surprising that the author should have contrived to combine such comprehensiveness and compressionto render his work at once so elementary and practical.

"Simple as a bill or note may in form appear," says Mr. Byles, in his well-written preface," the rights and liabilities of the different parties to those instruments have given rise to an infinity of legal questions, and multitudes of decisions-a striking proof of what the experience of all ages has already made abundantly manifest, that law is, in its own nature, necessarily voluminous; that its complexity and bulk constitute the price that must be paid for the reign of certainty, order, and uniformity; and that any attempt to regulate multiform combinations of circumstances, by a few general rules, however skilfully constructed, must be abortive." ** This little work aspires merely to supply a want felt by many, of a plain and brief summary of the principal practical points relating to bills and notes, supported by a reference to the leading or latest authorities. In many cases, however, the reader will find the law laid down in the very words of the judgment—a plan which the author has been induced to adopt, partly that those, who may not have access to the authorities, may be satisfied that the law is correctly stated; partly because he distrusted his own ability to frame, on so complicated a subject, a general rule, neither too narrow nor too wide-beset, as almost all such rules

R

now are, with numerous qualifications and exceptions; and, partly, because the language of the judges is infinitely superior to any which he could presume to substitute-remarkable as are many of the reported judgments on this subject in our courts of law, for accuracy, precision, and perspicuity* ."-It were to

* Pref. pp. xv, xvi. The following passage from the same part of the work will be read with interest by the student.

"There is no vestige of the existence of Bills of Exchange among the ancients; and the precise period of their introduction is somewhat controverted. It is, however, certain, that they were in use in the fourteenth century, though we find, in our English law-books, no decision relating to them, earlier than the reign of James I. [i. e. Martin v. Boure, Cro. Jac. 6].

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It is probable that a bill of exchange was, in its original, nothing more than a letter of credit from a merchant in one country to his debtor, a merchant in another, requesting him to pay the debt to a third person, who carried the letter, and happened to be travelling to the place where the debtor resided. It was discovered by experience that this mode of making payments was extremely convenient to all parties to the creditor, for he could thus receive his debt without trouble, risk, or expense; to the debtor, for facility of payment was an equal accommodation to him, and perhaps drew after it facility of credit; to the bearer of the letter, who found himself in funds in a foreign country, without the danger and incumbrance of carrying specie. At first, perhaps, the letter contained many other things, besides the order to give credit. But it was found that the original bearer might often, with advantage, transfer it to another. The letter was then disencumbered of all other matter-it was open, and not sealed-and the paper on which it was written gradually shrunk to the slip now in use. The assignee was, perhaps, desirous to know beforehand, whether the party to whom it was addressed would pay it-and sometimes showed it to him for that purpose. His promise to pay was the origin of--Acceptances. These letters, or bills the acceptances of debts in a foreign country,-were some

be wished that the perspicacious intellect of Mr. Byles would address itself more frequently to such tasks as the one he has undertaken with reference to Bills of Exchange.

The only other treatise—if it should not rather be called a Digest-on this subject is that of the very learned Mr. Justice Bayley, and is, as it deserves to be, a work of acknowledged authority. It is less calculated, however, than either of the others above named, for consecutive reading, especially on the part of the learner.

Such are the leading heads of Commercial Law, both in difficulty and importance-such the works, and manner of reading them, which the author has ventured to point out to the attention of the learner. There are, however, several other most important heads of law which demand the student's close and early attention-as, for instance, the law of LIBEL and SLANDER, an interesting, and not particularly difficult subject, of which Selwyn's Nisi Prius, Phillip's Evidence, and Saunders on Pleading and Evidence, contain each of them excellent summaries. The only treatise of note is that of Mr. Starkie, of which a new edition has been lately published. Such portions only of this work must be read as may be pointed out by

times more, sometimes less, in demand; they became, by degrees, articles of traffic: and the present complicated and abstruse practice and theory of exchange were gradually formed."—pp. vi—ix.

the tutor for the whole work is too bulky to admit of being read through, at least during the early part of the student's career.

The law of EXECUTORS AND ADMINISTRATORS is very intricate and difficult, and yet is involved in a very considerable portion of the business to which a young lawyer's attention is called at an early period of his studies. It is therefore of importance that he should soon acquire a distinct notion of the character and functions of executors and administrators, and, at least, a general acquaintance with their extensive and complicated rights and liabilities. Let him therefore peruse attentively Blackstone's Commentaries, book ii. c. 32, "of Title by Testament and Administration ;" and chap. v. part viii. of "Chitty's General Practice of the Law," vol. ii. pp. 510-560 (a) (2nd ed.), which is a sort of abridgment of WILLIAMS ON EXECUTORS 66 one of the most able and correct works," says Mr. Chitty very justly, "that has ever been published on any legal subject" (p. 511 (y) ).

This latter work is in two large octavo volumes, recently published, and was mentioned with commendation by the late Lord Tenterden, from the bench. The pupil's attention will be directed by his preceptor to those portions of the work which most require it.

SHEPHERD'S TOUCHSTONE is a work which will be found very useful to the young common lawyer. It is a work of very high authority, and contains the cream of Coke upon Littleton. The chapters "On

Deeds," and "The Exposition of Deeds," "Condition," "Covenant," "Testament," are worthy of special attention.

It would be an endless task to enumerate all the treatises on specific subjects, with which the student ought to be more or less acquainted. Experience, and his tutor, will from time to time point them out to him. There are, however, two or three standard works of a general character which must be mentioned before concluding this chapter.

SAUNDERS' REPORTS, with the commentaries of Serjeant Williams, and annotations of Mr. Justice Patteson-all three of them lawyers of very great eminence has long been a celebrated text-book of the common lawyer-a mine of pleading knowledge -a model of legal analysis. Since, however, such wholesale alterations have been lately effected by rules, statutes, and decisions, the utility of this admirable work has been, as far as learners are concerned, considerably impaired; and it requires to be read with much caution. A new edition, however, which has long been called for, will, no doubt, ere long, make its appearance, and be hailed by our student as a prize.

HARRISON'S DIGEST is a sine quâ non to the common lawyer, whether at or under the Bar-whether pupil or practitioner *.

* "As the leading object was to make the work useful as a Common Law Digest," says Mr. Harrison in his preface, "I have