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 416 something to be desired.

The Green Bag Moreover,

while the author does not openly ex press doclrinaire opinions, the tone of

the book is one of implicit faith in popu lar legislation as a panacea for political ills, and it is diﬂicult to imagine why such a historical topic should have been chosen unless with a doctrinal purpose. Consequently, though he has done well in forbearing to propound radical views,

we ﬁnd it hard to credit him with abso' lute disinterestedness, and as a work evi dently designed to assist in the solution

of democracy is not that of a government by highly equipped officials chosen by processes carefully safeguarded from popular caprice and ignorance, but of a government in which the people directly rule through their passive agents. He even looks forward to the time when the government will itself own and

operate all public utilities. All that we can say in commendation of this book is that the reader may ﬁnd in it an explanation of the psychology of a radi cal movement which is making rapid

of contemporary problems of direct legis lation, his book certainly lacks the value which it might easily have had

headway, and might be an alanning

if he had permitted his critical faculties a wider range. Mr. White's book, “The Old Order Changeth," is an account of tendencies which the author professes to see at

of the Anglo-Saxon race and their innate distrust of charlatanism in every guise.

work in American society, written for

popular consumption in a style which is more animated than judicial. The sub stance of this book has already been published in a popular magazine, and as might have been expected, the writer is an unconscious demagogue, prudently refraining, it is true, from taking issue

with competent observers of political

phenomenon were it not certain to be held in check by the hard-headedness

COLONIAL LEGAL HISTORY The Early Courts of Pennsylvania. By William H. Loyd of the Philadelphia bar. Gowen Fellow in the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania. Boston Book Co., Boston. Pp. 273 + 14 (appendix and index). ($3.60.) Legal Development in Colonial Massachusetts, 1630-1686. By Charles J. Hilkey, Ph.D., sometime University Fellow in Constitutional Law. Colum bia University Studies in History. Economic: and Public Law. v. 37, no. 2. Pp. 145+ 3 (bibliog rnphy). (81.25.)

R. LOYD'S work had its origin

conditions, but losing no opportunity to have his ﬂing at the greed of cor

in a series of lectures given at the law school of the University of Pennsyl vania, and while the author modestly

porations or the power of political bosses.

disclaims any opportunity for a thorough

“There is grave danger," he himself says,

treatment of the history of the earlier Pennsylvania courts, his work is much more than an exploration of buried records and forgotten statutes, having the strong interest of an animated, read able piece of historical writing, and

“that the advocate of fundamental democracy will make a fetish of it." From this danger this thorough-going radical does not escape, and his blind

fold optimism is a trap for the unwary. He holds up for our admiration all the doctrines of a radical democracy which at best represents but a transition phase

of American politics, and for him the direct election of Senators, municipal

government by commission, the initia tive and referendum, and the recall all have a peculiar virtue. His conception

being executed after the fashion of a fair-minded, intelligent study of earlier institutions by a mind capable of per ceiving their important bearings and of presenting them in correct perspective. In consequence of this scholarly breadth of treatment, the book is more than a history of early courts and juris