EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT the same question to a successful termination? The very foundations of confidence and secur ity are shaken. The law becomes a lottery, in which every man feels disposed to try his chance. Another cause of this uncertainty is more particular. A court scarcely ever makes an open and direct overthrow of a deeply founded rule at one stroke. It requires re peated blows. It can be seen to be in danger, but not whether is is .finally to fall. Hence it frequently happens that there is a sliding scale of cases; and when the final overthrow comes, it is very difficult to determine, whether any and which steps of the process remain." The author then lays this down as the legiti mate province of jurisprudence, " To main tain the ancient landmarks, to respect author ity, to guard the integrity of the law as a science, that it may be a certain rule of decis ion, and promote that security of life, liberty and property, which, as we have seen, is the great end of human society and government. Thus industry will receive its best encourage ment; thus enterprise will be most surely stimulated, thus constant additions to capital by savings will be promoted; thus the living will be content in the feeling that their earn ings are safely invested; and the dying be consoled with the reflection that the widow and orphan are left under the care and pro tection of a government, which administers impartial justice according to established laws." OUR CONTEMPORARIES. The American Law Register, which has be come in recent years one of the ablest of the monthlies, edited under the supervision of the instructors of our leading law schools, begins this year with a frank announcement of its character as a school journal, and will hence forth appear under the title of University of Pennsylvania Law Review. The system of undergraduate editorship will be continued. The Canadian Law Times has consolidated with the Canadian Law Review, which will henceforth appear under the title of The Canadian Law Times and Review, under the editorship of Mr. Charles Elliott, who has been editor of the Law Review from its foundation. Dr. Hannis Taylor is to retire from the editorship of the American Law Review.
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AMBULANCE CHASING Claims for damages on account of personal injuries brought against a street railway cor poration have always been numerous on account of the many accidents which actually occur, and also because of the ease with which claims can be manufactured. This factor as an expense has grown largely within recent years. In the annual report of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company, the president particularly refers to the amount expended for the settlement of claims, which during the year ending June 30, 1907, cost $1,217,586.85, an increase of $236,266.32 in one year. In dealing with the item of expense the president makes the following comment: — "This part of the business presents the most serious of the problems with which your management has to deal. Ten years ago two and one half per cent to three per cent of the gross receipts took care of the accident account. To-day it is approaching seven per cent, which is equivalent to a dividend of $2 a share upon the stock. "This increase is due largely to a new enterprise which has grown up, and which has been termed Ambulance Chasing. The slightest accident is hunted up and reported by runners in the employ of lawyers of doubt ful standing; many of whom are briefless, except for this class of business, but who are most expert in preparing cases of this char acter in such a manner that they will meet the requirements of the law and catch the sympathy of the jury. There are many physicians in league with these lawyers, whose testimony is of such a nature as to exaggerate the injury, and to show that any trouble the claimant may be suffering from might have been caused by the accident. "It is but a short step from an exaggeration of an injury to the manufacture of a claim, and there is no doubt that in many cases we have been forced to pay money in settlement of claims which have been absolutely unjust. This matter is receiving the most careful attention of your management. The new relations between the company and the city should go far toward correcting this evil. At the same time a determined effort will be made to break up the business of inciting and creat ing fraudulent claims against the company."
