Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 24.pdf/572

This page needs to be proofread.

Index to Periodicals as it already is when coupled with desertion, which is made a misdemeanor under the law. It would be a mistake to make it a felony to secure extradition, as was done by New York, followed by other states since, for it could not then be handled in Judge Goodnow's court by his efficient methods, which conclusively demon strate the unwisdom of indulging in undue severity in such cases."

General Jurisprudence. See Government. Government. "Sovereignty." By W. A. Coutts. 75 Central Law Journal 223 (Sept. 20). This article contains some interesting and indeed valuable points. For example: — "The distinguishing feature of constitutional government consists of the ease with which the sovereign power or some portion of it, that is to say, the will of the people or of some portion of them, can be applied in practice to the ordi nary functions of government. The reservation of sovereign power to the people, so far from being a distinctive feature of American law, is a feature pertaining to the laws of all nations, not indeed that such power is expressly reserved, but that its reservation is a moral and physical necessity because of the simple fact that one man's energy cannot be transferred to another. "It is, of course, only by a legal fiction that the whole people of a nation can be regarded as a corporation sole. Its corporate action must always be through agents, and a multitude of agents are now employed in the work of govern ment where there were formerly but few em ployed. Nevertheless the corporation action of the nation is as binding upon each individual as it would be if it were the action of the indi vidual himself, and indeed, more so, and hence the fiction by which the sovereign people can be regarded as a corporation sole is not more absurd than that which imputes corporate exist ence to the King. "When, however, one comes to examine the real nature of sovereign power, he sees that it is very far from being supreme, absolute or uncon trolled. In the first place, the action of every nation is controlled by the common sense and common morality of mankind." "The Parliament Act of 1911, II." By Alfred L. P. Dennis. American Political Science Review, v. 6, p. 386 (Aug.). "Over all these questions there rests the shadow of the Cabinet, to which Sir William Anson rightly says, 'legislative sovereignty may be said to have passed.' He also refers to the effect of the payment of a salary to the mem bers of the House of Commons as an additional reason why men will shrink from independence and the prospect of a dissolution. The power of the Cabinet may thereby be increased. . . . "The Parliament Act, while it emasculates the horde of 'backwoodsmen' in the House of Lords and gives rough equality to both political parties, has probably placed the chief power more definitely in the hands of the twentieth century party machine as controlled by party leaders. Potentially democratic it is first of all the 'apothe

529

osis of party.' Thus in one sense the public had a Hobson's choice of 'revolutions.' Though the Parliament Act is only half a 'revolution,' inasmuch as in years of Conservative govern ment the country had already become familiar with most of its possibilities." See Direct Government, Local Government. India. "The High Courts in India." By Sir Henry T. Prinsep. Nineteenth Century, v. 72, p. 455 (Sept.). "In 1872 Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, the law member of the Governor-General's Council, summed up the situation, and in a well-known minute expressed his own opinion on the subject. His recommendations were not accepted, and the only result was the separation of the Civil Service into two separate departments — judicial and executive — under which the pros pects of official advancement were so clearly in favor of the latter that candidates for judicial service were few, and as a rule represented the least capable in the Civil Service. ... In Bengal a Judgeship of the High Court is a cul-de-sac and a bar to higher office under Gov ernment either in India or in England, whereas in Madras and Bombay it has usually led to a seat in the Local Council, and even to the Council of the Governor-General." Industrial Accidents. See Workmen's Com pensation.

Interstate Commerce. See Railway Rates. Juvenile Delinquency. "The Responsibility of Children in the Juvenile Court." By H. H. Goddard. 3 Journal of Criminal Law and Crimi nology 365 (Sept.). "Twenty-five per cent at least of the children who come before our Juvenile Courts are feeble minded. Therefore, it is incumbent upon every person who is interested in the work of children to insist that every child who comes before the court shall be tested — by the Binet test until something better is evolved — and if he proves to be feeble-minded, he shall be provided for in an institution where he can be made happy and useful and cared for throughout life, rather than be sent to the reformatory for a few years or to a detention school for a few weeks and then be let out to commit misdemeanors again be cause he has no power of doing otherwise." Life Insurance. " The Big Three,' 19051912." By Sydney Brooks. North American Review, v. 196, p. 484 (Oct.). Since the upheaval in the three great life insurance companies seven years ago — the Equitable, the Mutual, and the New York Life — "each company has turned the interval to account by inaugurating a rigid policy of inter nal • reform, has improved the character and yield of its investments, has greatly diminished its expenses, has revolutionized its administra tive methods and arrangements, and has added year by year to the returns to its policy-holders."

Local Government.

"Village Government