Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 15.pdf/389

 The G*een Bag.

348 NEW LAW BOOKS.

// is the intention of The Green Bag to have its book reviews written by competent reviewers. The usual custom of magazines is to confine book notices to books sent in for review. At the request of subscribers, however, The Green Bag will be glad to review or notice any recently published law book, whether re ceivedfor review or not.

A COMMENTARY ON THE LAW OF MINES. By Wilson I. Snyder. Chicago: T. H. Flood & Co. 1902. Two volumes, (ci+xxvi-j1464 pp.) This is a work with both scholarly and practical qualities. The scholarly features are more obvious in the early parts, where the author treats of the doctrine of regalian ownership of mines under the English sys tem of law and under other systems, ancient and modern, and then passes to early Eng lish and Continental customs, and the history of American statutes. Yet the author's wide investigation and his independence in both expression and thought are evident through out the whole treatise. Unfortunately, the lawyer in general prac tice cannot be expected to read so many pages, even though they are the work of a skilled specialist and embody many doctrines of great interest. It is almost useless, there fore, to call attention to the passages where in the general practitioner might well take exceptional pleasure, namely, the historical parts already mentioned, the definitions of mining (sees. 131-148), of citizenship (sees. 241-256), of lode and vein (sees. 279-289), the discussions of water rights (sees. 329332, 1050-1062), of apex rights (sees. 795806, 821-874), of surface support (sees. 10161033), and of mining partnerships (sees. 15001581.) The specialist will wish to read the whole of this book, hardly omitting the appen dices of statutes and forms; but he may be thankful to be told in advance that the treat

ment of the apex cases is peculiarly indepen dent and strong. A TREATISE ON COMMERCIAL PAPER AND THE NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS LAW. By James IT. Eaton and Frank B. Gilbert. Albany: Matthew Bender. 1903. (xciii+767 pp.) The greater part of this volume consists of a treatise of moderate fulness, with annota tions that cite and quote numerous cases, especially recent decisions of American courts. Appendices present the English Bills of Exchange Act and the American Ne gotiable Instruments Law, with notes show ing the numbers attached to the sections of the statute in the several States, and with references to the body of the treatise. As the volume is of moderate size, and is confined chiefly to plain statements of fami liar law, it obviously does not attempt to be anything more than an accurate and con venient tool. Yet it is not a mere paraphrase of older works. That the authors have done thinking of their own is indicated, for exam ple, in the foot-note on p. 83, where, in commenting upon the section of the Negotiable Instruments Law which pro vides that "where ... a person adds to his signature words indicating that he signs for ... a principal ... he is not liable on the instrument if he was duly authorized; but the mere addition of words describing him as an agent, . . . without disclosing his principal, does not exempt him from per sonal responsibility," the authors question the propriety of the inference, sometimes drawn, that when there is no authorization the person assuming to be the agent of a principal whom he names as the maker of the instrument, is to be held upon the instru ment itself, and is not to be held simply by a fictitious warranty or some similar form of responsibility, and they say: "The section seems to state the general rule of law as heretofore understood. Personal liability does not necessarily mean responsibility on the instrument."