EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT INHERITANCE. "The Mitakshara Theory of Sapindaship in Hindu Law," by S. Venkatachariar, Allahabad Law Journal (V. v, p. 103). JOINT STOCK COMPANIES (England). "The Evolution of the English Joint Stock Trading Company," by Frank Evans, Columbia Law Revinv (V. viii, p. 339). To be concluded. JURISPRUDENCE. "Case Law," by Surendra Nath Roy, Allahabad Law Journal (V. v, p. 123). JURISPRUDENCE. " Law: Its Origin, Growth, and Function," by James Coolidge Carter, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1907. The late Mr. Carter was best known in his lifetime as one of the leaders of the New York bar; but his posthumous volume entitled "Law: Its Origin, Growth, and Function," is theoretical rather than practical, and must -be classified with works on analytical juris prudence. The volume deals with such general questions as What is law? and How is law made? and What is sovereignty? and What are the functions of the judiciary and of the legis lature? This is a rather unusual field for an active practitioner, but Mr. Carter's entrance upon it is easily traceable to one of his wellknown activities. Many years ago he was prominent in opposition to the adoption of the proposed Civil Code of New York. Thus he was led to prepare pamphlets against codifica tion and to make addresses upon kindred topics. The ultimate result was the present volume, embodying lectures which were in tended to be delivered at the Harvard Law School. The general doctrine of the volume is that law has its origin in custom and that to custom should be left almost exclusively the growth of law. The development of this doctrine causes the author to travel ground that is not new; but eventually, through an argument which gives prominence to familiar instances wherein statutes have been disregarded by hostile courts, he is led to adopt a somewhat novel and extreme position, for his conclusions seem to be substantially that statutes which are not enforced are not law, that statutes will not be enforced unless they harmonize with ' custom, and that hence — save in rare instances — law cannot be made by statutes. These conclusions, however, are not essential
32I
to the author's chief contention, that the growth of law should usually be left to custom and that codification is an undesirable mode of preventing normal growth. • The author's views demand attention be cause of his eminence on the practical side of the profession, and they do not lose in interest through' being to a great extent the fruit of the author's personal thought, largely uninfluenced by the enormous mass of litera ture with which the subject is already incrusted. Even a reader who has not time to examine the whole volume should read the criticism upon Austin's and Maine's theories of law and of sovereignty (pp. 181-204), and also the discussion of the systems of Justinian, the Code Napoleon, the Louisiana Code, and other nominal or actual instances of codifica tion (pp. 296-319). JURISPRUDENCE (Meaning of Fictions). "An Example of Legal Make-Believe, " by P. J. Hamilton-Grierson, The . Juridical Re view (V. xx, p. 32). A study of the forms of adoption practiced among primitive peoples, explaining them as examples of the beliefs that an effect is pro duced by imitating it or that the nature of any thing inheres in all the parts. The first principle explains the simulation of birth or suckling, the second such ceremonies as include the exchange of substance, including in it not only a man's blood, saliva, hair, and the like, but also his garments, weapons and name. Exchange of substance creates a bond so intimate that its rupture cannot fail to produce evil consequences to the- man who breaks it. One giving to another " gives part of himself and thus brings that other into close contact with himself •— a contact partly spiritual and, in part, material. It is this notion of union by contact which underlies the form of binding the parties together by the adopter's girdle, that of partaking pf a common meal, or taking part in a common sacrifice or sacrament, that of drawing on the shoe as practiced in the countries of the North, and that of cutting or touching the hair of the person to be adopted." JURISPRUDENCEj"(Roman Dutch Law). "Modern Roman Dutch Law," by W. R. Bisschop, Law Quarterly Review (V. xxiv, p. 157). An outline of Roman Dutch law and its history.
