SAGINAW

MICHIGAN

GENERAL PRACTICE

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ords would not disclose, and the statute requires conveyances of homesteads to be signed and acknowledged by the wife, it has been held that the conveyance is absolutely void by reason of such interest of the officer taking the acknowledgment."

29Hays v. Southern Home & C. Assn. (1899), 124 Ala. 663, 26 So. 527; Wilson v. Griess (1902), 64 Neb. 792, 90 N. W. 866; Ogden Bldg. Assn. v. Mensch (1902), 196 Ill. 554, 63 N. E. 1049, 89 Am. St. 330.

Contra: Cooper v. Hamilton Ac. Assn. (1896), 97 Tenn. 285, 37 S. W. 12, 33 L. R. A. 338, 56 Am. St. 795.

Persons buying in reliance on the records are bound by instruments recorded in records that have been lost, destroyed, or stolen, and are no longer to be found in the public registry, and as to the nature and existence of which it is therefore impossible to discover anything."

30The decisions by states will be found in 24 Am. & Eng. Ency. Law (2d ed.) 153. See especially Stebbins v. Duncan (1883), 108 U. S. 32, 2 S. Ct. 313; Thomas v. Hanson (1894), 59 Minn. 274, 61 N. W. 135; Deming v. Miles (1892), 35 Neb. 739, 53 N. W. 665, 37 Am. St. 464.

Though the state statute declares all liens relating to land void that do not appear of record, such a statute does not apply to liens arising by virtue of acts of congress, as for example, to secure the payment of taxes and internal rev

31 United States v. Snyder (1893), 149 U. Ş. 210, S. Ct. 846. Under all the statutes there is quite a period of time after laborers', and materialmen's liens, and taxes for local betterments become a charge upon the land before they appear in any of the public records, and therefore no examination of the records will dosclose them.

Without further recital of the innumerable instances in which no examination that can be made of the public records will furnish any protection to the purchaser, it must be manifest to you all that an examination of the most perfect abstract is no assurance; that the examinations that are customarily made by the most conservative title experts are neither systematic nor complete; and that in the nature of things it is impossible to make certain of the title by any investigation that is within the range of practicability.

AT LAW

Bearinger Building

showing for a transfer have learned the simple lesson in finance that honesty is the best policy. Most grantors could not afford to sell anything they did not suppose they had full right to convey. The grantor is usually more surprised by a discovery of a defect in the title than the grantee. Men daily buy and sell millions of dollars worth of personal property without any inspection of the records at all, and failure to pass title seldom happens. Which one of you in buying one of those $4,000 automobiles took the precaution to go to the recorder's office to see whether the title was clear, or even demanded proof of title from the seller?

The conclusion of the whole matter is this: Other things being equal there is no safer or better investment than land; but instead of that safety being guaranteed by the ordinary. inspection of the title made before purchase, by examining an abstract, and perhaps an additional examination of the original records, the real guarantees of safety are fully as much outside of the record as in it; and it is impossible for the purchaser to avoid every element of risk.

JUDGE ADOLPH F. MARSCHNER

(See portrait on front page.)

Adolph F. Marschner was born and lived all of his life in Detroit, attending the public schools. He studied law at the Detroit College of Law and graduated in 1902.

He then became associated with Alex. J. Groesbeck, the present Attorney General of the State of Michigan, under whose able tutorage he soon became qualified to accept the office of Justice of the Peace, the appointment being tendered him by the Mayor of Detroit to fill a vacancy then existing. This appointment took effect in December, 1914.

During his three years' tenure of office he handled approximately 70,000 cases, rendering each and every case the full amount of consideration and time it deserved. His fair and impartial decisions soon won the respect of all persons who came to his court.

At the fall election of 1918, Judge Marschner was elected to the higher court and became a Judge of the Circuit Court for Wayne County on January 1, 1919, at the age of 33 years.

BAR ANNOUNCEMENTS

Mr. Earl D. Burke announces his return from service, and resumption of the practice of law, at 1654 Penobscot building, Detroit, Michigan.

J. Howard Patterson announces the removal of his law office from the Bailey building to the Franklin building, No. 133 South Twelfth street, Philadelphia, Pa.

