A Treatise on the Law relating to the Devolution of Real Estate on Death under Part I of the Land Transfer Act, 1897, and the Administration of Assets, Real and Personal. By the late LEOPOLD GEORGE GORDON ROBBINS and FREDERICK TRENTHAM MAW. Fourth Edition. London Butterworth & Co. 1908. 8vo. lxviii and 474 pp. (158. net.) Re CONSIDERING the slovenly way in which Part I of the Land Transfer Act, 1897, is drawn, the number of reported cases on it is surprisingly small, but such as have been decided since the last edition of this work was published are important, especially Re Somerville and Turner's Contract [1903] 2 Ch. 583, deciding that equitable estates are within the Act; Cohen's Executors and London County Council [1902] 1 Ch. 187, deciding that executors not entitled to probate in England are not 'personal representatives' within the meaning of the Act; Re Beverley [1901] 1 Ch. 681, with reference to an executor's power of appropriation; Re Williams [1904] I Ch. 52, with reference to his right of retainer; and Re Kempster [1906] 1 Ch. 446, as to a legatee's right of marshalling. All these are duly referred to in the new edition. In the earlier editions of the book there was a difference of opinion between Mr. Robbins and Mr. Maw on the question whether on the death of a tenant in tail his estate devolves to his personal representatives, Mr. Robbins thinking that it does, and Mr. Maw thinking that it does not, because the heir in tail takes by 'survivorship.' In the new edition Mr. Maw has abandoned this somewhat strained interpretation, and thinks that an estate tail is not within the Act because it is not devisable, and this is probably correct, having regard to the words 'notwithstanding any testamentary disposition' in section 1. The remainder of the book, dealing with administration of assets, &c., gives a good summary of the law, and all the recent cases appear to be noted up. Mr. Maw thinks that as a result of the recent decisions in Re Leng and Re Whitaker, Crown debts no longer have priority where an insolvent estate is being administered by the Court. This view seems to us to be correct, but the point is not free from doubt. Mr. Maw also thinks that as a result of the decision in Re Samson [1906] 2 Ch. 584, the Crown is entitled, in respect of a simple contract debt, to priority over all specialty and simple contract creditors, and that the decision in Re Bentinck [1897] I Ch. 673 is therefore erroneous. This seems a necessary consequence. The new edition is a great improvement on its predecessor, and forms a useful and trustworthy guide. Exterritoriality: the Law relating to Consular Jurisdiction and to Residence in Oriental Countries. By SIR FRANCIS PIGGOTT, Chief Justice of Hong Kong. New Edition, revised and enlarged. Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsch, Lim.; London: Butterworth & Co. 1907. La. 8vo. xxi and 326 pp. (218.) THE learned author gives a good introduction to the subject, showing how interest in it has grown since the time when Sir James Stephen described exterritoriality as a subject of great curiosity, but very little known.' It is pointed out that exterritoriality is not the same thing as extra-territoriality, though some writers consider the terms as identical. The whole question is treated from the point of view of the eastern countries, where, since Japan has taken her place among the great Powers, many international questions have gained a wider bearing. Justice is done to the China Orders in Council, which are too little known and seldom read, the care which is involved in their elaboration having been hitherto hardly appreciated. The book is admirably indexed, and contains several excellent tables referring to the statutes, cases, orders, &c., quoted in the rest of the work. It will not only prove a valuable book of reference to consuls and all other members of the consular and diplomatic services, but also to all international lawyers. A very important treaty with Japan, which came into force in August 1899, and which has recently been brought into notice in the courts (Marshall v. Saville otherwise Marshall), is, we think, insufficiently dealt with. It is shortly referred to at p. 268, but is not mentioned in the Table of Treaties. The importance of this treaty may be gathered from the fact that it appears that forty English marriages in Japan have been declared invalid through the non-observance of the new provisions. Otherwise, the work seems to be well brought down to date. The Companies Act, 1907, and the Limited Partnerships Act, 1907, with explanatory notes. By SIR FRANCIS BEAUFORT PALMER. London: Stevens & Sons, Lim. 1908. 