Page:Legal Bibliography, Numbers 1 to 12, 1881 to 1890.djvu/81

 STfiVISON'S AMERICAN STATUTE LAW. AMERICAN STATUTE LAW: An Analysis and Compared Digest of the Constitutions and Civil Public Statutes of all the States and Territories, relating to Persons and Property, in Force Jan. i, 1886. By FF5EDERIC J. STIMSON, Author of Stimson's Law Glossary. ONE LARGE ROYAL OCTAVO VOLUME, BOUND IN LAW SHEEP. PRICE, $6.50 net. THIS is, in many respects, the most novel and important law book published in this generation. It is a compact but lucid com- parative statement of the law of all the States and Territories on each topic covered by their statutes, and of interest in other States. It would seem singular that so valuable a digest has never been attempted before ; were it not known to all lawyers that the Revised Statutes of the forty-seven States and organized Territories, together with their subsequent session laws, occupy about two hundred and fifty bulky volumes, containing a mass of printed matter before which the most patient investigator might quail. Mr. Stimson has devoted- five years to the task of reading, comparing, and condensing these statutes : and, in addition to this original work, has twice verified every statement and citation. Those who have used Mr. Stimson's Law Glossary, and know his singular ability in apt and compact statement of law, will be prepared to find in this new work similar characteristics, without which it could not prove a success. This volume covers all the Constitutions and the law relating to Persons and Property (including Successions) : in short, all ordinary sub- stantive law, and is complete in itself. Another volume, to contain Corporation Law, Insolvency, and Procedure, will be published in 1887. Two qualifications as to the usefulness of this work might suggest themselves to a lawyer, — the apparent impossibility of compressing into one or two volumes the contents of two hundred and fifty, and the danger that the State law might be changed by subsequent legislation. As to the first doubt, even a slight examination will show that the bulk of our laws are identical in the various States, and that there have been two or three main streams of legislation, so to speak, arising in New York, New England, and the Southern Adantic States, so that one statement of law often serves for all, or nearly all, the States. Again, many of the laws which fill up our '• Revised Statutes '" are of purely local application, and have no interest for citizens of other States. With the condensations and omissions which these facts render possible, and by the use of ingenious expedients in type and citation, the author has brought into moderate compass a statement of all those laws which affect or interest citizens of other States. As to the second doubt, it is surprising to find how few changes are made in substantive law by the annual or biennial legislatures. It has taken a year to pass this volume through the press, and yet the addenda rendered necessary by the new session-laws published during that period cover only two octavo pages. There will, of course, be a few material changes every year : and these the author will endeavor to cover by a biennial supplement ; the present volume taking the place as to the whole country now held in every State by the last revision or edition of General Statutes. In addition to the general interest of this work to the student of jurisprudence, it will have an interisely practical value to American lawyers in three ways : — I. It will enable them to advise clients, on a moment's notice, as to the law in other States, — a knowledge to be had hitherto only by taking time to go to some large law library containing the statutes of all the States. II. It is often necessary, in estimating the value or application of a case decided in another State, to know on what statutory provisions it was based. This volume will show at once the statute in question, and enable the lawyer to compare it with that of his own State, and use or dis- card the case accordingly. In the wide range of citation taken by our text-books, and their meagre statement of facts in the cases cited, this use will be a constant one to such lawyers as have to investigate important questions of law. III. In one State or another, nearly all the common law has been cast into a statute. Hence the reader will find in this book the codified law for almost any subject of legal consideration, and for almost any state of facts. J|@°' A pamphlet containing specimen pages ivill be sent ivitJiont charge, if desired. WORDS OF APPROVAL. From Chief Justice WAITE, of the U. S. Supreme Court. " Every time I have occasion to refer to your recent publication of ' American Statute Law ' I wonder liow it liappened that suclr a book had never been brought out until Mr. Stim- son had begun his work, and finished it so well. " Its grreat value becomes more ami more apparent as it is used. Already it has saved me much time in my every-day work." From Mr. Justice MATTHEWS, of the U. S. Supreme Court. "The idea is as useful as it is novel, and has been e.vcecuted in a maimer that has excited my admiraiion and surprise. The compactness with which the immense mass and variety of details have been so intelligently classified is indeed remarkable." From CEORCE FRED. WILLIAMS, Esq., Editor of the U. S. Digest. " I regard Mr. Stimson 's ' A.merican St.^tute L.^w,' just published, as one of the most valuable law books which has recently appeared. I have frequentlv consulted the proofs, belore piib!icat:on, and it is^due to the author that he be credited wilh skill, accuracv, and sense m the pi.in and execution of lus work. If practising lawyers can be induced to examine the scheme, they must pronounce this an indispensable book." From the Central Law Journal of St. Louis. "The task of bringing into one view, and embodving in a single volume, all the statute law of tne several States relatnig to persons and property, is so vast that it might well ' eive pause' to the most ardent, enterprising, and laborious of students. Mr. Stimson has manifestly felt the magnitude of llie task, and has used every available means ... to promote the svmmetry of the result. . The result IS now before us in a large roval octavo volume (of most commendable typography-!, in which is to be found, faithfully collated, all the statute law of all the States, brought down to date, and all so conveniently ari-anged that the existing law upon anv given siib)ect of any one of the States, can be found as easily as in the Code, or^Revised Statutes, or Compiletf Laws, of that Stale. _ " It is hardlv necessary to say that the volume will be of immense value to practi- tiouers throughout the Union." From Mr. Justice BRADLEY, of the U. S. Supreme Court. " Mr. Stimson's hook will he of great service, not only to the profession, but to legislators desirous of knowing the enactments of other States on special subjects- It will also exhibit to the student of .general jurisprudence the consensus of American thought on the subjects of modern legislation. In this regard it has a permanent value. The comparison of laws has the effect of evolving the general principles that underlie varied forms of legislation on the same subjects, and to produce an ultimate uniformity. It tends to bring about that great desid- eratum, — a uniformity of American law." From Hon. O. W HOLMES, Jr., of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. " I have followed Mr. Stimson in his work with entirely exceptional interest a7id admiration. It seemed to need a combin.ation of a power to generalize and of respect for de- tail, neither of which alone is enough for a great work, and yet w hich are not apt to go together. I think Mr. Stimson has both, and I hope that the success of his book may be equal to the ability and labor he has spent upon it." From the Albany Law Journal. "This is a novel, enormous, and audacious undertaking. The labor involved is Herculean. . . . The intelligence and precision of the author's classification speak for themselves. ... On the whole, we do not know that tht; publisher's assertion is very extravagai t, that ' this is in many respects the most novel and important law hook published in this jjeneration.' It is certainlv a great desideratum, not hitherto existing, to have a trustworthy ."nd concise synopsis of the public statutes of this country in convenient and accessible form." From the New York Nation. " We have had occasion to make practical use of Mr. Stimson's hook repeatedly, and can speak confidently of its careful and thorougji quality. . . . The aulhor's divisional arrangements are very carefully thought out, and with a little preliminary attention to the explanations, are clear and simple. . . . " Few practising lawyers who have to prepare a case which requires any wide range of argument and illustration will find it possible to dispense with this excellent gruide. It is a monument of devoted and faithful labor in a region which attracts far too little