REVIEWS. 197 A Manual of Elementary Law. By Walter Denton Smith. St. Paul : West Publishing Co. 1896. (Hornbook Series.) pp. xviii, 367. The subject of elementary law has been written up so many times and so exhaustively that one who deals with it in these days may be pardoned if the result of his labor is not marked by striking originality. Mr. Smith has covered within a very short space most of the topics dealt with in Kent's Commentaries. The book is surprisingly readable, and its only shortcomings of note may be ascribed without hesitation to the difficulties inherent in treating so large a subject so briefly. If it does not meet with so much success as other volumes in the Hornbook Series it will be because the market for ten-page discussions of the entire law of Torts and twenty-line elucidations of the mysteries of quasi-contract is already over- stocked. R. G. D. Extraordinary Cases. By Henry Lauren Clinton. New York : Harper and Brothers. 1896. pp. ix, 403. " Extraordinary Cases " is a book intended for both the general and the professional reader. The author's idea is to describe the cases of peculiar interest with which he has been connected in forty years of practice, to give sketches of eminent men with whom he has been thrown, and to recount anecdotes of a long experience at the bar. The idea is excellent, but it must be said that the most has not been made of the opportunity. For the general reader there is too much that is technical, and for the lawyer as well, in a book of this nature. Some of the author's long addresses to the jury, especially where little else is said of the case, are likely to weary. The space so taken up could have been better occu- pied, as the book itself shows. There is much in these pages, however, to repay perusal, and the reader can choose for himself. The picture of the practice of law in days gone by is exceedingly interesting, as are the glimpses of men of note. E. s. The Jewish Law of Divorce according to Bible and Talmud. With some References to its Development in Post-Talmudic Times. By David Werner Amram, of the Philadelphia Bar. Philadelphia : Edward Stern & Co. 1896. Small 8vo, pp. 224. The subject of this little treatise would seem to concern rather the student of ecclesiastical law than the lawyer who is struggling with the difficulties of the civil regulations of our American divorce laws. The book, however, is well enough written to interest any one caring at all for the history of law ; giving, as it does, an admirable account of a toler- ably definite portion of a very ancient legal system. While treating as fully as possible of the historical development of the subject, the book is not merely an historical essay, but is a thorough and well arranged exposition of a part of the Jewish law, written as a law-book should be, systematically, with full citation of authorities, and a good index. The learning displayed, though hardly to be tested by one unfamiliar with Talmudic lore, has every sign of accuracy. The quality of the print and paper is excellent, better than the unwieldy bulk of material in most of our text-books allows. R. G.
