5. If a drawee has written his name on a bill with the intention to accept, he is at liberty to cancel the acceptance before the bill is delivered, or, at least, before the fact of acceptance is communicated to the holder. Ib.

BILL OF LADING.

Carriage of goods: liability for rust damage.-In an action on a bill of lading for delivering iron in a damaged condition, the bill of lading containing a clause exempting the ship from liability for damage caused by rust,-Held, (1) that it lay on plaintiffs to prove that the damage was not caused by rust; and (2) that if the damage was caused by rust, and there was other damage superadded to the damage by rust, it was for the plaintiffs to separate the superadded damage from the damage caused by rust. Martin v. Hunter, 1 A. J. R. 128; 1 W., A'B. & W., L. 144.

Post dated: payment before date: negligence of bankers. The plaintiff post-dated a check and paid it away. It was presented at the bank on which it was drawn, and paid before its date. The bank afterward, and before its date, dishonored a check of the plaintiff for a smaller amount. Held, that the bank were bound to look at the date, and were guilty of negligence in paying it before its date, and were liable to damages. Hinchcliffe v. Ballarat Banking Company, 1 A. J. R. 169.

CONTRACTS.

1. Jury, functions of: waiver: delay.- Plaintiff contracted with defendants to construct omnibuses in a certain time, according to sample; the article to be of the 46 'same quality of material and workmanship as the pattern." In an action for non-acceptance of the work, held, that "quality" meant "kind; " that a substantial compliance was not sufficient, and a claim for "extras" could not be allowed where contract not fulfilled. (2) Where a pattern is specified in contract it is for the court to decide whether the article supplied is of the kind prescribed. It is for the jury to decide whether the article supplied duly answered to that known by a general or commercial term. McGregor v. The Melbourne Omnibus Company, 1 A. J. R. 20 and 73; 1 W., A'B. & W., L. 56.

2. Vendor and purchaser: carrier: acceptance: rejection. Where goods forwarded under a contract do not answer the description given in order, but are of such a description as to compel their rejection, held, that upon their return to the vendor the contract was at an end. Bailliere v. Foster, 1 A. J. R. 77.

CONVEYANCE.

Past words of: ejectment: legal estate. -In deeds of conveyance the only words vesting legal estate were in the past tense, "hath bargained, sold, released, quitclaimed, and confirmed unto the said." Held, sufficient to pass legal estate. Mein v. Dallas, 1 A. J. R. 89.

DEPOSIT.

1. Receipt: negligence: banker: fixed deposit.- When a deposit receipt was stolen, and, with a forged indorsement, presented to and paid by the bank, and negligence proved in such payment,-Held, that, notwithstanding that the deposit voucher showed that it was agreed by the depositing plaintiff that the possession of the deposit receipt by the bank should be "conclusive evidence of the plaintiff having, or some person on his behalf having, received the amount therein expressed," no title to property could be acquired by a felony, and

that the bank were not at liberty to pay the money to any one producing the receipt, it being a direct encouragement to crime. Colonial Bank v, McConkey, 1 A. J. R. 91.

2. Of check: excessive damages. -The court will not interfere in such cases, where it has no standard by which to measure the damages, though it may think them very large, unless they are very extravagant. Jonnes v. National Bank, 1 A. J. R. 170.

DRUNKENNESS.

Contract, when bad for.-Degree of drunkenness necessary to make agreement bad in equity is less than at law, and equity should not interfere for either party in enforcing or resisting it. Scates v. King, 1 A. J. R. 71; 1 W., A'B. & W., E. 100.

FALSE PRETENSES.

Post-dated check.-It is immaterial whether a check is dated on day given, or made payable at a future day. It represents money, and bears on the face of it an implied statement that the drawer has authority to draw, i. e., that he has funds at the bank, a portion of which he can withdraw. The representing of a check to be a good one is a false pretense. Per Barry, J. Reg. v. Bathurst, 1 A. J. R. 40.

GIFT.

Imperfect gift: death of donor.-An incomplete gift of money required to complete the building of a house, held, not binding on the executors of the donor; although the donees had changed their residence in expectation of the joint gift being perfected, and the donor, in pursuance of his intention to purchase the house for the donees, had paid a portion of the purchase-money in his life-time. Blair v. Grant, 1 A. J. R. 121; 1 W., A'B. & W., E. 130.

INSURANCE.

