Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 18.pdf/389

 360

THE GREEN BAG

not fear to think of the State as a unity, a personality, a sovereign — a sovereign in whose presence the visible ruler can aspire to no higher title than that of sovereign-organ. The law may elect to accept the declared will of that visible ruler as conclusive of the will of the sovereign, but the fact need not prevent the lawyer from recognizing, even as a lawyer, that the visible ruler is but an organ of the organized community." JURISPRUDENCE (see Corporations). LAW BOOKS. " Some Observations on Case Law Reporting," by John R. Rood in the May Michigan Law Review (V. iv, p. 516), begins with an interesting account of some of the early English reporters and concludes with criticisms of modern methods of report ing, chiefly because lack of sufficient cross reference to other series of reports. LAW BOOKS. " North Carolina Digest," Vol. II, by Zeb V. Walser and Zenobian I. Walser, Durham, N. C., 1906. LEGAL ETHICS. "The Ethics of the Practice," by W. R. Diddle, American Lawyer (V. xiv, p. 197). NAMES. A collection of cases relating chiefly to unfair competition is made by Ber nard C. Steiner in the May Yale Law Journal (V. xv, p. 341), under the title of " A Man and His Name." MARITIME LAW (Salvage). "Maritime Sal vage," by H. Birch Sharpe in the April Law Quarterly Review (V. xxii, p. 163), considers the origin of the obligation under a policy of marine insurance to make good to the owner of property salved what he has been called upon to pay for this service. He finds from the fact that all foreign codes of maritime law, both ancient and modern, contain provisions and enactments on the subject of salvage, "that there is probability approximating to certainty, that such an obligation indissolubly attached to the res itself at risk must in the thirteenth century have been within the con templation of the inventors of the system of insurance, and of the framers of their special form of contract for indemnifying an owner of property at sea." He finds an analogy between salvage and general average: "i. Though not contemporaneous, each is the creature of early maritime law.

"2. The object of each is the rescue of prop erty at sea from impending destruction. "3. By danger each is called into existence, and by loss of the property or attainment of its safety this existence is determined. "4. Contribution to each is assessed on the net arrived value of the property saved. "5. What has beeen sacrificed contributes equally in proportion to its value with what has been saved. Seeing, then, that this com pensation must be paid by an owner out of the res itself, if he would retain, or — as in the case of a derelict — regain its possession, sal vage is a sacrifice as ample and complete as goods thrown overboard, or a mast cut away to lighten a ship in a storm. "Inasmuch, therefore, as it is not deducted but remains a component part of the assessable value of the property saved, salvage contrib utes to its own loss in as real a manner as jetti soned cargo in general average. "6. Where, ultimately, nothing has been saved, there is no contribution for property sacrificed." From a discussion of the cases the author concludes that authority is unanimous in establishing the doctrine that salvage is the direct and immediate consequence of a peril insured against. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS. "The County of the City," an article denying that any advantage accrues to the city under the Scotch law by being recognized as a county in itself, by G. W. Wilton, appears in the April Juridical Review (V. xviii, p. 65). MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS (Bonds). In the May Michigan Law Review (V. iv, p. 497), Charles L. Dibble discusses "The Doc trine of the Federal Courts as to the Validity of Irregular Municipal Bonds." He summar izes his views as follows: "i. No issue of bonds is absolutely ultra vires unless the municipality attempting to issue them is totally without power to issue bonds for any purpose or under any circum stances. "2. Where there is a mere informality in some step prior to the issuance of the bond, and the officer issuing the bond is empowered, expressly or impliedly, to determine whether such step has been duly taken, his decision is absolutely irrebuttable, except on an imme