Review of Periodicals is such a point of view, I came to the result that the 'Institutes' of Justinian must be ex plained as the common source of fundamental ideas of the two branches of European cul ture, viz.: the continental and the EnglishAmerican Law. "I did so. I explained the texts in this way, unhappily not having had the full time for preparation, which was desirable in every case. But I preferred to perform an incom plete work rather than doing nothing in such a favorable situation as could never return to me." Legislative Procedure. "New Responsi bilities of Citizenship." By Charles H. Carey. 18 Yale Law Journal 596 (June). The author thus summarizes his conclu sions suggested by a study of the initiative and referendum:— 1. There is a marked tendency in the United States and in other countries toward enacting sweeping legislation on novel prin ciples. 2. The evils that apparently give a reason for these changes are not more serious than have been experienced and dealt with before. 3. The plan of vesting the law-making power in the people at large is not new in his tory, and was expressly rejected in favor of the representative plan by the founders of the United States Constitution. 4. The recent changes in the Oregon Con stitution, and the facility with which it may now be amended, put new and serious respon sibilities upon the electorate. 5. The initiative system of law making in the form now under experiment in Oregon requires the exercise of an extraordinary degree of intelligence, impartiality, and devo tion on the part of those having the right of suffrage, andis open to certain criticisms that suggest limitations upon the exercise of the power. 6. These suggestions embody the following changes in the present plan : (a) Limitation of the number of constitu tional amendments, and of initiative meas ures that may be submitted to vote at any one election. (6) Limitation of the subject-matter of any such measure to a single proposition, in con crete form. (c) Confining the use of the initiative to bills that have been introduced and failed to pass in the legislature, and those that have been vetoed by the governor. (d) Modifying the referendum to require a larger number of petitioners. Liquor Problem. "The Future of the Public-House." By Edwyn Barclay. Nine teenth Century, v. 65, p. 994 (June). "I am very confident that it would be far wiser and would do more for temperance if we aimed to make our public-houses more respectable and useful, and so foster a strong public opinion against drunkenness, rather than to decry them and do all that is pos sible to make them disreputable and mere
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drinking shops, as is at present only too much the case." Marriage and Divorce. See Race Dis crimination. Practice. "A Story of Law Enforcement." By Thomas Lee Woolwine. World's Work, v. 18, p. 11828 (July). "When I became Prosecuting Attorney in Los Angeles, I determined to enforce all the laws upon the statute books, to enforce them with absolute impartiality, and in their en forcement to strike at any private individual or office-holder who might attempt to block the way. Mine was not a campaign of morals, but simply a fight for equal law enforcement." After a prolonged fight with the political machine, including the District Attorney, who twice removed him from office for his determination to enforce the law, he was successful in awakening public opinion, which overthrew the machine and demanded the conviction of two of the offenders, allowing the chief culprits to escape. Procedure. "Criminal Appeals in England." By Theodor Megaarden. 13 Law Notes 46 (June). The facts of the notorious Beck case, in which an unfortunate Swede named Adolf Beck was positively identified with one John Smith, a previously convicted swindler, by the police officer in charge of the case, and the examining officer denied the defendant's right to introduce evidence on the point of his identity, are here reviewed—facts of a case which, because of the revolting injustice of the affair, led to the establishment of criminal appeals in England :— Beck was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude, and, although he had not been identified with Smith at the trial, his clothes were marked to show a former conviction. Beck objected to this, and after several peti tions the Home Office finally ordered the re moval of the signs of a former conviction, but declined in any way to enter upon the accu racy or otherwise of the conviction. So poor Beck had to stay in prison until the expiration of his term. After coming out of prison he settled down to a quiet and industrious life, when it was suddenly reported to the police that the crimes of 1877 and 1896 were being repeated with all their peculiarities of method and names. Beck was again arrested, tried, and convicted. Mr. Justice Grantham, before whom he was tried, respited sentence until the following session, and during that ?eriod the John Smith of 1877 was arrested, he facts of the case being presented to the Home Office so forcibly, the Home Secretary beneficially granted Beck a 'free pardon.' Moreover, the treasury offered him ^2,000 as a solatium. Beck refused to accept that amount, and the offer was increased to ,£5,000. "No better demonstration of the inade quacy of the machinery of the Home Office to correct even the grossest errors in the
