Schweppe, Alfred J.

English

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Washington Law Review Volume 2 Number 2 2-1-1927 Constitutional Law, by Charles W. Gerstenberg (1926) Alfred J. Schweppe University of Washington School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr  Part of the Constitutional Law Commons Recommended Citation Alfred J. Schweppe, Book Review, Constitutional Law, by Charles W. Gerstenberg (1926), 2 Wash. L. Rev. 139 (1927). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol2/iss2/8 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. BOOK SECTIONBOOK REVIEWSCoiTsrxoz.AL LAW. By Charles W Gerstenberg. New York: Prentice-Hall,Inc., 1926, pp. xv, 562.This book, designed, as stated in the preface, for teaching "a short coursein constitutional law" should serve its avowed purpose well. By reason of itslimited compass the book is hardly adapted for use in law schools giving exten-sive courses in constitutional law, but should prove valuable in political sciencedepartments where short constitutional law courses are given and perhaps alsofor a review by law students or lawyers.The first one hundred twenty-five pages constitute a somewhat unique de-parture in case books. They contain a consecutive text treatment of each of thetopics of constitutional law, such as separation of powers, regulation of com-merce, taxation, and the like. The last four hundred pages of the book containselected cases on the more important topics of constitutional law, although noton all matters briefly covered in the preceding text. The author's purpose inproviding the preliminary text undoubtedly is to furnish a more complete treat-ment of the various topics of constitutional law than could feasibly be doneby a brief selection of cases, and at the same time to co-ordinate the rules ofthe cases. If instruction is commenced with the cases and the text regardedmerely as collateral and supplementary, little criticism can be made of thismethod.The selection of cases shows care and judgment, and the cases are welledited and relieved of excess matter. Although most of the landmarks of con-stitutional law are included, the author, in view of the rather limited compassof the hook, confines Ins selection largely to very modern cases and thus givesthe student essentially the present-day conclusion upon the point rather thanthe panoramic development of the principle through a series of cases runningfrom early times to the present date.On the whole, the book represents a tendency toward a briefer and simplertreatment of the subject of constitutional law by the case method than is atpresent in vogue. Generally speaking, the author's bent toward greater brevityin a field of voluminous constitutional law case books has merit.ALRz J. SCHEWEPPE.CASEs oNr FEDERAL TAxAmox. By Joseph Henry Beale and Roswell Magill. NewYork: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1926, pp. xv, 719.This is the first case book on the subject of Federal Taxation for use in lawschools which has appeared. The preface, by the compilers, well sets forth thatthe several federal statutes are based on principles long recognized at commonlaw and that the alterations and changes in the statutes are but different meth-ods adopted for the application of the principles, and that it is perfectly prac-ticable and desirable to teach these principles as applied to this intricate sub-ject As these statutes are primarily interpreted and administered by depart-mental organizations of the Government, the regulations and rulings of theTreasury Department are set out quite liberally, as are also parts of the Actsof Congress of 1924, and this is supplemented by the cases from the *courtsfinely constrmng and interpreting the Act, regulations and rulings.The first part of the work deals with income taxes. The first chapter takesup the questions relative to the manner of levying and collecting the taxesunder the Federal Constitution and the reason for and the purpose of the Six-teenth Amendment. The second chapter deals with the classes of taxpayersand the cases -determining in which class such organizations as the Massachu-setts Trust, etc., belong. Thereafter follow chapters on 'the tax on individuals;the tax on corporations; the tax on estates and trusts; and finally, the collectionof the tax and suits by taxpayers.Part two deals with the Federal Estate Tax. The departmental regulationsgive a chronological list of the Acts from September 8th, 1916, to the Act of1924, and the purpose and nature of the Act The succeeding chapters in thispart deal with the gross estate; transfers mter-vivos; the credits, deductionsand exemptions; its application to non-residents; the notice and return; the

\u3ci\u3eConstitutional Law\u3c/i\u3e, by Charles W. Gerstenberg (1926)

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\u3ci\u3eConstitutional Law\u3c/i\u3e, by Charles W. Gerstenberg (1926)

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