Fire policy: risk: alteration: notice: knowledge of assured.-H. effected a policy on his premises with the National Insurance Company. The policy contained a clause that the assured should give notice to the company if any thing occurred on the premises insured, or on those adjacent thereto, within the knowledge of the assured, whereby the risk should be in any way increased. Held, that where the risk was increased by the deposit of goods on the assured's own premises, the question of knowledge did not arise, that it only had reference to what took place on the adjacent premises. Hillerman v. The National Insurance Company, 1 A. J. R. 134; 1 W., W. & A'B., L. 155.

LANDLORD AND TENANT.

Agreement for tenancy for two years certain.-The agreement was for "two years certain, and so on from year to year, till either party should give the other six months' notice to determine the agreement." Held, that this tenancy might be terminated at the end of two years. Beaumont v. Love, 1 A. J. R. 167.

LARCENY.

Converting a check deposited as security.-The prisoner induced his employee to deposit a check with him for 300l., as security. He immediately cashed the check and used the proceeds. The information contained a count for stealing the check, and another for stealing the money. A conviction was sustained. Reg.v. Brockman, 1 A. J. R. 152.

MARRIAGE.

Breach of promise of: married man: measure of damages.-The defendant was a married man at the time of the promise. The defendant moved for a new trial, the damages being excessive, on the ground that the position of wife to the defendant, not being possible to the plaintiff, she could not be said to have lost that position, and it could not therefore be the measure of damages. The court refused a rule. Humphrey v. Kelly, 1 A. J. R. 170.

MURDER.

Accident: pursuit of felonious object.-Where A., with a loaded pistol, went in pursuit of B., to kill him, and while in such pursuit with that intent was intercepted by C., and in a struggle between A. and C. the pistol went off accidentally and killed C., held, that A. was guilty of the murder of C. Reg. v. Supple, 1 A. J. R. 129; 1 W., A'B. & W., L. 151.

NEGLIGENCE.

Disregarding warning.-Plaintiff, B., a carrier, was engaged to carry goods for M., defendant. While loading sacks of wheat at M.'s mill, he gave notice to M.'s servant not to send any more down shoot; but this was disregarded, and B. injured by sack sent down afterward. On rule nisi for nonsuit, on grounds of no evidence of negligence on part of defendant or his servants; and that plaintiff and men causing injury were in service of defendant,-Held, that there was distinct evidence of negligence, if men told not to send any more sacks down shoot, and as to common employment, that the contracts were distinct. Bellis v. Maxfield, 1 A. J. R. 35.

PARTNERSHIP.

1. Contracts between partners.-There is no contract, either express or implied, that co-adventurers in a contemplated purchase, to be completed within a given time, shall not deal singly with the vendor for a bargain, to come into operation after the original bargain has expired by effluxion of time. Pokorney v. Ditchburne, 6 W., W. & A'B., E. 284.

2. Old and new firm.- A deed of partnership between A. and M. contained a promise that the firm should take over the assets, and become responsible for the debts of an old firm of M. and N. Held, that under this clause the new partnership were not entitled to separate bank shares deposited by M. and N. to secure a joint debt to a bank. Agnew v. McGregor, 1 A. J. R. 133.

VENDOR AND PURCHASER.

1. Sale by description.- Where article of food is purchased by description, purchaser is entitled to have a merchantable article of that description. Spence v. Duffield, 1 A. J. R. 74; 1 W., A'B. & W., L., 49.

2. Damages. In an action for damages for delivery of flour inferior to that contracted for, the measure of damages is the difference between the value of the flour that ought to have been delivered and the value of flour delivered. No special damage can be recovered for transhipment of flour to another country, and freight therefrom after rejection, unless such exportation were contemplated by both parties at the time of the contract. Ib.

"Why, sir," said a client to his solicitor, "you are writing my bill on very rough paper," "never mind," was the lawyer's reply, "it will have to be filed before it comes into court."

THE LAWYER ABROAD.

