Jew Books and New Editions. BENDER'S LAWYERS' DIARY AND DIRECTORY, 1895. We take pleasure in announcing that this annual diary has again appeared which contains so much necessary information of the courts, judges and lawyers of the State. The work contains a full list of the officers of the Federal government, New York State government, the County Judges, District Attorneys, County Treasurers, County Clerks and Sheriffs, with Article VI of the New York State Constitution, the Judges of the United States courts, with the terms of the courts, the appointments for the Supreme Court of the State of New York, with a diary which contains under each day of the year the sittings of the court for the time. The legal directory is most full and complete and the names and addresses of the members of the bar of New York and Kings Counties have been added, which will add greatly to the value of the work. The names of the members of the bar of each county are given in full, and this feature will prove of great value to many who have been anxious to obtain such a work. The book is compiled by Irving Boardman, of Elmira, N. Y. Published by Matthew Bender, 511-513 Broadway, Albany, N. Y.

BIRDSEYE'S CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF NEW YORK
STATUTES. SUPPLEMENT TO JANUARY 1, 1895.
BY CLARENCE F. BIRDSEYE, OF NEW YORK BAR.

in ascertaining whether any statute has been
amended or not. Published by Baker, Voorhis &
Co., 66 Nassau Street, New York City.

THE RULES OF THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE
STATE OF NEW YORK.

Annotated by Edmund H. Smith. The second edition of the Court of Appeals practice just published has been received and is a most complete

work on the rules of the court and the recent changes made in them by the court of last resort. The book contains the order adopting rules and the order amending them. The changes made by the appointment of the State Board of Examiners are thoroughly shown, together with the scope of the examinations and the times and places of holding the same, with a most complete chapter on the instructions of the Regents of the University to law students, showing the necessary requirements to be passed before the student files his certificate of clerkship. Following this is a very complete index and a voluminous table of citations with the sections of the United States and New York State Constitutions which bear on the subject under discussion, the statute laws relating to the rules, and the sections of the Code of Civil and Criminal Procedure which

have reference to this matter. The work has been most carefully compiled and contains all that is necessary in regard to the subject of the book. It is well bound, printed in clear type, and on good paper. Published by Banks & Bros., New York and Albany, 1895.

THE

Notes.

THE Chicago judge who has recently decided that a pickpocket is not punishable for being caught with his hand in another man's pocket because there was nothing in the pocket to steal was remarkably considerate after all. He might have ordered the man whose pockets made all the trouble under arrest for false pretenses. - Lockport Sun.

This work is designed to show the changes in the statute law, made by the enactments of the State Legislature subsequent to 1886, prior to which time reference must be made to the two former volumes of chronological tables of statutes which were published in 1887. The author most properly states that the work is not intended to give his ideal of the method to be pursued in revising and treating our statutes, but only takes the legislation of the State as it is, and is designed to give in as simple and inexpensive manner as possible, a book to be used in unravelling the terrible snarl in which our statute law has become involved. The work is arranged showing the changes made by the laws of 1887 and subsequent years, including 1894, which have amended the statute law prior to 1887. The laws amended are, therefore, arranged under the rosa-bonheur-luciform-banewort-margin," and

date of the year in which they were passed and the chapter and year of the law which amend the original law is added, so that the person using the table of statutes can easily see whether the law which he is examining has been changed. The book is absolutely necessary in connection with Birdseye's statutes, and is also most useful in connection with the two former volumes which the author published

The economical persons who save money by sending cypher cablegrams must not expect anything more than nominal damages in case of failure in transmission. In Western Union Tel. Co. v. Wilson (32 Flor. 527; 37 Am. St. Rep. 125), the dispatch ran: "Dobell, Liverpool: Gladfulness-shipment

really related to an authority to sell lumber, but the court said it "contained nothing that would indicate to the defendant's operator whether it contained a criticism upon the 'Horse Fair' painting by the great artist Rosa Bonheur, named in message, or whether it related to a matter of dollars and cents." This case contains a valuable list of authorities, pro and con. -Legal Adviser.

