road, by its charter, is given the exclusive right to use certain parts of the highway, and has laid in the soil the foundations for its tracks, and has planted its poles and uses the ground to the exclusion of any other person who might desire to Occupy the same. The company has a grant of part of the public estate for its own permanent, exclusive use, and this is an interest in real estate. The question whether or not a boy ten years old is guilty of negligence contributing to his injury is held in Roberts v. Spokane Street R. Co. ([Wash.], 54 L. R. A. 184), to be for the jury, where at a street crossing he attempts to ride a bicycle across street railway tracks, and in so doing passes behind one car and comes immediately in front of another approaching from the opposite direction, which, because of its defective condition, cannot be stopped in time to avoid collision with him. Ocean-going tugboats are held in Northwestern Lumber Co. v. Chehalis County ([Wash.], 54 L. R. A. 212), not to be exempt from taxation by the State in whose waters they are exclusively employed, by the fact that they are registered and taxed at a port in another State where their owner is domiciled. A municipal corporation owning land on a navigable lake and its non-navigable outlet is held in New Whatcom v. Fairhaven Land Co. ([Wash.], 54 L. R. A. 190), to have no right to appropriate the waters of the lake for a municipal water supply, even under permission of the State, to the injury of a riparian owner whose rights vested before the adoption of the State Constitution, which asserted lakes, but provided that it should not debar any ownership in the State of the beds of all navigable person from asserting his claim to vested rights. Injury to a passenger caused by the overturning of a car is held in Southern Pacific Co. v. Tarin ([C. C. A. 5th C.], 54 L. R. A. 240), to render a railroad company liable where it leaves her in the car without warning because she cannot understand the language in which other passengers are warned, after the engine has been overturned by a washout, and water is running along the track in such a way as to undermine one side of it and render the overturning of the car probable. A party to a contract who has received and retained the benefits of a substantial partial performance by the other party is held in Kauffman v. Raeder ([C. C. A. 8th C.], 54 L. R. A. 247), to have no right to rescind the contract because of the The killing by a deputy sheriff of a person under breach of complete performance by the other party, but he is held to be limited to compensation therefor in damages. the mistaken belief that he is one for whose arrest on a charge of felony he has a warrant, and that the killing is necessary to prevent his escape, is held in Johnson v. Williams ([Ky.], 54 L. R. A. 220), to render the sheriff liable on his bond, where the statute provides that he shall be liable on his bond for any misconduct or default of his deputies. Officials in charge of the financial affairs of the county are held in Daniel v. Putnam County ([Ga.], 54 L. R. A. 292), to have no authority to purchase vaccine matter and to make the cost of the same a charge against the county. The existence of a law imposing upon a son the duty of supporting his father in case the latter becomes unable to support himself is held in Life Insurance Clearing Co. v. O'Neill ([C. C. A. 3d C.], 54 L. R. A. 225), to give the son no insurable interest in the father's life, in the absence of any expenditures, past or prospective, towards such support. With this case is a note reviewing the authorities as to insurable interest in life of parent or child or other relative by blood. An assignment of a policy upon a person's own life to another having no insurable interest is held in Chamberlain v. Butler ([Neb.], 54 L. R. A. 338), to be lawful if done in good faith, and not by way of cover for a wager policy. Every criminal trial upon a capital charge presents prominently the dramatic element. Its personalities stand out distinctly upon the inclosed stage of the court-room. There is the representative of the Accusing People, aggressive, relentless; there is the accused, with his bodyguard of legal defenders, stubbornly resisting every advance of the prosecution; there is the long procession of witnesses, willing or reluctant, tragic or comic — for comedy is never wanting in these issues of life and death; there are the attentive, inscrutable twelve good men and true; there is the black-robed judge, stern and dignified of mien, checking the disputants in the duel. But perhaps no more impressive spectacle of its kind was ever presented than the calm recital of deliberate murder uttered during the progress this week of the trial of Patrick. The confession of the valet Jones had about its monotonous, even delivery a fascination of unique horror. The witness droned out his tale as if it were either a narrative learned by rote, or the account of a monstrous deed whose memory had become so absorbed into his very being as to produce no shock in its recall. Innocent or guilty, the prisoner at the bar ceased during that scene to be the central figure.