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THE GREEN BAG
THE GARY COLLECTION By FREDERIC THE Gary Collections of law books in part already installed and in part be ing acquired for the library of the Law School of Northwestern University in Chi cago are the gift of Hon. Elbert H. Gary, an alumnus of the School of the Class of 1867, and formerly a well-known Chicago jurist, now a resident of New York, embrace the following subjects: a. Modern Continental Law. b. English Historical Material. c. Ancient and Oriental Law. d. American International Law. a. Modern Continental Law. The collection of Modern Continental Law, now substantially complete, represents twenty-three independent countries with their dependencies: Austria, Hungary, Bel gium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany Greece, Italy, Liechtenstein Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Servia, Spain> Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey. In the Austria-Hungary collection are included the separate laws of Bohemia, Bosnia, Croatia, Herzegovinia, Slavonia, and other principal ities. The laws of Finland, Esthland, Kurland, Livland, and Poland are included under the Russian classification. Some of the unique parts of this collection which would probably be difficult to dupli cate are the full set of "Russian Supreme Court Reports," the "Statutes of Iceland," and the "Laws of Liechtenstein" (smallest independent state in Europe). The collection for each of the countries covered is divided into six heads: First, The codes or systematic laws in the original language. Second, The same in translation, either in French or in German. Third, A complete file of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Justice.
B. CROSSLEY Fourth, The leading law journals or periodical publications. Fifth, Treatises, systematically expound ing the whole body of contemporary law or important single topics. Sixth, Treatises upon the history of the law. The only other collections of this kind of any size, are included in the Harvard Law Library, the Massachusetts State Library, and the Congressional Library. The Har vard Law Library has little in the way of statutes and covers only about one-half the countries mentioned above. The Massachu setts State Library has only statutes, not always down to date; but is especially strong in South American laws, which the Gary collection does not yet cover. The Congres sional Library has only made a beginning of its collection. It may be asked, "What are the specific uses to which such a collection of foreign law can be put?" Certainly, three at least. In the first place, the presence of such a library is a constant reminder of the cosmo politanism of legal problems and an incentive to broader legal thinking. Quite apart from the needs of a general course of legal instruc tion in comparative legislation or legal history (for which perhaps the profession in this country is yet hardly ready), there is always something to be gained by a compar ative view. Whether it concern the forma tion of contracts by correspondence, or the parol evidence rule, or the liability of em ployers for injuries to workmen, or the nature of limited partnerships, in these and countless other departments, scarcely any legal problem appears as a native and exclusive one of our own. New solutions approved and old ones found wanting are chronicled for our advantage in the records of other systems of law. The time is coming when we shall wish and shall need to compare them. The opportunity to do so will create
