cause, and with malice, HELD, that the agent was acting within the scope of his authority, and the master will be held liable in damages for such wrongful search, notwithstanding the master did not directly authorize or afterwards ratify the procurement of such search warrant. Syllabus by the court.) Opinion by ROBERTSON, C. JAMES F. HUTCINGS, Plaintiff in Error. VS. JAMES A. COBLE, Defendant in Error. (Decided November 13, 1911.) No. 1160. 1. Irregularities and defects in the affidavit in an action in replevin, sufficient to give ground for dismissal of the action, if timely objection had been made, will be waived, and the court will obtain jurisdiction to try the case, if the defendant answer to the merits without raising objection thereto. 2. An action for the recovery of specific personal property may be maintained in the county or district courts of this state, although no order is issued for the delivery of such property, before judgment. 3. The office of an affidavit i nreplevin is to authorize the issuance of the writ, and although the affidavit is omitted, or is defective, the court may hear and determine the action, although the possession of the property may not be had without the affidavit, unless the same has been waived. 4. A motion to quash the writ of replevin, or a plea in abatement of the writ, must be filed in apt time. It must be interposed before pleading in chief, or answering to the merits. 5. The granting of a continuance is a matter within the sound judicial discreation of the trial court, and unless it affirmatively appears that such discreation has been abused, this court will not interfere with the ruling of the trial court on the subject. 6. In a case in replevin where no demand for possession was made before the commencement of the action, and the defendant contests the action, the writ will be sufficient demand and defending the suit a refusal. 7. A married woman, as a general rule, is incompetent to testify in an action to which her husband is a party, and on an announcement by the court that she is incompetent, counsel should state what it is that is proposed to prove by her. Otherwise, the appellate court can not say that the matter concerning which it is proposed to have her testify was material, and if material, whether she was competent to testify in regard to it or not. (Syllabus by the court.) Opinion by ROBERTSON, C. I. BANKRUPTCY CASES. Powers of Directors :-The directors of a corporation have power to put the corporation into bankruptcy without a vote of the stockholders. 2. Directors Meetings:-The majority of the directors of a corporation under ordinary circumstances have no right to meet and transact business without notice to the minority. 3. Notices to Minority:-A corporation had three directors. A directors meeting was held by two of them without notice to the third, at which a resolution was passed placing the corporation in bankruptcy. The third director was not friendly with his co-directors, and their relations had become so strained that they had resulted in a personal altercation, which ended in his being ejected. from the office of the company. He had commenced an action against the corporation and his co-directors, charging fraud in the sale of stock to him, and asking that the contract of sale be rescinded, which suit was pending at the time the meeting was held, and it appeared that he was interested in defeating the resolution in order to sustain an attachment by himself of the corporation's property. Held, that notice to him would have been nugatory, and thence a meeting was validly held without such notice. 4. Resolution.-Petition.-Where the majority of the' directors of a corporation adopted a resolution authorizing the filing of a petition to place the company in bankruptcy, such petition was not fatally defective for failure to show the resolution on its face. 189 Fed. R. In re Kenwood Ice Co., 525. W. P. WALLACE, Plaintiff in Error. VS. HENRY KOPENBRINK, Defendant in Error. (Rendered November 14th, 1911.) No. 749. Error From the District Court From Noble County. I. In an action for slander, the defendant, by reason of No. 5634 and 5656, Comp. Laws, 1909, may set up in his answer as his defenses, both a general denial, and that the defamatory language alleged to have been used by him is true. 2. Where the petition charges the defendant with having uttered the slander upon his own authority and counsel in his opening statement of defendant's case to the jury, admits that defendant published the slander charged, but states that in doing so defendant made it as a statement of a third person, whom he named at the time, the testimony of defendant that he spoke the defamatory statement not as his own charge or accusation, but as a statement. of a third person, whose name was given at the time, was competent for the purpose of showing the absence of express or actual malice and to mitigate the damages. 3. An attorney who testifies as a witness for his client may be asked, on cross-examination, if he has an interest in the judgment that may be recovered as his fee for services rendered in the cause, and what part of the judgment he is to receive. Such evidence is competent to show his bias or interest in the suit, and that the jury may determine the credibility that should be given his testimony. (Syllabus by the court.) H. B. Martin, Attorney for Plaintiff in Error. REVIEWS. TOWNES' AMERICAN ELEMENTARY LAW. Published by T. H. Flood & Company, Chicago, Ill. This is a volume of 696 pages, divided for convenience of treatment, into five parts. After an appropriate and well written introduction the author devotes part first to the discussion of political power and organization of governments. Part second, is devoted to The United States and state governments and their relations to each. Part third, the law governing the conduct of persons. Part fourth, Procedure, and the Fifth, to the application of general rules, to criminal, tort, and contract law. Within these divisions the author treats of all that the student of the law should find in a first book, and in such a manner that the reader who would fail to comprehend him should quit the effort to master legal principlesthis fact does not arise from any common place language or self-evident statements of the author, but from the fact of his vast knowledge of the subject of which he is treating that his apparent simple language flows simple by reason of the "abundance within," and results "in that plain and concise language, without repetition, and in such a manner as to enable a person of common understanding to know what is intended." Herein lies the great value of this work, not only for the beginner but for all lawyers who desire to keep abreast with the principles of the law-as every lawyer worthy of the name must always be a student and does not ignore elemen tary works that contain the clear law of principle and help him on the ability side of winning cases. There is a number of beginner's books which are excellent: such as Walker's American Law, Robinson's Elementary Law, and later the extensive work of Andrews on American Law, but these works, except the latter, are based on Blackstone. But this book of Professor Townes' goes directly to the source and foundation of American Law; and the author has produced in this volume one of the best productions for the purpose that it was written, that has appeared during the last 25 years. It is the work of a master, an experienced teacher and legal scholar.-a book that should be found in every lawyers library. It contains a well arranged table of contents and copious index. EDITORIALS. THE OKLAHOMA BAR ASSOCIATION. The Oklahoma State Bar Association will meet Dec. 21-22 in Oklahoma City in its annual Session. The President, Judge John H. Burford, has secured for the annual address the Hon. F. D. Siddons, a noted lawyer and scholar of Washington, D. C. The following program has been arranged: The Recall of Judges, C. B. Stuart, Oklahoma, City. |