Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 25.pdf/253

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

236

The Green Bag

tain number of cases in which appeal for delay had been made by unready lawyers." See Legal History, Patents. Public Service Corporations. See Municipal Ownership. Quebec. "The Legal System of Quebec." By F. P. Walton. 13 Columbia Law Review 213 (Mar.). The somewhat complicated legal system of the Province of Quebec is here described by a member of the Montreal bar. Railway Rates. See Commerce Court. 7Dispose Illinois Real Property. ofLaw the Review Fee." "Power 504 By Prof. (Mar.). ofAlbert Life Tenant M. Kales. to The subject is treated from the standpoint of Illinois law. See Perpetuities. Roman Law. "The Vocation of America for the Science of Roman Law." By Rudolf Leonhard, University of Breslau. 26 Harvard Law Review 389 (Mar.). "Roman law has a value for all nations, for two reasons. In the first place, the Roman jurists worked out a technical method of apply ing law which has furnished models for every other law, even for wholly different legal sys tems. Secondly, Rome developed certain funda mental principles of private law which are char acteristic of the special civilization of Europe. For both reasons America above all other nations has a vocation to foster Roman juris prudence. First, because there is in America an excellent national technique of jurisprudence which may be compared with the Roman counter part in order to shape an ideal theory of a per fect exercise of the art of judicial decision of civil causes. Secondly, because the United States is the only country in which the different national cultures of Europe have been united in a new culture. Moreover, Munroe Smith has shown clearly that there are many legal analogies between ancient Rome and the United States arising from their common republican constitu tion. (18 Columbia Law Review, 1904, p. 523 ff.) Therefore the duty of commenting upon and expounding the common interests and the com mon ideas of right and law of the greaterEuropean civilization has devolved primarily upon New Europe." Separation of Powers. "Separation of Powers: Administrative Exercise of Legislative and Judicial Power, II." By Thomas Reed Powell. Political Science Quarterly, v. 28, p. 34 (Mar.). The second installment of a paper referred to in 24 Green Bag, p. 400. The point of view is in no sense controversial, attention being centered on an analysis of judicial decisions respecting the exercise of administrative functions. Social Legislation (Constitutionality). "So cial Legislation and the Courts." By W. F.

Dodd. Political Science Quarterly, v. 28, p. 1 (Mar.). "There are under this clause ['due process of law'] no fixed or definite standards for determin ing what laws are constitutional and what are unconstitutional." Judges are "policy-deter mining officers" whose political philosophy "is a matter of vital importance. . . . Judges are thus exercising political functions, without corre sponding political responsibility; and inasmuch as such functions are being exercised in a manner opposed to public sentiment, popular criticism of the courts is a necessary consequence. . . . "Except for the rather unfortunate lapse in the New York bake-shop case (Lochner v. New York, 198 U. S. 45) the Supreme Court of the United States has in the main taken a liberal attitude toward legislation aimed to meet new' social and industrial needs." The writer also points out a distinct liberalizing tendency in the Supreme Courts of Wisconsin, Kansas, Michigan, and Illinois, inter alia. "In solving the problems which arise from the unduly conservative attitude of state courts on constitutional questions, the following steps may be necessary or desirable: — "(1) Amend section 237 of the federal Judicial Code so as to permit a wider appeal from state courts to the United States Supreme Court in cases involving federal constitutional questions. "(2) Introduce an easier method of amending state constitutions, in those states whose con stitutions are now difficult to amend. "(3) Remove 'due process of law,' 'equal protection of the laws,' and other clauses of a similar character from state constitutions, where those clauses merely duplicate limitations upon state action contained in the federal Constitu tion. "(4) Require that no statute be declared un constitutional unless the decision of the court is concurred in by more than a bare majority of the judges." Sec Municipal Ownership. "The Progressiveness of the United States Supreme Court." By Charles Warren. 13 Colum bia Law Review 294 (Apr.). An interesting summary, compiled with much care, of the progressive state social legislation the constitutionality of which has been upheld by the Supreme Court. Statute "Schedule Tariff. of Frauds.K."See By Legal N. History. L. Stone, for merly Chief Statistician of the Tariff Board. Century, v. 86, p. 11l (May). Full of information regarding the particular effects of the existing high tariff on the woolgrower, the manufacturer, the workman, and the consumer. Trade-Marks. "The Ingenuity of the In fringer and the Courts." By Edward S. Rogers. 11 Michigan Law Review 358 (Mar.). The principles which should govern the pro tection of trade-marks are clearly developed, with copious citations of cases.