was a defence to a suit against them for the purchase-money by the indorsee of the bills: Id. Marine Insurance-Total Loss-Notice of Abandonment.-A notice of abandonment to the underwriters of a marine policy will not support a claim for a constructive total loss, unless it states, in such terms as to render the inference clear, that the damages exceed half the value of the subject insured: Mc Conochie vs. The Sun Mutual Ins. Co. A notice held insufficient which stated that a vessel containing the sugar insured had put into port in distress with several feet of water in her hold; that on landing the cargo it was found very seriously damaged; and that the insured abandoned the sugar and claimed a total loss: Id. SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK.1 Assignment for the benefit of Creditors-Duty of Assignee Injunction -Statute of Limitations.-It being the duty of an assignee, under an assignment to him in trust for the benefit of creditors, to take care of and protect the assigned property, he may maintain an action of trespass against any person who interferes therewith: Me Queen vs. Babcock et al. The bringing of such an action by the assignee against one who assumes to take the assigned property out of his possession, is in furtherance of his duty, and hence is not an intermeddling with the property improperly, or within the sense and meaning of an injunction order prohibiting him from "intermeddling with, receiving, or collecting" any of the property of the assignor: Id. Such an injunction is no bar to a suit against the sheriff, for taking the assigned property out of the hands of the assignee; and if suit is not brought within three years, the Statute of Limitations will be a good defence: Id. Banks-Their Liability as Collecting Agents.-For the purposes of protest, a collecting agent occupies the position, and is held to the obligations, of a holder of commercial paper: The State Bank of Troy vs. The Bank of the Capital. In the case of a bill or note sent to a bank as agent for collection merely, in the absence of proof of an express contract or commercial usage, it is not obligatory on the collecting bank to notify and duly charge all the prior parties to the paper, but only its own principal or immediate indorser: Id. 1 From Hon. O. L. Barbour, to appear in Vol. XLI. of his Reports. If the collecting bank undertakes to transmit notices of protest to other parties besides its immediate indorser, although this may be some evidence of an agreement to notify all the indorsers, it is not sufficient evidence of such an agreement, in the absence of proof of custom or usage: ld. NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. REPORTS OF CASES ARGUED AND DETERMINED IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE OF THE STATE OF INDIANA, with Tables of Cases and Principal Matters. By MICHAEL KERR, Official Reporter. Vol. XXI., containing the cases decided at the November Term, 1863, together with certain Cases decided at previous terms, and held over on petition for rehearing and otherwise. Indianapolis, indiana: H. H. Dodd & Co., 1864. This is a long title, but it is the shortest way to describe the contents of the book. We have read considerable portions of the volume with a good deal of interest, and especially the cases of Skeen vs. Monheimer and Griffin vs. Wilcox, where the right to discharge prisoners held in custody by provost marshals, under the command of a superior military officer, upon habeas corpus issuing from a judge of the state courts, is discussed at length and maintained. It is here decided that the Act of Congress of March 3d, 1863, assuming to indemnify officers for such arrest, is unconstitutional. This involves the question of the right, under the Constitution of the United States, to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in the state courts, in time of civil war, so far as the states not in revolt are concerned. It is certainly a question which no good lawyer or far-seeing statesman can contemplate without a deep and solemn feeling of awe, in consideration of its momentous bearing upon the interests of civil liberty throughout the world. It is only the rash and inexperienced who can approach such a question with an air of levity and unconcern. It has always seemed to us that the magnitude and the delicacy, not to say perplexity, of this question has not been fully appreciated by most of those who have espoused either side of it. It is not our purpose here certainly to examine that question. But we think no fair-minded man can fail to feel a deep interest in examining the opinions of Mr. Justice PERKINS in these cases. There are many other cases of importance in the volume, such as The Indiana Central Railway vs. Mundy, where the liability of the company for the negligence of its employees in the transportation of passengers upon free tickets, with the following condition annexed to the ticket, "It is agreed that the person accepting this ticket, assumes all risk of personal injury, and loss or damage to property, while using the same on the trains of the company," is considered; and the rule declares that the contract, evidenced by the ticket, does not cast upon the holder any risks arising from any negligence of the servants of the company in running the trains. It is a question of importance, and not free from difficulty. We believe the rule above declared, is a salutary one on the ground of policy merely; but we should probably have felt compelled to annex some qualifications, which are not distinctly brought out in the opinion, although fairly enough implied probably. The case of The