A new work upon the subject of cism cannot be for an instant admit LAW BOOK REVIEW. ted; nor can the idiosyncracy that and criticism of these tribunals is blackguardism, contempt or other offense to the arbitrarily punished, be the trial and appellate practice. We have had occasion to examine for an instant acknowledged. Neithnew work upon the subject of New er in a wise judgment can the results Trials and appellate Practice written of criticism be destroyed by the ac cusation that they are caused by personal or professional disappointment The question would still remain whether the person criticising had just cause to be disappointed. TRUE REASONS OF IMPERFECT a by Thomas Spelling of the San Francisco bar and published by BancroftWhitney Company, San Francisco. This is a two volume work and is well written and is particularly intended for the use of practitioners of the Pacific Coast. It presents and illustrates the decisions, laws and rules of practice in proceedings subsequent The press getting at the true reason to verdicts in trial courts, including that our statutory laws are so uncer final disposition in appallate courts tain and often incomprehensible. in California, Idaho, Montana, NeHeretofore it has been considered vada. North Dakota, Oregon, South that it did not require any previous Dakota Utah, Washington and Wyknowledge of the law to become a oming and the territories of Arizona law maker. The absurdity of such an and New Mexico. idea is now becoming quite appar- Mr. Spelling is a legal writer of ent to all who have given the subject experience and we feel assured that consideration. It is not every practic- the legal profession will find this ing lawyer that properly drafts a work to be a well arranged, reliable, legislative bill for the reason he is not up to date and thorough presentation painstaking and fails to consider its of this important subject. effect upon the general harmony of existing rules of law. It would save much expense and confusion in a Following is the occasional state if all measures were submittel written for the Oregon Press Associa- . to a body of careful persons trained tion by J. H Cradelbaugh: in the law, and in no way connected 'Tis good to meet, albeit once a year, with the legislative body, before such To greet each other and each other measures were enacted into laws. cheer, THE PRESS. poem, Forgetting each, those little digs and flings Begot of politics, and other thingsWith which we're wont, as the occas ion needs, Immodest words admit of no defense, To warm each other for alleged misFor want of decency is want of sense. -Roscommon. The finest fruit earth holds up to deeds, To leave at home the editorial "we," And use like common folks, just "I" and "me." its Maker is a finished man.-Hum- To spend a few days, idle, careless, And give our readers a much-needed Pins every statement close to the fact, Claims wider judgment, or a nice! rest; To cut loose as it were from all things evil, To choose our company and eschew the devil. Forget, then, for the time, the daily grind, tact. Its task demands sometimes you With moral bravery and a stiff backbone, Rewarded only for a gallant fight Leave items, copy, even ads. behind. By knowledge that you struggled for Within these walls, indeed there's naught to fear; No mad subscriber can find entrance here; No good "old citizen" can here find room; the right; Yet, if perchance you get an ugly fall, What matters if you battled for us all We're apt to say of every busy mart: "Vox Populi" grow silent as the tomb; The "cld subscriber," with an axe to The city's business is the city's May knock, and knock, and yet no en K.en competition and the ceaseless There's "Capital" in plenty all around What nobler aims can any calling And it's all yours, we give to you the To teach the way humanity should live, kegs, And only say, "do with it what you To put our feelings in the scale with right please;" Adding to this our inner heart's best And give the judgment, should the greeting, first be light. Regretting that your visit is so fleet. The ills of vice in fitting words to If you'll permit me longer to be heard. fear, Asks more of labor or gives less of Unswayed by favor and unmoved by gain, A smile for pleasure and for pain a to raise money upon secret liens, and tear, under the law of Illinois it was conAnd charity, when others' weakness structively fraudulent as to the credicalls, tors of the warehouse receipts to bona That silence may catch censure ere it fide holders for value, even without falls. The foe of wrong, the steadfast friend sesion and control of the property was cf right, in the bankrupt, the transaction canLong may you live to fight the gal- not be upheld as a valid pledge of lant fight, And when another year be passed, why then Here's hoping all of us again. LAWS AND DECISIONS. notice of the fact, that the actual pos the goods. The decision of the Fifth Circuit. Court of Appeals, in Beach v. Macon may meet Grocery Co., 11 Am B. R. 104, holding that where property is taken from the possession of one claiming to be the owner, without his consent, by a reciever in bankruptcy under an er rcrecus order, which the climant suc cessfully resists on appeal, he is entitled to a return of the property withcut charge of any kind against either it or him, is commendable both for its gccd sense and sound law. See also 10 