sale by auction, it is shewn that there has been a mistake as to the authority given by the vendor to the auctioneer, the Court of Chancery will not specifically enforce the performance of the contract. In the following case a purchaser's bill for specific performance was dismissed upon the ground that the vendor made a bond fide mistake as to the authority which he had given to the auctioneer, the latter deeming he had authority to sell absolutely, while the vendor considered that he had instructed him to buy the property in at a reserved price, higher than that bid by the plaintiff, and for which the property was knocked down to him. This case is not to be understood as affirming the proposition that a vendor who is present at a sale by public auction may say, as soon as a lot is knocked down to a purchaser, that he will not ratify the sale (Day v. Well's 9 Weekly Rep., 857).

VENDOR AND PURCHASER.-Sale of reversionary interest-Private contract-Insufficient consideration-Policies of assurance.—In the case of a sale by private contract of a reversionary interest the burthen of proof is on the purchaser to show that the transaction was a boad fide one, in the sense that a full and sufficient price was given by him for the reversionary interest. In the following case, where it appeared that a reversionaay interest worth £400, was sold by private contract for £370, and, though the difference was so small, the sale was set aside, on the ground of under value, and a proper re-assignment decreed accordingly; but the purchaser, who had paid the premium on certain policies of assurance, as part of the transaction, was held entitled to retain the policies without accounting for them (Foster v. Roberts, 4 Law Tim. Rep., 760).

DEVISE.-Construction of the words in a will "heirs male of his body"-Life estate or estate tail.-The following decision is that of the equally divided Court of Exchequer Chamber on appeal from the Court of Common Pleas, where a similar decision was given. J. devised to W. J. for his life, and after his decease "to the heirs male of his body," for their several lives in succession according to their respective seniorities, or in such parts and proportions, manner and form and amongst them as "the said W. J. their father should, by deed or will duly executed and attested, direct, limit, or appoint, and in default of such issue male of the said W. J. then to R. J." in the same terms: it was held that the judgment of the Court below, which was that the words "heirs male of the body of W. J." were to be construed as words of purchase and meant "sons," and that, therefore, W. J. took an estate for life, and not an estate tail, must stand, the Court being equally divided in opinion. (Jordan v. Adams, 4 Law Tim. Rep., 775.)

(To be continued.)

COURSE OF LAW STUDIES.

(Continued from pp. 89, 180.)

Warren's Blackstone-Outlines of Law, or Law Students' First Book. We have already stated that we do not approve of setting an ordinary youthful student on Blackstone's or Stephen's four volumes, and it therefore remains that we should specify some works more suitable. In our opinion the student would do well to commence with Mr. Warren's Blackstone, or our own "Outlines of Practical Law, or Law Student's First Book," being works not merely more moderate in price, but also in size, and not, therefore, making so great a demand on the student as the large work of Blackstone. There is a second edition of Mr. Warren's work, and the price is 18s. The work appears to us well suited for a youth just commencing his legal studies, but it is not of so practical a nature as a more experienced student would desire. It is more a history of the law than a statement of the doctrines and practical details, so that the student must be content with picking up here and there some doctrines, rather than look to this work as a depositary of them. One great recommendation is that the volume is very readable, and an ordinary student may hope to get through it, without greatly taxing his powers, in about three months, and if he have read with care he will not fail to have some general notion of the law as it exists, though probably nothing very definite, and without being able clearly to discriminate between what is now the law and what was formerly so-a result arising from the perusal of any work which founds itself on the historical method. The student must, therefore, trust to his subsequent studies to assist him in discriminating the repealed portions, from those in actual operation. It must not be concluded, from the above observations, that we think the historical part of the law to be an impediment to the student; very far from that, but it must necessarily, at first starting out, cause some difficulty. In our opinion the student who has got a pretty accurate knowledge of the actual state of the law will derive great advantage from the study of the repealed portions, provided he bears in mind the fact that it is repealed law, and looks out carefully for the connection which the existing law bears to it, and marks correctly the real bearing of the latter on it. It is a great pity that the historical part of our law is not cultivated, and that those only study it to whom it is of the least value — namely, commencing students. Before finally dismissing Mr. Warren's work we should mention that it was published in 1856, and,

therefore, necessarily does not contain any mention of the impor tant alterations which have been made in the law since that time.

Outlines of law, &c.-It is in view of the importance to a young student that he should obtain a precise knowledge of the outlines of the existing law that we venture to recommend our own "Outlines," a work which is small in bulk and in price. It is rather a drawback that it was published in 1858, since which there have been some alterations made by statutes, but, in the main, it contains the present law. The price is reduced, on account of the date, to 5s. 6d., for which sum it will be forwarded post free. We are precluded from doing more than stating that the object was to furnish the student with an outline of the law in its existing state, leaving out the historical portions. In some respects the work is of a more practical nature than could be expected from so small a volume, but this was done in the belief that it would prove the more instructive, not only to the commencing, but also to the advanced student, serving to the latter as a kind of summary of what he had read elsewhere more at length.

