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The Juvenile Court and the Community, by Thomas D. Eliot (The Macmillian Company). While holding that "historically and humanely speaking, the juvenile court as an experiment has been amply justified," Dr. Eliot holds that "the present functions of the juvenile court and its probation office could and should be performed by the school and the domestic relations court." His account and criticism of the courts contain many wellthought-out suggestions.

The Company Secretary's Diary and Reference Book (Waterlow Brothers and Layton Limited) is edited by Mr. William A. Waterlow. The 1915 issue brings to the fifth year of publication this most serviceable diary, which can be had in two forms according to diary space and binding.

The Companies' Diary and Agenda Book for 1915 (Jordan and Sons Limited), which can be had in three forms, in boards, bound, or interleaved blotting paper, is full of special information relating to joint stock companies and a large amount of general information. It is foolscap folio size, with three days to a page. The editors are Messrs. Herbert W. Jordan and Arthur F. Peckover.

We have received from H.M. Stationery Office Supplement No. 2 to the Manual of Emergency Legislation, edited by Mr. Alexander Pulling, C.B., which comprises the full text, with notes, of all the statutes, proclamations, Orders in Council, rules, regulations, and notifications (whether subsequently amended or repealed or not) which have been passed and made to the 5th ult. in direct consequence of the European crisis and the ensuing state of war and have not already appeared in the manual. This Supplement No. 2 incorporates and supersedes Supplement No. 1, so that the whole emergency legislation is to be found in the manual and Supplement No. 2, thereby avoiding reference to more than two books.

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BOOKS RECEIVED.

Yearly County Court Practice 1915. Butterworth and Co., Bell-yard, Temple Bar; Shaw and Sons, 7 and 8, Fetter-lane, E.C. Two volumes, price 25s.

Paterson's Licensing Acts 1915. Twenty fifth Edition. Butterworth and Co., Bell-yard, Temple Bar; Shaw and Sons, 7 and 8, Fetter-lane, E.C. Price 15s. net.

Smith's County Court Diary 1915. Hazell, Watson, and Viney Limited, 52, Long Acre, W.C. Price 10s. 6d. net.

Dicey on the Law of the Constitution. Eighth Edition. Macmillan and Co. Limited, St. Martin's street. Price 10s. 6d. net. Schwabe on the Effect of War on Stock Exchange Transactions. Effingham Wilson, 54, Threadneedle-street, E.C. Price 3s. 6d. net.

Amphlett's History of the Standard Bank of South Africa Limited Robert Maclehose and Co. Limited, University Press, Glasgow.

Brewing Trade Review Licensing Law Reports. Butterworth and Co., Bell-yard, Temple Bar, W.C.; " Brewing Trade Review," 13, Little Trinity-lane, E.C.

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POOLING INSURANCE.-The Licenses Insurance Corporation and Guarantee Fund Limited has established an entirely new scheme of Insurance for Fire, Burglary, Workmen's Compensation, &c., by which the profits accrue to the insured. (See p. vi.) [ADVT.] FIXED INCOMES.-Houses and Residential Flats can Furnished on a new system of Deferred Payments especially adapted for those with fixed incomes who do not wish to disturb investments. Selection from the largest stock in the world. Everything legibly marked in plain figures. Maple and Co. Ltd., Tottenham Courtroad, London, W.-[ADVT.]

Great Yarmouth
Greenwich

Guildford and God

King's Lyn

Kingston-on-Hull
Kingston, Surrey
Leeds...
Leicester...

Leominster
Lewes and
bourne
Lincoln

Luton...
Macclesfield

Maidstone
Manchester
Merthyr Tydvil
Middlesbrough
Nantwich and Crewe
Neath and Aber-
avon ...
Newbury

Newcastle-on-Tyne
Newport and Ryde
Newport, Mon.
Newtown
Northallerton
Northampton
Norwich
Nottingham
Oldham
Oxford
Pembroke Dock

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Brentford, Wednesday and Friday. at 10

Bridlington, Wednesday
Brighton, Wednesday (R. By), at
11; Thursday, at 10
Bury, Monday (J.S.), at 9
Cambridge, Wednesday (By)
Chelmsford, Monday, at 10
Cheltenham, Thursday and Friday
Chorley, Wednesday, at 9.30
Clerkenwell (special week). Mon-
day, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurs-
day, and Friday, at 10.30
Cranbrook, Monday, at 10.45
Crewe, Wednesday, at 10

Croydon, Tuesday, Wednesday, and
Thursday

Darlington, Wednesday (C.S.), at 9
Devizes, Monday, at 10.30
Dorking, Friday

Durham, Monday and Tuesday, at

Eastbourne, Tuesday

Edmonton, Tuesday and Saturday.