City of Madison vs. Whitney, where the rights, duties, and liabilities of stockholders in banks, in regard to taxation, together with the right to tax United States stocks, is extensively considered, involves questions of great importance and magnitude. The case of Bell vs. Cafferty discusses the question of the rights and duties of the vendor and vendee of personal property, where payment of the price is made in forged promissory notes indorsed by the vendee. There are many other valuable cases in this volume, but we could not here notice them. The volume is one of more than ordinary value, and is prepared with great labor and fidelity by Mr. KERR, the reporter. We make no question it will be in large demand in other states. I. F. R. PRECEDENTS OF AMERICAN NEUTRALITY, in reply to the Speech of SIR ROUNDELL PALMER, Attorney-General of England, in the British House of Commons, May 13th, 1864. By GEORGE BEMIS. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1864. 8vo. Paper; pp. 83. The cases of rebel armed vessels fitted out in English ports, (unfortunately becoming numerous), are of the highest legal and political interest, and must at no very remote day become of practical national importance. Any information, therefore, that comes to us in an authentic form in regard to the cases themselves, or the arguments bearing upon them, is of the utmost value. The present review is exceedingly well timed. The author states that it is mainly intended for Englishmen, at the same time adding that he is "well aware that it is a thankless task to endeavor to enlighten or persuade most Englishmen of rank or station, as to the law or the morality of our struggle." Had he desired to make his statement strongly, he might well have called it a thankless task to enlighten any Englishman on any subject relating to America; but not to be ungracious, the author has contented himself with a concise statement of facts, and irresistible deductions from them, in a style so calm and dispassionate that the most wrongheaded John Bull cannot fail to be impressed by it. The reader will find in these clear recitals of early American cases involving our neutrality, taken from a chapter of our national history not so familiar as it should be, even to ourselves, a new testimony to that undeviating good faith towards other nations that has always been peculiarly the characteristic of American diplomacy. This pamphlet, therefore, will be found of great interest, and the impartial professional tone in which it is written, cannot fail to do honor not only to the writer, but to the country. J. T. M. THE NATIONAL BANK ACT. An Act to provide a National Currency, &c., approved June 3d, 1864. New York: Published at the office of the Bankers' Magazine. 8vo., pp. 142. Paper; $1.00. The publisher of the excellent and popular Bankers' Magazine makes a very acceptable publication of this important act, which is now exciting such universal attention, and concerning which the profession must be so frequently called upon to advise. The act is given in full, and also in a separate analysis, and a complete index, which will greatly facilitate the handling of the book. To these there is added also the Gold Act of June, 1864, in full. J. T. M. A MANUAL FOR NOTARIES PUBLIC AND BANKERS. By BERNARD ROELKER, A. M., 4th ed. New York: J. Smith Homans. 8vo., pp. 368; $3. The functions of a notary public, even in countries of common law jurisdiction, at times approach so nearly a judicial character, that it is of the highest importance that he should be properly versed in his powers and duties. To this end we doubt not this manual will materially conduce, as it embodies a great deal of valuable and practical information. Moreover, as a digest of several important branches of mercantile law, prepared by a very competent gentleman of the New York bar, and as the only good American work on the subject, the bar will find it convenient and of practical service; though being mainly intended for notaries themselves, it belongs rather to that class of semi-professional works that are always more or less unsatisfactory to a legal reader, and in the end are usually productive of far more litigation than they prevent. J. T. M. THE AMERICAN LAW REGISTER. OCTOBER, 1864. FORMS OF ACTION. The origin of Forms of Action is to be traced to the Roman law. It will be curious and instructive to recur to the history of the subject, in its connection with that system. Among other deficiencies remarkable in the Code of the Twelve Tables, was an entire omission of regulations concerning the manner in which the laws were to be enforced. It is obvious that the proceedings in every court of justice must be conducted according to some fixed and invariable rules of practice; yet the laws of the Decemvirs were altogether silent on this subject, and the advantages which the patricians derived from the omission may warrant the inference that their silence was not involuntary. The common forms of law were made a matter of religion; and the people, always obedient to the voice of superstition, were easily persuaded that certain solemn ceremonies were indispensable to the administration of justice. The college of pontiffs, in conjunction with the jurisconsults, had the exclusive direction of these ceremoniesthey were technically called actiones legum. Like the dies fasti and nefasti, they were kept a profound secret from the community at large, so that, though the letter of the law was open to the inspection of every citizen, it was impossible for any one to avail himself of it in the courts without the aid of the initiated. This VOL. XII, -45 (705) |