Lawyers' Reports Annotated, Books IX. and X., containing all current cases of general value and importance decided in the United States, State, and Territorial Courts, with full annota tion by Robert Desty. Lawyers' Co-opera tive Publishing Company, Rochester, N. Y. {5.00 per volume. The publishers are keeping this series of reports up to the high standard of excellence which they promised. Under the able editorship of Mr. Desty, whose annotations merit the highest praise, and whose selection of cases is most judicious, the re ports cannot fail to be of great value and assistance to the profession. The indexing is exceptionally thorough and complete, and is supplemented by a brief resume- under logical arrangement of subjects discussed and points decided in the cases reported. A Monograph of the Law of Lost Wills. By W. W. Thornton. Callaghan & Company, Chicago, 1890. This interesting brochure has just come into our hands. It is a very thorough and useful examination of an important branch of the law of wills which is but barely touched upon in the standard treatises. The author has evidently examined, abstracted, arranged, and digested all the English and American cases there are upon the subject. The result of his work is so satisfactory that no lawyer who has a large practice in the administration of estates can safely dispense with this little volume. It is interesting to notice how many contributions
to legal literature have been made by the law libra rians of the present generation. Among those whose names occur to us at the present writing are Mr. Berryman, State Librarian of Wisconsin; Mr. Gould, assistant Librarian of the Social Law Library, Boston; and Mr. Thornton, the State Librarian of Indiana. A cultivated lawyer who accepts the posi tion as librarian of a large State or I5ar Library has exceptional facilities for the examination of authori ties; and the works of these three writers show what good use can be made of their opportunites. Constitutional Legislation in the United States; its Origin, and Application to the Relative Powers of Congress and of State Legislatures. By John Ordronaux, LL. D. T. & J. W. Johnson & Co., Philadelphia, 1891. Law Sheep. $6.00 net. An admirable work, in which the author presents in a clear and interesting manner the entire system of Federal and State Legislation in the United States, as practised under a written constitution. Going back to the foundation of our political system, Mr. Ordronaux traces its development to its present state. The relations which Federal and State legislation bear to each other are fully considered, and an able exposition is given of those administrative powers which, in our dual form of representative govern ment, are sovereign within their several spheres of action. The work cannot fail to interest all students of our history as a nation, and the legal profession will derive both profit and pleasure from its perusal. The book is a pattern worthy of imitation as regards its typographical work.
