serve the thanks of the public for furnishing such a complete reference library as these volumes make. General Digest of the Decisions of the Prin cipal Courts in the United States. Annual, being Vol. V. of the series covering the court year ending September, 1890. The Lawyers' Co-operative Publishing Co., Rochester, N. Y. $6. 00. Competition between Digests is now reduced to that between the " General " and the " American," and each will doubtless act as a powerful stimulus to put the other to its utmost efforts to achieve com pleteness and perfection. The present volume of the General Digest certainly excels any of its prede cessors, and its scope has been extended to include the lower courts of New York, Illinois, Missouri, and Texas. In addition to the Digest of Cases, it has a complete table of cases criticised, distinguished, limited, or overruled during the year. It also gives bibliographic notes of new text-books, and an index of valuable discussions in legal periodicals, as well as annotations and notes of General Statutes. At the low price at which the volume is offered every lawyer can avail himself of the opportunity to possess a complete and accurate summary of the decisions of all the principal courts in the United States. The American State Reports, Vol. XVI. Se lected, reported, and annotated by A. C. Free man. The Bancroft-Whitney Company, San Francisco, 1891. $400 This last volume of this admirable series of reports contains selections of cases from the States of Ala bama, California, Colorado. Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota. New York, and Texas As usual, Mr. Freeman's wo k is well and exhaust ively done, and the high reputation of these reports, due so largely to his good judgment and discrimina tion, is fully sustained. Later Leaves; being the further Reminiscences of Montagu Williams, Q. C. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co., Boston and New York, 1891. Cloth, $3-75In our July number (1890) we noticed at some length Mr. Williams's " Leaves of Life," of which the present volume is a continuation and conclusion. Upon his retirement from the active practice of his profession, owing to a serious disorder of his throat, Mr Williams was appointed one of the Metropolitan Police Magistrates of London; and in this work he relates many of his magisterial experiences, dwelling
particularly upon the state of the London poor. His pathetic pictures of their destitution and suffering, and his suggestions of remedies for the amelioration of their miserable condition, will be read with the deepest interest, and cannot fail to be productive of much good. Mr. Williams's ideas as to dealing with minor charges are, to our mind, admirable. He says: — "For my own part, I am convinced that, except with habitual criminals, leniency is a more power ful instrument of good than severity. I refer, of course, more especially to minor charges, such as drunkenness and disorderly conduct. The usual routine is to inflict a fine, with imprisonment as the alternative. For my part I entirely disapprove of this course. What is the use of inflicting the fine in very poor cases? Were the money not forthcom ing, the offender would go to prison, which means the bread-winner would be shut up, and the family left to starve. So the clothing of the wife or the children goes to the pawnshop, and the fine is paid. "I think it is better to merely administer a caution in the case of the first or even second offence of this description. On the other hand, I do not think that either words or fines are of any use with the habitual drunkard. He or she is far better off in prison, out of temptation. "Law is designed to prevent crime, and not to assist in making criminals, and therefore, if it is proved that leniency tends to reform the offender, while severity tends to harden him, little more need be said in favor of the course I am recommending. Certainly in no single instance have I had reason to regret having taken a merciful view of an offence. "In nine cases out of ten, minor offences are, in the first instance, committed in consequence of sud den temptation. If the offender goes to jail, what is the result? His character is destroyed, and when he is liberated, he will find it well-nigh impossible to obtain employment. Added to this, his wife and family during his incarceration will have been re duced to terrible straits, and perhaps compelled to sell all their furniture and break up their little home. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, indeed, the wretched wife and children suffer far more acutely than the offender." The book contains many interesting reminiscences of well-known English lawyers, with whom Mr. Wil liams had a more extended acquaintance, probably, than any living man. One or two chapters are de voted to dramatic incidents, and contain some delight ful gossip concerning actors and actresses. The work is written in a charmingly natural and chatty style, and, with the two volumes which have preceded it, should find a plare in the library of every lawyer. No more delightful reading can be found to occupy one's leisure moments.
