its life as teachers, students and benefactors. The imposing list of distinguished alumni of the school testifies eloquently to its influence on the bench and bar and public service not only of the United States, but of Canada, Japan and other foreign jurisdictions. Every university law school of prominence has or has had on its faculty graduates of the Harvard Law School.

The editors of this volume have well understood that Harvard's chief claim to distinction lay in its possession of Langdell, who was dragged from the obscurity of a successful career at the New York bar into a professorship in the Harvard Law School and whose portrait appropriately faces the title page of this volume. Harvard secured Langdell through the insight of President Eliot, to whom America owes more than it now realizes. Langdell introduced into Harvard, in the face of constant and most vigorous opposition, a then new method of studying law. It was, in fact, whether Langdell was conscious of it or not, a resurrection of a method used in the Mediæval law schools of Italy and in the Jewish law schools of Babylonia. This is not the place for further discussion of the "case system" of instruction. The subject is fully presented in this volume and the literature relating to this and other topics in American legal education amply referred to in the bibliography in the appendix.

In publishing its history, Harvard Law School has again taken the lead, and I have no doubt that other law schools will in course of time follow Harvard's notable example.

The publishers of this volume are to be congratulated, not only upon the splendid presentation of the subject matter, but likewise upon the most attractive appearance of the book. The illustrations are particularly interesting and it is only to be regretted that the fine portraits of the earlier members of the faculty were not supplemented by portraits of the more recent and present incumbents. No doubt they, being the authors of this book, modestly forebore the publication of their portraits in the same volume with those of the distinguished masters to whom they pay ample tribute in these pages. The little group of pictures opposite page 172 must for the time being take the place of more formal and desirable portraits of Dean Pound and his associates.

David Werner Amram.

NORMAN INSTITUTIONS. By Charles Homer Haskins. Harvard Historical Studies, Harvard University Press, 1918. Price $2.75

The influence of the Norman conquest upon law and politics in Great Britain is one of the commonplaces of history; from Normandy and Normans the English derived much of the Frankish and feudal custom that is still found deeply imbedded in the common law. When, however, it is sought to trace this Norman influence to its home land the student is baffled by a lamentable absence of documentary sources due to war and the vicissitudes of time. Indeed the abundance of records and documents of the later middle ages possessed by England makes all continental research seem difficult by comparison. Dr. Haskins has completed the difficult task of thoroughly exploring the Norman documentary sources for every shred of evidence bearing

on Norman institutions from a period shortly before the conquest of England down to the loss of the duchy, and has embodied his researches in the present volume. Charters and writs preserved in the archives of the religious houses, many of which are now brought to light for the first time, or are for the first time scientifically examined, form the groundwork of this study. There is a comprehensive description of all that can now be recov ered regarding the government in the Conqueror's period; the varying fortunes of the ducal administration under his less masterful successors is studied from new material; and the persistence of Norman institutions, fiscal and judicial, under the strong house of Anjou is carefully traced. In the chapter on the early Norman jury new light is thrown on the possessory assize in Normandy and the extent of the employment of the recognition in the time of Geoffrey Plantagenet and Henry II.

All this is spade work of an extremely interesting character; the text is reinforced with much original material, and there are appendices devoted to special technical questions. It may be said confidently that no one hereafter will venture to discuss the Norman conquest without consulting this volume. The pity is that the book is written in a style that will commend it to a very limited and learned class of readers. In the manner of a most elaborate doctor's thesis, there is no attempt to lighten or brighten the pages; the text of some chapters is overburdened with Latin charters; the distinguished author would seem deliberately to have turned his back upon the cultured public and to have addressed his fellow dons only. Maitland, Pollock, Ames, and Thayer have shown that even the driest subjects may be given color and atmosphere. Without some attempt in this direction the most learned work is not likely to achieve more than a high place among the admirable source books.

W. H. Loyd.

THE PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES OF STATE CITIZENSHIP. By Roger Howell. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1918. Pp. 120.

This is one of the series of Johns Hopkins University Studies in History and Political Science. It was undertaken at the suggestion of Prof. Westel W. Willoughby. So far as is known, no previous attempt has been made to treat the subject comprehensively, or to enumerate the rights which the citizens of the several States are entitled to enjoy, free from discriminatory legislation, by virtue of the so-called Comity Clause.

A study of the History of the Comity Clause of the Constitution, "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States," is followed by a consideration of the general scope of the clause and the rights which are and which are not protected against discriminatory legislation. A chapter on discriminatory legislation under the police power and one on power of the States over foreign corporations leads to the conclusion that the privileges and immunities commonly spoken of as secured by the Constitution to the citizens of the several States are, as a matter of fact, in no way guaranteed by any provision of that instrument; that the utmost that can be said in this connection is that no State may grant

those privileges and immunities to its own citizens and refuse them to those of other States. Properly speaking, therefore, there exists only one privilege or immunity of which it can be said that it may be demanded as of right by the citizens of every State in the Union. That one is equality of treatment, freedom from discriminating legislation. That this is so is far from being clearly recognized or stated by the courts, even at the present time.