One of the purposes of foreign travel is to throw off the cares of business which the busy man carries about with him, at home, like the pack of a peddler; and, in new scenes and associations, to forget the drudgery of incessant routine. To a professional man engaged in the details of legal or medical practice, there is a feeling of inexpressible satisfaction in following the bent of one's own inclination as to place and time, without encountering a patient or a client, and in having the consciousness of being one's own master. All this is aside from the added pleasures of witnessing what is seen, and the strange feeling that comes over one as he looks at scenes which are consecrated by history and song. Comparatively few go abroad to cultivate their own particular branch of science or skill, and are content to witness the exhibitions, which they do, of those, as they do of whatever else they meet with, as a thing to be looked at rather than put to practical use. This is especially true of our own profession, of whom one meets a goodly number abroad. It is the last thing a lawyer thinks of on leaving his country on a tour of pleasure or observation, to turn his law to account, or make it serviceable either in the way of profit or amusement. He finds himself, it is true, strangely drawn toward the courts, if any are in session, in the cities he visits, and he is curious to look at the bar and the judges, and see how they do things, even if he cannot understand a word they say. He stands with a sense of profound awe within the majestic precincts of Westminster hall, and enters, as if revisiting a spot he had seen, the court of king's bench, and looks, for the first time, upon its judges, in their wigs and robes, and the queer assemblage of wigs and gowns which fill the cramped and uncomfortable seats appropriated to the gentlemen of the bar. But what passes before him without at the time consciously awakening a thought that it had any thing to do with law as a science, or its universality as a principle, often comes back upon him within the quiet and seclusion of his office, when he has had time to ruminate upon what he has seen in his travels, and things have arranged themselves in his mind into something like order and consistency. It is then that he finds he has been, unconsciously, learning how vast is that system, and how universal in its application, whose parts he has been studying under the name of law; and in the practice of which he has spent years of patient industry. We know nothing that is so suggestive of the extent, power and wise adaptation of law as an element and outgrowth of civilization as what one meets with in a brief tour of a few months in Europe. Even the lawyer is hardly aware, at first, of the truth of this, and it is only, as we have said, when he has had time to review his steps, after it is over, that the past comes back upon him. If A. owes B. a sum of money, and pays it by an order upon C., who happens to owe him, it is a very simple and intelligible affair, and excites no remark. But when he is told that if he wishes to carry funds with him to meet his expenses on a journey from New York to Naples, or Constantinople, the best way is to go to an agent of Baring & Brothers, or some other banker, and get an order from that house on sundry persons living in any of the twenty cities he would have to pass through on his way, by simply paying or securing the agent for the amount of such order, while he is aware that he neither knows the Barings, nor they him, it becomes a matter of curious speculation how this is to insure him the ready money he is to

want among perfect strangers. And if he never studied the law of bills of exchange, he would be still more at a loss to comprehend it, if he were told that half the commission of the world was transacted by processes as simple as this.

tunity of being reminded that, by changing our longitude, we had not gone beyond the region of law, and of just such law, too, as we had left in New York.

These general bills of exchange, or letters of credit, which are in familiar use by travelers visiting Europe, are but a single incident in the experience of every one going abroad, which strikingly illustrates the extent, identity and universality of the law. For if the rights of the holder of one of these were not the same in Boston and London, and Vienna, or if there was any question in the matter, nobody would dare to rely upon them. And though there is a faith and honor among merchants and bankers of different nations, generally stronger than the law, few would be willing to embark on a voyage half around the world, and rely for his funds with which to meet the expenses upon the honor of strangers. Every body dealing in these knows that law has its sanctions to enforce whatever is undertaken by the parties to such bills, and, more than that, they know that this law is not the variable whim of different courts, or affected by the political forms which the governments of the different States assume. It is one and the same, wherever it is sought to be applied. And we repeat, we know no more distinguishing mark of the progress of civilization, than this universal prevalence of a law which is based upon the idea of the brotherhood of States, as well as of personal honor and good faith.

