The Editor will be glad to receive contributions of articles of moderate length upon subjects of interest to the profession; also anything in the way of legal antiquities or curiosities, facetiæ, anecdotes, etc.

With this number, which brings the sixteenth volume to a close, the present editor retires from the editorial management of THE GREEN BAG. His editorial duties during the past four years have been made especially pleasant by the cordial co-operation of contributors, old and new, in the attempt to make THE GREEN BAG, in fact, as well as in name, a "magazine covering the higher and the lighter literature pertaining to the law." Beginning with the January issue, the editorial direction of this not uninteresting experiment will be in the hands of the new editor, Sydney R. Wrightington, a graduate of the Harvard Law School and a member of the Boston Bar,—a gentleman eminently fitted for this work by legal and literary instincts and training.

gan in a much louder tone. "I can't hear you, sir," from the bench cut him short.

"Your Honor, I move" he started once more, embarrassed, but determined, and in a voice that he felt must reach any judge, however deaf, and which could certainly be heard out on the street. At this point, however, he felt a pull at his coat-tail, and heard the voice of some good Samaritan behind him saying in a loud whisper:

"Sit down, you darned fool. He means you should go to the district attorney for continuance. Why don't you read the rules?"

IN North Carolina before the adoption of Code pleading, or as they say in the South, "before the war," the pleadings in civil cases were mere memoranda entered on the Court docket. It so happened in Robeson County, that an old maiden lady named Miss Margaret Patterson sued one William McKay in an action of Trover for the conversion of her slave. The suit was stated on the Court docket as follows:

Margaret Patterson v. William McKay. Trespass on the Case-Trover. Defendant's Attorney wrote in verse the following on the docket:

Billy McKay, for his satisfaction, Demands of Miss Margaret the cause of her action,

And wants to know why in this public place, She has undertaken to sue him in case.

Plaintiff's Attorney replied:

Miss Margaret replies with a kind of a snigger,

Why, Billy, you know you converted my nigger,

Converted him, not to the God of the sinner, But converted him to Cash--and you're the winner,

So, having received and failed to pay over, You're therefore sued in an action of Trover.

THE Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, having held that the noise of the elevated railroad in Boston was an element of damage to abutters, an assistant city solicitor was asked if the decision affected the city in any way. "Well," he replied, "there is a burial ground up on Washington street, on the line of the road, that belongs to the city, but so far I have heard of no complaints about noise from any of the occupants."

THE sudden illness of the minister had made it necessary to call in "Lawyer Brown" to perform the marriage ceremony as a justice of the peace. Brown was very much at home in the court-room, but this work was new to him, and it made him a

trifle nervous. He did pretty well, nevertheless, making up his form of service as he went along, and succeeded in pronouncing the happy pair man and wife without any serious difficulty. Then, it suddenly struck him, that the words at the tip of his tongue, "And whom God hath joined let no man put asunder," and which he had thought of as an impressive ending, would not do for a civil ceremony like this. He was stuck and the pause was getting more than painful, when he had an inspiration and used the most impressive formula he could think of, the words of the court crier: "God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

"THERE'S a fellow making love to my wife," explained the indignant client. "Does your wife encourage him?” asked the lawyer.

"She seems to. He takes her riding, sends her flowers, and the other day I saw him kissing her; and she seemed to like it.”

"You saw him kissing her and she didn't object?" said the lawyer. "Well, we can get you a divorce without any trouble."

"Thunder!" said the husband, "I don't want no divorce. I want an injunction."

Senator Lindsay of Kentucky, has a story of a judge in that State who, by reason of his own ill-temper, found considerable difficulty in controlling individuals in the courtroom. On one occasion there was unusual disorder. At last the judge could stand it no longer. "It is impossible to allow this. persistent contempt of court," exclaimed his Honor, "and I shall be forced to go to the extreme length of taking the one step that will stop it!"

There followed a long silence in the court. Finally, one of the leading counsel arose, and without the suspicion of a smile asked:

"If it please your Honor, on what date will your resignation take effect?"

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of THE GREEN BAG :

Sir: I have been in hope that I should see in your excellent publication some treatment of what seems to me to be the kernel of the Gurney incident in its application of international law to the facts.

