Frenchman residing in British India, much less if he is a British subject. domiciled there." So far as any point of law was involved, the case was substantially similar to Gurdyal Singh v. Raja of Faridkalt (I.L.R. 22 Calc. 222; L.R. 21 I.A. 171), decided by the Judicial Committee.

Free Advocacy.—A correspondent calls attention to an article in a recent number of the Preussiche Jahrbücher on "Advokatur und Rechtsanwaltschaft." Our correspondent quotes part of the conclusion:

At the end of 1898 an attempt was made at the instance of Justizrath Goldschmidt, the President of the Society of Solicitors at Berlin, to establish offices where legal advice might be had without payment. Adverse influences, however, nipped in the bud these efforts, so well calculated to further the interests of the profession. Moreover the example was not followed in any other place. This attempt nevertheless leads one to believe that there is making way, although slowly, the opinion that Rechtsanwaltschaft by no means fulfils its mission by simple representation of a party before the Court and the management of such-like legal matters, but that in order to maintain its position in the legal system it must devote itself to far higher aims. Offices for free consultation and the defence of accused persons without means would increase the social importance of the profession of attorney, and awake that spirit of unselfishness to which the French and Belgian Bars owe their power and their great dignity.

The Meaning of "Liquor."--What is liquor? Is ginger ale a liquor? This is a point which a Canadian Court has lately had to determine, not in the abstract, but under the Liquor Licence Act of the Colony, which forbids a licensee supplying a person, apparently under the age of twentyone, with "any description of liquor whatever." Words get worn into strange meanings by the play of popular usage, just as stones do by the incessant action of the waves; and under this influence, liquor, whatever its original meaning, has come more and more to be a convertible term with intoxicating liquor, and that was what the Court held the Act meant. The case recalls the story of Mr. Justice Maule when he was asked by the bailiff who had sworn to give the jurymen no meat or drink whether he might give a juryman some water. "Well," said the judge, "it is not meat, and I should not call it drink. Yes, you may." Preventatives for drunkenness are various. The Liquor Licence Act contains one which is worth noting. By this a wife, parent, etc., may give notice to any licensed hotel or saloon keeper not to deliver "intoxicating liquor" to the person having the habit of drinking intoxicating liquor to excess. If any person then, with knowledge of this notice, gives or sells the inebriate any liquor, he is to incur for every such act a penalty not exceeding $50.

Privy Council Appeals.-Mr. A. Wood Renton sends the following addenda to his article on "Indian and Colonial Appeals to the Privy Council" (Journal of Society of Comparative Legislation, December, 1899).

INDIAN AND COLONIAL, ETC., APPEALS TO THE PRIVY COUNCIL.-The

following alterations in, and addenda to, the article on this subject in Jour. Comp. Leg., N.S., No. iii., p. 345, may be noted:

BERMUDA.-At p. 355, col. 2, delete reference to "Order in Council of July 18th, 1894." BRUNEI (at p. 359) and SOMALILAND (at p. 376).-The Brunei Order in Council, 1890, and the Somali Order in Council, 1889, are repealed by the Somali and Brunei (Repeal) Order in Council, 1900 (Lond. Gaz., 1900, p. 281).

GUERNSEY.-At p. 373, col. 2, delete reference to "Parl. Rep., 1834 [323], Dec. 20th,

1885."

JERSEY.-At p. 369, note Order in Council of May 19th, 1831, in Stat. R. and O.,

1899.

NIGER COAST PROTECTORATE (now PROTECTORATE OF SOUTHERN NIGERIA).-As from Jan. 1st, 1900, the Africa Order in Council, 1889, no longer applies to Southern Nigeria. (Order in Council, 1899; Lond. Gaz., 1900, p. 71, q.v. for present juridical arrangements.)

NORTHERN NIGERIA.-The Africa Order in Council, 1889, no longer (as from Jan. Ist, 1900) applies to Northern Nigeria. (Northern Nigeria Order in Council, 1899; Lond. Gas., 1900, p. 69, q.v. for present juridical arrangements.)

SOMALILAND.-See BRUNEI, supra.

The Size of Colonial Statutes.-Through the courtesy of the Colonial Office we have received the following statement, prepared by the librarian, showing the remarkable variety in the size of the Statutes of various colonies:

N.B. The measurements of the Revised Editions are when bound.

Grenada has produced the most remarkable monstrosity (13 × 8), but it is nearly equalled by some other West Indian islands. As we have already pointed out, the most convenient size is 10 x 61.

