duly made cognizant of all, will hold upon the several questions- It follows no opinion of any preceding writer or judge which an examination shows to be contrary to the reasonings and settled doctrines of the law; and especially it never introduces any opin ion or reasoning of the author, but states instead the law's reasonings and conclusions as every judge will hold them on being duly enlightened from the bar. For it recognizes the fact that while the past lives in its translated wisdom and reason, its inert, dead forms are buried, and the dealings of practitioners and judges are exclusively with the present and future. It does not attempt to bend or seduce away any mind from former convictions; its aim is the far higher one, — to induce, by all justifiable persuasions, the reader to look, not solicitous about the result of the looking. It rec ognizes the fact that our conflicts of judicial opinion do not result in any considerable degree from real differences, but almost entirely from the overlooking of things by judges who, if they had all before their thoughts, would decide in harmony." Without expressing ourselves as to the result of this new system of legal exposition, we cannot too highly praise this work as a legal treatise. It is a mine of legal information upon the subject treated, and is the ablest exposition of the law of Marriage, Divorce, and Separation yet published. The Supreme Court of the United States: Its History, by Hampton L. Carson, of the Phil adelphia Bar; and its Centennial Celebration, Feb. 4, 1890, prepared under direction of the Judiciary Centennial Committee. John Y. Huber Co., Philadelphia, 189 1. Cloth. $10.00. In selecting Mr. Carson for the task of preparing a volume which should fittingly commemorate the centennial celebration of the Supreme Court, the com
mittee having the matter in charge certainly made a most wise and happy choice. The superb work now before us, the result of his labors, is a. tribute to our highest tribunal of which both the author and the pro fession may well feel proud. Its importance and value can hardly be overestimated, being as it is the first complete history of the Supreme Court ever published. While Mr. Carson has not attempted to write a trea tise on constitutional law, he has given a clear and in teresting account of the sources of the jurisdiction of the court, the establishment of the court itself, and then, dividing his subject into epochs, he traces its his tory to the present time Its most important decisions are recalled and commented upon, and many interest ing incidents are reverted to. Brief but admirable biographical sketches are given of all Chief and Asso ciate Justices, displaying a vast amount of research and investigation by the learned author. The text is in fact a mine of valuable information, and the reader cannot but feel a glow of pride as he traces the growth and development of our Supreme Tribunal from its inception down through its eventful century of existence. To all this valuable collection of historical facts has been added a collection of illustrations unequalled in any work yet published. Fifty-three superbly etched portraits, executed by the well-known artists, Max Rosenthal and Albert Rosenthal, of Philadel phia, adorn the pages of this work, forming a complete collection of portraits of every Chief and Associate Justice who has occupied a seat upon the Supreme Bench. Autographs taken from ori ginal letters are appended to all these pictures. The prints alone are worth many times the price of the book. Taken as a whole, no work has ever been offered to the profession which possesses such in trinsic value; and the lawyer who once sees it will not rest easy in his mind until he makes himself the fortunate owner of a copy.
