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Therein is the lesson,

of England and America."
more than in all the boasted reforms and alleged pro-
gress of our time, which Americans, native and natur-
alized, especially those of alien birth, need most to
learn: Love of ordered liberty that stands for those
inherent rights of manhood for which the descendants
of the first colonists fought against the mother coun-
try, and love of law which will insist upon respect
for and obedience to authority duly established by
the will of the people. Lawlessness, whether by vaga-
bonds, thieves, murderers, grafters or lynchers, or by
predatory wealth, corporations or unscrupulous poli-
ticians, is foreign to the spirit of the fathers who
established this nation's foundations on the princi-

ples embodied in the constitution and common law

The right of non-resident alien parents, next of kin of a minor son whose death was wrongfully caused by the negligence of another, to maintain an action to recover for his death, is sustained in Atchison, T. & S. F. R. Co. v. Fajardo (Kan.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 681.

The procurement by a prisoner of tools adapted to jail breaking is held, in State v. Hurley (Vt.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 804, not to render him guilty of an attempt to break jail.

The proprietor of a bath house, who, for a consideration, furnishes bath rooms, bathing suits, and bathe in the sea, and also receives their money, jew

other accessories of the bath to those who desire to

of their old home across the sea.-Rochester Demo-elry, or other valuables for safekeeping, is held, in Walpert v. Bohan (Ga.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 828, to liable for loss occurring from want of ordinary care be a depositary for hire in relation thereto, and to be

crat and Chronicle.

That the Isle of Pines is not American territory

has been officially and judicially declared by the Supreme Court of the United States. The decision was rendered in the famous case of Edward J. Pearcy v. Nevada N. Stranahan, collector of the port at New York, and the opinion of the court was announced by Chief Justice FULLER, who said that up to the time of the Paris treaty the Isle of Pines had been considered as an integral part of Cuba, and that it could not be held to be covered by Article 2 of that treaty, which included only islands in the vicinity of Porto Rico.

There was a general sigh of relief from the justices sitting in the different parts of the Supreme Court, Brooklyn, when the day's business came to a close yesterday afternoon, says the New York Times. It had been a trying day, due to their donning for the first time long black silk gowns.

It was recently decided by the judges that more dignity would be added to the bench in Brooklyn if they were to wear gowns. Yesterday, by agreement, they all appeared robed in black silk. Entering from their chambers, several of them had difficulty in managing the skirts of their "Mother Hubbards," as an irreverent court officer described them, and it was some time before they were at ease.

Justice Josiah T. Marean rebelled. He wore his gown until recess, but in the afternoon astonished the court by appearing without it. He said he was willing enough to wear the gown on special occasions, but thought it too stuffy and uncomfortable to wear regularly. All the other justices stuck to their gowns throughout the day.

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Among the Late Decisions.

The right to set up the breach of a contract in defense of an action upon an account stated, for money earned under it, is sustained in Gutshall v. Cooper (Colo.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 820.

on his part.

A note payable to a director or officer of a railroad company in his personal capacity and for his personal benefit, on condition that a railroad is built to a certain point by a certain time, is held, in McGuffin v. Coyle (Okla.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 524, to be void as against public policy.

Where a contract made and intended to be performed in another State is attempted to be enforced by suit thereon in the courts of Georgia, it is held, in Thomas v. Clarkson (Ga.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 658, that the statute of limitations of Georgia will be applied, rather than that of the other State.

The power of the Legislature to confer upon the court jurisdiction to make a conclusive determination without inquiry as to the fact that a person who has been absent for more than seven years is dead, and proceed to distribute his property, is denied in Savings Bank v. Weeks (Md.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 690.

The truth of articles published during a trial, tending to prejudice the public and members of the jury, and thereby influence the result, is held, in Hughes v. Territory (Ariz.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 572, to be no defense to a proceeding for contempt.

That an agreement for an exclusive agency for a certain class of goods is illegal under a statute prohibiting contracts in restraint of trade is held, in Packard v. Byrd (S. C.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 547, not to prevent a recovery for a bill of goods sold under it.

A contractor who fails to secure the architect's certificate of completion, as required by his contract, is held, in Bush v. Jones (C. C. A., 3d C.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 774, to be obliged, in order to recover by showing a substantial completion of the building,

satisfactorily to establish that the certificate was unreasonably withheld.