Judge Underwood of Georgia, like other judges, sometimes gave charges to juries which were not the product of reflection. On one occasion he was presiding at Calhoun, in the Cherokee circuit, for a brother judge, his own circuit being the Rome circuit. A case of some little consequence was being tried before him, Col. E. J. Kiker representing the plaintiff. The judge adopted fully Col. Kiker's view of the case, and so charged the jury. The jury, however, took a different view and returned a verdict squarely in the teeth of the charge. Brother Kiker immediately moved for a new trial, of course having the greatest confidence that it would be granted. Several days thereafter, the motion having been perfected, it was assigned for argument, and Brother Kiker arose and read his motion for new trial, basing it entirely upon the fact that the jury had found contrary to the judge's charge. Said Judge Underwood after the charge was read, "Brother Kiker, did I charge that?" "Yes, sir, you did, and you have so certified, and the jury found for the defendant," said Col. Kiker gleefully and triumphantly, thinking there was nothing to do but take an order setting aside the verdict. "Well then, Brother Kiker," said the judge, "if I charged that in this case, and the jury found against it, all I have got to say is, that that jury had more sense than I did, and I congratulate them that their good sense went to such an extent as to prevent them being mislead by the court into a wrong verdict. I don't care to hear from the other side, I overrule the motion for new trial." Bag.

Green

to deliver promptly a message telling of the sickness of a half-sister were not set aside as excessive. In one case it was shown that there was no great affection between the person to whom the telegram was addressed and the sick relative, but the verdict was allowed to stand. In some cases the amount of mental anguish could not have been great, but the Texas juries, with great regularity and promptness, find verdicts against the telegraph companies when such cases are brought before them. - Washington Law Journal.

A case of considerable importance in connection with international copyright law was decided in the Court of Appeal on Thursday last week. Briefly, the case is this: The plaintiff, Herr Franz Hanfstaengl, is the well known art publisher in Munich, and some time ago he published photographic copies of a picture entitled "The Love Letter," of which he claimed the copyright. The defendants are the American Tobacco Company, trading in London, and they reproduced the work, and used it as an advertisement in connection with their tobaccos. The reproduction was admitted, and the contention was that the work was not copyright according to the International Copyright Act, which act gives the signatory countries under the Berne Convention the same rights in foreign countries as they enjoy in their own. The picture in question was painted in Florence, and sold, together with the copyright, to an Italian picture dealer, who subsequently sold the latter to the plaintiff, who afterward published the reproductions. The case, as tried by Mr. Baron Pollock some months ago, turned very much upon the terms "production" and "publication." The picture was publicly exhibited in Italy, but no copies of it were made there. According to Italian law, registration is necessary before publication; in Germany, where the copies were first issued, it is not. Mr. Baron Pollock ruled that the case was decided by Italian law, Italy being the country in which the picture was first produced within the meaning of the International Copyright Act, and gave a verdict for the defendant. Against this the plaintiff appealed, and the issue was tried before the master of the rolls, Lord Justice Lopes, and Lord Justice Rigby. In the end, the court held that, under the International Copyright Act, "first produced" means "first published," and that was done in Germany, and therefore the appeal was allowed. The three judges were in accord on the subject. The International Copyright Act is a great boon to artists and publishers, but in details it requires amendment. Of that we may have something to say anon, as there are other cases pending under it which have soon to be de

The Texas rule allowing senders of telegraph messages to recover for damages to their feelings from delay in transmitting the dispatches leads to an enormous amount of litigation against the telegraph companies. In some of the digests almost the whole section referring to actions against telegraph companies consists of references to the decisions of the Texas courts. Many of the messages relate to the sickness or death of relatives. In one of the latest cases it was shown that the message could not have been delivered in time to enable the woman to whom it was addressed to be present at the funeral of her father, whose sickness was reported in the telegram. She endeavored, nevertheless, to obtain damages, on the ground that if she had received the message promptly she might have telegraphed asking that the funeral be postponed, and so might have been present at the services. The Supreme Court reversed the judgment for $500, obtained against the company. A verdict of $2,000, obtained by a father who had not received promptly a message concerning his sick son, one of $500 for delay in delivering a telegram announcing the funeral of a brother, and one of $1,000 for failure | cided. - The British Journal of Photography.