-N. Y. Mail and Express. has a law. The governments of Europe protect their subjects in this way, and we are belated in copying their good example. Ex-Attorney-General Wayne MacVeagh changed his views as to the propriety and desirability of sending special envoys to represent this country at coronations and similar monarchial functions. "The more I reflect upon it," he writes, "the more clear it seems to me that it is alike undesirable and undignified in us, whose fathers fought seven years to be rid of kings and crowns, to send persons to pay homage to a gentleman who calls himself a king, and who is putting on his head what he calls a crown." "It must Thomas B. Reed says of newspapers: be confessed that I know very little about newspapers. Probably a good man could not know much, unless, indeed, he was a publisher or an editor. That the editors and publishers are good men actuated by the highest motives, I notice incidentally by the newspapers themselves. I do not quarrel with them because they admit it, but I wish they would admit it every day. Which reminds me to say to you that absolute goodness and disinterestedness can be predicated of no profession outside of the law." The principle of the bill introduced by Assemblyman Landon in the legislature at Albany for the purpose of imposing a tax on posters is just and deserves to be recognized in legislation. The bill levies a tax of one cent for every two square feet of surface of every poster displayed in public, except those placed upon lands or structures indicating the business conducted thereon or therein, and excepting also legal notices. The proposed amount of the tax and the disposition of the moneys col Is insanity a defense to an action to recover damages for a wrong independent of contract? Students of law will think it strange that this question was not settled at a very early period of the history of England, but the Supreme Court of New Zealand in the recent case of Donaghy v. Brennan (19 New Zealand Law Rep. 289), could find nothing precisely in point in any reported decision of the English courts. The action was to recover damages for assaulting the plaintiff by shooting him with a gun. The defense was that, at the time of the commission of the act, the defendant was a lunatic and of unsound mind, and by reason of his mental disease, unconscious of, and wholly unable to understand, the nature and consequences of the act which he was doing. At the trial, the judge directed the jury that before finding the defendant a lunatic they must be satisfied that he was laboring under a disease of the mind to such an extent as to render him incapable of understanding the nature and quality of the act and of knowing that it was wrong. The jury found that the lunatic and of unsound mind the time of the assault, and assessed the damages at £750. The defendant moved for judgment on the finding of the jury, and it was argued on his behalf that the, injury done to the plaintiff could hof be, distinguished from an unavoidable accident, and that in a case of doubtful principle reference might be made to the Roman law, by which in an action for be liable if he was aefendant was lected under it may be modified in the legislature, a tort the defendant would o co real distinguish be but there ought to be no doubt as to the necessity in the exercise of reason and of a measure like this. The American Scenic and tween right and wrong, and that cause of Preservation Society has been largely instrumental the injury was the defendant's insanity, which disin introducing the bill, but public opinion is be- abled him from controlling his impulse to commit hind them. A ride on a street car through many violence. The argument for the plaintiff was of the streets of the city, or upon any steam rail- mainly founded on the American decisions. These way in the State, will picture as strong an argu- are summed up in Williams v. Hays (42 Amer. St. ment for the bill as can be easily put into words. Rep. 743), where it is said by Earl, J.: "The genThere is a special reason, however, for legislation eral rule is that an insane person is just as responsiof this kind to protect the underground tunnel ble for his torts as a sane person, and the rule apfrom defacement. This the proposed bill will plies to all torts, except, perhaps, those in which effectually do, and the public interest therein is malice and, therefore, intention, actual or implied, so obvious that there is not likely to be serious is a necessary ingredient, like libel, slander, or maopposition. Those who use the tunnel for advertis-licious prosecution." The plaintiff's counsel also ing purposes will be compelled to pay reasonably cited the following passage in the English case of for the privilege, and the revenue therefrom will be a corresponding relief to the householder and the farmer from direct taxes. The law will protect the interests of the advertiser as well as the public; there is a fine for its violation as well as for every mutilation of a poster duly stamped. It is hardly necessary to justify in detail the demand for such Weaver v. Ward (Hobart, 134): “If a lunatic kill a man or the like, this is no felony, because felony must be done animo felonico, yet in trespass, which tends only to give damages according to hurt or loss, it is not so, and, therefore, if a lunatic hurt a man, he shall be answerable in trespass, and, therefore, no man shall be excused of a trespass except it be judged utterly without his fault." The learned judge, Connolly, J., having decided in favor of the plaintiff, the defendant appealed to the Supreme Court, and that court (Stout, C. J., and Williams, Edward and Martin, JJ.) affirmed the decision holding the defendant liable.