might combine to advocate a measure which is a great public want. Another such measure is a Sanitary Acts Consolidation Bill; such a Bill would be more efficiently and satisfactorily framed by lawyers than by laymen, and would be a national benefit. WILLIAM REALE. FIXTURES.-With reference to your article on the subject of fixtures in the LAW TIMES of 9th Dec. 1871, we, as attorneys for the respondents in the case alluded to, think your attention should be directed to the fact that the appellants' counsel alleged, as he must, that there is a conflict of decisions; otherwise there is no ground for appeal. The respondents' case has not been opened. They insist the decisions, carefully examined, proceed on the same principle, and that there is no conflict between the cases cited. NORTH AND Sons. NOTES AND QUERIES ON NOTICE. We must remind our correspondents that this column is not open to questions involving points of law such as a solicitor should be consulted upon. Queries will be excluded which go beyond our limits. N.B.-None are inserted unless the name and address of the writers are sent, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee for bona fides. Queries. 43. AGENCY CHARGES. —A country solicitor obtains instructions to file a bill in equity. He devotes upwards of a day to perusing deeds and preparing instructions to counsel to settle bill. These instructions are copied in the solicitor's office, and sent, with copies of deeds, &c., to his London agent, with directions to "lay the Is the London agent, under papers before counsel." these circumstances, entitled to charge his principal 1. 1s. for instructions for bill, and also a moiety of the costs of drawing such bill, or should not his charges commence with "attending counsel with papers," seeing that all the labour up to that time is performed by the country solicitor? W. obtain affidavits or certificates, and which, from each employer for the length of time he has served with him, ARTICLED CLERKS' SOCIETY. A MEETING of this society was held on Wednesday 13th Dec. 1871. Mr. Dendy in the chair. Mr. Arnold opened, in the negative, the subject for the evening's debate, viz.: "That the Contagious Diseases Acts 1856 and 1869 (29 & 30 Vict. c. 35; and 32 & 33 Vict. c. 96), should be repealed." The motion was lost nem con. LEGAL OBITUARY. W. R. CROMPTON-STANSFIELD, ESQ. THE late William Rookes Crompton Stansfield, Esq., barrister-at-law, of Esholt-hall, Yorkshire, and Frimley-park, Surrey, whose death was recently announced, in the eighty-first year of his age, was the eldest son of the late Joshua Cromp. ton, Esq., of York, by Anna Maria, daughter and heiress of William Rookes, Esq., of Esholt-hall. He was born in the year 1790, and was educated at Harrow and Jesus College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1812, and proceeded M.A. in 1816. Having adopted the study of the law as a profession, he was admitted a member of the Honourable Society of Lincoln's-inn, and was called to the Bar in 1819. Mr. Crompton-Stans. field was a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant for the Northern and Western Divisions of Yorkshire, and from 1837 to 1853 sat in Parliament, in the Liberal interest, as representative of the borough of Huddersfield. He assumed the name of Stansfield in compliance with the will of his mother, who inherited the property of his maternal uncle, Robert Stansfield, Esq, of Esholt. The deceased gentleman married in 1824 Emma, eldest daughter of William Markham, Esq., of Becca-hall, Yorkshire. same in both countries, these differences arise, of course, out of the Statute Law. The Act of 1844, regulating the procedure of the Crown side of the Court of Queen's Bench in England, has not yet been extended, as a Royal Commission advised some time ago it should be, to Ireland. The same commission recommended certain changes in the civil procedure of the superior courts, but, pending the remodelling of the English system in accordance with the suggestions of the Judicature Commission, no steps in this direction have yet been taken. Certain alterations have been effected in the constitution and working of the Irish Equity Courts, but, owing to the existence of a Landed Estates Court in Ireland, which exercises an important and somewhat anomalous equitable jurisdiction, and the non extension to the Irish local tribunals of the equitable jurisdiction possessed in England by the County Courts, the adminis tration of equity in England is still so different from that of the Irish Chancery that no exact comparison is possible. Some important distinctions still exist between the two countries in the laws