6a

THE GREEN BAG

ate rates; persohal discrimination; prohibition of undue discrimination; local discrimination; regulation by state railroad commissions; and provisions for court review. In the second part of Book III, the con stitutionality of statutory regulation is con sidered. The chief fault to be found with the work is one which the authors frankly admit in their preface, it was prepared with some haste. It would serve no useful purpose, however, to point out small inaccuracies. The book on the other hand shows what so few American law books show — careful original and logical analysis of the subject matter; and a consistent theory underlying the whole. It avoids in a large part what we frequently have occasion to find fault with in law books — the making of a text from a putting together of head notes. The book should prove of use not only to those who may have occasion to practice before the Interstate Commerce Commission on rate cases, but also to those who have presented to them questions involving the principles of public service, and of the some what narrower law of carriers. Some twenty-three hundred cases are cited, and a workable index has been furnished. RAILROAD (see Jurisprudence and Car riers). RECORDING ACTS (see Mortgages). STATUTES. " Suggested Amendment to the Election Law," by C. B. Labalt, Canada Law Journal (V. xlii, p. 697). STATUTES (England). " The West Riding Judgment," by G. A. Ring, Attorney General for the Isle of Man, in the November Law Magazine and Review (V. xxxii, p. 1), discusses a recent judgment of the Court of Appeal of much importance in questions arising out of the education acts.

STATUTES (England). Under the title "The Truck Acts," in the Juridical Review (V. xviii, p. 247), John H. Romanes surveys the existing English law of that subject as embodied in statute and decision. TORTS. In the December Harvard Law Review (V. xx, p. 91), Francis H. Bohlen gives the second and final installment of his article on " Voluntary Assumption of Risk," this section treating solely the law of master and servant. After analyzing the English and American cases he concludes: "Thus it has been seen that while in Eng land the pressure of the servant's necessities has finally come to be regarded as destructive of his free will when placed in a position where he must either encounter some probable though not imminently threatening danger, or else give up his employment, the American cases stoutly deny it any such effect. It may well be that the different economic con ditions of the two countries may account for this. In England work has become, especially during the development of the present posi tion of English courts on this point, increas ingly difficult to obtain. The loss to a work man of his job is a very real misfortune, the fear of losing it a very pressing species of compulsion. On the other hand, in America as yet there is normally no dearth of work for competent workmen. If one job is dan gerous, another can probably be found. Add to this the known tendency of American workmen to take desperate chances touching their safety, and it may well be that in the vast majority of cases any real pressure aris ing from fear of loss of employment is practically non-existent; and the risk is encoun tered through mere thoughtless recklessness or disinclination to leave a position in other respects satisfactory. That which in England effectually coerces and controls the will may well have no such effect in America."