Short Notes of New Books.

The Leguleian; a Legal and Jurisprudential Magazine (published monthly). Wednesday, January 1, 1851. London: published for the Leguleian Club by Wildy & Sons.

THIS new monthly publication derives its name from that of the Club under the auspices of which it is brought out; and it may be considered as the recognized organ of articled clerks, whose advancement it is eminently fitted to promote. The present number contains a selection of articles and notices on interesting subjects and useful points of law. The first article, which advocates a college for insuring the legal education of articled clerks, indicates an earnest desire for elevating their professional character, of which we cannot too highly approve. There is also a good comment on the law relating to the costs of trustee solicitors. The whole is got up in a very creditable manner, and we wish it every success.

The Royal Pardon Vindicated: a Review of Mr. Barber's Case. By Sir George Stephen, Barrister-at-Law. London: Crockford, Essex Street.

THIS is an eloquent appeal in Mr. Barber's behalf, and will, we think, powerfully aid his restoration to the profession.

A Practical Guide to the Law of Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes. By Stewart Tournay, Esq., Solicitor. London: Groombridge and Sons, Paternoster Row. 1851.

A USEFUL book for non-professional men as far as the elements of the law on this branch are concerned.

Treatise on the Law and Practice of Naval Courts-Martial. By William Hickman, R.N., late Secretary to Commodore Sir Charles Hotham, K.C.B. London: J. Murray, Albemarle Street. 1851.

A SENSIBLE and ample treatise, by a man fully competent to write it, on a subject which required the practical elucidation it has re

ceived at his hands.

Upon Party. By the Right. Hon. Edmund Burke and The Lord John Russell. Edited by Charles Purton Cooper, Esq. Second Edition. London: W. Pickering, Piccadilly. 1850.

A VERY excellent selection of definitions of Party, its character and uses, by eminent statesmen and orators.

The Magisterial Synopsis, comprising Summary Convictions and Indictable Offences, &c. &c. &c. By George C. Oke, Author of the Magisterial Formulist. Third Edition, enlarged and improved. London Butterworths. Dublin: Hodges and Smith.

WE are happy to see the Third Edition of this admirable work already out. A cursory inspection of the book amply warrants the author's assertion that "he has availed himself of the opportunity of improving the work in many respects in order to increase its utility, and that it may be somewhat worthy of the extraordinary favour with which it has been hitherto received by the Magistracy, their Clerks, and Professional Gentlemen."

An Index to the Reported Cases not overruled or obsolete, and to the Statutes, Rules and Orders relating to the Principles, Pleadings and Practice of the Courts of Equity in England and Ireland, and of the Equitable Jurisdiction of the House of Lords and Privy Council, from the earliest time down to the year 1850. By John Jagoe, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. Vol. I. London: Butterworths; Stevens and Norton; Simpkin, Marshall & Co. Dublin: Hodges and Smith. 1851.

THIS is a work somewhat akin to Harrison's Digest, but more elaborate, and the evident pains taken by the compiler to exclude what is obsolete, and methodise and chronicle under ample indices for references what is still useful, entitle him to more than usual praise for the efficiency of his labours.

The Second Volume is not yet published. It will give the pleading and practice cases, and the rules, orders and statutes, including those of the last session of parliament, and the rules founded on them, with the tables of cases for both volumes, forming a complete equity practice-so that the first and second volumes are in themselves perfect, and will be very useful to equity practitioners.

The Third Volume also will contain the early decisions which relate to the principles of equity, and we shall again, therefore, have occasion to notice the merits of the work as a whole.

Report of the Case of John W. Webster, indicted for the Murder of George Parkman. By George Bemes, Esq., one of the Counsel in the Case. Boston, U.S.: Charles C. Little and James Brown. 1850.

