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THE GREEN BAG

interesting evidence on these points is cited. He contends that life imprisonment is a suffi cient protection of society, is more likely to be imposed on the guilty, and leaves a loop hole for the rectification of the occasional mis takes inevitable in the process of justice. The danger of escape and the abuse of pardons he regards as avoidable evils not important enough to justify our retention of the death penalty. The experiences of those communi ties where it has been abolished seems also to sustain his contentions. CRIMINAL LAW (Intent). " Limitations upon the Rule that Criminal Intent may be presumed from the Act itself," by D. W. Crockett, Central Law Journal (V. Ixii, p. i). EDUCATION. In an article entitled " Law as a Culture Study " in the January Michi gan Law Review (V. iv, p. 179), Edson R. Sunderland contends that an opportunity for the study of law should be given undergradu ates in our universities and that it should not be monopolized by professional students. As a means of mental discipline and a prepara tion for a useful life, which are the basis of modern university education, he submits that the study of the law is superior to many courses now offered in the colleges. As the study of the physical sciences is more impor tant than pure mathematics owing to the interjection of concrete elements which make certainty of result more difficult and hence enhance the difficulty and interest of the prob lem, so the law deals with a still more com plicated situation. "When, however, we reach the domain of human experience, and try to formulate rules of human conduct, we find the most compli cated field of all. The impulses and motives of men are as countless as the sands of the sea. Every person stands in a more or less intimate relation to his family, his neighbors, his friends, his business associates, his church, his party, his city, his state. His conduct is directed by considerations of love and hate, generosity, avarice, ambition. He moves in a society made up of men, women, children, friends, husbands, wives, laborers, idlers, the rich, the poor, politicians, farmers, merchants, corpo rations, teachers, public officers. He is influ enced by the people he meets, the books he reads, the religion he professes, the work he

does, the places he visits, the misfortunes he suffers, and the pleasures he enjoys. Out of the midst of such a myriad of shifting, un certain, and unknown conditions, where no two persons are ever subject to the same forces, and no two situations are ever alike, the law endeavors to bring order and system. And order and system it has brought, but only through the toil and trial of centuries. "A field so vast and so intricate, whose problems are so closely interwoven and inter related that an adequate handling of one im plies familiarity with the principles underlying all, is a field rich in possibilities for mental culture. The technical features are inci dental, not substantial. Beneath them always appears the broad practical question, What legal principles are applicable to the facts of the given situation? To take the facts in a given case, study them in their relation to the various principles of law which seem to bear upon them, segregate the material and rele vant facts from those which are irrelevant, weigh the former and judge of their compar ative importance, apply to this sifted and coordinated group of facts appropriate and correct legal principles, and present the whole case in logical and well-reasoned complete ness, is a task which calls for a high order of mental effort." He also relates the history of the separation of the study of law from the other courses, and finds that it was due largely to accident and to medieval prejudices which have no modern application. The courses on com mercial law now given in some colleges he regards as wholly inadequate. ESTOPPEL (see Agency). EVIDENCE (Witnesses). " Memoranda to Refresh Mind of Witness and as Substitute for Witness's Recollection," by John D. Lind say, Bench and Bar (V. iii, p. 97). EXECUTIONS (Exemptions). In the De cember American Law Register (V. liii, p. 721), Stanley Folz discusses " Exemption Laws and Public Policy." After tracing the history of the relaxation of restrictions on the collection of debts as England changed from a feudal to a commercial state and the subsequent humanitarian movement to re lieve debtors from the drastic operation of this liberty, he shows the various modern