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Hirsh's Tabulated Digest of the Divorce Laws of the United States (new revised edition). By Hugo Hirsh. Folding chart, cloth covers. Funk & Wagnalls Company: New York and London. This is a complete digest of the divorce laws of every State and territory, placed in tabulated form, so that by a mere glance the particular information sought for may be obtained. The form and manner in which these laws are placed before the reader are as simple of comprehension for the layman as they are for the lawyer. To find definite information, such as a specific cause for divorce, or the ground for annulment of marriage, or length of residence required, or whether service of papers must be made personally or can be made otherwise, or indeed any other item of information on the subject covered by the title of the work, neither books nor pages need be examined, yet a moment's search will furnish the desired knowledge. The tabulation is printed on one large sheet of paper. At the head of it is an introduction with an explanation of the arbitrary signs and abbreviations used. Then follows an alphabetical list of States and territories in columns, and on each side is an index of causes for divorce. At the end of each column there is a concise synopsis of the practice in such case, showing the jurisdiction of courts, the methods of service of process, trials, and grounds for separation. Attention is called to the important changes made in the divorce laws in the District of Columbia, in the State of Florida, and in the Territory of Arizona. In the first named the changes are radical, for instead of the law as it now stands the new law not going into effect until January 1, 1902- which permits divorces for adultery, cruelty, abandonment and drunkenness, the new law will be similar to that in force in the State of New York. In Florida the law has been so changed as to permit divorce on the ground of insanity from which the defendant became a sufferer after marriage. To the student of this subject and to any person interested, this table presents an easy method of comparing the laws of the various States; and to those who are urging uniformity of divorce laws, this method of compilation will be a great labor-saver.

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stone in certain particulars, and to indicate in a general way some of the changes in the law. There can be no doubt that the outline thus carefully prepared by Mr. McCandless will be of much use to the student in his preparation from day to day on the subject.

A Century of Law Reform. The Macmillan Co.. New York and London, 1901.

This work embodies the twelve lectures on the changes in the law of England during the nineteenth century which were delivered at the request of the Council of Legal Education in the Old Hall, Lincoln's Inn, during Michaelmas Term, 1900, and Hilary Term, 1901. The lecturers include such wellknown and eminent names as those of W. Blake Odgers, Sir Henry B. Poland, John Pawley Bate, A. T. Carter, Augustine Birrell, Alfred Henry Ruegg, Arthur Underhill, Montague Lush and T. B. Napier. To those in this country who desire to obtain a correct idea of the progress in law reform in Great Britain during the past century, these lectures cannot fail to prove an exceptionally valuable aid.

D'ri

Boston: The and I. By Irving Bacheller. Lothrop Publishing Company, 1901.

In this tale of stirring deeds in the second war with the British, the author of "Eben Holden" has followed up his first phenomenal success with a historical novel which will live. He takes us to the wilderness stretching in the early years of the century from Lake Champlain to Lake Ontario, to the country south of the St. Lawrence river, where the pioneers, cut off from the outside world, were slow to lose their simplicity. D'ri is the type of this class in speech, character, rugged strength, resourcefulness and bravery; the hero (the "1") is Col. Ramon Bell, U. S. A., to whom D'ri sustains the relation of "fidus Achates." This hero is the representative of the mingling of Puritan and French which occurred in that region, where Frenchmen of wealth and title, having fled from the horrors of the Reign of Terror, bought tracts of land and built homes after the pattern of those destroyed. D'ri is full of Yankee shrewdness and wisdom, while the youthful colonel is as plucky and daring as the most jaded reader of this class of fiction could desire. "D'ri and I" is a worthy successor of “Eben Holden," and a work of undoubted power. It is, moreover, a book of intense interest, which the reader will not be inclined to put down until finished.

York: Harper & Brothers, 1901.

New

This outline of the law of real property is for the most part a skeleton of that part of the second Days Like These. By E. W. Townsend. book of Blackstone's Commentaries which relates to real property. The main object of its preparation As a picture of life in New York, this latest work has been to aid the student in better comprehend- of Mr. Townsend possesses a distinct interest. It ing and retaining in the memory the somewhat intricate rules and principles there laid down, showing clearly the divisions and interrelation of parts. By permission of Prof. H. B. Hutchins, its American editor, the notes in "Williams on Real Property" have been used to supplement the original of Black

is in many respects a remarkably clever picture, albeit, considerably overcolored — but that, perhaps, was inevitable. Political bosses, district leaders, and great financiers, the thugs of the slums and the harpies of society, as well as the best and worthiest representatives of both classes, all play their parts

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B. K. Benson's new novel is called "A Friend with the Countersign," a good title for the book which follows his first and very successful story, Who Goes There?" brought out last year by the Macmillan Company and which has been reckoned by army critics as the best story that has yet been written on the Civil War.