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day, and Friday (By), at 10 Swindon, Wednesday, at 10.30 Tavistock. Saturday, at 10 Temple Cloud, Saturday, at 11 Thetford, Thursday, at 11

Tonbridge, Wednesday, at 10

Torrington, Thursday, at 10.30

Truro, Tuesday, at 10.30

Tunbridge Wells, Tuesday, at 9.30 Wakefield, Tuesday, at 10

Walsall, Wednesday (J.S.) and

Thursday

Wandsworth. Monday
Warrington, Thursday

Warwick, Monday, at 10

Watford, Monday (J.S.), at 10 Wellington (Salop),* Tuesday, at

10

Wells, Tuesday, at 10 Westbromwich, Tuesday (J.S.) West London (Brompton), Monday, Tuesday. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, at 10.30 Westminster, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday

Weston-super-Mare, Monday, at 10
Wigan, Tuesday (J.S.), at 9
Wolverhampton. Monday (J.S.)
and Friday

Woodbridge, Monday
Worksop, Tuesday, at 10
Wrexham, Wednesday (By).

No returns from Circuits 12, 38 (Wood Green), and 42 (Bloomsbury). * Other sittings are specially fixed if necessary.

OCCASIONAL NOTES.

The judicial business at the House of Lords will be resumed on Monday, the 25th inst., at 10.45, when the following appeals will be in the list for hearing-viz., Glasgow and South Western Railway Company v. Boyd and Forrest (consideration) and Bowles v. Rushout and others (hearing).

The probate and divorce special jury cases will be taken on Tuesday next, and will be continued up to and including Friday, the 19th prox. (Saturdays and Mondays excepted).

Probate and divorce cases without juries may be taken in Court II. at any time during the present sittings on and after Tuesday next when Admiralty cases are not being heard.

Mr. Justice Shearman, in consequence of indisposition, is unable to go the Midland Circuit, and Sir Frederick Low, K.C., has been appointed a Commissioner of Assize to go the circuit in his place. He will go the circuit alone until Warwick is reached, when he will be joined by Mr. Justice Rowlatt, but the commision day for this town has not yet been fixed.

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Mr. Justice Atkin will open the commission at Presteign, on the South Wales Circuit, on Saturday next. When the business in this town is finished he will return to London and remain until Wednesday, the 24th prox., when he will return to the second part of the circuit at Chester, being joined by Mr. Justice Lush, and will open the commission at that town on the following day.

The assizes at Huntingdon, on the South Eastern Circuit, and at Aylesbury, on the Midland Circuit, were abandoned last Tuesday in consequence of there being no criminal or civil business at either town.

The January adjourned quarter and general sessions for cases arising on the north and south sides of the Thames will commence on Tuesday next, at the Sessions-house, Clerkenwell, at 10.30.

The January Sittings at the Mayor's Court will commence on Thursday next at 10.30.

The law clerks of England have presented as a first donation to the British Red Cross Society the sum of £400, to be applied for a motor ambulance. The amount represents the donations of some 7000 barristers' and solicitors' clerks.

Owing to the reduction in the staff of the Law Society on account of the war, the West Library has been closed for the present. Those entitled to access to that library are now entitled to use instead the north end of the East Library.

Mr G E. Cockram (Messrs. Partridge and Cockram, solicitors) of London and Tiverton, Devon, has presented to the Tiverton Middle Schools and boy scouts of Tiverton a completely equipped rifle range.

Mr. Ivor Evans, of 3, Green-street, Cardigan, and of Penralltcadwgan, Rhoshill, Pembrokeshire, solicitor, of the firm of Asa and Ivor Evans and Stephens, of Cardigan, who died on the 4th Nov., aged sixty-five years, left estate of the gross value of £5499, of which the net personalty has been sworn at £1192.

