The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-20 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

M4znzta/ of the Mercantile Law of Great Britain
•and Ireland. By Leone Levi. Smith, Elder,
and Co.

In a country like ours, owing in so large a degree
her exalted position in the scale of nations and in-
ternal prosperity to commercial enterprise, the ut-
most simplification of mercantile law would appear
to be especially desirable. Our commercial rela-
tions extend over every portion of the globe, and
few among us but at one time or other feel the need
of a knowledge of some branch of the law by which
commerce is regulated. It is to be regretted,
therefore, that much remains to be done in this
direction--.that, in short, a codification of mercan-
tile law is still wanting. True, such codification
" can never limit the multifarious exigencies which
constantly give rise to new principles, or to modi-
fications and expansions of those already settled."
But, as Mr. Levi observes, there are certain prin-
ciples which, proceeding from natural law, and be-
ing founded on pure ethics are fixed and immove-
able. These are daily applied in the solution of in-
tricate mercantile questions in our courts of justice ;
and the effect of codification would be to render
these great principles familiar to commercial men,
whilst a more extended knowledge of them would
tend to introduce greater certainty in mercantile
transactions. To supply this want of a code many
treatises and manuals have been written, and to a
certain extent particular authors have been suc-
cessful. To Lord Ten terden, for instance, we are
indebted for an excellent summary of the Law of
Siilpnato Chitty and Addison for a valuable
exposition of the Law of Contracts ; and to other
eminent jurists, both American and English, we are
under similar obligations. Among these Mr. Levi
is deserving of honourable mention. The lecturer
on Commercial Law at King's College, and the
author of several works, he has already earned
the reputation of being a learned and liberal-
minded jurist. His " Commercial Law of the
World" needs no commendation of ours, and
we allude to it merely as having indirectly
suggested tha preparation of the present work.
The title, " Manual of the Mercantile Law of
Great Britain and Ireland," describes at once its
object and scope. Less compendious than the pre-
ceding work, it is eminently adapted for a class
and for ordinary use. It contains the laws which
affect international commerce. Individuals who
exercise the mercantile profession, partnerships and
companies formed for commercial or banking ope-
rations, and bills of exchange and promissory
notes, together with suggestions for the amend-
ment of some portions of our mercantile jUrispru-
dence. The name of the author is a sufficient
guarantee for the accuracy of its exposition of the
law, and we are able to pronounce very favourably
on the manner in which the various subjects are
presented. At once concise and lucid no person of
ordinary understanding can mistake the author's
meaning, while a judiciously subdued vigour ren-
ders perusal easy. At King's College mercantile
law has been added to the branches of science there
taught, and should, as is most desirable, this ex-
ample be followed in our other seats of learning,
the pieseni• manual can hardly fail to be in great
requisition. A list of the authorities consulted is
given • a table of cases referred to also from the
English, Scotch, Irish, American, and French re-
ports, together with tables of exports, including
the table of the exports of the United Kingdom
for 1853. Among the suggestions of the author
submitted in foot notes is one relating to minors :
—" The difference between the law of England
and Scotland, in the age in which a minor may act
as a trader and be rendered responsible to his en-
gagements, might be removed by fixing for the
United Kingdom eighteen years as the age at
which a person may bind himself by his acts of
trade. When we consider the amount of infor-
mation generally possessed by young men devoted
to mercantile pursuits, and the business habits
which they early acquire, the complete disability
which attaches till the age of twenty-one may
prove in many cases most injurious. No inconve-
nience was experienced in France when the age of
majority was changed from twenty-five to twenty-
one, and such is the physical and mental develop-
ment now in progress in this and other countries
that a reform iu this great social institution may
be rendered necessary." Another suggestion, and
this is the formation of a court to have a complete
jurisdiction in all questions connected with trade,
shipping, and bankruptcy. In the author's own
words :

" When we consider the tardy and expensive pro-
cedure of the Court of Chancery, and the anomaly of
preserving the distinct jurisdictions of law and equity in
the settlement of mercantile pursuits, it would seem
most imPortant to the interests of commerce that one
tribunal should be formed, having complete jurisdiction
in all questions connected with trade, shipping, and
bant.raptcy. The constitution of new courts is neces.
sariiy attemled with much difficulty and expense, but
the principal elements of a commercial tribunal might
be engrafted on one of the existing courts. 'lt has been
suggested that the courts of Bankruptcy might easily
embnice the whole commercial jurisdiction. They are
already, to a certain exceit, courts of law and • equity,
and of all others seem most competent, by their acquired
experience and by their crnistitution, to sift commercial
questions and accounts. The eqablishtnent of improved
iribunals to decide claims by and against partners in all
partecrsl.ip disputes was rceonamended by,the Commit-
tee cf the House of Commons of 1351 on the law of
partnership."

