<i>Merrill on Notice</i>, by Maurice H. Merrill (1952)

Merrill on Notice is more than a digest or encyclopedia; it is a treatise which presents a fresh analysis of the subject. It abandons the old dichotomy of "actual and constructive" notice and introduces a new one: "cognitive and absolute." A change in familiar terminology is justified only if it serves to clarify the subject and make for sharper analysis. Merrill has demonstrated, to this writer at least, that the change was justified, if for no other reason than that the old terms, as employed by legislatures, courts, and writers, were used in a great variety of situations to describe vastly different things. As used by Merrill cognitive notice refers to knowledge, actual or presumed, and absolute notice refers to notification which has legal effect whether or not the noticee actually has knowledge of the facts contained in the notice.