Mr. Adolphus Grimwood Taylor, M.A, of 36, St. Mary's Gate, Derby, solicitor, of the firm of Messrs. Taylor, Simpson, and Mosley, at one time coroner for the Hundred of Repton and Gresley, who died on the 2nd Aug. last, aged sixty-six years, left estate of the gross value of £18,941 12s. 9d., of which £12,071 12s. 11d. is net personalty.

The council of the Law Society have issued a supplementary list of solicitors and articled clerks serving with His Majesty's forces, containing the names of 950 solicitors and 438 articled clerks. The preliminary list contained the names of 668 solicitors and 434 articled clerks, so that the two lists comprise a total of 2490 names.

Sir John Herbert Marshall, C.I.E., Litt.D., M. A., F.S.A. Director-General of Archæology in India and Vice-President of the India Society, who has recently received the honour of knighthood, is the youngest son of the late Frederic Marshall, K.Č., a Bencher of the Inner Temple and leader of the Chester and North Wales Circuit.

A memorial tablet to the late registrar, Mr. A. Willoughby, was unveiled at Wandsworth County Court on the 11th inst. by Judge Harington. Engraved on the tablet were the Willoughby crest and the words: "In memory of William Arthur Willoughby, registrar of this court for fifty years, 1864-1914, and also High Bailiff for thirty years, 1884-1914, who died the 23rd April 1914, aged eighty-four years. This tablet was placed here as a token of respect and esteem by their Honours Judge Harington and Judge Bray, judges of this court, the officers thereof, and the solicitors practising therein."

By the kindness of Lord Justice Kennedy and Lady Kennedy, Sir Arthur Jelf, and Mr. J. F. P. Rawlinson, K.C., who supplied the major portion of the necessary funds, the younger children of the members of the Inns of Court Mission, to the number of 200, that being as many as the largest room in the building in Drury-lane will hold, were given their annual party on Saturday, the 2nd inst. A substantial tea was provided, followed by a conjuring and ventriloquial entertainment and a Punch and Judy show, and at the end of the evening the youngsters were sent away, each happy in the possession of a buo, a bag of sweets, two oranges, and a toy.

A social meeting of the Royal Courts of Justice and Legal Temperance Society will be held on Tuesday, the 26th inst., at 6 30, in the Old Hall, Lincoln's-inn. Mr. Justice Bailhache will pres de, and the meeting will be addressed by the Rev. J. H. Bateson, secretary of the Wesleyan Army and Navy Board, amongst others. The musical portion of the programme will be supplied by Miss Lilian Stiles-Allen and Mr. Alfred Steed, vocalists; Miss Nora Cookes, L.R.A.M., violinist; and Miss Jenny Hyman, pianist. Tea and coffee will be served from 6.30 to 7 p.m., when the chair will be taken, and the meeting will be over by 8.30. The committee cordially invite those connected with the Profession. Tickets may be obtained from Mr. R. E. Ross, Room 753, or Mr. G. W. Harrison, Room 85, Royal Courts of Justice.

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The statement in reference to the list of New Year's honours which formed a heading in several lay papers," No New Peerages,' is inaccurate. If the words "No New Peers were substituted for "No New Peerages" the statement would be correct. Two noblemen-the Earl of Aberdeen and Viscount St. Aldwyn-have .received steps in the peerage by advancement respectively to the ranks of marquis and earl. The marquisate and earldom are, however, new peerages to be created by new patents-the creations not being completed till the patents have been perfectedand in the event of death, as in the case of Charles Yorke, second son of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, who was appointed Lord Chancellor, dying before the patent of his peerage had been perfected, all the preliminary steps are null and void. The creation of a new marquisate may recall the fact that the premier marquis (the Marquis of Winchester), like the premier duke (the Duke of Norfolk), was of a legal stock. The founder of the House of Winchester was William Paulet, who was appointed serjeant-at-law in the reign of Henry V., and the founder of the House of Norfolk was Sir William Howard, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in the reign of Edward I.