The work, which is dedicated to Baron Parke,
is well got up; and a future volume is announced,
which will be devoted to the relation of agency,
shipping, insurance, and other branches of com-
mercial law, and will be welcomed.

Choice and Cookery of Fish. Longmans, London.
This is one of the most useful volumes of the
kind ever issued. We find in it concise and lucid
directions, both as regards the selection of fish and
the dressing of it. Now, these two subjeats have
often been treated by various writers, but we have
never met with a work so thoroughly clear on the
matters of fact, nor so mentally pleasing in the
rendering of those matters of fact. Piscator, the
author of the book in question, not only enlightens
with culinary tactics, but he interests with a gra-
phic sufficiency of natural history relative to fish.
With the salmon and the sprat, the mackerel and
the mussel, the conger and the crab, the turbot
and the tench, he is equally al home. He seems
to be cognisant of all processes between the shoal
in the fishing boat and the sauce in the butter boat.
He can tall you the best managefnent of a white
shark and the most delicate condiment for a red
herring. We beg to state that the ladies of our
household are so satisfied with Piscator's agreeable
and sensible edification, that the volume has been
appropriated by them, and on tho warrant of this
we cordially coramend the book to all who like a
fish dinner in perfection.

THE CIVIL SERVIC/ll,—War-office—Mr. John Milton,
second-class clerk, and Messrs. Alfred Nagger and John
Giusseppi, third-class clerks in the War-office, White-
hall, have been selected as commissioners to inquire into
ani report the duty of the purveyor's department in the
hospitals at Balaklava and Scutari.—General Pest-
office—Mr. E, Fanning has been appointed postmaster
of Worcester. Mr. Turner has been appointed post
master of Brentwood. Messrs. George Spinks and
William Pye Serjeant have been appointed clerks in the
Receiver and Accountant-General's-office, at the General
Post-office, London. Messrs. Robert Henry Grant,
Joseph Seholefield, and Harman Collins have been ap.
pointed clerks in the Money Order-office in the General
Post-ace, London. Mr. Francis Henry Feeling has
been appointed a clerk in the Mail-office in the General
Post-office, London, vice Fanning.—Charity Commis-
sien—Mr. King has been appointed a third-class clerk
in the office of the Charity Commissioners for Eng.
land and Wales—Customs—Several new clerkships
are abort to be created in the Examiner's Office, Cue.
tom-house, Lendon ; in the gift of the Lords of the
Treasury. Mr. T. M. Matthews has been appointed
clerk to the Comptroller of Accounts, St. Katherine
Docks, London. Mr. W. M. Fisher has been appointed
clerk to the Solicitor's-office in London. Mr. James,
Sparrow collector at Southampton, has been promoted
to be collector at Hull. Mr. W. H. Buckle, controlle
at Liverpool, has been promoted to be collector at
Southampton.ilMr.goseph Baldwin, controller at Stock.
ton, has been promoted to be controller at Liverpool.
Mr. J. Shelley, controller at Plymouth, has been pro.
meted to be collector at Stockton. Mr. A. Stewart,
controller at Greenock, has exchanged for the like office
at Plymouth. Mr. R. Willingale, collector at Kirkaldy,
has been promoted to be controller at Greenock. Mr.
John Andrew, collector at Lancaster, has been pro
meted to be collector at Kirkaldy. Mr. Janes Turner,
controller at Shields, has been promoted to be collector
at Lancashire.—Civil Service Gazette.

WRECK OF TILE BRIG DANIEL, OF ANTWERP.—A letter
has h, e.i received at the Marine Department of the Board
of Trade, dated Paignton, communicating the loss of the
Belgian brig Daniel, of Antwerp, from Flushing for Con-
staLti noiele, with a geoural cargo, off I'aignton. The
captain F ay% that he aiist()k the Start Light for that of
a vescl, and :lid not discover his mistake urtil she was
broa,!side on to the beach, close to the-T,Tcross watch-
ho:: r. Sim vra i discovered 11 the coast guard at mid-
ni,;lo, on the 13th inst. The crew, 11 in number, were
raved. All approach for the purpose of getting any-
thing out of her was, entirely cut off—a strong wind was
bloeli.g at the time. A more extraordinary wreck pos.
sibly never occurred. The last light the captain saw be-
Mr.: was Beachy Head, but the master thought the Start
must have briers the Caskets, and afterwards took it for a
ship's light ; he was steeling, W, by N. They were all
perfectly sober, and the wind was as fair as it could blow.
The captain bad two compasses on board in good order.
A CANINE PRISONER OF WAR.—Among the " pas.
sent rd" by the Candia, just arrived from the Crimea, is
the dog formerly belonging to.the Russian Governor of
Balaklava, which was taken prisoner by the British, and
was actually wounded in the leg during a skirmish. Hi
now belongs to Captain Field, of the Candia, and limps
about the deck, making friends with every one.