or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." In view of the vast number of cases to which this most impor tant amendment to the Constitution has already given rise, it is somewhat surprising that the present volume should be the only treatise de voted exclusively to this amendment and to the cases bearing upon it. The tendency to invoke its aid is seemingly increasing. Undoubtedly the Fourteenth Amendment changed radically the relations between the Federal government and the States; but it is well to bear in mind that the clause quoted a few lines above created no new rights of life, liberty, or property; as Judge Brannon puts it, this clause " is only Magna Charta over again." What it did do was to give to the Federal government power to enforce, as against the States, rights already recognized by previous amendments to the Constitution. Under the general heads of Life, Liberty, Property, Due Process of Law, Police Power of States, Judgment without Service of Process, Business Licenses, Taxation, and Equal Protec tion of the Law, Judge Brannon has discussed with fine legal acumen this most important clause, citing, quoting at considerable length, and commenting upon the important cases bearing upon and construing it. His treatment shows a good grasp of his subject. We should have been glad to find a more extended study of certain of the important lines of cases, as for example, those having to do with the assessnent of betterments for local improvements, of which Norwood v. Baker, 172 U. S. 269, is the leading case; but an exhaustive examination of ever)- subject arising under the amendment was, of course, impossible. We note, here and there, a somewhat careless arrangement, as, for in stance, in Chapter 15, entitled Taxation, the latter half of which includes such subjects as police power over vagrants and drunkards, heat ing cars by stoves, petroleum illumination, kill ing of unlicensed dogs, and restriction by a State to its own citizens of the right to take fish from State waters, — all subjects coming under the Fourteenth Amendment, but hardly to be looked for under the title Taxation. But this is a minor defect, overweighed by the general excellence of the book.
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CYCLOPEDIA OF LAW AND PROCEDURE. Vol. I. Edited by William Mack and Howard P. Nash. New York : American Law Book Company: 1901. Law sheep. (v + 1160 PP-) The appearance of the first volume of the Cyclopedia of Law and Procedure, which is to be completed in thirty-five volumes, deserves more than passing notice. When one thinks of the amount of painstaking labor involved in pre paring even a short treatise on some one subject of the law, the work involved in a scheme to cover, in an adequate way, the whole legal field, seems stupendous. It is, indeed, a task beyond the powers of any one man; but many marvel ous things are accomplished by co-operation,— and not the least marvelous among them is a Cyclopedia like that the first volume of which is before us. There was a time in the past when we felt a prejudice against such a publication as this. That was before we had made use of it. The scheme seemed too ambitious. Experience has shown, however, that a general plan like that embodied in this Cyclopedia can be successfully carried out. Such a work, carefully edited and planned, and its articles written by competent hands,— such is the case in the present instance, if we may judge by the initial volume — is of great value to the active lawyer,— especially to one whose practice covers a wide range of subjects. Particularly valuable must such a Cyclopedia be to the lawyer outside of the few large cities, whose office is not next door to the well-stocked library of some bar association. The subjects treated in the present volume run from "A" to "Affidatus." Among the longer and more exhaustive articles are those on Abate ment and Revival, Accounts and Accounting, Acknowledgments, Actions, Admiralty and Ad verse Possession. Each of these, covering respec tively between one hundred and two hundred pages, is a moderately full treatise on its partic ular subject. The practice, as in this publication, of print ing the names of the authors of the principal articles is to be commended. Among the more prominent contributors to this volume are Mr. Justice Wilkes of the Supreme Court of Tennes see, who writes on "Abstracts of Title"; Mr. Jus tice Lewis, of the Supreme Court of Minnesota,
