Martineau, John B.

English

Via Sapientiae: The Institutional Repository at DePaul University

DePaul Law Review Volume 2 Issue 1 Fall-Winter 1952 Article 21 Spring: Risks and Rights John B. Martineau Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/law-review Recommended Citation John B. Martineau, Spring: Risks and Rights, 2 DePaul L. Rev. 125 (1952) Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/law-review/vol2/iss1/21 This Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Law at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in DePaul Law Review by an authorized editor of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact digitalservices@depaul.edu. REVIEWS I2)appointed in not finding an index to the "readings" which are included in thevolume.In undertaking the analysis and correlation of what these other disciplineshave to contribute to a better understanding of the legal problems of per-sonal and family life, Professor Harper has accepted the almost Herculeantask of blazing a trail through the uncharted maze of a prolific literature ineach of those disciplines. Whether or not, in each individual instance, the au-thor has chosen the most apt "reading" is a question which can be answeredonly by the combined thought of the many able teachers and students ofDomestic Relations law. Whatever that final verdict may be, it will in no waydetract from the noteworthy fact that the author has been a pioneer in open-ing, in printed form, new avenues of approach to the long sought and greatlydesired solution to some of the baffling problems in personal and family law.This volume will prove an aid and encouragement to those teachers whobelieve that the student of Domestic Relations should be prepared to take hisplace in the legal profession as a social physician rather than as a mere dab-bler in legal maxims of family law. Again in the words of the author: "It isnot the editor's notion that lawyers must become psychiatrists, sociologists andanthropologists in order to deal with the family in trouble.... [But] in anyevent, familiarity with these fields may contribute greatly to [their] grasp ofmany family problems and [their] understanding of the source of much un-happiness."It is the belief and sincere hope of the writer that Professor Harper's con-tribution may prove a help and guide to the lawyers, judges and legislatorswho are faced with the perennial problem of seeking a solution to the everincreasing divorce rate and the mounting numbers of dependent children ofbroken homes.ALBERT A. VAIL*Risks and Rights. By SAMUEL SPRING. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.,1952. Pp. xviii, 385. $7.50.Risks and Rights is aptly introduced in a foreword by Chief Judge HaroldM. Stephens of the United States Court of Appeals as a "law book for lay-men, but not a home remedy manual" which "seeks only to tell those for whomthe book is written what risks and rights are involved in their affairs andwhat legal means are available for the avoiding of the one and securing ofthe other."The author of Risks and Rights, however, goes beyond this objective insome instances where he advocates reforms in the law, including the abolitionof the distinctions between libel and slander, which he assails as artificial, tech-nical and medieval. One wonders how this can be of help to a particular authoror publisher in need of guidance in his affairs. Law books dedicated to laymensometimes do more harm than good unless strict heed is paid to the warningagainst self-diagnosis and self-medication, which often bring on additionalcomplications from which our poor layman can only be extricated by theskilled practitioner.This is not to say that such books serve no useful purpose. Unlike themedical layman who experiences a malaise which sends him to the doctor, thelegal layman feels fine until he is served with a summons. Hence, it is impor-*Professor of Law, De Paul University College of Law.DE PAUL LAW REVIEWtant that he recognize the symptoms and consult professional advice to headoff the arrival of the sheriff. Risks and Rights ably sets down the symptoms inlanguage too plain to misinterpret.The book contains an interesting vignette on the growth and present statusof the right of privacy and warnings against some of the dangers lurking inthe path of an author of imaginative fiction. It thus serves the useful purposeof suggesting to such an author that he seek professional legal advice beforehe becomes enmeshed in a suit for damages. Mr. Spring takes a dim view ofthe present state of the law of privacy in New York, which he seems to feelis rapidly retrogressing to almost a barbaric, if not ridiculous, level. He proveshis case conclusively by an able and deft analysis of the decisions. Obviously,Mr. Spring does not intend the 28 pages he devotes to right of privacy to bea definitive work on the subject. The same may also be said of his treatmentof defamation to which he devotes 31 pages. It must be said that Mr. Springhas the gift of clear and succinct expression, and that his criticisms of someof the anachronisms of the law of defamation are very well taken. For thesevestigial remnants, the term "medieval" is his favorite reproach.This reviewer was most favorably impressed by Mr. Spring's chapter on"What is Defamatory," in which he deals with defamation and insinuation,the functions of the judge and jury, the difference between opinion and fact,and the like. He seems to have reached the heart of the matter in extremelylucid language, completely stripped of the abracadabra usually found inworks on defamation.The bulk of Mr. Spring's work is devoted to copyright and associated prob-lems. This part of the work should be of particular value, not only to the lay-man but also to the practitioner who wishes to get the broad scope of theproblems in this field as an introduction and guide to a more detailed study ofthe decisions and statutes needed to solve his specific problem.The last 47 pages of Risks and Rights contain a very interesting discussionon "Television, Ideas and Censorship," and the author gives a very helpfuldiscussion of some of the problems raised by the new medium of television.He makes the suggestion that since television is completely an interstate affair,and since there is no federal common law, there is needed a uniform federalcodification of the right of privacy.JOHN B. MARTINEAU*Handbook of the Law of Evidence. By JoHN EVARTS TRAcy. New York:Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1952. Pp. 368. $5.35.One who believes, as does the writer, that our system of Evidence is a prac-tical guide to the determination of matters of fact, and is not a branch ofspeculative philosophy, will read Professor Tracy's "Handbook" not onlywith profit, but with pleasure. As a courtroom practitioner for over thirtyyears, during which time I doubled as a preceptor of the cult, I can unqualified-ly recommend the book to the student, the practitioner and the teacher alike,-to the fledgling who is blissfully ignorant of the basic tenets of the creed, tothe tough old birds who have long ago forgotten them, and to those of us inthe classroom who might have become so "sot" in our own methods of pres-entation as to be myopic to the logic of another's topical sequence. A recall*Member of the Chicago firm of Kirkland, Fleming, Greet, Martin. 4 Ellis.

Spring:  Risks and Rights

https://via.library.depaul.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3846&amp;context=law-review

Spring: Risks and Rights

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Via Sapientiae: The Institutional Repository at DePaul University