8vo. viii and 102 pp. (68.) THE Companies Act, 1907, is one which sadly needs an interpreter of authority, for it touches company law at nearly every point, and will certainly provide the Courts with many puzzles. And what better interpreter could we have than Sir F. B. Palmer with his experience of every phase of company law, and himself a member of the Committee which sat and hatched,' as King James would say, the Report on which the Act is founded?. One of the sections which is clearly destined to give much trouble is that authorizing the reissue of debentures (s. 15). On this the author has a long and illuminating note. Another, not less important section is that giving a statutory definition of a 'private company'; and its importance, as the author points out, consists in the fact that few so-called 'private companies'-and their name is legion-conform to the requirements of the definition, and most of them are therefore not entitled to the privileges and immunities accorded only to the 'private company' as statutorily defined. There will have to be an extensive altering of articles to bring these other private companies into line with the Act. The volume includes the Limited Partnerships Act, 1907, and one of the most instructive things in it is the comparison which Sir F. Palmer institutes in the Introduction to the Act between the respective merits of the private company' and the limited partnership. They cannot be gone into here. Suffice it to say that the author's conclusion is altogether in favour of the private company. The Law relating to Banker and Customer in Australia. By F. A. A. THIS book is based upon lectures delivered in Sydney before the Bankers' Institute of New South Wales, and therefore deals primarily with banking law as it is in New South Wales. But banking law, including the law relating to negotiable instruments, is much the same throughout Australia and New Zealand, and each State has its own Bills of Exchange Act modelled on the English Act of 1882. References are made from time to time to the differences in the local statutes, and this will make the book useful in other parts of Australia than New South Wales. Lawyers and others in England who are interested in Australian banking law will also find it possible to resolve many points of law and banking practice by looking into Mr. Russell's book. The author's claim for his work that it deals more fully than legal textbooks usually do with the practical routine business of banking is entirely justified, and bank clerks and others in the service of a bank in England will find many legal questions here discussed in a way which they will be able to understand. Several recent cases are fully discussed, such as Capital and Counties Bank v. Gordon and Marshall v. Colonial Bank. Some common mistakes among business men are most usefully pointed out, as for instance (p. 260) as to any special efficacy attaching to a particular method of referring to the fact of agency where a business document is signed on behalf of a principal. Money-lenders and Borrowers. By C. GRENVILLE ALABASTER. London: Stevens & Sons, Lim. 1908. 8vo. xxiii and 119 pp. (68.) THIS book contains, first, an explanation and interpretation of the Money-lenders Act, 1900; and, secondly, some notes on the position of sureties and the methods of procedure for the recovery of money lent. The former is all that will appeal to legal practitioners. The case of Wade v. Shaffer, Times' Newspaper, June 25, 1907, is mentioned, in which Parker J. held that the substantial question in proceedings for relief under the Act is whether the transaction is harsh and unconscionable or no, and not whether the borrower has tendered or paid into Court the amount eventually adjudicated to be due from him. Costs were given to the borrower upon that principle. A chronological table of statutes is perhaps more convenient for reference than an alphabetical list. The Weights and Measures Act. By W. ERIC BOUSFIELD. London: Stevens & Sons, Lim. 1907. 8vo. xxx and 300 pp. (68.) THIS work comprises the statutes relating to weights and measures, including those affecting Scotland and Ireland. It also contains the Statutory Regulations issued by the Board of Trade in 1907. Appended to the various sections are notes incorporating the judicial decisions thereon, and also explanatory observations where they appear necessary.. The author has been unusually fortunate in the amount of intimate knowledge and experience which has been at his disposal. Mr. W. R. Bousfield, K.C., who introduced the measure of 1904 into the House of Commons, has written a preface, and has assisted the author in the preparation of the work. Assistance has also been given by various gentlemen who aided in the preparation of the Statutory Regulations. The work has been carefully prepared, and it contains a lengthy Introduction elucidating the subject. The index is good, but scarcely exhaustive. Such words as 'consent,' 'false,' and 'unjust' might have been accorded separate notice in view of the judicial decisions upon them. The Yearly Digest of Reported Cases for the Year 1907. G. R. HILL. 1908. London: Butterworth & Co. and 236 pp. (158.) Edited by 8vo. xxxi THIS annual publication maintains its standard of excellence. It digests the cases of the past year which are reported in the Law Reports, the Law Journal, the Law Times Reports, the Times Law Reports, the Solicitors' Journal (when not reported elsewhere), Commercial Cases, Maritime Law Cases, Manson's Bankruptcy and Company Cases, the Reports of Patent Cases, Registration Cases, Cox's Criminal Law Cases, Local Government Reports, O'Malley and Hardcastle's Election Petition Reports, M'Namara's Railway and Canal Cases, and a selection of Irish and Scotch Reports. But it still omits to refer to cases in the Weekly Notes, and notes of cases in the Law Journal and Law Times, which are not reported elsewhere, and this omission is a defect. Principles of Company Law. By ALFRED F. TOPHAM. Second Edition. 