Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 20.pdf/695

 THE PUBLISHERS' DEPARTMENT HOW ARE YOU TO VOTE? Thoughtful Citizens Cannot Afford to Overlook '

Stimson's Federal and State Constitutions Curiously, none of the books, heretofore pub lished on this subject, has given more than passing notice to that phase of the constitution having to do with PERSONAL LIBERTY, while the state constitu tions have never been systematically treated. Upon this neglected field Professor Stimson has now entered.

Look at the QUESTIONS that are TO THE FRONT: the REGULATION and CONTROL of CORPORATIONS; organizations of employers and employees with their STRIKES, BOYCOTTS and LOCKOUTS; "GOV ERNMENT BY INJUNCTIONS" and PUNISHMENTS for CONTEMPT. They are all CONSTITUTIONAL QUES TIONS. The VOTER may have his opinion as to whether or not a WRONG is being done, but, when a REMEDY is sought, APPLICATION must be made to CONSTITU TIONAL PRINCIPLES, and proposed remedies, here tofore, have FAILED more often through ignorance of these principles than from any other cause. One of the most valuable features of Professor Stimson's book is the insistence upon the historical development of the constitution. That instrument, on its social side, was but a repetition of principles that reach back a thousand years to Magna Charta. This is but one side of the constitution, but it is the side that touches the individual most vitally; it is the side that controls the solution of the most important questions of today. The division of power between the federal and state governments is one of the most important of

the original features, and one that is fixed on such definite principles that the poet's "twilight land" exists only in the uninformed imagination. The fundamental line of division is that the federal powers are almost exclusively political, the state powers domestic and social.

ROMAN-DUTCH LAW Until this book was written by Mr. Justice Vessels. of the Transvaal Supreme Court, there had been no work on the history of the Roman-Dutch Law which dealt with the whole subject in a compact form, certainly none in the English language. Hitherto a knowledge of it could only be had by an exhaustive research over a very wide field, involv ing the expenditure of much time, combined with a thorough acquaintance of Latin, and of the Dutch language, both ancient and modern. > Part I, which occupies more than half of the vol ume, treats of the general development of the Dutch system of law. This comprises a very valuable dis cussion of the influences affecting the legal systems of northern Europe throughout the Christian era (the customs of Germanic tribes, the Roman law, the Frankish, Saxon and Frisian laws, the renais sance of Roman law, the Canon law), and also a critical bibliography of the great European law writers of medieval times. We recommend it to all wnb are interested in the history of law and the development of modern sys tems of practice. In it will be found a lucid exposi tion of that which heretofore has been obscure. The work contains nearly 1000 pages of Royal 8vo. It is bound in deep blue half-Persian. We control a limited supply, which will be de livered to our customers at

$10.00.