— Solicitors' Journal. The question of the right of a woman to practice law in Maryland is settled in the opinion of Chief Justice McSherry in the case entitled In re Maddox (50 Atlantic Reporter, 487). The court holds that the right to practice law is not a natural right, inherent in every one, but is dependent upon legislative authority. He points out that the constitution provides that any male citizen of Maryland possessing specified qualifications might be admitted to practice. The amendment of 1898 changes the method of admission, but makes no change in the class of persons entitled to admission. Considerable stress was laid upon the fact that the Code declares that the masculine gender includes all genders except where such construction would be absurd or unreasonable. The court holds, however, that since women are not eligible to practice law at the common law, and statutes in derogation thereof are to be strictly construed, this article of the Code cannot be construed to mean an authorization for the admission of women. The court further holds that the article of the Code providing for the admission of members of the bar of other States under certain conditions cannot extend to the admission of women who are not members of the bar of other States; for when that section provides for the admission of lawyers from other States it means such lawyers as are entitled to admission under the Maryland law. She An Iowa young man recently proposed marriage to a young woman, but hearing that she had false hair, he declined to fulfill his engagement. brought suit against him for breach of promise, but was nonsuited on the ground that she had won the young man's affections under false pretenses. In the trial of a divorce case in Cuyahoga Common Pleas a few days ago one of the witnesses was, by reason of his own statements, dismissed by Judge Dissette as unworthy of credit. The wife was plaintiff in the case charging cruelty. The husband filed a cross-petition charging infidelity. On the trial an uncle of the defendant testified that he had been intimate with the plaintiff. His testimony was interrupted by the judge with the inquiry, "Do you expect me to believe that you, a friend of the defendant's, invaded the sanctity of his home and that he knows all about it?" "Yes, sir," was the reply. "I don't believe you," said the judge. "No decent man would tell such a story in any court. Get off the stand." The decision in the case was reserved, but the court said: "If I grant a divorce at all, it will go to the woman on the grounds of cruelty, and the most extreme cruelty practiced by the husband was the attempt to besmirch the character of his wife when he could not prove his charges. A man who willfully does this ought to be sent to jail for six months and kept on bread and water."- Ohio Law Bulletin. Daniel A. Dickinson, former judge of the Supreme Court of Minnesota, died at Duluth, February 12, 1902, after an illness lasting two years. A petition for divorce on very unusual grounds has been filed in the case of Hedler v. Hedler. The parties reside in Caldwell, this State. The petition tells the story, and here it is as filed with the chancellor: "The petition of Walter B. Hedler, of Caldwell, in the county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, respectfully shows that your petitioner was married on June 1, 1895, at Newark, to Evelyn Stansfield, his present wife, since which time they have resided in Caldwell, N. J.; and your petitioner further shows that his said wife Evelyn, previous to her marriage, gave performances in the traveling circus of Barnum & Bailey of the art of charming and hypnotizing venomous snakes. And your petitioner further shows that since the marriage of your petitioner his said wife Evelyn has continuously kept and maintained an assortment of venomous snakes and reptiles in the house of your petitioner, this being done without the consent and permission of your petitioner. And your petitioner further shows that, on or about the 2d day of December, 1901, about eleven o'clock P. M., the said Evelyn S. Hedler did retire for the night with your petitioner and that, after having so retired, the said Evelyn did arise, and, going to the receptacle in which were housed the venomous snakes and reptiles, did take therefrom three snakes and came with