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Depositions in those countries or elsewhere, may be taken before any consul or diplomatic agent of either Government.

In all cases the cross-examination of the witness may be by written interrogatories or orally, in the election of the party cross-examining.

8. The Commissioners may at any time, issue a special commission for the taking of testimony, on the application of either party; such testimony to be taken either in written interrogatories or orally, as the Commissioners may order.

The Commissioners may also, on motion of either party, order any claimant or witness to appear personally before them for examination or cross-examination.

9. When any original papers filed in the State Department of the United States or in the archives of the British Legation in Washington can not be conveniently withdrawn from the files, copies thereof will be received in evidence, when certified by the State Department or by the British Legation, as the case may be.

10. When the time has expired for taking proofs, or the case has been closed on both sides, the proofs will be printed under the direction of the Secretary, and at the expense of the Commission. The argument for the claimant shall be filed within fifteen days after the papers shall have been printed, and the case shall stand for hearing ten days thereafter.

11. The Secretary will prepare, from time to time, lists of cases ready for hearing, either upon demurrer or upon the merits, in the order in which they are entitled to be heard, or in which the counsel for the two Governments shall agree that they shall be heard.

12. All cases will be submitted on printed arguments, which shall contain a statement of the facts proven and references to the evidence by which they are proven, and, in addition, the counsel for the respective Governments will be heard whenever they desire to argue any cause orally. Arguments of counsel for individual claimants will be received, in print, when submitted by the counsel of either Government, and not otherwise.

13. Claims against the United States and Great Britain, respectively, will be entered in separate dockets, kept by the Secretary. The dockets shall contain an abstract of all proceedings, motions, and orders in each case.

14. The Secretary will keep a record of the proceedings of the Commission upon each day of its session, which shall be read at the

next meeting, and will then be signed by him and approved by the signature of the presiding Commissioner.

15. The Secretary will keep a notice book, in which entries may be made by the counsel for either Government, and all entries so made shall be notice to the opposing counsel.

16. The Secretary shall provide books of printed forms, in which will be recorded the awards of the Commission, signed by the Commissioners concurring therein. The awards against each Government will be kept in a separate book.

17. A copy of each award, certified by the Secretary of the Commission, will be furnished, on request, to the party upon whose claim such award shall have been made.

18. The dockets, minutes of proceedings, and records of awards, will be kept in duplicate, one of which will be delivered to each Government at the close of the duties of the Commission.

19. The Secretary will have charge of all the books and papers the Commission, and no paper shall be withdrawn from the files or taken from the office without an order of the Commission.

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BOOK NOTICES.

Tennessee Reports. Reports of Cases argued and determined in the highest Courts of Law and Equity in the State of Tennessee. A new Edition, from Overton to Meigs, inclusive. With Notes and References. By WM. F. COOPER: Published by Soulè, Thomas & Winsor, St. Louis, Mo. For sale at W. T. Berry & Co.'s, Nashville, Tenn.

THE value of our earlier decisions, owing, no doubt, to the rarity of the volumes of late years, has been greatly underrated. "There were giants in those days," both at the bar and on the bench; and the important cases were argued with great ability, and usually decided correctly. The rules of practice, and the principles of law, were, in those days, drawn with more precision, more clearly cut, than of late years. The tendency, now, is to ignore rules of practice, and to bevel off the sharp edges of the law, so that the parts dovetail into each other in such a way that it requires keen eyes to see the line of severIt may be that the modern usage is the best, for it tends to diminish technicalities, and to secure the trial of causes upon the merits most desirable ends-but the young lawyer would do well to sharpen his powers of discrimination by a diligent study of these early precedents. They contain, so to speak, the common law of the State. The rationale of many of the usages of our courts, and of many of our settled rules of decision, can only be comprehended by tracing these usages and rules to their origin. It will generally be found that they were only established after careful investigation, and frequently a sharp struggle.

ance.

There seems to be an impression that our earlier books are filled with land cases, of great moment in their day, but of little use at present. This is a mistake, as will be obvious to any one who considers how small a part of our Digests, even of Mr. Meigs' admirable Digest, who lingered over these cases with a fondness that belonged to a past generation, is thus occupied. The number of land cases bears no proportion to the number of cases in other branches of the law. Besides, many of these cases, even where they turn upon points of purely local legislation, embrace questions of practice, evidence and general principle, still of daily use. Even where the liti

gation originated in our peculiar land laws, the rights of the parties will be found to turn upon general principles applicable to all time, and to any system. They could, no doubt, be used to advantage in the numerous land suits of the day in Texas, Kansas, California and other Western States and Territories. Systems may vary, and facts may differ; but the fundamental principles which underlie them, and upon which the rights of litigants must turn, are always the same.

