final, is always-due to the uncertainties in realizing the assets-provisional, subject to a rebate or an increase as the case may demand. The rule contended for by the comptroller will be more equitable to the stockholder than that laid down in the present case. If the comptroller as trustee can enforce but one assessment, is it not his duty to the creditors to make that levy sufficiently large? Where any great uncertainty prevails would he not be justified in making an assessment of 100 per cent where there may finally be a need for only 50 per cent? In the meantime, the stockholder would be deprived of the use of his money. It would be more convenient for the stockholder to meet his liabilities as they are ascertained. In a recent Minnesota case, the court has adopted the novel method of granting judgment for the full liability of the stockholder; but the creditor can enter up judgment only from time to time under the sanction of the court. When all the debts are met, the judgment is satisfied upon the records. Harper v. Carroll, 69 N. W. (Minn.) 611 (1896). But there are grave objections to allowing a judgment to hang over a man's head in this manner. The method advocated by the treasury authorities is more equitable, and, in the absence of any decisions forbidding it, should be adopted. BOOK REVIEWS. CURIOSITIES OF LAW AND LAWYERS. BY CROAKE JAMES. New Edition. New York: Funk and Wagnalls Company, 1899. In this work the author, as he states in his preface, has collected many favorite sayings, standard illustrations, golden sentences, exploits of legal heroes, jests, explanations of curious and memorable doctrines and incidents which make up the "natural history" of the legal fraternity. The book contains many pleasing anecdotes relating to the profession, and the author has truly selected and assorted his material with great care. In it will be found much to amuse, interest and edify lawyers as well as laymen. On the whole the author and the publishers should be congratulated in bringing out such a work of general interest. J. E.-S. REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION TO THE NEW JERSEY BAR. JOHN A. HARTPENCE. Trenton: Brant Press, 1899. If fulfilment of the purpose for which a thing is created be the test of merit, this little book is a meritorious one, for it leaves no question with which it deals unanswered. The student is frequently perplexed by the general nature of the rules of court governing admission to the bar; these rules Mr. Hartpence explains by a commentary which will make them understood by all, and to this he has added the rulings of the court as to such as have been passed upon. The book contains also a list of text-books recommended to students, forms of certificates required, etc., and a guide to the reading of Blackstone's Commentaries. The imprimatur of the Brandt Press sufficiently attests the excellence of the press work. W. E. M. CASES IN THE LAW OF THE SALE OF GOODS. By FRANCIS M. INGLER. Indianapolis and Kansas City. Bowen Merill Co. 1899. This work being of very abridged form gives us only a brief outline of the vast subject of sales, one of the largest and most important in our system of jurisprudence. The outline is the very best since it follows the admirable work of Reuben M. Benjamin on Sales. The author has carefully selected the cases and presented them in a concise form; not omitting any essential element, how The number of them is quite small considering the vast amount of litigation consequent upon our gigantic commercial transactions. The book, therefore, is adapted only for those who propose acquiring an elementary knowledge of the subject. Taken in connection with a study of Mr. Benjamin's work it should prove a great labor and time economizer for those who do not propose going deeply into the all-important subject of Sales. M. H. AMERICAN BANKRUPTCY REPORTS, ANNOTATED. BY WILLIAM MILLER COLLIER. Albany: Matthew Bender. 1899. Ever since the passage of the National Bankruptcy Act in June, 1898, our Federal courts have been busy construing its various provisions. It practically superseded all state laws on the subject and thus made bankruptcy of exclusive Federal iurisdiction. Just at this time, not only to Federal court practitioners, but to lawyers at all bars, this volume is of great importance. The various clauses of the act have hardly received a settled interpretation and these cases are therefore of value to both judge and attorney. Probably the most striking portion of the work is found in the opinions of the referees, many of which have been carefully written out, together with their syllabi, by the referees themselves. The annotations, crossreferences and indices are full and complete. Those who make a specialty of insolvency and bankruptcy should certainly have these reports near at hand.' J. M. D. THE CUSTODY OF INFANTS. BY LEWIS HOCHHEIMER. Baltimore: Harold B. Scrimger. 