removed in 1861, to reformatory schools, 1,231 males, and 301 females, and to lunatic asylums, 74 males, and 38 females. There were discharged on pardon or commutation of sentence, 104 males, and 11 females. The number executed was 14, all males. There remained in prison at the end of this year:

The greatest number of prisoners confined at one time was 20,586, of whom about one-fourth were females. The daily average of prisoners throughout the year was 16,513. The report of the sanitary state of the prisons is in favour of 1861, as compared with that for 1860. The number of punishments inflicted in 1861 for offences committed in prison, was 1 to 38; this was also the proportion in 1860. A decrease appears in the number of every description of prison officers for 1861, except clerks and schoolmasters, in these there was an excess of 24 over the corresponding numbers for 1860.

The number of tickets of leave granted in 1861 exceeded by 64.7 per cent. the like returns for 1860, which again were more than double the number for 1859. This progressive increase is (as the report observes), owing to the fact that the provisions of the Act of 1857 annually became applicable to a greater number of persons.

An increase of 3 appears in the number of reformatory schools founded under the statutes 17 & 18 Vict. c. 86, & 19 & 20 Vict. c. 109. An increase of 12.3 per cent. likewise appears in the number of persons committed to these schools, as compared with the like returns for 1860. As in 1860, so also in the last year, the largest proportion of the commitments to the reformatories was for the longest period allowed by law. This is what should be expected. Any period short of what

might fairly be considered long enough for the instruction in those schools to impart a sound social education would be doubtless insufficient for any permanent improvement in the youths committed, and would have a tendency to bring this description of schools into unmerited disrepute. Of 189 boys committed to the Middlesex Industrial School, 72, or 38 per cent., had lost one of their parents; 13 had lost both; 7 were deserted by one of their parents; 1 by both; 1 had one of his parents in prison; 13 were otherwise uncontrolled by one of their parents; 19 by both; 16, or 32.2 per cent. of the whole number, had been under the control of one parent; 97, or 513 per cent. of both.

The total number of criminal lunatics under detention at the commencement of the year was 776. There were 135 committed during the year 1861; of these 37 were females. An increase of 23, or 2.9 per cent., appears in this category for 1861. There has been likewise a progressive increase in these returns for each of the last four years. Of the lunatics in custody in 1861, 234, or 24.1 per cent., of the whole number were committed for larcenies; 141, or 14.5 per cent. of the whole, for murder; and 98, or 10.1 per cent., for attempts to murder. Of the whole number (970), not less than 604, or 62-3 per cent., belong to the category of "Convicts becoming insane after trial, and removed by order of the Secretary of State." Twentynine of these poor unfortunates have been upwards of twenty years under detention. In Bethlehem Hospital, where the whole expenses are paid from the public revenue, the cost per head is £43 10s. 8d. As regards those hospitals, where any portion of the expenses is derived from private sources, it would be useless to strike an average of the cost, which depends so much upon the wealth, generosity, or caprice of individuals.

Now that a sound scheme of judicial statistics is firmly established, it only remains for us to develop the system in order to acquire the very best means of devising the needed legal reforms, and to test their efficacy when carried out.

Notices of New Books.

It should be understood that the Notices of New Works forwarded to us for Review, and which appear in this part of the Magazine, do not preclude our recurring to them at greater length, and in a more elaborate form, in a subsequent Number, when their character and importance require it.]

The Shipping Law Manual: a Concise Treatise on the Law Governing the Interests of Shipowners, Merchants, Masters, Seamen, and other Persons connected with British Ships; together with the Acts of Parliament, Forms, and Precedents, relating to the Subject; being especially intended for Popular Use in Seaport Towns. By W. T. Greenhow, of the Middle Temple, Esq. Barrister-at-Law. London: V. and R. Stephens, Sons, and Haynes.

1863.

To write a text-book of more than five hundred pages, with a modest contribution of original matter occupying only about onefourth of the volume, will no doubt be regarded by the legal profession as a feat of moral courage, if not of intellectual strength. Old fashioned readers, somehow or other, have a notion that an appendix ought to form a mere subordinate adjunct to a book. Forms, schedules, and matters of detail are supposed to find a fitting place in the last few pages printed in small type. Mr. Greenhow's Manual is in this respect exceptional. It is a volume of appendix, with a little book attached.