Our purpose was to reach Paris, still four hundred miles away. To do so, we had got to make a contract with somebody to carry us and our baggage. We had not brought Angel or Story with us, but we knew that such a contract was nothing more nor less than the very familiar one in our own country of bailment. We had no lawyer to apply to, and if we had we could not speak a word of his language, and so, as a last resort, by looking inquiringly and saying "chemin de fer," which somebody had told us meant a railroad, we found ourselves at a station, and did as we saw others doing-went to a small window, and holding out some money, carefully pronounced the word, Paree, being careful to sink the s and turn the i into an e; and in half a minute an official of some sort seized our money and handed us a little bit of paper, with words printed upon it, and our bargain was made. By that brief and simple exercise of dumb show, we had made a solemn contract with a vast corporation, whereby, for so many francs paid, they engaged to take our precious person and our indispensable baggage of trunk, valise and umbrella, from Brest to Paris, safely, promptly and comfortably, or pay us the damage. We were no longer in doubt that we were in a land of christian civilization -it was before the days of the Paris Commune- and were the more satisfied of it, when, at the end of seventeen hours, we found ourselves and baggage safely landed in the very heart of that brilliant and busy city. Here again, thought we, is another example of the blessed influence of that law which makes fellowcitizens of all men, and watches with sleepless vigilance over men who do not know how to take care of themselves. We were not surprised to find the law as to the responsibility of innkeepers in force in Paris or Geneva the same as we had read in our books at home, though we are not yet quite sure that they have adopted the principle of the Six Carpenters' Case-because this law of Inns is so reasonable that it ought to be adopted everywhere. But we were sometimes surprised to see how smoothly the law of bills of exchange worked in our own case, supplying as it did an interpretation to signs, dispensing with the use of language, and providing us, as the essentials of travel, with as much coin of the country as we found requisite to pay our hotel and railroad bills. In one of the interior cities of Germany, for instance, we found our cash running low. We looked into our letter of credit, and found it was one of the places in which we might look for the banker named therein, whose patronymic seemed to consist chiefly of consonants, which we could not pronounce. After sundry difficulties, we found our way into a dark and narrow street, and at a door which led up two or three stories, by means of dark, blind alleys, which brought us into a little area, dimly lighted, into which several doors opened, upon one which we read a word which we concluded meant our banker's place of business. On opening it we found various clerks busy at little desks, and addressed ourselves to one who seemed to be a little more at leisure than the others, by showing our letter of credit, which he took and looked at, and then looked a question how much we wanted. As he could not talk English, nor we German or Bohemian, we marked with a pencil the amount we needed. He filled up a little printed form which we signed, addressed to Baring and Brothers, they being the only

But this is only one of the many illustrations which the journey of every traveler supplies. Nor do we know of any more ready way of explaining what is meant by this, than a brief reference to a personal experience. On a recent occasion we found ourselves on board of a French steamer, bound from New York to Brest. We were out on the ocean. We had paid our passage money to the purser, but had taken nothing to show it. The only language we heard on the part of the officers was strange and unintelligible, and the only paper we had to show that we had a civil or political existence, was in the bottom of our trunk, which had been stowed away below. And the thought came over us, how it was, that out upon this trackless waste, one could pass so safely from continent to continent, without any more danger of being molested by freebooters or lawless men, than between Philadelphia and New York? The answer was in the consciousness that the law was still over and around us, and that a wrong done to our ship or her passengers, was a wrong done to the nation which they represented. And we thought of the changes which have come over the relation of States to each other, since piracy was an honorable pursuit among the Gauls, and the Northmen made pillage and robbery a legitimate business on the sea. In other words, we were every day impressed more and more, as we now and then crossed the track of other vessels, or caught a glimpse of one of them in the horizon, with the all-pervading principle of international law, which makes the ocean a safe highway of nations, for the transit of untold wealth, and along which thousands of unarmed men and unprotected women and children were daily passing.

In due time the coast of France greeted our eyes, and we found ourselves entering the broad and capacious harbor of that queer old city of Brest, around which, even in winter, the fields are clothed with perpetual verdure from the rains that are incessantly falling in that part of Brittany. Here we had further oppor

English words in it, and the amount we had asked for was laid down before us; the sum was entered upon the back of our letter, and we took up both and went on our way down stairs into the street. But the mystery to us was how they could know that we were the John Doe mentioned in the letter, or what assurance they could have that our draft on Barings' would be paid when presented. Blessed, thought we, be the memory of the man who invented bills of exchange, and the law which makes them, like the notes of music, invariably current.

We might multiply instances and examples of that ubiquity of law which the traveler experiences wherever he goes, and which he is so apt to find, in substance, like his own. It illustrates what one may see in comparing the laws of Moses, of Rome and of modern Europe, in matters of business-a wonderful identity in principle, and often in form. These things the traveler may learn, even if he goes tongue-tied as we did, from not knowing any language but his own. But if he seeks to understand how their law is enforced, what are its forms of procedure, and how justice is administered, he needs something to unlock its mysteries besides his eyes and the play of pantomime.

We were greatly interested in listening for half an hour in one of the courts at Naples, to a passionate address of a fine-looking woman to the three grave judges who occupied the bench, and who listened with great attention to what she was saying. But we came away, at last, without being able to make out whether she was acting the lawyer in behalf of a client, or pleading her own case. In the present condition of woman's rights, it would have been a great satisfaction if we could have settled this grave question. One piece of advice we give to our brethren gratis, and that is, before you go abroad, get a grammar and dictionary, and study some of the first principles of some other language than your own.

