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226 226 HARVARD LAW REVIEW, Judge Dillon. The conspicuous merit of what may be called " the legal chapters " consists in their clear statement of the various and conflicting theories heretofore acted upon by different courts. The present state of the legal controversy as to these important open questions is depicted here in vivid colors and with a due sense of proportion. While the author does not conceal his individual views, he also gives a fair statement of all the prominent theories and a reference to a sufficient number of illustrative cases. The work cannot fail to be of great service to the legal profession. . J. s. A Manual of Public International Law^, By Thomas Alfred Walker, M. A., LL. D., Fellow and Lecturer of Peterhouse, Cambridge. New York: Macmillan & Co. 1895. 8vo. pp. xxviii, 244. Handbook of International Law. By Captain Edwin F. Glenn, Act- ing Judge Advocate U. S. A. St. Paul: West Publishing Co. 1895 [ Hornbook Series]. 8vo. pp. xix, 478. International Law is a branch of science ill fitted for manual instruc- tion ; one easily sees that, so entirely has it been developed by reasoning and discussion, its study requires headwork and headbooks rather than handbooks. And indeed it has until lately been blessed by an absence of the latter class of literature, — a boon that was not sufficiently real- ized. But blessings brighten as they take their flight. Of what use these books ( both said to be designed for the use of stu- dents ) can be to persons who really desire to learn is not quite clear. Dr. Walker intends his book to " serve as a fairly comprehensive general introduction to detailed study of the subject. " Captain Glenn suggests that be wishes " to prepare the student's mind for the more ready and complete comprehension "of the exhaustive treatises on the subject. A man who understands the English language, has some knowledge of history, and is sufficiently mature to comprehend the nature of the con- siderations involved in an international question, is quite qualified to use Wheaton, Calvo, or Hall ; one who has not these qualifications could get no help from Dr. Walker or Captain Glenn. As such books must, these handbooks save the readers the burden of struggling with difficulties by the device of stating, as a rule, only what is plain and undisputed. To quote Captain Glenn again, " it is not intended to follow and discuss these principles in their many ramifications of actual practice. " But judging, as we ought, with relation to other books of the same class, one must say that Dr. AValker's book is well done. Originality is of course not to be looked for ( as Captain Glenn naively remarks in his Preface ), and one should therefore not quarrel with Dr. Walker, as some have done, for following too blindly his English predecessors ; though the effect of this course is sometimes a little surprising, when a peculiarly English idea, reduced to lowest terms, is confronted with the real facts. Thus the English notion of International Law — that it is a mere precis of the actual present practice of nations as seen through the spectacles of the British Foreign Office — leads Dr. Walker into the delicious ab- surdity of the following statements, a propos of the partition of Poland : " International Law, it is true, rests upon practice, and accordingly wha ever rules do secure the general adhesion of civilized states must by the lawyer be classed as law. But moral injustice cannot secure such gen- eral adhesion. And accordingly, although interventions under Fanction of the European Concert have been fairly frequent, they have been