SUMPTUARY Law in NurnbeRG: A Study in Paternal Government. By Kent Roberts Greenfield. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1918. Pp 139. This is also one of the Johns Hopkins University Studies in History and Political Science. It deals with a variety of interesting topics, such as Government of Nurnberg, Marriage Festivities, The Hochzeitsbüchlein of 1485, Wedding Regulations and the Reformation, The Reformation and Moral Legislation, Regulation of Christenings, Regulation of Funerals, Regulation of Clothing, Problems of Sumptuary Legislation.

The observations of this study have been directed upon Nurnberg, and in so far as Nurnberg was a typical community they have a general significance. The evidence assembled has exhibited the sumptuary ordinances as a serious legislative activity of a sovereign body that stood in the main currents of its time. In tracing the laws in their historic growth it has shown the intimate details of conduct over which such a government would press its control under the sense of paternal responsibility; and has served to illuminate the medieval view of the relation of the state and the individual at the points of closest contact. In setting forth the restriction which the city fathers of Nurnberg proposed, it paves the way for study of the interesting problem of its enforceability; equips one to proceed with a survey of its course in Nurnberg after the Reformation; and furnishes a basis for comparative observations of its development in communities differently governed and differently circumstanced.

EFFECT OF WAR ON CONTRACT. By F. D. Mackinnon. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917.

In this essay the author examines and analyzes the doctrine of discharge of contract by impossibility of performance and reaches the conclusion that if subsequent to the formation of a contract, an event, the effects of which have not been expressly provided for by the terms of the contract, occurs and causes or is likely to cause such difficulty or delay in performance as amounts to mercantile impossibility or destroys the whole foundation of the contract, either party may claim that it was an implied term of the contract that on the happening of said event the obligation of the contract should be destroyed. The court will assent to such claim if it holds, first, that as a matter of construction the alleged implied term was a term of the contract and, second, that the event is of the nature above stated.

In regard to war as an interference with the performance of contracts, the contractor is entitled to consider that it will involve unreasonable delay in the performance of most mercantile transactions. Although war is to be

treated as of indefinite duration, yet as a matter of fact it can only be temporary, hence if at the outbreak of a war the time during which a contract with an enemy is to be performed is such that the war is reasonably likely to outlast it, the contract should be dissolved, but the converse proposition is not necessarily true.

The author's incisive examination of the cases old and new bearing on this question is recommended to all students of this branch of legal investigation.

THE LAW OF COMMERCIAL PAPER. By William Underhill Moore. Edited and prepared for the press by J. B. Read. Appleton & Company, New York, Chicago, London, 1918. Pp. xviii, 309.

This is a hand book prepared for use in the Extension Division of the University of Wisconsin. It presents the law of commercial paper in a series of paragraphs containing the rules of the Negotiable Instruments Law with the principles and rules of the law merchant. The work presents the rather unusual combination of accuracy and comparative freedom from technicality. It is not intended for the use of law students, but for those who intend to follow a business career and wish to acquire some knowledge of this important branch of commercial law. Professor Moore, who assumes the principal responsibility for this work, gives to it the weight of his acknowledged authority in this field. The index contains a reprint of the Uniform Negotiable Instruments Law of Illinois and Wisconsin. Although intended primarily for students in these jurisdictions, it may well be recommended as a text book in commercial courses elsewhere, to be supplemented, however, by the instructor's reference to variations in the rules of law in other jurisdictions.

HANDBOOK OF MILITARY LAW. By Austin Wakeman Scott. Cambridge, 1918. Pp. 104.

This little book is published by Harvard University for use in the Students' Army Training Corps in the course on Military Law and Practice. In view of the demobilization of this corps, the book remains as one of the monuments of an interesting period in the history of American colleges. It may still be of value to any one interested in the subject of military law and unable or unwilling to examine the official manual for courts martial and the articles of war, the acts of Congress and the decisions of the courts which constitute the original sources of information. Professor Scott has obviously devoted much time and thought in making the selections for this book and in arranging his material.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF GERMAN PRIZE LAW. By Charles Henry Huberich and Richard King. New York: Baker, Voorhis & Company. Pp. 61. This is a reprint of a study appearing in the Columbia Law Review, June, 1918, with some additional matter relating to "Unneutral Service" as set forth in an amendment to the German Prize Code. The article notes the principal decisions of the German Prize Courts up to February, 1918.

Law Review

And American Law Register

FOUNDED 1852

Published by the University of Pennsylvania Law School, at 236 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa., and 34th and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, Pa.

VOLUME 67

APRIL, 1919

NUMBER 2

THE SCOPE OF THE RULE AGAINST UNJUST DISCRIMINATION BY PUBLIC SERVANTS.

I. AT COMMON LAW.

There has been a most remarkable absence of any scientific attempt, both upon the part of courts and of writers, to discover any criteria by the application of which the exact scope of the rule prohibiting unjust discrimination by public servants at common law may be determined. Furthermore, there has been no attempt to determine the fundamental principle upon which the decisions of many of the common law cases involving public service duties depend. This may be accounted for by the fact that in many of these opinions the common law obligation to serve the entire public and the distinct obligation to render such service without unjust discrimination have been almost inextricably confused, and the precise basis of the decision has been left obscured.

It shall be the purpose of this article to discuss the exact scope of this rule at common law, and its relation to the doctrine of the so-called "Express Cases", and cognate decisions, in which the determination of the extent to which this rule is involved becomes of practical importance.

The rule prohibiting unjust discrimination is, at the beginning, to be distinguished from the rule requiring public service

'117 U. S. 1 (1886).