half the adult males of every community, and a good many of the females. It is observed that in Ver mont there is lately a great deal of discontent with the working of the liquor laws, many asserting that the expense is out of proportion to the results. Thus far in the history of the world it has proved idle to legislate strictly against the sexual passion and the thirst for strong drink.
Special Committees of the Conference on Uniform Legislation. — Mr. Henry W. Beekman, of the city of New York, president of the conference of commissioners for the promotion of uniformity of legislation in the United States, held at Milwaukee, last year, has appointed the following special com mittees. The residences of the members may be ascertained by reference to volume five of the Green Bag, page 476 : — Committee on Wills. — Messrs. Browne, Spring, Pattee, Woodward, and Sullivan (Oxford, Mississippi). Committee on Marriage and Divorce. — Messrs. Richberg, Bennett, Snyder, Parker, and Cutcheon. Committee on Commercial Law.— Messrs. Beekman, ex officio, Brewster, Stimson, Green, Meldrim, Monaghan, Bennett. Committee on Descent and DistributioN. — Messrs. Brewster, Jones, Chapman, Corbet, Buckalew. Committee on Deeds and other Conveyances. — Messrs. Jones, Smith, Thomson (Brookhaven, Mississippi), Newton, and Hill. Committee on Certificates of Depositions and Forms of Notarial Certificates. — Messrs. Leeper, Smith, Spring, Johnson, Green. Committee on Uniformity of State Action in Appointing Pres1dential Electors. — Messrs. Buckalew, Browne, Cutcheon, Crouse, Chapman. Committee on Weights and Measures. — Messrs. Stimson, Meldrim. Executive F1mance Committee. — Messrs. Beekman, Snyder, Bennett, Brewster, Buckalew. Finance Committee. — The Chairman of the respective State Commissions constitute a Finance Committee for the Conference.
'The Paris Law Courts. — This is the title of a recent book, translated from the French and pub lished in England. The authorship is anonymous, but it purports to be the production of a number of young advocates who are engaged in journalism. There is a certain advantage in this suppression of names and in the joint authorship; for the authors, not having the fear of judges before their eyes, are unsparing in criticism, and institutions are scrutinized from different individual points of view. The work has a solid foundation of history; indeed it is an ex
haustive and comprehensible account of the some what complicated judicial system of France from the lowest to the highest courts. The historical view also embraces the famous buildings in which justice is dispensed, the court houses and the prisons, some of the latter having an extremely pathetic interest. The course of French legal education is also admirably described, and to an English or American reader is very curious. Not the least interesting part is that descriptive of the social habits of the Bar and Bench, which shows that human nature is a good deal alike on both sides of the channel and of the ocean. The forensic talents and habits of the Bar are also acutely portrayed. There could be nothing more admirable than the typical arguments here given on a proceed ing in eminent domain — the only civil proceeding in France in which a jury is allowed, and it consists of ten — intended to disclose the peculiarities of the French modes of thought and reason and the French vivacity and exuberance of rhetoric, and yet showing the solid and serious substratum of argument which would be naturally addressed as well to an English or an American tribunal on such an occasion. On every page the book bears evidences of the acuteness, humor, candor, fearlessness, and devotion of a group of young, lively, and rather •• briefless barristers " pro nouncing their opinions upon their chosen and beloved profession and its ministers and agencies. Very striking is the observation made of one celebrated advocate, that in an important criminal case he would make twelve separate speeches to the jurymen, ad dressed to their respective characteristics and preju dices and all in widely different manners, acutely calculated to sway each peculiar understanding so appealed to. The volume is most admirably and copiously illustrated with cuts of buildings, persons and scenes, all in a masterly and striking manner. The book should be read in connection with Judge Dillon's new work, on which comment was made here last month. Each would lend interest to the other, and the comparison between the two systems and the national characteristics on which they are based will prove very impressive. They have no precedents nor civil jury in France, but one rises from the perusal of this charming volume with a strong impression that the French get on very well without them and that French justice on the whole is well conceived and effectively and impartially admin istered. Rural Advertisements. — "A bill is pending before the English parliament,"' says the " Michigan Law Journal," " which the legislators of this country would do well to consider. It is to prohibit adver tisements in public places in rural districts. The preamble states that it is expedient to prohibit the
