Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 06.pdf/182

This page needs to be proofread.
Editorial Department.

one, but Mr. Bell has succeeded in mentioning and in giving more or less data and facts concerning all those who have passed away, and has also added a list of names of all those now living and practicing in the State. Many bright anecdotes are scattered through the book, which add greatly to its interest. To New Hampshire lawyers the work will be in valuable, and it will be read with pleasure and profit by every member of the profession.

A Treatise on the Law of Mortgages on Per sonal Property. By Leonard A. Jones. Fourth Edition, revised and enlarged. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston and New York, 1894. Law sheep. S6.oo net. This treatise needs no introduction to the legal profession, by whom it has been well and favorably known for nearly thirteen years. Four editions during that time are sufficient evidence of the value and popularity of the work. Its merits may be summed up in a single sentence. It is undoubtedly the best work, for practical working purposes, ever written upon the subject. In this revision more than eight hundred new cases are incorporated, as well as all changes in statutes published since the last edi tion. As compared with the original edition the present edition contains citations of some two thous and additional cases and about two hundred pages of new matter. The American State Reports, containing the cases of general value and authority decided in the courts of last resort of the several States. Selected, reported, and annotated, by A. C. Freeman. Vol. XXXIV. Bancroft-Whitney Co., San Francisco, 1894. Law Sheep. $4.oo net. In our last number we noticed Vol. XXXIII. of this Series of Reports, and what we then said applies with equal force to this last volume. There is ap parently no falling off in the quality of Mr. Freeman's work, and excellent judgment is manifest in both selection of cases and annotation. The series is really a very valuable one and should be, as we have no doubt it is, ably supported by the profession. Legal Studies in the Un1versity of Oxford. A valedictory lecture delivered before the University, June 10, 1893, by James Bryce, D.C.L., late Regius Professor of Civil Law in the University of Oxford. Macmillan & Co., New York, 1893. Paper. 35 cents. This little pamphlet will be read with great interest

159

by all interested in the subject of legal education. Very naturally, Professor Bryce insists upon the great importance of the study of the Roman Civil Law as a foundation for the study of the English Law. To use his own words: "The learner will make quite as rapid progress with English law if he has begun with Roman as if he proceeds to break his teeth from the first upon the hard nuts of our own system." The lecture gives a general review of the progress of the Law School of Oxford University, which is evidently destined to become a great institu tion for legal education. Speaking of the system of examination at Oxford, Professor Bryce gives utter ance to the following words, which well deserve the serious consideration of those connected with our American Universities : " Have we not in our English love of competition and our tendency to reduce everything to a palpable concrete result, allowed the examination system to grow too powerful, till it has become the master instead of the servant of teaching, and has distracted our attention from the primary duties of a University?" He favors "a return to the older conception of Oxford as a place to which every one who desired instruction might come, know ing that as she took all knowledge for her province she would provide him with whatever instruction he required." Professor Bryce-s words are full of thoughtful suggestions which will benefit all Ameri cans, as well as Englishmen, interested in legal edu cation. The Laws and Jurisprudence of England and America. Being a series of lectures delivered before Yale University by John F. Dillon, LL.D. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1894. Cloth. S4.oo net. This is one of the most delightful (we might say with truth the most delightful) legal works which it has been our good fortune to read. Judge Dillon is always an interesting writer, but he has invested this history of the progress of English and American law with an unusual charm. The scope of the work embraces a consideration of Our Law in its Old Home, its definition and distinctive character; the education and discipline of the English Bar, and therein of the Inns of Court, their history, char acter, and purposes; of Westminster Hall and the characteristic qualities of the English system of law which is indissolubly associated with this illustrious building, and in this connection of judicial tenure, of the trial by jury, and the doctrine of judicial prec edent. Then follows a consideration of Our Law in its New Home, its American expansion; development and modifications. The excellences and defects of both the English and American systems are care