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THE GREEN BAG

CURRENT LEGAL LITERATURE This department is designed to call attention to the articles in all the leading legal periodicals of the preceding month and to new law books sent us for review.

THE recent legal magazines attain a high level of general excellence in their articles, though perhaps it cannot be said that any one stands out as preeminently the most im portant of the month. An exceptionally well written article of general interest, however, is William M. Meigs' article on the power of the judiciary to declare laws unconstitutional, in which he takes sharp issue with those who have recently called that power a " usurpa

tion." Judge Brewer's article on "Legal Ethics" is timely and important. The defects of our legal system cause two other unusually interesting articles in Roscoe Pounds' paper on " The Causes of Popular Dissatisfaction with the Administration of Justice," and Charles F. Amidon's address on " The Quest for Error and the Doing of Justice." They agree in saying that the worst feature of our system is the lavish granting of new trials.

BIBLIOGRAPHY. " Catalogue of the Books in the Library of the Honorable Society of Gray's Inn," by M. D. Severn Witherby & Co., London, 1906. An artistic volume of nearly a thousand pages listing the books under the names of authors, but with an index of subjects appended. BIOGRAPHY (Langdell). Appreciations of the late Professor C. C. Langdell by former colleagues and pupils appear in the Harvard Law Review for November (V. xx, p. i) as follows : Professor Langdell: " A view of his career,' by Eugene Wambaugh; " His student life,' by Jeremiah Smith; " His personal influence," by Austen G. Fox; " His later teaching days," by Joseph H. Beale, Jr.; "His ser vices to legal education," by James Barr Ames. BIOGRAPHY (Cockburn). " The Hon. Lord Cockburn," by C. J. Guthrie, Scots Law Times (V. xiv, p. 73). BIOGRAPHY (Lincoln). "Lincoln the Lawyer," by Frederick Trevor Hill, The Cen tury Co., New York, 1906, Sa.oo net. This interesting and important narrative of the legal life of Lincoln which is now published in book form was extensively reviewed in these columns during its publication in the Century, beginning with our issue of Febru ary, 1906. BIOGRAPHY (Lindsey). In the November McClure's (V. xxviii, p. 74) Lincoln Steffens discusses Colorado politics in describing one of our recent contributors, Judge Lindsey,

under the title of " Ben B. Lindsey; the Just Judge." There is much in the article regard ing the Juvenile Court work in Colorado written in popular vein, which was covered by the judge in our March number. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. " Racial Dis tinctions in Southern Law," by Gilbert T. Stephenson, American Political Science Re view (V. 1, p. 44). CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. "Negro Suff rage: The Constitutional Point of View," by John C. Rose, American Political Science Re view (V. 1, p. 17). CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. " The Usurped Powers of the Senate," by A. Maurice Low, American Political Science Review (V. 1, p. i). CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. "The Initia tive of the President," Judge Emory Speer's enthusiastic lecture on the Storrs foundation, is printed in the November Yale Law Journal (V. xvi, p. 6). It instances with hearty approval the exercises of the presidential initiative from Washington to Roosevelt, treating the matter in the manner and lan guage of the orator rather than of the jurist. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. " Studies in Con stitutional Law. Due Process under the Federal Constitution." By Lucius Polk McGehee. Edward Thompson Company, Northport. X. Y., 1906, pp. vi, 451. This book, excellently gotten up in every way, deals with one of the most interesting subjects in the whole range of constitutional law. Its object is to present the views enter tained and maintained by the United States