< Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 8.djvu
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HARVARD LAW REVIEW.

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REVIEWS. 293

venue, and common law, equity and statutory jurisdictions in the civil and criminal sides of the court, and in the various actions and suits. 'I'he subjects are interestingly dealt with, and the book seems a good one for the student as well as the practitioner. Authorities are cited to a sufficient extent to render the treatise a valuable one to the practising lawyer ; but it is more than a collection of authorities. j. S. S. jr. American Cases on Contract. Arranged in Accordance with the Analysis of Anson on Contract, and edited by Ernest W. Huffcutt and Edwin H. Woodruff. New York and Albany : Banks & Broth- ers. 1894. 8vo. pp. xxxiii, 718. The object of this volume is, as the editors state, to illustrate the essential principles of the law of contracts by selections of American cases. The theory on which English decisions are excluded, however, hardly seems a wise one. Certainly the judgments of the House of Lords have as much authority in this country as those of many of our own tri- bunals. Surely, too, in some English cases, at least, a more satisfactory statement of the doctrine to be brought out might have been found than in parallel American ones ; and in such a situation it is hard to see a good reason why the worst exposition should be preferred to the better, simply bet ause it is American. In spite of this bias, however, the editors have gathered in a comparatively small space a number of well-chosen cases, which, while not straying off into the kindred branches of agency, partnership, etc., cover in a broad way the entire field of their subject. In fact, something might have been gained from the student's point of view if the book had aimed to be less comprehensive, and had endeav- ored to cast more light, by a larger array of cases, on some of the less settled topics of the law. This defect, however, seems one inherent in the nature of the task, and, considering how admirably much is covered in little space, the failure to emphasize more fully dubious points is not to be wondered at. d. a. e. Harvard College by an Oxonian. By George Birkbeck Hill, D. C. L., Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford. New York : Mac- millan & Co. 1894. 8vo. pp. x, 329. Cloth, $2.25. Mr. Hill's errors, though numerous and almost always amusing, are never more than mere slips ; and he may be congratulated upon his suc- cess in giving a truthful and human account of Harvard where the writers before him have almost entirely failed. There is just enough comparison with Oxford to give spice and point to his criticism and appreciation. The chapter on the Law School is accurate in its account of the his- tory of the school, and most generous in praise. Its concluding para- graph is this well-turned compliment : " Daniel Webster, in one of his speeches, looks forward to the time when America shall repay to Europe the great debt of learning which she owes her. The repayment to Eng- land has already begun ; all that we have to do is to stretch out her hands and to gather in the fruits of Harvard's experience in the method of teaching law " (p. 265). Later on, Mr. Hill says : " I trust that before long many a scholar fresh from Oxford and Cambridge will cross the Atlantic to finish his studies in Harvard" (p. 327). It would be very pleasant for the Law School if some Oxford or Cambridge graduate should read these two passages together, and act on this advice. He

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