Reviews of Books therefor, but discusses each proposition, pointing out the why and wherefore of the rule. It is practical. It enters into details. It takes up each detail concretely and solves it, instead of passing it over with a flourish of general language that means nothing definite to the reader.
89
the subject of legal ethics, some of it by our judges and some by such re nowned authorities as Bentham, Pol
lock and Sharswood. But our author does not refer to any authorities except ing Hoflman’s Resolutions and the Code
A careful reading of the book shows that it falls far short of the really im possible scope that the author promises.
adopted by the American Bar Associa tion. The book may be of interest and
Moreover, it contains much that seems
help to the young man who is just leav ing the law school, but even there the
entirely out of place in a book on ethical obligations and some things that seem to us absolutely incorrect. On page 36
value of the work is seriously marred by its continual mixing of ethics and ex pediency.
we are told that one of the duties that distinguishes a lawyer from a layman is the duty not to disclose confidential communications from those with whom he has business dealings. Heretofore we always supposed laymen and lawyers
History of the Sherman Law of the United States of America. By Albert H. Walker. of the New York 222;.) Albert H. Walker, New York. Pp. xiii, 312.
were alike as to this duty. On page 53 the lawyer is advised to have law books in his oflice, and if he should be so young and poor as to be unable to buy standard works, he is advised that "fillers" con sisting of his state’s old session laws,
may often be obtained for little or nothing. The author's ethical concep tion of such practice is that “Law books
are all alike to the ordinary client, so far as his estimate of value is concerned.” Perhaps the most striking proposition
to be found in this book on ethics is that "leaving the office door ajar is a
commendable practice," lest the unwary client might otherwise chance into the
oflice across the hall. That doctrine is elaborated on pages 56 and 57. The chapters on "The Lawyer in Business," and “Liabilities of a Lawyer
to his Client," have nothing to do with ethiml obligations, and the chapter on “Disbarments and Suspension" is a very incomplete and inadequate statement. As a whole, the book is a mixture of ethim, ordinary expediency and advice
to young lawyers. There is today a considerable quantity of literature upon
WALKER'S SHERMAN LAW
HE purpose and scope of Mr. Walker's little book on the Sher man anti-trust law are well stated by the
author in his preface, where he says: "The Sherman Law is a Magna Carta among the Statutes of the United States.
And this history of that law has been written to condense, upon three hun dred and twelve pages, the light relevant thereto, which was originally diffused through some thousands of pages of speeches of statesmen and of decisions and opinions of judges."
It is quite plain from a reading of the book that the author has gone over a great mass of Congressional Records, lawyers’ briefs and judicial opinions for his material. All this he has carefully analyzed and condensed and put in
concise, readable and logical form. The history starts with an account of the original proposal of an anti-trust act by Senator Sherman, the Judiciary Com mittee’s ofler of a substitute bill drawn by Senator Hoar and its final passage
in the form offered by the Committee. Then the author takes the act itself and
analyzes it clause for clause with espe
cial reference to the discussions in con
