In this treatise Professor Parsons has taken much pains to present the law just as judicial determinations and legislative enactments have left it up to the period of publication.  But this work has merits which will last after its newness is gone.  It is comprehensive in its plan, embracing the discussion of many points in the law of negotiable paper which are not referred to in other treatises upon the subject.  In style, the text of the work is written with a clearness and grace which often give it all the pleasantness of a finished essay, if one chooses to read on without allowing his attention to be called off by the frequent references to the notes.  The notes occupy much space, and give very full discussions of the more important points, with quotations from the most important decisions.  They are printed in a smaller type, and the author is thereby enabled to give much more matter in his work than he otherwise could.  A logical arrangement of the subject-matter in chapters which are subdivided into numerous sections, each treating of a separate topic, which is tersely expressed in a heading to it, makes it very easy for one to find the statement or discussion of any point which he desires to investigate.  This admirable mode of arrangement and division of the subject is a characteristic of all the legal treatises of Professor Parsons, and our own experience is that it is much easier to find what we want in his works than in any others that we have had occasion to use or refer to.  The usefulness of a law-book depends also very much upon its index; and the completeness and accuracy of this part of the work are noticeable in this as well as in the other treatises of the author.

In our examination of the work we had marked several chapters, with the intention of making special reference to them:  the first chapters of the work, for the precision and clearness with which the essential elements of bills and notes are defined and explained; the chapter on Checks, for presenting the most complete statement which we have of the law upon that important topic; the chapters upon Action and Evidence, for giving in a systematic form much matter which is of the greatest use to the practitioner, but which the textbooks have generally left him to pick up as best he may, or have presented in a brief and unsatisfactory manner; and other chapters for still other features of excellence.  But we have not space for further comment.  These volumes are the result of a truly vast amount of labor, and we are confident that they will be received by the profession, by students, and by business-men with a hearty gratitude to the author for the service he has done them in writing this new work.

There is a short Appendix, containing a reprint of the provisions of the Stamp Act of the United States in relation to bills, notes, letters of credit, drafts, orders, and checks; together with an examination of some of the questions which the statute suggests.