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206 206 HARVARD LAW REVIEW. The members of the Yale I^w School are to be congratulated upon the appearance of the first number of the " Yale Law Journal," a legal peri- odical to be published six times a year by the students, and differing but very little in its general make-up from the Review. The editors have our hearty good wishes for the success of their enterprise. RECENT CASES. [These cases are selected from the current English and American decisions not yet regularly reported for the purpose of giving the latest and most progressive work of the court. No pains are spared in selecting all the cases, comparatively few in number, which disclose the general progress and tenden- cies of the law. When such cases are particularly suggestive, comments and references are added, if practicable.] Agency— Contract to Employ for a Time Certain. — The defendant, a manufacturer, agreed to employ the plaintiff as his agent to sell his goods for five years. After two years the manufactory was destroyed by vis major, and the de- fendant in consequence failed to employ the plaintiff thereafter. It was held that the plaintiff could recover damages for the breach of the contract, the court saying that no condition of the continued existence of the manufactory could be implied. Rhodes v. Forwood was distinguished on the ground that in that case there was no contract to employ the plaintiff, only a contract to employ no other. Turner. Gold- smith [1891], 1 Q. B. 554 (Eng.). Agency — Public Officer — Ratification by Legislature. — Where the agent of a State exceeds his authority in selling and delivering the property of his principal, and taking a note therefor from the purchaser, the Legislature of the State may, by a statute duly enacted for that purpose, in the absence of any consti- tutional prohibition against it, ratify the act of the agent in making the sale and receiving the note, and the State may then enforce payment of the note the same as an individual. State of Wisconsin v. Timmins, 49 N. W. Rep. 259 (Minn.). Bills and Notes — Certainty of Amount — Transfer. — An instalment note, which contains the stipulation that upon default in the payment of one instalment the whole note shall become due, is not a negotiable instrument, for it is uncertain as to the time and amount of payment. A sells a chattel and takes a note in payment. It is stipulated in the note that the title to the chattel shall not pass till "the note is paid. A indorses the note to the defendant, and afterwards assigns his title to the chattel to the plaintiff. In a suit to recover the chattel, — held, that by the indorsement of the note, title to the security passed to the defendant. W. W. Kimball Co. v. Mellen, 48 N. W. Rep. 1100 (Wis.). Conflict of Laws — Conditional Sales. — A sold and delivered a chattel to B, in Georgia, with reservation of the title in himself until the purchase-money be paid. This conditional sale was not recorded as is required by the law of Georgia, to make it valid against subsequent bona fide purchasers. B then carried the chattel into Alabama, and there sold it, without A's knowledge. Held, that the bona fide purchaser would be protected, had the second sale been in Georgia; but that the Alabama law must govern the subsequent sale, and under that law the purchaser took no more than the seller, B, had. Wein'stein v. Freyer, 9 So. Rep. 285 (Ala.). Conflict of Laws — Contract of Carriage. — Where, in another State, goods are delivered to a common carrier for transportation into Iowa under a contract limit- ing his liability, valid where made, but void under the laws of Iowa, the contract is valid, and governs the liability of the carrier, though the loss occurs in this State. Hazel v. Chicago AT. &> St, P. R. Co., 48 N. W. Rep. 926 (la.). Conflict of Laws — Death by Wrongful Act. — The Kansas statute giving damages for death by wrongful act prescribes that action shall be brought by the personal representatives of the deceased. In Missouri, action