work is sufficiently descriptive of the general objects which it embraces. The details are for the most part judiciously conducted, and appear to be in general deduced from observation and experience. We are often, however, inclined to disagree with the author in matters relating to general physiology and pathology, subjects to which he does not seem to have paid great attention. Neither do his methods of cure always appear to be founded upon philosophical principles, or to be perfectly consistent with each other; But this is a remark which we make with some hesitation, knowing how frequent. ly mere analogical reasoning (which we confess ourselves on this subject only able to employ) is apt to lead to conclu-, sions which are not completely. warranted. On the necessity of pressure, to preserve the frog in a healthy state, and to prevent the foot from contracting, and thus producing lameness, the author is fully convinced; and by the success with which attention to this circumstance was accompanied, in the ample opportutunities of observation which he has en joyed, the system pursued in the Veterinary College, and detailed at consider able length in our last volume, has received a desirable confirmation. The author has frequently occasion to advert to the absurd and injurious practices, which are still so very generally in use among farriers, both in the management of the regimen of horses, and the treatment of their diseases. Purging is a practice which he properly represents as having done a great deal of harm, both by the frequency of its employment, and the quantity of the medicine used to produce the effect. The greatest prudence he considers as necessary in the exhibition of cathartics, which appear to him to be requisite in but very few cases. To purge a horse for the purpose of bringing down his belly, is completely unnecessary; for this he observes may ei ther be prevented or removed by "—a proper management in his diet, such as reducing the quantity of his hay, and particularly his water, which should be administered with a very sparing hand: but the proportion of his corn, mixed with a few split beans, must be increased in proportion to the deficiency in the other aliment, uns sufficient to reduce the bulk of too large a single diet, uniformly administered, will be belly, without having recourse to that pernicious and whimsical idea, of giving three doses of physic; by which intolerable prac tice great numbers of good and valuable horses have lost their lives, or been rendered useless.” a view to purge a horse from ill hu The employment of cathartics, with mours, and to enable him to run faster, The system of a race-horse should be is equally deprecated by the author. strengthened instead of being weakened by improper physicking; for "If the organs of digestion and chylification are continually disturbed by physicking or any other improper treatment equally dangerous, the food will be ill digested, and the chyle and nutrition imperfect: hence will result a debility and weakness of the system; profuse cise, and of course, the animal will be incasweatings will take place on the least exerpable of sustaining any violent exertions in such a languid state. This defect may be also the consequence of a natural weak constitution of the horse; but in either case he must be rejected, as incapable of being a racer, or a hunter." The authority of Mr. Coleman is duced with his own, against the heal thiness of close and heated stables, such as are too frequently in use. Their tem perature should never exceed from 60 to 70% of Farenheit, and though coid blasts must necessarily be avoided, care must be taken to provide a free circulation of air, as being eminently conducive to the support of health and vigour. The observations on the diseases of cattle and sheep are very short, but the author promises, in a future publication, to give a full comparative description, with the proper mode of treatment of every disease that affects domestic animals. The plates which accompany this work are extremely well executed, and afford good illustrations, of the circumstances of formation which either tend to increase or diminish the speed of horses. CHAPTER XIX. LA W. ALTHOUGH the law publications of last year contain little new or interesting matter to a general reader, the lawyer's library has obtained by one, at least, of them, an important acquisition. Mr. East's Pleas of the Crown is a work of much consequence to the profession, not only as it is a revision of the penal law of the country, executed by a barrister of great experience and learning, but, in an especial degree, as that revision has been completed with the use of all those private collections of cases and determinations, of which it was known the judges had long availed themselves, without their being communicated to the public. Our system of penal law, notwithstanding its dreadful catalogue of statutable offences, has always been our pride, as it has been the protector and guardian of that precious liberty, which Englishmen do not boast of more in the theory of their government than they enjoy it in its administration. To have the whole system of that law, which establishes his personal security, presented to him in a shape of easy reference, and clear analytical statement, must prove grateful to every one of our countrymen; and it is much to the honour of our learned men in high stations, that they have so generously aided in its execution. The various periodical reports of Messrs. East, Puller, and Bosanquet, Vezey, jun. Robertson, Forrest, and Espinasse, are continued as usual; and as the public have long recognized their obligations to these gentlemen, and are already sufficiently acquainted with their merits, it is not necessary to do more at present than merely to notice the continuance of these labours, which are so highly useful to the profession. Amongst the reporters is a posthumous work of Mr. Dickens, the late senior、 register of the court of chancery. The cases of which his notes are given extend through a period of many years, and were chiefly taken by himself during his long attendance in that court; but we fear their value is lessened by the very circumstance of the great delay in their publication. A new edition of Swinburne's celebrated book upon Last Wills is the most important of that kind of performance, and is calculated to bring it into more gene ral use. In short, we may congratulate the profession to which these publications peculiarly belong, that in spite of their limited circulation and sale superior minds continue to be engaged in them, and most honourably strive to advance its utility and re nown. 3 F4 ART. I. A Treatise of Testaments and last Wills, by Henry Swinburne, 7th Edition, with Annotations of the late J. J. Powell, Esq. Barrister. Prepared for the Press by JAMES WAKE, Esq. Barrister. 