The Albany Law Journal.

ALBANY, JANUARY 19, 1895.

Current Topics.

[All communications intended for the Editor should be addressed simply to the Editor of THE ALBANY LAW JOURNAL. All letters relating to advertisements, subscriptions, or other business matters, should be addressed to THE ALBANY LAW JOURNAL COMPANY.]

THE

HE eighteenth annual meeting of the New York State Bar Association was held in the city of Albany on January 15 and 16, 1895. On Tuesday evening the association first met in the Assembly Chamber, in the Capitol, where the annual address of the president was delivered by Hon. Tracy C. Becker, of Buffalo, and the address of the meeting, on Property, its Rights and Duties in Our Legal and Social System," was most ably read by Hon. John F. Dillon, of New York city. On Wednesday morning the association met at the City Hall, and after transacting routine business, listened to a paper on "The Law of Trade-Marks," by Rowland Cox, Esq., of New York; one by William B. Davenport, of Brooklyn, on "Some Curious Incidents in the Work of a Public Ad

reform. The reception to the judges of the
Court of Appeals and to the justices of the
Supreme Court at the Kenmore in the evening
was a most charming event and fittingly ended
one of the most successful and useful meetings
of this association. There seems to be no
doubt but that the active career and interest
of the New York State Bar Association in legal
matters has been of great benefit to the State,
and the association can point with pride to the
accomplishment of much that has been under-
taken, as for instance, to the passage of the
bill for the uniform examination of students
for admission to the bar which was enacted by
the Legislature and signed by the governor
last year. The discussion in the morning of
Wednesday was as to what legislation is neces-
sary to carry out the provisions of the new
judiciary article. Hon. Louis Marshall of New
York, formerly of Syracuse, a member of the
recent constitutional convention, presented a
report showing what sections of the Code of
Civil Procedure and the Code of Criminal Pro-
cedure should be changed in order to make
the necessary changes required by the ratifica-
tion of the new judiciary article by the people
last November. One of the most important
topics in this discussion was the relief of the
Court of Appeals. It was thought at the time
that the judiciary article was passed by the
convention that sufficient relief had been
granted to the court of last resort, but in a
practical test of the subject it was found that
over one hundred more cases are at present on
the calendar of the court than were noticed for
argument a year ago at this time. We have
always maintained that however popular it
may have been to remove the $500 limita-
tion for appeal to the court of last resort,
yet it was a matter of absolute need to
place
money limitation on appeals so
that the Court of Appeals could properly cope
with the work which came before that body.
We also maintained at the time the matter was
under discussion in the convention, that it was
wrong to abolish the provisions for calling to-
gether the second division of the Appellate
Court composed of judges of the Supreme
Court, since it was apparent that such a measure
would not be taken advantage of unless it was
absolutely essential, and there was no reason

ministrator," and a paper by Interstate Railroad Commissioner Martin A. Knapp, of Syracuse. After a delightful lunch at the Fort Orange Club, the following papers were read during the afternoon: "The Work of Bar Associations," by Ralph Stone, secretary of the Michigan Bar Association; "David Dudley Field and His Work," by J. Newton Fiero, of Albany; "Stenographers' Fees," by Emory P. Close, of Buffalo; "The Liability of Municipal Corporations for Damages Caused by the Contamination of their Water Supply," by Almet F. Jenks, of Brooklyn. The meeting of the association closed with the election of officers, which resulted in the election of Hon. William H. Robertson, of Katonah, N. Y., as president; L. B. Proctor, Esq., of Albany, as secretary; J. A. Lawson, Esq., of Albany, as corresponding secretary; Hon. Albert Hessberg, of Albany, as treasurer; Edward G. Whittaker, Esq., as chairman of the executive committee; Charles J. Buchanan, of Albany, as secretary of the executive committee; and J. Newton Fiero, Esq., of Albany, as chairman of the committee on law / why the need of such a body should not here

