collection of state documents and miscellaneous publications. The Division has also inaugurated the compilation of newspaper clippings properly classified, dealing with sociological or political question.

The main functions of this department of the bureau are bill-drafting and general research work. The latter consists in collecting materials and rendering them serviceable to the legislators or high functionaries of the government by what is called library mechanics, the supplying of a comparative study of the administrative experience and legislations of other countries either in the form of "selected precedents," discussions, digests, or memoranda. The aim is to translate the work of experts into law. So the Division has secured the services of lawyers who are also members of the Philippine Bar as Legislative Researchers, occupying permanent positions and devoting their time to continuous investigations on various questions affecting the government and the country at large. During the sessions of the Philippine Legislature some of the professors of sociology, economics, and political science of the University of the Philippines work in the Division on a part time basis, giving the benefit of their broad knowledge of political, economic, and social problems, in the form of memoranda prepared by them in answer to as well as in anticipation of inquiries regarding various questions before the two Houses. The signal success of the Legislative Reference Division in carrying out the purposes for which it was created justifies its existence and is well nigh approaching the perfection of the Legislative Reference Bureau of Wisconsin.

RESEARCH COMMITTEE ON PHILIPPINE CUSTOMARY LAW

Sometime ago Dr. Van Vollenhoven, Secretary of the Adatrecht Committee of Netherlands, wrote a letter to the Honorable Secretary of the Interior, Rafael Palma, requesting him to furnish data about the customs still existing in the Islands in regard to labor in common for one another in the villages, the tilling of the soil for a share in the crop or the relation between the landowner and the tenant, the taking care of cattle and horses for a share in the offspring, native mortgage of real or personal property, usages at the betrothal, the marriage dowry, and those relating to inheritances. A fact well known is that out in the provinces there are many, local customs that have the force of law as between the natives who still adhere to them in their private dealings with each other but which are not covered by our substantive law nor have they been as yet made the object of legislation.

With a view to gathering all possible data on Philippine customary law, Secretary Palma appointed, for the purpose of undertaking such task, a committee composed of such men, fully conversant with local usages and customs still prevailing in the Islands, as President Ignacio Villamor of the University of the Philippines, Mr. Justice Malcolm of the Supreme Court, Dr. T. H: Pardo de Tavera, formerly member of the defunct Philippine Commission, Hon. Norberto Romualdez, late Judge of the

Court of First Instance, Hon. Teodoro Kalaw, Secretary of the Interior, Prof. Maximo Kalaw, Chief of the Department of Political Science of the College of Liberal Arts, Director E. Filamor of the Philippine Library and Museum, Prof. O. Beyer of the College of Liberal Arts, Mr. Leo Fisher of the Translating Bureau, as secretary of the committee. The aim of the committee is two-fold: first, to furnish the data requested by the Adatrecht Committee, and secondly, to use such data so compiled by them as a basis of such laws as the committee thinks necessary to recommend to the Philippine Legislature for proper legislation.

BOOK REVIEWS

Outlines of the Law of Obligations. By Dean Jorge Bocobo, Prof. of Civil Law, College of Law, U. P. Manila, 1919. Pages 40.