8vo. 3 vols. pp. 1236. THE very great facility which the late Mr. Powell possessed in composing treatises upon legal subjects kept his pen ever engaged, and hardly any lawyer has contributed so much to the shelves of his profession. Amongst other valuable books, that of Swinburne had, it seems, for some years been chosen by him for illustrative notes; but dying before they were ready for the press, the proprietors of the present publication purchased them of his widow, and they now make their appearance from the revision and arrangement of Mr. Wake. The text is very judiciously printed, in the old language of the edition of 1640, and not according to the sixth edition, in which the style had been attempted to be modernized; and the two indexes are incorporated into one. The notes are explanatory of doubtful pas sages, and collect subsequent decisions and authorities, where the positions of the author have undergone discussion or received alteration. They are very numerous and elaborate, and with the addition of the late statutes certainly, in a great degree, increase the value of this sterling work. ART. II. A Practical Treatise on Copyhold Tenure. By RICHARD BARNARD FISHER. Second Edition. 8vo. pp. 423. IT is nearly ten years since the first edition of this treatise was given to the public; and having been sometime out of print, the author, in bringing forward this new edition, has corrected and considerably enlarged it. Its value is too well known, and too generally acknowledged, to need comment. ART. III. An Abridgment of Cases argued and determined in the Courts of Law, during the Reign of his present Majesty; with Tables of the Names of Cases and principal Matters. By THOMAS WALTER WILLIAMS, Esq. Vol. V. 8vo. pp. 1000. THE third volume of the work completes the abridgment of all the public acts of parliament, from the thirty-first year of the reign of his present Majesty to the forty-second. The public is already acquainted with its object and style of execution from the two former volumes. ART. IV. Observations on the Rules of Descent, and on the Point of Law, whether the Brother of a Purchaser's paternal Grandmother shall be preferred in the Descent to the Brother of the paternal Great Grandmother of a Purchaser. By W. H. Rowe, of Gray's Inn, Canveyancer. 8vo. pp. 117. THIS is a long and laborious argument in support of the opinion of Mr. Justice Manwood, on a point of dry and remote law, in opposition to the reasoning against it of Mr. Justice Blackstone, and others who haye coincided with him, but particularly in answer to a pamphlet published upon the subject by Mr. Watkins, four years ago, entitled “An En, quiry into the Question." It is written with learning and ingenuity. ART. V. Reports of Cases argued and determined in the High Court of Chancery, collected by John Dickens, Esq. the late Senior Register of that Court, and revised by Jous WYATT, Esq. Barrister at Law. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 875. THIS is a posthumous work of the late venerable Mr. Dickens, who, for a very long period of time, had a seat in the Court of Chancery. He had, it seems, collected the whole of these cases, extending through almost the whole of the last century, in his own hand-writing, and left them, though without arrangement, obviously intended for publication, In this state Mr. Wyatt, who had before presented his profession with another ex cellent book, finding them to contain "a valuable selection, remarkable for a correct narrative of facts, a concise yet clear statement of the question, and a conspicuous report of the judgments," revised and prepared them for press. As far as we have been able to examine them, wę have seen every reason to coincide in this character with the editor, to whose judg ment much may be confided. An excel lent index is added, ART, VI. A Treatise of the Pleas of the Crown. By EDWARD HYDE EAST, Esq. of the Inner Temple. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 1126. MR. EAST very modestly observes in the preface to this valuable work, that he would not have presumed to have ventured on a new arrangement and discussion of a subject already so ably and authoritatively treated of by Lord Hale and Mr. Serjeant Hawkins, had he not been possessed of additional materials. But that the lapse of ninety years since the last of those authors published his book, and the accumulation of matter, both from statutes and adjudged cases, had rendered a revision of this most interesting branch of our law so highly desirable, that he thought it would prove an acceptable offering to the members. of his profession, however far the execution of it might fall short, in point of ability, of those models which they had been accustomed to contemplate. The sense entertained by the profession of the magnitude and importance of Mr. East's undertaking, and their confidence in the care and ability of the author, were most forcibly displayed in all private collections and notes being immediately laid open to him, and in his being permitted freely to avail himself of the private labours of judges so highly distinguished as Foster, Yates and Gould, and Buller. But in addition to these valuable sources of information, he was allowed to consult the book which has been long kept for the use of the judges, and in which are entered those cases which have been reserved for their opinion, with their determinations upon them. Thus aided, with a mind ever bent upon the subject, and enriched by the learned and liberal communications of the ablest lawyers of the time, Mr. East, after fifteen years preparation, brought forth his work; a work whose execution must be as gratifying to his friends as it is valuable to the public, and which will hand down his name to distant times with those who have most contributed by their writings to the honour of their profession. In the course of the preface a very interesting memoir is given of the late Justice Buller, which will be read with avidity by the numerous admirers of that most extraordinary man. A short index is given of the general heads; one of cases, and another of no less than four hundred and fifty-six sta tutes, which are cited and referred to in the work, These two volumes contain the following chapters, whose respective lengths and importance we have marked by reference to the pages. Chap. 1. Offences against religion, morality, and the church establishment, p. 1 to 36; 36 pages. 