Page:Legal Bibliography, Numbers 1 to 12, 1881 to 1890.djvu/36

 SOULE & BUGBEE'S LEGAL BIBLIOGRAPHY. books. He has devoted his editorial work to making this book practi- cally useful to the American lawyer^ and has therefore given special atten- tion to topics on v/hich the law of this country is different from that of England, or on which there have been recent changes or developments here. Examples of notes of this character are: those upon *p. 56, on contracting by telegraph ; *p. 67, on formalities of contracting with the United States Government; *p. 87, on liberty of American corporations to contract without seal; *p. 105, on contract powers of national banks; in another; *pp.4i9, 519, on transportation of explosives; *pp. 519, 520, on obligations, rights, and liabilities relative to special railroad cars, such as drawing-room and sleeping cars, ladies' cars, smoking cars, cattle cars, etc. ; * p. 541, on the right of common carriers to limit their common- law liability by special contract or notice; *p. 805, on the parallel be- tween English joint-stock companies and American business corpora- tions; *p. 989, on conditional sales; and many others. The established reputation of this work, the increased size and usefulness of this edition (which has full indexes and tables of English and American cases cited), the excellence of the notes, and the fact that it is the latest work on this very important subject, will commend it to every lawyer. Although it contains 2,073 P^iges^ we have put this edition in two vol- umes, which sell, bound in sheep, at the comparatively low price of $12.00, NET. OBSTARE DECISIS. The following is an extract from Mr. Bumpkin's Lawsuit, or How TO Win Your Opponent's Case : — A farmer's bull had strayed from the road, gone into another man's yard, and upset a tub of meal; it was then driven into a shed and locked up. The owner of the bull demanded that the animal should be released. '• Not without paying two pounds," said the meal-owner. The bull-owner paid it, under protest, and summoned the meal-owner to the County Court 'for one pound seventeen shillings and sixpence, the difference between the damage done (which was really about twopence) and the money paid to redeem the bull. Judgment for plaintiff. Motion for new trial, or to enter verdict for the defendant, on the ground that the man could charge what he liked. One of the learned judges asked : — "Do you mean to tell me, Mr. Smiles, that if a man has a bull, and that bull goes into a yard and eats some meal out of a meal-tub, and the damage amounts to twopence, and the owner of the bull says, ' Here is your twopence,' that the owner of the meal can say, ' No, I vi'ant a hundred pounds, and shall take your bull damage feasant,' and then takes him and locks him up, and the owner of the bull pays the hundred pounds, — he cannot afterwards get his money back? " "That is so," says the learned counsel, " such is the law." And then he cited cases innumerable to prove that it was the law. " Well," said the judge, " unless you show me a case of a bull and a meal-tub, I shall not pay attention to any case, ^ — ^it must be a meal-tub." Second judge: " It is extortion, and done for the purpose of extortion; and I should say he could be indicted for obtaining money under false pretences." "I am not sure he could not, my lord," said the counsel; " but he can't recover the money back." It was interesting to see how the judges struggled against this ridiculous law; and it was manifest, even to the unlettered Bumpkin, that a good deal of old law is very much like old clothes, the worse for wear, and totally inapplicable to the present day. A struggle against old authorities is often a struggle of judges to free themselves from the fetters of antiquated dicta and decisions no longer appropriate to or necessary for the modern requirements of civilization. In this case precedents running over one hundred and eight years were quoted, and, so far from impressing the court with respect, they simply evoked a smile of contempt. The learned judges, after patiently listening to the arguments, decided that ex- tortion and fraud give no title, and thus were the mists and vapors that arose from the accumulated mud-banks of centuries dispelled by the clear shining of common-sense. In spite of arguments by the hour, and the pettifogging of one hundred and eight years, justice prevailed, and the amazed appellant was far more damaged by his legal proceedings than he was by the bull. The moral surely is, that, however wise the ancient judges were in their day, their wisdom ought not to be allowed to work injustice. He may be a wise