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The article provides information from the field of art. There has just been opened in the Champ de Mars one of the most interesting exhibitions held in Paris, France for some time past. Nothing could be more appropriate than the place and time chosen for the show. Lithography reached the very height of its popularity and artistic development in France, which, in this case, certainly means Paris; and it is now one hundred years exactly since accident led its discoverer to a discovery destined to prove so important in its results. Some art historians have urged the year 1898 as the proper centennial. Bernard Quaritch purchased collection of American colonial manuscripts, on account of the British Museum authorities. Besides numerous papers relating to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the West Indies, the volume contains papers relating to New England and Virginia. The students wishing to examine the papers should have at hand the printed catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum, 1854-1875, published in 1877.

In this paper, the author seeks to explain to lawyers other than from a common law background the approach of English courts to the authoritative impact of previous decisions ('precedents' if a first sense), an approach which English law has famously (or notoriously) set in the framework of the 'doctrine of precedent' by which previous decisions can bind subsequent courts ('precedent' in a second sense). In order to do so, the author first sets this doctrine in the context of certain particular features of the wider legal system (the constitutional position of judges, the relationship between statute and the common law, the unity of English judicial institutions and the relative roles of judges and the parties). The author then describes the formal doctrine of precedent but then seeks to explain the use of earlier authority by modern English judges, illustrating this by reference to the recent decision of the House of Lords in Shogun Finance Ltd v Hudson. The picture which emerges is much more complex than the formal doctrine suggests: rather than following previous decisions in a mechanistic way, English judges engage closely with the variety of approaches, techniques, principles and considerations which they find in earlier judgments, and they evaluate the substantive arguments which these address. In all this, they are willing to innovate, though they are also conscious of the practical and constitutional limitations on judicial law-making. In a final part of the paper, the author considers whether English judges extend their treatment of common law cases to decisions of the European Court of Justice or the European Court of Human Rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on some recent issues related to the world of art. The National Loan Collection at the Gratton Gallery is the first important show of the season. It is called National, no doubt, because its profits are destined for the National Gallery Funds. The need is urgent. Love for art is not one of the average Briton's qualities, and for long he bore the loss of masterpieces with decent composure. The government's grants to the national collections are less than small, they are miserly; and private bequests do not go very far in an era of tremendous prices. The book, The Art of the Belgian Galleries, by Esther Singleton, is the ninth volume in the Art Galleries of Europe series, and is to be issued by L.C. Page & Co. on October 30.

This article focuses on prevailing political conditions in the U.S. and around the world, as of April 22, 1897. The protests against the Dingley bill by European countries are based upon the idea that the U.S. is abandoning the policy of non-discrimination in foreign tariff, notwithstanding its treaties, and that the way to meet this action on the part of the U.S. is for the various European Governments to lay their duties so as to keep out American products whenever possible. Another development focuses on the teaching methods of English language in the schools of the U.S. and Great Britain.