Book Review: A Treatise on the American and English Workmen’s Compensation Laws

Abstract

So rapid has been the spread of the theory that society and not the individual shall pay the cost of industrial accidents that a subject which six years ago was of no real interest to the ordinary practitioner of this country, now justifies the devotion of two large volumes containing nearly one thousand pages each to its practical, rather than theoretical aspect. Germany enacted a sick insurance statute in 1883; England adopted its first compensation act in 1897; but with the exception of the Federal act of 19o8 applying to certain government employees and the first New York act of 1910 held unconstitutional in the Ives case, the history of workmen's compensation in this country dates from 1911. Between 1911 and the end of 1916, acts were enacted in thirty-two states. As compensation cases in all probability are the first that come to the young attorney, and the most frequent that come to the lawyer in general practice, the value of this comprehensive text-book of compensation cases is easily apparent.