It is of these establishments that M. Moynier has for the first time given a connected account. They are at present nine in number, each with its permanent home, and an income derived from the pro rata contributions of the signatories of the convention of which it is the organ. The earliest attempt of the European Governments' to form themselves into a syndicate' for administrative purposes resulted in the formation in 1865 of the International Telegraphic Union,' which in 1868 was provided with a central bureau at Berne. Bureaux were established in the same city for Posts in 1874, for Industrial property in 1883, for Literary and Artistic property in 1886, and for Railway Goods traffic in 1890. A Bureau for Weights and Measures was established in 1874, at Paris; for Geodesy in 1886, at Berlin; for the Suppression of the Slave Trade in 1890, at Zanzibar and at Brussels; for the publication of Customs Tariffs in 1890, at Brussels. Great Britain is concerned with all the bureaux, except those dealing with Geodesy and with Railway Traffic. In a concluding chapter M. Moynier has some interesting remarks on the probable future of these first essays in systematic international co-operation. T. E. H.

New Commentaries on Marriage, Divorce, and Separation as to the Law, Evidence, Pleading, Practice, Forms, and the Evidence of Marriage in all Issues, on a new system of legal exposition. By JOEL PRENTISS BISHOP. Two vols. Chicago: T. H. Flood & Co. 1891. La. 8vo. Vol. I, xlix and 759 pp; Vol. II, x and 831 pp. THIS book incorporates the earlier works of the author on parts of the same subject. It proceeds on a new system of legal exposition,' which consists, as stated in the preface, 'of carrying each question into the light of, first, the entire subject; secondly, the entire legal system; thirdly, those laws of our earthly existence which man has no power to change; and lastly, those technical rules which have become established through the judicial doctrine of stare decisis; then, of introducing into the problem all the considerations which are relevant, and especially not overlooking any, and thereby determining and writing down what, in fact, the judicial mind of our own country and age, when duly made cognizant of all, will hold upon the several questions. It follows no opinion of any preceding writer or judge which an examination shows to be contrary to the reasonings and settled doctrines of the law, and especially it never introduces any opinion or reasoning of the author, but states instead the law's reasonings and conclusions as every judge will hold them on being duly enlightened from the bar.'

This system is expounded at some length in the introduction, but in spite of its claims to novelty it does not appear to differ materially from the methods employed by most legal writers of repute.

The title (subject to this remark) fairly represents the contents; both American and English law are discussed. The author sometimes uses language which in this country would not be considered English, such as 'the excelsior legal mind.' But only a small minority of his readers will care about that.

Mr. Bishop has expended much labour and research. See, for instance, in vol. i. the sections (100 et seq.) on 'The Origin and Nature of the English Ecclesiastical law,' chapter xvi. on the element of a formal solemnization, which includes the discussion of Reg. v. Millis, 10 Cl. & Fin. 534, chapter xiii on Void and Voidable in Marriage,' and the lengthy discussion in the second volume as to jurisdiction in divorce as affected by domicile.

While the English lawyer will hesitate to adopt all the author's conclusions, which are necessarily founded in part on American decisions, he will find the book useful, as it appears to contain most of the cases. The only modern English case of importance that we are unable to find is Brinkley v. Attorney-General, 15 P. D. 76 (the Japanese marriage case), which ought to have been cited as being the converse of Re Bethell, 38 Ch. D. 220.

The Law of Husband and Wife. By CHARLES CRAWLEY. London: Wm. Clowes & Sons, Lim. 1892. 8vo. lxiii and 486 pp. (208.)

MR. CRAWLEY is in one respect unique among the compilers of law-books. Instead of giving the time-honoured preface which is so dear to the hearts of his race, he has composed a Latin dedication to Mr. Justice Henn Collins, which is a pretty, if not an apposite, äña§ λeyóμevov in a law library. But is it not a stretch of imagination to describe a judge of the Queen's Bench Division as viduae et orborum aegis? Be this as it may, Mr. Crawley is to be congratulated upon having composed a careful and accurate treatise upon a difficult subject. The Law of Husband and Wife is a branch which becomes more knotty and gnarled with every fresh effort of the Legislature to simplify it. Witness the myriad cases which have encumbered the Act of 1882 during the nine years of its career. Mr. Crawley has adopted six exhaustive divisions of his subject, those being (i) status and personal rights, (ii) rights in relation to property, (iii) civil obligations, (iv) dealings inter se, (v) procedure, civil and criminal, and (vi) the effect of matrimonial decrees. But the most readable and interesting part of his book is the introductory chapter, which contains a historical sketch of the English law of marriage and its effects on persons and property, with a comparative view of the marriage laws of the other principal countries of Europe. This begins with an apt quotation from Brehm, to the effect that genuine marriage is only to be found among the birds. Turning to small things Mr. Crawley might well give the dates of the cases which he cites, he might quote the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Cleaver v. Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association ('92, 1 Q. B. 147) upon sect. II of the Married Women's Property Act 1882, and he might refrain from calling the reporter of 'State Trials''Howard' instead of Howell.'

