Review of Periodicals Folsom, M.D. American Law Review (vol. xlii, p. 801). A study by a distinguished physician, now dead, of several cases of abnormal criminals, especially that of Marie Jeanneret, a French nurse who committed eleven poisonings and six murders. Others mentioned are Jesse Pomeroy, whom Dr. Folsom thought respon sible, "Slugger" Perry, John Wilkes Booth, Guiteau and Czolgolz. Extracts follow:— "The real question at issue was, in each case, whether there was any mental quality or lack of quality which inhibited a reason able self-control and which was due to brain defect or disease of the mind. "Authority and precedent, which at least among English speaking people aim to voice the common law and common sense, in the main have held such people responsible for their criminal motives and acts; and they are supported thus far by the predominating weight of expert medical opinion, although individual views differ regarding them. There is another class of individuals ... in whom there is no evidence of irresponsibility out side of their criminal acts, and none indi cated or suspected before them, where the question of insanity lies in the answer to the inquiry whether or how far there is in the crimes themselves inherent evidence of mental unsoundness . "... I should like to propose ... an amendment to our laws so that the punish ment for murder in the first degree shall be death or imprisonment for life, at the dis cretion and judgment of the jury, with such instructions as the courts may give them— thereby following the precedent of the recent change in the United States law, even if not quite attaining to the admirable provisions of the French code. "If we could at the same time eliminate from our nosology and more particularly from our jurisprudence the term 'moral in sanity,' we should confer a boon on the medical profession and the world at large like that which came from abolishing Jona than Edwards's 'original sin.'" Copyright (England). "The Origin and Growth of Copyright," by W. F. Wyndham Brown. Law Magazine and Review (vol. xxxiv, p. 54). A history of English copyright legislation.
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Criminal Law. "Ignorance and Mis take in the Criminal Law," by Edwin R. Keedy. Harvard Law Review (vol. xxii, p. 75). "Ignorantia juris non excused, ignorantia facti excusat is a maxim familiar to the lay man as well as to the lawyer. The purpose of this article is to discuss the origin of this maxim; to consider the scope of its influence in criminal jurisprudence; to discover the ex tent to which the decisions referring to it are founded upon general principles; and finally to determine what is the state of the law today regarding ignorantia juris and ignoran tia facti as defenses to criminal prosecutions." Debtors' Act (England). "Defects of the Debtors' Act," by "Appellant." Law Magazine and Review (vol. xxxiv, p. 17). Deceased Wife's Sister Act (Eng land). "Communicants and the De ceased Wife's Sister Act, 1907," by G. A. Ring. Law Magazine and Review (vol. xxxiv, p. 66). Comments upon judicial and ecclesiastical interpretation of the act. Evidence (Prior Accidents). "A Point of Evidence in Colorado," by Arthur March Brown. American Law Review (vol. xlii, p. 834). In the case of Diamond Rubber Co. v. Harryman (Colo.), 92 Pac. 922, the Colorado Supreme Court in a suit for personal injuries received by tripping over a pipe projecting above the surface of a sidewalk, excluded evidence that other persons had tripped over the same pipe. This was contrary to a former opinion of the same court and to the great weight of authority in this country. Massachusetts and a few other states are in accord with the later decision and even Massachusetts admits such evidence in cases of injuries caused by shying or frightened horses and Chief Justice Knowlton expresses in a horse-shying case doubt of the wisdom of his state's general policy. After stating the rules of the different jurisdictions the author says: "Can the argument of the minority be held to prevail over the great weight of judi cial authority to the effect that evidence of
