WHAT SHALL WE READ? This column is devoted to brief notices of recent pub lications. We hope to make it a ready-reference column for those of our readers who desire to in form themselves as to the latest and best new books. East Tennessee during our Civil War was the scene of many stirring incidents, some of which furnish Mr. William E. Barton ample material for his story of the loyal South, entitled A Hero in Homespun? Thrice in the history of our country, at King's Moun tain, at the Battle of New Orleans, and in the Civil War, the homespun hero of the Southern Appalachians has emerged from his obscurity and turned the tide of battle. Mr. Barton calls him forth once again in the hope of making him better known to his countrymen. The story is an exciting one, graphi cally told, and the historical background is apparently true to fact. It is written in a spirit of fairness to both North and South, and will be read with equal interest in both these sections. A story of absorbing interest, filled with dramatic incident, and abounding in exciting adventure is The King's Henchman} A Chronicle of the Sixteenth Century. The scene is laid in France in the time of Henry of Navarre, and purports to be told by an inseparable attendant of the King. The story is admirably written, and is just the thing for vacation reading. NEW LAW-BOOKS RECEIVED. A Treatise on the Law of Negligence. By Thomas G. Shearman and Amasa A. Redfield. Fifth Edition. Substantially re-written. Baker Voorhis & Co. New York, 1898. Two vol umes. Law sheep. $12.00 net. No branch of the law has undergone more changes during the past ten years than that bearing upon the law of negligence. In fact, since the publication of the last edition of Messrs. Shearman & Kedfield's standard work upon the subject, the number of new decisions has been so enormous, and the changes made thereby so great, that the authors have found it advisable to re-write almost every section of this new edition. The treatise is now brought fully down to date and is a thorough and exhaustive exposition of the law as it stands to-day. Many cases not appear ing in the official reports are cited from the several series of " Reporters." The treatise merits and will undoubtedly continue to receive, from both bench and bar, the same commendation as in the past. 1 A Hero ix Homespun. A Tale of the loyal South. By William E. Barton. Lamson, Wolffe & Co., Boston, 1897. Cloth. -The King's Henchman. A Chronicle of the Sixteenth Century. Brought to light and edited by Henry Johnson. Little, Brown & Co,, Boston, 1898. $1.50.
Law of Negotiable Instruments, Statutes, Cases and Authorities. Edited by Ernest W. Huffcut, Professor of Law in Cornell University College of Law. Baker, Voorhis & Co., New York, 1898. Law Canvas. S4.00 net. Law sheep. S4.50 net. This work is based upon the Negotiable Instru ments Law as enacted in New York, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, and Virginia, and sub mitted for enactment in the other States by the com missioners on Uniformity of Laws. This law is itself based upon the English Bills of Exchange Act, as drafted by Judge Chalmers, and first published as Chalmers' " Digest of the Law of Bills of Exchange, Promissory Notes, and Checks." The Negotiable Instruments Law is, therefore, a Digest of the Law of Bills, Notes and Checks, embodying the results of thousands of decided cases, and now enacted as a Code in several American States. Whether in force in a particular State or not, it expresses correctly the law of Negotiable Instruments in all jurisdictions, and no better statement of the law can anywhere be found for purposes of study or instruction. To supplement this admirable Digest, the editor has collected and arranged in accordance with the analysis of the law over 300 cases (mostly American), from which the Digest might mainly be drafted, and which serve to show every important rule in operation upon concrete facts. These cases have been carefully annotated, the cases and annotations together making a complete commentary upon this important statute. By an in genious arrangement of cross-references, the reader has always before him the enactments of the legislatures and the decisions of the courts. For the student, the book presents an admirable survey of the whole law of Negotiable Instruments, reduced in the first part to concise statements of principles and rules, and expanded in the second part into concrete examples of the application of the rules. For the practitioner, the book serves as an annotated edition of the most important statutory enactments of recent years. Digest of Insurance Cases, Vol. X. For the Year ending October 31, 1897, by John A. Finch, of the Indianapolis Bar. The BowenMerrill Co., Indianapolis, 1898. Law Sheep. This series of reports covers almost every question of law which has ever been decided concerning In surance Companies or their Contracts, the ten vol umes already issued including 5,408 cases on the subject. In connection with the digest of each case a note is given, showing what has been the result of litigation in (he lower courts, and making clear the ruling of the Appellate Court. Lawyers interested in insurance litigation will find these reports invaluable.