Am B. R. 396. RECENT BANKRUPTCY DECISIONS the bankrupt's real estate, free and clear the liens, although the incumbrances thereon equal the value of the property. In re Rodgers, Seventh Circuit, Court of Appeals, 11 Am. B. R. 79 it was held that where the bankrupt largely engaged in purchasing seed In re Keet, 11 Am. B. R. 117, it was upcn credit, storing the same in his held that in the interest of the genwarehouse where he conducted his eral creditors the bankruptcy court busines, arranges with a storage com- in its discretion may order a sale of pany, having no storehcuse of its own, to issue warehouse receipts to him for property on his own premises, and executes a lease of the premises to the storage company, to continue so long As a case of first impression Judge as he desires and without the payment Archibald, in Re Coddington (Middle of rent, and the bankrupt remains in District, Pa.), 11 Am. B. R. 122, has possession of the premises, treating been that where prior to bankruptcy the property as his own, and no signs a debtor voluntarily transfers to anon the exterion of the building indi- other as a preference, goods which are cates any ownership of the storage recovered back by the trustee and concompany, but small and obscure verted into money, the bankrupt is not signs placed on different floors of the entitled to his exeptions out of the building, most of them hidden behind proceeds of sale the piles of bags of seeds, and upon Where it appears that on filing his each pile for which warehouse re- petition the bankrupt had $348.02 in ceipts were isued there was placed a a bank account labelled as "Manager," small tag the arrangement must be but which he treated as his own propregarder not as warehousing of prop- erty, adding indiscriminately his own erty, but a mere subterfuge or device and the money derived from real es to enable the bankrupt to hypothe- tate of an insurance company of which cate the warehouse receipts and so he was secretary and manager, paying therefrom money for taxes and repair3 Where a claim has been uncondi and his personal expenses, the trustee tionally withdrawn, a like claim but is entitled to an order requiring him for a different amount may not be to pay over $270 withdrawn and spent filed after the expiration of the year for his private purpose since the fil upon the theory that it is an amended ing of this petition in bankruptcy, claim. In re. E. O. Thompson's Sons, In re Kurtz, 11 Am. B. R. 129. 10 Am. B. R. 581. In California, an order of a referee allowing a bankrupt shortly before bankruptcy, out of the proceeds of the sale of his grocery business, paid off a mortgage upon the homestead but made no payment to the creditors who sold him the goods. In re Wilscn, 10 Am. B. R. 522. That the new grounds for refusing Where the act of bankruptcy charg ed in an involuntary proceeding is a transfer of real estate by the alleged bankrupt while insolvent to his broth er, who is averred to be a creditor, with intent to prefer him to the other creditors, and the weight of evidence upon an issue made by a denial of the commission of the act of bankruptcy charged is decidedly with the bankrupt the testimony in support of the a discharge, added to section 14b by averment that the brother cas a credi- the Amendatory Act of 1903, are not tor being insufficient and it not ap- available as grounds for denying a pearing that the consideration paid discharge in proceedings instituted was not the full value of the property, prior to taking effect of said amendnor a mere device to give the trans- ment, see In re Dauchy, 10 Am. B. action a proper appearance, a finding R. 527, where it is held that ir al! of the refree that the brother was a bankruptcy cases prior to February creditor and the transfer preferentian 5, 1903, a transfer of realestate by must be reversed, with costs against deed absolute, made without considerthe petitioning creditors. In re Fos- ation and not limited by an agree ter, 11 Am. B. R. 131. a ment retaining some interest in the grantor, there was as to such property, no concealment by the grantor while a bankrupt, from his trustee, of property belongs to the estate. Where money due and owing to the bankrupt at the time of filing his petition is thereafter received by him and honestly applied to the payment of a debt, he is not guilty, under secWhere a solvent debtor delivers to tion 29b, of knowingly and fraudulent a creditor his post dated check for ly concealing, while a bankrupt, prop the balance of account due and a fur erty of his estate in bankruptcy, even ther indebtedness is contracted, the through the result of such payment rayment of the check on the day of is to advantage a creditor. United its date through the bank while the S attes v. Lowenstein, 11 Am. B. R. debtor is insolvent cannot be consid 134. ered as extinguishing a wholly inde pendent debt. but as a partial pay ment upon the entir indebtedness. and it constitutes a preference which must be surrendered before the creditor can participate in a distribution of the debtor's estate in bankruptcy In re Lyon, 10 Am. B. R. 25. Where a composition is effected, a bankr may be heard to object to the allowance of a claim offered for proof after the expiration of the year. although he in good faith omitted it from his schedules. In re Lane, 11 Am. B. R. 136. N. D. Elliott, Printer, Salem, Or. |