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to occur, for we cannot recommend them to invest so large a sum (to them) as two shillings. If they wish for the Act at all-and Heaven forbid that "every workman" should have occasion to be reading up the law in this way before the Act can do its work— let them buy a copy from the Queen's Printers. That will be quite enough for at least the vast majority of workmen. We should conclude by saying that in spite of its high-sounding title-page, the work of Mr. Roberts-Jones is nothing much more than a pamphlet consisting of eighty small pages.

Employers' Liability under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1897, and the Employers' Liability Act, 1880. By ARTHUR ROBINSON, B.A., of the Middle Temple and North-Eastern Circuit, late Scholar of Jesus College, Cambridge, one of the Examiners of the High Court of Justice, and author of "The Law Relating to Income Tax." Stevens and Sons. Pp. 125. Price 6s.

We are rather weary of treatises on Employers' Liability. The works of Mr. Roberts and Mr. Wallace, Mr. Spens and Mr. Younger and Mr. Minton-Senhouse pretty well exhaust all that is to be said upon the older Act; while a commentary on the new Act is in our opinion premature. However, Mr. Robinson's work is the newest : his arrangement seems good; and we have detected no inaccuracy. And so those who are looking for a commentary on the subject, which shall be completely up to date, cannot probably do better than invest in that before us.

Law and Politics in the Middle Ages, with a synoptic table of sources. By EDWARD JENKS, M.A., Reader in English Law in the University of Oxford, Lecturer at Balliol College, and formerly Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. John Murray. 1898. Pp. 352.

This is an academical work, and deals with a subject which only the few among practising barristers have much time or inclination to investigate. But the few will like it who do read it. It is learned and thoughtful, and it is well written. And at the Universities, where it seems that some men prefer to leave the dear old beaten track which took them from Homer to Plato, and from Herodotus to Xenophon, and sit under the chair of a "Reader in English Law" instead, an audience should surely be found who will be interested in subjects like "the church's cattle," and the "Wergild" discussed in the present volume. And an audience so educated will probably produce

one or two men from time to time, who will assist in the work which under the auspices of the Selden Society and other patrons has been progressing rapidly of late-we mean the work of tracing out the history of the origin and developments of that great system called the Law of England, and so in some measure to assist us in determining the right answer which should now be made to doubtful questions of principle in that law as it stands to-day. The practical use of such historical arguments to barristers who merely desire to win their cases is steadily diminishing steadily yielding more and more to the "business" point of view; but the Muse of History will always be heard for her own sake.

An Analytical Digest of Cases decided in the Supreme Courts of Scotland, and on Appeal by the House of Lords, from July 20th, 1885, to July 20th, 1895. Compiled from the Sessions Cases by HUGH J. E. FRASER, GEORGE L. MACFARLANE, JOHN DAVID SYM, and A. O. M. MACKENZIE, Advocates. T. & T. Clark. 1897. 1,392 columns.

The Canadian Annual Digest, 1896, of the Cases reported in the Canadian Courts; and of the Canadian cases decided by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council during the year, with tables of the cases digested, cases affirmed, reversed or specially considered, and of the statutes referred to. By CHARLES H. MASTERS and CHARLES MORSE, LL.B. Canada Law Journal Company. 1897. Pp. 372.

These two digests which have been sent to us afford illustrations, not only of the industry of Her Majesty's Judges in different parts of the world, but of the thorough and laborious way in which their decisions are studied in those different parts of the world by those whose practice of the law calls for such a study. The most elaborate systems of digesting cases which prevail in England are followed by our Scotch and Canadian friends; and we have no doubt of the usefulness of these works to those who are concerned with their respective subjects.

NEW EDITIONS.

By T. M.

2nd Edition. The Elements of Mercantile Law. STEVENS, D.C.L., of Christ Church, Oxford, and of the SouthEastern Circuit, Barrister-at-Law. Pp. 462. Price 10s. 6d.

There is some good work in this new edition; but we do not very much approve of the author's plan of making several state

ments (according to his own account-see note of p. 270), for which he is not prepared with any authority except the text of a bill which has not yet been declared to be law. The result may work out satisfactorily in the particular case, which is that of the law of marine insurance; but the precedent is a bad one. It is for binding authority that we consult a treatise; and anything which is questionable is worse than useless.

2nd Edition. A Selection of Leading Cases in the Criminal Law (Founded on Shirley's Leading Cases) with Notes. By HENRY WARBURTON, Barrister-at-Law of the Inner Temple, and of the South-Eastern Circuit, and Central Criminal Court. Stevens and Sons, Limited. 1897. Pp. 292. Price 10s. 6d.

