POLITICAL SCIENCE 291 



he has contributed. Raphael-Georges LEVY, of the 

 Institute, is well known in France for his many contribu- 

 tions on economics and financial questions, published 

 mainly in the " Revue des deux Mondes.' ' 



Institutions and Societies. The activity of French 

 scholars in the several fields with which this chapter deals 

 has by no means been confined to teaching and writing. 

 Through the agency of learned societies they have also 

 done much to stimulate popular interest in the study of 

 political, legal, economic, and penal science, and to 

 provide a body of scientific literature of great value to 

 students. Thus the Societe de Legislation Comparee, 

 founded in 1870, collects, annotates, and publishes in an 

 "Annuaire," of which 45 volumes have appeared, the 

 principal laws of different countries. The society holds 

 meetings from time to time at which important legis- 

 lative reforms and questions of public policy are dis- 

 cussed by experts. The proceedings are published in a 

 monthly bulletin, of which 45 volumes have appeared. 

 At one of the meetings, in 1902, for example, the question 

 of the power of the courts to declare acts of the legislature 

 null and void on the ground of unconstitutionally was 

 discussed by a number of the leading jurists of France, 

 and the published proceedings make one of the most 

 valuable contributions to the literature of the subject 

 to be found in any foreign language. In cooperation 

 with the recently formed Socie'te d'fitudes Legislatives, 

 which likewise publishes a bulletin, it has organized a 

 congress of comparative law, whose purpose is to study 

 the public and private institutions of foreign countries. 



A somewhat similar body is the Comite de Legislation 

 fitrangere of the Ministry of Justice, which translates 

 and publishes the latest codes of the more important 

 countries. 



