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The Green Bag

assistant corporation counsel of the city of Boston. The subject is an important one, overlapping others of paramount importance, and Mr. Nichols has digested the general law with sufficient historical research to explain the origin and development of leading principles. The writer is logical in his arrangement of his subject-matter, and sure-footed and moderate in discussing points at all doubtful. He does not place himself in the ranks of either the strict or the liberal constructionists of the Constitution, and maintains an atti tude of impartiality throughout the course of his lucid exposition of the general principles established by both federal and state courts. As the work is limited in its scope to the substantive law, the complexity and confusion which would be encountered in a treatment concerned with the varying rules prevailing in the different states are avoided. The author observes in his preface that decisions on the fundamental principles, unlike those on questions of procedure, "carry as much weight from one end of the country to the other as they are entitled by the standing of the court which pronounces them and the soundness of its reasoning." Consequently the method adopted has been such as to make possible a minute and orderly exposition based upon a review of a great number of cases. The result has been the production of a standard treatise of solid usefulness. We do not see that Mr. Nichols' professed willingness to "indulge in some reasoning and . . . even express his own opinion of what the law ought to be" has resulted in consequences at all objectionable. His positions seem to be backed up by sound legal authority. If he makes such an assertion as that "an act of legislature against natural justice would not be due process of law" (p. 5) it must be borne in mind that under the authority of Hurtado v. California (110 U. S. 516) and other cases this statement was not overdrawn, although its principle might now, perhaps, be considered doubtful in the light of the later decision in Twining v. New Jersey (211 U. S. 78), which had doubtless not been rendered at the time Mr. Nichols wrote the passage in point. The treatment is subdivided under eleven main headings, beneath each of which are arranged several chapters covering sub-topics. The main headings are as follows: "The Powers of a Sovereign State," "Jurisdictional Limitations," "Constitutional Limitations,"

"What Constitutes a Taking," "Additional Servitudes," "The Taking of Waters and Water Rights," "What Constitutes Prop erty," "What Constitutes the Public Use," "What Constitutes Just Compensation," "Due Process of Law and Other Constitutional Requirements," and "Rights of the Con demnor." The book is well printed and com pares favorably with Lewis's standard work. FROST ON GUARANTY INSURANCE The Law of Guaranty Insurance. By Thomas Gold Frost, Ph.D., LL.D. Little, Brown & Co.. Boston. 2d ed. Pp. liv, 770, and index. ($6 net.) THE business of guaranty insurance has had a later development in 'the United States than in England and on the Continent, the first important company in this country being the Knickerbocker Casualty Company, which was established in New York City in 1880. The carrying of fidelity insurance risks has now increased so that there are a large number of companies in this country doing a business amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars annually, which is steadily increasing. Mr. Frost's work, originally written in 1901, is the "pioneer treatise" on this subject. The writer had had con siderable experience in connection with litigation in this field, and embodied its results in a work which immediately received the commendation of leading members of the bench and bar. The original edition was limited in its scope to an exposition of the settled principles which had been laid down by the courts. So favorable an opinion was entertained of the author's abilities that a strong demand was asserted for a freer ex pression of his own views on points which are not yet settled. Moreover, during the past few years a great number of decisions have been rendered, and revision and en largement of the treatise became necessary. Mr. Frost therefore undertook a new edition, covering over five hundred new cases, which have been digested and commented upon as their importance seemed to demand, and inserting many of his own views, the result being an addition of two hundred and fifty pages to the size of the original volume. The revision evinces painstaking labor, and the value of the new edition is much greater than that of the original treatise at the time of its appearance, and will undoubtedly evoke the same and possibly even greater praise. That the subject of fidelity insurance, together with those allied branches of com