A contract between the proprietors of the only two first-class hotels in the place to close one for a money consideration to be paid by the proprietor of the other, in order to give the latter a monopoly of the business, is held, in Clemmons v. Meadows (Ky.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 847, to be contrary to public policy and void. J

The recovery of a tenant in common in ejectment against a stranger in possession is held, in Williams v. Coal Creek M. & M. Co. (Tenn.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 710, to be limited to his interest in the property. Where the attempt to create a new county out of a portion of the territory of an existing county results in the organization of a de facto corporation, which is subsequently dissolved in proceedings brought for that purpose, the original county is held, in George D. Barnard & Co. v. Polk County Comrs. (Minn.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 791, not to be liable for debts contracted by the de facto corporation during its exist

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After the removal to the Federal court of an action in which jurisdiction was secured by an attachment of real estate, it is held, in Coffin v. Harris (N. C.),

6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 624, that the State court has no jurisdiction to protect the interests of the attaching creditor against trespassers, and therefore he must resort to the Federal court for protection.

A covenant by the purchaser of the water rights upon a parcel of land, with the vendor, who is the owner of an adjacent lot, to carry and convey sufficient water to the residence of the covenantee for the ample use and accommodation of such residence and its occupants, is held, in Atlanta, K. & N. R. Co. v. McKinney (Ga.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 436, to run with the land, and to bind the successor in title of the covenantor.

The unsupported denial of the grantor is held, in

Ford v. Ford (App. D. C.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 442, not to be sufficient to impeach a deed properly signed

and acknowledged.

An unsatisfied judgment against the agent of an undisclosed principal is held, in Lindquist v. Dickson (Minn.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 729, not to be a bar to an action against the undiscovered principal when discovered, if the plaintiff was ignorant of the fact of agency when he prosecuted his action against the agent.

One furnishing electricity for lighting purposes is held, in Phelan v. Louisville Electric Light Co. (Ky.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 459, not to be an insurer against injury to persons whose duties require them to be

near the wires, but to be required to exercise the highest care to prevent such injury.

Proof of the falling of a trolley pole from an electric car, when it stopped at a usual stopping place, upon a person standing there for the purpose of getting upon the car, is held, in Cincinnati Traction Co. v. Holzenkamp (Ohio), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 800, to raise a presumption of negligence on the part of the traction company.

A grantee who, in dealing with a grantor unable to read, deliberately alters the terms of the agreement, and, when requested to read the deed which he has prepared, begins to do so, but desists on the plea of lack of time, and secures the signature upon his as surance that the deed correctly expresses the agree ment, is held, in Griffin v. Roanoke R. & L. Co. (N. C.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 463, not to be able to escape liability for his fraud by pleading the negligence of the grantor.

The mere fact that one, in securing the exchange by a bank of the note of a third person for his own, is in such desperate circumstances that he can have no reasonable anticipation or hope of ever being able to pay his note is held, in German Nat. Bank v. Princeton State Bank (Wis.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.)

556, not to be sufficient to vitiate the transaction

and entitle the bank to a return of the note, if he has not formed an intention not to pay.

The occupant of property is held, in Dahlin v. Walsh (Mass.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 615, to owe no duty to pedestrians to keep the sidewalk free from ice and snow coming thereon from natural causes, or to guard against accident by scattering ashes or using other like precautions, whether or not any public duty is imposed upon him by municipal ordinances.

The vacation of a portion of a street, whereby a person's right of ingress and egress from one direction is cut off, leaving his property fronting on a culde-sac, or blind alley, is held, in Vanderburgh v.

Minneapolis (Minn.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 741, to inproperty, and not common to the public at large, and

flict on him an injury special and peculiar to his

to entitle him to compensation under the constitu tional provision forbidding the taking or damaging of private property for a public use without compensation.

A man who failed to furnish medical assistance to his wife during her confinement is held, in Westrup v. Com. (Ky.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 685, not to be guilty of involuntary manslaughter if his failure to secure a physician is due to her insisting that she could manage the case without such aid, and he, after assisting her all he could, and upon discover. ing her peril, called upon neighbors for assistance,

and then secured a physician, whose services did not ployee for his death, and compromised it for a certhen prevent death.

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The right of an infant to recover damages for loss of service during minority, arising from personal injury, is denied in Comer v. W. M. Ritter Lumber Co. (W. Va.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 552.

The right to an injunction to prevent the garnishment of a laborer's wages is denied in Sturges v. Jackson (Miss.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 491, although they are by statute exempt from garnishment, and a rule of the employer provides that employees whose wages are garnished will be discharged.

The right to an injunction to restrain the continuous casting of debris upon complainant's property by blasting is sustained in Central Iron & C. Co. v. Vanderheurk (Ala.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 570, although negligence alleged in the bill is not sustained by the proof.

