great pleasure that we see justice at last done, in this revival of so useful a performance, to the late Mr. Cornish's great talents and high services, to which we have, as in duty bound, before now borne our testimony (see Law Mag. vol. iv. p. 517); and to our minds there can be no doubt but that in its new and ably arranged dress it will meet with a rapid and general acceptation.

A Manual of the Practice and Evidence in Actions and other Proceedings in the County Courts, with the Statutes and Rules. By J. E. Davis, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. Second edition. London: Butterworths.

1855.

WE are glad to see that the excellent little work, written some time since by Mr. Davis, on the evidence requisite to support suits brought in the County Courts, has now reached a second edition. That the idea of such a work was happily conceived, we have often thought; that it was well executed, and has proved useful to that class of practitioners for whom it was designed, is sufficiently proved by its success. We are glad to perceive that the work is now considerably increased in size, and that a detailed account of the practice of the County Court has been inserted in it. The fourth part of this Manual, which treats of the evidence in actions for torts, and contains references to many recent and important cases upon that subject, appears to us to have been prepared with much care, and is calculated to be very serviceable to suitors. We may indeed congratulate Mr. Davis on the judgment which he has throughout displayed in selecting and arranging the materials of which his present volume is composed.

An Introduction to the Study of Jurisprudence; being a Translation of the General Part of Thibault's System des Pandekten Rechts, with Notes and Illustrations. By Nathaniel Lindley, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. London: Maxwell. 1855.

THIS book, in fact, consists of two parts-the first, or body of the work, being a translation of the well-known treatise of Thibault, accompanied with copious references to the Corpus Juris and its commentators; the second part comprising notes and illustrations, the main object of which seems to be, as well to explain the text as to illustrate it, by comparing and contrasting the principles which it exhibits with our own system of jurisprudence. The design here indicated of tracing up the principles of English law to the time of Justinian is very laudable; and though we can scarcely hope that a project so vast will ever be successfully accomplished, we nevertheless recognize, in the notes and illustrations to the volume before us, the results of much patient thought and of very considerable research. The following extracts, we believe, present a fair specimen of the style and manner of our author. Having in his character of translator inserted in the body of his work the following sentence

"The maxim cessante ratione legis, cessat lex ipsa, is altogether false

when applied to restrictive interpretation. If, after a time, the reason of a law ceases to exist, the law itself nevertheless continues binding; and it is not to be interpreted restrictively merely because some particular case may not come within its reason. Restrictive interpretation is only to be adopted when it can be shown that the lawgiver did not intend the law to extend to the case in question." He thus comments upon it in the subsequent portion of his volume :

"The rule referred to [in the text] for the logical extension of a law, ob identitatem rationis, is usually expressed thus, ubi eadem legis ratio, ibi eadem dispositio; and as there is, even to jurists, something seductive in a nicely-sounding phrase, they have been induced to say contrariwise, cessante ratione legis, cessat lex ipsa. Against this maxim, when applied for the purpose of rendering a law inoperative, it is necessary, however, to protest. Two cases have to be considered.

"1. The ratio of an old law has ceased in consequence of a change in the habits of the people. The law, nevertheless, remains binding until it is repealed by the lawgiving power; for as a positive law is binding, not in consequence of its adaptation to circumstances, but by virtue of its sanction, so it does not lose its force until that sanction ceases. Besides, it is often in the highest degree desirable not to disturb existing relations; and juridically speaking, a rule frequently derives much more importance, both to sovereign and subject, from the length of its standing than from its conformity to reason.

"2. The ratio of a law may happen not to apply to some individual case falling within its words; or, expressed otherwise, the law would not have been made if such cases had alone to be provided for. Here again the law must be held to apply; for the Romans adopted the very sensible rule, jura generaliter constituuntur, and, consequently, in order to insure certainty and consistency in their decisions, applied the law even to cases to meet which alone it would not have been made."

