(see Arbitration); Bail (see Arrest); Bailment (see also Carrier, Innkeeper, &c.); Banker and Banking Company; Bankruptcy; Bargain and sale; Base fee; Bill in Chancery; Bill of exceptions; Bill of Exchange; Bill of Sale; Bond, Borough English; Bridge; Burglary; Capias ad satisfaciendum; Carrier; Case; Certiorari; Champerty (see Maintenance); Chancery (see Court of Equity); Charity (see also Mortmain); Chattels, personal; Chattels, real; Chose in Action; Common; Common Pleas; Company (see Friendly Society, Public Company); Compromise; Condition; Consideration (see also Voluntary Conveyance and Settlement); Consolidation (see Action); Contract, (a) what amounts to, (b) validity and legality of, (c) construction of, (d) rescission of, (e) how far binding, (f) pleading and evidence, (g) against public policy (see also Trade, restraint of), (h) against statute law (see also Assumpit, Consideration, Debt, Frauds, Statute of); Contribution; Conversion and Reconversion; Conveyances; Coparceners; Copyhold, (a) tenure and customs, (b) admittance, (c) court rolls, (d) fine (see also Manor); Copyright, Corporation (see also Municipal Corporation); Costs, (a) at law, (b) in equity, (c) security for, (d) affidavit of increase, (e) taxation; Court, (a) superior, (b) county, (c) of probate (see Probate), (d) of divorce (see Divorce), (e) of equity, (f) ecclesiastical (see also Common Pleas, Exchequer, House of Lords, Privy Council, Queen's Bench), Covenant; Curtesy; Custom (see also Ancient Demesne, Gavelkind, Borough English); Cy près; Damages; Damnum absque injuria (see Action); Debt, (a) specialty, (b) simple contract; Debtor and Creditor; Declaration; Deed (see also Registration); Demurerr; Descent; Detinue; Devise; Discovery; Distress; Divorce; Documents, production and inspection of; Donatio mortis causa; Dower; Easement; Ejectment; Election; Elegit; Emblements; Equitable Defence (see Plea); Equity; Error; Estate (see also Autre Vie; Base fee, Curtesy, Dower, Fee Simple, Tail); Estoppel; Evidence, (a) in general, (b) records and judicial proceedings, (c) public instruments, (d) private writings, (e) confessions, (f) admissions, (g) declarations, (h) depositions and former evidence, () privileged communications, (k) sufficiency of and presumption arising from, (7) reputation, (m) notice to produce, (n) handwriting, (o) secondary and parol, (o) practice in equity; Exchequer; Execution (see also Capias, Fieri facias, Elegit, Extent, Levari facias, Sequestration); Executor and Administrator; Extent; False Imprisonment; False Pretences; Fee Simple; Felony; Fieri Facias; Fines and Recoveries; Fixtures; Forfeiture; Franchises; Fraud; Frauds, Statute of; Fraudulent Assignment; Freehold (see also Base fee, Fee Simple, Tail, &c.); Friendly Society; Garnishment; Gavelkind; General Issue; Goods Bargained and Sold; Goods Sold and Delivered; Grant; Guarantee; Guardian and Ward; Habeas