Mme. Sarah Bernhardt has just made arrangements with Mr. F. Marion Crawford for the pro

in this modern drama of New York life. There are great possibilities in a shop girl living on Hickory street on a salary of $10 a week, suddenly, by the death of a relative, put on the pinnacle of financial independence with an income of more than $600,000 a year, and Mr. Townsend makes the most of them. Rose Cavendish was fortunate in having an administrator who taught her, with the invaluable aid of a social polisher," to spend her money wisely as well as fashionably. When the lucky heiress and her mother returned from their European trip they duction of his new play which will probably appear this next season. It is said that the title will be seem to have had no difficulty with the doors which “open but to golden keys." As might be imagined. "The Harvest of the Sword," and that the same most of Miss Cavendish's time was spent in refusing plot will be used by Mr. Crawford in the novel, as offers of marriage - disinterested souls who thought yet unwritten, but which has been announced for it their duty to help her spend her munificent several years as on the stocks. income, for, of course, she never could do it alone. These included an English duke, a New York "rounder" and two German noblemen; but there were also "in the running," a lot of small-fry, plain, unadorned fortune-seekers. All of these, unfortunately for the interest of the reader in the story, have been so heavily handicapped from the start that there is never much doubt that Horace Maxwell, the wise and careful administrator of the estate, will come out winner of the race. The book is well written and thoroughly interesting; it will give the reader many delicious moments.

Literary Notes.

Over one-quarter of a million copies of "The Crisis" have been sold since its publication on May twenty-five.

"Truth Dexter," by Sidney McCall, is ranked fourth among the thirty best selling books of the month, by the September "World's Work.”

The title of Mr. Alfred Hodder's novel will be "The New Americans." This describes the story, whereas the title under which it was at first announced, "The Heirs of Yesterday," did not.

John Oliver Hobbes's new novel, announced by the Frederick A. Stokes Company, is entitled "The Serious Wooing: A Heart's History." In it are set forth the evils of the marriage of convenience.

"David Harum" was published nearly three years ago, but the publishers report a remarkable persistence in the demand for the book, which is still selling largely. The Appletons also report a tremendous edition of Hall Caine's new story, "The Eternal City."

"The Private Life of the Sultan," by George Darys, is to be published immediately by D. Appleton & Co. It appears that the author has just been condemned to death and narrowly escaped from Constantinople. He is at present living in Paris, where he is at the head of what is known as the younger Turkish party.

Another colonial romance, dealing with the early days of Maryland, is announced by Little, Brown & Co. The title is " Mistress Brent," and the principal character is a woman of the Queen Elizabeth type who came out to the New World in the same spirit of adventure that had sent her masculine friends and kinsmen out to settle. The story is written by Lucy M. Thruston, a new and promising author.

The recent death of John Fiske lends a poignant interest to his "Life Everlasting," the remarkable lecture on immortality delivered by him last winter at Harvard University. It is the fifth lecture on the George Goldthwaite Ingersoll Foundation, the previous lectures having been given by Rev. Dr. George A. Gordon, Professor William James, President Wheeler and Dr. Josiah Royce. Mr. Fiske's lecture will be published at once by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

The title of Robert Herrick's new novel will be "The Real World," not "Jock O' Dreams," as hitherto announced. The story will be published some time in October. That the world is not created afresh for each of us is a truth which is not always

recognized, though each finds it out for himself soon enough. It is eternally old and by the same token always new, and is the motive of the story. The woman in the book is the daughter of an Ohio manufacturer, and the plot is developed through the story of a young man's life.

Maurice Hewlett's new book, "New Canterbury Tales," will be published at once by the Macmillan Co. In his new book Mr. Hewlett has taken the Canterbury pilgrimage as the scene of his narrative. One of the interesting qualities of his work is his boldness. In each of his recent books he has taken in hand subjects which have already been treated by the masters.

