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3. What degree of violence or putting in fear is necessary.

The remaining titles are treated of with equal care and fulness, and the statute regulations are considered in order of time and subject matter. The VIth is peculiarly interesting and well executed.

The subjects of the other chapters are investigated in the same manner, so that each may be considered as a distinct complete treatise upon that head. In some, however, when the offence is different, and yet the legal doctrine apply ing to each is similar, as in rape and sodomy, the statement of it is not repeated, but in the latter chapter the contents of the former are referred to.

The style is clear, and the greatest care appears to have been taken to guard against equivocal expressions; though it is not to be expected that a work of such extent will be free from many small inaccuracies. In the use of his materials the author has acted judiciously; he has made copious extracts from the MSS. confided to him; his marginal notes of reference are very numerous; when cases are stated they are as much condensed

as their importance will admit of; and the arguments and opinions of the judges are only introduced in new, doubtful, and weighty points; but the material words of statutes are always stated at length. The work is well printed, upon paper very much superior indeed to what we are accustomed to see; and as an instance of consideration very seldom exercised, but certainly of great utility, not only the material words in the text, but the contents of the chapters and sections in the margin, are printed in italics, whilst the maginal references are in full roman characters.

In short, whether we consider this work in the value and extent of its additional matter over all former publications on crown law, or in the manner in which the whole has been arranged, and is now brought before the public, we cannot help congratulating the members of Mr. East's profession on an offering which must be so acceptable to them," and our countrymen at large, on a publication which puts them in possession of so complete a body of the laws for which England will ever stand distinguished amongst nations.

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ART. VII. A Digest of the Bankrupt Laws, with a Collection of the Statutes and of the Cases argued and determined in the Courts of Law and Equity upon that Sabject. By BASIL MONTAGU, of Gray's Inn, Esq. Barrister at Law. pp. 874. 8vo.

THAT system of law which distributes the effects of a trader, no longer capable of discharging his debts, equally amongst his creditors, and not only relieves the unfortunate man himself from the pressure of existing demands, but enables him to begin the scheme of life anew, and acquire, undisturbed, the produce of a more successful labour, is the creature of commerce, and had advanced with us, since the year 1542 when it be gan, in proportion to the stupendous progress of our trade. By a series of no less than twelve existing statutes, and a vast body of decided cases upon them, it supposed to have attained considerable maturity; and this author certainly puts that to the fairest test, when he attempts to investigate and exhibit the whole law of bankruptcy by a strict analysis. The two writers who had preceded him, and from whose works the profession derived great advantage, pursued very different plans. Mr. Cooke, under a loose artangement, gave little more than a compilation of the cases. Mr. Cullen com posed a very excellent treatise upon the

law. But Mr. Montagu's book is much more elaborate; besides an appendix, containing all the statutes and decided cases at length, with practical forms, he endeavours to state in the text a summary of the law with the most søntentious conciseness; and where the doctrine admits of doubt, or requires explanation to support it, in the notes, by comparing and reasoning upon the cases and statutes.

The introductory chapter states that the whole work will be thus divided:

Book I. Of bankruptcy in general. Part 1. Considerations previous to issuing a commision.

Part 1. Proceedings under a commis sion.

Part 11. Invalidating a commission.

Book II. Of bankruptcy in particular cases: as of members of parliament, partners, executors, assignees, of persons who have before been bankrupts, country commissions.

The part now before us contains,
Analysis.
Introductory chapter.

Book I. Of bankruptcy in general. Part 1. Commissions previous to issuing a commission.

Introductory chapter.

face that his reasons for doing this were, 1st, To exhibit a perfect body of the bankrupt laws, together with its growth and gradual improvement; 2dly, To su

Chap. 1. What persons are liable to be persede the necessity of referring to a bankrupts.

Chap. 11. The plan of dealing. Chap. 11. The debt of the petitioning creditor.

Chap. IV. The act of bankruptcy. The appendix gives all the statutes, with the cases at length, as far as they apply to the subject of the text. The analysis is similarly limited.