Those who ignorantly prate of the utter worthlessness of the study of Roman jurisprudence, and those who in a more humble spirit entertain misgivings as to its importance, will alike do well to purchase and ponder over the volume which we have in the above remarks endeavoured to introduce to notice. It will be found, if we mistake not, to enlighten their ignorance, to remove their doubts,—to teach them a habit of generalization, in which we fear that English lawyers and law-writers are as a body singularly deficient.

Commentaries upon International Law. By Robert Phillimore, M.P., Advocate to her Majesty in her office of Admiralty. Vol. II. London: Benning and Co. 1855.

By a notice prefixed to this volume, we are glad to learn that the important work, of which the above is an instalment, will shortly be completed. When it is so, we purpose offering some remarks upon

it; for the present, however, contenting ourselves with the following extract, which has some peculiar interest at this moment:

"It is not easy to define the existing relations of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Russian Church. The Patriarch, whilst these pages are being written, is reported to have rebuked the Emperor of Russia for the schismatic condition of the Church in that country, and to have refused his proffered protectorate for the Greek Church.

6

"The Patriarch of Constantinople has recently entered into a concordat with the Crown of Greece. The ministers of that Crown sent a formal letter to the Patriarch, accompanied by an unanimous decree of the Holy Synod of Greece, dated May 30, 1850. This document contained the following among the propositions: That the Synod of Greece holds as a most solemn obligation the duty of piously conceding the primacy guaranteed by the sacred canons to the cecumenical throne of Constantinople, as the first chair of the Catholic Apostolic Orthodox Church, and to commemorate first him who sits thereon in the sacred diptychs, according to the established order of the Church. In addition to this, wherever spiritual questions may arise, which require united deliberation and action, for the greater edification and confirmation of the Orthodox Church, they recognise it to be a duty that reference should be made first to that chair.

"This and the other propositions of the letter were formally ratified and confirmed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, his associate synod and suffragans, in a synodical decree.

"It is remarkable that, not long before the Papal aggression in England, which has been just discussed, Pius IX. made an attack of a similar character upon the Eastern Church.

"On the 6th of January, 1848, he issued an encyclical letter of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church to the Orthodox in all parts,' in modern Greek, ' to the Easterns,' containing some very unfortunate errors,―among others a reference to the Council of Carthage, instead of Chalcedon; but neither this mistake nor the modern Greek appears to have been the cause of the great irritation and offence caused by this memorable epistle, of which it is now not easy to obtain a copy: it was the assumption of authority, the implicit denial of the Greek episcopate, which roused this long oppressed Church, and caused it to return, in classical Greek, an answer which will never be forgotten, of the Orthodox Eastern Church to the encyclical epistle of his Holiness the Pope of Rome, lately sent to the Easterns.' This answer corrected the historical errors of the Pope, and enumerated the offences against the unity and peace of the Church committed by Rome, while it vindicated the faith of the Greek Church in a manner worthy of its best days. We have already considered the claim of the Emperor of Russia to protect the subjects of the Porte, who are members of the Greek branch of the Catholic Church-and would that we could speak in the past tense of the terrible war into which this protection has plunged Europe, and perhaps the world.

VOL. LIV. NO. CVIII.

2 D

"It only remains to add that the great powers of Europe, who in 1827 had intervened for the purpose of establishing the kingdom of Greece, intervened again in 1853 to guarantee that the successors to the throne of Greece should profess the faith of the Orthodox Eastern Church."-Pp. 452, 454.

The Law relating to the Probate, Legacy, and Succession Duties, including all the Statutes and Decisions on those subjects, with forms and practical directions. By Leonard Shelford, Esq., of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law. London: Butterworths. HAVING been in the habit for years past of referring for information to Mr. Shelford's Treatises, particularly to his edition of the Bankrupt Act and of the Real Property Statutes, we are enabled to bear testimony to their accuracy, and to the great amount of learning and research displayed in them. Mr. Shelford's works on the Law of Lunacy, and on Marriage and Divorce, have acquired an established reputation. So far as we have been enabled, on careful examination, to form an opinion as to the present volume, it will fully sustain the high reputation of its author; its aim and object are thus stated by him: "The Succession Duty Act, 1853, having altered in some important particulars the Legacy Duty Acts, and applied some of its provisions to the former Act, it occurred to the author that a methodical arrangement of the several provisions of those Acts would form a useful Manual of reference for the use of the practitioner." In pursuance of this idea the author has, in four elaborate chapters, composing the body of his present work, severally discussed the Stamp Duties on Probate and Letters of Administration; the Legacy Duty Acts; the construction of the last-named statute; and the Succession Duty. In the appendix to Mr. Shelford's useful volume are contained the Succession Duty Act, 1853; rules for determining the value of an annuity of 1007. in certain cases; forms, with directions for using them; and a learned note on the Queen's Remembrancer's office.