relating to judgments, and the Irish law of divorce is still different from that of England, the Matrimonial Courts in Ireland having no power to grant a dissolution of marriage. The Irish Probate Court has pretty nearly the same powers as that over which Lord Penzance presides, but since the pas sing of the Land Act it is enabled to recognise as property tenant rights and goodwill, which have no legal recognition in England. The Irish bankruptcy law still remains similar to that which existed in England before the reforms commenced in 1847, since which time the English law has been twice reformed. In the present year the Irish lunacy jurisdiction was assimilated to that of England. In 1870 an Act remitting cases from the Superior Courts of Common Law to inferior tribunals came into operation. The total number of causes tried at Nisi Prius in 1870 was 929 in 1869 it was 2018. There was an increase in the number of causes tried on circuit, and a decrease in those tried in Dublin. It is remarkable, however, that the 24,000l. to 40,000l. The number of appeals, too, amounts recovered by verdict increased from from local courts to judges on circuit showed a considerable augmentation. The proceedings and what is the practice in case of the death of the upon his university career early in the present before the full courts in Dublin have, on the other G. J. W. H. TINNEY, ESQ., Q.C. THE late William Henry Tinney, Esq., Q.C., 44. TEN YEAR CLERKS.-Can any of your readers formerly a Master in Chancery, who died on the inform me how an articled clerk, going up for his inter- 30th Nov., at his residence, Snowdenham, Tormediate Examination under the ten years' qualification, quay, in the eighty-eighth year of his age, once is expected to prove the ten years' service. Supposing held a most distinguished position in the Profesthe time to have been served in several offices, must hesion, and was the contemporary of Brougham and Campbell. Born in the year 1784, he entered century, and took his Bachelor's degree at Magdalen College, Oxford, in June 1805, his name being the only one in the examination statute list of that year, which was two years before the awarding of classical honours. He was subsequently elected to a Fellowship at Oriel, where he took his M.A. degree in 1808. He was called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of Lincoln's-inn in 1811, and obtained the honours of a silk gown, and was made a bencher of Lincoln's-inn in 1829, about the same time as Lord Cottenham, and from employer? 45. IRISH CHURCH ACT 1869-COMPENSATION TO LAY PATRONS.-By sect. 18 of the Irish Church Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 42), the commissioners under the Act are directed to "ascertain and by order declare the amount of compensation which ought to be paid to any person or body corporate who, or which, shall within three years from the passing of the Act make application in writing to this effect for or in respect of any advowson," &c. I should be obliged to any of your readers who will inform me upon what scale, and in what manner, this compensation would be awarded to the owner of an hand, slightly diminished. The Irish Chancery Act of 1867 made some important changes in the business of the Equity Courts of Ireland. We find, accordingly, that the number of orders made by Masters in Chancery has largely diminished, while those issued from Judges' Chambers have considerably increased. In other respects the business of the Chancery Courts remains very much at the same level as that of the previous year. An apprehension was entertained when the Land Act became law, among some classes of legal advowson, assuming for instance, that at the time of that time, says the author of the "Bench and the practitioners in Ireland, that the new statute the passing of the Irish Church Act, the incumbent, a the living 5001. ? J. H. F. rector, was fifty years of age, and the annual value of Answers. (Q. 36.) WILL.-When the ancestor, by any gift or conveyance, takes an estate for life, and in the same gift or conveyance an estate is immediately limited to his heirs in fee or in tail, the words "the heirs" are words of limitation of the estate of the ancestor : (Wins. R. P., 8th edit. 246.) LAW SOCIETIES. LAW ASSOCIATION C. C. OF ATTORNEYS, SOLICITORS, AND PROCTORS IN THE METROPOLIS AND VICINITY. Bar," began to date an improvement both in the quantity and quality of his business. For a time his practice was chiefly confined to the Rolls Court, unless specially retained in some cases in the Chancery or Vice-Chancellor's Court. As a lawyer he always ranked high; his judgment was considered to be very sound, and