terms of international, constitutional, and com mercial law; with a collection of legal maxims, and numerous select titles from the civil law and other foreign systems. By Henry Camp bell Black. West Publishing Company, St. Paul, Minn., 1891. Law sheep. $8.00. We have examined this work of Mr. Black's care fully and critically. We have tested it by compari son with other law dictionaries, and by search for legal terms and phrases but little used and not com monly known, and in every instance it has stood the test. We have, therefore, no hesitation in saying that it is by far the most comprehensive and complete Dictionary of Law yet published. The definitions are concise and reliable, and the book is.not encum bered with encyclopedic matter. The Denison index, which is used, gives an additional value to the vol ume, and greatly aids as a means of ready reference. Mr. Black is to be congratulated tor his successful work. He has given the profession a model law dictionary adapted to the wants of both student and practitioner. Lectures on the Constitution of the United States. By Samuel Freeman Miller, LL.D., late Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Banks and Brothers, New York and Albany, 189 1 Law sheep. $5.00 net. Every student of the Constitution of the United States will feel a deep interest in this volume. The late Mr. Justice Miller, at the time of his death, stood confessedly the foremost jurist upon the bench, and anything from his pen must carry un usual weight and authority. The work before us is published from a carefully prepared manuscript of lectures delivered by Justice Miller before the stu dents of the Law School of the National University of Washington in 1889 and 1890. To this material have been added two papers by him on cognate subjects, — namely, an address on "The Constitution and Supreme Court of the United States, and " An Oration at the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Framing and Promulgation of the Constitution." The address and oration were published together under Mr. Justice Millers supervision during his lifetime. The ten lectures are now published for the first time. The material was placed in the hands of Mr. J. C. Bancroft Davis of Washington; but the duties of editing required only care in insuring an exact reproduction of the thoughts and language of the great judge. Mr. Davis has, however, added brief notes to each of these lectures, and an appen dix containing (1) a collated copy of the Constitu tion, with full reference to the cases in which it has
been construed or discussed; (2) a collated copy of the Articles of Confederation; 13) copies of the Randolph draft for a constitution, and of the Pinkney draft for the same. The book, as we have said, will deeply interest all students of American history, and will be fully ap preciated, not only by the legal profession, but by the thoughtful layman as well. A Digest of the Decisions of the Courts of Last Resort of the Several States from the Earliest Period to the Year 1888, con tained in the one hundred and sixty volumes of The American Decisions and The American Reports, and of the Notes therein contained. By Stewart Rapalje. Bancroft Whitney Com pany, San Francisco, 189 1. Law sheep. 3 vols. gi8.co net. The value of this Digest to the profession can hardly be overestimated, and is second only to the admirable series of Reports whose contents are therein fully and exhaustively set forth. No lawyer of ordinary means can possess all of the State Reports, and, in fact, but few have room for the almost countless volumes of which they are composed. In the "American Decisions and Reports " the wheat has been care fully garnered from these various Reports, and in Mr Rapalje's Digest is found a key to all the de cisions of importance and value to the practising lawyer. For practical working purposes, this Digest is invaluable to the profession, and no legal library can be considered complete without it. The Law of Electricity. A Treatise on the Rules bf Law relating to Telegraphs, Tele phones, Electric Lights, Electric Railways, and other Electric Appliances By Seymour D. Thompson, LL.D. Central Law Journal Com pany, St. Louis, 1891. Law sheep. S5.00. The subject of electricity is one which engrosses to a great extent the attention of our courts, and is one which is rapidly growing in importance The present volume is an attempt to state and class ify the adjudged law applicable to telegraphs, tele phones, electric lights, electric railways, and other electrical appliances, and is, we believe, the first work published devoted exclusively to these subjects. As a law writer Judge Thompson is so well known that anything from his pen is sure to command the re spect of the profession, and in this treatise he has fully and exhaustively covered the law. as it exists, regarding electrical appliances The work will add to its learned author's reputation, and will undoubt edly receive the appreciation which it merits
