Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 20.pdf/549

 422

THE GREEN BAG

checks go beyond this line, then the bank becomes the owner either absolutely or to the extent of its lien." PRACTICE. " Erroneous Decision on a Point of Law," by C. S. B. Aiyangar. Allahabad Law Journal (V. v, p. 169). PRACTICE. " Modern Jury Trials and Advocates," 4th edition, containing forty condensed trials and specimens of forensic eloquence, by Judge J. W. Donovan. The Banks .Law Publishing Co., New York, 1908. Price $4.50. This book is hardly the equal of Mr. Wellman's better known book, but contains some passages worth preserving from lawyers whose fame once brilliant is already growing dim. PROPERTY. " Law of Survivorship among Native Christians," Anon. Madras Lam Journal (V. xvii, p. 489). PROPERTY. "A Problem in the Illinois Law of Descent," by Albert M. Kales. June Illinois Law Review (V. iii, p. 74). PROPERTY. " Restrictions on Indian Lands," by Judge J. O. Davis. Oklahoma Law Journal (V. vi, p. 495). RAILROADS. " Railroad Rate Regula tion," by Herbert S. Hadley. Law Register (V. xxviii, p. 241 ). TAXATION. " A Treatise on the Law of Taxation by Special Assessments," by C. H. Hamilton of the Milwaukee Bar. (Chicago, George I. Jones, 1907). This is a painstaking treatment of the subject of special assessments as a separate topic. It goes into the origin of special assessments and their proper classification under the taxing power inherent in the several states; subject to the constitutional restraints that the power be exercised for a public purpose, a peculiar benefit, and with a reasonable apportionment of charge to benefits received. The provisions of the state constitutions expressly restricting their otherwise full power are catalogued, and the effect of the I4th Amendment to the Federal Constitution considered; the require ments of " due process of law " explained, and the word " taking " defined. The various methods of apportionment by frontage, cost, area, valuation, etc., are dis cussed, with the conclusion that the true criterion in every case is the actual benefit received. The author advocates throughout his book the thesis that each person in a taxing

district has" a right not to be taxed in excess of the benefit to his own property from the improvement, and that he has a right to call upon the courts to pass upon this question. It may well be doubted whether this broad principle, if settled law, would not be a material judicial interference with a power distinctively legislative. To hold that the question of the relation of benefits to assessments is that of the benefit to the assessment district as a whole, rather than to each several property owner, and that the existence of this benefit to the district, and the determination of a fair scheme of apportioning the tax, is for the taxing power to decide, seems constitutionally the sounder view. While it is true that there might be a levy not exceeding the benefit to the taxing district and fairly distributed, of which one property owner's share might exceed his individual advantage, yet it may be better to recognize such a case as an illustration that the legislature may do an injustice which the judiciary cannot prevent, than to hold that the legislature can do nothing unless the courts agree as to its reasonableness. In case of any flagrant injustice, there is always the 1 4th Amendment. The book contains several chapters on pro ceedings in making special assessments, and a chapter on remedies. A large number of cases are collected, and the book is more valuable as a compilation, of authority than as an arrangement of a coherent system of the law of the subject. TORTS. " Malicious Use of One's Property," by Robert L. McWilliams. Central Law Journal (V. Ixvii, p. 23 ), WATER RIGHTS. " Law of Water Rights," by William H. Hunt. Yale Law Journal (V. xvii, p. 585). Brief survey of the funda mental principles of the law of water rights in the far western states. WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACTS (England). " La Loi Anglaise de 1906 sur les Accidents du Travail et les Etrangers," by C. M. Knowles. Revue de Droit International Privi et de Droit Final International (V. iv, p. 361). Commenting on the English Work men's Compensation Act and arguing that its provisions apply to foreigners working in England and to their dependents, as well as to English citizens.