remained and still remains unsatisfied. Both parties, the “interdit" and the curator, subsequently came to this country, and the question was then mooted, whether the residue so unsatisfied might not be recovered by an action in an English court upon the judgment of the French court. To determine this question, it became necessary, in the opinion of the writer, to consider that judgment, and the grounds on which it was avowedly pronounced, the "motifs" being, as in all other cases, part of the judgment itself. Had the French court adopted the conclusions of the Avocat du Roi, and assuming the status to have been legally created, refused to acknowledge and give effect to it, the judgment, it is conceived, would have been erroneous, because it seems to be an admitted principle that, subject to the controlling operation of the lex loci rei sitæ, the status is every where recognized as annexed to the person; and in this case the lex loci could have no operation, because the property attached was personal, not real, and France was not even the place of domicile of the exiled prince; but upon the ground, assigned by the superior court, it was thought that the judgment would be sustained, and that the action, therefore, if thought expedient, might be brought.

However rapid and unsatisfactory the glance which has been cast over the subjects discussed in the first volume, the three other bulky volumes which lie before us must be dismissed with a still briefer notice. A general outline of their contents has been already given in the extract from the dedicatory preface, but the mere enumeration of the many and various matters treated of would more than оссиру the space yet left to us; nor, indeed, we frankly confess, have we at present examined them with sufficient attention to justify a critical analysis. The judgment which a cursory perusal warrants is, that they have been executed with the same patient and indefatigable industry as the first; that there is no symptom of haste or weariness as the work advances; that in the manner of treating the subjects, the same order is observed; that the digests of the several laws are for the most part clear, methodical and comprehensive; and that the various sections in which the conflict of different systems is stated, and the selection of the governing law determined, indicate the same

familiarity with the works of foreign jurists, and the same admirable faculty of deducing and stating the reasonable conclusion, which is apparent in the portion already reviewed. Of the skill and, so far as we are competent to judge, of the accuracy with which the digests are framed, the two sections in the second volume, which exhibit the modifications of, or estates and interests in, real property, under the law of Scotland, and under that of England, respectively, may be referred to as favourable specimens. One remark, however, we are bound, in our character of censors, to make, in derogation of the praise thus generally bestowed. The difficulty and labour of digesting a system of law-and more especially of foreign law -we know and acknowledge. We admit, moreover, that if to this task be added that of translating, as it were, the language of the law into terms more familiar to the general reader, the labour is greatly augmented. Still in a work which is intended to be, and which is, practically useful, it is desirable, if possible, to avoid the too frequent recurrence of words and phrases merely technical. That the author has not always been sufficiently careful in this respect, the following, among other passages, may be cited in proof:

"A clause in a contract of marriage obliging the husband to take the conquest to him and his future spouse, and the heirs betwixt them, whilks failing, the heirs of the man's body, whilks failing, the wife's heirs whatsoever,' was found not to constitute the wife fiar, but life-renter, and the husband fiar. Thus falling heirs to the marriage and of the man's body, the wife's heirs of line were heirs of provision to the man; for by this clause of conquest, it is evident that the means were to come by the man. Yet an obligement by the man, bearing that whatsoever lands or sums of money he should purchase, during the life of him and his future spouse, (their present debts being first paid,) that the wife should be secured therein, in conjunct fee; and in case of no issue of children, the one half therefore to be disponed as the wife shall think fit,' was found to make the conquest divide betwixt the heirs of the man and the wife, and that her property to dispone the half was not a personal faculty, but made her fiar in that half, and took off the presumption of the preference of the husband, seeing no mention made of the heirs of either party."

Now these sentences may be “ φωνάντα συνετοισιν,” but to "the many," we apprehend, they will need an interpreter. In

the quaint and unmusical latinities of the Scotch law there is something to our ears peculiarly grating, and moreover, although with a little consideration we can spell our way to the meaning, yet it is a task and an effort, which we would gladly be spared. We are the more inclined to regret this occasional obscurity and ruggedness of style, from a sense of the importance of presenting a work on jurisprudence in as pleasing and attractive a form as the nature of the subject admits. The science of jurisprudence, though

"Not harsh and crabbed as dull fools suppose,'

is yet not quite "musical as is Apollo's lyre"-and we would fain diminish, as far as possible, the objections which present themselves to the cultivation of it. With us, more especially, are such considerations important, because in no civilized country in the world, we verily believe, does there exist so entire and profound an ignorance in this department of knowledge as in England. The explanation of a fact, seemingly so discreditable, is thus given by Mr. Burge, in his preface:

"The study of foreign jurisprudence has hitherto received little encouragement from an English lawyer. The attainment of a knowledge of his own profession requires all the time which is devoted to its acquisition. Having entered on his career as an advocate, if he acquires extensive practice, the high road which he follows has too many objects of honourable ambition before and on each side of it, to induce him to stray into the less inviting path of foreign jurisprudence."