He does this without in any way challenging comparison, and indeed in such a different manner and with such an individuality of style that comparison would be impossible. Like the masters Mr. Hewlett has the eye for a great subject, and as no two people see the same subject from the same side, we may expect an entirely individual treatment of the subject already made famous by Chaucer.

Legal Notes.

Being asked for a further explanation as to the term "reasonable doubt," the court, in the case of Lenert v. State (63 Southwestern Reporter, 564), delivered itself as follows: "I understand that you desire an additional charge upon the meaning of the words reasonable doubt.'" Upon receiving an affirmative answer from the jury, the court told them verbally that the two words were words in common use, and the jury could understand them as easily as the court, and that the court had a reasonable doubt to whether he could charge them as to their

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meaning.

Clifford A. Hand, a lawyer of high repute among the other members of the profession in New York city, and head of the firm of Hand, Bonney, Pell & Jones, died at Elizabethtown, of apoplexy. He was sixty years of age, and a graduate of Union College, in which he was always warmly interested. Thirty years ago he was active in politics, and was a member of the Apollo Hall wing of the Democratic party. In 1872 he was nominated for judge of the Superior Court, but was defeated by Hooper C. Van Vorst, the Republican candidate. Mr. Hand was a member of the Bar Association, a trustee of the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company and the Atlantic Trust Company, and a member of the University and Democratic Clubs.

as might be necessary for their own protection, and to enable them to force the trespasser to come into the train. It may be mentioned incidentally that in Georgia a conductor of a train is a police officer of the State, and has authority to retain a trespasser in custody and deliver him to the State authorities.

English Botes.

Lord Brampton is among the contributors of chapters to the volume Messrs. Longmans & Co. are about Personal Records of Some of the More Recent Conto publish under the title of "Roads to Rome: being verts to the Catholic Faith."

It is a pity that Peter the Great cannot revisit England, now that the termination of the legal year has emptied the law courts. When he was taken over Westminster hall, during his stay in London, the courts were still sitting, and he was greatly puzzled by the numbers of gentlemen in wigs and gowns who were hastening to and fro. He asked at last who they were, and, on hearing they were lawyers, could scarcely conceal his surprise. "Lawyers!" he exclaimed. "Why there are only two lawyers in the whole of Russia, and I am going to hang one of them directly I get back!"-Daily Chronicle.

The Inner Temple once had a rule that no barrister should wear a beard of more than three weeks' growth. The Middle Temple went further, and during the reign of Queen Mary enacted that none save benchers should wear in their doublets or hose any light colors save scarlet or crimson, nor wear white jerkin, buskins or velvet shoes, double cuffs in their shirts, feathers or ribbons in their caps, and that none should wear their study gowns in the city any farther than Fleet street or Holborn; nor while in commons wear Spanish cloaks, sword or buckler or rapier, or gowns or hat, or be girded with a dagger on the back.— Sun.

A passenger riding on a free pass, which stipulated that the acceptance and use thereof would be a release of any injuries which might be sustained by the holder, has been held by the Appellate Court of Indiana, in Payne v. Terre Haute & I. R. Co. (60 Northeastern, 362), not to lose his right to bring an action against the railroad company for, negligence. The courts of Indiana have uniformly held that common carriers are subject to the same liability for injuries resulting from negligence to persons riding on free passes as they are to those Lord Field, who is the oldest of the judges in rewho pay full fare The decisions upon this proposi-tirement, completed his eighty-eighth year on the tion in the different State courts and the federal courts are in irreconcilable conflict. An interesting note upon this subject will be found in volume 31, C. C. A. Reports, page 164, where the question is discussed in all its phases.

The right of a conductor in charge of a railroad train, who discovers a person stealing a ride thereon, to require such person to come into the train and pay his fare, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of Georgia in Griffin v. State (38 Southeastern, page 844). The court holds, furthermore, that, although satisfied that the person would not pay his fare, the conductor could, without stopping the train, compel him to come into the same for the purpose of investigating the matter; and in the event of the trespasser refusing to comply, and displaying a deadly weapon, with the manifest intention of resisting the train officals, the employes had a right to arm themselves

