Index to Periodicals of stare decisis to the point where it no longer becomes authoritative. . It thus leads to con fusion instead of serving as a guide. The busi ness interests do not know what laws the states may enact concerning them. The people of the states do not know how far they can go in their attempts to solve their own economic and social problems. The Fourteenth Amendment, uncertain in its scope from the day of its adoption, remains uncertain. Under present rules of procedure there is no escape from the dilemma." See Recall of Decisions. Equitable Actions. See Corporations. Evidence. See Anglo-German Cases. Federal and State Powers. See Monopolies. Fourteenth Amendment. See Due Process of Law. General Jurisprudence. "Law and Lib erty." By W. Jethro Brown, University of Ade laide. 12 Columbia Law Review 613 (Nov.). Dr. Brown here replies to the strictures on his doctrine of liberty contained in a review of his work, "The Underlying Principles of Modern Legislation," in the May number of the Colum bia Law Renew. His position, however, will perhaps strike his readers as more dogmatic than analytical. His defense of his views seems to us to illustrate the impracticability of basing a theory of legislation on the principle of liberty without sophistication and vagueness. The Law Quarterly Renew, in its review of "The Underlying Principles of Modern Legisla tion" in its current issue, observes: "It is really surprising to find that an alumnus of Cambridge should have so completely forgotten Seeley's fifth and sixth lectures on Political Science as to bring out the term Liberty and surround it with new ambiguities." Government. "The Bald-Headed Man in the Omnibus." By W. J. Courthope. National Review, v. 60, p. 225 (Oct.). Reverting to Bagehot's notable definition in 1865, of public opinion as "the opinion of the bald-headed man at the back of the omnibus." The writer denies that this still holds true today. The middle classes are no longer the supreme power in the English Constitution. "Mr. Lowell [in The Government of Eng land'] at least recognizes, what Mr. Bagehot never thoroughly did, that sovereign power in England has passed from Parliament to the elec torate, and that the effect of this on the Con stitution must be vital, though still uncertain." The change has particularly affected party gov ernment, which Bagehot was able to view in a different light than is possible today. The author considers present and future problems of party government in England. "Federal Government." By Rt. Hon. Her bert Samuel, M. P. Nineteenth Century, v. 72, p. 676 (Oct.). "The principle of Federalism has made great strides in the modern world. Not far short of half the white population of the earth is now
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governed under federal constitutions. In area —excluding Asia and tropical Africa—more than two-thirds of the territories inhabited by white peoples are administered by federal authorities. Two of the greatest of the nations, the United States and Germany; the three vast British Dominions, Canada, Australia, and South Africa; two of the largest and most prosperous of the South American States, the Argentine Republic and Brazil; and, in addition, Switzer land and the less important countries of Mexico and Venezuela—all these, with a population of 224 millions of people, have chosen that their laws should be framed and their government con ducted on the federal plan." "The Electoral College: Its Prerogatives and Possibilities." By John Walker Holcombe. Forum, v. 48. p. 526 (Nov.). Proposes that the Electoral College be made an actual nominating assembly. The original plan was that the Electors should assemble in a body for consultation; "the change which ren dered them powerless to choose was made on account of the expense and difficulty of travel, a reason which no longer exists." See Civil Service, Judicial Organization, Jud icial Power to Annul Statutes, Mohammedan Law, Recall of Decisions, Royal Prerogative, Social Reform. Infants. "A summary of the Law relating to the Custody of Infants." By Lewis Hochheimer. 46 AmericanLaw Review, 691 (Sept.- Oct.). Injunctions. "Development of the Injunction in the United States." By George Whitelock. 46 American Law Renew 725 (Sept.- Oct.). "If use of the salutary restraining power of a court of equity in the Debs case and in the Gompers case was government by injunction, the conservative will prefer its beneficent control to that of parliaments whose only spring of action is the popular initiative, and whose statutes must be galvanized into life by the plebiscite, and they will also prefer an interpretation and ad ministration of the law by a judiciary secure and independent in the dignity of life tenure, armed with plenary power to punish for contempt, to the action_ of invertebrate judges whose term of service is at the whim of a fickle and fluctuat ing majority, whose decisions on grave constitu tional issues are reversible by popular refer endum." Insurance. Election in Insurance Cases." By John S. Ewart, Ottawa. 12 Columbia Law Review 619 (Nov.). "There has been a struggle between the courts and the insurance companies, and upon the whole the companies have won and made the courts say so, although they had a very bad case. They wanted the courts to declare that their policies insured the payment of premiums rather than the liquidation of losses. They wanted policies that would be alive and active for prem ium-catching, and quite defunct and extinct — void, they called it — when the premium-payer claimed a loss. The courts saw the iniquity; struggled against it; and failed — failed because
