is a splendid position. It carries with it a salary of 56o,ooo a year and the presidence of the Court of Appeals, a court whose working days are not oppressively numer ous throughout the year. Should Lord Esher be induced to resign, the vacancy will, of course, be offered in the first instance to the Attorney-General, Sir Richard Webster; and if he accepts it, Sir Edward Clarke will be made AttorneyGeneral. But Sir Richard Webster makes no secret, it is said, of his intention to wait for the reversion of the wool sack, and as the present Lord Chancellor will remain on that elevated seat as long as the present Government is in power, it will be five or six years yet, in all probability, before Sir Richard Webster can become Lord Chancellor. Then, too, it is universally recognized that, while Sir Edward Clarke is not altogether fitted for the Mastership of the Rolls, he would make a model Lord Chief Justice. You who have seen the present "Chief" in America, will know that he has rugged health, and you will have discov ered that he has such attainments and qualities as make us all frequently wish that he may be long spared to rule over us on the Queen's Bench. Sir Edward Clarke must, there fore, also wait, we hope, a long time before his ambition can be realized. But he is young and vigorous, and can afford to wait. The solution of the matter will doubt less be found in the appointment of Sir Robert Finlay, the present Solicitor-General, to be Master of the Rolls, should a vacancy occur, while both Sir Richard Webster and Sir Edward Clarke wait with good-natured submission until their aspirations can be realized. The first fruits of the Society of Comparative Legislation have appeared in a most entertaining initial number of its "Journal." It is highly interesting, not only as showing the practical results of the Society's work, but on account of
its inherent merit. Nearly one-half of the volume of 133 pages is taken up with a review of the legislation in 1895 of the sixty Legislatures of the British Empire. It will, therefore, be of great value as an historical record to all who are concerned in technical matters connected with legislation and law-making, and to all students of sociol ogy. It contains also an analysis, by Mr. Schuster, of the German Civil Code, one of the most important creations of modern legal science. Sir Courteney Ilbert, to whose ability and energy the Society owes its origin, contributes an essay on the application of English law to the natives of India, and although this subject may not be of practical value to American readers, it will be of philosophical interest. The work of new legislation in the United States is reviewed by the Honorary Secretary of the Society, Mr. Albert Gray, who has acquired his information from the "State Library Bulletins " of New York. These Bulletins, I am glad to say, are highly appreciated in this country by the few into whose hands they have fallen. The second number of the Society's "Journal" will probably appear during the winter, and it will contain matter that will be of especial value and interest to all American lawyers, as its principal feature will be Master Macdonel's paper on the " Comparative Costs of Legislation." The information for this paper has been obtained with great care and great personal trouble from correspondents throughout the United States, Canada, and all European countries and the English colonies. In New York, for example, reports have been received from leading lawyers in Boston, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, Denver and San Fran cisco, to whom the same set of inquiries were addressed. How their replies agree and what tariff of fees and costs can be gathered from them the report will reveal. Stuff Gown.