Corpus; Heir; Heraditaments; Highway; Husband and Wife (see also Divorce, Fines and Recoveries, Marriage, Separate Estate, Separation, Settlement); Indictment; Infant (see also Guardian and ward, Prochein amy); Injunction; Innkeeper; Insolvent; Insurance; Interesse Termini (see Lease); Interest; Interpleader; Interrogatories (see Discovery); Issue; Joint Contractor; Joint Tenants (see also Partition); Judge; Judge's Order (see Motions, Rules, and Orders); Judgment; Judgment non obstante veredicto; Judgment, arrest of; Jury; Justices of the Peace; Laches; Land; Landlord and Tenant (see also Lease, Rent); Larceny; Law; Lease; Legacy; Levari Facias; Libel; Lien; Life, estate for; Limitations, Statute of; Lunatic; Maintenance and Champerty; Mandamus; Manor; Manslaughter; Market; Marriage; Marshalling; Master and Servant; Merger; Misdemeanor; Mistake; Money had and Received; Money Lent; Money Paid; Mortgage; Mortmain; Motions, Rules, and Orders; Municipal Corporation; Murder; Name; Ne exeat regno; Negligence (see also Attorney, Master and Servant, Principal and Agent); New Trial; Next of Kin; Noile prosequi; Nonsuit; Nuisance; Office and Officers; Parent and Child; Partition; Partners; Patent; Payment; Penal Action; Penalty; Perjury; Petition; Plea; Pleading; Poor; Power; Power of Attorney; Practice at Law; Practice in Equity; Principal and Accessory; Principal and Agent; Principal and Surety; Privilege from Arrest (see Arrest); Probate; Proceedings, staying and setting aside; Process in Equity; Prochein amy; Prohibition; Protector; Public Company; Puis Darrein Continuance; Queen's Bench; Quo warranto; Railway and Railway Company; Rate; Real Property; Record; Registration of Deeds; Rejoinder; Release; Remainder; Rent and Rent-charge; Repleader; Replevin; Replication; Restitution; Revenue; Reversion; Revivor; Robbery; Scire facias; Seduction; Separate Estate; Separation; Sequestration; Sessions; Set-off; Settlement; Sheriff; Ship and Shipping; Simony; Simple Contract (see Debt); Slander; Special Case; Specific Performance; Stamps; Statute; Stet Processus; Stock; Stoppage in Transitu; Subpoena; Sufferance, Estate at (see Will, estate at); Suit in Equity; Summons, writ of; Surgeon and Apothecary; Surrender; Tail (see also Protector); Tax; Tenants in Common; Tender; Tenements; Tenures (see also Copyhold estates, &c.); Terms, law; Thellusson Act (see Accumulation); Timber Time; Tithes; Title; Title-deeds; Tolls; Tort; Trade, restraint of; Treason; Trespass; Trespass on the Case (see Case); Trial; Trover; Trust; Use; Variance (see Amendment); Vendor and Purchaser; Venire facias; Venire de novo; Venue; Verdict ; Voluntary Conveyance and Settlement; Waiver; Warrant of Attorney; Warranty; Waste; Way; Will; Will, estates at ; Witness; Work and Labour; Writ (see their several names).

And now, the book being prepared, nothing remains but to fill up the blank pages with whatever is wished to be remembered. The youthful student will occasionally experience difficulty in determining the appropriate title for a particular subject, but he will learn much from the mere attempt to overcome the difficulty. If, for example, he desire to note down the maxim Actio personalis moritur cum persona, or any point of the law connected with it, he will, perhaps, have to think on the matter, to turn it about, and view it in its various aspects, before he discovers that it properly falls under the title "Executor." But when he has done all this will he not have obtained a clearer and more definite idea of the subject and its bearings than mere reading would have bestowed? It is erroneous to suppose that commonplacing is nothing more than mechanical work, employing the hand only, and not the head. Let any one make the experiment; let him only commonplace his reading for a single month, and we have no doubt of the conclusion at which he will arrive. He will find his reflective faculties invigorated, his memory more retentive, his stock of knowledge materially increased, while he will be enabled in a few minutes to renew in their original distinctness the impressions which time has partially, or perhaps completely, obliterated from his mind.

It is impossible to lay down precise rules for commonplacing. Different students will have different ideas of it. They who possess retentive memories will make their notes with more brevity than those whose memories are weak. Whatever may be deemed worthy of remembrance should be carefully abridged, but literal transcriptions should be sparingly made, and only where the very words are of consequence, as in the case of maxims and celebrated dicta. The original authorities should always be cited. Beyond general directions like these, each student must choose his own path, selecting and rejecting according to his judgment.

It will be useful if we here contrast the views of two writers who have expressed different opinions on the question of the utility of commonplace books, and afterwards we shall present some comments on the unfavourable views showing how far they are to be relied on and where they are mistaken. The first writer we refer to is Mr. Wright, who in his work entitled "Advice on the Study and Practice of the Law," p. 67, says:

"To abridge labour, to enable us to acquire knowledge with greater facility, and to retain it with better effect than we are enabled by reading only, commonplace books have been much recommended by many eminent men. But to the young student I fear they would prove more injurious than useful, and tend more to weaken than assist the memory. What is committed to paper is seldom committed to the mind; and the observations which are transcribed, are perhaps

never recollected, until accidentally re-perused. Thus commonplace books deceive, instead of assisting us, and they steal from the mind what it would otherwise retain. For the first two or three years of his clerkship, they are not to be adopted, because in commonplace books all decisions and points of law which are important should be inserted; and as, at this period of his studies, almost every one will be so, a clerk will be induced to insert many which he will so frequently meet with that he cannot fail to remember them.