The appointment of the late Mr. Percy Illingworth, the Chief Government Whip, to a Privy Councillorship on the 1st inst., followed in such tragic fashion by his death before he had been sworn a member of the Privy Council, will recall some pathetic instances in legal biography in which death has intervened to stop the completion of promotions and honours. Sir John Davis, who had been Irish Attorney-General and Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, was a serjeant-at-law both in England and Ireland, and had a brilliant forensic and political career in both countries, was in 1626 appointed Lord Chief Justice of England. He died suddenly from an apoplectic attack before he had taken his seat on the Bench. Sir Dudley Ryder, the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, was the recipient of a royal letter, signed by the King on the 24th May 1756, for his elevation to the peerage, but he died the day before the completion of the patent. Charles Yorke, the second son of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, was appointed Lord Chancellor in Jan. 1770, when he suddenly died at the moment when a patent conferring a peerage upon him was in progress of completion. In July 1907 Mr. Alfred Billson, M.P., an eminent solicitor, to whom Mr. Birrell had been articled before he had chosen the Bar for his profession, had been nominated a Knight Bachelor, but died suddenly in the House of Commons before he had received the accolade.

The resignation of the Right Hon. J. Ellis Griffith, K.C., of the post of Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, which he accepted for the special purpose of giving his services to the carrying of the Welsh Disestablishment Bill through Parliament, and his resumption of the practice of his profession will recall some notable cases of a return to the life of a practising barrister after the resignation of high office. Sir Constantine Phipps, the founder of the Normanby family, was made Lord Chancellor of Ireland when practising in stuff at the English Bar, and, on his resignation of the office in 1714, returned to the Outer Bar of England, at which he practised till his death. In 1895 Mr. Asquith, having filled for three years the position of Secretary of State for the Home Department, resumed his practice at the Bar. It is well known that Mr. Speaker Gully, the late Viscount Selby, who had been elected to the Chair of the House of Commons after a contest for that position, for which there was no precedent since 1835, contemplated, in the event of his not being re-elected after the dissolution of that Parliament and the meeting of its successor, to return to the Bar, but not to go circuit. If the General Election of 1784 had gone against Pitt, he had made arrangements to work strenuously as a practising barrister. Grattan, after the achievement of Irish Parliamentary independence in 1782, intended to return to the Bar. He was, however, prevailed to accept a public grant of £50,000 unanimously voted by a Parliament who wished to vote a grant of £100,000, and was only dissuaded from so doing by Grattan's emphatic refusal to accept the larger sum, and then publicly announced that his services henceforth would be exclusively devoted to his country. Until 1885 it was not customary in England, although Privy Councillors have practised for generations at the Irish and Scottish Bars, for members of the Privy Council to plead before judges of whom they took social precedence. Sir Henry (Lord) James, on his appointment to a Privy Councillorship in 1885, continued to practise at the Bar, and the old custom has been finally abrogated.

In the report of the Royal Commission on the Civil Service, which was issued a few days ago, various changes are suggested in reference to the position and salaries of ambassadors and other heads of missions. In connection with this it may be pointed out that, while in common speech all diplomatic envoys are spoken of as ambassadors, only the highest of the three classes into which the service is divided are in the strict sense ambassadors The second class comprises Ministers Plenipotentiary, and the third chargés d'affaires, who-in this respect

differing from ambassadors and Ministers Plenipotentiary-are only accredited to the foreign Government instead of to the foreign Sovereign. There are certain ceremonial distinctions between the first two classes, ambassadors apparently being entitled to exercise at any time the right of personal access to the Sovereign, whereas Ministers Plenipotentiary only enjoy this privilege on special occasions. As long ago as the reign of Elizabeth the question was raised whether the acceptance by a member of the House of Commons of a diplomatic mission to a foreign Court vacated his seat, and it was resolved on the 9th Feb. 1575 "that any person, being a member of this House, and being in service of ambassade, shall not in anywise be amoved

during such time of service." In 1715 the matter was again discussed in the House of Commons, and it was resolved that Mr. Carpenter, who had been appointed Envoy to the Court of Vienna, was not thereby included in the disability imposed by the Statute of Anne. In 1851, when the question arose again, it was recalled that Mr. Canning retained his seat for Liverpool while acting as British Ambassador in Portugal; but the later practice has been for a member, on his appointment as a diplo. matic envoy, to vacate his seat by accepting the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds, as was done by Mr. Layard in 1870 on being appointed Ambassador to Spain, and in 1907 by Mr. Bryce on being appointed Ambassador to the United States. The office of ambassador is naturally one of great dignity, and the emoluments are correspondingly substantial, but, as Blackstone quaintly points out (Book 1, chap. 1), so jealous is our law in securing the liberty of the subject that the King "cannot even constitute a man Lord Deputy or Lieutenant of Ireland against his will, nor make him a foreign ambassador. For this might in reality be no more than an honourable exile"!

PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW.

THE GOVERNMENT WHIP AND THE
PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM.

THE lamented death of Mr. Illingworth, to whose memory unstinted tributes, not merely by friends, but by political opponents, have been offered in testimony of his success, to which there have been few parallels, in the difficult and delicate office of Government Whip in the House of Commons, invites a description of the duties appertaining to that position, which is in itself one of the most important and responsible of the offices essential for the conduct of Parliamentary government.

The Chief Whips hold in their hands the entire external and internal organisation and management of their respective parties as political Parliamentary units. The Chief Whip on the Government side is the Parliamentary or, as he is otherwise called, the Patronage Secretary to the Treasury. He is usually one of the tellers in great political divisions, and it devolves upon him, under the direction of the leader of the House, to facilitate by mutual understanding the conduct of public business and the management of the House of Commonsa position which requires infinite tact and unruffled temper. He is also responsible for making a House and for the prevention of a count out at unseasonable times. The Government Whip is the Prime Minister's most influential adviser and executive officer for all the internal affairs of the Government party. The Chief Opposition Whip stands

in the same relation to his leader. The Whips preside over the internal working of the party machine in Parliament. The chief agents of the political parties, moreover, under the direction of the Whips take charge of the extra-Parliamentary action of their respective parties and the conduct of elections. The Whip must be acquainted with each member; know his weak and strong points; be able to talk him round; to coax him by smiles, by exhortations, by friendly remonstrances, by promises, or other devices, such as invitations to the entertainments of the dukes and marquises of the party which he gets for members and their wives. Every day he must perform wonders of affability, of patience, and of firmness in view of the object which is the dream of a Whip's whole existence-to keep the party united, compact, and in working order.

The origin of the office of Patronage Secretary was unquestionably evil. It was in 1714 that a Patronage Secretary was

first appointed to assist the Financial Secretary to the Treasury in some of his more confidential and dubious duties— in fact, in the purchase of members and the purchase of constituencies. The secret service money for 1764 amounted

to £41,000, the greater part of which is supposed to have gone in procuring majorities in the House of Commons. The development of this form of Parliamentary management reached its zenith in the days of George III.'s personal government. The King's correspondence with his Ministers shows clearly how unscrupulously and persistently the business of obtaining majorities by the purchase of boroughs and the direct bribing of members was carried on. Since the reforms of 1832 this part of a Whip's work has all disappeared, and there is now no longer any Secret Service Fund available as a constitutional arrangement in the interests of the Government for the time being. The Secret Service Fund is still voted, but it is understood that the greater part of it is allotted to the Foreign Office, and it may at least be safely asserted that it has ceased to influence our domestic politics. A Patronage Secretary without patronage has little but social favours to offer, and his influence must be that of a tactful, able, and pleasing personality. The personal equation as a factor of success as a Government Whip is thus described by no less a master of "affairs " than Mr. Disraeli himself. In his Life of Lord George Bentinck he lays stress on Sir Robert Peel's want of perception of character illustrated by the appointment of the Secretaries to the Treasury in the Government of 1834. "The party had been managed," he writes, " in opposition by two gentlemen, each distinguished by different but admirable qualities. One was remarkable for the sweetness of his temper, his conciliatory manners, and an obliging habit which gains hearts oftener than the greatest services; he knew every member by name, talked to all sides, and had a quick eye which caught every corner of the House. His colleague was of a different cast, cold and reserved, and a great Parliamentary student, very capable of laborious affairs, and with the right information always ready for a Minister. Sir Robert appointed the man of the world Financial Secretary to the Treasury, locked him up in a room and sealed him to a bench, and intrusted to the student, under the usual title of Patronage Secretary to the Treasury, the management of the House of Commons-a position which requires consumate knowledge of human nature, the most amiable flexibility, and complete self-control. The Administration did not last five months, but enough occurred in the interval to induce the Minister to change on the next occasion the positions of these two gentlemen, who then served him as efficiently as they had done before with fidelity and zeal.

