The Law of Insurance; including Fire, Life, Accident, Guarantee, and other Non-Marine Risks. By ARTHUR BIDDLE. Two vols. Philadelphia: Kay & Brother. 1893. La. 8vo. civ, 649 and 764 pp.-This is a valuable treatise on a subject of almost universal interest. There are few indeed who do not, in some form or other, avail themselves of the modern facilities of insurance. Quite a new kind of insurance has recently developed itself in England in connexion with the guaranteeing of mortgages, and of deposits at banks and the like; and owing to the depression in real estate, and to failures in Colonial banks, many cases on such policies are likely to come before the Courts.

In an English case not yet fully reported (Dane v. Mortgage Insurance Company, W. N. 1893, p. 177) the decision seems to have turned on the difference in law between the contract of suretyship and that of insurance. On referring to the work before us we cannot find that this question is fully dealt with. But to the thorny paths of insurance-other than Marine-this work appears on the whole to be a reliable guide. It contains several thousand references to English and to American reports, and the work will no doubt be found useful to practitioners on both sides of the Atlantic.

Students' Precedents in Conveyancing. By JAMES, W. CLARK. London: Sweet & Maxwell, Lim. 1893. vi and 144 pp.-This collection of elementary forms has been made with the view of being useful to teachers of law and their pupils, as an aid to study, not for use in practice. Under these circumstances can it be right in such a book to make the transferor of a mortgage debt convey the debt as mortgagee' (pp. 59, 61 and 69), or to state as if there was no doubt on the point (p. 81) that in a settlement on marriage full covenants for title may be implied by conveyingas beneficial owner,' or to make the advancement clause in a settlement apply to shares taken by appointment (p. 95); or in a conveyance on sale by mortgagee and mortgagor to omit the words by which the mortgagor directs as beneficial owner, besides conveying as beneficial owner (p. 9)?

The Student's Guide to Real and Personal Property. By JOHN INDERMAUR and C. THWAITES. Third Edition. London: G. Barber. 1893. 8vo. 192 pp. -This is the third edition of a book which is well known and needs no introduction to students who are preparing for the final examination for the Bar. The system is well constructed for acquiring quickly an elementary knowledge of many of the principles of real and personal property law, and the questions and answers appear to be well chosen and arranged. It is hardly necessary to add that the book does not pretend to be, and is not, more than a guide or stepping-stone to more extensive reading, and is chiefly useful for examination purposes.

Legal Studies in the University of Oxford, a Valedictory Lecture delivered before the University, June 10, 1893, by JAMES BRYCE. London: Macmillan & Co. 1893. 8vo. 35 pp. This eloquent and instructive address, with which the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster quitted the Regius Chair of Civil Law, after occupying it for twenty-three years, is worthy alike of the author and of the occasion. It will repay the perusal of all who are interested in that renascence of Roman law in this country which the ex-professor has done so much to promote.

Rules and Usages and H. S. CAUTLEY. 8vo. xviii and 181

VOL. X.

of the Stock Exchange. By G. HERBERT STUTFIELD Second Edition. London: Effingham Wilson & Co. pp.-This useful little hand-book has reached a

H

second edition. It gives the most recent decisions on the rules of the Stock Exchange, and will doubtless be found valuable both to members and to the public.

The Revised Reports. Edited by Sir F. POLLOCK, assisted by R. CAMPBELL and O. A. SAUNDERS. Vol. XI. 1809-1811 (17 & 18 Vesey-11 East12 East-2 Taunton-2 Campbell). London: Sweet & Maxwell, Lim. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1893. La. 8vo. xvi and 847 pp.

The Revised Reports. Vol. XII. 1811-1813 (1 & 2 Ball & Beatty19 Ves.-1 Ves. & Beames-13 & 14 East-3 Taunt.-Wightwick— 2 Camp.). London: 1893. La. 8vo. xv and 791 pp.