on his opinion "Few men great reliance was invariably placed. at the Chancery bar," says the above authority, "could more closely reason a point of law, or apply themselves with more effect to the merits of the case before the court." Ever zealous in the service of his clients, the interest he felt in the result of the case could be detected in every word he uttered, bad as his delivery was, and in every glance he directed towards his Honour. His zeal, FOR THE BENEFIT OF WIDOWS AND FAMILIES indeed, occasionally led him into considerable animation of manner. He was, in fact, a laborious man in his profession, and applied himself so closely to the cases in which he was engaged, as to feel comparately little interest in anything else. Mr. Tinney was particularly eminent as a real property lawyer, and he was one of the Real Property Commissioners with Lord Campbell. It is a strong testimony to the high legal and personal estimation in which he was held, that he was (though himself a staunch Conservative) appointed to a vacant mastership in Chancery by a Whig Government. On the abolition of the masters' offices, he retired with a pension of 2500l. a year. The deceased gentleman will be lamented, not only by a large circle of attached personal friends, but by the many who had profited by his open-handed liberality in matters of charity. His wife, who survives him, was a daughter of the late Rev. Canon Hume. THE usual monthly meeting of the directors was held at the hall of the Incorporated Law Society, Chancery-lane, on Thursday, the 7th inst., the following being present, viz. :-Mr. Desborough (chairman), Mr. Beaumont, Mr. Burges, Mr. Carpenter, Mr. Collisson, Mr. A. Drew, Mr. Gresham, Mr. Hedger, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Nisbet, Mr. Sawtell, Mr. S. Smith, Mr. Steward, Mr. Styan, Mr. Whyte, and Mr. Boodle (secretary), when a grant of 501. was made to the widow of a member. Grants amounting to 401. were made to four widows and an aged daughter of non-members. Three new members were elected, and the ordinary business was transacted. NORWICH LAW STUDENTS' SOCIETY. THIS Society, which has recently been established, held its inaugural meeting at the Guildhall, Norwich, on Wednesday, the 6th inst., Mr. Randall Burroughes in the chair. The meeting was addressed by the chairman, Mr. J. W. Sparrow, and other local solicitors. The society numbers upwards of forty members. The next meeting is announced for Wednesday, the 18th inst, the subject for debate being, "That it is desirable that the Government shall purchase and work all railways in the United kingdom." LEGAL EXTRACTS. IN reviewing the operations of legal tribunals in Ireland, and comparing them with the work of the English courts, certain diversities, specially rela ting to the jurisdiction of the civil tribunals, have to be noticed. As the common law is the would seriously affect the business of the Landed show a slight falling off in the number of sales as Estates Court. Although the statistics of 1870 compared with those of the previous year, the number of petitions lodged for future sales corrects this erroneous impression. There has been a diminution in the average price realised by The average in 1869 was 17 2 years, but there is estates amounting nearly to one year's purchase. no proof that the decrease was due to the altera tion of the Land Laws. In other respects, the judicial statistics give proof of the increasing prosperity of the country. The average amount of property which paid duty on passing under probate and administration annually, during the year 18461850, was 2,534,611.; during the years 1856-1860, it was 4,222,3951.; last year it was 5,014,7951. The operation of the Land Act, as we have noticed, has increased the local business of the Probate Court, by making legal those rights of occupancy and goodwill which had no previously recognised existence. In the civil bill courts, the number of cases, but in the number of ejectments executed by the excluding ejectments, showed a small increase, 1870 as against 1040 in 1869. About two-thirds of sheriff there was a considerable increase-1301 in remaining third being for other causes not speci these were ejectments for nonpayment of rent, the fied. A much larger increase is to be noticed in the number of warrants issued from the civil side of petty sessions courts against cottier tenants for waste, nonpayment of rent, and over-holding, holding. These have nearly doubled as compared and "gainst weekly tenants in towns for overwith the numbers of the preceding year. Out of 43,705 jurors returned to serve in counties at large, 4885 had illegal qualifications-nearly