ment. The Inns of Court libraries, on the other hand, are kept up by appropriations from the funds of what are popularly sup posed to be rich corporations. Yet the American library manager, despite the re stricted funds at his disposal, is constantly struggling for completeness. His agents have standing orders to supply books as they appear and to search for copies to fill out sets in which the library is deficient. His estimation of a law library is that it is not merely a collection of working tools for a practising lawyer, — it is a warehouse in which should be stored everything likely to be of use to writers of law treatises, to the students of comparative legislation and to those who wish to seek into the history and development of the law, not merely in one country but in all countries. It is putting a very low estimate on the value of American law books in this country when it is objected that they can be useful only to those who make a specialty of Amer ican law. There is hardly a week passes in which some case involving questions of American law is not heard in our courts. There is hardly a family in the Kingdom which has not some connection by ties of blood or interest with the people of the United States. Thus arise enquiries as to the law of descent and distribution, or mar riage and divorce, of the rights of aliens to hold property, of the status of English cor porations in the several States, of the juris diction of the various courts, and of rules
of practice and procedure. Every student of the law in England knows that American law had its origin in English law, and that the common law of England prevails through out the various States, except in so far as it has been altered by statutes or varied by judicial decisions. If the practising barris ter could ascertain that there was some li brary in London to which he could resort with the full assurance that he would there find a complete and up-to-date set of Ameri can law books, he would not be obliged to advise his client to go to America or an American lawyer whenever any question in volving American law arose. It is at present the common practice for the solicitor to seek advice from his correspondent in New York upon any matter relating to the law of any State in the United States. In the majority of instances the New York lawyer, in turn, refers it to his local correspondent. Thus a delay of some weeks results and large costs are incurred. The expenses that are thus needlessly thrown away would be saved, many times over, by keeping up to date the Ameri can authorities in any one of our libraries. Fortunately a good work has been begun, through Mr. Bretherton's generosity, in the Bar Library, and those who are most in terested in the matter can only hope that this gift may stimulate a general interest which will result in the acquisition of a com plete collection of colonial and American law books accessible to the English bar. Stuff Gown.
