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THE GREEN BAG

may know his act is wrong without knowing how wrong it is." The author admits that this would work well in a majority of cases but thinks it would not prevent possible misjustice. He suggests the following test. " No act is a crime if the person who does it is at the time prevented, either by defective mental power, or by any disease affecting his mind — (a) From foreseeing the natural and prob able consequences of his act; or (6) From appreciating the legal significance of his act; or (c) From appreciating the moral quality of his act; or (d) From controlling his own conduct. "The general conclusion of Mr. Mercier's reasoning seems to be this. The law as to criminal responsibility is antiquated, and if construed in its strict narrow sense would make for injustice. But on the whole, justice is done because the judges interpret the rules in Macnaughlen's Case so liberally, and juries are naturally sympathetic when the question of insanity is raised. It is best then to leave things as they are. With this conclusion I cannot agree. Juries, as Stephen very justly said, are apt to go by the apparent madness of the action. When an act looks mad they exonerate, where it looks rational they commit. This is too rough and ready a test. Amplify the legal criterion of responsibility and you put the issue on a much clearer and more comprehensible basis. "The plea of irresistible impulse should be regarded with the closest scrutiny: but to rule out lack of self-control, as Mr. Mercier desid erates, seems quite opposed to the trend of modern progressive thought." COURTS (England). " Ought the County Court to be Made a Branch of the High Court " is answered in favor of consolidation by Francis K. Munton in the May Law Maga zine and Review (V. xxxi, p. 328). The same subject is also agitated in the April Law Quarterly Review (V. xxii, p. 127) in an article entitled " The Consolidation of the High Court and the County Courts," by Thomas Snow. EDUCATION. " The American Lawyers and Their Making," by Charles Noble Gregory, American Lawyer (V. xiv, p. 147).

EVIDENCE. " Notes on the Law of Evi dence," by Sir Joseph Walton, Medico-Legal Journal (V. xxiii, p. 675). EVIDENCE (Legislation). John H. Wigmore in the May Illinois Law Review (V. i, p. 9), calls attention to " Some Evidence Statutes that Illinois Ought to Have." HISTORY. The first article in the opening number of the new Illinois Law Review pub lished by the students and teachers of the Northwestern University Law School and de voted to matters of interest to the Bar of Illi nois, is an interesting account of " The Earliest Courts of the Illinois Country," by George A. Dupuy. HISTORY. Charles Foster Kent in the April Yale Law Journal (V. xv, p. 284), presents briefly " A Tentative Codification of the Old Testament Laws." HISTORY. " Civil War and Reconstruc tion Interstate Controversies," by George C. Lay, The Brief (V. vi, p. 98). HISTORY. A continuation of the story of Lilburn's Trial in 1649 with especial reference to its bearing on the development on the dis tinction in our law between " The Province of the Judge and of the Jury," by G. Glover Alexander, is related in an interesting manner in the May Law Magazine and Rcvieiv (V. xxxi, p. 289). INTEREST. " Law of Interest," by K. B. Dastur, Bombay Law Reporter (V. viii, p. 11 1 ). INTERNATIONAL LAW. " Decisions of the Courts as a Source of International Law," by Edwin Maxey, Albany Law Journal (V. Ixviii, p. 88). JURISPRUDENCE. "The Principles of Chinese Law and Equity," by Edward H. Parker, Law Quarterly Review (V. xxii, p. 190). JURISPRUDENCE. " Responsibility in Law," by Rankine Wilson in the Law Maga zine and Review (V. xxxi, p. 257) is the first instalment of a psychological analysis of the distinction between cases where a man should be held accountable for his acts and where he should not. JURISPRUDENCE. " The Growth of Mo hammedan Jurisprudence," by Abdur Rahim, Calcutta Law Journal (V. iii, p. 550).