Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 25.pdf/282

 Reviews of Books theirJfadequacy to give effect to the intention." j( The lecturer then referred to evils resulting from the failure of the people to select their legislative representatives carefully. From their distrust of the legislatures have resulted not only the proposed expedients of initiative and compulsory referendum, which if adopted will be injurious to the character of legislative bodies, but also the "great variety of minute limitations upon legislative power" with which modern state constitutions are encumbered. Senator Root said that legislation under the system of initiative and refer endum would be subject to momentary impulses, passions or prejudices. "If there be no general rules which control particular action," he remarked, "general principles are obscured by the impulses of the occasion . I f governmental author ity is to be controlled by rules of action, it cannot be relied upon to impose those rules upon itself at the time of action, but must have them prescribed before hand." Senator Root then defended the right of the courts to review laws, because it is only in the courts that their actual

263

workings as regards the individual can be ascertained. If the constitutional rights of an individual are menaced under a statute that statute cannot stand unchallenged. The courts, the speaker asserted, do not render decisions like imperial rescripts, declaring laws valid or invalid. They merely render judg ment on the rights of litigants in par ticular cases, and in so doing they refuse to give effect to statutes, which they find are not made in pursuance to the Constitution. In conclusion, Senator Root observed that the recall of judicial decisions is not necessary in order to obtain popu lar reforms which may appear un constitutional, because there is already a method prescribed for amending the Constitution. "The difference between the pro posed practice of over-riding the Con stitution by a vote and amending it by a vote is vital," he asserted. "It is the difference between breaking a rule and making a rule; between act ing without any rule in a particular case and determining what ought to be the rule of action applicable to all cases."

Reviews of Books A GUIDE TO FOREIGN LEGAL BIBLIOGRAPHY The Bibliography of International Law and Con tinental Law. By Edwin M. Borchard, Law Libra rian of the Library of Congress. Published by the Library of Congress; for sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office. Pp. 93 (index). (15 cts., paper.) THE skill with which Mr. Borchard's first compilation, "A Guide to the Law and Legal Literature of Germany," was prepared has already been noted in these pages (24 Green Bag 305). The

newer publication reveals an equally comprehensive labor on the part of the author, and will be prized for its com pleteness and critical discernment. We have often wondered how one might best keep abreast of the latest important developments in contemporary foreign legal literature. This guide solves the question. The development of bibli ography has advanced on the Continent with the development of the technical literature itself; the voluminousness of