those provided by the existing law, authorize the imprisonment of a debtor, namely: 1. Where he is about to remove his body out of the jurisdiction of the court: 2, where he has converted his property into money for the purpose of placing it beyond the reach of his creditors: and 3, where he is not a citizen or resident of the state.

Embezzlement. This offence, committed by the clerk or servant of any private person or co-partnership, or by any officer, agent, clerk or servant of any incorporated company, is made punishable, in the same manner, as a larceny of property of the same value.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

1.-A Law Dictionary adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the several states of the American Union; with references to the Civil and other Systems of Foreign Law. By JOHN BOUVIER. In two volumes. Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson, 1839.

We cannot make this work known to our readers in any better manner than by republishing the author's preface.

"To the difficulties which the author experienced on his admission to the bar, the present publication is to be attributed. His endeavors to get forward in his profession were constantly obstructed, and his efforts for a long time frustrated, for want of that knowledge which his elder brethren of the bar seemed to possess. To find among the reports and the various treatises on the law the object of his inquiry, was a difficult task; he was in a labyrinth without a guide, and much of the time which was spent in finding his way out, might, with the friendly assistance of one who was acquainted with the construction of the edifice, have been saved, and more profitably employed. He applied to law dictionaries and digests within his reach, in the hope of being directed to the source whence they derived their learning, but he was too often disappointed; they seldom pointed out the authorities where the object of his inquiry might be found. It is true, such works contain a great mass of information, but from the manner in which they have been compiled, they sometimes embarrassed him more than if he had not consulted them. They were written for another country possessing laws different from our own, and it became a

question how far they were or were not applicable here. Besides, most of the matter in the English law dictionaries will be found to have been written while the feudal law was in its full vigor, and not fitted to the present times, or calculated for present use, even in England. And there is a great portion, which, though useful to an English lawyer, is almost useless to the American student. What, for example, have we to do with those laws of Great Britain which relate to the person of their king, their nobility, their clergy, their navy, their army; with their game laws; their local statutes, such as regulate their banks, their canals, their exchequer, their marriages, their births, their burials, their beer and ale houses, and a variety of similar subjects?

"The most modern law dictionaries are compilations from the more ancient, with some modifications and alterations; and, in many instances, they are servile copies, without the slightest alteration. In the mean time the law has undergone a great change. Formerly the principal object of the law seemed to be to regulate real property, in all its various artificial modifications, while little. or no attention was bestowed upon the rules which govern personal property and rights. The mercantile law has since arisen, like a bright pyramid, amid the gloom of the feudal law, and is now far more important in practice, than that which refers to real estate. The law of real property, too, has changed, particularly in this country.

"The English law dictionaries would be very unsatisfactory guides, even in pointing out where the laws relating to the acquisition and transfer of real estate, or the laws of descent in the United States, are to be found. And the student who seeks to find in the dictionaries of Cowell, Manley, Jacobs, Tomlins, Cunningham, Burn, Montefiore, Pott, Whishaw, Willams, the Termes de la Ley, or any similar compilation, any satisfactory account in relation to international law, to trade and commerce, to maritime law, to medical jurisprudence, or to natural law, will probably not be fully gratified. He cannot, of course, expect to find in them any thing in relation to our government, our constitutions, or our political or civil institutions.

"It occurred to the author that a law dictionary, written entirely anew, and calculated to remedy these defects, would be useful to the profession. Probably overrating his strength, he resolved to undertake the task, and if he should not fully succeed, he will have the consolation to know, that his effort may induce some more gifted individual, and better qualified by his learning, to undertake such a task, and to render the American bar an important service. Upon an examination of the constitution and laws of the United States, and of the several states of the American union, he perceived many technical expressions and much valuable information which he would be able to incorporate in his work. Many of these laws, although local in their nature, will be found useful to every lawyer, particularly those engaged in mercantile practice. As instances of such laws, the reader is referred to the articles, Acknowledgment, Descent, Divorce, Letters of Administration, and Limitation. It is within the plan of this work, to explain such technical expressions as relate to the legis lative, executive, or judicial departments of the government; the political and the civil rights and duties of the citizens; the rights and duties of persons, particularly such as are peculiar to our institutions, as, the rights of descent and administration; of the mode of acquiring and transferring property; to the criminal law, and its administration. It has also been an object with the author, to embody in his work such decisions of the courts as appeared to him to be important, either because they differed from former judgments, or because they related to some point which was before either obscure or unsettled. He does not profess to have examined or even referred to all the American cases; it is a part of the plan, however, to refer to authorities generally, which will lead the student to nearly all the

cases.

"The author was induced to believe, that an occasional comparison of the civil, canon, and other systems of foreign law, would be useful to the profession, and illustrate many articles, which, without such aid, would not appear very clear; and also to introduce many terms from foreign laws, which may supply a defi

ciency in our own. The articles Condonation, Extradiction and Novation, are of this sort. He was induced to adopt this course, because the civil law has been considered, perhaps not without justice, the best system of written reason, and as all laws are or ought to be founded in reason, it seemed peculiarly proper to have recourse to this fountain of wisdom: but another motive influenced this decision; one of the states of the union derives most of its civil regulations from the civil law; and there seemed a peculiar propriety, therefore, in introducing it into an American law dictionary. He also had the example of a Story, a Kent, Mr. Angell, and others, who have ornamented their works from the same source. And he here takes the opportunity to acknowledge the benefits which he has derived from the learned labors of these gentlemen, and of those of judge Sergeant, judge Swift, judge Gould, Mr. Rawle, and other writers on American law and jurisprudence.

"In the execution of his plan, the author has, in the first place, defined and explained the various words and phrases, by giving their most enlarged meaning, and then all the shades of signification of which they are susceptible; secondly, he has divided the subject in the manner which to him appeared the most natural, and laid down such principles and rules as belong to it; in these cases he has generally been careful to give an illustration, by citing a case whenever the subject seemed to require it, and referring to others supporting the same point; thirdly, whenever the article admitted of it, he has compared it with the laws of other countries within his reach, and pointed out their concord or disagreement; and, fourthly, he has referred to the authorities, the abridgments, digests, and the ancient and modern treatises, where the subject is to be found, in order to facilitate the researches of the student. He desires not to be understood as professing to cite cases always exactly in point; on the contrary, in many instances the authorities will probably be found to be but distantly connected with the subject under examination, but still connected with it, and they have been added in order to lead the student to matter of which he may possibly be in pursuit.