his paper immediately after the affair of the Trent, and has, with great success, brought together the leading cases upon that subject. The new Land Transfer Acts have diminished for the present the interest which for some years has been taken by statesmen and lawyers in the alienation of, and title to, real property. Mr. Wolstenholme's scheme for the simplification of title to land has the merit of being ingenious. The whole is constructed on this somewhat startling and fundamental principle; that after a certain date no person entitled to the legal fee simple shall be allowed to make any disposition thereof except to the extent of the whole fee or for a term of years absolute. Thus at one stroke nearly the whole of the law of uses, of contingent remainders, and the doctrine of powers, would be abolished and swept to oblivion. However inferior the Lord Chancellor's Land Transfer Act may be in point of daring, and whether it may turn out a failure or not, either alternative will leave the country in a safer position than if an experiment had been made on Mr. Wolstenholme's visionary project.

An Essay on the Principles of Circumstantial Evidence; Illustrated by numerous Cases. By the late William Wills, Esq. Edited by his son, Alfred Wills, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. Fourth Edition. London: Butterworths. 1862.

It seems that Mr. Wills, during the ten years which had elapsed between the publication of the third edition of this interesting work and his death, had been constantly collecting cases illustrative of the subject. These have been inserted in the present edition, and a new section, on Scientific Testimony, has been added. Mr. Alfred Wills has finally prepared the volume for the press, and says that he appends his name only because I think my father would have wished that some one should appear to be responsible for even these mechanical operations." It would be utterly impossible for us in a brief notice to do justice to the work; but we may perhaps recur to it in a subsequent number and in another part of our pages.

The Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Acts, with the Rules and Orders, Notes and Forms. By F. A. Inderwick, Esq., of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. London: William Maxwell; H. Sweet; V. & R. Stevens. 1862.

THIS Volume consists of a table of cases; a list of statutes relating to marriage; the Divorce and Legitimacy Acts at length, with notes of cases, and short remarks on the sections; the Rules, Orders, and Regulations, and tables of fees. There is also the table of prohibited degrees of consanguinity, and an index. The preface, which has a short, but not badly executed historical sketch of the Marriage law in England, commences with telling the old tale of Mr. Justice Maule's address to a prisoner convicted of bigamy. Why is the judge's name suppressed? and why is not the terse and vigorous language used on the

occasion more accurately reproduced? We are bound to say that this is the only fault we have to find with Mr. Inderwick's book.

The Law Relating to Juvenile Offenders, Reformatory and Industrial Schools, with practical suggestions in reference to the commitment of Children to Reformatory Schools. By T. C. Sneyd Kynnersley, Esq., Police Magistrate, Birmingham. London: Shaw & Sons, Fetter Lane.

THE Author of this book is anxious that it should be understood that it is not intended to instruct magistrates or their clerks in the discharge of their duties, the Juvenile Offenders Act having been in operation since 1847, and acted upon daily without any difficulty. It is intended for general use, and to furnish those who take an interest in the treatment of criminal destitute and neglected children with a collection of the statutes relating to juvenile offenders, and a simple statement of the mode in which the law is administered. Mr. Kynnersley's suggestions are very valuable, and, with the list of certified schools included in the book, will be found most useful to magistrates as well as to the benevolent public for whom the work is intended.

The Statutes, General Orders and Regulations, relating to the Practice, Pleading, and Jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery; with copious notes containing a summary of every reported decision thereon. By George Osborne Morgan, M.A., of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister-at-Law. Third Edition. London: V. & R. Stevens, Sons, & Haynes. 1862.

THERE are two methods upon which legal treatises may be written. The first, the most ancient as well as the most philosophical, is the least favoured by cotemporary publishers. The second imposes a heavier task on the assiduity than upon the originality of the author, and without affecting greatness or profundity accomplishes much that is practically useful. Earlier jurists in their learned commentaries and disquisitions sought to elaborate from broad principles of law, illustrated by judicial decisions and statutory enactments, exhaustive treatises having logical completeness and unity of character. They represent the hard labour of years, and have been written, not for hasty reference, or hand to mouth information, but for the thoughtful perusal of arduous legists pursuing their viginti annorum lucubrationes. Nor can it be denied that there are illustrious examples of this method in the works of several authors now living. They constitute the classics of legal literature. Judging from the more recent publications, however, it would seem that there is a decided tendency to discard Institutes and systematic Commentaries for ephemeral treatises, which are generally known as books of practice. Profound learning and sustained ratiocination may contribute

material assistance towards building up a philosophical system of jurisprudence, but the law of supply and demand is imperious and inexorable, and for the present, at all events, that law exacts useful, simple, and complete practical text-books. Mr. Morgan's work is professedly of this class, and merits the highest commendation for its usefulness, simplicity, and completeness. This is an excellent example of the more recent and popular method. In order to explain the pleading, practice, and jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery, all the cognate statutes are collected and arranged in regular chronological order, beginning with the 2 & 3 Vict., c. 54, and descending through the series to the 23 & 24 Vict., c. 149. A separate chapter is devoted to the exposition of each Act. Appended to the several clauses are the explanatory decisions of the Bench, in the selection of which the author has shown much discrimination and sound judgment. Considering that the Acts and Orders which constitute the framework of the volume have already elicited somewhere about twelve hundred reported decisions, the profession must feel indebted to Mr. Morgan for obviating the necessity of "noting up" the cases, by the complete and pithy analysis of such as are of principal importance. In the present state of the practice and procedure of the Equity Courts a compen dious handbook of this nature is an absolute necessity. When the rules of the Court had to be extracted from the tomes of Vernon or the manuscript notes of Lord Nottingham, such text-books as Maddock, and the older editions of Daniell, were not only useful but indispensable. "But now that, thanks to the energy of the Legislature and the Judges, nine-tenths of the whole practice can be summed up in six hundred small octavo pages, it may not unreasonably be hoped that the method adopted in this volume possesses at least as much to recommend it as that of the more elaborate but more cumbrous treatises of modern days." The practitioner will find in the pages of this book ample and at the same time terse and businesslike information upon almost all the questions that arise in the ordinary proceedings in Chancery. The later and more important cases are cited not only from the standard reports, but from those of the Law Journal, the Jurist, the Weekly Reporter, the Law Times, and Equity Reports. In the present edition the chapters on the following subjects have been revised and enlarged, viz., on Demurrers and Pleas, on Receivers and Injunctions, on Motions and Petitions, &c. &c. The volume is divided into two almost equal parts, the first being devoted exclusively to analytic comments upon the several statutes, and the latter to the enumeration and exposition of the Consolidated General Orders of the Court of Chancery. The substance of the notes as well as of the text is abbreviated in the margin, and the tables of the incorporated orders and regulations, as well as the general index, exhibit workmanlike completeness. The book does not assume to be a complete code of Chancery procedure, but is assuredly entitled to be received as a clear and accurate compendium of the New Practice, established by legislative enactment and illustrated by judicial authority.

Papers and Discussions on Jurisprudence: Being the Transactions of the First Department of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, London Meeting, 1862. London: Butterworths, 7, Fleet Street, E.C.

THE Transactions of the Social Science Association have hitherto been published in one octavo volume. The reputation of those. volumes for the accuracy, and variety of the information communicated, having now been well established, the public are no doubt looking forward to the issue of the number for the present year with some interest. The last Congress, held in the Guildhall, when London was crowded with visitors, was attended by large audiences; and many will no doubt be glad to have reproduced in a permanent form, the information and impressions, which, by their swift succession, and on account of their very abundance, were too soon obliterated from the mind, or thrown into confusion. From the character of the papers which were read in Guildhall, and the discussions which followed, there can be little doubt that the popularity of the Transactions will be sustained, if not raised much higher. Embracing within its scope a great variety of subjects, it cannot be denied that to some readers many of these dissertations, however excellent in themselves, will have only a limited and subordinate interest. A plan has been adopted which will enable every reader to obtain the Transactions of either of the sections in a separate number. The papers which were read in the first section, on the "Principles of Jurisprudence and Legislation," have been published together in a pamphlet of convenient size, and will no doubt have a large circulation in the legal profession.