A Treatise on the Law of Executors and Administrators. By the Right Hon. Sir E. V. WILLIAMS. Ninth Edition. By the Hon. Sir ROLAND L. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS. Two vols. London: Stevens & Sons, Lim. Sweet & Maxwell, Lim. 1893. La. 8vo. cxvi, viii and 2131 pp.-Review will follow.

A Treatise on the Law of Partnership. By the Right Hon. Sir NATHANIEL LINDLEY. Sixth Edition. By W. B. LINDLEY. With an Appendix on the Law of Scotland by J. CAMPBELL LORIMER. London: Sweet & Maxwell, Lim. 1893. La. 8vo. Ixii and 939 pp.-Review will follow.

The Principles of the Law of Evidence. By W. M. BEST. Eighth Edition. By J. M. LELY. With Notes to American and Canadian Cases by C. F. CHAMBERLAYNE. London: Sweet & Maxwell, Lim. Boston: The Boston Book Co. 1893. La. 8vo. lx and 703 pp.-Review will follow.

Commercial Law. By J. E. C. MUNRO. London: Macmillan & Co. 1893. Sm. 8vo. 191 pp.-Review will follow.

A Handbook of Husband and Wife according to the Law of Scotland. By F. P. WALTON. Edinburgh: W. Green & Sons. 1893. 8vo. lxxi and 510 pp.

A Handbook of Prescription according to the Law of Scotland. By J. H. MILLAR. Edinburgh: W. Green & Sons. 1893. 8vo. xxxvi and 232 pp.

The Editor cannot undertake the return or safe custody of MSS.
sent to him without previous communication.

LAW QUARTERLY

REVIEW.

No. XXXVIII. April, 1894.

As

SI have strongly recommended Mr. Clark's useful little book of precedents, I may perhaps be allowed to answer some criticisms that have been made upon it and which may perhaps puzzle students. It is the received practice of conveyancers to make the transferror of a mortgaged debt convey' as mortgagee': Wols. Prec. 280, 1 Prid. 623, 1 K. & E. 218. In a conveyance on sale by mortgagor and mortgagee where the mortgagor conveys as 'beneficial owner' it is not the practice and it would be useless to insert any words of direction by him as beneficial owner.' I have never heard it doubted that in a marriage settlement full covenants for title may be implied by the words ' beneficial owner' Wols. & B. 35, Elph. Introd. Conv. 276. The question whether the advancement clause in a settlement should extend to shares taken by appointment is rather vext (see this question discussed 38 Solicitors' Journal, 248); while in 2 K. & E. 461 following 3 Dav. Prec. 159 it is stated that the more correct practice is not to extend it to appointed shares, it is so extended either expressly or by necessary implication in Wols. Prec. 76, 2 Prid. 294, 317.

HOWARD W. ELPHINSTONE.

Mr. George H. Smith of San Francisco, whose Critical History of Modern English Jurisprudence (San Francisco, 1893, 83 pp.) lies before us, appears to think that all English lawyers implicitly accept the whole of Austin's philosophy-if it is a philosophyof law. We have already hinted on more than one occasion that this is not exactly so, and we beg to repeat that when some of us express opinions inconsistent with Austin's (which Mr. Smith has duly noted) we are quite aware of the inconsistency, and mean thereby to signify that we do not agree with Austin (which natural inference Mr. Smith, we know not why, seems unwilling to draw). Further we do not think it necessary to be constantly contradicting Austin's fallacies in set terms, partly because we do not wish

needlessly to hurt the feelings of any one who still believes in them, but chiefly because we regard Austin's particular form of Naturrecht (for Naturrecht it is, as Dr. Brunner has pointed out) as already dead and buried for all students who have any sense of history. We welcome Mr. Salmond's fresh and ingenious First Principles of Jurisprudence' as a healthy sign of independent life among the younger generation.