twice as many as those illegally qualified in the previous year. In towns the case was much worse: onehalf the jurors returned were found to have illegal qualifications. It is supposed, however, that this mischief has been completely met by Lord O'Hagan's Juries Act. The supreme courts of appeal in Ireland do not appear to be overburdened with work. In the Exchequer Chamber, six registry appeals, twelve DEC. 16, 1871.] appeals from the supreme courts of common law, and two remanets were disposed of, or stand for judgment. There was one appeal to the Privy Council in Dublin concerning a fishery byelaw. THE LAW TIMES. HAWARD, WILLIAM, plumber, Larfield; Dec. 72, at two, at office ton-st, and Gower-st, Bedford-sq; Jan. 2, at twelve, at office of Three appeals to the House of Lords were lodged, INGLE, WILLIAM, jun., wine merchant, Warnford-ct, Throgmor- To surrender at the Bankrupts' Court, Basinghall-street. EASEY, JAMES, cheesemonger, Victoria-st, Bermondsey. Pet. Dec. 6. Reg. Hazlitt. Sol., Snell, George-st, Mansion-house. Sur. Dec. 20 NORFOLK, W. J. FREDERICK, accountant, Coleman-st. Pet. Dec. 6. Reg. Spring-Rice. Sols., Harper, Broad, and Co., PARKER, Hon. GEORGE AUGUSTUS, no occupation, United States To surrender in the Country. BAXTER, ROBERT, boot dealer, Banbury. Pet. Dec. 4. Reg. COLE, JOHN, tailor, Cambridge. Pet. Dec. 6. Dep-Reg. Harris. CROOK, JOSEPH, victualler, Bradford. Pet. Dec. 5. Reg. Robin- DODMAN, THOMAS MOORE, builder, St. Helen's. Pet. Dec. 4. DRISCOLL, JOHN, and TOURON, ELIZA, potato merchants, FIELDING, JOHN COCKING, cotton manufacturer, Blackburn. FIELDEN, THOMAS, commercial traveller, Blackburn. Pet. GILLIES, ELIZABETH, physician, Halifax. Pet. Dec. 4. Reg. PRICE, RICHARD PURSELL, wine merchant, Shrewsbury. Pet. WILLIAMS, WILLIAM, contractor, Swansea. Pet. Nov. 28. Reg. WOOD, GEORGE EDWARD POWYS, Parkhurst. Pet. Dec. 2. Reg. Gazette, Dec. 12. To surrender in the Country. CAMERON, HUGH THOMAS, gentleman, Basnett-grove, Wands- Pet. Dec. 8. Reg. Pet. MUS-ETT, JAMES, jun., oyster merchant, West Mersea. PEARCY, ARTHUR THOMAS, grocer, Hailsham. Dep-Reg. Blaker. BANKRUPTCIES ANNULLED. COGHLAN, CHARLES HAY, cigar importer, Fenchurch-st, and Gazette, Dec. 8. CHADWICK, JOHN, and TURNER, GEORGE, cotton manufacturers Liquidations by Arrangement. FIRST MEETINGS. ALLEN, WILLIAM, dealer, Luton; Dec. 20, at eleven, at office of BAYNES, WILLIAM RICHARD, hatter, Southampton, and Bourne- BOLTON, GEORGE FROST, grocer, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Dec. 18, BOOTH, JOHN, farmer, Skellingthorpe; Dec. 19, at eleven, at office DABIYLL, GEORGE EBENEZER, boot maker, High Wycombe; DUFFIL, MILES, upholsterer, Stonegate; Dec. 27, at three, at EAST, THOMAS, corn merchant, Lincoln; Dec. 13, at eleven, at office of Sol., Rex., Saltergate EATON, SAMUEL, shoe manufacturer, Kettering; Dec. 29, at ELLAM, JOHN, iron manufacturer, Openshaw, near Manchester; FERGUSON, CHARLES AUGUSTUS, jun., and HUMPHREY, JOHN FOX, CHARLES WILLIAM YOUNG, heraldic engraver, Sparbrook, cross FOX, JANE ANN, schoolmistress, Sunnyside-college, Lewishampk; Dec. 20, at two, at office of Sol., Crow, North-rd, NewFOSTER, JOSEPH OLIVER, beerhousekeeper, Liverpool; Dec. 22, st three, at office of Gibson and Bolland, accountants, Liver. pool. Sol, Williams, Liverpool FRANKLIN, GEORGE HENRY, baker, Bristol; Dec. 19, at two, at GEORGE, DANIEL, chemist, Merthyr Tydfil; Dec. 20, at twelve, at GRAY, WILLIAM, greengrocer, Tottenham-court-rd; Dec. 18, at HAMILTON, JAMES ALLAN, malt dealer, Rochdale; Dec. 21, at HARDWICK, JOHN, house decorator, Eaton-ter, Grove-st-rd, HARGREAVES JAMES HENRY, stock broker, Timperley; Dec. 21, JOHNSTON, THOMAS, Cooper, Hull; Dec. 20, at four, at the Kings- JORDAN, MARGARET, shipping butcher, Liverpool; Dec. 23, at KEED, GEORGE FRANKS, grocer, Bognor; Dec. 22, at two, at office KEENAN, BARNARD, clothier, Stockton-on-Tees: Dec. 19, at KENNELL, STEPHEN. cab driver, Lewisham-ter, Forest-hill; Dec. LEE, JOHN WILSON, commission agent, Manchester; Jan. 1, at LOWRY, GEORGE, and LOWRY, ROBERT JAMES, flax spinners, and MCGIRR. ROBERT, draper, Newland, in Northampton: Dec. 29, MCMAHON, MICHAEL, commission agent, Liverpool; Dec. 22, at MARSH, WILLIAM, farmer, Sparshold; Dec. 22, at two, at office MASON, THOMAS CHAPELL, butcher. Wednesbury; Dec. 20, at PARKIN, JOSEPH, merchant, Sheffield: Dec. 22, at four, at office RANNIE, WILLIAM, engineer, Portsea; Dec. 19, at eleven, at SINGLEHURST, CHARLES ROBERT, broker, Liverpool; Dec. 20, at STEEPER, GEORGE, grocer, Upper Whitecross-st, St. Luke's; Dec. TUCKER, JOSEPH, jet dealer, Whitby; Dec. 27, at two, at office WALKER, THOMAS, dealer in fruit, Lincoln; