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such ways as people spontaneously adopt when not obliged to conform to any express legal requirements. And if these should be the characteristics of private law. as properly conceived of, so also as to the methods of its development we may say with confidence that the proper method is by a process of juridical analysis of the transactions and relations of mankind, or, in other words, by the discovery of the true nature of these transactions and relations from a juridical point of view, with the object, that is, of bringing to light the reciprocal rights and obligations between the parties to such transactions and relations in the light of reason, justice, common sense, and public policy. Private law should consist, in the main, of rules thus elicited for the gover nance and regulation of such transactions and relations by the tribunals of the country, from which other rules may be deduced by a process of season and analogy, and thus a completed system of law ultimately built up. Now the Romans were the first people who attained to such a conception of law, as dis tinguished from systems consisting mainly either of usages' and customs, more or less arbitrary or fortuitous and implicated with religious ideas and superstitions,' or of regu lations imposed at will by the legislator." The steps by which the Romans developed their system are carefully traced. MILITARY LAW. " Military Law and the Procedure of Courts-Martial," by Colonel Edgar S. Dudley, LL.B., LL.D., Judge Advo cate, United States Army, and Professor of Law at the United States Military Academy at West Point. John Wiley & Sons, New York. The procedure of courts-martial is something with which every officer in the mili tary service of the United States has almost constantly to deal. At present the most used work on military law is in two volumes. Colonel Dudley's work is in one volume, yet it is both interesting and comprehensive. Officers in the militia of the several states are concerned in courts-martial less frequently than the regulars, but for that very reason there is the greater need that they should have at hand a guide book to this procedure well filled with forms and with copious cita tions of precedents. This book will enable military officers to prepare and conduct trials
by court-martial with a considerably less expenditure of time. It is also a text-book. The author says in his preface that the book has been prepared to " meet the existing neces sity at the United States Military Academy, for a text-book which would give a clear and thorough outline of the science of military # law, including all recent changes and develop ments." The contents of the book are admirably arranged for easy reference. Another very excellent feature is the way the articles of war are taken up. They are considered sepa rately, the offences under them discussed, and reference to opinions of the Judge Advocate General, the courts and other authorities given. A set of blank forms connected with courtsmartial is to be found in Appendix E. Fed eral Legislation up to date on courts-martial is also reprinted in an appendix. Some of the important chapters are : CHAPTER I. On Military Jurisdiction, Military Law, Military Government, Martial Law. CHAPTER III. Military Tribunals, their Jurisdiction and Functions. CHAPTER XXIX. Rules of Evidence applied by Courts-Martial. CHAPTER XXX. Employment of troops in the enforcement of laws, and the relations of military persons to civil authority. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS. " Local Bodies' Statutory Liabilities," by Sir Robert Strout, Commonwealth Law Review (V. iv, P- 145)PEERAGE LAW. (Eng.) " The Earldom of Norfolk," by R. Geoffrey Ellis, in the April Juridical Review (V. xix, p. 35), discusses the principles involved in the case which gives the name to the article, judgment in which was handed down last Michaelmas term. Many features of interest for the student of peerage law and English feudal history naturally appear in a case, the turning point of which was the invalidity of the surrender of an earl dom in 1302, because earldoms, like baronies, are incapable of surrender. ' PRACTICE. " Taking Advantage of Vari ance on Appeal." A study of the Illinois cases on this subject, by Albert Martin Kales, June Illinois Law Review (V. ii, p. 78).
