Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 1.djvu/407



present number completes the first volume of the. In starting the magazine a year ago, the editors expressed the hope that the might be of service, not only to those who were interested in the work of the School, but also to the profession at large. That this hope has been realized to some extent, the success of the present volume justifies us in saying. In the second volume the same general policy will be followed. Professor Langdell will complete his series of articles on “Equity Jurisdiction,” Professor Ames will treat of the history and development of “Assumpsit,” and Professor Keener will contribute an article on “Mistakes of Law.” The list of contributors outside the School is indicated elsewhere.

March “Atlantic” contains an interesting article by Prof. James B. Thayer, defining the exact change effected in the status of the Indians by the Dawes Severalty Bill, which became a law on Feb. 8. We give the following outline:—

The law does not abolish all the civil and political disabilities of the Indians; it deals with two subjects only, the ownership of land and citizenship.

The following are the chief provisions of the law as to the ownership of land:—

1. It authorizes (but does not require) the President to proceed at once to a survey of any Indian reservation containing good agricultural and grazing land, and to allot the land in specified amounts to such Indians as may apply for it in the designated way.

2. It authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, four years from the time that an allotment is ordered on any specific reservation, to compel each reluctant head of a family and single person among the Indians to take an allotment.