Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 9.djvu/581

Rh an allusion to the radical reforms effected in the land laws in the last sixty years, Sir Frederick says, with characteristic humor and terseness: "Lord St. Leonards would have been in their eyes" (i. e. the Real Property Commissioners of 1829) "a rash innovator, Lord Cairns a revolutionist, and for Lord Halsbury parliamentary language would have failed them." The closing paragraph refers with much quiet satisfaction to the defeat of the socialistic candidates in the last Parliamentary elections.

Of the three works on English Legal History that have appeared within a half-year, this little volume by Mr. White undoubtedly covers the most ground, but is nevertheless primarily intended for the smallest class of readers. Mr. Inderwick in "The King's Peace" has given a sketch of the higher English courts. He traces their development in connection with the growth and changes in the customs and dealings of the people. "The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I., by Pollock and Maitland, covers the whole field of early English law in an unusually exhaustive and scholarly manner. This volume of Mr. White's covers the ground of both the other works, though necessarily in the briefest manner possible, and then continues in new fields. Beginning with a brief description of the important features of the English judicial system of to-day, it proceeds to a history of the origin and evolution of the major courts, devotes a short chapter to the minor and obsolete courts, and considers the Saxon system, "the cradle of the English law," and the changes and distinctions between it and the Norman system. The last and longest chapter is a chronological summary of leading principles and topics of the law, including sections on constitutional matters, equity, and criminal law. Each topic is treated tersely by itself, and traced from its origin through its important changes. The bare mention that all this information is compressed into less than 250 small pages will indicate that the book can be neither easy reading nor an exhaustive history. It is intended to aid English law students in preparing quickly for their Bar Trial Examination in Legal History. In fulfilling this end, it becomes so condensed and methodical as to be rather a syllabus or compendium than a literary work. The fact that it is a text-book cannot be forgotten. Therefore, it will not attract the casual lay reader. The young student, however, will be delighted with it, as a better summary of the subject than he could possibly prepare. And as there is no other work which covers even superficially the whole extent of this little volume, it will appeal to many an older student of law and legal history as a handy reference manual.

Owing to the considerable number of works of this nature already before the public, it may be doubted whether there is room for another. But, disregarding this question, the small volume by Mr. Fishback has in its field undoubted merit. It briefly but interestingly summarizes the well