y years, and were frequently
transferred and indorsed as bills of exchange. In 1704 Parliament put an
end to the dispute between Lord Holt and the merchants by recognizing
the negotiable qualities of promissory notes which now belong to them.

The law of promissory notes and bills of exchange is thus seen to be of
very recent origin. In the early part of the seventeenth century there
was a single reported case in the English language in this department
of legal learning; now these volumes of Professor Parsons present us an
array of more than ten thousand oases decided in the highest courts of
England and America, and a great majority of these are cases that have
occurred within the present century, if not within the last quarter of a
century. Though the subject is apparently a simple one, it has presented
a multitude of questions for the consideration of the courts, many of
which it has taxed their highest wisdom to rightly solve.

A new book in any department of the law has one merit, if it is worth
anything at all,--and that is, the merit of presenting the latest
conclusions of the courts upon the topics treated of. In the department
of the law treated of by the work now under notice, this merit is one of
special consideration, for it has hardly reached its full development,
and some of its important rules are hardly settled. 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