The essay "On the Importance of the Study of Jurisprudence," written with the subtilty and breadth of thought which characterises the author of the "Treatise on Evidence," forms a fitting introduction to those papers which profess to have a more practical object. The science of law is considered in this paper by Mr. Best under three divisions, viz., general, particular, and comparative. Devoted principally to the discussion of fundamental principles, the strictures upon the statute law of England, under the division of Particular Jurisprudence, are no less true than trenchant; and the gigantic evils in procedure and legislation are traced to a common cause, the neglect of the study of jurisprudence as a science.

Those who have turned their attention to the difficult questions involved in the theory of government by representatives, and to the able analysis of the same contained in Mr. Hare's "Treatise on the Election of Representatives," will be glad to find in a paper read at the Congress by the author a succinct account of the reception which his method has met with in different countries during the last three years. It would appear that in America, in the Australian colony, as well as on the European continent, the proposal to elect governing bodies by exhaustive majorities and unanimous quotas of the constituencies, has attracted many advocates. It is designed to

propose to the Council of the Canton of Geneva, the adoption of this method of election with a view to the proper representation of minorities in that assembly.

Mr. R. Denny Urlin's paper contains some very suggestive observations upon the "Conflict between the Laws of Ireland and England." The author contrasts the procedure in the Courts of Equity, the Court of Probate, the Court of Admiralty, the Courts Ecclesiastical, &c., and animadverts upon the embarrassing discrepancies in the laws of each country, maintaining that this conflict is not "a merely sentimental grievance, but a source of practical inconvenience to thousands."

It is anticipated that a determined, and we trust a successful, effort will be made in Parliament next session, to obtain the sanction of the Legislature to some scheme for the concentration of the courts and offices of Judicature. The paper read upon the subject by Mr. Thomas Webster, F.R.S., and the instructive discussion which followed, and over which Lord Brougham presided, may be consulted with advantage by those who desire information on the matter. We specially invite a perusal of Mr. Young's speech on account of the lucid and convincing statement it contains respecting the financial bearings of the project, upon which alone was grounded the opposition of the House of Commons to the bill of last year. Mr. G. C. Oke, in a paper 66 on Magisterial Procedure," comments upon the extensive summary jurisdiction exercised by the magistracy in England-whether as police, stipendiary, or unpaid justices-in the numerous petty sessions and police courts; and points out the defects and diversities existing in the present practice.

The historical survey of the Marriage Laws of England and Ireland by Mr. Montague H. Cookson, D.C.L., is not the least interesting or valuable paper of the series. Within a small compass the author has succeeded in presenting an outline of the transitions through which the respective matrimonial laws of England and Ireland have passed, as well as cogent reasons in favour of their assimilation in several particulars. The antiquities and the inconsistencies of the Irish Law of Marriage are pointed out, and the disastrous results inevitably consequent upon clandestine marriage, are unsparingly exposed and severely criticised in this as well as in the complemental paper "On the Marriage Law of Scotland," by Mr. G. Harry Palmer. It is understood that the Committee of the Law Amendment Society have prepared a Report on the Marriage Laws of the United Kingdom, and that the subject will be considered at a general meeting of that Society early next

session.

The Papers by Mr. A. Pulling, on "Private Bill Legislation;" by Mr. Vernon Lushington, on "The Law of Master and Servant ;" by Mr. T. Hare, Inspector of Charities, on "The Law of Charitable Trusts," &c., will be found to contain not only reliable information, but original suggestions well worthy of consideration. To the series of papers is added by way of supplement a concise summary of the discussions which took place both at Burlington House and in the Guildhall.