Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 19.pdf/136

 EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

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should be confined strictly to the permanent fund of a monied corporation. As was noted above, business corporations have not ' a capital ' that they are obliged to maintain. ... It is unnecessary and confusing to employ ' capital ' in connection with them. The idea that it may mean such property as is necessary for the conduct of their business is in actual experience so vague as to be quite worthless. If legislatures wish to tax what ever property they possess, why not say so, instead of describing it as ' capital ' or ' capital stock? ' And if, nevertheless, they employ these terms inaccurately, while their intention appears from the context, why should not the courts simply declare the fact and say frankly that the wrong words were used, instead of stretching them to cover various unrelated conceptions and so perpetuate an extraordinary confusion?"

Beecher, American Law Review (V. xl, p. 869), is an exposition with many citations of the present condition of the law on the subject treated. The same article is printed in the Central Law Journal (V. lxiv, p. 3).

CRIMINAL LAW. In the January At lantic (V. cxix, p. 44), Edward Alsworth Ross analyzes a type which he calls " The Criminaloid." By this he means a violator of our laws who for some reason society hesitates to regard as criminal. This is usually due to the fact that his offense is new and causes no per ceptible injury to the community in which he moves. The burden falls on the future or on the nation at large or on some other social class. He is, moreover, careful to observe the conventional moralities and to be conspicuous for local public spirit and patriotism. " The key to the criminaloid is not evil impulse but moral insensibility. He understands sym pathy and antipathy as springs of conduct but justice strikes him as hardly human. The law is a club to rescue your friends from and to smite your enemies with but it has no claim of its own." He flourishes until the growth of morality overtakes the growth of oppor tunities to prey.

HISTORY. "The Profession in the Politi cal History of the United States," is the annual address before the graduating class of the Yale Law School, delivered by Victor H. Metcalf, Secretary of Commerce and Labor. January Yale Law Journal (V. xvi, p. 182).

CRIMINAL LAW. " The Early History of the Crime of Murder," by Nelson E. Johnson, The Brief (V. vi, p. 269). CRIMINAL LAW. " Disturbing the Peace," by Fred. Kelsey, Central Law Journal (V. lxiii, p. 467). 1 CRIMINAL LAW (Privilege Against Selfincrimination). " The Privilege of Silence and the Immunity Statutes," by Franklin

CRIMINAL LAW. " The Grand Jury," by George J. Edwards, Jr. The George T. Bisel Company, Philadelphia, 1906. A scholarly treatment of the history, develop ment, and functions of the grand jury. A great deal of information is to be had from this small book, for the author has annotated it with copious and valuable citations. GOVERNMENT. Under the title "The Brunswick Succession," Gordon E. Sherman, in the January Yale Law Journal (V. xvi, p. 176), makes some observations on the dif ferences between the union of our states and that of those forming the German Empire.

HISTORY. " The Code Napoleon — How It was Made and Its Place in the World's Jurisprudence," in the November-December American Law Review (V. xl, p. 833), is the address of U. M. Rose before the Bar Asso ciations of Arkansas and Texas, July 10, 1906. HISTORY. "The Colonial Bar and the American Revolution," by William F. Gurley* The Brief (V. vi, p. 289). HISTORY. In the January Illinois Law Review (V. i, p. 363), John Maxcy Zane relates in an interesting manner the history of a once famous case reported in the Plea Rolls of the year 1226, under the title of "A Mediaeval Cause Celebre." HISTORY. " James Wilson — Patriot," by Lucien Hugh Alexander, North American Review (V. clxxxiii, No. 8). HISTORY (Alabama Arbitration). In the January Harper's, Frederic Trevor Hill describes the second of his " Decisive Battles of the Law," in the story of the treaty and tribunal by which were settled the Alabama Claims. Though of diplomatic rather than