The arrest of a secretary of the British legation for furious motor driving was a clear violation of international amenities. The contempt which he showed for the court, and his behavior in the court room, clearly in contempt of court, and the action of the Justice in treating them as such, were other clear violations. The fines have been remitted, a suitable apology offered, and Mr. Gurney in return has expressed in conditional language his regret "if he did anything wrong."

As the London Law Times says, if Mr. Gurney did break the law of motor driving he would probably have been more discreet and have acted more in the spirit of international comity if he had paid his fine without invoking his diplomatic character. There are a number of instances where gentlemen have pursued that course, and there must be a number of other instances where they have not only pursued that course but kept a complete silence upon the subject.

But the meat of the matter was not presented for consideration until some time after the incident itself. Then, in a dispatch which the Associated Press and other authoritative sources of news-supply treated as semi-official, we were told that the reason that Mr. Gurney had not been disciplined by the British Embassy was the circumstance that it was not he who had committed the offence. Mr. Gurney was praised for his chivalry in shielding a young American who was in fact the person who directed the motor car, exceeded the speed limit, and broke the law. But this version of the affair presents a far more serious breach of international comity than any which has been previously set before us. Clearly it was the duty of Mr. Gurney, while residing in the United States of America, to obey the reasonable laws and regulations which he found there in force. Clearly also his immunity was given not even to him, but only to his superior officer the Ambassador, and it was given to the Ambassador only for the necessary purpose of keeping him free from all entanglements with local matters. When such a privilege in the Ambassador, continued in the Secretary, is used as a means of saving one of the inhabitants of the country to which the Ambassador is accredited from responsibility for an admitted criminal act, then a grave breach of international law is committed.

It is impossible to speak with authority upon a subject where our information comes only from the newspapers and where from the nature of the case, and of the courtesy which Mr. Gurney tried to show, the facts will probably never be made clear. But it seems to me that some legal authority like your excellent publication should place itself upon record and call attention to this gross violation of international law. It is scarcely right that such action, which may serve as a precedent for other courtesies like it should pass without comment upon its far-reaching possibilities and its grave character. Yours respectfully,

Boston, November 30, 1904.

H. R.

NEW LAW BOOKS.

It is the intention of The Green Bag to have its book reviews written by competent reviewers. The usual custom of magazines is to confine book notices to books sent in for review. At the request of subscribers, however, The Green Bag will be glad to review or notice any recently published law book whether received for review or not.

A TREATISE ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITATIONS. By Thomas M. Cooley. Seventh edition edited by Victor H. Lane. Boston: Little Brown, and Company. (1903.) (cxiii +1036 pp.)

The first edition of Judge Cooley's masterpiece was published in 1868, and the work has gone through no less than seven editions in the comparatively short period of thirty-five years. Many a good book lives but a day and is buried long before its author. If a treatise survives the writer and justifies a new edition, without a change of text, the book must have had substantial merits. All this and more can be said of Judge Cooley's Treatise on Constitutional Limitations. It fell from the press a legal classic and in the lifetime of the author the book was given over to posterity. Famous and authoritative at home, the treatise was cited with approval on the continent, and the present reviewer has often heard German writers or teachers of constitutional law speak of the work with unstinted praise.

Thirteen years have elapsed between the appearance of the sixth and seventh editions of the Treatise, and in these years the courts, by a multitude of decisions, have attempted to bring into clearer light, and state with greater precision, the somewhat invisible line between Federal and State sovereignty and jurisdiction. In order that text and notes should state the law of the present day, the decisions of the courts should be placed before the intelligent reader by the text. Hence, the present edition.

It was singularly appropriate that the labor of revision and annotation should be confided to a professor of the Michigan Law School, and Professor Victor H. Lane

has admirably performed his editorial duties. The text is untouched; the original footnotes have been retained but added to by the editor, who prevents confusion by inclosing his various additions in brackets. In many cases the editor has made original notes to the text. These are, likewise, inclosed in brackets, and are printed across the page in a single column. As the original and added notes are in double columns, these wholly original references to and interpretations of the text may be seen at a glance.

In speaking of the new matter and the selection of cases, Mr. Lane modestly says, in the preface: "The particular experience, or better judgment of some, will suggest a different selection in some cases, but it is hoped that what has been done will meet reasonably well the common need." A careful examination of selected passages from Mr. Lane's additions leads the reviewer to state that the editorial work is far in excess of Mr. Lane's modest hopes, for the citations of authority are not only accurate, but apt, and the views expressed are as clear in style as they are sound in law.

