suspicion any attempt made by the executive authority to interfere with individual action while they have supinely permitted powerful individuals and combinations among themselves to invade at will private rights and liberty. So long as the trespass did not appear to be committed with official sanction there would be nothing but a little grumbling, but clothe it with an appearance of official sanction and those who before had tamely submitted would be up and in arms to resent it. But the dangers to private liberty from sources other than the Crown and government are at the present time fully as threatening as any, and it is peculiarly important for the citizen to know and understand them. Powerful corporations may, under the authority of eminent domain, seize his property, or they may in the careless performance of their daily business injure him personally. Parties with whom he deals may disregard contract obligations and inflict loss upon him, and those who furnish the public with news may maliciously destroy his good name by circulating a false report. All these acts are trespasses upon his liberty, and the law concerning them is properly included in a work upon that topic, and consequently such a work embraces nearly all the law. The treatise of Sir William Blackstone covered this topic and its various phases and nothing more, and the work before us is intended to go over the same ground, following a different plan, indeed, and covering the changes which the courts and legislature have made in the English law since the great commentator laid down his pen. As expressed by the preface "the present two volumes contain a general introduction to the subject of law, discussing the current definitions and divisions as well as subjecting the details to a more natural method than has hitherto been followed; and that division of the substantive law entitled the security of the person, is exhibited in complete detail, showing how the law guards personal freedom at every point, and what are the leading changes through which that law has passed. Here will be shown not ouly all that the law can do to protect the person against every wrongful interference, but also conversely the worst that can be done to the persons of those who occasion such interference-the best and the worst that can happen to the body under the law of England as that law has been developed up to the present time." The volumes will prove a valuable contribution to the science of elementary law, and we can recommend their perusal to all who desire to make themselves familiar with English law as it now exists. uses. freight. Trustees of Chapel of Good Shepherd v. City of Boston, p. 212. A religious society built upon its land a lodging-house and let rooms therein at the usual rates of rent, the proceeds being devoted to charitable Held, that it was not exempt from taxation under a statute exempting the property of religious and charitable bodies from taxation. O'Connor v. Roberts, p. 227. A laborer cannot recover against a firm of contractors for personal injuries resulting from the negligence of their foreman who is his fellow-servant. Taylor v. Aetna Ins. Co., p. 254. A provision in an insurance policy that "Reference is had to application on file at this office which is hereby made a part of this policy and a warranty on the part of the assured" was held not to avoid the provision of the Massachusetts statute that to render stipulations in contracts of insurance binding they must be set forth in the body of the policy. Safford v. McDonough, p. 290. If a seller of merchandise to retain his lien for the purchase price refuses to let the purchaser take possession and control of it, he thereby prevents an acceptance and receipt of it within the statute of frauds. Severy v. Nickerson, p. 306. A laborer employed in loading a vessel after finishing his work went on board from curiosity and fell through an open hatch-way and broke his leg. Held, that as he was an intruder the owners of the vessel were not liable for the injury. Commonwealth v. Costello, p. 358. An instrument falsely made with intent to defraud is a forgery, though if it had been genuine other steps must have been taken before the instrument would have been perfected, and those steps were not taken. Commonwealth v. Hamilton Manuf.Co., p. 383. A statute regulating the hours of labor of women and children in manufacturing establishments held not to violate any contract implied in the granting of a charter to a manufacturing company. Smith v. Boston and Maine R. R. Co., p. 490. A person who was, while traveling on Sunday on a work not of necessity or mercy, injured at a railroad crossing by the negligence of the railroad company, was held not to be entitled to recover for the injury. Hatch v. Mutual Life Ins. Co., p. 550. A woman whose life was insured submitted to an illegal operation with the intention of having an abortion produced. Held, that on the ground of public policy no recovery could be had against the insurance company. The reporting is, as usual in these reports, done in the very best manner and the mechanical execution of the volume is all that could be desired. John Lathrop, THE MASSACHUSETTS REPORTS, VOL. 120. Cases argued and determined in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, March-September, 1876. Reporter. Boston: H. O. Houghton & Co., 1877. This volume, like every volume of this series of reports, contains many valuable cases. From among those which we have noticed we select the following: Morrill v. Hurley, p. 99. It is here held that the owner of land is not liable for not preventing surface water from accumulating thereon and flowing upon the land of his neighbor. Upton v. Nat. Bank of South Reading, p. 153. It is here held that under U. S. Stat. 1864, ch. 106, § 28, a national bank may purchase real estate to secure a debt due to itself when such is the object. Wiggin v. Boston & Alb. R. R. Co., p. 201. Where a carrier refuses to deliver goods carried, for other reasons than the non-payment of freight, an action will lie without a previous tender of the amount due for COURT OF APPEALS DECISIONS. HE following decisions were handed down in the New York Court of Appeals on Friday, June 22, 1877: Judgment affirmed, with costs-Cutts v. Guild; Morton v. Weir; Sternfels v. Clark; Francis v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co.