VOL. 51 No. 3.

a

after arise with the increase in this state of litigation which must be determined by the Court of Appeals. We have, however, arrived at the conclusion that the only remedy for the over-crowded calenders of the Court of Appeals is a thorough and practical change in the Code of Civil Procedure so that the practice in this

a change will eventually appear in the increased confidence of the public in the law and its advocates. In regard to making the Code of Civil Procedure conform to the requirements of the new judiciary article, a most excellent committee was appointed at the meeting of the bar association, among whose members are the follow

State will be so simple and clear that many use- | ing: Hon. Louis Marshall, of New York; Hon.

less questions of procedure will not have to be determined by the court of last resort. Why should a client pay an attorney to litigate the way in which a right can be secured or maintained, and afterward continue the lawyer's fees in order to secure the right which he ought to have been granted in the first place without having first to have determined the method he should use to secure justice by litigation through many courts of the State. We presume that there are some members of the legal profession who prefer to throw around their cases the mysteries of the law but we do not believe in delving around in obscure nooks and corners in order to raise technicalities which may defeat the cause of justice. A party's right to the possession of property or of any of the other constitutional guarantees should be absolute and these he should obtain by due process of the law and not through obscure complicated and expensive means of procedure. The discussion of the question as to whether the Code of Civil Procedure should be revised, condensed and simplified, took place at the meeting of the bar association on Wednesday afternoon, and no voice was raised in opposition to the most complete simplification of our present Code which could be enacted by the Legislature. When a suit is commenced, the question should be, what is the object of the litigation, and not what is the manner in which we can secure the end which we wish to obtain. The remedy should be apparent and easy, not clothed with all the unnecessary legal phraseology and technicalities which at present absolutely condemn the present Code of Civil Procedure as a death-trap for unfortunate litigants. Simplicity of expression and phraseology and clearness of diction, with condensation of provisions, should not only be enacted, but methods should

Elihu Root, of New York; Hon. T. E. Hancock, attorney-general; Hon. Tracy C. Becker and other gentlemen, who are authorized to prepare a report of the sections of the Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure which need revision, except those parts relating to the division of the State into departments and the place of holding the terms of the Appellate Division. This can be speedily submitted to the Legislature, with the recommendation of the bar association and passed at the earliest possible moment by the Senate and assembly. The committee on law reform, of which J. Newton Fiero, expresident of the association, is chairman, were empowered to take such steps as they may deem fit to secure the simplification, condensation and revision of the Code of Civil Procedure in the lines which were suggested by the discussion of that subject. A bill to appoint two commissioners to perform that work will be soon introduced in the Legislature and we trust that the number not only will remain, but that two men who have had a large and active practice in the State and who recognize the defects in the present system will be appointed who will promptly accomplish a reform which will be felt in every branch of the law in this State and which will lead to a similar movement in other States and in the practice in the United States courts.

Judge Dillon's address before the State Bar Association of New York was delivered

in the legislative Assembly Chamber on the evening of January 15, his subject being

Property, its Rights and Duties in Our Legal and Social Systems." The address set forth that from the first settlement of this country the right of private property, both in lands and chattels, had been recognized; that it was guar

be so changed as to make the remedy abso-anteed in all the charters of the original States;

lutely simple and plain to the ordinary layman. This may appear ultra, but the wisdom of such

that the Federal Constitution and all the existing State Constitutions contain provisions that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation, and that every State was forbidden to pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts. These constitutional guaranties were declared to constitute the basis of any consideration of the legal rights and duties of property; that it was on these foundations that our government was laid, in the belief that these principles are those best adapted to insure civil security and social and individual pros-development of this country were given. Priperity and happiness.