SHORT REVIEWS.

Bayard's Brief Exposition of the Constitution of the United States.

This work is principally designed for the use of academies and common schools. After a brief preface, and alphabetical index, the author gives in his introduction a very ably written and interesting narrative of the steps which led to the adoption of the present constitution, as the best introduction to an examination of its principles.' Such a sketch seems to be an absolutely essential introduction to an exposition of our constitution, and this of Mr. Bayard, though very concise, as indeed it must be in such a work, is admirably well done.

The first question in such a work concerns the arrangement of subjects. Mr. Bayard adopts that of the constitution itself; first giving the instrument, and then commenting upon its provisions in the same order. It seems to us that it would be an improvement in the arrangement to follow Judge Story's plan. in this respect; giving each part of the constitution successively, followed by comments upon the particular part given. The pupils ought to be initiated into the language of the instrument, and to study it in its order, and to familiarize their minds to it as it stands, and must be quoted and referred to. But still it would not, by any means, be expedient to compel them to recite it all, and then study its meaning in a commentary. It is an object, in a book of this kind to bring it within narrow limits. The saving of the space that would be lost by printing the whole constitution together, and then the several parts at the head of the respective chapters, is more particularly important in a book of this description. It appears to us, therefore, that it would have been a better plan to have distributed it through the book.

The style of this exposition is animated, clear and concise; and from a hasty examination of the work, it appears to us that the doctrines maintained in it have been considered by the author with great circumspection, and may be relied upon with

some confidence. The author has referred to authorities in many instances, and had he multiplied references still more, we cannot but think that it would have added value to his book; since it ought to be of a character to serve as a manual on ordinary occasions, and as an index to the authors where the several parts of the constitution are more elaborately discussed. We are glad to observe that the publishers of this little volume have not been influenced by that ill-judged economy in printing which excludes marginal suggestions of the subjects, which are of more real practical importance in a work of this description than the table of contents and index; and if one or the other is to be omitted, we should certainly prefer the omission of the two latter. But nothing prevents including them all. Mr. Bayard omits a table of contents; though he gives an alphabetical index.

Outlines of Constitutional Jurisprudence in the United States. By WILLIAM ALEXANDER Duer, L. L. D.

Columbia College.

President of

The object of this volume is the same as that of Mr. Bayard, noticed above. Dr. Duer says in his preface,

In arranging the materials thus collected and derived, the form of consecutive and dependent propositions has been prefered, as recommended by Professor Dugald Stewart in reference to Moral Science. This method had in substance been adopted by Sir W. Blackstone in the outlines of his original Lectures on the English Law, and has since been pursued by Mr. Justice Story in his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. It is, indeed, peculiarly appropriate to a work intended both as a text to be enlarged on, explained and illustrated by a Lecturer, and as a class book to be used by Teachers who must necessarily exercise a discretion in selecting such parts for recitation as may be best adapted to the age and capacities of their pupils; whilst with the aid of a proper index, it will be found equally convenient for the purposes of immediate and general reference. As to the order and distribution of the matter, the author has again to acknowledge his obligations to "The Federalist;" whose plan in this respect he has followed with very little other alteration than that of

transposing the two branches into which the subject is naturally divided.'

It appears to us, as we have already remarked in noticing Mr. Bayard's book, that it would have been a better plan to have taken the constitution in its order, giving first the passage, and under it the comment; in arranging which comments the method recommended by Dugald Stuart, and followed, indeed, by every author as far as he is able to follow it, might have been observed. Dr. Duer has given the constitution itself in the appendix in a small type as a secondary and subordinate part of the book, whereas it seems to us, that it ought to be the most conspicuous part. All possible facilities should be given to imprint the words themselves of the constitution, upon the minds of the pupils.

Dr. Duer says, 'the nature and design of the present publication dispense with the necessity, if they do not exclude the propriety of marginal references to authorities in support of the positions advanced in the text.' As we have already remarked in the preceding article, we cannot but be of opinion that the references to authors would have added greatly to the value of the work as a popular manual. We think, also, that marginal suggestions of the subjects would have been a very material help to the pupil, and still greater to those who might use the work as an ordinary manual.

