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The Green Bag

See Constitutionality of Statutes. Laws — Their Practical Operation," by Charles L. Batcheller; "The Conclusiveness of Torrens Statistics. "The Need of Social Statistics as an Aid to the Courts." By Walter F. Will- Certificates of Title," by William C. Niblack; cox. 47 American Law Review 259 (Mar.-Apr.). "The Ownership of Property in the United States "Our methods of ascertaining social fact are by the Federal Government — Whether as on the whole less developed than in any other Proprietor or Sovereign," by Hon. Russell L. great industrial country; more and more our Dunn; "Impracticability of the Torrens Laws," courts are finding it necessary to decide such by Vincent D. Wyman; "Torrens Land Title questions of fact; our national attitude towards the courts is apparently changing from one of Registration in the State of New York," by Gil perhaps extravagant laudation to one of per bert Ray Hawes; "Abstracts of Title," by haps excessive criticism. These facts seem to John D. Chamberlain; "Marketable Titles," me to be interdependent." by Almond G. Shepard, and "Let the Pur Suicide. "Felo de Se." By Wilbur Larre- chaser Take Care," by Edward W. Faith. Water Powers. "The Conservation of Water more. 47 American Law Review 210 (Mar.Powers." By Rome G. Brown. 26 Harvard Apr.). An exceedingly readable essay on various Law Review 601 (May). "The policy of conservation, as applied to aspects of euthanasia and suicide, written in a water-powers, should be recognized as the literary rather than a legal vein. policy of promoting, as rapidly and as exten Titles. See Torrens System. sively as possible, within the law, the utiliza tion of the perpetual and inexhaustible resources Torrens System. The April number of afforded by every water-power in this country, Case and Comment (v. 19, no. 11) contains the development of which is, or can be made, several articles on this topic, viz.: "The Torrens economically feasible."

Latest Important Admiralty. Death Claims Growing out of "Titanic" Disaster. U. S. Judge Holt in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, dismissed April 21 the petition of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, Limited (the White Star Line) for the limitation according to the American law of its liability for losses resulting from the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912. The British law, he held, must be applied to the case, fixing the liabilitity at about $3,000,000, rather than about $96,000. The Titanic, reported in N. Y. Law Jour. May 5. The Court said: — "Laying out of view the authorities in the case, it seems to me that three great fundamental principles of law relied on are decisive. The rule that the law of no nation has any ex traterritorial effect is universal. The rule that a ship on the high seas is a part of the country to which she belongs is universal. The rule that liability for a tort is governed by the lex loci delicti is universal. If the owners of the Titanic under these circumstances can obtain a limitation of their liability in this court,

Cases

they could have obtained it if she had foundered in the harbor of Southampton, immediately after she started on her voyage, and while still undoubtedly within the territorial juris diction of England. If they are entitled to limitation of liability in this country, they are entitled to limit their liability in all countries, according to the law of each country in which the proceeding is brought. There were undoubt edly upon the Titanic citizens of many countries and property belonging to citizens of many countries. Is the liability of the owners of the Titanic to be determined by the laws of each country in which suits happen to be brought no matter how much those laws differ? Is one claim to be determined by the law of France, of the suit is brought in France, and another by the law of Germany, or Italy, or Brazil, or Japan, merely because the suits are brought there? It seems to me that such results could not have been within the intention of Congress in passing the statute, and that the rule laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of The Scotland that when a collision occurs in the high seas between two vessels of the same country, the liability of their owners is to be determined