An article in the Saturday Review of the 17th Feb. 1872, ascribed to the pen of one of the greatest of the leaders of the House of Commons, thus describes the duties of the Government Whip: "The duties of the Whip may be generally described as the management of the House of Commons. He is the medium of communication between the members and the Government; he prepares the course and settles the order of business; he feels the way of the Government on delicate points, ascertains how far a majority can be reckoned upon, and does his best to secure one by such means of persuasion or coercion as are in his power; he endeavours to stave off awkward questions, to smooth ruffled feelings, to arrange compromises. . . The gathering of members also from far and near for a critical vote, the summoning of truants from odd quarters of the New World or the Old, from invalid retreats, and even perhaps from the sick bed itself, is also an anxious task, especially as the days rush past and some of the deserters are as yet making no sign. But the Whip has his reward when he goes up on the right of the tellers to proclaim his triumph. It is a happy symptom of our political condition that for a long time there has been no suspicion of foul play or corrupt practices on the part of the gentlemen who 'manage' the House of Commons. There is a seamy side to politics as to everything else, and it is easy to laugh at the expedients to which a Whip has sometimes to resort in order to secure votes. But it must be remembered that the Government must take men as it finds them, and it is clearly entitled to use any kind of influence which is not dis

honest or oppressive. The Whip fills a useful and laborious office with much responsibility and not much honour. He has no opportunity of distinguishing himself in debate or identifying himself with important measures. Beyond the circles of Parliament his name is little known, and he has usually no hope of obtaining higher official rank. He is not a member of the Cabinet, and, though he may privately and indirectly influence its deliberations, he is ostensibly only its servant, bound to accept its conclusions, and to go about declaring they are the perfection of honour, wisdom, and justice; yet, if he can be satisfied with a sense of secret power, he has probably no reason to complain." In the forty years or upwards since these words were written, the holders of the position of Chief Whip have, in the evolution of constitutional practice, ceased to be barred from subsequent high preferment. Mr. Speaker Brand was from 1859 till 1866 Chief Whip; Mr. (Viscount) Gladstone and Mr. Akers Douglas, former Chief Whips, have been Secretaries of State for the Home Department; Mr. Edward Marjoribanks (Lord Tweedmouth), another former Chief Whip, was First Lord of the Admiralty; and Mr. Pease, also a former Chief Whip, is a distinguished member of the present Cabinet.

IRISH NOTES.

SOME of the daily newspapers complain of the sittings of the arbitrator in the case of the Kingstown Urban Council and the promoters of the Electric Lighting Provisional Order Kingstown Act 1914 taking place in London and not in Dublin. Mr. S. Brown, K.C., the arbitrator, is an Irishman; all the counsel engaged, with one exception, are members of the Irish Bar; and the important witnesses apparently are also from this country. Hence the complaints appear to have some foundation. If an English arbitrator had been appointed and had he fixed the sittings in London, we should have had protests from the Irish lawyers, and strong resolutions adopted by their governing bodies. They are silent in this instance. It is no wonder that Irish protests are not always taken too seriously.

THE rumour of the retirement of Lord Justice Holmes, published last week, was followed by his Lordship sending his formal resignation of office to the Lord-Lieutenant in accordance with the provisions of the Irish Judicature Act His Lordship has sat for seventeen years in the Court of Appeal, and was not absent for a day except when the court was hearing a case upon which, for one reason or another, he was disqualified from adjudicating. Beyond all doubt he will be sadly missed. He could make up his mind rapidly, and he could express his views with clearness, force, and vigour. It has often been said of recent jury cases at the Four Courts which have occupied anything from six to sixteen days in hearing, that Judge Holmes would have disposed of them in two days when he was in the King's Bench Division, and the real issues would have been satisfactorily determined. On one or two occasions in his long career of twenty-seven years on the Bench he used intemperate language to juries, but never during the period of his judicial service did his conduct of a case come in for hostile comment. Surely that is a wonderfully fine record in a country like Ireland. Acute political controversies, party feuds, riots, and religious disputes were frequently litigated before him. But no one ever could say that the judge for a moment was unmindful of his own high function between the rival interests.

