Page:Legal Bibliography, Numbers 1 to 12, 1881 to 1890.djvu/91

 SOULE'S LEGAL BIBLIOGRAPHY. 9 Covers for Pump Court, Vol. 3. — Mr. Soule can supply to sub- scribers covers for Vol. 3. Pump Court, in cloth, uniform with Vols, i and 2, for 50 cents each. "Here's Success to Crime." — If this toast, once popular among the bibulous attorneys of the South-west, is still current with the younger generation, they ought all to read '• Pike's History of Crime to famil- iarize themselves with the topic. Prudent Liberality. — " The Bookmart " prints this quotation from Selden, which is very true as applied to out-of-print law books : — " CTijc flibinrj a bookseller l)ts iJricE for Ijts bookcs ijas tijis aStiantngc, — |)c tijat totll Do sor sljall i)aljr tijc refusal of toijatsoctirr comrs to i]is liaiiBs, anO soe fag tijat mrants get manu tijiiigs toi}idj otlirrhjise ijt sijoulS neber l)atie secut." An Edible Wig. — The photograph of the Blackstone statue, given on page 7. elicits general admiration. But an eminent judge gives. as his criticism (obiter dictum) that the flowing ends of the wig resemble cauliflower rather than hair. Reprint of the Year Books. — There is a plan mooted in England of republishing the Year Books, with translations and notes by competent editors, in similar style to the "Year Books of Edward I.," which have been published recently from manuscripts, to fill the gaps in the printed Year Books. The project has not as yet taken sufficiently definite shape to invite subscriptions, but there seems to be no doubt that it will be carried through. What is a Coif? — In No. 5 of Leg.-vl Bibliography, this question was asked, apropos of the engraving of Sir Matthew Hale printed with that number. No answer has been received, nor do the dictionaries define the word satisfactorily. But in Chap. 3, Part III., of the new edition of " The Comic Blackstone " this paragraph occurs : " A Ser- geant was created by purchasing what is called a coif, — a barrister's wig with a bit cut out of the middle, and a patch of black silk sewn over the hole in the centre." New English Books. — By Steamer " Pavonia," arriving in Boston September 4, Mr. Soule has received : — Odgers on Libel and Slander, Second Edition (with new chap- ters on Injunctions and Newspaper Libels). Cloth, S9.00 net. Morris's Patents Conveyancing. A Collection of Precedents in Conveyancing in relation to Patents. With copious Notes. Cloth, $7.50 net. Shearwood's Introduction to the Principles of Equity. Cloth, gi.50 /!et. Portraits of Legal Authors. — Mr. Soule's Illustrated Catalogue, to be ready ne.xt month for free distribution, will contain good likenesses of Wood, Schouler, Irving Browne, F. F. Heard, Ewell, B. V. Abbott, Stimson, Chamberlayne, Sheldon, and others. Lawyers will be espe- cially interested in this ieature ; for while the faces of authors in general literature are familiar to us all through the magazines and illustrated edi- tions of their works, — legal authors, whose names and books are widely known, have never been presented to their readers through the medium of portraits. Schouler's United States. — James Schouler (author of the trea- tises on Wills, Executors, etc.) is said to be hard at work upon the fourth volume of his - History of the United States under the Constitution." The three volumes already published ($2.00 per vol- ume, in cloth binding) describe graphically not only the public and politi- cal events of our early history as a nation, but also (what histories often slight) the social and economical life of the people, their recreations, their habits of thought and action, their municipal arrangements, the character and influence of immigration, the influences of classes and families upon the mass of voters, the difliculties of intercommunication, and the provin- cial peculiarities of newspapers. The Selden Society. — At a meeting held in Lincoln's Inn Old Hall (London), July 23, "The Selden Society," a new association, formed mainly to collect and edit, in a convenient form, materials for the devel- opment of English legal history, was formally organized, with the Lord Chief Justice of England as President. Among the members of the "Council" elected at this meeting are the American .Minister; the Chief-Justice of the United States: Judge Gray, of the U. S. Supreme Court : Judge Taft, of Vermont ; Professors Ames, Gray, Keener. Langdell. and Thayer, of the Harvard Law School ; 'illiam Henry Rawle, Hon. Henry Read, and George