THE GREEN BAG

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The author has furnished a book which will be useful to the practitioner as an aid to finding cases in point. The large number of cases collected, and a good and really service able index assure this. A lack of plan, how ever, in the arrangement of citations in the foot-notes will hamper somewhat those who use the book. It is, nevertheless, only fair to say that the work is as good as the average American law book. S. H. E. F. CARRIERS. " Laws Relating to Bills of Lading," by T. B. Paton, American Lawyer (V. xiv, p. 360). CHATTEL MORTGAGES. " Evidence Ad missible to Prove a Sale a Mortgage," by J. A. Soldanha, Bombay Law Reporter (V. viii, p. 320). CHARITABLE Agency).

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CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. Edwin Maxey, in the December Yale Law Journal (V. xvi, p. 90) treats the " Exclusion of Japanese Children from the Public Schools of San Francisco." He declares that requiring them to attend the Oriental Schools is a discrimina tion against Japanese subjects, violating the treaty between Japan and this country, and that the California statute under which the Board of Education acted is unconstitutional as being in conflict with the treaty. "If, then, the state court does its duty, a solution for the difficulty can readily be found. "But suppose that the state court allows itself to be blinded by the race prejudice which influenced the legislature to pass the statute, the litigation can be prolonged to such a degree that the Japanese may readily con clude that we are not acting in good faith, for it is hardly fair to expect that the Japanese people will understand that our federal gov ernment which is entrusted with the making of treaties cannot also secure obedience to their provisions upon the part of its subordi nate divisions." CONSTITUTIONAL LAW (Railroad Rate Legislation). " The Power of Congress to Prescribe Railroad Rates," by Frank W. Hackett, December Harvard Law Review (V. xx, p. 127).

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. " Freedom of the Executive in Exercising Governmental Functions from Control of the Judiciary," by John Campbell, American Lawyer (V. xiv, P- 503>CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. " Life, Liberty and Property," by O. H. Myrick, Central Law Journal (V. lxiii, p. 373). COPYRIGHT. " Proposed Copyright Leg islation," by Hugh K. Wagner, Law Notes (V. x, p. 165). CRIMINAL LAW (French). Herbert E. Boyle has in the October Juridical Review (V. xviii, p. 259) Part I of an article on "Extenuating Circumstances in French Law." "French Criminal Law makes a distinction between ' aggravating circumstances ' and ' extenuating circumstances.' The former consist of such facts as make a felony or mis demeanor more serious in its nature, and which consequently tend to increase the sen tence — for instance, if a crime be committed in the night time, or by more persons than one, or by breaking into premises, using skeleton keys, etc., or if the offenders carried weapons or threatened to use them. In these, and other similar cases, the particular circum stances tend to make the punishment heavier (Penal Code, 361). "The effect of ' extenuating circumstances,' on the other hand, is to modify the punish ment, without modifying the nature of the offense, for it is as the result of a judicial appreciation, and not a legal one, that a crime is merely punished with a ' correctional ' or ' police ' penalty; moreover, Article 1 of the Penal Code classifies offenses according to the penalties laid down by the law, and not accord ing to those which the judge may inflict (Garraud, Traits du Droit Criminel). "If the arguments at the trial disclose one or more ' aggravating circumstances ' not stated in the Indictment, the President of the court must put this question to the jury: —■ ' Did the accused commit the crime under such and such circumstances? ' Should both ' aggravating ' and ' extenuating ' circum stances arise in the same case, the former must first be considered, and then the latter, in meting out the punishment. "Under the system of extenuating circum