Some law books for beginners mentioned.-Should the student not wish to commence with either Mr. Warren's or our own "Outlines," we would still recommend him not to take up Blackstone's or Stephen's Commentaries as a first book. It would be better, we think, that he should read some comprehensive works on the principal branches of the law. This would be a course less irksome than wading through four volumes, and be more likely to leave some useful traces on the mind of the student, more especially as the books we have in view are not of very great bulk. It is true that the student will not gain so complete a general view of the whole range of the law, but to our minds this is rather an advantage than otherwise. It is after a knowledge is obtained of particular portions of the law that the student is likely to feel interested in the other matters which are new to him. At any rate it is very different to the state of him who has no previous knowledge of any of the matters contained in four large volumes. We speak feelingly from our own recollections, and from converse with others who have been pushed through a similar course. We would recommend any one desirous to follow the plan here referred to, to take up one of the following works, namely-Williams' Principles of the Law of Real Property; the same writer's Principles of the Law of Personal Property; Haynes' Outlines of Equity; Josiah W. Smith's Manual of Equity Jurisprudence; Hunter's Elementary View of the Proceedings in a Suit in Equity; the late John W. Smith's Elementary View of the Proceedings in an Action at Law, or Kerr's work on the same subject; Smith's Law of Contracts. Now any of these works may be

mastered by a student within a reasonable time and without much labour, and when this is accomplished no little fund of instruction will have been gained if the reading has been conducted with ordinary care. We have not mentioned the prices or editions of the above works, as we shall have occasion hereafter to refer to them in connection with others in their respective departments.

It will be observed that we are not recommending in an absolute manner the reading of the above works before others, but only in preference to Blackstone and Stephen, and that our views are not now for the first time formed, we give the following from an article written several years ago :-" We take it that what a student wants is to obtain in as small a compass as is consistent with perspicuity a good general view of the extent of legal learning, and at the same time such precise notions of the leading doctrines of the various subdivisions or heads of the law as might suffice to enable him at once to take in a view of the whole, to comprehend their relations to each other, and to serve him as a stepping-stone to more extended inquiries. Now to obtain these the student must, acording to the course usually adopted (without being sure of attaining his object), read through the four volumes of Blackstone or Stephen, and that is a task which occupies most students a considerable part of their clerkship, and in very many instances such a perusal fails to furnish the information desired, because the student grows weary of reading so much matter, which naturally appears to him very abstruse, because he has not previously obtained any knowledge of the various subjects. In our opinion to read Blackstone or Stephen with effect, the student should previously obtain a pretty accurate notion of the general contents of the work, and some knowledge of the more important heads and leading doctrines of which those writers treat. In other words, the little progress made in the perusal of the Commentaries by the generality of students arise from the want of previous acquaintance by the reader with the topics discussed. No one feels an interest in the study of a great number of abstruse matters brought to his attention for the first time, and that under circumstances which preclude his obtaining any very definite notions of their meaning and practical application. Every lawyer is aware how much more satisfactory is his reading on subjects with which he has previously obtained a practical acquaintance, and it has been mentioned by many eminent lawyers that their reading for the purpose of deciding any particular point brought to their attention has been more productive of lasting information than all their mere matter-of-course reading; the reason is obviously this, that they have previously obtained a general notion of the matter, and have their attention directed to specific

points of inquiry. Now, any plan of study which should assimilate to these undoubted means of obtaining instruction would be most likely to be serviceable to the student; for it must be borne in mind that at some period of the student's career he must read Blackstone or Stephen, and whatever, therefore, will facilitate that perusal must be serviceable to him.

The points which we conceive it proper to consider, in any useful plan of study, are to give a good outline, which, for our purpose, being chiefly (though not exclusively) introductory to Blackstone, should follow the same order; and, at the same time, to call the reader's attention in a distinct manner to the leading doctrines of each principal subject-matter, leaving the more minute and important details until the student is able to attend to them with advantage.

We now proceed to give specific directions for study in the five divisions which the Examinations embrace, that is to say, Common Law, Equity, Bankruptcy, and Criminal Law.

Common Law. We shall speak first of the practice, as that is what the young articled clerk may expect to see soon after entering his employer's office. Supposing the student not to have any previous acquaintance with the practice, it will evidently be his best plan to peruse a short epitome, from which he may obtain some knowledge of the various proceedings occurring in the course of an ordinary action. He should endeavour to bear in mind which steps are to be taken by a plaintiff and which by a defendant, and mark whether it be possible for either party to take any step for his opponent, or whether the neglect be punishable by precluding any further steps, and bringing the proceedings to a close. The student should also endeavour to fix in his mind the length of time permitted to a party to take any step and whether he is bound to take the step without notice, or may safely wait until he receives a request or notice from the other side. We have mentioned these matters as we are satisfied that, unless the student reads with some previous notion of what his attention should be chiefly given to, he will make little real progress. If the student has our First Book, we advise him to read chap. 35, entitled "Proceedings in an Action," occupying less than twenty pages, but giving a very readable summary of the various steps in an action at law. The reader will notice that actions are commenced by writ of summons (p. 261); that bail cannot be required as a matter of course (p. 265); that there is a difference as to the effect of non-appearance by the defendant between a specially indorsed writ and one not so indorsed (p. 264); that the plaintiff's first pleading is called a declaration (p. 266); and that the defendant's ordinary answer to the declaration