A Treatise on the Administration of Trust Funds under the Trustee Relief Act, with an Appendix, containing the Trustee Relief Act, and the Act for the further relief of trustees, the General Orders and Forms of proceedings. By John Darling, Esq., Barrister-atLaw. London: Stevens and Norton. 1855.

THIS is a very carefully written work upon the important enactments above specified, the nature and aim of which are thus stated by the learned author :

"The principal object which the Legislature had in view in passing the statute 10 & 11 Vict. c. 96, commonly called the Trustee Relief Act, was to improve the position of trustees, by enabling them to free themselves more easily from the burdens and liabilities of their office. Before the passing of the statute, a trustee could not obtain the assistance of the Court of Chancery in cases where the execution of his trust was attended with

any difficulties, without a suit being instituted, either by himself, or his cestui que trust, for the administration of trust property. Nor when the trust was a continuing one, and the trust instrument contained no power to appoint new trustees, could he retire from his office, without giving rise to a suit for the appointment of new trustees. Now, apart from the reluctance which conscientious trustees would naturally feel in burdening the trust property with the expense of a suit in Chancery, the Court did not consider them warranted in acting so as to lead to that result, either by retiring from their office, or by declining to act except under the direction of the Court, unless they were able to show that they had good grounds for the course they adopted. If they failed to establish this to the satisfaction of the Court, although their conduct in the matter might not have been marked by any want of good faith, they were generally refused their costs, whether the suit was one for the administration of the trust property, or for the appointment of new trustees.

"It is unnecessary to say that this state of things was frequently productive of much embarrassment and inconvenience to trustees; and to provide a suitable remedy for it appears to have been the main design of the Legislature in passing the Trustee Relief Act. That statute is intended to enable trustees to relieve themselves of their trust in a simple and inexpensive manner, and so to give them a larger power of getting rid of the burdens and liabilities of their office than they formerly possessed. With this view it authorizes the trustees in the first instance, upon their complying with certain formalities, to pay the trust funds in their hands into the Court of Chancery, and then empowers the Court to execute the trust in a summary way upon petition. The trust is thus shifted from the trustees to the Court at a comparatively trifling expense to the trust property. It should be observed, that the Act is confined to property of which the Court can conveniently accept the trusteeship, and that its provisions, in consequence, extend only to money, and to the ordinary public funds and securities."

We cannot forbear adding that there is an excellent index to the volume whence the above extract is taken.

The Endowed Charities, with some Suggestions for further Legislation regarding them. By J. P. Fearon. London: Longmans. 1855. THIS is a very interesting and important pamphlet, throwing much light upon the state and condition of our Endowed Charities. The following extract from it, giving an account of the proceedings-and the results attained by them-in reference to St. Cross, will, we are assured, be acceptable to our readers :—

"Lord Guilford, as the master, had granted leases for lives, taking fines, the great bulk of which he appropriated to his own use, a small proportion only being reserved to the almspeople, and small rents were reserved. On inquiry, it appeared that the rents and fines and other considerations paid by the lessees amounted to the fair value, and there was no case for impugning the validity of the leases. On the other hand, the information prayed for a declaration of the Court, that the master was not entitled to appropriate the fines to his own use, and that he might be decreed to account for and restore them to the charity. Lord Guilford, in his defence, put forward a document found among the muniments of the charity, and called the 'consuetudinarium. This document bore date A.D. 1696. It