to lawyers, but because of the procedural requirements and the necessity of conforming to strict rules of evidence, the employment of a lawyer is in most cases essential to a proper presentation. This means that only taxpayers whose cases involve substantial amounts can afford to appeal to the Board. The small taxpayer as a practical matter is still left to the mercy of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The primary concern of the Bureau is revenue. Justice is incidental and casual. Indeed the small taxpayer is in many instances worse off today than he was before the creation of the Board because of the tendency in the Bureau to leave the taxpayer to his remedy by appeal to the Board in case of disagreement rather than give him relief in the Bureau. The stock formula is apt to be "If you don't like it you can go to the Board." Probably the conclusion of the authors that the Board should be given the full status of a court is justified with respect to cases involving substantial amounts. But it would seem that the rights of the small taxpayer might be better protected by an administrative body independent of the Treasury, which would function informally and without technical requirements of procedure or evidence, and to which such a taxpayer could resort without having to incur the expense of employing counsel. The last four chapters of the book deal with procedure in the United States District Courts and the Court of Claims, and reviews by the Circuit Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of the United States. These chapters form a condensed manual of practice requirements in these courts, more fully dealt with in standard works on Federal practice. There is an Appendix containing the Rules of Practice of the Board of Tax Appeals, the Supreme Court of the United States and the Court of Claims, the provisions of the Revenue Acts of 1924 and 1926 and of the Judicial Code and Revised Statutes affecting tax appeals, excerpts from Congressional Committee reports dealing with administrative provisions of the Revenue Act of 1926, forms of letters for various purposes in use by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, forms promulgated by the Board of Tax Appeals and Court of Claims, and forms and precedents in other Federal Courts with a view especially to practice in New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Connecticut, California, Ohio and Pennsylvania. All in all, it is a useful book within its field, and well annotated throughout. Freeman Day. The Law of Chemical Patents.-By Edward Thomas D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., New York. 1927, pp. xiii, 420. There is presented in this book the law of chemical patents as revealed by decisions in this field. The book consists almost entirely of quotations, quite short and often condensed, taken from the reports, and offers the advantage of exhaustive personal digesting in the form of a brief arrangement of selected cases. The author indicates in his preface that he intends to make available the general principle underlying chemical patents in order that they may be kept in mind when specifications and claims are drawn and that it is best in so doing to go directly to what the courts have said. Certain propositions of law, such as the general principles of patent law, may be stated briefly and with apparent lucidness. Exact application and definition is more difficult. In writing upon the law attempt is frequently made by an author at personal definition and analysis with appropriate citation of cases. This, however has not been the method of Mr. Thomas. At the beginning of each chapter is a very brief introductory statement. What the courts have said in a great variety of particular cases follows. Such treatment is suited to the subject. Cases involving chemical patents present special and peculiar problems in the application of the law. Judicial attitude as evidenced by them is difficult to pigeonhole. Presentation through illustrative cases brings to the reader a general impression as to the significance of the law that would be very elusive of definition. The book is difficult for general reading for, with so relatively few guiding posts, determination of the attitude of the courts requires close study. A person reading with a definite problem in mind should find the book of assistance; a table of contents and an index help to make the material available for that purpose. A book of this sort can be criticized as being a product of digesting and scissors, yet, as a collection of case law regarding chemical patents, it should be both valuable and useful. Richard K. Parsell. International Law in Relation to Private Law Practice... Frederick R. Coudert 13 Study in Comparative Civil Procedure.. The Scope and Effect of the 1926 Amendments to the .Pierre Le Paulle 24 James J. Robinson 49 ENTERED AT ITHACA POST OFFICE AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER Achievement From a small beginning with "stickers" But even more noteworthy still is the Which is indicative of the confidence |