Review of Periodicals efiective remedy for uncertainty in the law is careful codification. . . . Take, for instance, the question of what the legal liability is of a person who, not being the payee or endorsee of a negotiable instrument, writes his name upon the back of it. It has been variously decided that such person is a joint maker, a guarantor, an endorser. It is not important practically which one of these conclusions is legally correct, nor which be adopted, so that one is established and understood and adhered to. . . . "I think continuances of cases are too readily granted. Appeals should be limited more than they are. The should not be allowed, or at least shoul
be confined to
one appeal, in cases involving small values, unless some important question is in issue, and the judge for that reason allows an appeal. “There is no reason why a dparty should have a year to appeal from a ju gment of the district court to the supreme court, or two years to sue out a writ of error, or take an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States (as under the federal statutes). . . .
The law should be administered without unreasonable expense to parties who have to invoke its assistance. . . . The main cause of expense, however, is delay in the trial of cases, and in taking appeals, and having them heard. . . . "It has become very common for wealthy individuals and corporations to threaten those who seek legal redress from them with delays and expense of litigation."
“A German Law Suit."
By Chief Justice
Simeon E. Baldwin. 19 Yale Law Journal 69 (Dec.). “Here is a vital difference between our procedure and that of the Germans. They pick out what they deem the gist of what a witness has said, and after he has assented to their statement of it as correct, dismiss his
other testimony from their recollection. There are no reams of stenographic notes. “From this injustice ma sometimes result. Matters that appear irre evant or inconse quential when a witness is on the stand sometimes assume a new importance on a subsequent review of the whole case. It is, however, always in the power of the court to reopen the case and call him again before them, or on an ap l he can be heard de no'uo. Expense an delay also are certainly diminished. "Another important difference from the general American practice on appeal is that the finding of facts, which every jud ment must contain, is not conclusive in the 'gher court. Not only can it be shown to be errone ous by producing new proofs, but in certain things it can be attacked as unwarranted by the contents of the protocol." See Appeals. Professional Ethics. “The Altruistic Quality of the Lawyer subjectively Con sidered." Paper read at the fourth annual meeting of the Mississippi State Bar Asso
125
ciation, 1909. By Hon. George J. Leftwich.. 7 Law and Commerce 343 (Nov.). “The bright and promising lawyer at the beginning makes a sheer failure and drops steadil and quickly into gainful occupations, while e of unpromising beginnings, having hid away in his bosom the true subjective quality that I can only define as the altruistic guality, the power to transfer human en eavor from himself, from his personal ends,
and fix it unselfishly u n the ends and aims of another, a quality ound hid away in an un rornising exterior, the young man with fai ure stam cl upon his initiative, astounds the bar and ‘s friends by a large and ultimate success. There is no real apostasy among real lawyers, however it is in theology; when once the true fire burns in his bosom, there is no quenching it; when the true spirit of unselfish aid and vindication of his client's interests gets hold upon him and has satiated itself in personal aims and ends, it at once transfers itself from the individual to the state,
to the nation, and to the human race." “The Public Service of the Future Lawyer." By John G. Park. 8 Michigan Law Review 122 (Dec.).
“While it is true that the physical life of the working man is far better cared for than it was fifty or one hundred years ago, the difference in the financial situation of the rich man and the r man is every year increasing. The ric est man in America in 1810 was worth, perhaps, six millions of dollars. The richest man in America today is reported to be worth one hundred times that sum. The average daily earnings of the laborer have, probabl, doubled in that time. Therefore prosperit or the richest individual has increased six undred fold while it has only doubled for the poorest. At that rate of increase in financial power, the day of the commercial despot is not far removed. . . . "Conditions call for a new type of lawyer, one not satisfied merel with the excitement and emoluments of private controversy, but one devoted in all his energies to the welfare of the commonwealth, not zealous for promi
nence nor clamorous for office, but eager to learn the facts which affect every human being in his country, and willing with hand and brain to forward the measures of true reform." Proximatc Cause. “Proximate Cause in the Law of Torts." By A. A. Boggs, of the Florida bar. 2 Lawyer and Banker 222 (Dec.). "In the law of contracts, the doctrine of Hadley v. Baxendale, 9 Exch. 341, is generally recognized, viz., that liability extends iri that field to such consequences as were or might by reasonable foresight have been anticipated as the result of the breach. ‘For,’ says the court,
‘had
the special circumstance been
known, the party might have expressly pro vided for the breach of contract by special terms as to the damage in that case, and of this advantage it would be very unjust to deprive them.’ . . .