Commentaries on the Law of Private Corporations. By CHARLES FISKE BEACH, jr. Two vols. Chicago, Ill.: T. H. Flood & Co. 1891. La. 8vo. clxxxvii, xvi and 1487 pp.

THESE volumes are an attempt to include in one treatise all the law of private corporations, whether with or without capital stock, of joint stock companies, and of all the various so-called quasi-corporations and voluntary unincorporated associations which exist for any private purpose.'

The author tells us in his preface that since 1885 he has also 'in connection with an active practice' written works on Contributory Negligence, Receivers, and the Modern Law of Railroads, and has besides two other treatises, Municipal Corporations,' and 'Modern Equity Jurisprudence'now well advanced.

The result is what might be expected from an attempt to cover so much ground in so short a time. The treatise on Corporations, like the one on Railways, though good in design, is hasty and imperfect in execution, and valuable only as a very complete digest of the decided cases.

The list of cases cited comprises seventy-six double column pages, and embraces a very large number of decisions by the United States Circuit Court and other Courts, whose decisions are not final, and many of which are of little value in themselves. The author has, however, avoided the error of Mr. Morawetz in his brilliant work on Corporations. He has written to show the law as it is stated in the decided cases, and not to advance and support a theory, and has done this with such fulness as to make the work of great practical value.

The particulars relating to subscriptions to stock, and the liability or shareholders for corporate debts, and to combinations, pools, and trusts,' are specially full and useful, while those which treat of voting trusts' and other devices for depriving shareholders of the control of the corporation contain a very full and valuable statement of all the recent decisions upon this subject.

It is to be hoped that when Mr. Beach has completed the treatises he has now in hand, he may by a careful revision make this the most accurate, as it is undoubtedly the most complete, American work on Corporations.

The Justice's Note-Book: containing the jurisdiction and duties of Justices and an epitome of Criminal Law. By the late W. KNOX WIGRAM. Sixth Edition, by ARCHIBALD HENRY BODKIN. London: Stevens & Sons, Lim. 1892. 8vo. xii and 646 pp. (12s. 6d.) THE task of revising the present edition of the Justice's Note-Book, which has already won for itself an established position among works of a similar class, has been assigned to Mr. Bodkin. The style has been brought more into harmony with the requirements of a practical treatise on magisterial law by the toning down of some of the exuberances of the late Mr. Shirley's fancy; while at the same time the vein of humour which still runs through the book prevents its becoming dull reading.

The arrangement of the present edition has not undergone any substantial alteration, though recent legislation and a somewhat fuller index have combined to swell the size of the volume in spite of the omission of a large number of skeleton forms in use by Justices. The Statutes of 1887, extracts from which were to be found without annotation in the Appendix only, have now been incorporated with the text, while recent legislation and decisions have been brought down to the present time, and include the Public Health London Act, 1891, though no mention is made of the Factory and Workshop Act of the same year. It may also be remarked that by section 18 of the last-mentioned Act (which was the result of the Berlin Labour Conference of 1890, and to some extent embodies the resolutions there arrived at) the limit of age as regards the employment of children in factories and workshops has been raised from ten to eleven years after the 1st of January, 1893. The work otherwise offers little scope for criticism, but its value to the Bench and to the profession generally would be much enhanced if it contained an index to the cases referred to in the text, which, while increasing the utility of the work as a handy book of reference, would not occupy many pages.

Contempt of Court, Committal, and Attachment and Arrest upon Civil Process, in the Supreme Court of Judicature. With the Practice and Forms. By JAMES FRANCIS OSWALD. London: William Clowes & Sons, Lim, 1892. 8vo. xxiv and 214 pp. (128. 6d.)

THE claim which Mr. Oswald makes in his preface to 'familiarity' with

the subject of Contempt of Court' will be readily admitted by the profession. The author carefully expounds the law on (1) Contempts direct, (2) Contempts indirect or consequential, and (3) Particular or special contempts. He discusses imprisonment for offences within the various exceptions to the Debtors' Act, 1869, and explains the procedure for attachment or committal or for obtaining discharge from custody, giving precedents of necessary forms in an Appendix.

case

We find no reference in the chapter on 'indirect contempts' to the question which was recently much discussed in connection with the De Souza as to whether a Court can imprison for contempt a man who adversely criticises a matter which has been finally disposed of. The Attorney-General in the House of Commons, in vindicating the judges of British Guiana for committing a man under these circumstances, stated that there were many such precedents; but the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in giving special leave to appeal said that they were aware of none.

