much-needed reform in this matter. It is no easy task to write a head-note which will at the same time point out just what was decided by the court, and not lug in the arguments of the judge who writes the opinion; but this is what the busy and overworked profession need, and need badly. A decision with out a proper head-note to indicate precisely what is decided therein is like an unexplored country. But there is another and equally needed reform I wish you would prevail upon the judge, or some other equally good man, to inaugurate; and that is in the matter of indices to the law books the profession are compelled to buy and use every day. It is indeed a rarity to find a book with even a moderately good in dex. Some are entirely too meagre, as the index to "Tiedman on Commercial Paper," and the index to the last "Central Law Journal;" others are so ar ranged that no living man can find anything in them, like the index to "Abbott's New Practice and Forms," which has the most abominable index that has been put into an otherwise excellent book in the last decade. This index will have to answer for more profanity among even-tempered lawyers than any other annoyance that harasses a long-suffering profession. An index to a law book is to the work what a gate is to a garden, — serves to let you in. A book that is really excellent in its conception and thorough and painstaking in its execution will be comparatively useless if not provided with an index; and a poor book with a good index may be very serviceable to the profession. The trouble seems to be that the majority of authors regard an index as a thing that requires neither pains, skill, nor genius to prepare; and for that reason turn it over to some student in the office or other incompetent to prepare, and the consequence is a jumble that is disgusting to the pro fession and a disgrace to the honest workmanship of the author. Every index should consist of terse lines or phrases which embody in the first word or the first two words the leading idea of the line; and these lines should be arranged alphabetically under their proper subdivisions, similar to the index in " Wiltsie on Mortgage Foreclosure," which the " Green Bag," in common with the other journals of the country, has praised. The advantage of this method of pre paring and arranging an index is that it saves time to the searcher. The ordinary index is a perfect jumble, a miserable hodge-podge of points, without head or tail, and you have to run laboriously through an entire title before you can find the point you are looking for. Take as an example " Boone on Code Pleading," vol. ii. In the index, under the head "Complaint" there are thirteen pages of index mat ter absolutely without arrangement, and you are com pelled to search through the entire thirteen pages for the reference you want. If this index was arranged
on the plan spoken of, the searcher could turn di rectly to the letter where the point should be found and hit at once upon it, and save the annoyance and the time required in running the eye over the entire thirteen pages. I call attention to this sad defect in our " tools of trade," in the earnest hope that it may not prove altogether " useless." Limb o' the Law. Through the kindness of The Notman Pho tographic Company, we are enabled to present to our readers the admirable group which forms the frontispiece of this number. It is repro duced from a photograph made by the Notman Company and copyrighted by them, and they have most courteously granted us permission to use it. A group of more distinguished jurists it would be difficult to find. Our August number will contain two full-page groups of the First and Second Divisions of the present New York Court of Appeals, and separate portraits of Judges Miller, Allen, Grover, Rapallo, Church, Folger, Andrews, Danforth, Earl, Ruger, and Peckham.
LEGAL ANTIQUITIES. One of the most important measures (says Mr. Crabb, in his " History of English Law," p. 337), connected with the administration of jus tice, was that of putting the names of attorneys on the roll; which, in consequence of their in creasing numbers, was now found necessary. Wherefore it was enacted (4 Hen. IV. c. 18) that for the better assurance of their being duly quali fied, they were to be examined by the justices, and by their directions their names should be put in a roll. They were required to be good and virtuous and of good fame, and on being re ceived were to be sworn well and truly to serve in their offices. Probably the King's Attorney was the only lawofficer of the Crown until the reign of Edward the Fourth. In the first year of this king one Richard Fowler was made Solicitor-General to the King, and in the eleventh year William Husee was appointed "Attornatus generalis in