F. P.

THE SALE OF GOODS ACT, 1893 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 71).— Considering that this is merely a codifying Act, which has been carefully drafted to avoid the introduction of contentious matter, it has been a most unconscionable time in passing. However it is now on the statute book and forms an important step in the codification of contract law. It follows the lines of the Bills of Exchange Act, and is in general clear and concise, including in its scope almost the whole of the rules of law relating to its subject. It was not to be expected that in the present state of Parliamentary business any serious attempt could be made to materially alter the Statute of Frauds, but in its re-enactment several necessary verbal alterations have been made, and the following clause has been added:-'There is an acceptance of goods within the meaning of this section when the buyer does any act in relation to the goods which recognizes a pre-existing contract of sale whether there be an acceptance in performance of the contract or not.' This disposes of a class of cases of which Taylor v. Smith ('93, 2 Q. B. 65) was the last reported example. Another controversy which has been set at rest is that aroused by the decision in Bentley v. Vilmont (12 App. Ca. 471), which Lord Watson declared in his judgment to be an iniquitous result of the Larceny Act. Now, notwithstanding that statute, the property in goods obtained fraudulently from the owner by means not amounting to larceny, does not revest in the original owner 'notwithstanding any intermediate dealing with them, whether by sale in market overt or otherwise' by reason only of the conviction of the offender.' An innocent purchaser, without notice, who pays cash against the goods, is so far protected.

The Act does not affect the sale of horses: although an attempt was made to draw up a code of rules to supersede the old Acts of Philip and Mary, and of Elizabeth, it came to nothing: a similar fate befell a section abolishing the privilege attaching to sales in market overt, which remains unaltered, but what is exactly market overt is still unsettled, although Hargreave v. Spink ('92, I Q. B. 25) seemed to render some definition necessary. Notwithstanding apparent obstacles, it was found possible to extend the

operation of the Act to Scotland by means of saving clauses and some special provisions, so that we now have the law applicable to all three countries within the four corners of a single statute. The following are unaffected :-bankruptcy, the rules of the common law, including the law merchant (save in so far as they are inconsistent with the express provisions of this Act), and in particular the rules relating to the law of principal and agent, the effect of fraud, misrepresentation, duress, or coercion, mistake or other invalidating cause, bills of sale, mortgages, pledges, charges, &c., and in Scotland the landlord's right of hypothec or sequestration for rent.

Besides the Statute of Frauds (ss. 16 and 17) and Lord Tenterden's Act (s. 7), the following are repealed: The Brokers Act, the Mercantile Law Amendment (Scotland) Act, 1856, ss. 1-5 (inclusive), and the Mercantile Law Amendment Act, 1856, ss. 1 and 2.

Mr. Gilbert ought to search the law reports for motives for comic operas. The Sultan of Johore' or 'The Baker and the Sultan' would, to begin with, be a capital title for a musical performance at the Savoy Theatre. The Sultan's feats in the Law Courts would lend themselves admirably to the treatment in which Mr. Gilbert's genius excels. We have first the worthy and unpretending Albert Baker who sues for the hand of Miss Mighell, obtains her love, and promises her marriage. Then Mr. Baker is the gay deceiver who is pursued by the injured fair into the Law Courts. Her triumph seems certain, when suddenly Albert Baker is transformed into the sovereign prince, the Sultan of Johore, and asserts his immunity from the laws of England. The lady produces the Queen's writ; the Sultan brings out of his pocket a certificate of sovereignty from the Foreign Office. A Court, amid the universal approval of international lawyers, pronounces that it has no jurisdiction over a sovereign. The Sultan is triumphant; the lady loses her case, and, we presume, pays costs. Surely Mr. Gilbert's genius can make something out of these suggestive incidents.

Mighell v. The Sultan of Johore, '94, I Q. B. (C. A.) 149, though it has its comic side, is a decision of some importance. It brings a whole line of cases to their logical conclusion. It establishes in the most distinct terms the broad principle that the Courts of this country have no jurisdiction over an independent foreign sovereign unless he submits to the jurisdiction, and that such submission cannot take place until the jurisdiction is invoked. Doubts which might be raised by Munden v. Duke of Brunswick, 10 Q. B. 656;