Latest Important Cases imperfect indication as to what that settle ment is to be, or where the language used to describe the settlement to be made is not intended by the settlor or testator to be taken in its strict legal sense." A statement of this kind does not eliminate difficulties; "it now becomes a question of construction to determined whether the testator has been his own conveyancer," etc. See Conveyances. Separation of Powers. "The Lines of Demar cation between Legislative, Executive and Judi cial Functions, with special reference to the Acts of an Administrative Board or Commission." By Edward D. Martin. 47 American Law Re view 715 (Sept.-Oct.). "An examination of the cases shows that gen erally speaking the lines of division laid down in the organic laws are strictly adhered to. When one department crosses into what is technically the realm of another such crossing is either constitutionally authorized, or is necessary for the department so encroaching to properly carry out its own functions." Social Legislation. See Constitutionality of Statutes, Police Power. Taxation. "Congressional Regulation of State Taxation." By Prof. Frank J. Goodnow. Political Science Quarterly, v. 28, p. 405 (Sept.). "It may accordingly be claimed that the decision in the Civil Rights cases does not ex clude the view that Congress may, in the exer cise of its legislative powers under the fifth and last section of the Fourteenth Amendment, prohibit as a taking of property without due process of law the exercise of the taxing power of the several states in at least some instances; for example, the taxation by states of mortgages apart from the domicil of the mortgagee or apart from the situs of the land upon which they are secured. In other words. Congress has some degree of power to define as against state action what is a taking of property without due process of law, just as it has some degree of power to define under the Thirteenth Amendment what is 'involuntary servitude' and under the Four teenth Amendment what is 'equal protection of the laws.'"
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Trespass. "Status of the 'Turntable' Doctrine in the United States." By D. Goode Tinsley. 77 Central Law Journal 245 (Oct. 3). Uniformity of Law. "The Attitude of the Bench and the Bar toward the Uniform Nego tiable Instruments Law." By Hon. Amasa M. Eaton. 77 Central Law Journal 282 (Oct. 17.) "When adopted, the Act itself is the source of authority and the only source of authority, and therefore it should be cited and followed and decisions under the same sections in cases under the same law are the only real precedents. Of course, former decisions and old text-books may be cited by way of illustration or explanation or to explain the historical development of the principle involved, but the real authorities are the provisions of the Act and the decisions under it, whether in the state where the par ticular case is being argued or whether they be decisions in the courts of other states under the same sections of the same uniform law. It is only by following this course that uniform decisions under a uniform law can bring about uniformity throughout the nation. . . . "Uniformity of decisions under a uniform law is absolutely necessary to real uniformity, and how can there be such uniformity in deci sions without citation and following the deci sions of other courts upon the same sections of the uniform law?" Appended to this article is a criticism of the federal decisions in which the Uniform (?) Nego tiable Instruments Act has been construed or where it should have been the basis of the decision and wherein its provisions were not cited and the decisions of other states thereon ignored; in place of which, however, the courts cite the old common law decisions and the old text-books as if they were now the source of the law instead of the Act itself. See Consideration. War. "The Prisoner of War." By George B. Davis. 7 American Journal of International Law 521 (July). Review of a recent French treatise by du Payrat, which General Davis regards of great excellence, and the subject-matter of which he presents and discusses at some length.
Latest Important Cases Burglary. What Constitutes Breaking — Opening a Door Left Ajar — Sliding Door of Freight Car. Vt. A rather full consideration of the legal defini tion of burglary was set forth in the opinion of the Vermont Supreme Court in State v. Lapoint, in which a conviction on a count charging burg lary was confirmed, where the accused had entered
a freight car by pushing the door, which was open about an inch, halfway open and climbing in. The court, on exceptions, held this sufficient to constitute a breaking. Munson, J., said: — "It may be conceded at the start that by all the earlier cases, and by the great weight of authority to the present day, the further opening of a door left ajar, or of a window slightly raised,