An idea of the extent of the editor's contributions will be gained by a mere comparison between the sixth and the present edition, which contains slightly more than a hundred and fifty pages of additional mat

ter.

In a word, the work of Judge Cooley has not suffered at Mr. Lane's hands. Higher praise than this cannot well be given to an editor.

By

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IN THE ORIENT. John W. Foster. Boston. Houghton, Mifflin, and Company. 1903. (xiv+498 pp.) After a lifetime devoted to public affairs and to the cares of an exacting profession. General Foster takes up the pen and handles it as dexterously and gracefully as ever a young man wielded a sword. Indiana men, it would seem, take kindly to literature after winning distinction in other fields. The names of General Lew Wallace and Maurice Thompson will occur to the reader. The younger generation seems inclined to re

verse the order, for is not Mr. Booth Tarkington-tyro though he be in politicsthought to have his eye on the Governorship of his State?

The

But to return to General Foster. Century of American Diplomacy-an excellent outline, although faulty on the Whitman question-was a book that one might expect from a former Secretary of State. His present work-American Diplomacy in the Orient-springs as naturally from the author's experiences, for Mr. Foster has long been interested in the Orient, and was at one time—and that a very important onelegal adviser of the Chinese Government in its foreign relations. Mr. Foster knows, therefore, the Oriental from frequent and practical contact, and the present book shows that he likewise knows the Oriental's history. Add to this that the author has a thorough grasp of American diplomacy and history; that he has represented the United States in both the new and old world, and it will be seen at once that ideal conditions of authorship obtained in this case.

The appearance of the book is timely, as well as fortunate; for the American people have been moving westwardly with feverish rapidity ever since the independence of our country. The Pacific cannot be said to have opposed a barrier, for Caleb Cushing had negotiated a treaty with China in 1844, before California had been added to the Union and Commodore Perry opened Japan to the world in 1852, before the Pacific coast had more than a handful of settlers.

The Far East fascinated and dazzled the imagination half a century ago. Senator Seward gave expression to a general feeling in the following glowing and prophetic utterances: "The Pacific Ocean, its shores, its islands, and the vast regions beyond, will become the chief theatre of events in the world's great hereafter." (Am. Dip. p. 135.)

And again, in 1852, he said: "We are rising to another and a more sublime stage of national progress-that of expanding wealth and rapid territorial aggrandizement. Our institutions throw a broad shadow across the St. Lawrence, and stretching beyond the Valley of Mexico, reaches even to

the plains of Central America; while the Sandwich Islands and the shores of China recognize its renovating influence. Expansion seems to be regulated, not by any difficulties of resistance, but from the moderation which results from our own internal constitution. No one knows how rapidly that restraint may give away. Who can tell how fast or how far it ought to yield? Commerce has brought the ancient continents near to us, and created necessities for new positions-perhaps connections. or colonies there. . Even prudence will soon be required to decide whether distant regions, East or West, shall come under our protection, or be left to aggrandize a rapidly-spreading and hostile domain of despotism. Sir, who among us is equal to these mighty questions? I fear there is no one." (Am. Dip. pp. 401-402.)

The outlook that gave the father pause has failed to impress the son, who finds himself securely possessed of Porto Rico and Panama in the East, the Sandwich and Philippine Islands in the West. The SpanishAmerican War of 1898 has resulted in extensive acquisitions of territory, notwithstanding the solemn statement that the war was one of humanity, not of conquest. Had it not been wisely restricted at the outset or had it degenerated into conquest pure and simple, we might probably have added a continent or two to our domains instead of contenting ourselves with a few insignificant islands.

But whether the policy of expansion be wise or otherwise, it is a fact, and motives of self-interest, as well as curiosity, demand that we inform ourselves of our new neighbors. Hence it is that the appearance of General Foster's book is so timely alike for author and nation.

As to the book. It consists of thirteen chapters dealing with American and (in a lesser degree), European relations with China, Japan, Korea and its neighbors, Hawaii, the Samoan complication and the results of the Spanish War. An appendix of some thirty-five pages gives the various treaties and documents necessary to a correct understanding of the text.