11 DECEMBER 1926, Page 30

A STAFFORDSHIRE KNOT. By His Honour Judge Ruegg. (C. W.

Daniel Co. 7s. 6d.)-We could wish that Judge Ruegg had given us accounts of famous trials of his own wide and intimate experience rather than embarking upon a long novel in which the characters lack the vitality of natural human emotion. The main legal. plot, which might have proved interesting, is encumbered with too much pedantic detail, but shows the expert hand.