THE career of the Lord Justice since he was appointed Solicitor-General in 1878 covers a long chapter in the history of Ireland. Indeed, one daily newspaper devotes nearly four columns to an account of it, and very interesting that account is. He was a vigorous politician in the early eighties, when a violent agrarian agitation existed in Ireland, but he only saw the fringe of the Plan of Campaign agitation towards the end of that decade. An opinion which he as AttorneyGeneral had given upon its legality when it was adopted was stolen and published, and shortly afterwards, when the first State prosecution of the Nationalist leaders for taking part in the new movement was held, he was a witness for the defendants. It was a dramatic stroke and excited widespread interest. He neither affirmed nor denied that he had given the opinion, but the man in the street said "if it was an audacious forgery, why did he not say so." He was a conscientious and a great judge. He knew more of the science of law than perhaps he did of decided cases, and this was all to the good. He was always

careless of consequences, and his disappearance creates a vacancy which at the moment it is not possible to fill from the ranks of the Irish Bar.

THE case of Rex v. Patterson, alluded to in this column some weeks ago (138 L. T. Jour. 89, subsequently took a novel turn. The justices convicted the defendant under the Army Act 1881, s. 156, of having unlawfully received clothes and articles of military attire from soldiers, and he was fined £10 with an alternative of imprisonment in default. The conviction was quashed by the King's Bench Division as in excess of jurisdiction, mainly 'because it did not order a distress of defendant's goods in default of payment of the fine, and under the statute imprisonment could only be directed after such unsuccessful distress. The Crown issued a new summons against the defendant for the same offence before the same petty sessions court, and contended that, as the previous conviction was wiped out, the accused could be charged anew. The defendant put in a plea of autrefois acquit, and relied on sect 33 of the Interpretation Act 1889, citing Wemyss v. Hopkins (L. Rep. 10 Q B. 378). He said there was no precedent for such a proceeding in Ireland, and it would not be allowed in England. It was contrary to the principles of law to have a person put in jeopardy twice for the same offence. The justices declined to go into the matter, and were of opinion that the proceeding on the part of the Crown officials was not in accordance with the precedents. The case was marked Res judicata.

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AT a recent conference of the Association of Municipal Authorities in Ireland, held in Dublin, the question of railway rating in urban districts was under discussion. An interesting paper on the subject was read by the Town Clerk of Omagh. That official was engaged in prolonged litigation with the Great Northern Railway on the question of partial exemption, which has received so much attention in recent years, and must be familiar with all the provisions and the inherent difficulties of the subject. "Land used as a railway' had been considered in many cases but it is still extremely difficult to define what parts of the railway premises can be regarded as lands used as a railway in accordance with the decisions, and what parts are not, such as stations, warehouses, refreshment rooms, &c, and which are not entitled to be assessed at the reduced rate. The question of goods stores, loading platforms, and approach roads was not yet satisfatorily settled, and, being questions of fact, may be differently regarded by different judges. The Town Clerk of Liverpool in forwarding papers to him had put the position very clearly. "The effect of the judgments of the Lords is that the partial exemption only applies to the lines of rail and such accessories thereto as are necessary for the purpose of conveying goods or passengers on the railway, and that all other railway property, including the property required by the railway company in connection with their business as common carriers, is outside the partial exemption. The question of what property comes within each category is a question of fact." For some time it has been clear that Parliament must decide the vexed questions in dispute.

INTERNATIONAL, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL LAW.

The Vatican Mission.

THE mission of Sir Henry Howard to the Vatican and the publication as a White Paper of the dispatch containing the instructions given to him in reference to his appointment as special envoy to His Holiness Pope Benedict XV. have been the subject of public comment in relation to the attitude of the Italian Government respecting that mission. In a communication from the Foreign Office, issued by the direction of Sir Edward Grey, it is stated that the Italian Government were made acquainted, before the appointment of Sir Henry Howard, with the intention of the British Government. "It is well understood," the letter of Sir Edward Grey's secretary declares, "that missions, either permanent or temporary, to the Pope do not run counter to the law of guarantees, and have always been admitted without question by the Italian Government." Before the unification of Italy, and when the Pope was still a temporal Sovereign, it was doubted whether, having regard to the several statutes passed against papal encroachments, diplomatic relations could lawfully be maintained with the Sovereign of the Roman States. It was accordingly thought expedient to authorise expressly by statute (11 & 12 Vict. c. 108) the Sovereign to enter into such relations, provided that no person

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