of the rule under the present practice in the Federal courts as modified by statute, rule of court, or judicial decision, citing the decision of our Federal courts and often in the text quoting at length from the opinions in elucidating the subject under discussion.

The work in the main is comprehensive, including chapters on masters, receivers, injunctions and appeals, though an occasional topic, as for example bills with a double aspect, is inadequately or at least meagerly treated, and it is disappointing to find no discussion of the important subject of jurisdiction as affected by local statutes.

An appendix of over four hundred pages containing the Federal Constitution, Judiciary Acts and various collections of court rules, increases the usefulness of the work, though it adds to the massive appearance of the two volumes in a manner hardly warranted by the scope and amount of the text.

The author has the fault common to most text writers of relying too much upon the statement of general principles and too little upon the analysis and discussion of decided cases. This fault, however, is partly atoned for by the use of a direct and lucid style which enables the reader to comprehend with ease the most difficult branches of the subject. Excellent though not unusual examples of this will be noted in his discussion of the obscure doctrines of discovery, negative pleas and answers in support of the plea. The reader will also note in connection with these topics the failure to cite certain important decisions of the Federal Courts with which he may be familiar. Whether such omissions are general throughout the work can only be determined by its continued use, but if such should prove to be the case the usefulness of the work to the practitioner would be impaired. Be this as it may, the logical arrangement, clear and reasonably comprehensive statement of rules and principles render the work a welcome guide in an unknown country, for which the thanks of the profession are due to the author.

A HANDBOOK OF THE CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. By Charles C. Alden. New York: Baker, Voorhis & Company. 1901. pp. vi, 170. The preface to this small volume opens with the following statement: "The Code is a difficult volume to study; its numerous sections contain, in great proportion, details of practice and procedure which are wholly unnecessary to consider in order to obtain that general knowledge of its provisions, which is all that the student may hope or should seek to gain." If this were a correct statement of the extent and character of the knowledge of the Code which the student should acquire, there would be some excuse for this work; but even then, the purpose of the author might be more successfully accomplished by printing, in an analytical form, the full text of the sections which he deems important, the provisions of which he has attempted to state in a condensed form.

Most of the sections chosen by Professor Alden are statements, concisely made, of prior statutory enactments, or of rules of pleading and practice declared or suggested by decisions of the courts;

and any attempt, however carefully made, to condense these sections still further is sure to result in important omissions, and in incomplete, and, therefore, misleading statements. The truth of this assertion is manifest upon an examination of the volume under consideration, and many illustrations of it may be found even in the treatment of such important topics as "obtaining jurisdiction over defendant" (pp. 28 and 29) and "provisional remedies (pp. 42 to 53). There is, however, a still more serious objection to this work and others of a similar character, in that they unintentionally emphasize a notion, altogether too prevalent, that the Code consists of a series of more or less arbitrary and largely unrelated enactments, which the practitioner is bound to observe for no better reason than that they have been put in force by the lawmaking power.

This is not the fact. With all its faults, our much-abused Code of Civil Procedure contains a system of pleading and practice based upon certain fundamental principles, and which is closely related to the systems that preceded it; and the student should gain such a knowledge of its provisions as will make plain these truths, and make him familiar with this system; a knowledge which will convince him that there is still an intimate and essential relation between adjective and substantive law, that the former is of no small importance, and that, for the student who intends to practice law, familiarity with the substantive law alone is a most inadequate preparation. It is, perhaps, needless to add that the most exhaustive study of the "Handbook" will fail to impart knowledge of this character.

A TREATISE ON CANADIAN COMPANY LAW. By W. J. White, Q. C., assisted by J. A. Ewing, B. C. L. Montreal: C. Theoret. pp. xxiii, 708.

1901.

This exposition of the law of corporations, as it exists in Canada, should prove interesting to the legal profession in the United States, for it exhibits the English common law under the influence of the best decisions in the various courts of this country. The task Mr. White has undertaken is to show the effect of the common law of corporations, of the Companies Act of the Dominion and the Acts of the various Provinces. Corporations whose objects are confined territorially to one Province incorporate under the Companies Act of that Province, while those whose business is to be carried on in several Provinces receive their existence from the Dominion legislature under the Companies Act of the Dominion. There is also a sphere over which the Dominion legislature has exclusive jurisdiction such as commerce, navigation and shipping, and companies whose objects come under these heads must be incorporated under the Companies Act of the Dominion. This combination of a general corporation law and various individual provincial laws gives American lawyers a hint of the probable result of a federal corporation law in the United States.

The plan adopted by Mr. White is to give in the text most of the leading cases and to show what they decide, rather than to lay down abstract principles. In fact, the author very seldom indulges

in discussion of principles at all, and leaves to the reader the task of forming conclusions. The book is a compromise between a mere digest of the corporation law of Canada and a text book of the bare rules of that law. It is readable and interesting to the legal student and should prove helpful to the brief writer. Many English and United States decisions are referred to to show the contrast or orthodoxy, as the case may be, of the Canadian decisions cited.

The structure of the book is admirable. The chapters are short and at the beginning of each is a numbered summary of the various paragraph topics. Through the chapter the paragraph headings appear in heavy display type, thus enabling the reader to locate at once the point of which he is in search. There are five appendices, the first containing forms, and the last four the Canada, Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia Companies Acts, respectively.

A HAND BOOK ON PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE. By Rufus Waples. Second Edition. Chicago: Callaghan & Company. 1901. pp. xvi, 306.