This excellent piece of legal work prepared by a recognized authority in the Philippines on the subject of Civil Law, is now available in the form of a handy booklet. It consists of twenty-seven outlines covering the subjects of obligations, contracts, and quasi-contracts. While the Civil Code, Code of Commerce, Mortgage Law, and Code of Civil Procedure constitute the principal texts upon which the work is based, exhaustive references are made to the works on this subject of different text writers and commentators and to Philippine, Spanish and American jurisprudence. Manresa, the foremost commentator on the Spanish Civil Code, is cited for almost every article as the authority on its interpretation. The present law on the subject of contracts is a combination of Spanish and Anglo-American rules. "Although the new statutes have introduced changes, the foundation principles of the Spanish system remain substantially unshaken." While, in general, the principles of quasi-contract in American Law and Spanish law are similar, there are some cases of quasi-contract in the former which are not regarded as such by the latter. In going over the outlines one cannot but be greatly impressed by the fulness of the development of every main topic or sub-topic, giving all possible distinctions and characterizations with a view to a comprehensive and definite presentation of a particular matter of law. This course of obligations is considered as the "jungle" in the study of the civil law, but the way to the mastery of this subject can be made no easier and clearer than by the aid of these outlines. They bear the impression of seven years' experience of the author in teaching the subject of Civil Law. It is a valuable guide to the student of law as well as to the practitioner in the countries where the civil law is in force, and at once a source of interesting study by lawyers in the common law countries. Outlines of the Law on Wills, Descent, and Administration. By Dean Jorge Bocobo, Professor of Civil Law, and H. Lawrence Noble, Associate Professor of Jurisprudence, College of Law, U. P. Manila, Lawyers Co-operative Pub. Co., 1919. Pages 51.

Prefixed to the outlines proper is a preliminary survey of the subject of Wills, giving a history and development of wills and testaments, both in Anglo-American law and in civil law, and the definitions of American and Spanish legal terms. This piece of work consists of three parts, to wit, (1) Capacity, Execution and Revocation, (2) Descent or Distribution, (3) Administration. It will be noted that the law governing "Capacity, Execution and Revocation," is found mainly in Act 190 or the Code of Civil Procedure, said act having repealed almost all the provisions of the Civil Code on this matter, while the Spanish law on Descent or Succession still obtains, so that for the interpretation of the laws covering Part I, references are taken from American jurisprudence; and for Part II, cases decided by our Supreme Court and the comments of Manresa on the Civil Code constitute the main source of authority. The law of Administration is embodied in the Code of Civil Procedure and in some legislative Acts. In fine, the law in the Philippines on the subject of this review is a blending of Spanish and American legislation. It is of interest to note that the legal provisions in the Civil Code referring to Descent or Distribution are more complicated, and by reason thereof more difficult to comprehend, than those governing the same subject matter under the Anglo-American system. This is shown by the fact that there is much more freedom under American law in the amounts of which the testator may freely dispose than under Spanish civil law. The limitation of testamentary power imposed by the Civil Code is that a testator can deal with a certain proportion of his estate only, the residue being alloted by law to those to whom he owes a duty of support, namely his wife and children. These outlines afford excellent evidence of much time and labor put to the study of the subject treated by two legal minds.

Outlines or a Course in the Law on Sales. By H. Lawrence Noble, Associate Professor of Jurisprudence, College of Law, U. P. Manila, 1919. Pages 43. It was not until last year that the subject of Sales was made a separate course from that of Property into which it was formerly incorporated. Such a change has been introduced by the growing need of a more intensive study of the subject of Purchase and Sale, it being a fact that the business of selling or buying is one of common occurrence in life so that the lawyer should be very familiar with such transactions as he is most likely called upon to render his services. For the benefit of the classes on Sales, Prof. Noble has made an outline based principally on the provisions of the Civil Code, Code of Commerce, Code of Civil Procedure, Administrative Code and a number of special laws. It is divided into fourteen divisions, and includes the subject matter of exchange or barter. References are made to the decisions of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, the Uniform Sales Act of the United States, to different text-writers on this subject in American and to Spanish commentators on the Civil Code. Such a plan of the outline proposes to give a comparison of the doctrines between the Anglo-American law and those of the civil law. This outline

on the law of Sales, now available in the form of a pamphlet, is of great value to the law student as well as to the practitioner.

Repertorio de Legislación Filipina. By Joaquín de San Agustin. Manila, Bureau of Printing, 1919. Pages 465.

