Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 12.djvu/89

69 REVIEWS. 69 rule of law laid down and the reasons of justice with which it is supported. Case law deals with actual phenomena, the logical method of induction pursued in other sciences, while a code is merely a human abstraction to be applied to future cases, and as such either is unable to keep pace with economic growth and change of conditions, or else fetters the law in its true development " Codification, presupposing infinite knowledge, is a dream." S. h. Memoirs and Letters of James Kent. By William Kent. Boston : Little, Brown, & Co. 1898. pp. viii, 341. The life of Chancellor Kent demands as of right the services of a his- torian ; and to giving an account of his life the great-grandson of the Chancellor has volunteered. This story is told in the main through the medium of letters, to which coherence is given by the comments of the biographer. The task of dealing with the subject in this manner is no easy one ; and one is compelled to admit that the task is here performed with indififerent success. The comments which are intended to throw the proper light and shade upon the letters run the risk at times of being per- functory and didactic. The author's analysis, however, towards the end of the book becomes more spontaneous than in the earlier part, and gives more form to the whole. The selection of the letters is good. They are well arranged, are strongly individual, and show the strong personality of the man. Kent's life was the resultant of the conflicting forces of legal energy, public spirit, literary assiduity, and a yearning for bucolic home life. His family life was simple and kindly. Through all his public career he writes of a secret longing to live apart with his family on some farm in the country ; but this dream was not realized until old age was overtaking him. His zeal in the pursuit of law and learning was indomitable ; yet he found time to indulge his passion for the Belles Lettres of ancient and modern times, and in his letters he reveals his taste in the literature he admired. His letters are also types of his own mastery of diction, the severe simplicity of style which bears testimony to his study of the ancient classics, especially the Latin. Work never killed the sensibilities in him, and yet a certain dryness, an eye to the practical matters of country life, at times crops out in his writing, as if by mistake. In one letter, for instance, after describing a thunder-storm in language full of vivid imagi- nation he ends by saying: "It lasted about half an hour, and the light- ning destroyed a barn full of wheat on the river against Newburgh." The letters have revealed the man not only in his private life but also in his political life as supporter of the waning Federalist cause. The author's pretentions, however, are modest ; and in dealing with political events he consistently maintains the point of view of Kent's private life. He makes no attempt to describe the Chancellor's great contribution to our law and Constitution ; that contribution is still unwritten, and is known only by his works, his decisions and his Commentaries. J. G. p.