Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 21.pdf/367

 Review of Periodicals

Jlrticlcs on Topics of Legal Science and Related Subjects Agency. "Undisclosed Principal— His Rights and Liabilities." By Dean James Barr Ames. 18 Yale Law Journal 443 (May). "The doctrine that an undisclosed prin cipal may sue and be sued upon contracts made by his agent, as ostensible principal, with third parties, is so firmly established in the law of England and of this country that it would be quixotic to attack it in the courts. Nevertheless, whenever an established doc trine ignores, as this doctrine of the undis closed principal ignores, fundamental legal principles, it is highly important that it should be recognized as an anomaly, to be reckoned with of course, but not to be made the basis of analogical reasoning. . . . The failure to see how the desired justice could be brought about in any other way is the true explanation, it is believed, of the rule per mitting the undisclosed principal to sue and be sued upon contracts made by his agent. . . "There is a mode of legal procedure which, without any departure from legal principles, would give the third person whenever he needs and, in justice, is entitled to it, the power to compel the undisclosed principal to make good the contract of his agent. . . . This right of the agent to exoneration by the principal is a thing of value, is property, a part of his assets. . . . Such a right can be realized only by specific performance, and it is well settled that equity will compel specific performance of the obligation to exoner ate. . . . "If the reasoning of this article is sound, the anomalous, but established English and American rule is open to these three objec tions. First, it violates fundamental prin ciples of contract. Secondly, it gives the third person no relief against the principal upon the agent's contracts under seal, his negotiable contracts, or his liability as a shareholder, although, in point of justice, relief is demanded as much upon contracts in these forms, as upon simple contracts. Thirdly, as a practical working rule in the case of simple contracts, it frequently oper ates unjustly, sometimes putting unmerited burdens upon the principal and sometimes denying the third person merited relief. "The doctrine of equitable execution upon the agent's right of exoneration, on the other hand, has these three merits. It accords with legal principle, it applies uniformly to all forms of contract, and produces just re sults." Aliens. "Aliens Under the Federal Laws of the United States; IV, Rights of Resident

Aliens." By Samuel MacClintock. 4 Illinois Law Review 95 (June). This, the fourth and last paper of a series (see 21 Green Bag 166, 228, 284), treats of the rights given resident aliens by existing treaties, of the means for the protection of such rights, especially in the form of legisla tion enacted to cany out the treaty provi sions, and of exclusion and expulsion of aliens and the laws enacted for that purpose. Armaments. See International Arbitration. Banking and Currency. "The Proposal for a Central Bank in the United States: A Critical View." By O. M. W. Sprague. Quarterly Journal of Economics, v. 23, p. 363 (May). "A central bank does not appear to be either required or well suited to relieve our financial ills. . . . Branch banking is an essential preliminary, if we are to have a central bank of anything like the European type, and there are powerful objections to such a change the discussion of which does not fall within the scope of this essay. . . . "A more definite recognition of the'responsibility incurred by the banks who hold bankers' deposits is needed. They should hold larger reserves in ordinary times, but this will avail little unless it is accompanied with a more intelligent understanding of the policy required in time of crisis. If this is too much to expect, the immediate remedy would seem to be a reduction in the propor tion of reserves which may be deposited by outside banks in reserve and central reserve cities. . . . Some provision for an emergency circulation under conditions which would make resort to it reasonably feasible might possibly prove useful; but, above all, it should be repeated, a more intelligent con ception of the purposes of a banking reserve is required." Bankruptcy. "The Effect of a National Bankruptcy Law upon State Laws." By Prof. Samuel Williston. 22 Harvard Law Review 547 (June). "A system can hardly be considered uniform when in some states a wage-earner or farmer is subject to involuntary bankruptcy while in other states he is not. Though the national law itself may still be uniform and the words of the Constitution thus be literally observed, their real intent is violated. . . . "Whether it be held that a federal bank ruptcy law totally suspends all state bank ruptcy laws, or suspends them only so far as they apply to the same persons, for the same causes, another question still remains: What state laws are to be regarded as in