judge who makes a precedent, but he is often a much wiser who sweeps it away. THE BEST WORK ON EVIDENCE. In June we published a reprint in full of the new (seventh) English edition of Best's Principles of the Law of Evidence, with the addition of American notes by C. F. Chamberlayne, Esq. The reputation of Best on Evidence is so well established that it is only necessary to say that the English changes in this edition made it very much superior to any previous editions, and that Mr. Chamberlayne's American notes are admirably written. His system is thus stated in the preface : — "In preparing the present American edition the editor endeavors to remember that the author aimed to present the Principles of Evidence, etc., etc. It has been considered that Evidence is utilitarian ; that its princi- ples are its rules, and are best illustrated through their application in actual law.^ Radical changes from previous American editions have therefore eliminated from treatment such subjects as seemed but remotely connected with these principles or their illustration While, however, the effort has been made to illustrate principle, theory, as such, has carefully been avoided. Wherever possible, use has been made of reported cases and text-books of recognized authority. An extended statement of the cases was clearly impossible ; the endeavor thus to sup- port the propositions advanced has resulted in a comprehensive range of citation, and an unusual (though not complex) method of subdividing the general title. References might have been restricted to leading cases from so-called "leading" jurisdictions. But apart from other difficulties in such a course, the controlling consideration has been, that aw ibra- ries of the range required to verify such citations must necessarily be beyond the reach of many to whom the present work might prove of value. The citations, which accordingly embrace all sections of the country, are limited usually to one case from each jurisdiction." While Mr. Chamberlayne's citations cover so wide a range, his limit of one case to each jurisdiction, and his exclusion of all matter not per- taining to the principles of evidence, have enabled us to confine this edi- tion to the limits of one large (but not unwieldy) volume, and to put the price at $6.00, net. The Contents are. Table of Cases. —Introduction ; — Evidence and Proof in General. — Book I. The English Law of Evidence in General. — Book II. Instruments of Evidence. — Book III. Rules regarding the Admissibility and Effect of Evidence. — Book IV. Forensic Practice and Examination of Witnesses. — Book V. Collection of Leading Proposi- tions. — Index. Among the commendations which this edition has already received, we quote the following : — "I think that Mr. Chamberlayne's edition of Best on Evidence is the best edition there is of the best elementary work on Evidence that we have. His notes will be of much help to students and to lawyers who desire to reach precise and accurate notions. They show carefiil thinking in the substance of them, and their arrangement is good. The notes on Pre- sumptions, the Parol Evidence Rule, the Burden of Proof, Real Evidence and Estoppel, will illustrate what I say." — Prof. James B. Thayer, of the Harvard Law School. " The work itself is a favorite one with me, but no praise of mine could add anything to the reputation it enjoys. . . . This is unquestionably the best American edition for general use." — Prof. Williaiii G. HaJit- inond, of the St. Louis Law School. "I find it to be a most excellent work." — Prof. John Manning, Law School Chapel Hill N.C. "The notes of this edition are such as to render the book of great value to the practitioner." — Albany Law Journal. "I am very much pleased with it, and shall adopt it for my class." — Prof. Samuel D. Davies, of the Richmond, Va., Law School. A GENUINE LAW DICTIONARY. Outside of the law a dictionary is understood to be a book which defines the meaning of words. Some of the Law Dictionaries, however, have come to be collections of short treatises on different subjects, inter- spersed with definitions; and while they are excellent works, they deserve the name encyclopcBdias rather than that of dictionaries. Wharton's Law Lexicon (Seventh Edition just published, law sheep or half law calf, $8.00, tiet) is an English book devoted entirely to definitions of legal words and phrases, not only of English law but of the old law French and law Latin, of Civil law, Scotch law, and East Indian law. Its excellence is attested by the fact that it has passed through so many editions.
 * p. 194, on the construction, by courts of one State, of contracts made