To many, both of our countrymen and of our Transatlantic kinsmen, the port of Liverpool is at once the "first and last" in England, like the famous inn by the Land's End. Its importance as a meeting-ground for the Members of the Social Science Association may be estimated by a perusal of the volume now before us, the publication of which forms the last editorial monument of the General Secretaryship of Mr. C. W. Ryalls. Maritime questions naturally attracted considerable attention at Liverpool, but not by any means exclusively, or even preponderantly. Extradition, Bankruptcy Law Amendment, the Causes and Remedies of the Depreciation of Silver, and other

important subjects of the day received their due meed at the hands of Mr. Westlake, Q.C., M. Cernuschi, Mr. Giffen, Mr. Daniel, Q.C., and other well-known writers. The interesting and suggestive address of the President of the Jurisprudence Department, Mr. Farrer Herschell, Q.C., M.P., has already appeared in our columns, and for the rest of the valuable matter contained in the other addresses and papers, we must refer our readers to the volume itself. We congratulate Mr. Ryalls on so successful a conclusion of his labours, and so excellent a comment on the work to which he may well be content to have given four of the best years of the life of a practising Barrister.

An Essay on Intestate Successions according to the French Code. By BARTHELEMY H. COLIN, of the Middle Temple. Stevens & Sons. 1876.

The Succession Laws of Christian Countries, with Special Reference to the Law of Primogeniture as it exists in England. By EYRE LLOYD, B.A., of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. Stevens & Haynes. 1877.

We have here two contributions of a different calibre, both intended to be of use to the practitioner who requires a knowledge of Foreign Law on the important subject to which they relate. Mr. Colin writes primarily for those who whether in the colony itself, or on Appeal cases at home, have to deal with the French Law obtaining in the Mauritius. Why he calls his book an 66 Essay" we have not been able to discover, for he adheres even to the form of the original in regard to question and answer, and the introduction of " Quid" in the middle of a paragraph, which cannot but have a somewhat odd aspect to the English reader. His references to the affirmative and negative opinions of the principal Commentators on the Code would have been more practically useful if the pages or sections where they may be found had been given, for they are to a certain extent the " Responsa Prudentum" of the best French jurists. We should have expected Mr. Colin to have revised with greater care the technical terms which he prints in the language of the Code.

Mr. Eyre Lloyd compresses into little more than eighty pages a considerable amount of matter both valuable and interesting; and his quotations from Diplomatic Reports by the present Lord Lytton, and other distinguished public servants, throw a picturesque light on a narrative much of which is necessarily

dry reading. We can confidently recommend Mr. Eyre Lloyd's new work as one of great practical utility, if, indeed, it be not unique in our language, as a book of reference on Foreign Succession Laws. But we confess we had hardly thought that the study of Roman Law had fallen to such a low ebb with Members of the Inns of Court, that either Barristers or Students should have needed to be told that the Civil or Roman Law was "collected and digested by the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century." On some points Mr. Lloyd's statements are too brief for entire accuracy, as when he tells us, under the head of Greece (p. 49), that "there is no Civil Code in Greece." It is quite true that the Code is not yet promulgated, but a complete Draft Civil Code has existed since 1870, and was revised in 1874. This Draft Code differs in no slight measure from the French Code, while the Ionian Civil Code of 1841, still in force in the islands, is almost entirely identical with it. It is not a little curious to contrast Mr. Lloyd's quotations from Montalembert, in favour of the English system of Entails, with the reform of that system supported by Mr. Shaw-Lefevre in the House of Commons, and also urged by him in a paper lately read before the Law Amendment Society. In a future edition, we may hope that Mr. Eyre Lloyd will discuss these opposite opinions, and also include in his category of "Christian Countries" those lands of the Southern Slavs, at present exciting so much interest in consequence of their intimate relation with the future of the New Rome of Constantine and of Justinian.

A Treatise on the Law of Bankruptcy; containing a full Exposition of the Principles and Practice of the Law, including Alterations made by the Bankruptcy Act, 1869. By GEORGE YOUNG ROBSON, Esq., of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. Third Edition. Butterworths. 1876.

We are glad to see that Mr. Robson's learned work on Bankruptcy has reached a third edition. As a systematic treatise on the important branch of Law to which it relates, it has long held a deservedly high place in the estimation of the profession. The author has evidently spared no pains to make the present edition worthy of continued support by a painstaking general revision, and by incorporating the results of all important recent decisions affecting both the General Law of Bankruptcy and the Practice under the Act of 1869. In the Law affecting Bankrupts it seems all but hopeless to look for anything like finality. A