WE must, when we have more space, again notice this phenomenon. Of all the leviathan machinery for breaking a fly this beats everything on record. A case divested of any kind of serious doubt or real difficulty, appears to have lasted twelve mortal days, and now fills (what with speeches and evidence) this huge volume of 628 pages!!! We undertake to give the entire gist of all that is really material in the evidence in two pages. The whole affair, as regards prolixity, is a negative example of all jurisprudence for all time to come; and we promise it as thorough a threshing and winnowing as we have yet bestowed on like offenders. It shall be belaboured along with our own precious law reporters.

Select Cases argued and adjudged in the High Court of Chancery before the late Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal and the late Lord Chancellor King, from the year 1724 to 1733. Second Edition. By Stewart Macnaghten, of the Middle Temple, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. London: V. and R. Stevens and G. S. Norton.

1850.

THESE are the sort of reports we wish to encourage.

This volume

has been very judiciously selected from heaps of rubbish, a notice not only of old cases but of new ones, which are really useful to the profession. The notes are after the fashion of Smith's Leading Cases, and they are tersely and ably written.

On the Construction of Locks and Keys. By John Chubb. Assoc.Inst. C. E. London: 1850.

A REALLY interesting and graphic account of locks and keys.

Practical Remarks upon the Injurious Operation of the Wills Act, in respect to the Execution of Wills, with Suggestions for its Amendment. By an Advocate in Doctors Commons. London: William Benning & Co., Law Booksellers, 43, Fleet Street. 1850. A VERY ably written Treatise.

The Act of Settlement and the Pope's Apostolic Letters. Second Edition. Pickering, London. 1851.

Ancient British and English Churches. Stillingfleet's Independence of the British Churches, &c.-Inett's Short View of the Ancient and Present State of the English Church and Monarchy. Pickering, London, 1851.

MR. Purton Cooper is the most indefatigable of extractors. Just what the public desires to find authority or data for, Mr. Cooper supplies them with piecemeal, at the very moment, and just as often as they seem to want it. Both of these are well-timed and palatable tit bits, and historical bonne bouches of admirable savour.

Dart's Vendors and Purchasers. A Compendium of the Law and Practice of Vendors and Purchasers of Real Estate; comprising the Authorities down to the Present Time. By J. Henry Dart, Esq. Barrister at Law. London: Stevens and Norton. 1851. WE have only glanced superficially at this work as yet; but, as far as we have been able to judge, it appears to us to warrant the high praise which we observe has been awarded to it by some of the daily

papers.

Events of the Quarter.

WE deeply regret to have to record the alarming increase of arrears in the Court of Chancery. On the first day of Michaelmas Term the arrears of causes, appeals, appeal motions, and claims, amounted to nearly 800, and the arrears have now increased to 1,050, or upwards of 250 more than they were ten weeks ago. So that the arrears in this Court are increasing at the rate of nearly 1,300 per annum. There is also an immense mass of motions before the Vice-Chancellors, and a great number of appeal and original petitions for hearing. The office of Chancellor must be re-modelled as we have suggested, nor is there any time to be lost. The matter is urgent. Infinite mischief and boundless injury to suitors will be the result of further delay by the government.

SINCE our last number Mr. Baron Rolfe has been promoted to the Vice-Chancellorship of England, and has been elevated to the peerage by the title of Baron Cranworth.

Mr. Martin, Q. C., of the Northern Circuit, has succeeded Baron Rolfe as a Baron of the Exchequer.

THE Common Law Commissioners have put forth their Report, consisting of moderate and, it seems to us at first sight, judicious amendments, but such as certainly will not satisfy many of the more radical reformers of our jurisprudential system. We must of course reserve a review of the Report till our next.

DR. BOWYER has resigned his office as Lecturer at the Middle Temple. We deeply regret his loss, as his contributions to law literature promised to be very valuable. The remuneration afforded is alone a discouragement to talent. John George Phillimore, Esq., has, however, accepted the office, and gave a most brilliant and learned opening lecture on the 20th ult., attended by several judges and men of legal eminence.

LORD LANGDALE retires from the Rolls, and will be succeeded by Sir J. Romilly, the Attorney General, to which office Sir A. Cockburn will be promoted. Mr. Watson or Mr. Page Wood, it is said, will be the new Solicitor General.