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THE GREEN BAG

it has become the merest fiction is also evident from the fact that courts have disre garded it when recognition would have been inequitable. . . . "One hesitates in this era of unrestrained language to express unduly harsh judgments, but it seems as though the chief attraction of the habit of creating apparently definite values were the unusual opportunities it affords to mislead." Mr. Edward M. Shepard has suggested that the law should not require for shares any money denomination, that is to say, any par value. Mr Dwight says: "This seems to be eminently sound. But why should we not go a step further and prohibit corporations from giving any apparent value to their shares instead of merely per mitting them to refrain from so doing? Let every company, for instance, set forth in its charter, instead of the arbitrary ' capitali zation,' a statement of all property it has received or will receive and the number of shares it is proposed to issue. Each one would then represent, without any obscurity, a proportionate interest only in the net assets of the corporation. "It is always difficult to prophesy with accuracy what practical effect will be produced by new methods. But it seems reasonable to suppose that the change suggested, apart from conforming to the simple truth and preventing much misconception, would have some positive and beneficial results. Thus it would at least tend to lessen the absenteeism that is so conspicuous now in corporate man agement. What does the average stockholder know about his company? ... If it were brought home to him that his interest was an indeterminate one, obviously dependent upon the varying fortunes of the corporation, he would be far more apt to follow its operations in detail and request periodical statements. And this would probably result in a publicity that is not vouchsafed, but which is certainly one of the most legitimate of present day demands. ... It would be quite as easy to pay dividends at so many dollars a share as upon a percentage basis. And if it seem necessary or desirable to continue the division into classes of preferred and common stock, the preference of the former in the distribution

of assets could be placed at any reasonable figure." CORPORATIONS (see Foreign Corporation Constitution Law, Railroads and Trust Regu lation). DAMAGES. " Measure of Damages," Anon., Oklahoma Law Journal (V. v, p. 225). DAMAGES. " Mental Anguish Doctrine in Telegraph Cases," by George A. Lee, Central Law Journal (V. lxiv, p. 108). DIGESTS (Massachusetts). " A new Massa chusetts Digest." Lawyers should not part with their old Massachusetts Digest until they have assured themselves that the one recently published will supply its place. The three volumes of the digest published in 1881 in cluded 127 volumes of reports. The next 34 volumes were contained in a fourth volume and 16 volumes more in a supplemental fifth volume of the digest, and the addition of the 12 volumes ending with volume 189 of the reports would not have made this fifth volume equal in size to the fourth, if the same propor tion had been preserved. In consolidating these two supplemental volumes with the three original volumes, it might have been expected that some condensation would have been possible. But the makers of the new digest have managed to inflate this material into eight large volumes. The index of cases alone fills 829 pages, while that of the old digest and supplements, with a proportionate addition of 38 pages for the 12 additional vol umes of reports, would occupy 480 pages. Yet the new index gives, under the defendants' names, only a reference to the plaintiff's name, instead of giving also, as the old one does, a reference to both the reports and the digest, which are to be found in the new index only under the plaintiff's name, where a second search must be made. The arrangement of the new digest is en tirely different from that of the old, but the preface states that the old digest has been carefully studied and the material freely used, though this is not apparent in the result that has been produced. It is satisfactory to notice that cases on the construction of wills have been placed under the title of " Wills," where they belong, instead of under the quaint head ing of " Devise and Legacy," where no one