CURRENT LITERATURE.
THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF LANDOWNERS.
The Law of Land, including Natural and Acquired Rights, and the Rights. and Obligations arising out of the Use and Enjoyment of Land. By H. S. Theobald, M.A., of the Inner Temple, one of his Majesty's Counsel, and formerly Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford., (William Clowes.and Sons. 12s. 6d)—This remarkable book is of too technical a nature to be adequately dealt with here, but it is necessary to draw attention to a work which exhibits in
the very highest degree that genius for codification which is so rare among English lawyers. Mr. Theobald set himself the tremendous task of drafting a lucid and minutely accurate state- ment of the law relating to the rights and obligations adhering to land physically considered, and of giving the authority for each rule of law. He does not deal with the question of estates in land. That is a branch of law which its definitely separated from the particular area of rights and duties that is defined in this exhaustive treatise. The practical uses of this book are great, and its ultimate value as a first step towards codifying a law which, when distilled, as Mr. Theobald says, from the mass of eases that hold it in solution, "presents as glorious a work of fine intelligence as that of any other country," cannot be overestimated. Mr. Theobald places with extraordinary clearness before the reader intricate ques- tions as to water, wild creatures, chattels affixed to the land, boundaries, easements, covenants, public rights, and other matters that are frequently in dispute and are full of difficulty even for lawyers clearly to understand. The greatest praise we can give is to say that the " code " is so worded that a layman can follow it. Without attempting to criticise, we may venture to refer to one small point. The question of special rights in alien° solo might have been illustrated by the High Peak Mining Customs and Mineral Courts Act, 1851 (14 and 15 Viet., c. 94). The extra- ordinary powers given to "all the subjects of this realm" by that Act seem worthy of special attention. These customs appear to form a very notable exception to the rules that "the ownership of land includes the right to its exclusive possession," and "the person in possession is entitled to exclude others from coming on the land" (p. 38).
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