book contain references to this recent law; but it might not be out of place, in the next edition, to give along side of the law itself brief notes or comments pointing out the changes which it has worked, or was intended to bring about, in the law of Bills and Notes.
REGISTERING TITLE то LAND. By Jacques Dumas, LL.D. Chicago : Callaghan & Co. 1900. Buckram. $1.50. (106 pp.) Within the last few years there has arisen in this country a widespread interest in the Torrens system of registering title to land — an interest which is especially strong among the members of the legal profession in Illinois, Ohio and Massachusetts, in which three States such a system has been adopted and has become the subject of judicial decision. Dr. Dumas's book, which contains the Storrs Lectures delivered by him at Yale University, opens with a brief but scholarly discussion of the general principles which underlie the registering of land titles. The three essential features in such a system are held to be, first, the grant of an absolute title; second, compulsion in registering title; third, compensa tion for errors. These three features, however, are to be found at the present time only in Austria (except the Tyrol), in a part of Ger many — Prussia, Baden, Saxony and sixteen of the smaller German states, but not in Bavaria and Wurtemburg; in the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland; in the Australian colonies; in parts of Canada; and in the regency of Tunis. Yet even these systems, which agree in essentials, differ in many minor points; which fact makes necessary the separate discussion of these vari ous local systems. Two chapters are devoted to the consideration of the English and of the French systems of registration, respectively. We venture to say that a perusal of this last men tioned chapter will add to the stock of knowledge of most American lawyers. All in all, this little book, written with a full knowledge of, and en thusiasm for the subject, is both readable and scholarly. It may be noted, by way of post script, that a Torrens bill, for the District of Columbia, is pending in Congress, and that in Rhode Island a commission, appointed by the legislature, has the matter of registration under consideration.
ENCYCLOPEDIC
NOTES.
MUTTERINGS of the approaching conflict between the legal encyclopedias are becoming distinctly audible in law book circles, and the appearance of the first volume of the Cyclopedia of Lnw and Pro cedure is awaited with much interest. One cannot but marvel at the courage of the new comer in so boldly throwing down the gauntlet. It is a matter of more or less general knowledge that the battle is not always to the strong, and the publishers of the new work seem so confident of success that it would not be advisable to predict their defeat at this early stage of the contest. Napoleon on one occasion defeated three armies, each of which was numerically equal to his own, by merely following the principle of con centrating his forces at one point, and the same tactics are quite likely to prove equally effective in the manufacture of law books. That it is feasible to present in one set a treatment of all the law, adjec tive as well as substantive, together with citations to suitable forms is the contention of the American Law Book Company; and that it is eminently de sirable there can be no question. If, therefore, such a devoutly wished for consummation is possible of achievement, and the work is carried to completion on the same high level reached by the articles already in print, then the triplicate system of the old con cern is liable to find existence a more strenuous matter than hitherto. • Another point that will count very materially in favor of the new publication is to be found in the promise of the publishers to keep their books up to date by an inexpensive system of annotation. All things else being equal, a book that annually renews its youth must ultimately prevail over one that is aging year by year. A query very naturally arises in the lawyer's mind as to the possibility of covering the whole field of the law in the space contemplated by the Cyclopedia of Law and Procedure. When, however, it is remembered that the combined strength of the opposition's three sets will reach some seventy odd volumes it is desirable to see the same matter compressed into thirty-two. Of course, in splitting up the law into three parts there must necessarily be much duplication and the saving of space in this re spect will be very considerable; and the plan, of treating all of a subject in one place instead of scat tering it around under numerous independent titles will also make for compactness as well as conve nience. And after all, the problem is one that con cerns the publishers alone, as the work is guaranteed complete in thirty-two volumes, and the consequences of a miscalculation will not fall upon the buyer — a truly unusual thing in the law book business, as is well known.
