Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 21.pdf/496

 Reviews of Books

467

"Seria Ludo," may find time to produce more work belying the false tradition that the poet cannot derive inspiration from strong and solid themes.

fiable pride in the fact that the example of Thayer and Bigelow has inspired Mr. Caspersz with an ideal of scientific treatment which has been so admirably followed up.

CASPERSZ ON ESTOPPEL

UNSYSTEMATIC ETHICS

Modern Estoppel and Res Judicata. By Arthur Caspersz. Part I, The Doctrine of Changed Situa tions; Part II, The Conclusiveness of Judgments, Decrees, and Orders. 3d ed. S. K. Lahiri & Co., Calcutta. Pp. xliv, 356+index 30; xxxi, 347 + index 39. (Rs. 18.) THIS work was originally issued in 1893, as the author's Tagore Law Lectures. A scholarly equipment gave much value to the production, and it at once took rank as the most authoritative treatment of estoppel to be found in India. In the present third edition the work is thoroughly revised and much enlarged, and while dealing primarily with the Indian phases of the doctrine it may well be regarded as a standard treatise of more than local importance. The qualities which render this work interesting to the American lawyer are its historical erudition, its accurate exposition of the common law, its logical grasp of the whole subject, and its delightful clearness of style. American authors, Thayer and Bigelow par ticularly, and the Canadian authority Ewart, have evidently influenced the production of this work, which possibly gives information in a more lucid and accessible form than the other treatises. The subject of estoppel is one which lawyers are disposed to regard as somewhat complicated, and furthermore one which, as Mr. Caspersz says in his preface, "still suffers from the unpopularity of its name." But this writer has made the whole topic simple. He has succeeded where other writers on estoppel have failed. For the purpose of gaining a scientific view of the subject, there is no one but can get much profit from the present volume by disregard ing the local application of principles under conditions of Indian codification. The Eng lish as well as the Indian cases are set out with much accuracy and fullness, and the rich materials of the common law and its latest increment are ably and carefully ar ranged and expounded. A systematic and scientific volume like this, evidencing scholar ship of so high a grade, is to be commended in the most favorable terms. The American reader, moreover, will take a somewhat justi

The Moral Economy. By Ralph Barton Perry, Assistant Professor of Philosophy in Harvard Uni versity. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Pp. xvi, 256, notes and index. ($1.25 net.) THE author calls this book "a preliminary sketch of a system of ethics," and de clares that his aim has been to study morality directly, by an appeal to experience. He therefore avoids a cumbersome mode of procedure by eliminating discussion of contro verted doctrines and by a pleasant everyday attitude toward a subject which is, "without doubt, the most human and urgent of all topics of study." There is much to be said in favor of thus proceeding in a science which is, as it were, in process of construction, and if the simpler method is not so well suited to a science in a high state of development, where the criticism and consolidation of doctrines must steadily keep pace with each new dis covery, it may be preferable, as Leslie Stephen preferred it, in the science of ethics in its present stage, where to reduce chaos to system would call for labors almost superhuman. But is Assistant Professor Perry's, even in the "preliminary" sense, a scientific dis cussion? The very title suggests a nonscientific treatment. The author has en deavored, primarily, it seems to us, to set before educated laymen an informal disserta tion on the part which moral values play in human life. He follows that tradition of multifarious discourse from which modern philosophy has not yet wholly divorced itself even with the dawn of the scientific age. His essay aims distinctly at a literary treatment of a technical subject, and the beauty of its workmanship and persuasiveness of its logic may add to the fame of a group of Harvard philosophical luminaries distinguished for their literary excellence quite as much as for their scientific achievements. The non-scientific mode of procedure necessarily threads its way precariously among countless pitfalls of error which are not always safely avoided. Dr. Perry sometimes mis takes the figments of idealism for the facts of sociology. He ignores the conflict be