them unto the couch of your petitioner. And your petitioner further shows that, after having toyed with the snakes some time, one of them did bite your petitioner in the left thigh, causing the same to swell and occasioning your petitioner excruciating pain and necessitating your petitioner's immediate visit to Dr. Victor E. Reilly. Your petitioner further shows that since his first visit to the physician he was under the constant care and supervision of the said physician, and your petitioner further shows that ever since her marriage she has constantly had in their home venomous reptiles, much to the discomfort of your petitioner, and your petitioner therefore prays that he may be divorced from wife the for aforesaid." New Jersey Law Journal. cause Literary Notes. Lucy M. Thurston, author of "Mistress Brent," a story of Lord Baltimore's colony in 1638, has been at work on another book, which will be brought out by her publishers, Little, Brown & Co,. of Boston, this year. Mrs. Thurston is a Baltimore woman. She was graduated from the Baltimore schools, and taught history for two or three years. Since her marriage her leisure has been devoted to the study of history and literature, and she is known locally as an authority on those two topics. About five years ago her interest was awakened in Maryland colonial history, and, after a prolonged and thorough study, used the material for the historical romance entitled Mistress Brent," which actually written in the mountains of Virginia. was Those competent to judge state that the story is a faithful picture of Maryland's early history. Apropos of the forthcoming centennial of the Louisiana Purchase, Sheppard Stevens, author of "I am the King" and "The Sword of Justice," has written "In the Eagle's Talon," which Little, Brown & Co. will publish in the spring. Her new book is a romance of the Louisiana Purchase, and the principal scenes are laid in the middle west and in Paris. Truth Dexter," by Sidney McCall, which was one of the fiction successes of 1901, is to be brought out in England this spring. Little, Brown & Co. will publish this spring a book by a new and promising western author which is destined to attract considerable attention. Frances Charles, a Californian, has written a tale of the southwest, entitled "In the Country God Forgot." The hate of a rich old farmer of Arizona for his only son is the theme of the story. There are clever bits of philosophy, ably drawn character sketches, and stirring dramatic scenes; and the whole book is brimful of human nature. Miss Mary Catherine Crowley, author of "A Daughter of New France," has accepted an invitation to address the Michigan Woman's Press Association during its convention at Lake Orion in July. Capt. Alfred T. Mahan's new book, "Types of Naval Officers," has been as warmly praised in England as it was in this country. Little, Brown & Company will publish the following books of fiction this spring: "The Heroine of the Strait; or, A Romance of Detroit in the Time of Pontiac," by Mary Catherine Crowley, author of "A Daughter of New France," with illustrations by Ch. Grunwald; The God of Things," by Florence Brooks Whitehouse, a modern society novel, with illustrations by the author; "The Eagle's Talon, a Romance of the Louisiana Purchase," by Sheppard Stevens, author of "I am the King" and "The Sword of Justice," with illustrations by A. Russell; and In the Country God Forgot," a stirring tale of the southwest, by Frances Charles. Messrs. McClure, Phillips & Co. will publish the 66 following books the coming spring: "The Madness of Philip, and Other Stories of Childhood." Illustrated by F. Y. Cory. Josephine Dodge Daskam. The Blazed Trail," illustrated. Stewart Edward White. "Next to the Ground," Martha McCulloch-Williams. Volume of Short Stories, Robert Barr. Musical Guide, Rupert Hughes. 'Forest Neighbors," W. D. Hulbert. "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (a Sherlock Holmes story), A. Conan Doyle. Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs," George S. Boutwell. "The Making of a Statesman" (a novelette and other stories of Georgia), Joel Chandler Harris. "Political Portraits," William Allen White. 'The King and Queen of Hearts" (fac-simile of original, published in 1806), Charles Lamb. "An Island Cabin," Arthur Henry. "Red Saunders," H. W. Phillips. "Wireless Telegraphy," Guglielmo Marconi. “Unpublished Letters of Daniel Webster." The fifth edition of Jacob Riis's popular autobiography, "The Making of an American," is on the press for immediate publication. It was only last week that the fourth edition was issued. The title of Owen Wister's new book will be "The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains." It will be illustrated with about eight full-page drawings by Arthur J. Keller and will be published by The Macmillan Company early in April. "The House with the Green Shutters," by George Douglas, is having the same experience in this country that it had in England. There the book slumbered peacefully for several weeks, until Andrew Lang got hold of it and