The Green Bag
308
It must progress and must reflect social
the publishers did not appreciate that
changes, but still it is based on the past, and on the average man, and on
the governing powers, and so cannot
the book would have been twice as valuable if reduced in bulk so that it could be carried into court, although
be lightly done away with or altered by
it is not printed as wastefully and
the reformers.
cumbrously as many of the recent text
The standards of the
average man must be changed, or the
books.
governing power must be convinced before the law can properly be made to give up the past and recognize the new order. Legal doctrine and social
SHORT BALLOT CHARTERS Loose Leaf Digest of Short Ballot Charters: A Documentary History of the Commission Form of Municipal
progress will always go hand in hand, but the legal doctrine will always lag a little, and in doing this will perform the valuable function of holding back the
Government.
Edited
by
Charles
A.
Beard. Ph.D., Associate Professor of Politia in Columbia University. Short Ballot Organization. 383 Fourth Avenue. New York. (85 net.)
ROFESSOR
BEARD
originally
hoped that the work of preparing
social progress from radical or too rapid
a digest of short ballot charters would be
advance.
undertaken by a new bureau of re
MASSACHUSETTS TRIAL EVI DENCE Massachusetts Trial Evidence. By Edwin Gates Norman and Arthur Stillman Houghton, of the Worcester bar. Baker. Voorhis & Company, New York. Pp. nearly 1200. ($7.50 delivered.)
HERE are two types of legal mind.
One is analytic and sees prin ciples first and thence reaches conclu sions as to specific cases. The other sees facts first and reasons by analogy.
The latter is more common.
search to be established by the Depart ment of Politics in Columbia University. The foundation of this bureau, however, was deferred, and the Short Ballot
Organization having plaoed its facilities and funds at the editor's command, the
work appears under the auspices of this body. A short ballot charter is defined as one
conforming to the following general prin ciples: —
It is not
First: That only those oflices should
for reviewers to say which is better.
be elective which are important enough
We need books for both.
This book is
to attract (and deserve) public examina
a revival of a type that has been neglected of late, the trial lawyer's handy book
tion.
covering the whole field of law looked at from the point of view of admissible
filled by election at any one time, so as
evidence and arranged so that you can find things. It apparently contains all
to permit adequate and unconfused pub lic examination of the candidates.
the Massachusetts cases on admissibil ity of evidence to and including volume 205. As there is no attempt at analysis the arrangement is alphabetical. The reviewer has tested the book in practice, and has found its citations complete and accurate. It will be gratefully wel corned by every busy trial lawyer in Massachusetts. It is unfortunate that
From the diffusion of power and re sponsibility among a small number of conspicuous ofiices, it follows that the
Second: That very few offices should be
hard and fast division between legisla tive and executive functions is obliter ated.
The short ballot system is thus
practically synonymous with “govern ment by commission," as the phrase is popularly understood. No attempt
