370 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 532. 



Since the introduction of automobiles 

 statutes have been passed in some states 

 requiring them to be registered and num- 

 bered, and the number, with the first letter 

 of the name of the state, to be displayed 

 on the vehicle, but with a provision that 

 this shall not apply to automobiles coming 

 into the state from another in which they 

 have been registered and numbered under 

 a similar law, and which make a similar 

 display of the letter and number required 

 there.* 



Foreign insurance companies are often 

 prohibited by statute from entering a 

 state to do business, unless they fulfill cer- 

 tain prerequisites, with an exception in 

 favor of those coming from a state or 

 country where no such conditions are ex- 

 acted from companies of the state enacting 

 such statute.! So they are often sub- 

 jected to certain taxes or fees, if and only 

 so long as such taxes or fees are required 

 by the state of their charter from com- 

 panies created by the state by which the 

 statute is passed. + 



Reciprocity with reference to foreign 

 countries is also a feature of some of our 

 state statutes for the removal of the com- 

 mon law disability to hold real estate. It 

 is removed as respects citizens of countries 

 imposing no such disability on American 

 citizens who may seek to acquire lands 

 within their jurisdiction.^ 



Statutes have been passed by one state 

 to promote the administration of justice 

 in certain others, or in all others, on con- 

 ditions of reciprocal legislation on their 

 part. 



Thus in the first half of the nineteenth 



*' Public Acts of Connecticut,' 1903, 73. 



t See ' General Statutes of Connecticut,' 

 §§ 3,508, 3.544, 3,652. 



X ' Public Statutes of Rhode Island,' Rev. of 

 1882, p. 390, Sec. 396; 'New Yoik Revised 

 Statutes,' 9th ed., 11., 1146. 



g See 'Texas Civil Statutes,' I., Ait. 9 (a 

 statute passed in 1854). 



century New Hampshire enacted a statute 

 to the effect that if one of her inhabitants 

 were wanted in any other state as a wit- 

 ness for the prosecution in a case of felony, 

 a subpoena requiring him to repair thither 

 to testify at the trial might issue from a 

 New Hampshire court on the request of 

 the judicial authorities of the other state. 

 Proper compensation for the expenses of 

 the journey was to be tendered, and if, 

 after such tender to the person whose pres- 

 ence was desired, he failed to appear at the 

 trial, he w^as to be liable to a forfeiture of 

 $300. Maine then adopted a similar 

 statute except that it applied only to prose- 

 cutions pending in a New. England state. 

 Massachusetts followed in the same line, 

 except that she confined the remedy to 

 neighboring states, and to Maine, and in 

 1902 New York did the same with, respect 

 to bordering states, but on condition of 

 the enactment on their part of reciprocal 

 legislation of similar effect. Connecticut 

 and Pennsylvania have since passed laws 

 on this subject of the same general pur- 

 port.* 



In some similar w^ay the states of the 

 United States may yet come to a mutual 

 understanding, and reciprocal justice be- 

 come the rule in dealing with successions, 

 whether by will or by inheritance. 



A suggestion to that end was made in 

 1901 by the Buffalo Conference on Taxa- 

 tion. This body, composed of representa- 

 tives of about thirty states, appointed by 

 their respective governoi-s, unanimously 

 adopted this resolution : 



Whereas, modern industry has overstepped the 

 bounds of anj' one State, and commercial interests 

 are no longer confined to merely local interests; 

 and whereas, the problem of just taxation can not 

 be solved without considering the mutual relations 

 of contiguous states; be it 



* ' Public Statutes of New Hampshire,' ed. 1842, 

 p. 382; of Maine, ed. 1871, p. 876; of Mass., ed. 

 1882, p. 986. ' Public Acts of Connecticut,' 1903, 

 57; 'General Laws of N. Y.,' 1902, p. 328. 



