he had funds to meet it, when issued, which have since been lost without his fault. To draw an undated check exposes the maker to a fine which may amount to ten per cent of its face amount. Crossed checks can only be paid to a bank, and may be made payable to a designated bank only." The French law as to crossed checks, adopted December 30, 1911, goes farther, and forbids their use at all, unless payable by a banker and presented for payment by a banker." Payment of such a check to any one else does not discharge the person on whom it is drawn. AVIATION. In August, 1912, the prefect of police in Paris signed an ordinance, pursuant to Article 11 of the ministerial decree of November 18, 1911, respecting aerial navigation. This forbids any landing in Paris, and any in any commune in the Department of the Seine, within 500 meters of its center of population, unless in a regularly authorized aviation field. Airships cannot fly over either a city or a commune except at a height permitting, in case of accident, a volplane descent in a sparsely populated quarter. In May, 1913, the first arrest was made of a foreigner entering Great Britain by airship, without previous notice to the government, and traversing prohibited areas of territory, in violation of the regulations made by the Home Secretary. The landing was made near London, after a flight of 450 miles from Bremen. The penalty in such cases may extend to six months in jail and a fine of $1000. The amendatory Aerial Navigation Act of 1913, under which the regulations were issued by the Secretary, allows shooting, after three prescribed signals of warning, at any air craft which are being flown over forts, arsenals or dockyards, in contravention of its provisions, though they may belong to citizens of a 19 Revue de l'Institut de Droit Comparé, V, 550, 571. Ibid., 572. friendly power. The signals are smoke by day, and rockets or flash lights at night. Special coast guns for this kind of shooting have been ordered by the government. Military air craft cannot visit England, except by the direct permission of the government. Other airships can, on getting clearance papers from the British consul at or near the place of departure. The Comité Directeur of the Comité Juridique International de l'Aviation will recommend to its general conference, to be held in Frankfort-on-the-Main this month, the adoption in principle of the British regulations, and further of a rule of absolute liability for all acts causing injury to others, done in navigating the air, due consideration being given to contributory participation or negligence." COMPENSATION FOR IMPRISONMENT OF THE INNOCENT. Wisconsin has adopted a law (Chapter 189, Laws of 1913) for compensating persons wrongfully convicted, who have been imprisoned under the judgment. Any prisoner released on that ground can apply to a board created for the purpose for an award of damages against the state. Not over $1500 for each year of imprisonment, or $5000 in all, can be recovered, but if justice demands more, the board may recommend a special legislative appropriation for the balance so left unsatisfied. No award can be made unless on evidence or circumstances arising or discovered after the conviction, but proof is not required (as in petitions for a new trial) that the newly discovered evidence could have been discovered before the conviction, by the use of reasonable diligence. 21 The rule thus recommended reads as follows: Toute personne qui, sans être elle-même en aéronef, subit un dommage causé par un aéronef, a droit à la reparation du préjudice causé à moins qu'elle ne soit elle-même en faute, auquel cas l'auteur de l'accident pourra être déchargé de tout ou partie de sa responsabilité." The rapid glance which has thus been taken at the work of the year in the field of law may serve to show that it not unfairly reflects the general movement of the age towards the establishment, on broader foundations, of what, for want of a better name, we call social justice. Some of our legislation may have gone too far in this respect. If so, time will correct it, as surely as it will approve the rest. PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN LAW SCHOOLS HELD AT MONTREAL, P. Q., September 1 and 3, 1913. OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION 1913-1914 JOSEPH H. BEALE, President, Harvard Law School. WALTER W. Cook, Secretary-Treasurer, Executive Committee. THE PRESIDENT, Ex-Officio. THE SECRETARY-TREASURER, Ex-Officio. ROSCOE POUND, Harvard Law School. D. O. McGoVNEY, Tulane University Law School. HENRY M. BATES, University of Michigan Law School. Montreal, P. Q., September 1-3, 1913. The thirteenth annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools was called to order at the Windsor Hotel, in the city of Montreal, P. Q., on Monday, September 1, 1913, at 8 o'clock P. M., by the President, Henry M. Bates. The roll call disclosed the following schools represented by the delegates named: Cornell University College of Law: George G. Bogert, Frank Irvine and Alfred Hayes. George Washington University Department of Law: Charles Noble Gregory, Walter C. Clephane, Everett Fraser and H. C. Jones. Harvard University Law School: Ezra R. Thayer, Roscoe Pound, Samuel Williston and Joseph H. Beale. Indiana University School of Law: E. G. Hogate, A. H. Throckmorton and Charles M. Hepburn. Leland Stanford Jr. University School of Law: Wesley N. Hohfeld. Northwestern University School of Law: John H. Wigmore, F. B. Crossley, C. C. Hyde and H. M. Schofield. Ohio State University College of Law: William B. Cockley and A. H. Tuttle. Pittsburgh Law School: Samuel B. McCormick, A. M. Thompson and W. S. Moorhead. St. Louis Law School: T. Williams and W. W. Keysor. Tulane University of Law: G. H. Robinson and D. O. McGovney. University of California School of Jurisprudence: G. H. Boke and A. M. Kidd. University of Chicago Law School: Harry A. Bigelow, Ernst Freund and Walter W. Cook. Hugh M'Lean. University of Colorado School of Law: John D. Fleming. W. T. Lafferty. C. Goddard, E. R. Sunderland and J. B. Waite. University of Minnesota School of Law: William R. Vance, Edward S. Thurston and Frederick H. Stinchfield. University of Missouri School of Law: A. Ross Hill, Manley O. Hudson and Selden P. Spencer. |