Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 21.pdf/546

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Review of Periodicals the doubt on the point whether he is a political offender or not." Anarchism. See Property and Contract. Basis of Law. "The Belief in Innate Rights." By H. Frances Peterson. 34 Law Magazine and Review 385 (Aug.). "Sir Henry Maine has pointed out that the origin of 'legal rights' was the judgments of those in authority as to what was right. 'Legal rights' being derived from moral con ceptions of right, it follows that whenever, as frequently happened, those moral concep tions were erroneous the term 'legal rights' when applied to the so-called 'rights' derived from those moral conceptions was meta phorical. Whenever the term 'legal right' has been or is used to cover some 'wrong' sanctioned by law it has been or is a meta phor and nothing else. Therefore, contrary to the teaching of jurists, it is precisely 'legal rights' that are more frequently 'metaphori cal' than any other. . . . "It is foreign to our purpose to discuss here the meaning of the terms 'natural' and 'moral rights,' beyond observing that such classifi cations are, like the term 'legal rights,' dis tinctions drawn between the sanctions which enforce 'rights,' and are not distinctions be tween 'rights' themselves. . . . "The terms 'innate and abstract rights' are used in antithesis to such terms as 'moral or legal rights,' to signify all the innumerable rights which are not sanctioned by law, public opinion, religion, or anything else." See Property and Contract. Bill of Rights. See Basis of Law, Prop erty and Contract. Contracts. See Property and Contract. Corporations. "Uniform Foreign Corpora tion Laws." By Franklin A. Wagner. New York Law Journal, v. 41, July 27, 1909. This paper was read at the fifteenth annual convention of the Commercial Law League of America, held at Narragansett Pier, R. L, on July 20. "Unquestionably much hardship has been inflicted on foreign corporations when, through ignorance of the local laws or through failure to understand their drastic scope, they have entered into contracts which, because of these statutes, they were unable to enforce. In some states the statutes are too lenient, in others too severe. In few states have they been comprehensively worked out to ade quately meet present day needs. A uniform law would confer a lasting benefit both upon the states and the corporations. Such a law should embody the following features:— "1. Define what is 'doing business.' "2. Provide a simple procedure for quali fication. "3. Name the Secretary of State the agent upon whom process may be served. "4. Abolish the license fee, excise or bonus tax. "5. Tax the foreign corporation on the

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amount invested in the state on the same basis and at the same rate as domestic cor porations. "6. Require an annual report of condi tion, including a statement of assets and liabilities, naming the officers and directors of the company and its officers and agents located in the state. "7. Affirmatively grant the privilege to use the federal courts in proper causes. "8. Remove drastic penalties and sub stitute reasonable fines. "9. Abolish attachment on the mere ground that it is a foreign corporation. "10. In all other respects place foreign corporations on a par with domestic corpora tions." See Property and Contract. Criminal Intent. "Constructive Murder and Felonious Intent." By W. F. Wyndham Brown. 34 Law Magazine and Review 453 (Aug.). "There is no doubt, eliminating any ques tion as to the insufficiency of the original authority, that the trend of modern judicial opinion and dicta has been toward a limita tion of the rule to those felonious acts which are intrinsically likely to cause death. . . . "No doubt, when the question arises in the Court of Criminal Appeal, some definite prin ciple will be laid down which may not indicate so greatly the divergence of judicial opinion, the inconsistency of our case law, and the great weight given to legal writers whose names appear in the text-books as the old authorities." Criminology. "Criminal Statistics, 1907." 34 Law Magazine and Review 416 (Aug.). "Last year we expressed the view that the great majority of the serious crimes com mitted may be traced to the unsatisfactory conditions in which the poorest classes live, and we maintained that the astonishing diminution in crime during the last half century could only be explained by the gen eral rise of the standard of life among the less fortunate strata of society. The diminution is so remarkable that it is worth while again to recall the figures." See Penology, Police Administration. Election Laws. "The New York Direct Primaries Bill of 1909." By Arthur Ludington. American Political Science Review, v. 3, p. 371 (Aug.). "Under the Hinman-Green bill there is opportunity for the fullest consultation and deliberation before the candidates are desig nated. At present the only real deliberation is not in the convention, but among the party leaders in private conference; and it is just this sort of deliberation that is preserved by the terms of the bill. Where the plan differs from the present system is in the fact that all suggestions made by party committees are subject to the approval of the party as a whole. They will be made, therefore, under