Paul V. Connolly, formerly a member of the firm of Burch, Peters & Connolly, and Dawson E. Bradley, attorney-at-law, formerly associated with that firm and in charge of its collection department, announce the formation of a partnership to engage in the general practice of law, with offices at 1017 First National Bank building, Cincinnati, Ohio.

A partnership to practice law at Tunica, Mississippi, under the firm name of Montgomery & Dulaney, succeeding the late firm of Montgomery & Montgomery, has been formed by F. A. Montgomery and J. W. Dulaney, Jr.

Lewis G. Cooper, formerly associated with Col. Harry Skinner in the practice of law under the style of Skinner & Cooper, lawyers, Greenville, North Carolina, prior to entering the service, announces his resignation as an officer in the U. S. Field Artillery and the opening of offices to resume practice at Greenville, North Carolina.

Edmon Gordon Bennett and Lewis Dent Collings announce the organization of the law firm of Bennett & Collings, with offices in the Washington building, Los Angeles, California.

Ben O. Shepherd, having returned from service, announces that he has resumed his law practice at 906-10 Dime Bank building, Detroit, Mich.

PESSIMISM DISCOUNTED.

Adams, in Pithy Personalities, in the Boston News Bureau, says:

Wall Street is shaking off its blue funk. Bolshevism, cancellation, deflation, demobilization, strikes the aftermath of war-have not barred a rising trend in securities. Some of the most forward looking capitalists, I have reason to believe, are confident these deterrents are discounted.

Their reasons for optimism in the face of general pessimism are the multiplying indications that major ills are allowed for much more thoroughly than is generally recognized. Transition, a financier high up in the Morgan entourage points out, did not start with the armistice, but long before. So securities have an upward trend against developments apparently favorable to the bear. The great mass of investors refuse to believe that the country will not forge ahead to renewed prosperity. Republican Congress soon to come (to say nothing of the obvious portents of a Republican presidential victory in 1920) is a beacon of hope to them. Finally, signing of the Peace Treaty, even if delayed well into the year, will, according to the horoscope of thousands of security owners, be followed-even if not anticipated weeks in advance-by an uplift in world industry. Thus the menace of potential liquidation, without which the cataclysm alarmists forecast is impossible, is removed.

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Over three hundred of the most prominent commercial lawyers throughout the country, are my subscribers, fully 95% of whom have renewed with me from year to year-a record which speaks for itself.

My "NEWS-LETTERS," which are issued monthly, and contain information regarding current happenings of import

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ance in the commercial law world, keep my subscribers posted up-to-date, and constitute a most valuable adjunct to their commercial departments.

I HAVE EXCEPTIONAL FACILITIES, through my extensive acquaintance with institutions of ample capital TO FINANCE PROPOSITIONS OF MERIT.

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I. Name.

There are two ways of preserving peace, one is by moral force, the other is by physical force. Moral force functions through the self restraint of nations; physical forces through battles by armies and navies. Long and earnestly have the people of the world sought for relief from war between nations. The killing of man by man as a means of settling disputes between nations is the great curse of human society, and as long as men continue to kill each other in wholesale fashion they have slight claim to call themselves civilized, since in this respect they are

still

The killing of man by man has for ages been known as a crime, and what the world needs today is a criminal code of International Law, a code of laws common to all nations.

At the close of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the ancient standard of International obligations ceased to exist, and a newer and more enduring standard was erected in its place by the adoption of the Code of Laws proposed by Grotius in 1625, known as the Law of Nations. Now the time seem opportune for a newer code of International Law, to which the consent of all, or most of the nations could be obtained, which would furnish a legal basis for the settlement of political disputes between nations.

The Law of Nations proposed by Hugo Grotius, a Dutch jurist, a native of Delft, in Holland, was the first authoritive treatise upon the obligations that one nation owed to another in peace and in war. Grotius was a man of great learning, of considerable experience in public affairs, and he took the Roman Law as the foundation of this treatise in the Law of Nations, and applied these principles to the external relations of one nation to another. It was perceived to be a work of standard and permanent value, and it “has been translated into all languages, and has elicited the admiration of all nations and of all succeeding ages."

III. Supremacy vs. Equality.

During the Thirty Years' War the old idea of papal and imperial supremacy finally disappeared and as the idea of a common earthly superior was no longer recognized by independent na

tions, it became necessary to invent a theory which, while conforming to existing political conditions, should furnish a safe and practicable rule for the conduct of international relations.

