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The Green Bag

Chief Justice Joseph A. Breaux ans wered for the Supreme Court. He re ferred to the fact that the late James C. Carter, an eminent lawyer of his day, who spent the late years of his life in the study of the philosophy and growth of the law, commented most favorably upon the system of Louisiana law. While there are illustrious names in other fields of activity in the life of the state, said the Chief Justice, none are more prominent than her lawyers, for Jeremy Bentham has pronounced Liv ingston the first legal genius of modern times. Bishop Davis Sessums ended the ceremonies by pronouncing the bene diction. Harvard University's Priceless Acquisition The Harvard University Library has purchased at auction at Sotheby's, London, the extremely rare and valuable collection of early manuscripts and printed books relating to English law which was part of the great library formed by the late George Dunn of Woolley Hall, near Maidenhead. The collection consists of 355 lots. The auction price was $18,750. There is not a single piece in the collection that was not issued be fore the year 1600. The library, before this recent acqui sition, had probably the largest collec tion of Year Books in America, if not in the entire world. Its nearest rivals were the Congressional Library at Wash ington and the British Museum. Now no uncertainty in regard to possible competitors any longer exists. The new Year Books acquired are represented by 37 lots, three of which are manu scripts of the 14th century. Altogether in the new acquisition are more than one hundred Year Books. The ink is much clearer than in many books pro duced in the present century.

Some of the earlier legal classics are represented by manuscripts, such as one dating from the thirteenth century of Bracton's "De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae," of which there is also a copy printed in 1569. Sir John Fortescue's "De Laudibus Legum Angliae" is represented by five copies, including one of the rare first editions. The collection contains no less than sixty copies of Magna Carta. (The collection is described inLaw Times, Feb. 15, p. 396.) Miscellaneous Secretary Knox and Ambassador Jusserand signed a convention Feb. 13 to extend for another period of five years the arbitration treaty between the United States and France which was to expire March 12. This is similar to the British arbitration convention which expires by limitation June 4, and which it was proposed to replace by the gen eral arbitration treaty lately awaiting exchange of ratification. Many applications for aid under the new Colorado mothers' compensation law have been pouring into the Denver Juvenile Court. Judge Lindsey has stated that under the appropriation for the present year only about forty families can be cared for. The appropriation is $4,800 and this would give forty families an average of $10 a month. The mothers' pension act has been subjected to some criticism in Chicago, as opening the door to fraud. It has been asserted that families have even moved into the county to take advantage of the fund. A sub-committee has accordingly been appointed to frame a new law. The actual number of law schools in the United States only increased from 102 to 118 in the decade from 1902 to 1912, according to figures compiled at the United States Bureau of Education,