James, Laylin K.

English

University of Chicago Law School: Chicago Unbound

BOOK REVIEWSbook. However, in spite of such shortcomings, the book marks a step forward in thedevelopment of a new type of textbook. It is a useful handbook for the practicingattorney, and law teachers will welcome it and recommend it as collateral reading,especially on those topics which are but cursorily treated in the classroom.MAx RHEiNsTEiN*False Security. By Bernard Y. Reis. New York: Equinox Cooperative Press Inc.,1937. PP. xv, 362. $2.75.The author's thesis is that the issuers of securities, the originating and distributingbankers, the trustees under bond and debenture issues, the certified public account-ants, the lawyers, and the reorganizers are all unethical if not studiously criminal; thatlegislatures and the courts, if not unethical and criminal are shortsighted and lax intheir opportunities to protect the investing public. Consequently the average person,without knowledge of the facts, is duped and his savings evaporated through the pur-chase of worthless securities.Chapters 2 to ii contain histories of, and comments on, security issues, cases andpractices variously taken from Congressional committee investigations, the AlgerReport on the New York Insurance Department, the records of cases and the author'sstudy of the Hearst preferred stock issue. The conclusions therefrom that securitiespurchasers have been swindled in many of the cases, that some participants in securityissues have acted criminally, that some investment bankers deserve prison cells andmany of them thorough suspicion, that some professional men are scoundrels, no onecan question. But Mr. Reis does not stop there. His charges are wholesale, his con-demnation unlimited, and consequently inaccurate.The groups against whom Mr. Reis makes his charges need a rededication to fairdealing. Any polemic which pricks their conscience or puts fear of consequences inthem serves a desirable purpose. To hope that security buyers can continue their blindpurchasing of securities without dire consequences is folly whatever rejuvenated con-science may appear in said groups.The author suggests as a remedy for the investing public the organization of a dis-interested body of experts to serve as representatives of the security holders, make in-vestigations of new issues, sanction protective legislation and disseminate such infor-mation periodically to the investors. Any such organization equipped to function in-telligently will perforce need a large and constantly replenished reservoir of funds.That investors will pay the piper may well be doubted. Unquestionably, such an or-ganization could render invaluable service to them. If one were inclined to be pettyone might ask Mr. Reis if all the other human beings are dishonest at the jingle of theguinea, isn't it a bit credulous to expect the experts in the proposed organization toturn a deaf ear; and it will be interesting to see the "protective provisions" thrust uponmembers which will find a model in the trustee article of the trust indentures and thedeposit agreements and agreements of reorganization managers (damned in Chapters8 and 9 respectively). Despite such possibilities the proposed organization is not to bedecried. Any help is worth while. One wonders, however, if there is any remedy foravarice or for ignorance. Neither biblical, canonical, common or statutory law canprotect a fool from his folly. The investing public may learn that the cards are marked* Max Pam Professor of Comparative Law, University of Chicago Law School.THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW REVIEWand the shufflers alone know sleight-of-hand tricks; the greatest service to be renderedto investors is to make them conscious of these conditions. Despite overstatements,despite unfounded general indictments, despite naive hopes of legislative utopias, de-spite even the questionable advertising of the publishers on the cover (inside of front-fold), Mr. Reis' book ought to be read by all investors for its warnings.LAYLIN K. JAMES*Legal Bibliography and the Use of Law Books. By Arthur Sydney Beardsley, with aForeword by Alfred J. Schweppe. Chicago: The Foundation Press, Inc., 1937.Pp. xv, 514. $4.00.Since the effectiveness of a lawyer depends to a great extent on his ability to "find"the law, a book which serves as a guide in the use of law books is a welcome addition toany law library. The author in his opening chapter sets forth very dearly the need forteaching legal bibliography, and then proceeds in the first four parts of his treatise con-cisely and thoroughly to enumerate and describe the books with which the lawyer, stu-dent, and teacher should be familiar. Part five sets out methods of research; part sixdeals with brief-making, and part seven contains bibliographies, tables of American andBritish reports, and a table of abbreviations.As a text for classroom instruction this work appears to be excellent. The authortreats legal bibliography as a laboratory course, and the problem assignments whichfollow the discussions are designed to require the student to make a manual use of thebooks described. Particularly helpful in guiding the student through the maze of mate-rials of legal research are the author's classification of methods of research into theTable of Case Method, the Topical Method, and the Fact Method, and his step bystep discussion of the application of each in given problems. The first of these methodscan be used only when the searcher knows of decisions bearing on his problem. In ap-plying this method, he uses the tables of cases appended to the various legal materialsto locate similar or supporting decisions. In using the second, or Topical Method, thesearcher begins by determining the topic of the law which covers his problem. A studyof the outline of that topic and the selection of the subdivision of it which relates mostclosely to the elements of the problem lead the searcher to the materials from whichsimilar and supporting decisions may be located. The fact method concerns itself withthe use of descriptive word indexes in an attempt to find cases involving similar factualsituations, and does not require a knowledge of topical legal classification or experiencein applying legal principles. It is the least scientific of the three methods, but at timesobtains results where the others fail. A table which applies in parallel columns thesethree methods to the most necessary materials of legal research enables the student tosee at a glance where to begin his search in each.Inasmuch as the author criticises as biased the tests on the use of law books whichare the product of the sales organizations of law publishers,' the writer was surprisedto find that the chapter on loose leaf services, prepared in collaboration with a memberof the staff of Commerce Clearing House, Inc., discusses and lists in detail the publica-tions of this organization, and ignores completely those of its competitor, Prentice-Hall, Inc.To a librarian a book such as this is primarily a reference manual, and the accuracy* Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School.Preface, p. ix.

Review of \u3ci\u3eFalse Security\u3c/i\u3e by Bernard J. Reis

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Review of \u3ci\u3eFalse Security\u3c/i\u3e by Bernard J. Reis

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