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21st inst. He was appointed a judge of the old Court of Queen's Bench in 1875, and retired from the bench in 1900, mainly on account of growing deafness. His patience was sorely tried during the latter part of his judicial career by the disinclination of witnesses to speak out. He had something like a formula on these occasions. 'Speak up, please," he was accustomed to say, "do speak up. You forget that these courts were never built for hearing. They are very ornamental, perhaps, but not very --"He was scarcely ever known to finish the familiar sentence. Lord Field, who was made a peer on his retirement from the bench, is one of the last of the Serjeants, the only other survivor of the ancient race being Lord Lindley. Like the late Lord Russell of Killowen and Mr. Justice Mansity, he began his professional life as a solicitor and his portrait occupies a prominent place in the Incorporated Law Society's hall.

but an eminent conveyancer of Lincoln's-inn dis

The Albany Law Journal. posed of this criticism in a conclusive answer in the

A Monthly Record of the Law and the Lawyers. Published by THE ALBANY LAW JOURNAL COMPANY, Albany, N. Y.

Contributions, items of news about courts, judges and lawyers queries or comments, criticisms on various law questions, addresses

on legal topics, or discussions on questions of timely interest, are solicited from members of the bar and those interested in legal proceedings.

[All communications intended for the Editor should be addressed simply to the Editor of THE ALBANY LAW JOURNAL. All letters should be addressed to THE ALBANY LAW JOURNAL COMPANY.]

relating to advertisements, subscriptions or other business matters

Subscription price. Three Dollars per annum, in advance. Single number, Twenty-five Cents.

ALBANY, N. Y., NOVEMBER, 1901.

Current Topics.

press.

ture.

Mr. Harrison told George Eliot that he should always boast of having written one sentence that was embodied in English literaAn English contemporary naively remarks that "it is not perhaps to be regretted that certain other novelists did not avail themselves of the services of their legal friends, for the correction of their legal errors would have deprived their legal readers of the only element of humor to be found in them." It is recalled that among the novelists of the last century who were lawyers, were Sir Walter Scott, Charles Reade, Wilkie Collins, R. L. Stevenson and R. D. Blackmore, and that the

In a delightful article in the September leading writers of fiction now living, who be“Harper's,” Mr. Frederick Harrison relates long to the bar, are Mr. Rider Haggard, Mr. some very interesting "Reminiscences of Anthony Hope, Mr. W. E. Norris, Mr. StanGeorge Eliot." Just as in later times, Robert ley Weyman and Mr. Anstey. What seems

Louis Stevenson consulted

Mr. Graham

Murray, the present lord advocate of Scotland, with reference to legal matters touched upon in his novels, so George Eliot sought to avoid mistakes of law in her writings by seeking the guidance of Lord Bowen. In addition to valuable advice for the latter on a legality arising in "Daniel Deronda," she is said to have been guided through the legal labyrinth in "Felix Holt " by the threads supplied to her by the late Lord Herschell and Mr. Frederick Harrison himself, who wrote the "opinion" of the attorney-general printed in italics in that work. Mr. Harrison says:

I was at first inclined to think the case to be impossible, as contrary to the then existing Statutes of Limitations. But I presently fell back on the rare, but not impossible, case of a Base Fee, under which a settlement might be perfectly valid for the issue of a tenant in tail for many generations, but would not bar the rights of the remaindermen. It happened that, before I finally submitted the scheme to George Eliot, I asked the opinion of a colleague at the bar. The man I consulted chanced to be the late Lord Herschell, the ex-chancellor, who died on a public mission in the United States, and who was then a junior barrister. Having his entire concurrence, 1 carried the scheme to George Eliot, who at once recast her plot, and was enabled to carry back the settlement of the Transome estates, not only for forty years, but for more than a century. An attempt was made in a review to throw doubt upon the correctness of the law on which Felix Holt was based; VOL. 63.- No. 11.

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somewhat strange is the fact which our London namesake points out, that the novelists who have received a legal training are far less ready to introduce legal details into their

stories than are the writers who prove their utter ignorance of the law.

It appears to be the trend of recent decisions that the doctrine generally accepted in this country will soon conform to that of England in reference to alimony, viz.: That it is not a debt which can be proven in bankruptcy proceedings or discharged by the action of the bankruptcy courts. In Audubon v. Schufelt, the United States Supreme Court, after reviewing the decisions of the lower court, held that a claim of alimony was not a provable debt. The court said:

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Alimony does not arise from any business transaction, but from the relation of marriage. It is not founded on contract, expressed or implied, but on the natural and legal duty of the husband to support the wife. The general obligation to support is made specific by the decree of the court of appropriate jurisdiction. Generally speaking, alimony may be altered by that court at any time, as the circumstances of the parties may require. The decree of the court of one State, indeed, for the present payment of a definite sum of money as alimony, is a record which is entitled to full faith and credit in another State, and may, therefore, be there enforced by suit. But its obligation in that respect

does not affect its nature.

court.