But there are subordinate considerations having a very slight bearing upon the substantial merits of the publication, which embrace a very wide range of constitutional law within a narrow compass, carefully collected, and as it appears to us, accurately stated. The constitutional doctrines inculcated by Dr. Duer, are sound, and supported by authority and practice, as far as we can judge from a perusal of those parts of it, which we supposed would afford the fairest criterion.

Laws of Maine. Volumes 1st and 2d. With Notes, References, &c. By FRANCIS O. J. SMITH, Esq. Counsellor at Law.

This edition, consisting of two volumes, contains those public statutes of Maine which were enacted immediately after the separation of Maine from Massachussetts. They are, in almost every instance, exact transcripts from the statutes of the parent

State. The plan of this edition is entirely new in several particulars, and contains some most useful improvements. There is a very copious, and, so far as we have been able to examine it, a correct general index to the contents of both volumes at the end of each volume. Wherever the text is copied from a statute of Massachusetts, there is a reference, in the margin, to the year and chapter of the original from which it was transcribed. On every page there is also a reference to all statutes of Maine relating to the same subject, so the successive changes in the law can be turned to at once without recurrence to the general index. The value of this improvement will be readily appreciated by those who have had frequent occasion to consult the statute book, and who have felt the difficulty of retaining in memory, and the perplexity of hunting out the numerous changes which successive legislatures make in our public laws. Statutes and parts of statutes which have been absolutely repealed, are omitted; their titles and dates of enactment only being retained. In cases where a single clause or provision of a statute has been repealed, the text is retained, and distinguished by being printed in a smaller type. The editor has placed at the bottom of the pages, in the form of brief notes, the substance of all the judicial constructions which, in various decided cases, have been had upon the text above. These, running through the reports of Massachusetts and Maine, amount to a very considerable number, and furnish an authoritative interpretation of the text where the sense of the original terms admits of doubt.

An edition of the public laws on such a plan, executed with discrimination and fidelity, must be a valuable acquisition to the members of the bar in Maine, calculated to relieve them from much irksome and often perplexing labor, and it will be found still more useful to a large class of public officers whose duties are prescribed by statute, who are less familiar with the contents of the statute book, and who, for the most part, are quite unacquainted with the constructions which the courts have given to the language of the statutes. This edition must have been a work of great labor and care. It is recommended by several of the judges and the most distinguished members of the bar in Maine.

Aikin's Digest of the Laws of Alabama.

In 1832, Mr. John G. Aikin, in pursuance of an appointment under an act of the legislature of Alabama, undertook to prepare a digest of all the laws of that State in force. He completed his digest, and submitted it to commissioners appointed to examine and revise it, by whom it was reported to the legislature at its January session, 1833, at which session it was adopted, and all other laws of the State of Alabama repealed, so that this digest presents the whole body of Alabama statutes in force at the close of the session of 1833, excepting those relating to the boundaries of counties. The volume consists of about six hundred pages, including besides a digest of the laws of the State under titles arranged alphabetically, the constitution of the United States, that of the State of Alabama; a list of the acts of the legislature, with their titles, from the organization of the Mississippi Territory in 1798, to the close of the session of the Alabama legislature of January, 1833; a digest of the acts of Congress relating to the establishment of the Mississippi Territory; an appendix containing the rules of practice in the courts of Alabama; and a very full index.

The commissioners to whom Mr. Aikin's digest was committed, before it was laid before the legislature, namely, Messrs. John Brown, R. E. B. Baylor, and Caswell Clifton, report to the legislature very favorably of the work. After a particular notice of the plan and arrangement adopted by Mr. Aikin, and speaking of his mode of executing his task, the commissioners say they think it unnecessary to express in more explicit terms, the sentiment of entire approbation to which a thorough investigation of the work has given rise, believing that resting upon its own excellence for the meed of praise, it may justly claim from the enlightened approbation of the legislature and the people, it has a surer basis than any which their commendation could supply. The work is indeed the best expositor of its own merits, and to that ordeal they dismiss it; convinced that while any applause they might bestow would pass away with the moment, the work itself, as often as it serves to bring in contrast the confusion and darkness which have overhung our statute laws heretofore, and the method and harmony with which it is believed they are now invested, will yield a testimony to its own worth, too solid to be affected by censure, and too ample to need the augmentation of praise.'