said of him that "he exemplified in his per sonality many of the typically strong attrib utes of the modern French character—a comprehensive sense of diplomatic propriety, logical acuteness, the faculty of systematiz ing and readily using the results of study and observation, literary finish and personal tact and charm." Although of French extraction, no man was more truly an American in sym pathies and sentiments than Frederick R. Coudert. His reputation in the legal profes sion was by no means confined to city, State or nation. His exceptional talents enabled him to represent this country with signal ability before numerous international tri bunals. On a number of important occa sions, the last being the Venezuelan arbitra tion, which closed in 1898, he sustained the interests of this government with distin guished ability and eminent success. He de clined a tender of appointment to the bench of the United States Supreme Court, made by President Cleveland, and also refused more than one important foreign diplomatic post, preferring to devote all his time and energies to his private practice. IN The Juridical Review for December, Charles Gans, Docteur en Droit Avocat à la Cour, Paris, has an instructive article on "The Judicial System of France,1'—a system ap parently complex but in reality simply "based upon two fundamental principles— the principle of what is termed the double degree of jurisdiction, and the principle of a heirarchy of Courts." As to these princi ples he says: Apart from certain exceptions to be de tailed later, the theory is that every case which has been submitted to any one tri bunal in the first instance may be submitted to a further tribunal of review, which if need be, alters the judgment of the first court. The motive for this is primarily the guar antee of justice afforded to litigants by the existence of a right of appeal to judges who are more remote from them, and who are not subject to local influences, and in the second place the additional guarantee af
forded by specially chosen judges who are not only more numerous but also of greater age and experience than the judges of first instance. For this reason no litigant can be deprived of his right of appeal to a higher court, except in certain specially provided cases, as where the matter at issue is of trivial importance. On the other hand certain ac tions, forming however, only a small class, must be brought directly before the tribunal of the second degree. But these exceptions do not affect the general principle. On both the Civil and the Criminal side the "judicial heirarchy" is composed of Jus tice of the Peace Courts, the Courts of First Instance, the Courts of Appeal, and the Court of Cassation. In addition to these there are Commercial Courts, of which M. Gans says: To pass now from the subject of civil and criminal justice, it remains to consider the Commercial Courts. In commercial matters justice is administered in special commercial tribunals whose organization is very differ ent from that of the Civil Courts. The judges, instead of being appointed by the President of the Republic, are elected by the merchants themselves, who must be citizens of France. No one may be elected except merchants or retired merchants of over thirty years of age, and the President must have served as a judge for two years. There is no representative of the public. The par ties may appear in person or by anyone whom they may choose to represent them. The procedure is simpler than in the Civil Courts. In most cases the matter is first brought before an arbiter, whose duty it is to hear the parties' explanations, and to make a report. Thereafter the Court gives its judgment. From the judgments of the Commercial Courts an appeal lies to the same Court of Appeal as that to which judg ments of the Civil Courts are taken. . . . Legal expenses in France are fairly high in all except the Justice of the Peace Courts. But poor persons are not on that account deprived of the means of obtaining justice, thanks to the institution known as L'Assist ance Judiciaire, the object of which is to en