At first sight it must occur to every reader, that the plan of Mr. Montagu is too voluminous. The notes upon the text contain a full statement of the substance of the cases where there is any doubt. Can there then be any necessity to subjoin in the appendix the cases at length? All professional men have already upon their shelves, at no easy price, the cases of which the summary is given; and, it may be presumed, will consult their reports, whenever they have to form or advance an opinion on a question which may be agitated in the courts. To reprint, therefore, these cases in the appendix, appears to us not only unuse. ful, but highly objectionable: it very greatly increases the size and price of the work without adding at all to its value. But the author states in his pre

whole library for the scattered decisions; Sdly, To enable the reader to refer at once to the authority for the law stated in the text; 4thly, To prevent the pos sible mis-statement of the import of case in the notes from being the cause of error.

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We hope Mr. Montagu will reconsider these reasons before the publication of the further parts of his work. To us they are very far from carrying conviction. The public have only a right to exact from an author a faithful reference to, or statement of his authorities: in reason. ing upon them he is not to be expected to be infallible; nor is he intitled to more favour for his mistakes because he obliges his readers to pay over again for the means of their correction.

For the text and subjoined notes Mr. Montagu is intitled to considerable praise. He has obviously read much, and digested his materials with great care; but from the compression of the matter in the text, and its strict analyti cal arrangement, it is calculated more for the memory and occasional reference than for direct reading.

ART. VIII. A Compendium of the Laws respecting the Poor, including the Digest of Bott's Poor Laws, with the adjudged Cases and Acts of Parliament, continued to Easter Term 1803. 8vo. pp. 321.

THE great utility and extensive sale of Bott's poor laws, as improved by Mr. Const, induced the editor to publish this enlargement of the digest which accompanies that work, by adding the parliamentary provisions and legal adjudications which have been since made.

He also proposed to himself to present by this work an epitome of those laws which should furnish to the practitioners at sessions, and to parish officers, every necessary information, without occasioning them the trouble or expence of the compilation at large. But in order to make it of the most extensive use, it still contains the references, as an index, to Mr. Const's book.

It may be regretted, however, that the editor did not thoroughly revise the work as a digest, and omit all obsolete and unnecessary matter; for though this might not have been required for it as an index, and would have been laborious, yet it would have conferred much greater value upon the performance, and have secured that confidence which is necessary to it when intended to be used as an original work.

In the appendix a sketch is given of one or two of those acts of parliament which have been found by particular pa rishes to have been so useful in the regu lation of their poor.

ART. IX. The Solicitor's Practice on the Crown Side of the Court of King's Bench: with an Appendix containing the Forms of the Proceedings, &c. By WILLIAM HANDS, Solicitor. 8vo. pp. 524.

THE author's view in this production is to assist professional men in the

actual practice of crown law. He has, in the first place, treated in distinct chap

ters of informations against magistrates; 2. against private persons; 3. of informations quo warranto; 4. of certioraris or sessions orders; 5. of certioraris or convictions; 6. of certioraris or indictments; 7. of outlawries; 8. of the writ of error; 9. of the writ of mandamus; 10. of the writ of attachment; 11. of the writ of habeas corpus; 12. of articles of the peace. These chapters occupy a small part of this large volume; the re

maining part of which consists of precedents and practical forms of various kinds. This work, if it possesses that accuracy which can only be ascertained by long and frequent practical references to it, must be of very great utility to the gentlemen who practise in our criminal courts. Prefixed to it is a short account of the jurisdiction and proceedings of the court of King's Bench, and of the officers on the crown side of that court.

ART. X. A Compendium of the Statute Laws and Regulations of the Court of Admiralty, relative to Ships of War, &c. By THOMAS HARTWELL HORNE. 12mo. pp. 154.

THE object of this little book is to exhibit a concise view of the existing statute laws and regulations of our court of admiralty, concerning ships of war, privateers, prizes, and other matters connected with that subject. The author

rightly supposes any elaborate treatise, comprising the law of nations, to be superfluous, after the works of Lee, of Jenkinson, of Martin, and of Browne; and offers this as a compendium and manual of British prize law.

ART. XI. An Essay on the Law of Patents for new Inventions: To which are prefixed. two Chapters on the general History of Monopolies, with an Appendix. By JOHN DYER COLLIER. 8vo. pp. 316.

