286
The Green Bag
Journal of Comparative Legislation, N. S., no. xx, p. 354. "The output of legislation in the various states of the United States for the year 1907 is the largest for many years past. Fortyone regular and six special sessions of the numerous state legislatures were held, this being the 'odd' year, in which the legislatures of those states which have only biennial sittings meet. In all no less than 16,064 acts were passed, more than half of which, however, were private, local, or temporary enactments having but slight, if any, interest to the general public. During the year no less than ninety-nine statutes . . . were declared to be unconstitutional." Conflict of Laws. "Chetti v. Chetti." By Prof. A. V. Dicey, K.C. 25 Law Quarterly Review 202 (Apr.). Discussing the decision of the Probate Division (Sir J. Gorell Barnes, President) that an Englishwoman married in England to a Hindu retaining his Indian domicil and asserting his native right to a plurality of wives, by whom she and her child were after ward deserted, was entitled to a judicial separation. P. Div. (1909) p. 67. "Foreign jurists of authority, as for ex ample Savigny, Bar, and Pillet, no less than English writers, such as Westlake, agree in the doctrine that capacity to marry is gov erned by an individual's personal law, even though they may differ as to the criterion, namely, whether it be domicil or nationality by which such personal law is determined. How strong is this sentiment in favor of the personal law as contrasted with the lex loci contractus among foreign jurists will become plain to any one who studies Professor Pillet's admirable Principes de Droit International Privt, a treatise far too little known as yet in England. ... A marriage no doubt is a contract between the parties thereto, but as celebrated in England, and indeed in any Christian country, it is much more than a mere private contract. It is a contract which creates a status, it involves the rights and the status of persons not parties to the con tract, e. g., the issue of the marriage." "In re Johnson." By W. Jethro Brown. 25 Law Quarterly Review 145 (Apr.). Mary Johnson died in Baden leaving mov ables and the master certified that she was domiciled there, and that by the law of Baden movables not disposed of by will should be distributed in accordance with the law of the country of which she was a subject. As she was a British subject of Maltese domicil of origin, it was held by Farwell, J., that the movables must be distributed according to Maltese law. [1903] 1 Ch. 821. "I conclude that on the facts in re Johnson, the goods should have been distributed in accordance with Baden law as the law of the domicil; that the whole law of that domicil governing such cases should have been applied by the English courts subject to such neces sary reservations as are implied in English
considerations of public policy; and that, as the evidence before the court was inadequate for the purpose of proving what the foreign law really was, the case should have stood over until evidence was adduced. Conservation of Natural Resources. Pt. i, "Public Forestry on Private Lands," by Gifford Pinchot, Prof. Henry Solon Graves, and F. C. Zacharie. Pt. ii, "Water Resources and Water Power," by W. J. McGee and others. Pt. iii, "Conservation and Use of Land Resources," by George W. Woodruff and others. Pt. iv, "Minerals: Their Waste and Preservation," by George Otis Smith and others. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, v. 33, no. 3 (May). Prof. Graves, in one of many notable papers here collected, expresses the opinion that: "State regulation of private forests should be confined to restricting the use of fire and to requiring a reasonable organization of the forests for protection, and should not be ex tended to governing the methods of cutting; that the protection of watersheds should be accomplished by the establishment of public forests; and that the problem of the future timber supply may be solved effectively by means of the public forests supplemented by forestry practised on private lands under state encouragement and co-operation." Contracts. "Section 2479, Code of Vir ginia, and Its History." By Thomas Wall Shelton. 15 Virginia Law Register 1 (May). This section, as it stands today, substan tially provides that if a sub-contractor makes a sworn statement in writing of his claim against the general contractor within thirty days after the completion of the work, the owner shall be personally liable for such claim. Corporations. "Is the Creation of a Float ing Charge Competent to a Limited Company Registered in Scotland?—I." By A. J. P. Menzies. 21 Juridical Review 87 (Apr.). "In the absence of a proper connotative definition, a sufficiently definite conception of a floating charge must, for the present pur pose, be arrived at by a description of its leading essentials, and by differentiating it from certain other forms of security for bor rowed money. In doing so the opinions in the English law courts must be used, as they form the only available guide." Egypt. "Foreign Companies in Egypt." By F. R. Sanderson. 21 Juridical Review 1 (Apr.). The present position of companies in Egypt is unsatisfactory because of questions con tinually arising due to conflict of laws and uncertainty of jurisdiction. "The best remedy for the grave evils of the present system is to be found in the promulgation of a carefully-thought-out com