Mr. Oswald urges the necessity of a definition by the Legislature of so vague an offence as Contempt of Court and of a limitation of the punishment which may be imposed, and we are inclined to share his regret that Lord Selborne's Bill of 1883 was allowed to drop.

The work before us is written in a pleasant, easy style, and will be a far more convenient reference book than the ponderous works on practice in which the subject has hitherto been embedded.

A Handy Book for Shipowners and Masters. By H. HOLMAN. Third Edition. London: Stevens & Sons, Lim. La. 8vo. viii and 208 pp. (58.)

THIS book, written by a lawyer, is not intended for lawyers but for shipowners and shipmasters. The general idea of the book is good; for if business men can be induced to read a work calling attention to decisions such as that in The Palinurus, the writer confers a benefit upon the shipping community. We mention this judgment, in itself not a very important one, because within a short time of its delivery it did in fact cause the proper screening of a steamship's stern light many thousands of miles away from England. The hints (p. 37) against laxity in filling up shipping documents are useful and practical; and the illustrations of carelessness and ambiguity, drawn from recent decisions in the Courts, are such as business men will appreciate. Mr. Holman is familiar, not only with the forms and effect of shipping documents, but with the ways of shipping business and the habits. of the shipping community.

The book will perhaps satisfy owners better than masters. The difficulties of the latter class do not seem to meet with the same sympathetic appreciation which the writer evidently feels for those of shipowners. We should doubt whether shipmasters universally agree with the suggestion that undermanning is a cause of so few casualties (5 out of 7213) as Mr. Holman suggests. Again, the master's duty as to bringing his ship up or getting under way in improper weather, when he has a pilot on board, should be indicated one way or the other. If the Courts give an uncertain voice, the shipmaster is at least entitled to the benefit of Mr. Holman's opinion upon such a matter. The easy generalities of the Courts as to what is moderate' speed in a fog are of little or no use to the seaman. Mr. Holman does not seem to think that to the shipmaster the law and his owners are in this

matter as the devil and the deep sea; yet we do not hear of captains of Atlantic liners being discharged for habitually navigating in a fog at a speed which is not the 'moderate' speed of the law courts.

The book is disfigured by an onslaught upon Mr. Plimsoll and an advertisement of the Shipping Federation. The former is unnecessary; the latter out of place.

A Practical Treatise on the Law of Trusts. By THOMAS LEWIN. Ninth Edition, by CECIL C. M. DALE. London: Sweet & Maxwell, Lim. 1891. La. 8vo. lxxxviii and 1402 pp.

THERE is no one in all Lincoln's Inn who does not realise the value of his familiar Lewin' as helpmeet. A cordial welcome therefore is due to this ninth edition, succeeding its predecessor after an interval of some seven years and showing no sign of falling off from the high standard of excellence which we are wont to expect. We must express our entire approval of Mr. Dale's careful work and our marvel at the industry which-apart from his labours as a reporter-can put a new edition of Lewin,' and the first volume of 'Seton' upon the editorial table within three months. In this as in preceding editions the new matter is carefully differentiated from the old, and the arrangement of subjects is maintained intact. It might be well to have a list given of the chapters and sections, although there is already a tabular analysis, and we should like to see the dates of the cases quoted. By this last matter we set great store, though we care little for the duplicated or quadrupled references to contemporaneous reports. Mr. Dale's list of addenda et corrigenda' is not unduly long, but if he mentioned the May brick insurance case at all, he should have realised that the decision of the Queen's Bench was reversed last December by the Court of Appeal. These, however, are small things and detract little from the general excellence of a monumental work.

The Practice of the Land Registry under the Transfer of Land Act 1862, with such portions of the rules as are now in force; and general instructions, notes, forms, and precedents. By CHARLES FORTESCUE BRICKDALE. London: Waterlow & Sons, Lim. 1891. 8vo. iv and 90 pp.

THIS is useful as a manual of practice, but from the nature of the book it contains but little of general interest to the profession. Attention should however be paid to the remark at p. 1, that it is not safe to deal with any interest in land under a title commencing later than 1862, without searching the public index of lands kept in the Land Registry to see whether the land is registered under the Act of 1862 or 1875 or not. We rather doubt the wisdom of the advice on p. 56, that on going to reside abroad, a registered owner of land or a charge should leave with his solicitor a general power of attorney to deal with his registered land in the fullest and amplest terms. Surely this would enable an unprincipled solicitor to dispose of his client's land.

The book appears to be written very clearly, and will no doubt be of great use to those who have to deal with land under the Act of 1862. We are glad to see that the author purposes to publish a treatise on the Land Transfer Act, 1875, and possibly on the Middlesex Registry Acts.