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That which is attentively read will be better understood, and more deeply impressed on the mind, by frequently reflecting on it than by committing it to paper. Biographers tell us of literary men reading with pens in their hands to make extracts and remarks; but it is apprehended their extracts were merely references to their work, followed by some useful observations of their own. Why should they copy what they might immediately, when required, find printed? They would not thus consume that time which they could so much more advantageously employ in reading and reflection; and what would sooner tend to derange close thinking than such servile tedious labours?

"Since almost every law book has an index, why should commonplace books be used? If the index is a good one it may, when necessary, be consulted on any particular subject with as much, and perhaps more, advantage than a commonplace book. If it is defective the reader may, with very little labour, as he peruses the work, and with great advantage to himself, collect matter for another more complete.

"On first entering upon the study of the law, I am confident that it will be more prudent to employ time in reading than in transcribing particulars, which a little acquaintance with the principles and the practice of the profession will render useless. After the judgment of the student is become more mature, and his knowledge of the law more extensive, I leave the propriety of using commonplace books to his own determination. Should they then appear useful, I recommend, instead of one with an alphabetical index, Blackstone's Commentaries, or rather Comyn's Digest interleaved. In these books he may enlarge such chapters as may appear to him defective, insert decisions and dicta, not to be found in any book of reference, which his reading or practice may supply, and which, if suffered to escape him at the time, he might never be able to refer to afterwards. He may thus add useful comments on the ancient customs and modern alterations, which, if studious and attentive, he will be able to do in a manner that will prove serviceable to him in a more advanced state of his studies. From the foregoing remarks it must not be imagined that commonplace books for original observations are disapproved of; reflections or doubts arising in the mind during study should be

committed to paper for revision and improvement, or in order to require information concerning them."

We next quote from the "Articled Clerk's Manual." It is there said:

"There are also various opinions on the utility of keeping a note or commonplace book; but much of the dispute has arisen from the want of a proper and well-considered plan of proceeding.

"It has been said that the hand has no closer correspondence with the memory than the eye; and that what is twice read is commonly better remembered than what is transcribed.

"This is hardly correct in itself as a general position; and if it were entirely so, it leaves the real use of a commonplace book wholly untouched. The act of writing compels us to attend with some degree of care to the words transcribed, and to bestow some attention in order to produce a perfect copy; and, therefore, the impression when we write, as well as read, must be stronger than even two readings, because the quantity of attention bestowed must necessarily be more vivid.

"It is evident, however, that' the objection applies only to whole extracts from books, and not to such notes as a student ought to make in the course of his reading (forming the test of his degree of attention), and which should not be mere extracts, but either concise statements of the result of his researches, or abridgments of important matter. It has also been objected that the student reads, not to recollect, but to find matter for his commonplace book, and thus the hand ingrosses the business of the head. It is obvious that even with this object only in view, the student must read with attention.

"In order to make a proper selection he must judge between what is important and the contrary; and even if there were no use in after reference to his commonplace book, the mental labour which the student undergoes, the active exercise of the faculties employed in the process of compilation or extract, must be healthful and invigorating to the mind, and the result highly beneficial in forming habits of reflection.

"The great object, in truth, which all the various methods of study are designed to accomplish, is to arouse the latent powers, to awaken the slumbering faculties, and stimulate them to the utmost extent of which they are capable. Now we much fear, that unless the student be accustomed to ponder on the matter before him, to analyse it, and note down, however concisely, the substance or result of his reading, though the book be placed before the eye, and its characters mechanically traced, but little of its solid contents will be transferred to the memory or the understanding.

"Therefore we think a commonplace book is an essential appurtenant of the student; of what its contents should consist there may