Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 21.pdf/490

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Review of Periodicals Clause." By L. C. Marshall. Journal of Political Economy, v. 17, p. 448 (July). "No one questions that the clause was adopted in the hope of stopping real evils. Whether that clause, as popularly inter preted, employed a wise method is another matter. He who believes that a rigid matrix should not be prepared for a developing indus trial situation does not regret that the Supreme Court adopted a new interpretation. He does not regret that other, and less rigid, methods of reaching the evils here involved may now claim consideration." See Government, Public Service Corpora tions. Insanity. "The Lunatic, A Ward of the Court." By Frederick A. Fenning. 43 Ameri can Law Review 527 (July-Aug.). "It is a reasonable hope that the Congress of the United States, sitting as a legislature or common council for the District of Colum bia, will give to the seat of government a lunacy law which shall be founded upon an advanced medical view, as well as upon a more complete appreciation of the paternal juris diction of the Courts." See Criminology. Legal History. "Pleading Rules at Com mon Law." By T. F. Martin. 25 Law Quarterly Review 284 (July). "Pleading, as a science, dates from the reign of Edward I. In subsequent reigns it became deteriorated, not to say disgraced, by the subtle distinctions invented by the profession. In 1852 pleading was again put on a rational basis, but in 1873 a new system, that of pleading facts instead of law, was inaugurated. Whether the old system (cleared of its excrescences and with ample powers of amendment) or the new is the better is a question on which opinions differ, though the balance of opinion appears to be decidedly in favor of the new system. There is not less difference of opinion, as there are still widely different systems of pleading and procedure, in the United States. See Contempt, Corporations. Legislative Procedure. "The Privileges of the House of Commons in Regard to Finance Bills." By H. C. Malkin. Quarterly Review, no. 420, p. 256 (July). "The conclusion from these and many other precedents appears to be that, while in theory the House of Commons adheres to its most extreme claim to absolute independence in matters however remotely affecting finance, yet in practice, whenever an amendment made by the Lords appears to the Commons desirable in itself, they will find some excuse for waiving their privileges and agreeing thereto. Whenever there is a disagreement, the true cause of it lies in the amendment itself and not in the breach of privilege." See Government. Marriage and Divorce. "The Instability of the Family." By J. P. Lichtenberger,

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Ph.D. Annals of the American Academy, v. 34, no. 1, p. 97 (July). One of the most suggestive estimates of the meaning of divorce we have met with for some time is here stated:— "The true causes of the modern divorce movement are inherent in our modern social situation. It is a problem of adjustment of society to our new economic, social, and ethical environment due to progress. The stress of modern economic life, rising standards of living, the passing of the economic function of the family, the economic emancipation of women, the struggle for social liberation, the popularization ofTaw, the increase of popular learning, the improved social status of women, the revised ethical concepts, the equal stan dard of morals for both sexes, the higher ideals of domestic happiness, the new basis of sexual morality—these are the forces that are producing their inevitable results. The old religious-proprietary family of patriarchal authority is doomed, and until the new spiritual restraints are formed to take the place of those that are passing away a condi tion which, in the sight of some, will border on chaos is bound to result. The present phe nomena we are fully persuaded are the phe nomena of transition and are alarming only to those who view the family as an institution which has its origin in and depends for its perpetuation upon external authority." That which is popularly believed to be the traditionally uncompromising attitude of the Roman Catholic Church toward divorce is ventilated in a few keen criticisms by the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Albany:— "Divorce." By Bishop Doane. Century Magazine, v. 78, p. 608 (Aug.). A comment on the views expressed by Cardinal Gibbons and Professor Ross in the May number of this magazine. "When we remember the very doubtful and even contradictory attitude of the Roman clergy as to the validity of baptisms not ad ministered by themselves, and realize that Rome regards as dissoluble the marriages of all unbaptized persons; and when one adds to these facts the number and variety of the diriment impediments, often not known until discovered and used as reason and excuse for getting rid of an unhappy marriage,—really more in number than the causes for divorce in the worst of our states,—it seems to me that it is a play on words to hold up the Roman Catholic Church, in its teachings or in its practice, as the one protector of the sacredness of the marriage tie." Pleading. See Legal History. Procedure. "Injunctions in Criminal Prose cutions." 2 Lawyer and Banker 78 (Aug.). "Truly, a criminal can hope for but little from the courts of equity; and an innocent party who is indicted can look for no more than the guilty. "It is submitted that criminal courts should be empowered to go beyond the determination of the question of the guilt or innocence of an