In other respects ali- of the marital relation, under the doctrine of Carris v. Carris. Nor do any considerations of public policy debar a party imposed on by such fraud, and induced to enter into a marriage contract, the continuance of which must produce results so disastrous, from the relief of a judicial declaration that the contract is null and void."

mony cannot ordinarily be enforced by action at law, but only by application to the court which granted it, and subject to the discretion of that Permanent alimony is regarded rather as a portion of the husband's estate to which the wife is equitably entitled than as strictly a debt; alimony from time to time may be regarded as a portion of his current income or earnings, and the considerations which affect either can be better! weighed by the court having jurisdiction over the relation of husband and wife than by a court of a different jurisdiction."

In the case of Crane v. Crane, decided by the Court of Chancery of the State of New Jersey, it was held that to annul a marriage for a fraudulent representation inducing the conract, it must be shown that the fraud affected an essential of the married relation. An explicit statement by a man about to be married that he was not afflicted with the loathsome disease called " syphilis," made when it was his duty to state the truth, and knowingly false, is held to be such a fraudulent representation as affects an essential of the married relation. The court said:

"The question, then, is whether, if the proofs establish a fraudulent representation by defendant of freedom from the disease of syphilis, the fraud is to be adjudged to affect an essential of the marriage relation. Misrepresentation as to freedom from disease in general, or concealment of the existence of a disease, although one in common apprehension communicable and transmissable to offspring, cannot, in my judgment, be so regarded. They fall within the line of false representations as to family, fortune, or external condition, declared by Mr. Justice Bedle (Carris v. Carris, 24 N. J. Eq. 516) to be insufficient to justify the annulment of marriage. As to such and like matters the parties take each other for better or for worse (1 Bish.

Mar., Div. & Sep., sec. 457). But as to a fraudulent

The case of a horse that changed his color was recently adjudicated by the Supreme Court of North Carolina. The horse had been mortgaged and described in the deed as "a bay horse six years old." Before the mortgage fell due the horse had been traded from party to party until purchased by the defendant, who had no actual notice of the mortgage. By this time he had "become a white and sorrel spotted horse, without any appearance of bay whatever." There being no doubt as to the identity of the horse, the court held that the mortgagee did not lose his right to subject the horse to the payment of the lien. The court, after commenting upon the fact that a mortgage on pigs, calves, or other young animals would not be vitiated by their growing into boars, sows, bulls, cows, and the like, philosophizes as follows: "A horse may shed his color, but a mortgage is not so easily shed. It usually sticks closer than the skin." Whether this is "judicial notice" of this interesting fact, we do not undertake to say. This case is found in 37 S. E. 453.

The Chicago Tribune has been collecting some interesting statistics bearing upon the overcrowded condition of the legal profession in that city. It has ascertained that on the first day of last January there were enough lawyers in the Windy City to fill four full regiments of representation of freedom from syphilis I have the United States army, the exact figures bereached a different conclusion. When a wife has ing 4,403. During the year 1900, which is the discovered that her husband is infected with that latest year for which figures are available, 140 disease, this court has held, in accord with decis- members of the bar in Chicago left the profesions elsewhere, that she is justified in refusing to sion for some other line of work; during the permit marital intercourse, and when he, knowing, or having reason to believe, he is infected, persists same period forty lawyers died and twenty in maintaining marital intercourse wth her, he is went out of practice for one reason or another, guilty of extreme cruelty, for which a divorce will making a total of 200 less lawyers in Chicago be decreed (Cook v. Cook, 32 N. J. Eq. 475). Dis- than in January, 1900. During the same covery of the existence of that disease ought to period, however, 350 new lawyers hung out produce, and would produce, a denial of marital their shingles, so that there are actually at intercourse, and consequently render impossible the procreation of children of the marriage. In least 150 more attorneys in the city than there that view the fraud in question touches an essential were one year ago. It is estimated that during

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