The Hawaiian gazette., 1870-03-02
Book Notices.
NJ. Rose


RrpoHrs Of Gases t5ete7nti,aoa ia bo S..r,.-o,r.c
Court ofhe State OF California, at tie Octobe,
Term, 1868, and January Term, 1869. J. f
HALE, Reporter. Vol Sc. SUMNER WHITNEY,
Publisher
By the favor of the Secretary of the State Of
California, and the attention Of our Consul Mr..
Severance, our Government Law Library has
been furnished with the last four volumes of the
Supreme Court Reports Of that State. The stu
dent of law is prone to look in despair. and the
rest of the world in wonder or contempt, at the
vast accumulation of law books. The shades OF
Coke, Bracton, and Granville are usually ap
preached, if at all, through dense mass of text
hooks, digests and reports. The true investigator
would fain follow the maxim Melius est peiere
fontes guam sectdri rirulos but we fear there
are but few who share with Chancellor Kent in
his regret at the passage of the New York law
concerning an estate for life, remainder to ten
ante heirs Here it is =. The juridical scholar,
on whom his great master, Coke has bestowed
some portion of the gladstone light of jurispru-
dence will scarcely be able to withhold an invol-
untary sigh. as he casts a retrospective glance
over the piles Of learning devoted to destruction
by an edict sweeping and unrelenting as the
the torch of Omar He must bid adieu forever
to the renowned discussions in Sheley's case,
which were so vehement and protraeted as to
rouse the sceptre Of the naughty Elizabeth. He
may equally take leave Of the multiplied speci-
mems of profound logic, skillful criticism and re-
fined distinctions which pervade the varied cases
in law and equity, from those of Shelly and
Archer, down to the direct collision between the
courts of law and equity. in the time of Lord
Hasdwicke. he will have no more concern with
the powerful and animated discussions in Perrin
VS.. Blake, which awakened all that was noble
and illustrious in talent and endowment, through
every precinct Of Westminster Hall !" We once
entertained hope that some day we might feel
like joining our sympathetic tear in the lament
Of the worthy Chancellor, but we prefer not to
chronicle our success.
Those brought up on the strong meat of the
common law" may absorb much Of the good,
and reject much of the bad, in the law as it
progresses, by the aid Of fair amount of in
dustry and sense but no one is safe in presuming
that he knows the law, or knows what the law
ought to be, if he neglects the decisions Of the
Courts, upon the new complications Of questions
as they arise. We, in these Islands, are partic-
ularly concerned in the decisions Of the highest
tribunals of State. the mercantile law of which
must so sensibly affect our own interests
We note the following decisions in the present
volume In A. 7. Stewart vs.. Levy. the defend
ant had bought goods Of the plaintiff, with intent
to defraud On judgment for the amount Of the
Claim, it was held that the laws Of California
allow Imprisonment for debt, on ca. sa., in such
case. r
In Wright vs. Ryder, the California Steam
Navigation Company had sold the steamer NeaO
World to the Oregon Company, the latter Com
pany binding itself inth sum Of $4,000 not to
run the steamer on California waters for ten
years. The steamer was subsequently sold twice.
the defendant being the last purchaser. The
Court held that the contract was void as IN re-
straint of trade. but avoid the question whether
such covenants run with the ship Admitting,
of course, that the owners might let the vessel
rot at the wharf, be can not say the Court, make
binding contract with another to do so, flor he
might Afterwards change his mind aud desire to en-