IV. Independence.

From his point of view, nations, like men, should be controlled in their actions and relations by the operation of laws, and he evolved a system of rules for the adjustment of international disputes. According to his view, each nation was independent within its territorial limits, and all nations were equal in dignity and in sovereign rights, no matter how unequal they might be in power, influence, or territorial dimensions.

V. The Test of Time.

We now know that Grotius theory of International obligation was in the main correct, and the principles that he and his successors have disclosed from the Roman Law compose the greater part of International Law as it exists today. None of the many ingenious schemes which have been advanced in opposition to his fundamental principles have received more than transient recognition, and it is wise for us to build upon the foundations so deeply and solidly laid. VI. Rules 1 and 2.

The Rules of International Law fall into two chief clauses:

(a) The Natural Law of Nations. (b) The Positive Law of Nations. (a) The Natural Law of Nations. chiefly in the code of Christian ethics contained in the New Testament, as a standard by which the conduct of individuals and of nations can be judged, and the rightfulness or wrongfulness of their actions determined.

(b) The positive Law of nations is found in that body of usages which have prevailed between nation and nation, including those rules which are based upon or deduced from treaties and conventions entered into by them.

This branch of International Law is divided, like our Municipal Laws, into civil and criminal law, and like the municipal law, the growth of the criminal division of International Laws have been much slower than the growth of the civil division. While all modern nations punish the

Guy L. Eames W. E. Gibbs

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crime of piracy, whenever committed, and England and the United States punish many crimes committed by their subjects on the high seas, and these states are willing to surrender criminals who have taken refuge within their borders, many nations object to the surrender of persons whose offense is of a political character, and the making of war is considered a political offense instead of a criminal offense.

Therefore, if we are to deprive war completely of its raison d'etre it will be necessary that there be found methods of developing International Law so as to punish the makers of war, and make International Law respond to the vital needs of mankind, by preventing the recurrence to violent means of vindicating the supposed rights of kings.

The important question today is, can the Law of Nations be developed on the principle of equality of nations, so as to make it possible for all or most of the nations to consent to submit their political difference to judicial administration, as they now do their financial differences under the law merchant.

Why not amend the present law of nations to suit the circumstances in which the nations of today find themselves.

All will agree that the corner stone of intercourse between nations is the theory of equality of sovereign states. The term sovereignty means the inherent right of a nation to exercise jurisdiction over all questions arising within its territorial limits. This principle has been accepted as fundamental to the existence of a nation for nearly three centuries, and Chief Justice Marshall of the Supreme Court of the United States emphasized it when he said: "No principle of general law is more universally acknowledged than the perfect equality of nations."

In Europe.

But now there is a disposition to deny the reality of this great principle, and we are flatly told that the doctrine of equality is becoming obsolete, and must be superseded by the doctrine that a Primacy is vested in the foremost powers of the world. They want to assume mandatory powers over the weaker nations. Europe is working around to the old notion of a common superior, not a Pope or an Emperor, but a committee, and executive council, that is to rule the world.

The reasons for this changing view are not far to seek. Intervention by the Great Powers of Europe, in the domestic affairs of the smaller nations has been frequent, as is shown by the "arrangements" of the Great Powers for the conduct of affairs in Persia, Manchuria, Macedonia and Morocco.

And the "Big Stick" of our own nation has been casting a larger and larger shadow over the smaller nations of this hemisphere. In 1895 Secretary Olney asserted that "Today the United States is practically sovereign on this continent." The Great Powers now want to secure

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peace by establishing a League of Nations. They want to secure peace by keeping alive the old principle that might makes right. They want to secure peace by resurrecting the old notion of a Common Superior. They are trying to form a United States of the world, and they are asking the nations to surrender some of their sovereign rights that this superior power may browbeat them into subjection and thus maintain peace. It is the old doctrine that might makes right. Once the executive committee gets the power into its hands all nations must do its bidding or fight; and who dares to say that the smaller nations will not fight. The League of Nations is offered as a panacea for war. The great nations want to build up a world power under the subterfuge of securing a permanent peace, but peace comes through law, and this is the law: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." The rest is merely commentaries upon this great principle. VII. Enforcing.

We may meet the old assertion that the laws of private honor do not apply to national affairs by saying that they apply whenever men care to