paid it a glowing tribute in the London Times. This started it off with a bang. Critics all over England were proclaiming Mr. Douglas a new master of literature, and his publishers were kept busy turning out new editions of the book. In this country the book started off in the same way. After several weeks of small sales people began to talk of the remarkable power of the new book, and it began to repeat its London success. After it had run through a second edition and what was left of the first, Messrs. McClure, Phillips & Co. sent word to the daily papers that The House with the Green Shut ters" was in its third edition. Before that announcement was printed three days later, the book had jumped into its fourth edition. Among the new spring books no title suggests greater possibilities of interest than "The Thrall of Leif the Lucky." This is to be a story of Viking `days, and the wonder is that no one has used this rich material before. "Leif the Lucky" is, of course, the Leif Ericsson who had as much to do with the discovery of this country as any one else, perhaps. It sounds like a strong book, and the publishers say that the young author, who is of Northern descent, has written a story that is going to be read. 66 Frederick Trevor Hill, whose first book, "The Case and Exceptions," a collection of clever stories having to do with the law, was published two or three years ago, has written another book, a tale of life in New York city, entitled "The Minority." Mr. Hill is a promising lawyer in New York, whose professional work has included a manual of questions and answers for the guidance of executors and administrators, which has sold as widely as his fiction. Stephen Phillips, the author of "Ulysses," is now in his thirty-fourth year. He is a typical Englishman, fond of outdoor sports, an enthusiastic cricketer and a popular member of the English clubs. He is said to be an all-round genial companion, quite free from the eccentricities with which most geniuses are provided. Through the foresight of England's late queen, he has been placed upon the civil list of that land, and so, in a measure at least, is relieved from the cares of The ability of a strong individual character to rise above the handicap of a depressing childhood of poverty and discomfort, is cleverly worked out in Mary Fisher's new story of Gertrude Dorrance." This is Miss Fisher's first venture in fiction, but she has dealt successfully with several large ques-money-making, which is fortunate, for, like many tions in her novel, and made an attractive narrative as well, with a great deal of human interest. Booth Tarkington, the author of " Beaucaire" and "The Gentleman from Indiana," talked to an interviewer recently, and among many interesting things he said that he wrote for eight years before he had a manuscript accepted. Stories, essays, poems and miscellaneous articles came back with disheartening regularity. Mr. Tarkington's home is in Indinanapolis, Ind. He is about thirty years of age, a graduate of Perdue University, and has attended Princeton for post-graduate work. All his energies since leaving college have been employed in writing. Without wealth, but backed by relatives who had faith in his genius, he has toiled unremittingly and in the face of great discouragement. Mr. Tarkington's mother is a sister of Newton Booth, at one time governor of California, and senator from that State. From Senator Booth the writer was named. Mr. Tarkington and James Whitcomb Riley are old cronies. literary men, he is not fond of exercising his business ability. It is a noticeable fact that Mr. Phillips inherits his poetical temperament from his mother, who was related to Wordsworth and the Lloyds, Charles Lamb's literary friends. His first realization of his rich inheritance came to him in his fifteenth year, when his mother read aloud to him Coleridge's "Christabel," and from that time he determined to be a poet. From 1886 to 1892 he followed the profession of actor, appearing in many Shakespearean roles. Since his retirement he has spent all his time in the hard work which, contrary to popular fable, is necessary for the production of great and enduring work. English Botes. 66 * * Lady Harberton writes to the Times, commenting on the remarks of Mr. Justice Grantham in summing up the case against a man he was trying for stabbing his wife at Saffron Walden. The judge is reported to have said: * the prisoner was justified in believing that she (his wife) had formed an unholy affection for another man. If he had contented himself with boxing her ears, it would only have served her right, for her conduct was enough to drive any man out of his mind." Up to the present, says Lady Harberton, I had always imagined, first, that a man's striking a woman at all was a cowardly act; secondly, that no one is entitled to elect himself judge, jury and executioner all in one; and, thirdly, that a "box in the ear" (that is, a blow on the side of the head) was a most dangerous form of assault and unwarrantable under any circumstances whatever. I could shew Mr. |