The right to a mandatory injunction to compel a municipal corporation to designate the streets through which mains are to be laid, and the location of hydrants according to the terms of its contracts for the construction of a water works plant, is sustained in Gadsden v. Mitchell (Ala.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 781, where it is impossible for the contractor to prosecute his work until these things are done.

The right of the State, through its Attorney-General, to apply to the Supreme Court for an injunction to restrain the consummation of a conspiracy to violate the election laws, by padding registration lists, permitting repeating and falsifying returns, is upheld in People ex rel. Miller v. Tool (Colo.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 822.

The trustee in a deed of trust, who, pending the redemption period after foreclosure sale, collects in surance money on the property, is held, in Rawson v. Bethesda Baptist Church (Ill.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 448, to have no right to refuse to turn it over to the mortgagor on the theory that his interest in the property has ceased.

An insurance company which wrote a policy insuring a railroad company against its liability as employer for personal injuries to employees, and defended an action brought by the widow of an em

tain amount, the receipt which she signed setting forth that she received the amount both as widow and as tutrix, though at the time she had not been appointed tutrix, in full satisfaction of all claims, is held, in New Orleans & C. R. Co. v. Maryland Casuto the railroad company for the full amount recovalty Co. (La.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 562, to be liable ered in a subsequent suit against it by the widow as tutrix, and not to be entitled to credit thereon the amount which it had paid to compromise the former action.

The words " sun stroke," when used in an insurance policy in describing one of the risks covered, are held, in Continental Casualty Co. v. Johnson (Kan.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 609, not to be limited to an effect produced by the heat of the sun, unless the context or other special considerations require it, but to include injury resulting from exposure to the heat of a furnace.

Acceptance, without reading it, of a fire insurance policy issued upon parol application without any representation as to title, which contains a provision that, except in case of an agreement indorsed on or added to the policy, it shall be void if the subject of insurance be a building on ground not owned by the insured, is held, in Wyandotte Brewing Co. v. Hartford F. Ins. Co. (Mich.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 852, to be binding upon the applicant, and to bar recovery by him for loss, if the building is on leased property, which fact was not known to the insurer or its

agent.

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An ordinance providing that "hereafter" it shall not be lawful for anyone to set up or establish any place where liquor is sold at retail by the glass without the permission of the city council previously applied for in writing, accompanied by the written consent of a majority of the bona fide property holders within 300 feet of the proposed location of such place of sale, is held, in New Orleans v. Smythe (La.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 722, not to be unconstitutional as a discrimination in favor of saloons and bar-rooms already opened and established at the date of the ordinance.

The validity, at common law and under the Constitution and statutes of the State, of joint-stock companies, is sustained in Spotswood v. Morris

(Idaho), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 665, provided they do not have or exercise any of the powers or privileges of corporations not possessed by individuals or partnerships.

The separate and distinct act of giving an indemnifying bond to an officer by each of a number of creditors pursuing their remedy under separate writs is held, in Livesay v. First Nat. Bank (Colo.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 598, not to constitute such creditors joint tort feasors in the taking of the property. The right to enforce a lien against the land in possession of a tenant for lumber furnished him with which to build a house upon it which may be removed at the expiration of the lease, merely because the owner expressed in writing his consent to the building, is denied in Oregon Lumber Co. v. Beckleen (Iowa), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 485, although the seller refused to let the tenant have the material without an order from the owner, and interpreted the writing as such order, if the owner had no knowledge of that fact, and was merely informed that his consent was necessary.

The drilling of an artesian well is held, in Rolewitch v. Harrington (S. D.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 550, to be within the meaning of a statute giving a lien for labor on any building or other improvement on land.

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State ex rel. Irvine v. Brooks (Wyo.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 750.

The ordinary work of a section gang on or along the track of a railroad is held, in Dunn v. Chicago, R. I. & P. R. Co. (Iowa), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 452, not to be so connected with the use and operation of the railway as to bring it within the intendment of a statute rendering railroad companies liable to one employee for the negligent act of another when engaged in such use and operation, so as to make the railroad company liable for an injury resulting from the negligent act of another of the gang when so employed.

The use, on a boat furnished to convey workmen to and from their work, of swivel oarlocks, which are the kind in common use, is held, in Chrismer v. Bell Teleph. Co. (Mo.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 492, not to be negligence merely because, under certain circumstances, they cannot be unshipped readily, and might cause the overturning of the boat.

A contract for the hiring for a certain time, at a certain price, of a team and carriage, which by its terms is one of bailment, is held, in McColligan v. Pennsylvania R. Co. (Pa.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 544, not to be converted into a contract of service, so as to render the owner liable for the acts of the hirer, by the facts that the contract provides for the rates to be charged upon subletting the outfit, limits the territory in which it may be used and the kind of work

which can be done, and that the owner employs an agent to supervise this branch of his business, secure men to undertake the work, and make contracts with them, and enforce their terms and conditions, which may be done by cancellation of the contract.

