EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
527
CURRENT LEGAL LITERATURE Tfiii department it designed la call attention to the articles in all the leading legal periodicals of the preceding month and to new law books sent usfor review
Conducted by WILLIAM C. GRAY, of Fall River, Mass. In Mr. Baty's article on Professor Westlake's views on war we find a clever use of the philosophy of Mr. Dooley to drive home a legal argument, and learning and humor make a strong team. Another article deserving of special notice this month is Mr. Maurice W. Richmond's analysis of the effect of some important Privy Council decisions on the interpretation of the Torrens System in New Zealand. AIRSHIP LAW. " Aerial Navigation," by Charles C. Moore, Law Notes (V. xii, p. 108). A timely reprint of an article published in Law Notes for August, 1900, suggesting some problems likely to arise when airships become common. ATTORNEYS. " Rules Relating to the Ad mission of Attorneys in Madras," editorial, Aladras Law Times (V. iv, p. 9). BIOGRAPHY. " Hubert De Burgh. Judge and Statesman," by Charles Morse, The Canadian Law Times and Review (V. xxviii, pp. 579 and 689). Appreciative study of the Chief Justiciar of King John and Henry III. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW (Police Power).
"Validity of a Statute Providing that Accept ance from Relief Association shall be no Bar to an Action for Damages," by F. A. Beecher, Central Law Journal (V. Ixvii, p. 143). "In a recent case in Iowa (McGuire v. Chicago, etc., R. Co., 108 N. W., Rep. 102) where a statute providing that under certain circumstances railroad companies shall be liable in damages to its employees, and that in such case no contract of insurance, relief, benefit, or indemnity, shall be available to the company as a defense to an action by the employee for the recovery of such damages, the court held that it operated equally on all railroad companies within the state, that it constituted a proper subject of classification, and therefore was not unconstitutional, as a violation of the equality clause of the federal constitution, and that it was a proper exercise of the police power of the legislature, and therefore was not objectionable as an uncon
stitutional restriction on the railroad's liberty of contract. In Shaver v. Pennsylvania Co., " where a similar statute was involved, the court held the contract valid and the statute void. The facts in both cases are similar." The article discusses the principles involved, giving numerous citations, and points to the conclusion that such statutes are a valid exercise of the police power. CRIME. "Heredity, Education and Crime," by Lex, Law Magasinc and Review (V. xxxiii, p. 412). A review and commentary upon a recent book by Albert Wilson, M.D., entitled "Education, Personality and Crime." CRIMINAL LAW (Blasphemy). " The Eng lish Law of Blasphemy," by Francis Watt, Bombay Law Reporter (V. x, p. 137). Dis cussing the present uncertain state of the English law of blasphemy and expressing the hope that the following principle will be recognized as the law: "If a religious discussion either provokes or obviously tends to provoke, in fact not in theory, a breach of the peace, or public dis order of any kind, let it be put down, and let those who caused it receive proper punish ment, but let the reason of that punishment be made perfectly clear. Discussion, even on the most solemn subject, should be encouraged rather than suppressed." CRIMINAL LAW (History). " The Develop ment of the Administration of Law in Eng land," Canadian Law Times and Review (V. xxviii, p. 596). Criminal procedure is described in this installment.