ALTHOUGH the writer of this treatise calls it an essay, "because it is not professedly complete," yet we are more inclined to believe that the title has been adopted from a little excess in love of the shew of learning, and an imitation of the admirable Sir William Jones. It is not only professedly complete, but is (as a law book) to a great degree redundant, and swells a very inconsiderable subject of English law into a large book. We do not deny that monopolies are a very important topic of political discussion. The consideration of their effects must indeed form a material head in every work upon the wealth of nations; but our English law upon the subject lies within a very small compass; and an investigation of it is, for a professional work, materially injured by extension. Even the essay on the law of bailments failed from this cause; and Mr. Collier must not be surprised, if he be not more favourably treated than Sir William Jones.

The author, after two interesting his torical essays upon monopoly, in which are elegantly displayed a superior taste, and very extensive learning, proceeds to state the common and statute law upon the subject of patents, and the forms of the grant; he investigates its nature and duration; the authority under which, and,

the condition upon which it is given; and treats of its infringement, repeal and surrender; of the preliminary considerations to obtaining it; and of the formule with which it is connected. In the chapters on these heads, the several determined cases and opinions of the judges are given at full length, with but a very meagre addition of other matter. The chapter on the repositories of patent records is curious and useful.

In the appendix are given notes, containing the statutes upon this subject, several ancient regulations, and a list of monopolies, by royal grant, from Henry VII. to Charles I. As an instance, generally illustrative of patent law, the author has stated the specification of Sir Richard Arkwright's patent, and all the formulæ attending its obtainment; the trial of a scire facias to repeal it; and the summing up at length of Mr. Justice Buller, on that occasion, to the jury; together with a plate, explanatory of the specification. These are followed by a very full list of patents obtained from 1st January, 1800, to 31st March, 1803; and another list of the patentees.

To the whole is added an advertisement, that persons desirous of obtaining patents may, by application to the author, be assisted in drawing up and passing their patents!

ART. XII. The Practice of the Court of King's Bench in personal Actions: with References to Cases of Practice in the Court of Common Pleas. In Two Volumes octavo. Turd Edition, corrected and enlarged. By WILLIAM TIDD, Esq.

IN preparing this (the third) edition of the present work, some material alterations in the arrangement have been made. A new chapter has also been added in the removal of causes, from inferior courts, by writ of certiorari or habeas corpus, from such as are of record; or by writ of pone, recordare facias loquelam, or accedas ad curiam, from such as are not of record. The later decisions have also been incorporated in this edition, and more than sixty rules of court have been added; so that the work now contains a complete series of the rules of court from the beginning of the reign of James the First to the present time. Such errors as were discovered in the former edition are now rectified; and the author has not, as before, confined himself merely to the practice of the court of King's Bench, but has taken a view of the mode of commencing actions in the court of Common Pleas, and has in many instances shewn where the practice of

the two courts correspond, and where it differs. Still, however, the author has principally kept in view the jurisdiction of the court of King's Bench in personal actions; and has, in a great measure, confined his attention to the process of that court, and the times and manner of transacting its business. Such differences in the practice of the two courts as arise out of the cases, are particularly marked in the text, or more commonly in the notes. Several important acts of parli ament, and rules of court, having been made since the present edition was sent to the press, these are noticed at the end of the work by way of addenda. Mr. Tidd has, by this edition, conferred a new favour on the profession. His work has, from its first publication, been considered as decidedly the best book on the subject; but as its matter is purely professional, the merit of it can be justly es timated only by professional men.

ART. XIII. A Treatise on Captures in War, by RICHARD LEE, Esq. Second Edition with Notes. 8vo.

THIS work, we are informed by the editor, is an enlarged translation of the principal part of Bynkershoek's Questiones Juris Publici, and has for its object the law of nations, relative to captures in war, as well of territory as of moveable property of every species. A few notes are subjoined by the editor, where the law of nations has undergone any alterations since the publication of the original work, or where the principles and doctrine were capable of additional illustration from more recent events. The whole work is contained in a small octavo volume, and is divided into chapters, arranged as follows: Chapter 1. war, what it is; 2. whether a public declaration is necessary to make a war law ful; 3. of reprisals; 4. of the nature of war between enemies, the rights which war gives over the person of the enemy, their extent and bounds; 5. when movealle goods, and particularly ships belong ing to the enemy, become the property of the captors; 6. whether and where moveable things, and especially ships, may be given up to the recaptors; 7. how far the possession of unmoveables gained in war may be extended; 8 whether actions and credits of the enemy,

