268
The Green Bag
"Apart from the possible effect of provisions in charters or by-laws, or of other special facts, a board of directors has no power, in actually declaring a dividend, to make it payable to those only who shall be the stockholders at a later date." See Banking and Currency, Interlocking Direc torates. Criminal Procedure. "Criminal Procedure in Scotland (concluded)." By Edwin R. Keedy. 3 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 834 (Mar.). Continued from 3 Journal of Crim. Law 728 (25 Green Bag 136). Criminology. "The Recidivist." By Cuy C. Fernald, A.M., M.D. 3 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 866 (Mar.). "The question is, should not delinquents be classified as fully responsible and reformable on the one hand; or as of limited responsibility and in need of special treatment on the other hand? The contention is that treatment on the basis of such classification would contribute very largely and directly to the diminution of criminality. . . "The confirmed recidivist is the product of the continual irritative demoralizing action of our ordinary, though highly specialized life on a congenitally inadequate organization. Those observers who have made catamnestic studies of juvenile defective delinquents find that defective subjects become recidivists; and it is a statement as true as it is trite that the anamnesis of every recidivist shows that he began his criminal career in his youth. So, in the absence of statistics, it is a fair inference that the recidivist in most cases is none other than the juvenile delinquent in adult life, and that every defective delinquent is a potential recidivist." A number of tests for recidivism are suggested. See Insanity, Suicide, Police Methods. Direct Government. See Constitutionality of Statutes, Recall of Judicial Decisions. Disbarment. See Professional Ethics. Easements. "Extinguishment of Easements by Impossibility of I'ser." By Edwin H. Abbot, Jr. 13 Columbia Law Review 409 (May). The writer lays down four definite proposi tions, but the fifth cannot be framed in positive language, i.e., "If theownerof theservient tene ment should wrongfully destroy such tenement, the extent to which equity will lend its aid to compel him to restore the tenement and thereby revive the easement is still uncertain upon the authorities and must be decided in the light of general principles and upon the particular cir cumstances of each case." Equitable Conversion. "Equitable Conver sion by Contract." By Harlan F. Stone. 13 Columbia Law Review 369 (May). "It has been said that the decisions in the cases relating to equitable conversion cannot be recon
ciled with any consistent principle, and 'the result is that the student is faced with the necessity of committing to memory a long series of complicated rules which are merely arbitrary' (24 Law Quarterly Rev. 411). A survey of the whole subject in the case of equitable conversion by contract, however, hardly justifies this state ment. The decisions are harmonious when con sidered in the light of fundamental equitable principles, except upon the question of 'burden of loss,' on which point the authorities are divided." Equity. See Adjudication. Escrows. "Conditional Deliveries of Deeds of Land." By Harry A. Bigelow. 26 Harvard Law Review 565 (May). "Suppose, independently of any question of escrow, that A. contracts with B. to sell and B. to buy a piece of land. B. pays or tenders the price; A. refuses to convey. B. can go into equity and obtain a decree compelling A. to execute a deed in due form. As has just been mentioned, the fact that A. at the moment when he was delivering the deed in pursuance of the decree was in a state of internal rebellion and in fact did not intend the instrument as his deed would make no difference. It would have all the earmarks of a deed, and B.'s title acquired under the deed would be unimpeachable. Now con sider the situation when there is in fact this escrow which A. has agreed shall become his deed upon the payment by B. of the purchase price. B. has paid, but A. has refused his con sent that it shall become his deed. Here already at hand is a document which bears all the ear marks of A.'s deed; B.'s equitable right is clear to compel performance by A. of his part of the contract, but such a deed when executed by A. will, so far as outward appearance goes, be no more A.'s deed than the one now in existence. Under such a state of facts it is not to be won dered at that a court should simply make a short cut, ignore the non-existence of A.'s intent and declare the present document to be binding at law as his deed. The court may say that A.'s intent in this kind of case is immaterial, or it may put the doctrine in the form of a fiction and say that his intent is 'irrevocably given' or is 'conclusively presumed to continue.' The important fact is, that in a case where there would be relief in equity the courts have seized on the existence of the escrow to work out the same relief under a legal formula." Federal Equity Rules. "The New Federal Equity Rules." By Robert E. Bunker. 11 Michi gan Law Review 435 (Apr.). The writer gives some helpful observations on the authority for making the rules, the occasion of their making, the manner in which the work was done, and the changes wrought by them in the equity procedure of the federal courts. He has little to say, however, about the comparative merits of the new and old rules. "The New Federal General Equity Rules." By Judge Frank S. Dietrich. 76 Central Law Journal 281 (Apr. 18).
