PATENTS AND DESIGNS AMENDMENT ACTS.-Two acts for the amendment and consolidation of the Patent Code were passed in 1907. The first, 7 Edward VII, c.28, is an amending act. It specifies more clearly the conditions on which patents are granted, continued and revoked. The most important provision is contained in clause 15, which enacts that "at any time not less than four years after the date of a patent and not less than one year after the passing of the Act, any person may apply for the revocation of a patent on the ground that the patented article or process is manufactured or carried on mainly outside the United Kingdom." A patent may also be revoked on the ground that the reasonable requirements of the public have not been satisfied, if by default of the patentee the patented article is not manufactured to an adequate extent to supply the demand on reasonable terms; or if any trade or industry is "unfairly prejudiced by the conditions attached by the patentee, before or after the passing of the Act, to the purchase, hire or use of the patented article, or to the using or working of the patented process." This last clause, as was plainly indicated in the debates on the bill by Mr. Lloyd George, President of the Board of Trade, is aimed at the rigorous conditions imposed by the Massachusetts patentees of certain shoe-making machinery. The second Patents and Designs Act, 7 Edward VII, c.29, is a consolidation of the enactments relating to patents for inventions and the registration of designs and trade-marks. It is a most useful piece of legislation, as it simplifies and makes workable the acts of 1883, 1885, 1886, 1888, 1901, 1902 and 1907 (c.28), which are all repealed by the new Act. This act was not debated in Parliament, as it contains no new feature whatever.

COMPANIES ACT AND LIMITED PARTNERSHIP ACT.-An evasion of the law of 1900 penalizing companies for misrepresentation in prospectuses inviting public subscription, and placing responsibility on the directors who sign a prospectus, has been practiced by the formation of companies and the alloting of shares without the issue of a prospectus. The Companies Act closes this gap in former legislation by requiring, in lieu of a prospectus, a statement signed by every person named therein as a director, to be filed with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies. The new law also defines more fully the position and responsibility of directors of companies, and the information as to the standing of a company which must be forthcoming in every prospectus or statement filed with the RegisThe rights of shareholders and debenture holders are safe

guarded by new provisions as to publicity and the holding of annual meetings; and there is also provision for more carefully guarding the rights of creditors in cases where a company is voluntarily wound up. Companies incorporated outside the United Kingdom, and doing business in the country, must file statements with the registrar, either in English or with a certified translation; must provide a list of their directors; and must give the names and addresses of one or more persons, resident in the United Kingdom, authorized to accept service of process on behalf of the company. The Limited Partnership Act allows the formation of companies of not more than 20 partners, of whom some must be general with unlimited liability, and some may have their liability limited to the amount of stock held by them. These limited partnerships are not under the same rigorous conditions as to publicity as the ordinary limited liability companies.

MINOR ACTS.-The Qualification of Women Act provides that a woman shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage for being elected a councillor or alderman of the council of any county or borough. To urban and rural district and parish councils, created by the Local Government Act of 1894, women were from the first eligible, and the present act completes the freeing of women from disqualifications in all matters of local government. A man who becomes mayor or chairman of a county council becomes by virtue of his office a magistrate, but a clause in the act provides that when a woman is chosen mayor or chairman of a county council, she shall not thereby become a justice of the peace. A bill for extending the Parliamentary franchise to women, introduced by a private member, was talked out on March 8, a proceeding which led to riotous protests on the part of women suffragists and to the imprisonment during the year of 138 women for disorderly conduct in public meetings and in the precincts of the House of Commons.

The long standing agitation for the removal of the restriction on marriage with a deceased wife's sister was set at rest by the passage of the Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act, but the introduction of clauses into the act permitting the clergy to refuse to perform such marriages or to allow them to be performed in their churches, has given rise to fresh agitations which may result in strengthening the movement for the disestablishment of the English church. It may here be remarked that on February 27, in a thin house, the House of Commons passed a resolution in favor of disestablishment by a majority of 108. No further action was taken on the

resolution.

Another agitation which has caused the imprisonment of many passive resisters, came to an end on the passing of the Vaccination Act. Under an act passed in 1898, a man was relieved from the penalties imposed by the act of 1867 for failing to have his child. vaccinated within three months of its birth, if he could convince a magistrate that he conscientiously objected to such vaccination. This act worked unevenly, as many magistrates refused to be convinced of a man's conscientious objection. The new act substitutes for the magistrate's certificate of exemption a statutory declaration on the part of a parent that he conscientiously believes that vaccination would be prejudicial to the health of the child.