Such is the title of a book, Spanish text, recently published by Mr. San Agustin. The preliminary leaf bears the name of Hon. Sergio Osmeña, Speaker of the House of Representatives, to whom the work has been dedicated. In the introductory remarks, Mr. Quintin Paredes, Attorney General of the Philippines, speaks highly of the value of the book to any one be he a lawyer or not. It is at once an index and digest of all the laws passed by the Philippine Commission and by the Philippine Legislature since the establishment of the American government in the Islands. It also includes indexes to the present Administrative Code, Civil Code, Penal Code and Code of Commerce, Code of Civil Procedure, Code of Criminal Procedure, Law of Waters, and the Mortgage Law. The arrangement of the work can not be otherwise than systematic and scientific. The first part of the book consists of alphabetically arranged titles of laws or subject-headings referring to said laws; the latter part is composed of numeral tables of laws, giving the numbers of the acts amending or repealing the said laws as well as those that have a bearing on them. This book, giving, as it does, facility in determining as to what law or laws govern a certain case, commends itself to fill a long-felt need.

Código Civil Español. Edited by José López Lizó. Manila, Tip. y Lit. de Santos y Bernal, 1919. Pages 939.

A new Spanish edition of the Civil Code of the Philippines has hut recently been published by Mr. López Lizó, with an introduction written by Hon. Norberto Romualdez, then a Judge of the Court of First Instance. The book as a whole is profusely annotated with the decisions of the Supreme Court of the Philippines as reported from volume 1 to 31 of the Philippine Reports. All special acts repealing, amending, interpreting, or having any reference to the articles of the Code are cited, and unlike the English edition of the said code edited by Mr. Fisher, ex-justice of the Supreme Court of the Islands, the entire act or section thereof and the syllabi of the cases having any reference to a particular article, are cited ad verbatim. The commentaries of ex-justice Willard of our Supreme Court are added to the authorities cited. This plan of the work necessarily makes it a large volume, but it presents the Civil Code in the most up-to-date form as elucidated by the Spanish jurisprudence and reinvigorated, as it were, by the American law.

RECENT CASES

(Decided by the United States Supreme Court)
(By F. V.)

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW; DUE PROCESS OF LAW; IMPAIRING CON. TRACT OBLIGATIONS; POLICE POWER; REMOVAL OF RAILWAY TRACK FROM STREET INTERSECTION.-Suit to enjoin the enforcement of an ordinance directing the removal of a railroad track from the intersection of two streets in Denver. On the hearing the plaintiff prevailed, but this was reversed by the Supreme Court of the state which directed the dismissal of the complaint. Writs of error were sued out. The question is whether the contract and commerce clauses of the Constitution and the due process clause of the 14th Amendment have been violated. Held, "A municipal ordinance directing a railway company to remove its track from a busy street intersection does not offend against the contract and due process of law clauses of the Federal Constitution, even though the company may have a vested right to maintain the track there, where the attendant disadvantages and expense are small, there being other accessible and fairly convenient means of getting cars to and from its tracks beyond such crossing." (Per Van Devanter, J., in Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Co. v. City and County of Denver, et al, decided June 2, 1919, and reported in U. S. Adv. Ops., July 1, 1919, page 594.)

COMMERCE; STATE REGULATION; REQUIRING REMOVAL OF RAILWAY TRACKS FROM STREET INTERSECTION.-No unconstitutional interference with interstate commerce results from a municipal ordinance which directs a railway company to remove its tracks from a busy street intersection, thereby necessitating resort to other accessible and fairly convenient means of getting cars to and from tracks beyond such crossing, where the ordinance makes no discrimination against interstate commerce, will not impede its movement in regular course, and will affect it only incidentally and indirectly. (Id.)

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW; DUE PROCESS OF LAW; NOTICE AND HEARING; LOCAL IMPROVEMENT.-Plaintiffs brought suit seeking an injunction to restrain the city of Muskogee, Oklahoma, and its officials from encumbering their lands with a special assessment to pay for the construction of a sewer in a sewer district of that city. Trial court refused relief and the state supreme court affirmed its judgment. Case was brought to the Federal Supreme Court by a writ of error. The questions raised are: Are the statutes of the state and the ordinances of the city under which the district was created and the cost of the sewers therein assessed against the property within the district in violation of the 14th Amendment