1908. London: Butterworth & Co. xxxvi and 357 pp. THIS is a handy little book, most useful for students. The recent cases and the provisions of the Companies Act, 1906, are for the most part duly noticed in their proper places. At page 208, the author gives, as one of the grounds for winding up a company, that the number of its members has fallen below seven, but he should have gone on to say, 'unless it is a private company within the meaning of the Act of 1907, in which case the number must have fallen below two.' We have also received : Encyclopaedia of the Laws of England Second Edition, revised and enlarged. Edited by MR. JUSTICE A. WOOD RENTON and MAX A. ROBERTSON. Vol. IX. Mark to Non assumpsit. London: Sweet & Maxwell, Lim. Edinburgh: Wm. Green & Sons. 1908. La. 8vo. vii and 686 pp.-Like the preceding volumes, this has been well posted up. The article on Martial Law, now signed by Mr. S. H. Leonard, is much enlarged, and deals with the questions which arose in the South African War. Recent events in the domain of international law, such as the settlement of the North Sea incident and the additions of the Second Peace Conference at the Hague to the machinery of arbitration and mediation, are accounted for in the appropriate places (in one or two there seems to have been barely time to insert extracts without comment). There is a full and practical article on motor-cars. There is one unlucky misprint in the article on Marriage, where we read of the famous phrase volumus leges angliae mutari.' It is of more importance, however, that the decision of Ogden v. Ogden in the Court of Appeal has been worked in, though it was impossible to refer to the regular report, which had not yet appeared. Woodfall's Law of Landlord and Tenant. Eighteenth Edition. By the late J. M. LELY and W. H. AGGS. London: Sweet & Maxwell, Lim., and Stevens & Sons, Lim. 1908. La. 8vo. lxxv and 1188 pp. (388.)-We note the appearance of the new edition of Woodfall.' It has been completed by Mr. W. H. Aggs, Mr. Lely having died while the book was in progress. This edition has undergone considerable revision, and references to some 214 new cases have been added. As with nearly all textbooks, its bulk increases steadily. This edition is some thirty pages larger than its predecessor. In future one or two pages might be saved by omitting the original author's preface, a poor specimen of perhaps the very worst period of English prose; and more, we suspect, by weeding out obsolete, superfluous, and otherwise useless authorities. The Agricultural Holdings Act, 1906, and the Small Holdings and Allotments Act, 1907, are fully dealt with, and all material statutes and cases are brought down to Michaelmas, 1907. The Preface states that a large majority' of the cases have been dated. Surely if it was thought advisable to date any it would have been worth while to do the work thoroughly, for modern cases at any rate. The Principles of Equity, intended for the use of Students and of Practitioners. By EDMUND H. T. SNELL. Fifteenth Edition by ARCHIBALD BROWN. London: Stevens & Haynes. 1908. 8vo. lvii and 774 PP. (218.) This edition of Snell has been carefully brought up to date. The work has been further simplified by the division of the text into shorter paragraphs. Otherwise we do not observe any attempt to introduce anything like scientific method, or to make the book intelligible to a student who does not already know a good deal of law, and we assume that the learned editor has deemed it impossible. Here is a specimen paragraph: 'An infant even may become a partner. Also a partner may have the right of nominating his successor in the partnership.' Two recent cases are cited for these two propositions-absolutely unconnected, by the way, save that there are partners in both-without the slightest hint to the student that both were elementary law before either reader or writer were born. 'An infant' or other student 'even may' on this occasion do worse than follow the common and generally reprehensible practice of learning the proposition in the text by heart and not troubling himself about the authority. Two Studies in International Law. By COLEMAN PHILLIPSON. London: Stevens & Haynes. 1908. 8vo. 136 pp. (58. net.)—The main subjects are (1) The influence of international arbitration on the development of international law,' with subdivisions on arbitration schemes, arbitral procedure, and the historical arbitrations of the nineteenth century; (2) 'the rights of neutrals and belligerents as to submarine cables, wireless telegraphy, and intercepting of information in time of war.' Mr. Phillipson's studies are neat and concise, and accurate so far as we have observed. He has added supplementary notes on the Hague Conference of 1907. Summary though it is, the book contains several profitable things not yet digested by the text-writers. Prof. Holland's paper on Neutral Duties in a Maritime War and Sir E. Fry's on the Rights of Neutrals (in vol. ii of the Proceedings of the British Academy) should be added to the 'short bibliography' of the Second Essay. Pufendorf's so-called suggestion that an arbitrator between sovereigns should follow the law of nature (p. 18) expressed only what appeared a truism to all publicists of his time and for some time afterwards. Accordingly he said 'manifestum est.' "The law of nature and of nations' may still be heard of in Scotland. The French compromis is not properly rendered by 'compromise.' But these are very small matters. The Procedure of the House of Commons. By JOSEF REDLICH. Translated from the German by ERNEST STEINTHAL, with an introduction and a sup |