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A SHORT article in the current number of The Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation throws considerable light on the prosecutions for lèse-majesté in Germany — information wel come to those of us who are not versed in the principles of German criminal law. In Ger many, " personal insult," which embraces more than slander, libel and assault, taken together, in English law, is punishable as a criminal of fence in all cases. To quote from the article in question : " Any act or omission, or any words spoken or written, or any other manifes tation, expressing or implying contempt of an other person or a low estimate of his chararacter or reputation, or withholding the proper respect due him, is punishable as an insult, on the complaint of such other person. It is not necessary for that purpose that the act or utter ance should take place in the presence of, or come to the knowledge of, any third party; it is sufficient that it should take place in the presence of, or come to the knowledge of the party to whom it refers. . . The criterion is always whether, according to the reasonable interpre tation of an unprejudiced person, the act in question is deficient in proper respect or liable to expose the party concerned to contempt or ridicule." Prosecutions for insults directed against Ger man sovereigns, — lèse-majesté — rest on the same principle which underlies prosecutions in the case of insults to private persons, namely, the principle that the law should protect every one, whatever his station, against personal in sults. But in the quantum of punishment, and in the mode of procedure, there is a marked differ ence between prosecutions for private insults and those for insults directed against the German
Emperor or against the sovereign of any of the German States. While in the case of a private insult the minimum punishment is a small fine, usually without imprisonment, in cases of lesemajesté the lowest possible punishment is im prisonment for two months, or for five years, if the insult is in the nature of an assault. The maximum penalty in ordinary cases of lèsemajesté is five years' imprisonment. As to the mode of procedure, prosecutions for private insults are instituted only on complaint of the aggrieved person; but in cases of lèse-majesté "it is the duty of any prosecutor to whose notice some contemptuous act committed in his district is brought to institute proceedings forthwith, whether in his personal opinion the prosecution be judicious or not." CURIOUSLY enough it seems impossible to find any trace of the bust of Chief Justice Marshall, by Frazee, bequeathed by Mr. Justice Story to Harvard College (2 W. W. Story's " Life and Letters of Joseph Story," 553). The records of the College show that the bust was received. This bust and the Frazee bust in the Boston Athenaeum (GREEN BAG, vol. 13, p. 261.), can not be the same, because the latter was pre sented to the Athenaeum in March, 1835, a few months before Story's death, which occurred in 1845. Possibly the bust bequeathed to the college, was of plaster, and was broken at some time; but it seems improbable that the material of the bust was plaster rather than marble. THE true spirit of Western hospitality is seen in the plans of entertainment at the twenty-fourth annual meeting of the American Bar Association at Denver, on August 21, 22 and 23. After the usual meetings the visiting members have been invited by the Colorado members and by the Colorado and Denver Bar Associations to make a four days' trip to Cripple Creek and other places of interest. Such cordial hospitality should be met by a large attendance from the East.
