Harpster, James E.

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Marquette University Law School

Marquette Law ReviewVolume 34Issue 4 Spring 1951 Article 13Book Review: University of Notre Dame NaturalLaw Institute Proceeding Vol. IIIJames E. HarpsterFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/mulrPart of the Law CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Marquette Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion inMarquette Law Review by an authorized administrator of Marquette Law Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contactmegan.obrien@marquette.edu.Repository CitationJames E. Harpster, Book Review: University of Notre Dame Natural Law Institute Proceeding Vol. III, 34 Marq. L. Rev. 311 (1951).Available at: http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/mulr/vol34/iss4/13BOOK REVIEWSThe first three volumes cover in detail the various statutes and theirlegislative history. Volumes four and five present the author's applica-tion of the anti-trust laws to patents, labor, commerce, and the profes-sions. Enforcement of the anti-trust laws by the Department of Justiceand the Federal Trades Commission is dealt with in volume six. Al-though each volume has its respective index, volume seven contains amaster index along with forms, table of cases, etc. The particularvolumes will be kept current through the use of pocket supplements.Insofar as anti-trust litigation is becoming an everyday incident inthe activities of American business, Mr. Toulmin's Treatise would be avaluable asset to the lawyer involved in the problems connected withthe anti-trust laws of the United States.JOHN A. FORMELLAUniversity of Notre Dame Natural Law Institute Proceedings, Vol. 1iI.Edited by Edward F. Barrett. Notre Dame, Indiana; College ofLaw, University of Notre Dame Press, 1950. Pp. 137. $2.00.Through a process of reasoning which is not quite clear, modernman has come more and more to the conclusion that the best reasonfor rejecting a theory or concept is that it has been believed in the past,and the best reason for accepting another theory or concept is that itis only presently propounded. This is as true in law as it is in anyother field. Acting under the fiction that change is progress, man hasdiscarded the concept of the Natural Law, and has substituted in itsplace secularism, pragmatism, and subjectivism. That these latter phil-osophies are inadequate to stem the tide of tyranny which has flashedrepeatedly over the world in the past few decades, and which nowthreatens to inundate it, has become clear to all but a few adherents-those who, for reasons of their own, are afraid to admit of a powergreater than the state. Many who see the inadequacies inherent in thesephilosophies, however, still cling to them, for they lack the knowledgeof a truer, more able system of law.The Natural Law, the "laws of nature and of nature's God" invokedin the Declaration of Independence, looks to a power greater than thestate. And if the state is not the absolute power, then it, too, is subjectto law. Chancellor Kent affirms this when he says, "States or bodiespolitic are to be considered as moral persons having a public will, cap-able and free to do right.and wrong, inasmuch as they are collectionsof individuals, each of whom carries with him into the service of thecommunity the same binding law of morality and religion which oughtto control his conduct in private life."' Only this philosophy affirmsthe dignity of man, and only this is his salvation in a totalitarian world.I I Kent Comm. 2.MARQUETTE LAW REVIEWIn an effort to appraise and examine the concept that is the NaturalLaw, for the purpose of furthering its acceptance today, the Collegeoi Law of the University of Notre Dame has established the NaturalLaw Institute. This volume presents a report of the proceedings of the1949 Institute, its third annual session.Lectures by four distinguished authorities, each an expert in hisfield, show the interrelation of the Natural Law with the Common Law,Constitutional Law, Canon Law, and International Law. The historyof the Common Law as the Natural Law aided its growth was dealtwith by Richard O'Sullivan, K.C., Master of the Bench, Middle Tem-ple, London. Emeritus Professor of Jurisprudence Edward S. Corwinof Princeton University sets forth the role of the Natural Law injudicial review, particularly as it effects the interpretation of Con-stitutional provisions; Professor Stephan Kuttner, Professor of theHistory of Canon Law, Catholic University of America, presented theNatural Law as it finds expression in the Canon Law of the Church.The final lecture was by the Honorable Carlos P. Romulo, formerPresident of the General Assembly of the United Nations, and con-cerns the relation of the Natural Law to International Law. There isan Invocation by His Holiness, Pope Pius XII; a Foreward by theReverend John J. Cavanaugh, C.S.C., President of the University ofNotre Dame; and an Introduction by the Editor, Edward F. Barrett,Associate Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame.The Appendix to this volume announces the establishment at NotreDame of a Natural Law Institute Library. The initial collection con-sists of 112 books which are therein listed. The value of such a libraryto serious students of law is apparent. It is to be hoped that manyother schools will duplicate Notre Dame's achievement in this regard.The reiewer can give only an enthusiastic recommendation to allstudents of law and government that they read this book. One pre-caution is to be noted. The four lectures presume a knowledge of theprinciples of the Natural Law, its basis in reason for acceptance, andits method of promulgation. Without such knowledge the book losesmuch of its value. But where the Natural Law is rightly understood,this volume adds much to a knowledge of its practical application tothe diverse, yet interdependent, fields of law which govern the complexsociety in which we live.JAmEs E. HARPSTER[Vol. 34

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Book Review: University of Notre Dame Natural Law Institute Proceeding Vol. III

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