and "Mercantile Law," have raised this Elementary View of the Proceedings in an Action at Law to the rank of a standard book. With students, it has always been very popular. They can consult no better authority; none so simple, for the purpose of obtaining a preliminary conception of proceedings in a suit at common law. Hunter's Suit in Equity, and one portion of Goldsmith's Doctrine and Practice of Equity, have been composed for Chancery practice, on the plan laid down by the author of this text-book. The last edition contains new and valuable information on costs, exccution, the examination of articled clerks, and arbitration. The chapter on Arbitration is the longest and most valuable addition; and for this we are indebted to the able editor, Mr. Prentice. The student will find in this chapter the form of submission to arbitration by consent; the rule as to amending, enlarging, and revoking submission; the mode of proceeding before arbitrators, how an award may be altered, published, set aside, and enforced, together with a statement of the costs incurred, and the stamps to be impressed. He will also find a profitable reading on the Common Law Procedure Act, 1854, as to compulsory arbitration. Several recent cases are cited to illustrate the judicial interpretation which has been given of the sections of that statute, bearing on the subject of compulsory arbitration. The chapter on Execution, instead of being a meagre outline as in previous editions, now contains a very ample exposition of the process of the Common Law Courts after judgments signed. The practitioner will soon outgrow the information herein contained, and be driven to consult other authorities for learning too minute and intricate for a work of this design; but to the student entering upon the labour of mastering one department of our great jurisprudence, viz., the common law, we can recommend him to no better manual than to this clear and concise history of an Action at Law.

The Practice of the Court of Probate in Common Form Business. By Henry Charles Coote, F.S.A., Proctor in Doctors' Commons. Also a Treatise on the Practice of the Court in Contentious Business. By Thomas H. Tristram, D.C.L. Fourth Edition. London: Butterworths.

1863.

A GREAT portion of the learning of this book was, until very recently, kept as the secret mystery of a distinct branch of the profession. Mr. Coote claims the honour of being the first who, in a monograph form, has explained the principles which regulate the granting of probate and letters of administration. Since the Legislature has thrown open to the whole profession the practice which formerly had belonged exclusively to the Proctors, the necessity of such a work as this was imperative and obvious. Mr. Coote has incorporated with the new Statutes and the modern practice as established by the distinguished Judge who presides over the

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Court, a vast amount of ancient lore, with which many of us have hitherto not been familiar. His book, though on the dry subject of practice, is one which might be read through with more than ordinary interest and advantage. In some respects it appears to be wanting in completeness. It can scarcely be said to be to the Court of Probate what Lush and Archbold are to the Common Law Courts at Westminster. The reason for this is evident; it is so, because the Probate Court is a new one, and has much of its practice unsettled. When we say that Mr. Coote has done his work well, we only reiterate the recorded verdict of the profession. In this, the fourth edition, Mr. Coote has made such additions to the original work as were rendered necessary by the issuing of a new and consolidated set of rules and fees for the Court of Probate, by the special practice arising out of the 24th and 25th Vict. c. 114, and by the recent decisions of the learned Judge of the Court. After a careful perusal of the revised edition, we are able to say that Mr. Coote has spared no trouble to make his valuable work still more useful to the profession. The book is divided into two parts; the former written by Mr. Coote, on the common form business of the Court of Probate; and the latter by Dr. Tristram, on the contentious business of the Court. Common form business is defined to be "the business of obtaining probate and administration where there is no contention as to the right thereto, including the passing of probate and administration through the Court of Probate in contentious cases, when the contest is terminated, and all business of a non-contentious nature to be taken in the Court in matters of testacy and intestacy, not being proceedings in any suit, and also the business of lodging caveats against the grant of probate and administration." In the treatment of this part of the subject, Mr. Coote gives an elaborate explanation, extending over 192 pages, of the principles which regulate the granting of probate and administration. He then very ably discusses the purely practical steps which must be taken by solicitors and proctors in making their application in common form; and in the Appendix we have a most useful paper, entitled, "Directions for describing Testators or Intestates, and persons applying for Probate and Administration," together with all necessary forms, with the statutes, rules, and tables of fees. Mr. Coote has found a worthy coadjutor in Dr. Tristram. The practice of the Court in contentious business has been treated by him in a very able and concise manner. Dr. Tristram not only explains the ordinary practice of the Court in proceedings on motion, by petition, and in suits for obtaining probate in solemn form, but also touches upon the jurisdiction which has been given to the county courts in contentious business. We wish the learned Doctor had treated this more fully. The judges and practitioners of the county court stand in need of further information and guidance in connexion with this subject-information which Dr. Tristram is eminently qualified to supply.

The Criminal Law Consolidation and Amendment Acts of the 24th and 25th Vict., with Notes, Observations, and Forms for Summary Proceedings. By Charles Sprengel Greaves, Esq., Q.C. Second Edition. London: V. and R. Stevens, Sons, and Haynes ; H. Sweet; and W. Maxwell. 1862.

THE name of Mr. C. Sprengel Greaves will be historically connected with the consolidation of the criminal law in this country. Considering the valuable services rendered during many years by the author, to whose work we now call attention, no one will think the following apology for its publication at all in bad taste:-"As I had the honour to be entrusted with the preparation of the 14 and 15 Vict., c. 19, 'An Act for the Better Prevention of Offences,' and the 14 and 15 Vict., c. 100, ‘An Act for the Further Improving the Administration of Criminal Justice,' and watched those Acts step by step as they passed through Parliament, as well by attending the committees of both Houses of Parliament upon them, as otherwise, Lord Campbell, C. J., strongly urged me to publish them, with notes explaining the alterations in the law which were effected by them, and the reasons for those alterations; and, accordingly, I published a little work with that object; and well assured am I that if Lord Campbell had survived the passing of the present criminal bills, he would have urged me to undertake a similar publication with respect to them. Impressed, therefore, with that conviction, and as a small tribute to the memory of Lord Campbell, I determined to publish these Acts."

