SOULE'S LEGAL (gossip* The Harvard Law Review for May states that the members of the Faculty of the Harvard Law School have taken steps to give the students an opportunity to gain an insight into the historical formation of the early common law, by giving a course of lectures under the title of " Points in Legal History," taking up the origin of actions of tort and contract, with brief reference to the law of property, and the fusion of law and equity. " This course," says the Review, " is by no means the dry collection of isolated cases which the frequent mention of Bracton, Britton, and the Year Books, might suggest." Pump Court for July, in an article on "The Ethics of the Bar," quoting Dr. Johnson's remark to Boswell, " I would not have a lawyer wanting to himself in using fair means [of getting employment]. I would have him inject a little hint now and then to prevent his being overlooked," — adds : " The modern barrister acts up to this advice and is full of resource. A small manual written and published on some por- tion of the law that is too lucid to require explanation, and defies even the maulings of an inexperienced hand ; photographs judiciously dis- tributed amongst the albums of his friends ; a little lecturing tour ; the local debating-society; some public movement affecting water-rates or railway fares; ... or, finally, a Parhamentary election, — these form efficient substitutes for bill-posting and advertising." Local and national politics, pursued as a means rather than an end, might be added for the young American lawyer. The Albany Law Journal for August 20 says : " The new Constitu- tion of the Hawaiian Islands requires the somewhat onerous qualification of voters, that they shall ' be able to read and comprehend a newspaper.' This, we suppose, is intended as an intelligence qualification." From an editorial in the Canadian Law Times, it would seem that the Dominion lawyers want a longer vacation, extending beyond the heated term, — say to September 15 or September 30, — so that they can have an opportunity "of enjoying a little cool weather and a little sport." An article on " Co-operative Legislation," in a recent number of the Central Law Journal, agitates the question. How to obtain uni- formity of legislation among our States on topics not necessarily local. State lines do not mean so much in these days of rapid locomotion as they did a hundred years ago; and now that we are getting to be, more and more, one vast community, inequalities of laws between contiguous States become often awkward and oppressive. The publication of Stim- son's American Statute Law is calling general attention to such inequalities. Apropos of the liberality of pleading allowed at the present day in the English courts, the Law Journal discusses the case of Owen v. Mor- gan, in the Court of Appeal. Catherine Owen, the original plaintiff, was executrix of the will of Anne Morgan, wife of Howel Morgan, deceased. The defendant, Morgan, was executor of the deceased husband. The action was brought for payment of money alleged to have been received by the husband as trustee for his wife, and as part of her separate estate. The defendant pleaded, — 1. That Howel Morgan did not have the money. 2. That he did not have it in trust. 3. That he paid it back. 4. That she gave it to him. 5. That she agreed to let him keep it on account of certain rents to which he was entitled. 6. That she owed him that much. 7. Statute of Limitations and laches. This, strange as it may seem, is a genuine case. The August number of the American Magazine has a readable article upon the Supreme Court of the Lhiited States, by Z. L. White, illustrated with views of the court-room and good portraits of all the juilges and officers of the Court. After remarking upon the bustle and lack of dignity elsewhere in the Capitol, the article goes on to say : " But everything about the Supreme Court is impressive and awe-inspiring Even the two trim negro men who sit at the inner and outer doors and noiselessly open them by means of a cord to allow persons to pass in and out, apparently perform their duty with a deep sense of their respon- sibility. . . . The appearance and bearing of the nine elderly gentlemen BIBLIOGRAPHY. who sit in a row upon a raised platform behind a long desk, clothed in their black silk robes, the absolute silence enjoined upon all not having to address the Court, and the subdued monotones in which the business is transacted, make one feel that here, at least, are gravity and attention befitting the dignity of a great government." In the July number of Pump Court, the editor comments thus upon the decline of litigation : " Perhaps the most memorable and starthng incident in the Law Courts during the past month is Mr. Justice Manisty's earnest appeal to meinbers of the Bar, not to deter vi'ould-be suitors from bringing their disputes to the High Court for settlement. I am certain that the learned Judge was not speaking without book. It is a fact — and a most significant and deplorable fact that, whether we can explain it or no, we cannot possibly ignore — that the comtnercial community of the city of London has virtually ceased to resort to the regular tribunals of the country. Lay arbitration is the method of settling business con- troversies now generally adopted in the city." After discussing, in sev- eral paragraphs, the cause of this change, the editor concludes by quoting as follows (without approval, and merely as a sign of the times) from a letter signed " A Barrister of Twenty-one Years' Standing," in an evening paper : " Formerly the Bar was a compact and homogeneous band of gentlemen, full of esprit dn corps, and obeying an unwritten but none the less binding code of rules tending to the advantage of the common weal. What is it now? In the main, a heterogeneous mass of venal and fee-gathering adventurers, scorning the traditions of their predecessors, each doing what is right in his own eyes in the eager pur- suit of his own selfish and sordid aims." This is a sorry picture — and let us hope not a faithful one — of the modern English Bar. BARGAINS. Mr. Soule selects from his present stock the following sets, as speci- mens of what he can offer. All are in sound second-hand condition. Prices strictly net: — AMERICAN. United States Supreme Court Reports. Curtis's Decisions, 22 vols.; Miller's Decisions, 4 vols. ; Wallace, 23 vols. ; Otto, 17 vols. ; United States, Vols. loS to 121, inclusive. $130.00. United States Digest. Last and best edition, 31 vols. $80.00. Massachusetts Reports. Best edition, in 143 separate vols., with Digest. 4 vols. $200.00. New Hampshire Reports. 61 vols. $265.00. Rliode Island Reports. 14 vols. $65.00. Alabama Condensed Reports. Minor, Stewart, Stewart & Porter, Porter, and I to 8 Alabama. 26 vols, in 10 vols. $20.00. Fisher's Patent Cases. 6 vols. $90.00. Patent OfEce Reports. 1847-1.871. 55 vols. Cloth. $50.00. Dane's Abridgment. 9 vols. $27.00. Abbott's National Digest. New edition. 4 vols. $20.00. ENGLISH. The Law Reports, 1865-1886, inclusive. Originals, including Statutes. 186 vols., complete. Half calf. $650.00. The Law Reports, 1865-1875, without the Statutes. Philadelphia reprint (in full) to 1S71, rest originals. 84 vols. In sheep. $200.00. Howell's State Trials. 34 vols. Cloth. $90.00. The Law Journal Reports. Full set from 1823 to 1886. 64 vols, bound in about iSo vols. Good set. Half calf. $450.00. The Jurist. 55 vols. Full set. Half calf. $110.00. Beavan's Reports. 36 vols. Half calf. $180.00. The Solicitor's Journal. 30 vols. $90.00. The Justice of the Peace. Complete Set. 50 vols. Quarto. $150.00. English Railway Cases. Full set (namely. Railway and Canal Cases, 7 vols.; Beavan & Wolford, I vol.; Neville & Macnamara, 4 vols.); in all, 12 vols. Half calf. $66.00. Criminal Cases. 1825-1865 (British Crown Cases, 6 vols. ; Dearsly, Dearsly & Bell, Bell, Leigh & Cave) ; in all, 10 vols. $40.00. The Irish Jurist. Complete set. 18 vols. Cloth. $75.00. Scotch Reports. Two lots, as follows : — Morison's Dictionary, with all the Supplements. 35 vols. $75.00. Folio Session Cases. 1621-1S25 (except " English Judges "). 47 vols. $100,00. Journal of Jurisprudence (Scotch). 29 vols. $60.00. The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland. 1124-1707. 11 vols. Ele- phant folio." $55.00.