The present work, as was to have been expected from the great learning and ability of its editor, has been very skillfully and systematically arranged and prepared. Instead of placing his references at the end of the cases, or in foot-notes to the body of the opinion, the editor has attached them directly to the syllabus to which they belong. Each case contains, immediately in connection with the proper subject-matter, a reference to every other in our Reports up to Coldwell, in which it has been cited. In nearly every case the reference shows the object of the citation, and whether the subsequent decision is in accord or in conflict with the case cited, or has qualified the ruling in any way. But the references have not been confined to the cases in which citations are made; the aim seems to have been to make the reprinted volumes a Concordance to our Reports, so that each case will not only be a guide to all other cases where its rulings have been cited, but to analogous cases.

This work, as it seems to us, is of almost invaluable assistance to the Bench and Bar of this State, and should be in every lawyer's library.

Leading and Select American Cases in the Law of Bills of Exchange, Promissory Notes, and Checks: arranged according to Subjects. With Notes and References. By ISAAC F. REDFIELD and MELVILLE M. BIGELOW. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1871. For sale at W. T. Berry & Co.'s, Public Square, Nashville.

In preparing the above work, the editors state that they have first endeavored to present the history of commercial paper throughout its usual stages, and then to illustrate such collateral branches of the general subject as are of practical importance. They have aimed to present the largest possible number of valuable cases, and to illustrate as wide a range of topics as space would permit. Upon subjects involved in conflict, decisions presenting the different rulings have been selected as principal cases; and to these have been added notes, citing the authorities which have followed or rejected the doctrine of the re

specive cases, and stating the general current of adjudication upon the subject. For instance, at page 124, the case of the President, Directors, etc., of the Union Bank of Weymouth and Braintree vs. Tilley Willis, 8 Metcalf, 504, (Mass.,) is published in full, to the effect that if a person not a party to a note place his name upon the back of it at the time it was made, he is liable as maker; and when the note is in the hands of a bona fide holder, the presumption, in the absence of proof, is that the name was placed upon it at the time it was executed. In the note at the end of the case, the editors state that it is followed in Massachusetts by Hawkes vs. Phillips, 7 Gray, 284, and by Draper vs. Weld, 13 Gray, 580; the latter holding evidence that the third party put his name on the note with authority to fill the blank with a guaranty, inadmissible against one who took the paper without notice. But if the payee afterwards indorse above the signature of the third party, the latter then becomes an ordinary indorser and his liability can not be changed by parol: Clapp vs. Rice, 13 Gray, 403. See Howe vs. Merrill, 5 Cush., 80; Vore vs. Hurst, 1 Ind., 551. If the signature of such person is written subsequently to the execution of the paper, and as an independent transaction, the signor is a guarantor: Benthall vs. Judkins, 13 Met., 265; Irish vs. Cutter, 31 Me., 536. See, also, to the same effect, Wetherwax vs. Paine, 2 Mich., 555; Lewis vs. Harvey, 18 Mo., 74; Schneider vs. Schiffman, 20 Mo., 571; Childs vs. Wyman, 44 Me., 433; Martin vs. Boyd, 11 N. Hamp., 385; Carpenter vs. Oaks, 10 Rich. Law, 17. In McGuire vs. Bosworth, 1 La. An., 248, it is held that such third person binds himself as 'surety.

We cite this case and accompanying note, to give the reader a clearer idea of the plan and nature of the work. Many of the notes are lengthy and exhaustive. The law of all the States on the subjects treated of, is clearly stated. To the practitioner, and certainly to the law student, we think this work of much greater assistance than any of the text-books on the same subject. The law student needs not merely the bare statement of a principle, but the application of it to facts.

The Practice in Bankruptcy, with the Bankrupt Law of the United States, as amended, and the Rules and Forms; together with Notes referring to all Decisions reported to July 1, 1871; to which is added the Rules of Practice for the Courts of Equity of the United States. By ORLANDO F. ВUMP. Fourth Edition: Published by Baker,

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