A little incident of our experience might illustrate this. We were staying a few days in that dreamy old city of Venice. We had seen the Doge's palace and St. Mark's, had looked at the churches, and "stood in Venice" not "on the Bridge of Sighs," for nobody did that, unless it was Byron-but had been in plain sight of it, and felt a desire to look into their courts and see how they were managed. We contrived to tell a gondolier what we wanted, and he took us up to a building near the Rialto, over the door of which was an inscription which had something to do with "JusFice." We mounted one flight of stairs to what we supposed the court-room, where we encountered an official, who seemed to be curious to know what we were in pursuit of. We tried to explain that we were looking for a court, by repeating the nearest word we could command for it, in poor Latin, worse French, and something that sounded like Italian. He seemed to get it into his head that we had some business with the court and took us up another story into a room where we encountered a still more formidable looking official, on whom we repeated our polyglot experiment. He sent us with our attendant up one story higher, to a room where we found several persons, not one of whom had any pretense to judicial dignity, and appeared to be mere clerks. They seemed to understand that we either wanted to make a complaint against somebody, or to auswer to one which somebody had made against us, and we were glad to bow ourselves out, for fear of having our curiosity rewarded in a way we little expected. And that is all we could, if called upon, state

as to the course of justice in modern Venice. We had seen much more of it as it used to be administered by means of the Council of Ten, the Lion's mouth and the "Piombi" dungeons of the Doge's Palace.

Without, however, wearying the patience of our readers with further details, we will only add that, in every court we visited on the continent, we found the judges quiet, grave, intelligent men, to whom the insignia they wore but added dignity and consequence; while the gentlemen of the bar were uniformly courteous in their deportment, and the robes they wore were in keeping with the student-like air and bearing which most of them evinced. Further than their exterior within the court rooms we cannot speak of the bench and bar; but they were evidently of a superior class to the men engaged in other departments of business.

One thing, however, we can say with confidence, that one lesson which a lawyer learns abroad is, to be more than ever contented with what he finds at home. He finds as much dignity in our higher courts, without either caps, wigs or scarlet robes, as he sees under all those on the continent. And the bar, as a body, has nothing to be ashamed of in comparison with their foreign brethren, if we take such as are in the better class of business here and there, while the safeguard one feels in the presence of a jury is something which one would not exchange for the form or official display which a stranger sees on visiting a court of justice in Europe.

The longer we live the more we respect the practical shrewdness and common sense which a jury bring to the determination of questions of fact, and the less willing we should be to exchange it for the learning or wisdom and impracticability of the judges who settle such questions in the courts on the Continent. We know a little of the Roman law, and have, occasionally, looked into the codes in use in Europe, but give us for the free and expansive activity of American trade and industry, and the habits of thought and spirit of enterprise which we witness on every side, the broad and generous notions of the common law, staple and conservative as it is, in its very liberality.-Western Jurist.

STRIKES AND CONTRACT.

Every one deplores the constantly recurring warfare between capital and labor. Every effort to put an end to strikes has signally failed. Acts of Parliament, courts of conciliation, plans of arbitration have not been of the slightest service. It occurs to us that the root of the evil is the misapprehension of the nature of free labor, and of the principles of the law of contract.

Physical labor is the only commodity which is not paid for according to the quantity delivered to the purchaser. Physicians, lawyers, public writers, and all mental laborers are paid for work done, not for their time. Our wages system is a relic of the slave labor system. The bondsman was fed, clothed, housed and provided for in sickness and in old age. His working hours were his master's, for which the master paid in provisions, clothing, lodging, etc. Our free laborers have most unfortunately continued the time system, instead of selling their labor by the measure of the produce thereof. We are persuaded that if the capitalists and the laborers will conduct their business on the principles of the law of contract, there will be fewer strikes. In that case there would be no dispute about

the hours of labor. The laborers would agree to deliver so much work, and if they decided that they would not labor more than eight or nine hours daily, they would have to contract for a quantity of work that they could turn out in that time. A demand for an increase of wages would not be complicated by a nine hours' or any other movement. Then both the employers and the employed should make contracts that would protect both sides against the effects of any sudden quarrel. It is absurd to hear capitalists complain that they

are afraid to undertake work lest the men should leave them in the midst of the work. They contract to deliver the ship to the shipowner, and why should they not contract with the man to deliver the amount of labor requisite to build the ship? As nothing else has succeeded, perhaps it would be worth while to try what can be done by a proper use of the law of contract. -London Law Journal.