found amongst us when a war is begun, may be justly confiscated, and of the right to incorporeal things taken in war; 9. whether we may go to or pursue an enemy into the port or territory of a friend; 10. of the state of war as to nettrals; 11. of those things which may not be carried to the enemy of our friends; 12. whether it is lawful to carry any thing to cities and ports, &c. when be sieged; 13. whether lawful goods are forfeited by means of unlawful uses; 14. of the goods of friends found in the ships of enemies; 15. of the goods of enemies found in the ships of friends; 16. of the right of postliminium, and whether things taken from the enemy, and brought into the territory of a friend, return to their postliminium; 17. of private captures, and how far the employers of privateers, or the state whence they came, are bound for any injury done by the persons em ployed therein; discussion of the ques tion, if a ship, not having a commission as a privateer, takes booty, to whom it belongs; 18. of the method of trying prizes taken in war, appeals and costs; 19. whether it is lawful to insure the property of the enemy, or to enlist soldiers in the country of a friend; 20. right of

insures after ransom, contributions towards losses, loan on conquered land, hostages.

The first impression of the English edition of this work, appeared in 1759, and having since become very scarce, this second edition is now offered to the public. With the merits of the original work the world is already well acquainted, and the additions made to the present edition encrease its value. From this performance much information is to be acquired, and at the same time much

amusement, as it is free from those numerous quotations and references with which books on such subjects generally abound. The extreme uncertainty and difference of opinion which exist on this, as well as other branches of the law of nations, is much to be lamented; but perhaps this evil is inseparable from the very nature of things, and must, with some fluctuation of times and circumstances, be perpetuated by the want of an inde pendent tribunal to which the disputes between nations can be referred.

ART. XIV. COLQUHOUN's Duties of a Constable.

THE object of this work is to instruct fully in the various subjects of their duty every different description of constable known to the law of England; and the author expresses also a further hope that the acting magistrate may find it an useful compendium, with respect to several of those minor offences which require frequent appeals to his judgment

and decision in a summary way. A sy
nopsis, or general view, is also given of
the penalties applicable to those minor
offences, cognizable by justices, which
most frequently occur. Mr. Colquhoun
enters very fully into the different topics
of which he treats; and his industry in
preparing a work of this useful nature
merits praise.

ART. XV. A General View of the Decisions of Lord Mansfield in Civil Causes.
WILLIAM DAVID EVANS, Esq. In Two Volumes quarto. pp. 872.

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The intention of the author of this publication is (as its title page announces) to bring into our view the various decisions and dicta of Lord Mansfield, on that infinite variety of legal questions to which his attention was called, during the very long time he presided in the court of King's Bench. The arrangement adopted by the author for this pose is, with little variation, that of Blackstone's Commentaries. To a work like the present, it would undoubtedly have been matter of considerable difficulty to have given any very systematic arrangement, the infinite variety of detached matter opposing itself strongly to such an arrangement; but in adopting the plan of a work, framed for the purpose of exhibiting the outline of the whole body of our laws, we think the

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author has yielded too implicitly to the difficulty which, we admit, the very nature of his subject imposed upon him. The opinions of Lord Mansfield are also too much quoted at length, as they are found, in the various reporters and obser vations of his lordship, of little impor tance, and which are obvious to the commonest minds, are mentioned and dwelt upon in a degree which they do not me rit. With these defects, the work (which is extended to two large quarto volumes) can hardly be considered in any other light, than as a dictionary of the judg ments and remarks of Lord Mansfield. Those, however, whom the frequent recourse to quotation, and the vast variety of minute unconnected matter, do not deter, may derive much amusement and information from the perusal.

ART. XVI. WILLIAMS's Abridgment of Cases. THIS work consists of a variety of determinations, on topics for the most part frequently occurring in practice, as replevin, usury, veneer and vendee, wa ger, wills, &c.

These different heads follow each other in alphabetical order, and the cases under each head are arranged according to the matter contained in each. A full table of the principal subjects is also added, so that there is no

difficulty in acquiring the information contained in this volume. A very considerable number of cases are collected under each head; but the author has not, we think, so much abridged them, as to make it worth while for any professional man to repurchase what he must already have in his library, and the work is chiefly calculated for professional men.

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