332 LAW AND JUSTICE 



conduct of acts and undertakings in lieu of special legislation, and it has much to recom- 

 mend it for the state can thus fix the terms of its sanction. The control of the liquor 

 trade is of course an old example of the use of licensing: so is the control of public enter- 

 tainments: but in recent times the licence has been used for an infinite variety of matters 

 to carry or sell firearms, to use the totalisator, to sell milk, to deal in coco-nuts and 

 nutmegs, to run a cinematograph show, to act as a private detective, to buy gold, to deal 

 in offensive weapons, to recruit labour, to sell morphine injection needles, for a salmon 

 cannery or salmon curing establishment. 



Analogous to this system is the growing organisation of professions and trades. 

 Acts are being passed everywhere to protect the public and the professions against 

 unqualified persons practising, ignorant pretenders, quacks and charlatans. Thus 

 chartered accountants are being organised in Ontario, medical men in Quebec and New 

 Brunswick, dentists in New Zealand, pharmacists in Saskatchewan, veterinary surgeons 

 in Western Australia, and a movement is on foot to do the same for architects in 

 England. 



Newspapers. The arch mischief-maker is a newspaper when unscrupulously con- 

 ducted. Sierra Leone has recognised this, and provided a penalty for publishing state- 

 ments which are " misleading or calculated to do harm on matters of public interest or 

 importance." Some such provision might not be amiss elsewhere in restraint of the 

 sensational newspaper press. Uganda has devised another check on enterprising jour- 

 nalism. The proprietor of every newspaper started in the Protectorate must give a bond 

 for 3000 rupees, to meet any fine that may be imposed for criminal libel. 



Agriculture. This is the age of the ubiquitous microbe. We are quite used to wag- 

 ing a perpetual war with it in the human body, but we have only awakened slowly to 

 the malignant potency of plant pests in the domain of agriculture. Now we are realising 

 it, and the result is a large amount of legislation throughout the British Empire, in 

 Canada, South and East Africa, Australia, the West Indies, Mauritius, the Seychelles, 

 British Guiana, Nova Scotia. The Union of South Africa has prohibited importation 

 of exotic products; precautions have been taken to prevent the spread of infection from 

 plants, and notification of plant-disease is required. South Australia has been dealing 

 with the phylloxera in its vineyards. Bees too have come in for attention in St. Lucia, 

 Bechuanaland, Jamaica, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland; also noxious weeds. Canada 

 has been legislating for the inspection of seeds to secure that the germs of such noxious 

 weeds are not included. Great care is also being taken to secure the purity of dairy pro- 

 ducts, and the non-adulteration of fertilizers and foodstuffs. The prevention of cattle 

 disease has been engaging the attention of many American states. Rural industries are 

 being encouraged, homesteads and small holdings made easy of acquisition on periodical 

 payments, in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. 



A book full of instruction on the subject is the Annuaire International de Legislation 

 Agricole, published by the Institut International d'Agriculture at Rome. 



Native Law and Custom. The value of the historical method in jurisprudence has 

 long declared itself, and as it has made itself felt we are awakening to the importance of 

 native law and custom as the origin of juridical ideas and as a side-light on their develop- 

 ment. The awakening has come not a moment too soon, for with the spread of civiliza- 

 tion these primitive customs with their rudimentary notions of justice are fast fading 

 like a dissolving view. Mr. R. W. Hamilton, a Judge in British East Africa, has done 

 excellent service in collecting some of the native customs there, and very curious many 

 of them are. The fundamental ideas amongst most of the native tribes in East Africa 

 regarding family relationships are: (i) that individual members of a family form the 

 wealth and strength of the united family; (2) that the females cannot inherit and cannot 

 dispose of property; (3) that females are themselves property to be bought and sold in 

 marriage, to be assigned in payment of debt and to be owned and inherited by their 

 male relations. In fact the female members of a man's family are as much a part of his 

 property as his cattle, and often the most important source of his income. " Given " 

 says Mr. Hamilton, " this conception of society in the minds of primitive savages whose 



