Schweppe, Alfred J.

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Washington Law Review Volume 2 Number 1 11-1-1926 Cases on Business Law—Introductory Course, by Leslie J. Ayer (1926) Alfred J. Schweppe University of Washington School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr Digital Commons Network Logo  Part of the Commercial Law Commons Recommended Citation Alfred J. Schweppe, Book Review, Cases on Business Law—Introductory Course, by Leslie J. Ayer (1926), 2 Wash. L. Rev. 56 (1926). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol2/iss1/9 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at UW Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Washington Law Review by an authorized editor of UW Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact cnyberg@uw.edu. WASHINGTON LAW REVIEWvent or redress the wilful causing of damage to another if it is possible to doso without restricting the defendant's freedom of action in a particular deemedvaluable by the law. But if the preventing or redressing of the damage wouldtend to restrict the freedom of action of other persons, i. e., employees, m amanner deemed impolitic, it is a case of damnum absque in3urza."For him [the employee] to be compelled to give up all his friends andbusiness acquaintances, made during his previous employment, would tend todestroy the freedom of employees and reduce them to a condition of industrialservitude," p. 16 of principal case. Hence the damage must be endured withoutremedy But it is never necessary to the employee's proper freedom of actionthat he be allowed to copy his employer's lists, and there is no valid objectionto preventing that. See Kay L. J., in Lamb v. Evans, supra.While the taking or copying of lists should be a sufficient basis for relief,it should not be necessary to the interposition of the law, anymore than it is inthe case of other trade secrets. The ultimate extent of the remedy will dependon what degree of good faith may be reqmred without too seriously restrictinga freedom of action valuale to society. Whether or not the information couldbe discovered fairly, is not, it would seem, the test (as it was intimated to beby one of the authorities cited in the principal case). "Because this discoverymay be possible by fair means, does not justify a discovery by unfairmeans " Tarbor v. Hoffman, 118 N. Y. 30, 23 N. E. 12 (1889).0. B. K.BOOK REVIEWSCASES ON BusixEss LAW-ITvaoDUCTORY CoisRE. By Leslie J. Ayer. Seattle:Wood & Reber, Inc., 1926, pp. 474.The solution of the problem of teaching business law, that is, of teachinga limited legal subj ect-matter in a limited time to students who are intendingto be, or are, business men and not lawyers, has been approached through manyavenues. This book represents the solution of a professional law teacher whohas had more than fifteen years of experience as a teacher in recognized lawschools, and who has for more than a decade rendered a part-time service to theschool of business administration at the University of Washington, in teachingbusiness law. He entertains the opinion that the same reasons which havecaused modern law schools to abandon the text method and to adopt thelaboratory method of case teaching exists for the introduction of the casemethod into so-called business law courses; that is to say, that a business man,just as the regular law student, will profit most by a study and analysis oflegal principles in concrete situations passed upon by courts of justice.The writer, after an introduction designed to prepare the student forintelligent study has selected interesting as well as leading cases, and in thedevelopment of a subject uses the standard legal classifications. The book dealsprimarily with contracts. The author also devotes some treatment to remedies,dividing this subject into sections covering damages, specific relief, and themiscellaneous remedies involved in receiverships, assignments for the benefitof creditors, bankruptcy proceedings, and claims against decedents' estates.The case book uses headnotes only as introductory to large subdivisions ofthe subject-matter treated, and has thus reserved the analysis of specific casesfor the student without stating the solution for lum. Tis method is com-mendable in that it makes the solution of the problem not a matter of memoriz-inr but of subjective analysis. The judgment with which the cases in thisbook are selected and the care with which they are edited can perhaps be bestexpressed in the language of the reviewer for one of the large New York pub-lising companies other than that hereafter named, as follows:"Like all case books, the contents consist almost entirely of com-plete or edited reports of cases decided by the various courts of appealBOOK SECTIONS 57in common law jurisdictions. In such a book the scholarship of theauthor is shown almost entirely in his judgment in choosing the casesand in the order in which he arranges them. In both of these respectsthis is one of the finest case books that has ever come to my attention.Every case is in point and with few exceptions well chosen to fill itsplace in the outline of the text. In this respect it is one of the bestedited of all the so-called business law case books that has been pub-lished."The book purports to be a selection of cases designed primarily for col-leges and universities having schools of commerce or of business admimstration,and for courses in law given in various other techmcal and professional schoolsother than law schools.In the hands of a trained and experienced law teacher, the use of thebook should achieve excellent results and is likely to find a ready place amongthe leading case books of its kind in the American colleges and universities.Its publication has recently been taken over by Prentice-Hall, Inc., one of thelargest publishers of business admimstration books in the country.Ai rn J. ScHiEppE.CASES oi- EQui2-. By Walter Wheeler Cook. St. Paul: West Publishing Co.,1926, pp. xix, 1167.This casebook fills the need for an up-to-date collection of cases on theprinciples of equity in a single volume. The many notes are of value to theteacher in supplying references to recent cases and to articles in leading lawperiodicals dealing with the principles involved in the cases.The cases included relate to both the subjects of Specific Performance ofContracts and Equitable Relief by Injunction against Torts. The cases arecollected under five beads: Part I-The General Nature and Scope of Equity-Injunctions; Part II--Specific Performance of Contracts; Part III-Reforma-tion and Rescission for Mistake; Part IV-Benefits Conferred Under Agree-ments Which Have Been Wholly or Partially Performed, Part V-BenefitsConferred Under Compulsion and Undue Influence; Part VI-Benefits Obtainedby the Wrongful Use of Another's Property.Part I includes an historical introduction and a note on Procedure inEquity.The present edition is a selection of cases from the author's three volumeedition. Material omitted from the larger volumes has been referred to in foot-notes. The notes also serve to indicate the connection of equity with the rele-vant portions of the common law grouped under the heading of quasi-contracts.The table of cases and citation include a number from Washington andother western states. The subject matter of the cases has been indexed, and theindex which comprises some ten pages is very helpful in locating cases andnotes bearing on a particular topic.This abridged edition has been prepared at the request of schools whichfound it undesirable to use the three-volume set, and will undoubtedly be usedby many as a single volume covering the whole field.C. M. BisnoP.HYATr Ox Tans. By W H. Hyatt. 2 Vol. San Francisco: Bender-Moss Co.,19524, pp. 52017.This is a fine two-volume text book of 2017 pages, well bound in buckram.The author, W H. Hyatt, is a San Francisco lawyer, and the work furnishesconvincing evidence of the wide range of his reading, observation and practice.The book covers the trial of both civil and criminal cases in the state andfederal courts.Vol. I, Part I, Ch. I, gives a very interesting account of ancient judicialtrials, without being wearisome in detail. Ch. II defines "tnal" and explainsthe scope of the treatise. Part II, in eight chapters, covers the subjects ofCalendars and Dockets, Trial Notices, Transfer of Causes, Consolidation forTrial, Separate Trials in Criminal Cases, Separate Trials in Civil Cases, Con-tinuances and Change of Venue. Part III furmshes a careful consideration of

\u3ci\u3eCases on Business Law—Introductory Course\u3c/i\u3e, by Leslie J. Ayer (1926)

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\u3ci\u3eCases on Business Law—Introductory Course\u3c/i\u3e, by Leslie J. Ayer (1926)

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