- Order affirmed, with costs— Dickson v. Frazer. - Order granting new trial affirmed and judgment absolute for defendant on stipulation, with costs-Matthews v. Coe; Miller v. Hall. costs to abide event - People ex rel. Witherbee v. Supervisors of Essex county. The following order was handed down: "It is ordered, That the court do this day adjourn until the 17th day of September next at 10 o'clock A. M., at the Capitol in the city of Albany, subject, however, to being convened by the Chief Judge on any day and at any place before that time for the purpose of consultation and rendering judgment and decision upon any cases already heard." E. O. PERRIN, Clerk. THE NOTES. HE Arkansas Law Journal is the latest accession to the list of legal periodicals. Its first number is dated May, 1877, and it is to be issued monthly. It is published at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and is to contain reports of cases decided in the various courts sitting in that State. The May and June numbers have some very interesting murder cases decided in the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, and several cases in the State courts. We trust the bar of Arkansas will give the new journal a hearty support. -The Somerset Gazette, published at Somerville, N. J., issues weekly a law supplement which contains late decisions of the various New Jersey courts and other matter of interest to the profession, both in and out of New Jersey. The decisions of the superior courts of that State are of great value, and they appear immediately after rendition in the paper mentioned. The crowd of causes upon the calendars of the English courts is increasing. The state of the cause lists in London and at Middlesex is such that when the courts rise in August it seems inevitable that there should be a thousand remanets at the least; in other words, a thousand plaintiffs will be thrown over the long vacation. This is in addition to a large number of causes which doubtless would have been entered under a happier state of things, but which have been choked off by the state of the lists. The Solicitors' Journal says that this is due to the improper arrangement of the courts, and that the state of things is, therefore, this: We have a crowd of complaining suitors without judges to try their causes, a number of learned judges eager for courts in which to sit, a series of vacant courts waiting to be occupied, and it may, perhaps, be added, a throng of new-fledged leaders burning to distinguish themselves. The General Term of the Supreme Court in the First Department, in the matter of the application of Edward Russell to be admitted as an attorney, recently refused to admit the applicant upon a diploma from Columbia College Law School, it appearing that the diploma had been granted after an attendance at the law school of only seventeen and one-fourth months. This fact appeared from the certificate of Prof. Dwight and the affidavit of the applicant. The court says: "Chapter 202 of the laws of 1860 provides that, upon the examination and recommendation therein prescribed, evidenced by the diploma of said college, any graduate of said law school shall be admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor at law in all the courts of this State.' But it also declares that no diploma shall be sufficient for such admission which is given for any period of attendance upon the said law school for a less term than eighteen months.' To make a diploma of Columbia College sufficient as a basis for admission under the act of 1860, it must appear that it was given after an actual attendance for the full period of eighteen months, and this period is not controlled and certainly is not to be restricted by any regulation of the college in relation to academic terms or college periods. In all the cases heretofore presented to us the affidavits and certificates have been sworn and certified that the diploma was given upon an attendance of eighteen months. No doubt was, therefore, left of the regularity of the diploma, because it could not be presumed that the statement of eighteen months' attendance was not true, or was based on an assumption that any shorter period of study was equivalent to the full eighteen months required by the law. This case, however, is different in the important respect that the affidavit and certificate show that the diploma was given for a less attendance than eighteen months. The court is not, therefore, required or permitted by the law of 1860 to admit the applicant; and by the rules adopted by the Court of Appeals, which with us have the force of law, we are implicitly prohibited from admitting him." A correspondent of the Pittsburgh Legal Journal thus relieves himself at once of legal lore and poetic fervor: THE LAWYER'S LAY. We follow devious Law's pursuits, "Vigint ameorum "must, quo' Coke, Our bright sign gilds fenestral glass, What care we for the antique lore Throng to be singed at LAW's bright flame. Victims are we of libelous tongue? Sic finis coronat opus! Counting the electoral vote... 156 Court of Appeals Abstract, 44, 65, 82, 105, 124, 146, 165, 210, 232 Illinoi judicial system, changes in. immigants, protection of.. inadvetent and improvident granting of orders. insurace companies, checking by legislation. Judge avis, election of, to United States Senate... 74 Illinoi Bar Association... grea seal" question in Nova Scotia 241 53 441 54 133 154 379 Iowa Sate Bar Association 218 151 247 Judge jewis, tricks upon.. Judge blger and Tweed... 302 421 judicatre bills in Germany. 18 judicia eccentricities, criticism of 441 218 342 113, 173, 241 422 assignments of debtors' estates for benefit of credit- 2 law reprting law libary associations 301 17 law scbols... ....... 381 lawyer, curse against legal pofession, efforts to restore ancient standard 54 218 481 461 362, 422 |