Tucker Bispham, of Philadelphia ; and Melville M. Bigelow, of Boston. The first publication of the Society is to be a volume of Thirteenth Century Pleas of the Crown, from the Eyre Rolls, edited, with a translation, by Mr. F. W. Maitland, of Cambridge University. Many of these criminal cases are very interesting and throw more light than cases of almost any other class on the manners and cus- toms of the people. The subscription to the Selden Society is one guinea annually. Prof. James B. Thayer, of Cambridge, Mass., has consented to receive and forward American subscriptions. New Idea for a Table of Overruled Cases. In Dale and Leh- mann's Digest of English Cases Overruled, Not Followed, Disapproved, Approved, Distinguished, Commented on, and Specially Considered from 1756 to 1886, a novel plan is followed. The first part is an ordinary table of cases overruled, etc., with somewhat more detail than is usually given ; but the second part is a digest of cases by subjects, giving under each head the full language of so much of the overruling decision as comments upon the original case. This obviates any necessity of hunting through the Reports to examine each case. FOREIGN PRAISE OF STIMSON S STATUTE LAW. Mr. Stimsox's thoughtful article in the June number of " Scribner's Magazine " upon " The Ethics of Democracy " has attracted attention abroad as well as at home. It is to be hoped that he will give to the pub- lic further essays upon the tendencies of our State legislation, — a subject he is peculiarly qualified to fill after having been through the laborious researches incident to the preparation of his Analytical Digest of American Statute Law. Sir Thomas Erskine Holland, writing from Oxford, calls the article "most interesting," and speaks of it as "co-ordinating a number of curious facts, showing how indispensable to the study of comparative law is Mr. Stimsox's otherwise also invaluable Digest of the results of the legislative activity of the United States." Stimson's American Statute Law is meeting the recognition it so well deserves in many foreign countries. Many of our consuls and diplo- matic representatives have bought copies of the book for use in their offices. Edmond Kelly, Esq., a distinguished American advocate prac- tising law in France, writes: "As counsel to the United States Legation in Paris, I am continually called upon to give advice as to the laws of marriage in the various States and Territories, and as to other matters of Statute law. I find myself very much assisted therein by Mr. Stimsox's valuable work." The " Revista General de Derecho y Administracion," published in Havana, is kind enough to say : " Esta obra es de extrema utilidad porque facilita grandemente el estudio de la legislacion propia de cada uno de los estados de la Union americana. ... El trabajo llevado a cabo por Mr. Stimson revela en su autor una laboriosidad y una paciencia que mara- villan. Ha dominado el asunto plenamente como lo prueban las clasifi- caciones que sirven como de tejido £ su libro para formar un organismo de lo que antes no era mds que una masa informe y confusa." Dr. KoNiG, of Berne, a leading critic of legal literature, considers the work of sufficient importance to give a lengthy analysis of its contents in the "Deutsche Literaturzeitung," concluding thus: " Fiir jeden welcher aus irgend einem Grunde sich um die Gesetzgebung eines der verschie- denen Unionsstaten bekiimmern zu miissen in der Lage ist, wird sich dieses Buch Sts als ein zuverlassiger Ratgeber und Auskunfterteiler erweisen." LEGAL PORTRAITS. In the last number of Legal Bibliography, under the head of " Office Embellishment," was given a list of portraits of some sixty or so distinguished lawyers and judges. Many of these, where there were only one or two copies in stock, have been sold; but in other instances, where the supply was larger, duplicates can still be furnished. A list of these will be mailed to any applicant. Mr. Soule has also for sale, — Photograph of the Statue of Sir William Blackstone (see p. 7), un- mounted, 13x14 inches, $2. 50; or mounted on stiff card, re.ady for framing, 20x24, $3-00. Magna Charta. Fac-simile, in colors, of the original, with the Seals of the King's Securities and the Shields of the Barons. 23x29 inches. A con- spicuous and interesting document for framing. S3. 50. The Roll of Battle Abbey. Same size, style, and price, with the shields of the principal knights in arms at the battle of Hastings.