Reviews of Books ment. The author commits an equally seri ous mistakewhen he attempts to show that the federal Supreme Court is subservient to the national administration, and his slur on the integrity and dispassionateness of the Court is unfortunate. He also attempts to prove the unconstitutionality of a protective tarifl. The publication of such books as the last one reviewed may perhaps serve to admonish the legal profession of the need of a good popular manual of the Constitution for the cultivation of American citizenship among those to whom legal aspects of the American polity can make no appeal. Such a book should not be written with a view to setting forth the letter of the American Constitution,
without reference to the logic behind it. Its writer should be familiar with Supreme Court decisions and should be an intelligent and sympathetic interpreter of the spirit of the American commonwealth as revealed in law and in history.
A POCKET CODE OF EVIDENCE A Pocket Code of the Rules of Evidence in Trials at Law. By John Henry Wigmore, Professor of the Law of Evidence in the Law School of North western University. Little. Brown & Company, Boston. Pp. liii, 485 (alternate pages blank and not numbered)—index 80. (34 ml.)
RACTITIONERS too busy to work out questions of evidence deliberately have criticized the large four volumes of Wigmore on Evidence. Though they admit that the latter treatise is invaluable in the prepara tion of a brief on appeal, they say that the very qualities that have given it the reputa tion it has attained make it unavailable for most questions of evidence which arise unex pectedly with little opportunity for investi gation. The author has evidently felt the force of the criticism, and this little book is the result. It contains rules laid down in the text of his larger work, but without citation of authorities or historical or theoretical explanations. Typographical devices indi cate the weight of authority, and alternate blank pages leave space for personal annota tions with local cases. Thus the owner of this book may make it indispensable in his trial work. The book may serve one other valuable purpose. Should we ever attempt a. uniform code of evidence in this country, we have here the basis for its preparation, and general use of this little book may bring nearer that result.
247
A REMARKAB LE BRIEF In the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois, December term. 1909, W. C. Ritchiad: Co., et aL, a pellees, v. ohn E. W. Wayman and Edgar T. a'ul'es, appel ants. Brief and Argument for Apel lanta. By Louis B. Brandeis, counsel for appel lants. assisted by Josephine Goldmark.
T is not our custom to review briefs, but in the present case the production is remarkable as a sociological treatise as well as a legal document. Mr. Louis D. Brandeis of Boston was retained as counsel in a case brought in the Supreme Court of Illi nois to test the constitutionality of the statute of 1909 of that state limiting the hours of labor for women to ten hours a day. The case is similar to the Oregon case, in which Mr. Brandeis added to his reputation for un usual ability. It is not as an argument on the law that this brief is notable, for the law portion is simple and to the point, being briefly to the effect that “liberty," in the Illinois constitution, has
been construed to mean freedom in the use of one's powers and faculties, subject to the restraints necessary to secure the common welfare, and where the clearly defined limits of the police power are not exceeded, regula tions enforcing the paramount right to life itself cannot be overruled by the right to "liberty" and "property." The brief is essen tially one on the facts and presents an aston~ ishing wealth and variety of information gathered from all parts of the world, selected from a great mass of ofl'icial documents and scientific productions dealing with the effect of long hours for women on public health, safety and morals. Mr. Brandeis’ production, if published simply as a volume comprehensively dealing with the subject from the point of view of social science, would be of notable value. He has been ably assisted in the compilation of such noteworthy and copious materials by Miss Josephine Goldmark, Publication Secre
tary of the National Consumers’ League. A HISTORY OF LAW The Evolution of Law; a Historical Review, By Henry W. Scott. Borden Press Publishing Co.. New York. [1908] 4th ed. Pp. xii, 120+9 (index).
HE author’s plan is to give a brief account of the history of legal development from primitive times, avoiding tedious details and suppressing citations of authorities. The topic treated is one of vast scope, but the volume is printed in one large type throughout, and is
