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The Green Bag

Judge L. J. Storey, one of the Railway Commissioners of Texas, died suddenly at Dallas March 28. He was one of the leading lawyers and Democrats of Texas. Several volumes were found recently to be missing from the Library of Lincoln's Inn, and a full description of them was circulated among booksellers and the aid of the London police was invoked to trace the thief. The particulars were published in the daily press and widespread attention was drawn to the robbery. In spite of all these precautions the eight missing books suddenly appeared in a catalogue of one of the leading firms of English book auctioneers. The honor and integrity of the firm are above suspicion. The volumes were immediately claimed and re turned to the library. They were worth .£50 or,£60. "The upper house of the English Parlia ment," says Mr. Price Collier, in his book on "England and the English" (Charles Scribner's Sons), "is the most democratic institu tion in England. It is not a house of birth or ancestry, for it is composed today, to an overwhelming extent, of successful men from almost every walk of life. . . . The adult males in a town meeting in Hingham, Mass., for example, could trace back to male ances tors who attended that same town meeting one hundred years before, in greater numbers, in proportion to their total number, than could the members of the House of Lords to ancestors who had sat in that same chamber. Nor is it easy to see wherein they fail to represent the nation, since they come from every and all classes, nor why they should govern badly, since they are chosen only after proving themselves to be of superior ability and sound judgment." The third annual meeting of the American Society of International Law was held in Washington, D. C., April 23 and 24. Senator Root, the president of the Society, opened the meeting, taking for the subject of his annual address, "The Relation Between the Jurisdiction of National Courts and Inter national Arbitration." "Arbitration as a Judi cial Remedy" was then discussed by Hon. John W. Foster, Prof. F. W. Aymar, and others. Wayne MacVeigh spoke on the work at The Hague. Others taking part in the sessions were Rear-Admiral Charles S. Perry and Rear-Admiral Chas. H. Stockton, who spoke upon the results of the recent inter national naval conference at London. "The Development of International Law by Judi cial Decisions in the United States" was dis cussed by Mr. Justice Brown and Mr. Justice Peele. On the morning of the second day these topics were discussed, "The Constitu tion and Powers which an International Court of Arbitral Justice Should Possess," and "Equality of Nations."

Dr. James H. Canfield, Librarian of Colum bia University, who died March 29, was ad mitted to the bar in Michigan and practised law for several years in the seventies, until he became Professor of Civics and History in the University of Kansas. Sir Edward Boyle, K.C., died in London March 19 at the age of sixty. He was first an architect, afterward being called to the bar at the Inner Temple. He was the author of "The Principles of Rating," "The Law of Compensation,' and other text-books. The Maine Legislature for 1909 adjourned April 3. The close of the session was marked by the passage of a bill aimed at eradicating graft in state and town liquor agencies by providing for the purchase of liquors on a competitive basis, the goods being sold in sealed packages. The publication in newspapers of the facts of divorce cases is deemed by the Irish Law Times to be "absolutely necessary in the interests of general morality. To what ex tent the details should be given seems to be a matter that must be left to the good taste and sense of decency of the editors. ' Prof. A. V. Dicey, in a lecture delivered in March, proposed that no constitutional laws should become effective in England without a popular referendum. "The difficulty, how ever, of this proposal," says the London Law Times, "is that as Prof. Dicey himself has declared, 'there is under the English Consti tution no marked or clear distinction between laws which are not fundamental or constitu tional and laws which are fundamental and constitutional.'" Lord Alverstone made an address at Man chester, England, March 2, before the Man chester Law Students' Society. He warned his auditors against the constant craving to be in a different branch of the profession from that which they were in, as there were few finer positions than that of leading solici tors such as Mr. Cobbett, for example, who could have had a brilliant career at the bar. In his opinion, there was no better training for the bar than that of the solicitor. Among bar association meetings to be held this spring are those of the New Hampshire State Bar Association, to be held the first week in May, Hon. William B. Hornblower of New York delivering the annual address; the Pennsylvania State Bar Association, which will meet at Bedford Springs June 29, 30 and July 1; the Tennessee State Bar Association, which will meet at Chattanooga about the same time; and the Iowa State Bar Associa tion, which will meet at Marshalltown, June 24-5.