2. High treason and other incidental offences immediately against the allegiance due to the king, p. 37 to 138; 102 pages. 3. Misprision of treason, p. 139 and 140; 2 pages. 4. Offences relating to the coin and to bullion, p. 141 to 197; 57 pages. 5. Homicide, p. 198 to 375; 178 pages. 6. The respective duties of the vill, the coroner, and others, upon a homicide committed, p. 376 to 391; 16 pages. 7. Mayhem or felonious maims, p. 392 to 403; 12 pages. 8. Felonious, malicious, and unlawful assaults upon the person, with intent to kill, wound, or otherwise injure the party, or to rob him, or obstruct him in the execution of his duty, p. 404 to 427; 24 pages. 9. False imprisonment and kidnapping, p. 428 to 432; 5 pages. 10. Rape, and the wilful carnal knowledge of female children, p. 433 to 449; 17 pages. 11. Forcible or fraudulent abduction, marriage, or defilement, p. 450 to 462; 13 pages. 12. Polygamy or Bigamy, p. 463 to 472; 10 pages. 13. Offences touching clandestine and illegal marriages, p. 473 to 479; 7 pages. 14. Sodomy, p. 480; 1 page. 15. Burglary, p. 481 to 523; 43 pages. 16. Larceny and robbery, p. 524 to 791; 268 pages. 17. Piracy, p. 792 to 812; 21 pages. 18. Cheats, p. 813 to 839; 27 pages. 19. Forgery, p. 840 to 1003; 164 pages. 20. Falsely personating another, p. 1004 to 1011; 8 pages. 21. Arson, p. 1012 to 1035; 24 pages. 22. Malicious or fraudulent mischief, p. 1036 to 1103; 68 pages. 23. Threatening letters or writings, p. 1104 to 1126; 23 pages. The aim of the author at a very comprehensive and systematic arrangement will immediately appear from this statement. That circumstance which consti tutes the peculiar nature and weightiest part of an offence is made the character of a genus, and includes under its general title all the species and varieties of the crime. Thus chap. 16, of larceny and robbery, extends through two hunhundred and sixty-eight pages of the book, and embraces every offence of which theft is the prominent feature; but it does not extend to burglary; because, though that offence include a theft, or an intention of theft, it has the more important character of a breaking into the house at night, and therefore constitutes a chapter by itself. In this classification, chap. 16, larceny and robbery, chap. 5, homicide, chap. 19, forgery, chap. 2, high treason, are the most extensive; and as a specimen of the author's more detailed divisions of his subject, and his mode of investigating it, we will give a fuller account of the first of these. To each chapter of the work is prefixed an analysis of its contents, executed with that care which distinguishes the whole performance. But we cannot agree with our author in the propriety of placing them at the head of each chapter, instead of collecting them at the beginning of the book. By the method he has adopted, the whole of the volumes must be turned over to find the contents; and a reader is deprived of the advantage of seeing the total division and arrangement of the subject at once, which often very greatly facilitates his discovery of the passage or learning of which he is in search. In the chapter on larceny the author begins by stating, that the offence of feloniously taking the personal property of another is denominated either larceny when the fact is accomplished secretly, or by surprise, or fraud; or robbery when accompanied by circumstances of violence, threats, or terror, to the person despoiled. He then divides the subject into I. Of simple larceny, its definition, and an illustration of the component parts of such definition; in the course of which are noticed the variations which have from time to time been introduced by VI. Of the trial, indictment, appeal, evidence, and verdict. VII. Of the restitution of stolen goods. As to the Ist head, the author exa mines the definition of larceny by Brac ton, Lord Coke, Mr. Justice Blackstone, Eyre, &c. and gives it thus: "the wrong ful or fraudulent taking and carrying away by any person of the mere personal goods of another, from any place, with a felonious intent to convert them to his (the taker's) own use, and make them his own property, without the consent of the owner.' He then pursues the investigation un der this division. 1. What is a mere taking. 5. From what place. 7 What is such evidence of the taking and carrying away, being wrongful or fraudulent, and with intent to convert the goods to the taker's own use, and make them his own property, with out the consent of the owner, as will amount to felony. These several heads again branch out into many subdivisions, and after the common law the statutes are stated in order of time. Under the last head, that of the felonious intent, the different grounds of defence are thus stated: 1. Evidence on denial of the fact.Confession. 2. On claim of right. 3. On taking by mistake or accident. 6. On delivery by a third person. 7. Taking on delivery, by or on be half of the owner, or by his consent or approbation. (This falls into twelve subdivisions or qualifications in the mode of delivery.) 8. On taking through necessity. Under the IÏd head, besides the general matter and observations on the sta tute, Mr. East considers, 1. As to the manner in which the of fence must be committed. 2. As to the situation of the party robbed. 3. The indictment and verdict. Under the IIId (robbery) these additional heads occur. 1. How far the value is material. 2. What shall be said to be a taking from the person. |