A Pure Food Law-an Amendment to the Public Health Act of 1896-gives large powers of supervision to the State Department and the Local authorities. It authorizes measures to be taken for the prevention of danger arising to public health from the importation, preparation, storage and distribution of articles of food and drink.

By the Irish Tobacco Act the last restriction laid upon the industries of Ireland is swept away. The cultivation of tobacco in Ireland was prohibited by an act passed in 1831. The prohibition was not, like the old restrictions on the woollen and linen trades of Ireland, for the sake of British industry; but was imposed in order to protect the customs revenue from tobacco. By the new act, the cultivation of tobacco is to be under licence from the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, and tobacco grown in Ireland will be charged with an excise duty. In the seventeenth century, a considerable amount of tobacco was grown in Ireland, and for some time back it has been urged that a relaxation of the prohibition would conduce to great increase of Irish agricultural prosperity.

Other reform measures passed during the session were the Probation of Offenders Act, the Criminal Appeal Act, and an amendment to the Factory Acts bringing laundries within the scope of the laws regulating the work of women and children. The Probation of Offenders Act is an extension of the First Offenders Act, which gave power to the courts to suspend sentence in the case of first offences. The new act supplements the First Offenders Act by authorizing the appointment of men and women, as probation officers, in whose charge the offender may be placed. Special officers may be appointed for children under sixteen, and the judge may give directions in writing to the offender under probation to keep away from undesirable places or associates and to abstain from intoxicating

liquor. The Criminal Appeal Act institutes a court of appeal for criminal cases which is empowered to hear appeals either from conviction or sentence and on questions of law or fact. The right of appeal is safeguarded by provisions that no appeal is to be allowed unless substantial injustice has been done, that either a more severe or a less severe sentence may be substituted for the one originally passed.

Hartford, Conn.

ANNIE G. PORRITT.

The Columbus Tax Conference. A gathering of more than ordinary significance was the meeting at Columbus, Ohio, November 12 to 15, of the National Conference on Taxation. Official delegates from thirty-three States of the United States and three provinces of the Dominion of Canada were in attendance. Three States, Massachusetts, West Virginia, and Ohio, were represented. by their governors, and the delegation from Canada included Premier Rutherford of the province of Alberta. Governor Guild of Massachusetts presided. College professors and State tax commissioners were present from all parts of the country and read papers or contributed to the discussion.

That such a conference should thus come together for study of the problems of State and local taxation is indeed an encouraging sign of the times. No less encouraging was the business-like air and earnest spirit with which the conference devoted itself to its work. A wide range of topics was covered and of course important differences of opinion were brought forth. But a striking evidence of the success of the convention is the very general agreement which was possible on several of the most fundamental problems of taxation. Resolutions adopted at the close of the discussion expressed the sentiment of the convention that the inheritance tax should be left to the States and not made use of by the federal government; that the several States whose constitutions require that all property shall be taxed in the same manner, or otherwise impose restrictions on the reasonable classification of property for taxation, should repeal such provisions; that in the interest of interstate comity taxation of the same property by two States at the same time should be avoided and all retaliatory legislation should be repealed; and that the public debts of all States, counties, and municipalities should everywhere be exempt from taxation. The papers and discussions also showed a practically unanimous realization of the shortcomings

of the general property tax, and a strong sentiment in favor of a habitation tax and the exemption of mortgages and other credit instruments from taxation. The single tax advocates were given a prominent place on the program, but no great enthusiasm for that movement was in evidence among the delegates.

The way in which many of the States are making use of the services of university professors as experts in taxation and members of State tax commissions was shown in the personnel of the convention.

At the close of the meeting a permanent organization was formed under the name of the Tax Association of North America, with Allen Ripley Foote as president and headquarters for the time being at Columbus. One of the tasks of the new association will be the maintaining of an information bureau from which the latest facts regarding State legislation, actual or proposed, may be obtained by State officials and other members of the association.

The United States has lagged far behind the rest of the civilized world in its methods of local and State taxation. Injustice and inequality have come to be accepted as a matter of course. The situation has been aggravated by the lack of harmony between the laws of the different States. The first step toward scientific and uniform taxation must come from the interchange of ideas among experts and the development of increased knowledge on the part of the people. The Columbus conference is a move in the right direction.

Yale University.

FRED ROGERS FAIRCHILD.