Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 10.djvu/221

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HARVARD LAW REVIEW.
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REVIEWS, 195 — to state it with such completness as to make the treatise valuable to the courts and to practising lawyers. Moreover, I have intended to state the law only as it now is, with as little reference as possible to the law that has become obsolete. . . . The subjects that present the most difficulties and give rise to the most litigations I have discussed with the greatest care. I have cited a great number of cases, and have cited them after examination for their value." As might have been expected from his well known books upon Mortgages, Mr. Jones has done his work with admirable care and thoroughness. This book can hardly fail to be of great use to practising lawyers, — all the greater, perhaps, because it passes over many parts of the general subject interesting to students. R. G. New Criminal Procedure. By Joel Prentiss Bishop, LL. D. Fourth Edition, Vol. II., Specific Offences and their Incidents. Chicago : T. H. Flood & Co. 1896. 8vo, pp. xii, 882. The first volume of this " new and revised " edition of the New Criminal Procedure appeared last year. (See 9 Harvard Law Review, 161.) Of a second volume in a new edition of one of Mr. Bishop's works little need be said. According to the general system followed by the author in his writings, the work is really rewritten to attain greater clear- ness and at the same time greater conciseness. In spite of the added citations, if the index is not counted, the volume is slightly smaller than the third edition. Though it is said in the Preface to the first volume that it is complete in itself, the second volume is a valuable adjunct. Treating as it does of " the specific offences," it brings out those peculiarities and essentials of each crime which are of importance in the indictment, in the evidence, and in practice. Here is found, for instance, the rule that in perjury " oath against oath " is insufficient, — its original and its modern signifi- cance. Setting forth in convenient form all the minor elements and peculiarities of each crime, the book should often prevent a slip or sur- prise in practice. E. s. Elements of the Law of Torts. By Melville M. Bigelow, Ph. D., LL. D. Sixth Edition. Boston: Little, Brow"i & Co. 1896. pp.386. This latest edition of a work widely and favorably known, is new only in the " * General Doctrine ' or general theory of the law of torts," which now appears as an introduction. Regarding the body of the book it needs only to be said that the author has followed the same systematic arrangement of " Specific Torts " according to the elements of liability, previously adopted by him, and that the whole is thoughtfully and well done. The merits of the added preliminary discussion are worthy of special notice. The distinction there pointed out between Right and Privilege, the elaborately explained definition of Tort, and the consider- ation of Persons, are clear and satisfactory. The best portions of the " General Doctrine," however, are those sections dealing with " Legal Cause " and " Termination of Liability." These two topics, generally inadequately treated, are here so simply and definitely handled as to command the reader's admiration, and to prepare his understanding for what follows. R. L. R. 26