Page:Legal Bibliography, Numbers 1 to 12, 1881 to 1890.djvu/45

 CHARLES C. SOULE'S LEGAL BIBLIOGRAPHY. 3 A GREAT WORK ON CONTRACTS. Among recent publications none is more important than Abbott's EDITION OF Addison on Contracts, in which the eighth English EDITION has been reprinted in full, with American notes and refer- ences by Benjamin Vaughan Abbott. That Addison on Contracts is a. work of high and established repu- tation is well known, and needs no evidence beyond the fact that it has passed through eight editions in England and FOUR editions in America. It is called by the " Law Times " "by far the best work on the law of contracts," and has received warm encomiums from critics, lawyers, and courts. The eighth English edition, now reprinted, contains FORTY PER cent more matter than any previous edition, and is proportionately more valuable. Abbott's edition of Addison has full indexes and tables of all the English and American cases cited. The absence of these tables has greatly impaired the value of previous editions. Mr. Abbott's notes are not the perfunctory gleanings from digests that have brought many American editions of English works into con- tempt. They are directed chiefly to topics on which our law dif- fers from that of England, or in regard to which there had been recent changes or developments here. Especial discrimination has been shown in citing prominent and recent cases from all jurisdictions, — so that the investigator may always get clues to lines of decisions, and to other cases and other modifications of principle than those shown. Among the longer and more remarkable notes are, 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 w^ithout seal ; *p. 105, on contract powers of national banks ; in another ; *pp. 419, 510, 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, &c. ; *p. 541, on the right of common carriers to limit their common-law liability by special contract or notice ; *p. 805, on the paral- lel between English joint-stock companies and American business corpo- rations ; * p. 989, on conditional sales ; and many others. Although Abbott's Addison on Contracts is a work of so great bulk that it might easily have been put into three volumes, it has been bound in two large volumes, and sells for the co.mparatively low price of $12.00, NET. 2^=- In order to place this enlar<fed and superior edition in the hands of every lawyer, I offer to take any former edi- tion in part exchange for the neiv one, at the rate of $1.50 per volume. HISTORICAL MATERIAL. The following volumes of State Papers, nineteen in all, are offered as a lot for g6o.oo : — Burghley (WiUiam Cecil, Lord). A Collection of State Papers relating to Affairs in the Reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary and Elizabeth, 1542-70. Edited by Samuel Haynes. i vol. Folio, boards. London. 1740. Forbes (Dr.). A Full View of the Public Transactions in the Reign of Eliza- beth. 2 vols. Folio, calf. London, 1740. Murdin (William). A Collection of State Papers relating to Affairs in the Reign of Elizabeth. 1571-96. i vol. Folio, calf. London, 1759. Winwood (Sir Ralph). Memorials of Affairs of State in the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I. Edited by Edmund Sawyer. 3 vols. Folio, calf. London, 1725. Sydney's Letters and Memorials of State in the Reigns of Mary, Elizabeth, J.imes, Charles L, Charles II., and "Oliver's Usurpation." Edited by Arthur Collins. 2 vols. Large folio, boards. London, 1746. Thurloe (John). A Collection of State Papers, 1638-60. Edited by Thomas Birch. 7 vols. Folio, calf. London, 1742. Cole (Christian). Historical and Political Memoirs, containing Letters writ- ten by Foreign Princes, &c., from almost all the Courts in Europe. 1697- 170S. I vol. Folio, calf. London, 1735. Hardwicke's IMiscellaneous State Papers, from 1501 to 1726. 2 vols. Quarto, boards. London, 177S. LEADING CASES MADE EASY. In illustration of the novel style of Shirley's Leading Cases, we quote as follows : — Bailments : Coggs v. Bernard. Coggs required several hogsheads of brandy to be moved from one London cellar to another. Instead of employing a regular porter to do the job, he accepted the gratuitous services of his friend Bernard, who undertook to effect the removal safely and securely. But the amateur did his work so clumsily that one of the casks was staved and much of the liquor was lost. Coggs was not pleased. He was an austere man ; and as he successfully maintained an action against Bernard for damages, probably that gentleman never again volunteered rash acts of friendship. Breach of Contract : Hochster v. De la Tour : Note. Generally speaking, no action for the breach of an executory contract can be brought till the day of performance arrives. But if one of the parties puis it Old of his po-wer to perform it, or expressly renounces the contract, the day of performance need not be waited for. If a young lady agrees to marry me on May 10, and, in defiance of that arrangement, marries Jones on April i, I may bring an action against her as soon as I like after April i, although it is quite on the cards that before May 10 comes she may be a charming widow, and quite at my service. So, too, of an express renunciation. A few years ago a man told his girl that he would marry her directly his father died. Soon afterwards he repented, and in the lifetime of his father told the young lady frankly that he did not intend ever to marry her. The judges decided that the contract was broken immediately on the defendant's renoimcing it in this brazen-faced way. THE BEST AND CHEAPEST BLACKSTONE. Great objection has arisen, of late years, to putting into the hands of a student any unabridged edition of Blackstone, because there is so much matter in the Commentaries which is now obsolete or misleading. On the other hand, the skeleton abridgments are not full enough to take the place of the original. To provide, in a happy medium, an edition which should present all of Blackstone that is of force or value to-day, Professor EwELL, of the Chicago Law School, has compressed into a small volume everything of the great legal classic not absolutely obsolete. He has even included the doubtful matter, — historical or unessential, but possibly interesting, — printing it in smaller type, so as to leave the essential parts in unbroken connection. In addition to this, he has distinguished the " catch-words " by full-faced type, so that a student, in reviewing his reading, can rapidly run through the leading principles. This pocket edition of Blackstone is the best for both student and lawyer. Price, in sheep or half calf, $3.00 ; in leatherette, $2.50. SUBROGATION. The doctrine of Subrogation was originally merely a minor subdivision of equitable practice, but its importance has of late years much increased. Its principles are now of very general application among successive claimants of the same property by mortgage, lien, or purchase ; among principles and sureties ; sureties who successively become liable for the same debt ; co-sureties ; joint-debtors ; and persons whose property is held to answer for tlie same debt or burden, whether the obligation, upon themselves or their property, is primary or secondary. Its doctrines are also frequently resorted to for the purpose of settling tlie rights of suc- cessive parties to bills and notes ; of executors, heirs, devisees, legatees, and other persons interested in the administration of a decedent's es- tate. It is also of general application in the law of insurance, not only for the benefit of the insurer himself, but also for the protection of per- sons who have conflicting rights to the property insured. The only work on this difficult subject is Sheldon on Subrogation (price $3.50, net). CATALOGUE OF LAW BOOKS. A Short Catalogue of Law Books, December, 1884, giving a list of the principal text-books, with prices graded according to the discounts usually given to cash purchasers, will be sent without charge to any one who asks for it, by CHARLES C. SOULB, 26 Pem- berton Square, Boston. Charles C. Soule, 26 JPemberton Square, Boston, Mass.
 * p. 194, on the construction, by courts of one State, of contracts made