only how international law is binding, but it gives an authoritative list of its sources as far as the United States is concerned. "International law is part of our law, and must be ascertained and administered by the courts of justice of appropriate jurisdiction, as often as questions of right depending upon it are duly presented for their determination. For this purpose, where there is no treaty, and no con trolling executive or legislative act or judicial decision, resort must be had to the customs and usages of civilized nations; and, as evidence of these, to the works of jurists and commentators, who by years of labor, research and experience, have made themselves peculiarly well acquainted with the subjects of which they treat. Such works are resorted to by judicial tribunals, not for the speculations of their authors concerning what the law ought to be, but for trustworthy evidence of what the law really is." If, therefore, this view of the subject be cor rect, international law is part of our municipal law, and if such, it should be considered from a legal standpoint and submitted to a rigid legal examination and analysis. Treatises as such, other than those concluded by the United States and the statements of foreign jurists and com mentators lose much of their force. Their enumeration may indeed show what European nations and publicists think, but they can hardly be cited to show what the United States holds international law to be. A careful study of the sources enumerated in the Paquete Habana would furnish a treatise on international law in force in the United States and would be interest ing to the student as well as of eminent service ta the international lawyer. A book published in the United States is primarily intended for American readers; but while the author cites numerous American cases in the notes, the book is preeminently a treatise written from the his torical view of the traditional European inter national law. It cannot, therefore, be looked upon as the final word, and the field is open to the American who wishes to write a treatise on the law administered in our courts, and applied in our foreign relations. It should be said, however, that the historical part is well done, and that parts I and II de voted to the history, sources, and lists of writers and their works, give an immense amount of in
formation in very small compass. The balance of the book (pp. 155-792) outlines from the his torical rather than from the legal and analytical standpoint, the system of international law; the appendix contains a brief summary of the " In sular Tariff Cases," and the very elaborate index (pp. 797—912) places the entire contents at the reader's disposal. Dr. Taylor's work has been received with great and deserved favor; not a few competent judges consider it as the best treatise since Wheaton, while others, both English and American, al though more conservative, are still hearty in their praise. Halleck's work, first published in 1 86 1, is generally considered as of great impor tance as the mature contribution of one who was at the same time lawyer and scholar, statesman and soldier. Taylor's book may well stand be side it, but Halleck cannot be overlooked in any well considered and balanced judgment. Pomeroy's International Law in Time of Peace, written in 1866—67, cannot be slighted. Of English books, Hall's one-volume treatise — the more elaborate are left out of comparison — is already a classic, and its author's knowl edge of the common law and diplomatic history, his legal and analytical mind evident on every page, produced a masterpiece which stands alone among recent contributions to the literature of the subject. Dr. Taylor has the advantage of such predecessors in the matter of date, but it is only in this latter sense that his claim to Wheaton's mantle can be admitted. His great merit con sists in the careful chronicle of recent inter national development, and it is this, rather than its intrinsic merits, admittedly considerable, that gives the work its usefulness and peculiar value. The Acts Relating to the Income Tax. By Stephen Dowell, M. A. Fifth edition. Re vised, altered, and considerably enlarged by John Ediuin Piper, LL. B. London : Butterworth and Company. 1902. (lxxx -f- 474 + 54 PP-) The present edition has been undertaken by direction of the Board of Inland Revenue, and seems to give full and satisfactory treatment of the English Income Tax statutes now in force, from the Income Tax Act of 1842 (5 and 6 Vict. c. 35 ), to the Finance Act, 1901 ( 1 Edw. 7, c. 7). To the English practitioner the volume would seem to be indispensable.
