Reviews of Books

TIFFANY’S PERSONS AND RELATIONS

DOMESTIC

portant changes, and where changes are certainly impending, the editor has seen fit

'l‘iflany's Persons and Domestic Relations. 2d ed., revised by Roger W. Cooley, author of “Briefs on the Law of Insurance," and special lecturer in Legal Bibliography. Hornbook series. West Publishing C0., St. Paul, Minn. Pp. 55l+table of cases and index 105. ($3.75.)

to retain the original text substantially

HE first edition of this standard treatise was published in 1896, and its popularity was due to the satisfactory manner in which it met the demand for a comprehensive treatise on the common law of persons as modified by statute in the United States. The arrangement was a decided merit, the rule of law being conspicuously stated in black type, followed in each case by explana tory text. The plan of treatment followed did not, to be Sure, enable the reader to ascertain the statute law of his own state.

unaltered.

A book so largely concerned,

however, with fundamental doctrines does not

require that frequent re-vamping necessary in the case of treatises which cover a subject with greater minuteness. In the law of divorce, for example, there has been some

activity of recent years on the part of legis latures, yet it has scarcely resulted in note worthy innovations nor radically modified the principles set forth in this volume on its first appearance. The second edition of the work enables it to keep pace with recent developments in the law, its citations being sufiiciently complete, and on the whole it well fulfills its purpose.

The common law rule was first set forth,

being followed by the substance of such statutes as have been generally adopted, and their interpretation by the courts, leaving the reader to ascertain the law of his own state for himself. But as a practitioner is assumed either to be pretty familiar with the statute law of his state or to be able to turn to it readily, this method cannot be criticised; moreover, the wisdom of concentrating the law student's attention upon local rules to the neglect of those generally prevailing is open to doubt. So that Tiffany's Persons and Domestic Relations was well designed to prove serviceable, and but few inaccuracies were noticed in the first edition. During the past fourteen years the statute law has undergone much change, particularly with reference to the property and contract rights of married women, consequently Mr. Cooley found it necessary to make some addi tions to the text, the material additions being

in that portion of the work dealing with the separate property of married women and in the chapter on Separation and Divorce, a section relating to the extraterritorial effect of divorce having been added. The principal work of the revisor has been the incorporation of the later decisions into the notes. Even in the case of the law of Master and Servant, where it might have been expected that there would have been im

WILCOX'S

MUNICIPAL

FRANCHISES

Municipal Franchises: A Description of the Terms and Conditions upon which Private Corpora tions enjoy Special Privileges in the Streets of American Cities. By Delos F. Wilcox. Ph.D., Chief of the Bureau of Franchises of the Public Service Commission for the First District of New York. (In two volumes.) V. I, Introductory. Pipe and Wire Franchises. Gervaise Press, Rochester; Engineering News Book Department, New York, sales agents. Pp. xix, 662+bibliography and index 48. (85.)

IN “Municipal Franchises" Dr. Delos F. Wilcox essays a new field in bookmaking. For while there have been numberless magazine articles and many special reports as well as a few books written on the question of municipal as against private ownership of public utilities, and also books have been issued on the law of franchises, this volume is thought to be the first one ever published having for its subject the analysis and descrip tion of municipal franchises as they exist in actual operation in the cities of America. Dr. Wilcox states that it is his purpose, in this book, “to simplify, as far as possible, fundamental conceptions as to the nature and purpose of franchise grants; to state as clearly as possible the necessary conditions to be imposed in connection with various classes of franchises; to describe the best types of franchises actually in force in different cities of the country; and, finally, to discuss