Private Property at Sea.-The latest number of the Revue de Droit International et de Legislation Comparée contains an article by Mr. Thomas Barclay on "The Inviolability of Private Property at Sea." The United States, the writer says, are in favour of it; England as strongly opposed. Both are actuated by their private interests. Napoleon Bonaparte thought no ruder shock could be given to England than to compel her to abandon her rights on the sea. Nelson was of the same opinion. He thought nothing could be more fatal to the maritime interests of his country than the adoption of the principle "Free ships, free merchandise." England's adherence or non-adherence to the principle of inviolability must, Mr. Barclay thinks, depend on the special circumstances of each war in which it engages. The considerations to be taken into account in a war with the United States would be quite different from those in a war with France or Germany. In the former case it might be to the interest of both parties to localise operations and to disturb transatlantic commerce as little as possible. In the latter, England might think that closing the high seas to all traffic by merchants of the enemy would be highly advantageous. England, it is often suggested, would profit by the inviolability of its commerce, seeing it is exposed to a combination of powers against it who might prevent its exercising sufficient protection over its commerce to render useless the employment of neutral vessels. But Professor Westlake has demonstrated, Mr. Barclay thinks,

que la mise de navires sous pavillon neutre que ne serait point effectuée bonâfide, ne serait pas valable a l'égard d'un belligérant, et qu'il serait vite reconnu que pour les cargaisons transportées par des vaisseaux dont l'inscription aurait été uniquement déterminée par la guerre, les tarifs d'assurance seraient presque aussi élevés sous le pavillon d'un neutre que sous celui d'un belligerent.

Mr. Barclay's conclusion is that the exigencies of war necessitate the preservation of the power of destroying the forces of the enemy, and that this necessity will always prevent belligerents abandoning their right of seizing all the property of the enemy, whether it belongs to individuals or to the community, whenever it can help them in attaining their ends. All the ameliorations introduced have only had the result, so far as private property is concerned, of preventing reckless destruction and plundering, and of equalising the damage. Much to the same tenour is Captain Mahan's warning in the last number of Harper's Magazine against "signing away prerogatives sanctioned by long prescription, such as the seizure of so-called private property, embarked in mercantile adventure."

What is "Territory"?-It is not only in England that the existence of protectorates is giving rise to difficulties. A writer in the Archiv für Oeffentliches Recht deals with the question, much debated, whether the

German patent law is in force in the Schutzgebiete of the Empire. The question mainly turns on the meaning of the word "inland." The writer argues that Schutzgebiete, having become purtenances of the Empire, are "ausland" as contrasted with "inland." The whole discussion shows that modern terminology as to the ambit or purview of laws-e.g. "territory," "realm," etc.-needs remodelling in the light of the facts connected with protectorates, spheres of influence, etc., and the exercise of foreign jurisdiction.

The Congress of Comparative Legislation -The French Society of Comparative Legislation proposes to hold a Congress in Paris at the end of July and the beginning of August. We have received a copy of a report by Professor Saleilles on the objects of the Congress. They are comprehensive, and are thus defined:

1. Au point de vue de la conception de la science du droit comparé, définir
d'après quelles méthodes il y aurait lieu de procéder aux trois fonctions
qui en constituent l'objet propre, et qui sont, par rapport aux diverses
législations en présence, la constatation, la comparaison et l'adaptation.
2. Au point de vue doctrinal, préciser le rôle du droit comparé comme
méthode d'enseignement.

3. Au point de vue des solutions juridiques, rechercher dans quelle mesure
les conclusions tirées du droit comparé peuvent et doivent être utilisées,
soit par voie législative, soit par voie coutumière et doctrinale se
traduisant par le procédé de l'interprétation judiciaire, soit par voie
d'entente internationale.

4. Au point de vue de la pratique des affaires, rechercher et organiser des moyens d'entente pour l'information et la connaissance du droit étranger. Some day the English Society may follow the example of the elder sister, but, as becomes youth, on a less ambitious scale.

Court for the Trial of High Crimes and Misdemeanours.--In the Revue Politique et Parlementaire, M. Lagresille contributes, apropos of political trials in France, an article on "Les Hautes Cours de Justice en France, depuis la Révolution jusqu'à nos jours." He points out that almost all foreign constitutions make provision for a haute jurisdiction, charged with the trial of political offences, or offences committed by public personages. In Italy it is the Senate. Such is the case also in Spain. According to the Portuguese Constitution, the Chamber of Deputies has cognisance of offences committed by Ministers and Counsellors of State. The Chamber of Peers has cognisance of offences committed by members of the Royal Family, peers, and deputies. In the United States the corresponding Court is the Senate. Of course, with us, Parliament may deal with high crimes and misdemeanours. While here the ordinary tribunals, at all events in modern times, are alone invoked, it is not so in the case of some of the countries named by M. Lagresille.

The Hague Conference. It may be interesting to state what has been done by the States represented at the Peace Conference at the Hague since the deliberations of last summer. All the twenty-six States there represented have signed the five conventions and declarations agreed to with respect to