This unpretentious little volume is not profound, but it deals simply and intelligently with a subject upon which ignorance is far too common, as the conduct of many a public meeting bears witness; and it justifies the claim of its author that it renders the rules of order plain, certain and ready of application. It is something more, however, than a collection of rules. The author has been reasonably successful in his attempt to reduce the method of transacting business by means of motions to a system in which new questions may be solved on principle. His concise and pithy style lends itself readily to the condensation required in a work of this character. The addition of a series of questions and answers at the end of each chapter will, perhaps, recall to the reader the first steps in his own educational career, but this may be pardoned, if it prove of assistance to him who reads as he runs-for it is for such that the book is evidently intended.

A table showing the classification of motions and a reference list of exceptional motions makes apparent the system of classification adopted and enables the hard-pressed presiding officer to determine upon the proper ruling at a glance.

The value and interest of the book are enhanced by a chapter dealing with judicial decisions affecting the subject, and by a chapter on the method of procedure in Congress.

THE POLICE POWER OF THE STATE AND DECISIONS THEREON AS ILLUSTRATING THE DEVELOPMENT AND VALUE OF CASE LAW. By Alfred Russell, LL. D. Chicago: Callaghan & Company. 1900. pp. xvii, 204. Mr. Russell's book can hardly be recommended. He says nothing new in regard to old and well-known cases dealing with the police power; and his treatment of recent decisions is inadequate and untrustworthy. For instance, the case of Att'yGen'l Williams (Mass. 1899) 55 N. E. 77 cited (p. 36) as an example of the right of the legislature to regulate the height of buildings on a public park (Copley Square, Boston), by virtue of the

police power, does not in fact illustrate legislative action in this aspect. The statute there provided for compensation to property owners. The ruling of the Court interpreted the law of eminent domain, and in no way, save by a dictum, does it conflict with St. Louis v. Hill (1893) 116 Mo. 527, which held that under the police power a legislature cannot regulate the height of buildings along a boulevard (p. 59).

We point to Mr. Russell's treatment of these two cases as an illustration of his general method. He writes in a sketchy manner. His style of exposition is not deep or vigorous. He does not make the reader feel that when rules are stated (e. g. pp. 163, 186–189) the author is speaking with authority. As an essay on a most interesting branch of the law, this book is decidedly of the second order. Articles in the American and English Encyclopædia of Law cover the same ground quite as thoroughly and in more succinct form.

Reviews to follow:

A SELECTION OF Cases on the LAW OF INSURANCE. ruff. New York: Baker, Voorhis & Company. 1900.

Edwin H. Woodpp. xiii, 591.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. By Francis Newton Thorpe. Chicago: Callaghan & Co. 1901. pp. xxi, 595; xix, 685; xvi, 718.

A SELECTION OF CASES AND STATUTES ON THE PRINCIPLES OF CODE PLEADING, with notes. By Charles M. Hepburn. Cincinnati: W. H. Anderson & Co. 1901. pp. xxxvi, 651.

THE LIABILITY OF MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS FOR TORT. By Waterman L. Williams, A. B., LL.B. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1901. pp. xxxix, 345.

A TREATISE ON INJUNCTIONS. By Thomas Carl Spelling. Second Edition. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1901. pp. clxxii, 821; 823-1894.

A TREATISE ON FEDERAL PRACTICE. By Roger Foster. Third Edition. Chicago: Callaghan & Co. 1901. pp. clxxxv, 799; xl, 801-1655.

HANDBOOK OF ADMIRALTY LAW. By Robert M. Hughes. St. Paul: West Publishing Co. 1901. pp. xvii, 503.

Two CENTURIES' GROWTH OF AMERICAN LAW. By Members of the Faculty of the Yale Law School. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1901. pp. xviii, 538.

BAILMENTS. By Wyatt Paine. London: Sweet & Maxwell, Ltd. 1901. pp. lxxxvi, 550.

A STUDY OF THE UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION. By Horace L. Wilgus. Chicago: Callaghan & Co., 1901. pp. xiii, 222.

A BRIEF ON THE MODES OF PROVING THE FACTS. By Austin Abbott. Second Edition. Rochester: The Lawyers' Co-operative Publishing Co. 1901. pp. xxii, 653.

COLUMBIA

LAW REVIEW.

VOL. II.

FEBRUARY, 1902.

No. 2.

EXPERT OPINION AS TO INSURANCE RISK.

I. GENERAL PRINCIPLE. Whether expert testimony by professional insurance men is receivable to throw light upon the effect of a given circumstance in forming a material risk or in causing an "increase of risk," has been the subject of a controversy more than a hundred years old, -a controversy mainly due to the failure to distinguish the different issues which may in this or that case be involved, and impossible to settle until a clear appreciation of this difference of issues is gained. The general question, whether a given circumstance has increased a risk, either represents or is closely connected with at least four distinct issues, for each of which the problem of the Opinion rule's application must receive an independent solution. (1) The question may be whether an insurance broker has fulfilled that duty to his principal (the insured) which requires him to provide by new policies or new clauses against any change of "risk" (i. e. of circumstances possibly affecting the property's status with reference to existing policies) brought to his notice. (2) The question may be, in an action for the value of property confiscated, whether the owner of property near to a new public servitude, e. g. a railroad, has been injured by it with reference to (a) an actual increased danger from fire, or (b) an increased expense necessarily imposed upon him for insurance, whether or not the danger