Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 16.pdf/315

 Rh

spoke respectfully of it in the prefaces to the ninth and tenth pans of the Reports, and sometimes cited it in the Institutes. It is not strange that shortly afterwards, in 1642, the Law French text was printed. In 1646 came the translation by William Hughes. Yet publicity was fatal. In 1784, Reeves, the first systematic historian of the English law, cast suspicion upon the Mirror. In 1832, Sir Francis Palgrave spoke more plainly. In 1895, Pollock and Maitland's History point edly refused to rely upon it as to any matter whatsoever; and almost simultaneously, in a delicious introduction to Mr. Whittaker's revised Law French text and new transla tion, published by the Seiden Society, Pro fessor Maitland demolished the Mirror to the gratification and amusement of all read ers, and left open for future investigators— though with valuable hints—the interesting but comparatively unimportant question whether Andrew Horn, the reputed author, a fishmonger otherwise of creditable record, can prove an alibi. Now, however, the Mir ror reappears, in the familiar translation by William Hughes, and in a new place, the Legal Classic Series, beside Glanville, Britton, and Littleton; and thus the queer old book—whether romance, blunder, falsehood, or jest—now stands in a worshipful com pany; but not even the present editor's goodnatured introduction indicates that any one has ever considered it a classic, and in truth it is simply a dangerous curiosity. A MANUAL OK THE BUSINESS CORPORATION LAW OF MASSACHUSETTS By Charles A". Harris and Gros*>enor Calkins. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. 1903. (xl +253 pp.) This volume deserves, and doubtless will occupy, a place on the shelves of Massachu setts lawyers beside Smith's Probate Law and Crocker's Common Forms; and like these last named volumes it will be a useful book of reference. The Manual contains, in full, the text of the recently enacted Business Corporation Law (St. 1903, chap. 437), which modified in important particulars the statutes of the Commonwealth relating to business corpor

ations. As a help to the construction and interpretation of this Act of 1903. the various sections are followed by notes referring to decisions bearing on for mer corresponding statutes, some of these notes being quite full, as, for ex ample, that which treats of the liability of stockholders (Section 33). Certain sections of the new act will require judicial interpreta tion; for instance, just what are the rights of, and the limitations upon, securities-holding corporations under Clause (F) of Section 4, which section defines corporate powers? In a note to this clause the editors express the opinion that in other sections of the Act "there are implications that a corporation may hold securities," "although there is no explicit authority to that effect/' The last half of the volume is devoted to miscellaneous statutes affecting business corporations, to forms and precedents and to an excellent index. CYCLOPEDIA OF LAW AND PHOCEDURE. Edited by William Mack and Hmvard P. Xash. Vol. X. New York: The American Law Book Company. 1904. (1370 pp.) Volume X. is a noteworthy publication, being, in fact, a full and valuable treatise on the law of Private Corporations (except For eign Corporations), by Judge Seymour D. Thompson. Judge Thompson's previous work-—large in amount, and varied and strong in character—has placed him in the foremost rank of American law writers; and here he is dealing with a subject which is peculiarly his own,—as witness his exhaus tive Commentaries on the Law of Corporation, now out of print. THE DECISION IN THE " MERGER CASE." By J. L. Thorndike. Boston : Little, Brown, and Company. 1903. Paper. (36 pp.) This is a review of the decision of the Cir cuit Court at St. Paul in the case of United States v. Northern Securities Company, 120 Fed. R. 721. The recent decision by the Supreme Court adds, rather than detracts, from the value of this strong adverse criti cism.