THE GREEN BAG The court further says, however, "but while it is true there can be no discrimination where the business is lawful, no one can be compelled or is justified to aid any unlawful undertakings. A telegraph company should refuse to send libellous or obscene messages or those which clearly indi cate the furtherance of an illegal act. But re cently in New York the telephone and telegraph instruments were taken out of pool rooms which were used for the purpose of selling bets on horse races. Keeping such a house is an indictable offense in this state. State v. Galley, 104 N. C. 858, 10 S. E. 455; State v. Webber, 107 N. C. 962, 12 S. E. 598. A mandamus will never issue to compel a respondent to do any acts which are unlawful. Wiedwald v. Dodson, 95 Cal. 450, 30 Pac. 580; Gruner v. Moore, 6 Colo. 526; Chicot County v. Kruse, 47 Ark. 80, 14 S. W. 469; People v. Hyde Park, 117 Ill. 462, 6 N. E. 33." TREATMENT BY PRAYER. (FAILURE TO PROCURE MEDICAL ATTENDANCE — MAN SLAUGHTER) MAINE SUPREME COURT. The respondent in the case of State v. Sandford, 59 Atlantic Reporter, 597, was tried and con victed upon an indictment charging him with manslaughter. The contention of the govern ment was that the deceased as a member of a community or religious sect was under the con trol and dominion of the respondent, that the situation was such that the respondent owed him the duty of supplying him with proper and suf ficient food and with proper medical attendance and medical remedies when sick, and that the deceased became seriously sick with diphtheria and was in great need of medical attendance, but that respondent, although having full knowledge of the facts, willfully neglected to provide or to allow others to provide such attendance. The
above facts are not disputed, but the respondent relied upon an alleged conscientious disbelief in the efficacy of medical remedies and upon a belief that the proper treatment of the sick was by prayer. The court instructed, as requested, that failure to provide medical aid, etc., in the absence of a statute requiring that medical aid should be furnished, would not be manslaughter if it was the bona fide belief that medical aid was not required, but that the proper method of healing was by prayer, and added the following qualifi cations: "It must be a conscientious disbelief in medicine, and if a person having that disbelief had some other belief or other practice which he honestly believed, it would then be his duty to apply that other method, and so if he believed in the prayer of faith, he ought to apply that; but if he failed to use the prayer of faith, unless you believe that the lack of it hastened the death of the patient, the omission to use the prayer of faith would not be criminal negligence. On the other hand, if you believe that the omission to use the prayer of faith hastened the death of the deceased, and that the respondent, knowing the circumstances and knowing his duty, failed to pray, this would constitute a basis for man slaughter, and would be evidence of negligence." The court holds that this instruction was errone ous, because under it the conviction or acquittal of the respondent would depend, not upon the jury's finding as to the truth of some fact, or as to the truth of some scientific theory, but upon the belief of the individual members of the jury upon the question of the efficacy of prayer as a means for cure. The extent of one's legal responsibilities, both civil and criminal, must be governed by general rules of law which will apply to all alike and which will control the ac tion of juries, so that one result only can follow from their findings of fact upon the issues of fact involved.
NEW BOOKS RECEIVED THE LAW AND PRACTICE IN BANKRUPTCY UNDER THE NATIONAL BANKRUPTCY ACT OP 1898. By William Miller Collier. Fifth and revised edition, by Frank B. Gilbert. Albany, N. Y. : Matthew Bender & Company, 1905. Price $6.30, delivered. A TREATISE ON THE LAW OF EXTRAORDINARY, INDUSTRIAL, AND INTERSTATE CONTRACTS. By Darius H. Pingrcy, LL.D. Albany, N. Y.: Matthew Bender & Company, 1905. Price, $6.30, delivered.
THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM. An Introduction to the Study of the American State. By Westel Woodbury Willoughby, Professor of Political Science at Johns Hop kins University. New York: The Century Co., 1904. YEAR BOOK OP LEGISLATION, 1903. A val uable summary of comparative legislation. Edited by Robert H. Whitten, Sociology Li brarian of the New York State Library, New York State Education Department, Albany, N. Y., 1904. Price $i.
