Review of Periodicals uOn Negligence and Deceit in the Law of Torts." By Edward Jenks. terly Review 159 (Apr.).
26 Law Quar
"It is, then, historically the fact, that malice, fraud, and negli ence, as ground of
civil liability, became nea y important in the law of torts with the introduction of the
351
legislation, New Jersey, for instance, would hesitate to place her contractors at a disad vantage in competing with New York con tractors." wfl' Claims. "Driftwood or Torrent-A Potent Party Factor." By Henry Edwin Tremain.
Editorial
Review,
v.
2,
p.
337
Action on the Case; for, though there were
original writs of deceit and conspirac, they
(Apr.).
were, as is elsewhere explained, con ned to
very special classes of complaints, and there never were any original writs of malice or negligence. . . . "In all probability, it was the general intro duction of industrial machiner, and espe
cially of mechanical transit, w ich, for the first time in the history of the English law of tort, produced the purely non-contractual and non-trespassory action founded on negli gence. . . . "Until the end of the eighteenth century, no one, apart from statute and the possible case of nuisance, could be held civilly liable
for the mere omission to perform any positive duty; unless he had, expressly or by implica tion, undertaken to perform that duty. . . . “With the ap arance of changed industrial conditions in t e early nineteenth century, the law of negligence began to expand; but, with all allowance for this recent expansion, the lelgal scope of non-contractual ne ligence is sti far narrower than is commorfiy su p0sed—so narrow, in fact, as to be capabe of very brief treatment in any summary of the law of torts. Incidentally, the narrow ness of that scope is another testimon to the strongly individualistic character of t e com mon aw, and its.unwillingness to trespass on the domain of morality." See Public Service Corporations. Uniformity of Laws. "Uniform State Laws." By Hon. Alton B. Parker. 19 Yale Law journal 401 (Apr.). This is the address which Judge Parker delivered u n being chosen President of the National
ivic
Federation,
which
met
in
Washin ton, D. C., on January 17. (See 22 Green ag 202.) “We do not aim to absolute uniformity of law throughout the states, but a wise and conservative uniformity. There is dan er in pressing uniformity to extreme lengths. here are diversities of climate, of“production, of tradition, of heredity, of pop ation, of pur suits among the peo le of our several com monwealths which s ould be generally re spected." Referring to workmen's com nsation in England and Germany, “Surely t is_country," he said, “ought not to lag behind those enlightened nations in righting what is now the most monstrous in ustice of the age. Nevertheless that is like y to happen unless there be uniform 1e 'slation in many, if not all, the states on t e subject. For in the absence of a general movement for uniform
"Power naturally gravitates towards ower; and the Group that lives and flouris es on the pabulum of public appropriations for favored parties, strong enough at home to com I a regorgsentative to espouse its cause so t at the y of such representative units shall silently combine in seeking the mastery of the United States Government in all its branches, with all the power which this implies, becomes more than a personal factor in Democratic arty politics' and is a national element that will bear watching and sup ress ing by its political adversaries. Tan and income tax discussions are a foil, and are as
driftwood on the torrent whose turbulent waters are supplied from unceasing reser voirs." Waters. "Report of Committee Appointed to Collect Data Relating to Awards for Water and Water-Power Diversion." journal of the New England Water Works Association, v.
24, p. 1 (Mar.). A committee of five well-known consulting engineers submits an extended report here printed, which includes many pages of im portant tabular data showing, with much full ness of detail, the amount of damages obtained
for the diversion of water in upwards of two hundred cases. A valuable biblio aphy of articles relating to damages pai for the diversion of water or water-power is also given. Among the conclusions reached in the report is the following :— "Your committee has considered carefully, as instructed by the original vote passed by this Association, ‘the practicability of joint action with the National Cotton Manufac turers Association, or other organizations of mill owners, relating to the formulation of
standard rules of computing or assessing damages for the diversion of water,’ and has conferred with officials of various associa tions, and regrets that it must now re ort the impracticability of such action. he questions involved are so much a matter of law, the outgrowth of centuries of experience, and the nature of the problems to be passed upon is so diverse, and the interests involved are so many and even so antagonistic as to make it absolutely hopeless to attempt to formulate, or even to outline, any standard rules as suggested." At the invitation of this committee, a lead
ing Massachusetts attorney prepared the fol lowing paper on the legal aspects of the sub
ject :