Within a few months of the passing of the Criminal Law Consolidation and Amendment Acts, several text-books were issued, bearing the names of well-known authors. Although the materials were in common, each author pursuing his own plan, and writing with a special object, the results have been different, but we think in every instance valuable. Mr. Archbold has embodied in his edition a considerable amount of learning on criminal law which had before appeared in the larger Practice, giving, what we do not find in the other text-books, forms of indictment pursuant to the new Acts. Mr. Davies, in addition to critical and explanatory notes illustrated by cases, has supplied an admirable table of indictable offences, as well as of summary convictions, similar to those furnished by Okey in the Magisterial Synopsis. The edition of Mr. Saunders and Mr. Cox has been well received, on account of peculiarities of arrangement, special facilities for reference, and pointed observations upon important topics. Mr. Greaves has adopted a plan which has the merit of being simple, complete, and logical. "The Acts have been accurately printed from the statutes themselves, and to each section a note is appended. If the enactment be old and unaltered, the note simply states the enactment or enactments from which that section is taken. Where a clause is new, either in England or Ireland, this is pointed out. Where a clause or part of a clause is

altogether new it is printed in italics, and the note explains the reason for it, unless, indeed, the reason be too plain to need any explanation. Where any part of any old enactment is omitted or transposed, the note points this out, and assigns the reasons for it. In a few instances, where it has seemed that some doubt which existed on some old enactment might be removed, or some other useful object might be obtained by deviating from the proposed limits of the work, I have ventured to do so."

That the first edition should have been disposed of in the short period of one year, notwithstanding the publication of rival works of great merit, might be taken as a good proof that the method of expounding the new statutes pursued by Mr. Greaves is well adapted to meet the wants of the profession. The former edition was confined to pointing out the alterations effected by those Acts, and the reasons for them. To the present edition is added an Appendix, containing plain and concise directions as to such of the summary proceedings under the new statutes as seemed to require them. New forms for summary proceedings under the Larceny and Malicious Injuries Acts, have been formed by the author, from those in Jervis' Act, 11 and 12 Vict., c. 43, with such alterations as to adapt them to proceedings under these Acts. Valuable new matter will also be found on the issuing of Search Warrants, forms for which are given, together with directions as to the mode of obtaining them.

Before concluding this notice, it is but simple justice that one word of praise should be said with respect to the introductory chapter. It is a far more elaborate and complete history of criminal law legislation than can be found in the other text-books to which reference has been made. This was to have been expected. For nearly nine years the learned author was himself engaged, almost continuously, in the difficult and important work of consolidating the criminal law. Many of the amendments originated with himself; and perhaps "no one has had the same, or, indeed, anything like the same means of acquiring that information which, if not absolutely necessary, very useful for writing such a work."

The following books have been received, and will be noticed :— The Transfer of Land and Declaration of Title Acts, 1862. By R. Denny Urlin. London: William Maxwell; Henry Sweet; and V. and R. Stevens, Sons, and Haynes.

Shall We Register Title? or, Objections to Land and Title Registry Stated and Answered. By Tennison Edwards, Esq.

Chapman and Hall.

Jurisprudence.

John Murray.

By Charles Spencer Mark Phillips.

1863.

London:

London :

Events of the Quarter.

IN our Number for November last we published an article on the duties of Lords Lieutenant and their Deputies, consisting chiefly of a letter from Mr. John Harward, Clerk to the Lieutenancy of Worcestershire, to Lord Lyttelton. The letter contained new and elaborate information on the subject, and attracted considerable attention. Mr. Harward is anxious we should state that he was assisted in the preparation of the letter by Mr. John Whitehead, Barrister, of New Square, Lincoln's Inn.

The exercise of belligerent powers at sea by the American States, and the new position in which England finds herself as a neutral in maritime war, have produced for some time past a succession of questions on international law, accompanied, we fear, by increasing acrimony on both sides of the Atlantic. As we write, the relations between the Governments of London and Washington are becoming so menacing that it is difficult to see how peace is to be long preserved unless some frank understanding be speedily arrived at. On the one hand, it is believed that a strong despatch from Mr. Seward is now on its way across the Atlantic in reference to the Alabama; and on the other, it is certain that Lord Russell has addressed remonstrances to the Cabinet at Washington concerning the seizure of British vessels by American cruisers, and the conduct of Mr. Adams in issuing a permit to an English ship trading to a neutral port. Both nations are, therefore, indulging in the unprofitable but irritating task of recrimination; each angry at its own injuries, and but little disposed, we fear, to do justice to the other. In another part of this Number we have expressed our opinion at some length, and without hesitation as to the wrong done in the case of the Alabama; and it is equally clear that neither Mr. Adams nor Admiral Wilkes have kept within the limits of international comity in their dealings with England. Under these circumstances there would be little real danger of a rupture if the affairs of nations were conducted on the same principles of common sense and equity as those of individuals. If in private life two gentlemen find themselves brought into unfortunate relations with each other, owing to misunderstandings, and offence given on each side, nothing is easier or more common than by accepting a sort of set-off for the mutual injuries, through frank explanations, or the intervention of a third party, to produce a reconciliation, which not only renews, but can increase, friendship. Nor is it hopeless to obtain the same result between angry nations, however excited and aggrieved, if their affairs can only be kept in the hands of upright, cool-headed men

even