Index to Periodicals flrficles on Topics of Legal Science and Related Subjects Agency. "Compensation of Unfaithful Agents." By S. R. Wrightington. 72 Cenlral Law Journal 396 (June 2). "Among the frauds of modern commercial life, which impose on the honest members of the community a serious addition to their already heavy expenses, one of the most insidious and dangerous is that of the secret discount, or rake off, obtained by an agent in transacting the busi ness of his principal. . . "The general rule is well settled that a broker must act with entire good faith towards his principal, and he is bound to disclose_to his principal all facts within his knowledge which are, or may be material to the matter in which he is em loyed, or which might influence the principal in is action and if he has failed to come up to this standard of duty he cannot recover. . . . l‘The English decisions appear to have drawn this distinction, that where the transactions are separable and it can be determined as to which of the transactions the agent has obtained a secret
rofit or commission, such transactions
are to
separated from those in which he has
dealt fairly with his principal, and that the
agent will not be deprived of his commission on all such transactions. . . . "It is to be hoped that the stringent rule apply ing to all fiduciaries will not be weakened in this
way in this country." "An Agent's Right to Sue upon Contracts, II." By Floyd R. Mechem. 59 Univ. of Pa. Law Review 587 (June). Continuation of article noticed in 23 Green Bag 355, supra. Attorney and Client. "The Trust Com pany —- Not a Competitor of the Lawyer." By William T. Abbott. 6 Illinois Law Review 73 (June). "In this a e the trust companies, both in their financial an: trustee aspects in mutual co-opera tion with the lawyer, are moving spirits, not to
say controlling factors, in helping to prevent that threatened division of society into two great antagonistic classes, one of which seeks with the keenest ability, vigilance and manipulation to secure and hold all it can safely t, and the other, with less education and ski l, but equal ferocity, to take all that it may dare seize. The social and legal problem cannot be separated from the economic, and as neighbors and co workers we should unite to maintain that rea sonable (not necessarily equal) distribution of advantages, opportunity and profit which alone can forestall and prevent a compulsory readjust ment through revolutionary methods." Contracts. See Agency.
Corporations. See Interstate Commerce, Public Service Corporations. Court of Claims. "The United States as Defendant." By Lincoln B. Smith. 72 Central Law Journal 455 (June 23). “The magnitude and importance of the work of the court of claims is not generally realized. Although the claimants are scattered from Maine to California, the practitioners, because it is a
s ialized practice, are largely from the bar of t e District of Columbia; the consequence being that the court of claims is not well known except in Washington. The court consists of a chief justice and four associate judges, appointed for life.
It is an able and hard-working court,
sitting continuously from October to June, and it has, without doubt, a greater variety of ques tions of law to consider than any other court in the United States, excepting the Supreme Court." Criminal Procedure. "Appeals in Homicide Cases in Pennsylvania." By Edward Lindsey. 59 Univ. of Pa. Law Review 623 (June). A painstaking and valuable statistical exami nation of appeals in homicide cases in this state from 1905 to 1910. "The most difficult information to get in con nection with these cases was the length of time consumed by the trial. Sometimes the minute dockets would show it clearly and sometimes
they would not. However it was ascertained for thirty-seven of the cases. in only one of these cases did the trial exceed eight days. . . . “From the figures given it appears that the avera e time that elapses from the arrest of the
defen ant to the decision of his appeal by the Supreme Court in capital cases is a little over eleven months. A little over three months of this time is consumed by the appeal, eight months being the average time elapsing from the arrest to the appeal. . . . "The length of time elapsing from trial to appeal seems excessive. It was suggested that the length of time is due to the consideration of motions for new trial and the care taken in their consideration, the decision on such motion
bein the final decision on practically all except pure y legal questions. Nevertheless an avera e of over four months seems unnecessarily long. 11 practice the argument of the appeal does not seem to take place as speedily as is contemplated by the rules of the Supreme Court; presumably, however, this must be due to sufiiclent msons in each case. in view of the fact that it is the duty of the Supreme Court to examine the evi dence, the disposition of appeals by that court may be fairly characterized as prompt, the aver age being thirty days. Here, too, it should be noted that two-thirds of the cases are decided practically within the average riod. . . . "The largest number of assignments of error seem to be to the admission or rejection of evi dence, as is perhaps natural. Almost as many