1899. The prevalence of divorce suits however displeasing it may be to the moralist is a source of gratification to the lawyer, for it has resulted in a development of this particular part of the law of domestic relations. And this, too, to an extent never dreamed of by the common law lawyers, with their petitions to parliament and their stern probate judges. When the contending parties are released from the bonds of matrimony, the first question that arises is, who is to have the custody of the children, if there be any? To settle this vexing question, the book before us is of exceeding value. The cases cited are numerous and to the point, and the thought is clear, though not at times well expressed. We notice that the author has not placed in sufficiently close juxtaposition the two great rules— first, that in disposing of the custody of infants the court will always consider the welfare of the child, and, secondly, that the wishes of the child, if it is of reasonable age, will frequently determine the court's decision. The appendix contains forms presumably from the Maryland rules of court. On the whole the work is well worthy of perusal, being both interesting and instructive. J. M. D. STUDIES IN STATE TAXATION. By GRADUATES AND STUDENTS OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. Published in the Johns Hopkins Studies in Historical and Political Science. Series XVIII, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press. 1900. This recent publication from our sister university is marked by the same careful research, thorough assimilation and clear presentation so noticeable in past productions of " Johns Hopkins." The authors, without sacrifice of force, have accomplished the difficult task of making interesting a proverbially dry subject. In pursuance of class studies in American commonwealth finance, the students undertook individual investigations. The satisfactory results thus obtained led to a more extended research under a uniform plan of work, and the present volume is the outgrowth of this undertaking. The work embraces five essays, each presenting a many-sided and well-rounded view of the historical, political, economic, and critical phase of the taxing system of some one state. The survey covers Maryland, North Carolina, Kansas, Mississippi and Georgia. Each paper includes a description of the broad industrial character of the state under investigation, a review of its general finances, a history of the development of taxation and public income within its borders, a careful, separate analysis of each of the leading taxes, and a few thoughtful suggestions and pointed criticisms for alteration or reform in the existing system. To the student or administrator of taxation, as taxation exists in the narrow field covered by these essays, their value is obvious, collecting, as they do in one volume, a mass of statistical and historical information that would otherwise be attainable only after long research. The suggestions of criticism and reform are of like obvious value. Less apparent perhaps, but no less real, is the importance of this publication to the general student of taxation in the United States. A reading, however casual, of these five essays, amounts to such a comparative study of state taxation as will lead the reader irresistibly to a realization of the diversity of need bound to be felt, and the diversity of administration adapted to that need, as between communities differently situated geographically and climatically, with their consequent variations of political and economic history and development. In the preface, Dr. Hollander hints at this broad significance and unity of the volume in "emphasizing the impracticability of any universal application of commonly accepted principles of tax reform." Granting the truth of the conclusions investigators of state taxation have in past drawn, we must remember that the field of investigation has been almost exclusively confined to the North and East, and we must therefore not regard those conclusions as a rule of thumb for application to less advanced communities. As a warning against this pitfall, and as an invaluable aid to those who may hope to propound any general theory of taxation, we heartily commend this study of fiscal practice and experience in less advanced communities," where corporate organization is limited and intangible wealth a minor element." W. S. BOOKS RECEIVED. [Acknowledgment will be made, under this title, of all books received, and reviews will be given, as near as possible, in the order of their receipt. Those, however, marked will not be reviewed. Books should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief, Department of Law, University of Pennsylvania, S. W. Cor. Thirty-fourth and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, Pa.] COMMENTARIES ON THE LAW OF PRIVATE CORPORATIONS. Vol. VII. By SEYMOUR THOMPSON, LL.D. San Francisco: Bancroft-Whitney Co. 1899. GREENLEAF's Treatise on THE LAW of Evidence. Vol. I. Edited by JOHN HENRY WIGMORE. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1899. A TREATISE ON THE LAW OF Trusts and TRUSTEES. BY JULIUS WARE PERRY. Fifth Edition. Edited by JOHN M. GOULD. Two Volumes. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1899. Compiled by Forms of PLEADING. BY AUSTIN ABBOTT. Volume II. THE LAW OF Presumptive EVIDENCE. BY JOHN D. LAWSON. 1899. Second CASES ON Code Pleading. By CHARLES M. HEPBURN. Cincinnati: W. H. Anderson & Co. 1899. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE: A PLEA for Children and Other Helpless SICK. BY WILLIAM A. PURRINGTON. New York: E. B. Treat & Co. 1900. RAILWAY CO-OPERATION. BY CHARLES S. LANGSTROTH and WILSON STILZ. Boston: Ginn & Co. 1899. THE CUSTODY OF INFANTS. BY LEWIS HOCHHEIMER. Baltimore: Harold B. Scrimger. 1899. CASES IN THE Law of SALES, BY FRANCIS M. INGLER. Indianapolis and Kansas City: Bowen Merrill Co. 1899. AMERICAN BANKRUPTCY REPORTS, ANNOTATED. By WILLIAM COL STUDIES IN STATE. BY GRADUATES AND STUDENTS OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press. 1900. |