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412 HARVARD LAW REVIEW. the insurers no question of public policy arises to afford a defence to the action. Cleaver v. Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association [1892], 1 Q. B. 147. [Ct. of App. (Eng.)] The court treated the executors as trustees under the statute for the wife, and then for the estate. The trust in favor of the wife having been rendered incapable of performance by her crime, the executors recover on the policy for the benefit of the estate. Mandamus — Railroad — Refusal to Stop at Town. — A petition for a mandamus to compel a railroad company to erect a station and stop its trains at a certain town. The town is a county seat and directly in the line of the railroad, but the company, for some purpose of its own, refused to stop there, and erected its station some distance beyond the town, where it owned land. Held, that the writ could not issue, there being no specific legal dutv to stop at that town. Brewer, Field, and Harlan, JJ., dissenting. No. Pac. R. Co. v. Territory of Washington, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 283. Mortgages — Satisfaction — Intention to keep Alive. — S conveyed her equity of redemption in mortgaged premises to P. She afterwards brought ac- tion to have the conveyance set aside, and obtained a decree to that effect. Dur- ing the pendency of the suit P had paid off the mortgage, and he now claimed that it still subsisted as against S, as an incumbrance in his favor upon the es- tate. Held, that whether payment of a charge extinguishes the charge depends upon the intention with which payment is made. Here the payment was made during the pendency of the suit, and there is hence a presumption that P in- tended that the mortgage should survive. In re Pride [1891] 2 Ch. 135. Municipal Corporations — Parliamentary Law — Majority Vote. — Under a statute which provides that an issue of school bonds must be authorized by vote of " a majority of all the inhabitants of any school district entitled to vote, to be ascertained by taking . . . the ayes and noes of such inhabitants attending at any school-district meeting": held, Parker, J., dissenting, that a vote in favor of bonds by the majority of those voting is sufficient to satisfy the statute, though such majority is less than half of the voters actually present at the meeting. Smith et al. v. Proctor et al„ School Trustees, 29 N. E. Rep. 312 (N. Y.). In so far as this decision has any bearing on the much-vexed "quorum" question, it is obviously calculated to give aid and comfort to Speaker Reed. Negligence — Imputed Negligence — Doctrine of Thorogood v. Bryan. — Where one hires a hack, the driver of which is employed by the owner and is not controlled by the passenger, the negligence of the hackman is not imput- able to the passenger, since the former is not the latter's servant. Randolph v. O'Riorden et al., 29 N. E. Rep. 583 (Mass.). This decision adds Massachusetts to the long list of jurisdictions which reject Thorogood v. Bryan, 8 C. B. 115. Partnership — Rights of Retiring Partners. — Upon the dissolution of a partnership, the retiring partners, having sold " all their right, title, and interest in the firm " to the remaining partners, can, in the absence of a stipulation to the contrary, engage in the same business, and personally solicit the old cus- tomers. And this is true even though the good-will was included in the sale to the remaining partners. Williams v. Farrand, 50 N. W. Rep. 446 (Mich.). This would seem to be opposed to the English decisions. See Addison on Contracts, 1154. labouchere v. Dawson, L. R. 13 Eq. 322. Personal Property — Rights of Designers in their own Compositions. — A draughtsman or designer has such property in a model or plan of his own composition as to be entitled to maintain an action for the unauthorized use of such, although no letters patent or copyright has been secured. New England Monument Company v. Johnson, 22 Atl. Rep. 974 (Pa.). Practice — Unofficial Opinion — Does not Preclude Judge from Sit- ting. — The judge had presided at the trial in which the prisoner was alleged to have committed perjury. He became firmly convinced of the guilt of the pris- oner and had stated this opinion unofficially. Held, this does not disqualify him from presiding at the trial of the indictment for perjury. Heflin v. State, 14 S. E. Rep. 112 (Ga.j. Pkopertv — Trade-marks — Inventions. — A trade-mark is a personal sign or badge distinguishing the productions of one individual from those of another. A mere mechanical contrivance, a method of construction or of ar-