The object which the makers of the Covenant of the League of Nations proposed to themselves was ‘to promote international co-operation and to achieve international peace and security.’ The first of the means by which this object was to be attained was, according to the preamble of the Covenant, ‘the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war’; the operative part of the Covenant, following the preamble, in several passages expressly binds the members of the league ‘not to resort (or ‘not to go’) to war.’

The theory of the abuse of rights is one which has been rejected by our law, with the result that the ancient brocard ‘dura lex sed lex’ finds its most vivid illustration in the present-day decisions of the Anglo-American Courts. The absolutist view of rights which is a feature of the Common Law was summed up by Lord Macnaghten in trenchant language when he said in Mayor of Bradford v. Pickles that although Mr. Pickles's conduct in wilfully depriving his fellow townsmen of part of their water supply might be ‘shocking to a moral philosopher’ there was nothing in the law of England which could stop him from being as ‘churlish, selfish and grasping’ as it was possible for a man to be. In other words our law has not hesitated to place the seal of its approval upon a theory of the extent of individual rights which can only be described as the consecration of the spirit of unrestricted egoism.

The addition, four years ago, to the Loeb Classical Library of the Nodes Atticae of Aulus Gellius has made available to English readers in a most convenient form a work of great interest and value to students of Roman Law. The Latin text has been edited with an English translation by Dr. Rolfe of the University of Pennsylvania, who appears to me to have performed a difficult task in a most satisfactory manner, and although, perhaps, not above criticism in dealing with some passages of technical import, to have produced a translation which will rank as the standard English version of this work for many years. In the extracts quoted from the work in this paper I have freely availed myself of Dr. Rolfe's translation, making only such modifications as will, I think, bring out more accurately words or passages of technical application.

The ever-increasing number of deaths caused by accidents in which motor vehicles are involved has naturally suggested to many people's minds that some alteration in our law is required. This is an idea not confined to laymen, for there are frequent references to the matter in the legal periodicals; it has been publicly discussed by practising lawyers and the attention of the Legislature has been directed to the problem of devising some new enactment.

The Report of the Committee on Ministers' Powers has now been available for more than a year, and the Committee's recommendations as to how far steps should be taken to secure the sovereignty of Parliament and the supremacy of law in the sphere of delegated legislation and judicial or quasijudicial powers exercised by Ministers of the Crown are well known. The Report has been reviewed and criticized by (inter alios) Dr. W. A. Robson, one of the principal witnesses before the Committee, and Mr. W. I. Jennings. Both of these writers are teachers of law, and their observations should be carefully studied.

In the three complementary parts into which this book is divided, namely, The Story, The Legal Solutions, and The Financial Solution, Sir Cecil Kisch has set out the several aspects of the famous Portuguese Bank Note Case (Banco de Portugal v. Waterlow & Sons, Ltd. [1932] A. C. 452) in a way to quicken the mind and gladden the heart of lawyer, economist and dilettante in detection alike. The primary purpose of the book, however, is to put to the test of economicanalysis the various views brought out in the course of the case as to the measure of loss to the Bank of Portugal arising from the fraudulent issue of Vasco da Gama notes