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 The New Lord Chancellor under solemn bonds — especially in these days of the Great Democratic Advance that preaches the doctrine of universal kingship, a message of terror as well as a gospel of glad tidings — to teach the law of the home jurisdiction, and to throw wide open its doors to every youth that wishes to study the law, not as a preliminary to practice, not as the accomplishment of a gentleman, but as a serious preparation for the business of life and citizenship? As a knowledge of the law is a growing necessity for the

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citizen in his daily work as well as in his public relationships, and as a better preparation for citizenship is called for by the wisest and most capable leaders of the nation, it follows that, not merely with a view to professional efficiency, but also from a due regard for the public welfare, the state university law school will ever more fully realize that the teaching of the law of the jurisdiction, as part of the common law, is at once its business, its duty, and its glory.

Bangor, Maine.

The New Lord Chancellor THE promotion of Lord Haldane to the Lord Chancellorship, the highest law office of the British Govern ment, has given no surprise to the English bar, his high reputation as a lawyer having been securely established by his career as a barrister and also at the War Office. Lord Haldane is a Scotsman, and like his predecessor, Lord Loreburn, the son of a lawyer. He is one of the few Lord Chancellors in the history of the land who have not held the office of Attorney-General or Solici tor-General. The avenue of a Secretary ship of State does not often lead to the woolsack. Before his advancement to the Cabinet, however, Lord Haldane had earned a peerless reputation in chancery and Privy Council practice, and is the first chancery lawyer to be promoted to Lord Chancellor since Lord Selborne's retirement in 1885, his immediate predecessors having been common lawyers. Lord Haldane, who is in his fiftysixth year, was educated at Edinburgh University and at Go'ttingen, and was called to the bar at Lincoln's-Inn in

1879. He was apprenticed to Sir Horace Davy and soon acquired a large chancery practice as a junior. He was made a Queen's Counsel in 1890, when but thirty-four years of age, and soon became one of the select band of "special" chancery leaders. He entered Parliament in 1885, serving continu ously in the Commons until 1911, when he was raised to the peerage. He had established such an influential position in Parliament that his promotion to the Cabinet surprised no one. While at the War Office he showed a keen interest in legal matters, particularly in reform of the administration of the law, serving on the committee whose recom mendations led two years ago to the appointment of two additional judges. Lord Haldane has been actively inter ested in the Society of Comparative Legislation, and while a junior he was one of the chief editors of the sixth edition of Dart on Vendors and Pur chasers. Of late years, however, he has naturally been more conspicuous as a statesman than as a lawyer, and his experience has lain largely in the field