Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 24.pdf/170

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Index to Periodicals Riddell. 46 American Law Review 24 (Jan.Feb.). "It is plain, I venture to think, that those who framed the Constitution of the United States had not that perfect trust in the wisdom of their people and their descendants of which we so often hear. . . . Using the word 'con stitution' in the sense in which it is used in the United States, the constitution of Canada may be described by a parody of the famous chapter on the snakes of Ireland, 'There are no snakes in Ireland.' Our constitution is not only in theory, but also in fact similar in principle to that of the United Kingdom, and there parlia ment can do anything that is not naturally im possible." See Direct Government, Legal History. Interstate Commerce. "The Right to En gage in Interstate Transportation, etc." By Frederick H. Cooke. 21 Yale Law Journal 207 (Jan.). "Most lawyers would doubtless be consider ably surprised at an intimation that there is any doubt of the soundness of the proposi*ion that a foreign corporation, railroad or other, may, under any conditions, without the permission or against the will of a state, exercise the privi lege of eminent domain within its territory. And, as a matter of authority, this proposition does seem fairly well established, even as applied to a corporation engaged in interstate trans portation. Indeed the point seems to have usually been regarded as too obvious to require extended discussion. International Law. "Report of the Com mittee on International Law of the American Bar Association." By Charles Noble Gregory. 21 Yale Law Journal 193 (Jan.). The report makes this sole observation on the question of the pending treaties with Great Britain and France: "The proposed treaties have met with official and popular approval upon both sides of the Atlantic, and like treaties with Germany and Japan are mentioned as more than probable." International Law of War. "The Moslem International Law." By Syed H. R. Abdul Majid. 28 Law Quarterly Review 89 (Jan.). "Compared with some of the war practices of the contemporary Franks, those of the Saracens were most merciful. Conquered monarchs, such as Kahine of Barbary or Dastaro of Sind, were indeed put to death; rebels were cruelly handled, beheaded or impaled; but such harsh sentences were confined to important personages, the general mass of the people being treated by the Saracens with peculiar mildness. The heavier 'contribution of blood' or ransom from the sword was exacted only when terms for peaceful settlement were refused, and slaughter was resorted to only when actual forcible resistance was offered." "Article 23 (h) of Hague Convention, No. IV of 1907." By T. E. Holland. 28 Law Quarterly Review 94 (Jan.).

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The clause prohibits the commander of an invading force "de declarer 6teintes, suspendues, ou non recevables en justice les reclamations privees des ressortissants de la Partie adverse." Continental writers place a much broader con struction than the British Government and Judge-Advocate General Davis on this clause. Professor Holland favors its suppression from the Reglement as void for unintelligibility. Legal History. "The History of Majority Rule." By Th. Baty, LL.D. Quarterly Review v. 216, no. 430, p. 1 (Jan.). "The most rational and direct explanation of its rise is that like other superstitions it was cradled in uncritical carelessness, and brought to its modern pitch of luxuriant rankness through indolence. Never deliberately or of set purpose adopted as a political principle, it has drifted into a casual acceptance through loose political thinking." "The Reception of Roman Law in the Six teenth Century, II." By W. S. Holdsworth28 Law Quarterly Review 39 (Jan.). "France, in the pays des coutumes, and England, retained their old customary law. But it was not pure customary law. In both cases the customs had been reshaped and restated by men who had come under the influence of the school of Bologna. This reshaping and restatement saved them from destruction. They were made at once more precise and more complete, and therefore more capable of continuing to guide the life of a changing state. In the thirteenth century the influence of Roman law upon Eng lish law and upon the analogous French custom ary law was not dissimilar. Bracton and Beaumanoir could have read and appreciated one another's books. But after the thirteenth cen tury the two countries went their several ways. While the French customary law continued to be administered by lawyers of the type of Bracton, the English common law was shaped by men whose legal training was of a very different kind. Thus all through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the French customary law experienced a gradual infiltration of Roman principles and Roman ideas — 'an intelligent Reception.' . . . It is for this reason that English lawyers from the thirteenth century onwards have been in clined to exaggerate the prevalence of Roman law on the Continent. Our law is so un-Roman, our minds are so unaccustomed to the concepts of Roman law, that we can with difficulty dis tinguish varying shades and gradations in the extent of the Reception which the different countries of Western Europe experienced." A third instalment is to follow. "King John and Magna Carta." By Hon. U. M. Rose. Case & Comment, v. 18, p. 429 (Jan.). "The various bills and petitions of right, and the habeas corpus act, while they have given new sanctions to liberty, are but echoes of the Great Charter; and our Declaration of Independence is but the Magna Carta writ large, and expanded to meet the wants of a new generation of free