One whose employee, in recovering possession of property sold under contract which is not complied with, uses force, is held, in Grant v. Singer Mfg. Co. (Mass.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 567, not to be absolved

a defense against its foreclosure, is declared in Tracy from liability for tort because he had given instruc

v. Wheeler (N. D.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 516.

The cause of action for breach of contract to devise land in consideration of services rendered is held, in

Goodloe v. Goodloe (Tenn.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 703, to arise upon breach; and the right to recover for the value of all the services, although part were rendered beyond the statutory limitation period, is sustained.

A verdict of guilty, set aside and followed by an acquittal, is held, in MacDonald v. Schroeder (Pa.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 701, not to be conclusive evidence of probable cause, in an action for malicious prosecu

tion.

The right to a mandamus to compel the Governor to perform a merely ministerial duty is sustained in

tions that all men hired to recover such property should be hired to do so without using force.

The liability of a railroad company for injury inflicted by its foreman in wrongfully and wantonly throwing out ashes and embers from the engine upon a person standing beside the track on a private crossing is sustained in Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Eaden (Ky.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 581.

That a track repairer engaged in tamping gravel under a tie is not bound, as matter of law, constantly to look and listen for trains approaching from behind him, is declared in St. Louis, I. M. & S. R. Co. v. Jackson (Ark.), 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 646, where it is customary for signals to be given to laborers so employed upon approach`of trains.

THE ALBANY LAW JOURNAL of the death penalty in cases of murder is

A Monthly Record of the Law and the Lawyers Published by THE ALBANY LAW JOURNAL COMPANY, Albany' N. Y.

being largely discredited, and it would seem to be much more in line with modern thought to abolish the death penalty altogether than to

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yers' queries or comments, criticisms on various law questions, addresses on legal topics, or discussions on questions of timely interest, are solicited from members of the bar and those interested in legal proceedings.

All communications intended for the Editor should be addressed simply to the Editor of the ALBANY LAW JOURNAL.

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ALBANY, N. Y., AUGUST, 1907

Current Topics.

Supreme Court Justice Van Kirk, of this State, has recently held against the claim that the Attorney-General is the law officer of the State and that all the law business of the State must be transacted through his office. He seems to have held that the powers and duties of the Attorney-General may be changed from time to time by the Legislature and that it did change them when, for example, it established a legal department for the Forest, Fish and Game Commission. It United States Attorney-General Charles J. is well to remember, in the consideration of Bonaparte seems to be occupying the leading the question, that the Constitution of the role of reactionary in a way to put the Rus- State of New York provides that the Attorsian officials in the shade. In a recent ad-ney-General shall prosecute and defend all dress before the National Prison Wardens' actions in which the State is interested and Association in Chicago, the Attorney-General, have charge and control of the legal business in defining the relations of criminals to so- of the departments and bureaus of the State ciety, took the startling position that habitual or of any office thereof which requires the criminals should be executed. If this propo- services of attorney or counsel in order to sition is to be taken seriously, it places the protect the interests of the State. The Conleading law officer of the United States in stitution of 1894 declared that the Attorneyanything but an enviable position. The very General shall continue to have such powers thought of it is abhorrent to the sense of and duties "as are or hereafter may be prejustice of the average human mind. There scribed by law," and the Legislature not can be no doubt that the public sentiment of having prescribed any other powers or duties, the people of this country is rapidly growing, it would seem to follow that the Constitution even to the extent of preventing the taking of of the State is directly contrary to the decihuman life by legal means in the case of sion of Justice Van Kirk. The Attorneycapital crimes. This is to be seen in the General has promptly appealed the case and examination of talesmen in every leading an authoritative decision of the highest court murder trial in this country and the extreme is to be had. There has been altogether too difficulty of obtaining jurors who have no much of the special counsel business in the deep-seated prejudice against the infliction past few years. Prominent legislators have of the death penalty. And yet the Attorney- in various and devious ways managed to General of the United States would execute evade or defy the clear intent of the Constihabitual criminals of any grade. Time was tution that no law-maker should profit by in England when the death penalty was im- practicing before or on behalf of any of the posed for such crimes as sheep-stealing. Per- State departments. The matter has reached haps the Attorney-General would like to go the proportions of a first-class scandal but back to those dread times. The doubtful seems to have been hushed up effectively. sanction of the Mosaic Law for the infliction The proper course would seem to be to in

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