Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 22.pdf/377

 Reviews of Books WELLMAN'S "DAY IN COURT." I’ Day in Court; or, The Subtle Arts of Great Advocates. By Francis L. Wellman. Macmillan Company, New York. Pp. 257. (82 net.)

THE law is

the

most interesting and

humane of all studies, and the lawyer who fully rose to the opportunities of his calling would be the most humane and many sided of men. Like the author's earlier book, "The Art of Cross-Examination," Mr. Well

man's "Day of Court" is a brilliant example

of the humanizing inﬂuences of the law. _ The profession in America holds no more fasci nating and well-read raconteur than he. He not only entertains, but informs, illuminating every subject with an extraordinary wealth of anecdote and illustration. The result is that laymen must gain quite as much pleasure and proﬁt as lawyers from his pages. Truly, as he quotes Sir Henry Finch as saying, "Sparks of all sciences in the world are taken up in the ashes of the law." Would that there were more legal writers to make one feel the force of that aphorism. The book will be found unusually readable, sensible and entertaining. Considered, how ever, from a utilitarian standpoint, it will

enable young men, by a process of self-ex amination, to determine whether they possess the qualiﬁcations, physical, mental and edu

cational, which are required for the making of a successful trial lawyer, for the opening chapters are devoted to this subject. It will enable them to weigh carefully the opportuni ties and rewards of the trial lawyer, in the light of the broad experience of one of the keenest-witted practitioners at the New York bar. It will also give the lay reader that insight into the actual work of the Courts and methods of the profession which cannot fail to have wholesome results. Further more, it will provide the trial lawyer with most helpful, sound advice as to the best way to prepare a case, to select the jury, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to sum up the evidence. The striking thing about the book is the skill with which these purposes are all carried out, and the breadth of its appeal. Such a book cannot fail to beneﬁt the administration of the law, by awaking inter

est in the importance of skilful specialization

in the arts of advocacy. The author shows how there has been an approach to the Eng lish system of barristers and solicitors in New York. His observations on methods of English practice have been criticized as in some respects incorrect, but what he says

about meritorious features of the English system will antagonize no one. He tells how, in New York, twenty-ﬁve or more advo cates assign junior partners to most of the work of preparation for the trial. There can scarcely be any more effective way to improve the administration of justice in this country than by inculcating a high standard of advocacy which few can hope to attain,

and thus helping to advance that subdivision of labor in the legal profession which is essen tial to the highest interests of both the lawyer and the community. ECONOMIC HISTORY ILLUSTRATED Selections from the Economic History of the United States, 1765-1860; with Introductory Essays. B Guy Stevens Callender, Professor of Political vnorny in the Sheﬂield Scientiﬁc School, Yale Universit. Ginn& Co., Boston, New York, Chicago an London. Pp. xviii, 819. (32.75.)

HIS is a compilation of readings designed to accompany and illustrate a text book or course of lectures on economic his tory. The compiler is of the opinion that knowledge of political and social history affords a valuable foundation for comprehen sion of economic facts. The scope of the collection is therefore broad, so broad that it will be prized not only by students of eco nomics but by those interested in that political and social evolution which accom panics if it does not underly economic evolu tion. Material is brought together which will suggest an answer to Professor Callender’s own question, “Why has the Anglo-Saxon developed a diﬁerent character in the United States

than

in

other new

countries,

like

Canada and Australia?” The work does not purport to be a source book of economic his tory. But it comes near to realizing that end. The selections are taken from the writings of travelers and contemporary observers of historians, and of standard authorities. What is sought is to give the impression of writers who were on the spot, rather than the point