We hail the appearance of this work as tending to redeem us from the ignorance thus gently and considerately rebuked. To the student of English law it will be valuable, as leading him to a vantage-ground from whence he may compare his own with other systems, and thereby more clearly understand the principles on which it rests. The accomplished lawyer, and the legislator, may derive still greater advantage from a careful perusal of a treatise, in which the regulations of so many different states, on subjects of primary and fundamental importance, are brought into one view, and placed in juxtaposition with each other. And all we trust will be satisfied from the specimens which have been here laid before them, that notwithstanding a dry and tedious page or two here and

there, (for "aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus,") there is in these volumes, matter to interest the gravest, and amuse the most fastidious, reader.

L.

ART. VIII-THE LAW OF WILLS.

1. The Act for the Amendment of the Law with respect to Wills (1 Victoria, c. 26), with practical Notes and Observations, and a copious Index. By R. Lush, Esq. of Gray's Inn. London, 1837.

2. The Act for the Amendment of the Law with respect to Wills, with Remarks, &c. &c. ; with an Index to the Act. By Richard Trott Fisher, Esq. of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister at Law. London, 1837.

3. The Stat. 7 W. IV. and 1 Vic. c. 26, amending the Law of Wills, with a popular Introduction and practical Notes. By George Sweet, Esq. of the Inner Temple. London, 1837.

4. Supplement to the Treatise of Wills and Codicils (3rd edition, 1836); exhibiting the Effects of the Decision of the Courts since the publication of that work, and especially the Alterations introduced by the Stat. 1 Vic. c. 26. By William Roberts of Lincoln's Inn, Esq., Barrister at Law. London, 1837.

5. A Concise Treatise on the Law of Copyhold Property, with reference to the various Alterations effected by the Act for the Amendment of the Law with respect to Wills and other recent Statutes applicable thereto, with an Appendix containing the above Act and an Analysis thereof, and some Forms of Copyhold Assurances. By Henry Stalman, Esq. of the Inner Temple, Barrister at Law. Saunders and Benning, Fleet Street. 1837.

6. Directions for making Wills in conformity with the Law, and particularly with reference to the Act 1 Vic. c. 26. To which is added a clear Exposition of the Law relating to the Distribution of Personal Estate in the Case of Intestacy. By J. C. Hudson, of the Legacy Duty Office. London, 1838.

7. A Practical Treatise on the Law of Wills, as altered by

the Statute Will. 4 and 1 Vic. c. 26, for the Amendment of the Laws with respect to Wills. By Leonard Shelford, Esq. of the Middle Temple, Barrister at Law. London, 1837.

8. Plain Advice on the Making of Wills, containing Forms of Wills, &c.; with explanatory Notes and Remarks, and a Copy of the Act itself. By John H. Brady, late of the Legacy Duty Office, Somerset House. London, 1838.

9. Familiar and Practical Advice to Executors and Administrators, and Persons wishing to make their Wills, comprising all the Provisions of the New Statute, 1 Vic. c. 26, for the Amendment of the Law of Wills, with Practical Remarks. By Arthur J. Powell, Gent., Attorney at Law. London, 1838.

10. An Essay on the Law of Wills as altered by the Victoria, c. 26. By Henry Sugden, Esq. of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister at Law. London, 1837.

11. Speech of the Right Honourable Sir Edward Sugden, in the House of Commons, on Monday, the 4th December, 1837, upon the Law of Wills Bill. Murray: London. 1838. SINCE Sir Edward Sugden's thunderbolt has been launched in vain, and the new Law of Wills Act stands unscathed and unimpaired, we now propose to state the principal alterations effected by it, and indicate the books in which most useful information upon the existing Law may be had. The greater part of what we have to say upon the subject may be ranged under the following heads :-1. Who may make a Will2. How a Will is to be made and attested-3. How revoked or altered 4. What property will pass.

1. Who may make a Will.-Under the old law, the capacity to devise varied with the nature of the property. Infants and married women could not devise freehold estates, except by custom in particular places, though valid wills of personal property might be made by boys of fourteen and girls of twelve. These, with some other distinctions, are swept away. By s. 7 of the new Act it is enacted, that no will made by any person under the age of twenty-one shall be valid; and by s. 8, that no will made by any married woman shall be valid, except such a will as might have been made by a married woman before the passing of the Act. This exception will include a will of personal estate made