COURTS AND JURIES.

COURT PROCEEDINGS IN ROME.

BOOK NOTICES.

A Treatise on the Common and Civil Law, as embraced in the Jurisprudence of the United States. By Wm. Archer Cocke, author of the Constitutional History of the United States. New York: Baker, Voorhis & Co., 1871.

This is a well-written treatise, and shows marks of research and ability. While we cannot acquiesce in the conclusions of the author, we must confess that he ably supports those conclusions by argument and authority.

The design of the work is to establish, first, that the constitution and legislation of the United States do not recognize the controlling influence of the common law in national jurisprudence; and, second, that they recognize the civil law, next to the constitution, as best adapted to the interests of the nation. A8 to the first position taken there is a difference of opinion, though perhaps the weight of authority is in its favor, yet, where great minds differ, the correctness or incorrectness of a principle can hardly be determined by counting noses. As to the second position we suppose there is very little dispute. Whether the framers of the constitution intended to adopt the common law as a basis of national jurisprudence or not, there is no evidence that they intended to adopt the civil. In fact, the common was the only one known and recognized in the country, and all its distinctive principles, to such an extent as was believed necessary, were incorporated in our fundamental law. So far as the treatise is intended as an exposition of the peculiar excellences of the jurisprudence of Rome, it is worthy of the consideration of every person who desires to study law as a science. While for our own part we believe the ancient system wholly unfitted for modern use, and most of its underlying principles repugnant to modern notions, we are sure that no harm will be done to the American lawyers if they devete a little attention to the study of the civil law.

Trial by jury has found its way to Rome at a time when at least one organ in the English press considers that it ought to be abolished in this country, and with it seems to have been inaugurated certain improvements. One of the most tiresome processes connected with our trial for felonies is the swearing of jurors. We do not know what the Italians do with their jurors, but we observe that they swear their witnesses in a batch. This must save a great deal of time, and would have a very advantageous operation if applied to the Tichborne case. The claimant is said to have about 120 witnesses. To swear them all at once would not take many moments. To swear them individually must occupy at least, in the aggregate, an hour and a half, but double that time would probably be nearer the mark. The Italians dispense with a witness box, and bring the witness on to the dais before the whole court, where every movement can be observed. We do not know whether this is any great gain, but the Italians seem to like it-when they are not witnesses. Further, it appears that the judges at Rome do not prohibit applause. We in England allow jokes and any amount of laughter, but rob an advocate of his well earned applause. The outbursts of the Italian audience, on the other hand, occasionally interrupt his oratory, and the replies of a witness are not free from their audible criticism. This is, of course, going too far, and when we learn further that the judge's summing up is scarcely heard by reason of the talking going on, we feel what a wholesome effect would be produced were Mr. Justice Blackburn to preside in the Roman court for a few days. The new procedure is, on the whole, considered successful, and a lady swindler and political intriguante has been found guilty, notwithstanding her young counsel appealed and entreated for two hours and a half "till his mouth was white with foam, and he sank down exhausted on his chair." Talking of chairs, the Italian jurymen are provided with comfortable arm chairs covered with leather. We certainly might take the hint and give our jurymen a little better accommodation than the wretched wooden boxes in which they are accustomed to sit cheek by jowl six in a row.-London Law Times.

Reports of cases at law and in chancery, argued and determined in the Supreme Court of Illinois, by Norman L. Freeman, Reporter. Vol. LII, containing a portion of the remaining cases decided at the September Term, 1869. Printed for the Reporter, Springfield, 1871.

Anneka Jans is probably the only human being that ever lived whose heirs are not numbered.

In the western States it has become the custom to report a greater proportion of the decisions rendered than is reported either with us or in England. This course is perhaps necessary. While the general principles of the law are as well settled at the west as elsewhere, their sectional application is not, so that every decision made in the appellate courts is important as indicating how far in that particular locality the old doctrines are to be followed, and how far they are to be modified to meet changed circumstances. We presume this will account for the somewhat numerous volumes of reports lately issued in Illinois. The book we have just received is numbered Vol. 52, which, when we consider the relatively short time since reporting began in that State, seems a rather high count. Yet, in looking through we find very few cases we would wish unreported. Perhaps half a dozen out of a hundred might be omitted without detriment.

The head notes are accurate and full. If there is any fault in them, it is that they are too full. Our notion is that a head note should contain merely a statement of the point of law decided in the opinion to which it is prefixed, giving a synopsis of facts only when necessary to render clear the statement. An