Mr. Warburton is a good guide to the leading cases in the criminal law. Himself one of the most successful of rising advocates at the Old Bailey and well read in this department of learning, he is much more fitted than the original author of Shirley's Leading Cases to teach the principles of criminal law. There is no way of teaching at all comparable to the study of leading cases; and Mr. Warburton has studied the old authorities and well illustrated their decisions by his notes of modern instances. We were ourselves in Court when he argued before Sir Henry Hawkins in favour of the contrary proposition to that which the Court upheld in R. v. Neill. This case is cited by him in the notes to R. v. Geering, 18 L.J. M.C. 215, on page 106 of the present edition; and these notes are a masterly exposition of the law upon a difficult subject. We are glad to follow him now setting forth the law of the land as it is, as correctly as could be; though he certainly convinced us of the contrary when we heard him arguing it in the hope of saving the neck of the ruffian Neill, who was afterwards rightly hanged. The present edition is up to date; and includes such a recent leading case as R. v. Lillyman, [1896] 2 Q.B. 167, as to the admission of evidence of the "complaint" made by the prosecutrix in a certain kind of case and the extension of the rule to the details of such complaint. Every Old Bailey practitioner ought to have this book by heart.

By

2nd Edition. A General View of the Law of Property. J. ANDREW STRAHAN, M.A., LL.B., of the Middle Temple and Midland Circuit, Barrister-at-Law; Regius Professor of English

Law, Queen's College, Belfast; Senior Scholar in the Law of Property, Middle Temple, 1881; Joint Author of Fisher and Strahan's "Law of the Press," and Macassey and Strahan's "Law relating to Civil Engineers and Architects." Stevens and Sons, Limited. 1897. Pp. 388. Price 12s. 6d.

The Land Transfer Act, 1897, is the chief addition to this work since its first appearance; and the author alludes to it as another instance of the general fusion of the law relating to real and personal property into one harmonious branch, and thus justifies the principle which he has throughout adopted of considering both branches together as belonging to the same subject. We think that he is right. The tendency of legislation is altogether in that direction: and students will understand the general current of the modern decisions affecting property of both descriptions by mastering the legal propositions contained in this book, which has deservedly reached a second edition and is likely to reach more editions in the future.

3rd Edition. Notes on Perusing Titles containing observations on the points most frequently arising on a Perusal of Titles to Real and Leashold Property, with an Epitome of the notes arranged by way of reminders, with an Appendix on the appointment of a real representative by the Land Transfer Act, 1897. BY LEWIS E. EMMET, Solicitor. Jordan & Sons, Ltd. Pp. 376. 1897. Price 7s. 6d. net. Nothing but practical experience and sitting at the feet of a learned man who understands the subject can teach a man this most difficult science. But, given those advantages, this book will be of great assistance to the learner. The chief point of the new edition is the Appendix on the appointment of a "real representative" under the Land Transfer Act, 1897. "The duties of the real representative," says Mr. Emmet, summarising the new law, "are to administer the real estate of the testator or intestate in a similar way to that in which a personal representative administers personal estate." And the new machinery will be easily understood by readers of this Appendix. Mr. Emmett is not responsible for the expression "real representative," which, as a matter of English, offends our ears: a "personal representative" is, as a matter of law, a representative of the deceased quá his personalty, but as a matter of English he is the representative of a person; as a matter of law, the analogy

is well enough that there should be a similar representative of the deceased quâ his realty, but as a matter of English "real representative" is indefensible; but the legislature is to blame, for the correct title of the statute is "an Act to establish a real representative and to amend the Land Transfer Act, 1875."

3rd Edition. A Compendium of the Law relating to Executors and Administrators; with an Appendix of Statutes annotated by means of references to the text. By W. GREGORY WALKER, B.A., author of the first edition of this work, and EDGAR J. ELGOOD, B.C.L., M.A., both of Lincoln's Inn, Barristers-at-Law, and late scholars of Exeter College, Oxford, joint authors of "The Law Relating to the Administration of the Estates of Deceased Persons." This edition by EDGAR J. ELGOOD. Stevens and Haynes. Pp. 445. 1897. Price 21s.

The Land Transfer Act, 1897, is not the occasion of this new edition, as the author tells us it was passed as his work was going through the press. But he seems to have given us the substance of it; and the book maintains its good quality as a brief summary of the law upon the subjects in question, full treatment of which is, of course, far beyond the scope of so small a work. The full table of cases, with references to all reports, forms an attractive feature of this book.

3rd Edition. Principles of Pleading, Practice, and Procedure in Civil Actions in the High Court of Justice. By W. BLAKEODGERS, M.A., LL.D., Q.C., late Scholar and Law Student of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, Author of "A Digest of the Law of Libel and Slander," Recorder of Winchester. Stevens and Sons, Limited. Pp. 468. 1897. Price 12s. 6d.

This is, on the whole, the best book on the modern system of pleading which exists. No modern book upon this subject can. ever attain the position of the old "Bullen and Leake," for pleading is no longer the test of legal principles, which it was formerly. If pleading is less important than it was, and if it requires less learning and preciseness than it did, it is still important enough to win a reputation, and it still requires learning and preciseness enough for this-bad pleading will still place the barrister's client in very awkward predicaments, and lead to the complete failure of the pleader in his profession. And of all men who have thoroughly mastered the principles of the modern system,

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