Such are the facilities for "padding" in legal literature, that even success in the art does not necessarily imply a high order of merit. A month would be ample time for any industrious author to get up a book on this principle. First of all, correlate Acts of Parliament should be collected, arranged, and incorporated in their entirety. The earlier portion of the volume should contain, in good English, a paraphrase of the said statutes, with references at the foot of the page to the sections and chapters. A digest should lie close at hand for occasional consultation, and the marginal notes of a few cases, as pertinent to the subject as may be, should be interspersed here and there. Finally, some schedules, precedents, forms, &c., may be liberally thrown in at the end, to give bulk and solidity to the whole. The advantages of having all the statutes relating to any given department of law, collated and methodically arranged in

one volume, are undeniably great. What we complain of is, that under the guise and at the price of an original work, we are only purchasing extracts from the statutes at large, set off by a few chapters of preliminary comment. Mr. Greenhow's Shipping Law Manual is nothing more. The book proper-which is begun, continued, and ended in 155 pages-affords very scanty evidence of research or originality. A remarkable delicacy is exhibited on the subject of citing cases, the preference being given to the older and more classical decisions. This, it must be allowed, is not an accidental circumstance, but the result of the author's plan and design. In the introductory chapters it is explained "that the present book has been compiled, not principally with a view to aid the professional reader, for, as will be gathered from its title, it is devoted to rudimentary matters, rather than to minute inquiries and intricate disquisitions, and scarcely professes to hold forth much instruction to those who must be assumed to be already nearly proficient. ... But it is especially intended, as will be seen, for the general reader, whose interests, nevertheless, require him to be acquainted with the leading features of shipping law, and it has been endeavoured, in his behalf and in order to adapt it to his purpose, to confine its discussions as far as possible to elementary matters, and to narrow the subjects dealt with so as to avoid an embarrassing accumulation of matter." Again, with respect to the cases cited, the author adds, "the book does not profess to afford a complete catalogue of decided cases, or even of all which have been contributory to the establishment of a principle or doctrine now in active force, for it has been thought that to do so would contribute more to the embarrassment than advantage of the less instructed reader, by tempting him to labour through-in many cases fruitlessly, and at the risk always of filling his mind with many crude and contradictory impressions-a long series of decisions, in the hope of finding one precisely suitable to his occasion. . . . But, although the volume is published more expressly for the assistance of the general reader, it is hoped that it may not be entirely unserviceable in the hands also of the profession."

As a rule, the writing of law books for "general readers" is about as useful as a popular edition of the Pharmacopoeia, or a new Integral Calculus, "for the million." For really practical purposes it is generally worse than useless. Half our obstinate litigants are men who have "a little learning," which leads them to do "dangerous things." No doubt, many readable books have been written on legal subjects, but they invariably avoid the region of dry practice. "Blackstone's Commentaries," and "Lord St. Leonards' Letters on Real Property Law," might be read with advantage, and even with pleasure, by every English gentleman; but no one will be allured thereby to attempt the ruinous experiment of becoming "his own lawyer." Mr. Greenhow is not consisteut. If the Manual is intended for professional men in actual practice, the information given is too scanty and elementary; if for

the "general reader," why load the book with forms, schedules, &c., of no use but for practical purposes? The Manual may possibly supply a want and prove very useful. We venture to suggest that it would not be less useful if reduced to one-half its present bulk. The statutes, as far as we have been able to pursue the verification, have been accurately transposed; and the forms, precedents, &c., appended, are such as may be safely adopted. The chapters on General Average, on Demurrage, and on Salvage and Wreck, furnish abundant evidence that the author has the power of seizing salient principles, and of expounding the same with clearness and force. Let him in future check the ambition of writing big books with little labour, and, in consideration for the pockets of his professional brethren, bear in mind the important distinction between book making and writing a book.

An Elementary View of the Practice of Conveyancing in Solicitors' Offices, with an Outline of the Proceedings under the Transfer of Land and Declaration of Title Acts, 1862, for the Use of Articled Clerks. By Edmund Smith, Esq., B.A., late of Pembroke College, Cambridge, Attorney and Solicitor. London: Butterworths, 7, Fleet Street. 1863.

THIS is a Manual of Conveyancing Practice, written by a solicitor, expressly for the use of articled clerks. The author does not profess to expound the great principles of real property law, but rather to present a concise elementary view of the daily .business transacted in the office of a conveyancing solicitor. For the first twelve months of his articles, the student will, no doubt, find it a very useful vade mecum. Instead of plodding on blindly, and picking up his legal knowledge from hand to mouth, under the guidance of his experienced principal, bewildered with abstracts and requisitions, rushing hither and thither, doubtful if not aimless, with drafts, deeds, schedules, and memoranda-he will be able, by consulting these chapters on Purchases, Sales, Mortgages, Bills of Sale, Leases, Settlements, Wills, &c., to take a calm and comprehensive view of his work. Half the instruction given in an attorney's office is at first lost, and much time absolutely wasted, from not perceiving the scope of each proceeding, and the bearing of each step upon the final result. Under a sensitive dread of being a bore by propounding too many questions, difficulties are slurred over, and opportunities lost for many years, perhaps for ever. We feel confident that Mr. Smith's little treatise will help to clear away many of those perplexities which puzzle the student, and enable him, instead of groping along in the dark, to work systematically and with well defined purpose. The information given is, as far as we have quite accurate, and all the matter under the deserving of the best consideration. But there is a minuteness about unimportant details, and here and there

been able to discover, category of "advice"