The Green Bag
312
subject to the ualifications suggested by the English Bills of xchange Act. "4. Inasmuch as the law should be liberal in matters relating to mere form, contracts which do not comply with either of the above rules should be regarded as valid if they satisfy the lex fori and wills disposing of personal property if the satisfy the lea: jori or the law of the dom icil o the testator at the time of the execution of the will. "5. All of the preceding rules must be under stood as referring to the formal requirements prescribed for the act in question by the terri torial law of the state or foreign country referred to, and not to their law as a whole inclusive of the rules governing the Conflict of Laws." See Extra-territoriality. Conservation of Natural Resources. See Waters.
Contempt. M. Theobald. (Apr.).
"Contempt of Court."
By R
Wertminster Ran'ew, v. 175, p. 390
"Reform it altogether; let committal for con tempt of court be forever and entirely abolished. Treat all crime in the same way; and let there
be nothing abnormal or exceptional in the treatment of criminals.” Contracts.
See Conflict of Laws, Mistake.
Copyright. "A Chapter in the History of Literary Property: The Booksellers’ Fight for Perpetual Copyright." By Edward S. Rogers. 5 Illinois Law Review 551 (Apr.).
A most interesting chapter of legal history, showing how the modern doctrines of copyright came into existence, and the scant protection afforded authors by the old common law.
crime and punishment underlying Hindu law are intelligently set forth, and specific crimes are then taken up and treated one after another. "We have seen that Hindu criminal law is distinguished from other archaic systems by the theory of the function of the state in respuzt of crimes. Another notable point of distinction is the absence of almost all traces of the lex tolionis in it. . . . In Hindu law there is nothing similar to these provisions of archaic law nor anything in the theory of punishment to indicate that it was a substitute for private revenge. The sentences in certain offences, such as arson in respect of dwelling houses and granaries for which death by slow fire is provided, no doubt seems to indicate an attem t to make the unishment commensurate wit thewron done. ut even in these provisions as we have t em in the codes, and in others, so far back as we can trace the Hindu law, punishment has been based on culpabilit or moral turpitude and not to any extent etermined by the feelings of the party injured. . . . "Indeed, the com lainant can in no case claim compensation for the injury to himself, but if his property is affected he is entitled to recover it or in other cases to be reimbursed the actual loss suffered. If he is hurt the accused has to pay the costs of his medical treatment [Yajna va kya 11,225] but just as the gist of a crime is the offence to dharrna and not private injury, so the essence of the remedy is the sentence which the state has to inflict to satisfy outraged dharma. In every case the sentence is to be commensurate not with the sentiment of ven geance roused but with the amount of culpa bility, judged with regard to the time and place of the occurrence and the manner of committing the offence. It is to be deterrent and not vin dictive, and so it is necessary, having regard to the age, wealth and power of the accused,to
determine the exact sentence which will act as Corporations. "Have the Corporations Been Law-Abiding?" By H. St. George Tucker. 16 Virginia Law Register 881 (Apr.).
A reply to Hon. Alfred P. Thom's per entitled ‘ Have the States been Law-Abi mg?" read before the Virginia State Bar Association last year. Mr. Tucker seeks to show, by pur suing Mr. Thom's own line of argument, that it is not the states, but the cor orations, which have not been law-abiding. Xpplying to the latter "the same argument which was applied to the states by Mr. Thom, and based upon the same premises, the conclusion is inevitable
a deterrent [Yajnavalkya l, 368}. . . .
"It will thus be seen that the Hindu theo of crimes and their punishment bear evidence 0 an advanced stage of civilization. The institutions to which Hindu law refers, the state of in
dustries, trade and commerce which they indi cate, the preponderance of civil law over crimes in their system of laws, the greater attention
raid to o ences a
'nst pro
rty than to vio
ences to person, al point to t e same conclusion.
Considering that Hindu law as laid down in the Srnritis as they have come down to us date back to several centuries before the advent of Christ and that even the Mitakshara must be placed
that the corporations of the country have not
in the very early centuries of the Christian era,
been law-abiding in their persistent attempts to have the constitutional laws of the states declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States." See Public Service Corporations.
the evolution to this stage must have been the result of civilizing forces and culture that had been in operation amongst the Hindus thousands of years earlier." (N0. 8. PP. li-liii (Jan. 16.) )
Criminal Law. "Crimes in Hindu Law." 15 Calcutta Weekly Notes, no. 7, p. xlii (Jan. 9) and succeeding issues. This is a scholarly essay on Hindu criminal law by a writer not only well qualified to trace the history of its develo ment but schooled in Western legal thought. iThe general theories of
in England." 45 American Law Review 161 (Mar.-Apr.). A summary of the re rt of the committee sent abroad by the merican Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology to investigate and report on criminal law and procedure in England.
Criminal Procedure.
"Criminal Procedure
