460
The Green Bag
and unjustly to amass stupendous fortunes at the expense of the many, is true; but the fault, it is earnestly contended, does not lie at the door of the cautious and carefully selected appointive judiciary. On the con trary, the corrective remedy lies in the very influence 'the people' are supposed to directly exert—the executive and legislative branches of the government." The clearing away of obscurities in the "twilight zone" wherein the boundary be tween public and private rights lies hidden— the determination, in a word, of the rights of the individual by society—must of course devolve, in the United States, chiefly upon the Supreme Court, as the guardian and ex positor of the Constitution. That its labors are constantly being increased by the con current action of Congress and of forces of social evolution is evident from the follow ing:— "The United States Courts." By Orin Judson Field. North American Review, v. 190, p. 74 (July). "A rapidly increasing amount of litigation of national importance is becoming the subject-matter of suits in the federal courts," and the expense of administering the affairs of these courts during the year was $8,400,000. Hence our federal judiciary "is charged with a grave and important work in passing judg ment upon the thousands of cases coming before it each year." Interesting to all those interested in con stitutional questions is the problem of our neighbor the Dominion of Canada how best to nullify laws which in the United States would easily be disposed of as unconstitu tional. Professor Dicey's advice is here given:— "Unjust and Impolitic Provincial Legisla tion and its Disallowance by the GovernorGeneral." By Professor A. V. Dicey. 45 Canada Law Journal 457 (July) . "There is nothing in the [British North America] Act, as far as I can see, which pro vides that a law passed by a provincial legis lature shall not be palpably unjust; nor is there anything in the Act, as there is in the Constitution of the United States, prohibit ing the passing of a 'law impairing the obliga tion of contracts.' The guarantee provided by the B. N. A. Act, 1867, against possible injustice resulting from the legislation of a provincial legislature is to be found, if any where, in the Governor-General's power under the B. N. A. Act, 1867, ss. 56, 90, to disallow any law passed by a provincial legislature." Turning now from the broader to the more special phases of the science of government, we find interesting contributions, in the fol lowing articles, to the study of the royal prerogative in England, to that of our most ancient still surviving popular legislative assemblies, as illustrated in the case of the Isle of Man, and to that of contemporary political conditions in Hungary:—
Great Britain. "The Immunity of the Crown from Mandamus." By W. W. Lucas. 25 Law Quarterly Review 290 (July). The presence of many restrictions "reduces the authority of the judiciary over the execu tive to something very small." And several decisions "tend to raise the suspicion that the courts have considered that some limit should be placed upon the automatic exten sion of the royal prerogative to an indefinite and ever-growing number of public officials." Hungary. "The Problem of Hungary." Edinburgh Review, v. 210, p. 134 (July). "The problem of Hungary remains what it always was—that of a proud and high-spirited race maintaining on the one hand its right to its inherited liberties; on the other hand its right to dominate over peoples upon whom it looks down as inferior." Isle of Man. "The Constitution of the Isle of Man." By R. D. Farrant. 25 Law Quar terly Review 255 (July). "The Icelandic Alpingi came to an end; the Norwegian and Swedish moots lost their continuity of existence; and in no other country, civilized or uncivilized, has there existed for over one thousand years a free and independent legislature truly representative of the country, whose assent to all new laws, or alterations of old ones, was required to be given in solemn form. We may therefore say with truth that the Manx Legislature is the oldest in the world." See also, South African Union. Immigration. "Immigrants and Crime." By William S. Bennet, M.C. Annals of the American Academy, v. 34, no. 1, p. 117 (July) . "The relation of the immigrant and the criminal may be summed up as follows : There is a great deal of exaggeration on both sides. Do not believe that the majority of immi grants coming here from the southern Euro pean countries are either criminals or have criminal instincts. It is not so. Think of them not as a mass, but with the knowledge that they are men and women, each with a separate individuality. On the other hand, do not believe that they are all angels by a good deal, because they are not." Injunctions. See Procedure. Interest. "Interest on Debts Where Inter course Between Debtor and Creditor is For bidden by a State of War." By Charles Noble Gregory. 25 Law Quarterly Review 297 (July). "The question whether or not interest should run upon a debt where debtor and creditor are separated by the line of war, so that all communication between them is pro hibited and illegal, is an interesting one and has been dealt with by the courts of the United States with great frequency." Interstate Commerce. "The Commodities
