24 FEBRUARY 1877, Page 22

The Inns of Court Calendar. By Charles Shaw. (Batterworths.)— This

volume contains a copious account of the personnel of the Supreme Court of Judicature, and of the other Courts of Justice in this country, the names of the Judges, with details of their professional career ; and of the clerks, chief or subordinate, who work in chambers and elsewhere. It describes the apparatus of teaching, examinations, rewards, Jo., which has been constructed for the purpose of giving legal education; and finally, it gives, devoting to this portion of its contents about eight-ninths of its pages, a full list of all the members of the four Inns of Court, whether benchers, barristers, or students. This is the chief feature of the book, and will certainly commend it to a considerable public. In some respects this might be made more perfect than it is, and will, doubtless, be made so in future issues. It claims, for instance, to give the academical degrees of the various members of the Bar, but does it most insufficiently and irregularly. We have found several names of Oxford and Cambridge men with no kind of notice of the fact appended to them. However, the volume is a useful one. We should like to see it followed by another, which would have a permanent interest. A "List of the Mem- bers of the Inns of Court," ',resembling the volumes of "Oxford Graduates" and "Cambridge Graduates," would be a valuable addition to our historical books of reference.—We have also to mention The Congregational Year-Book, 1877 (Hodder and Stoughton); The Catholic Directmy, Ecclesiastical Register, and Almanac (Barns and Oates); and The Musical Directory Annual and Almanac (Keith, Prowse, and Co.)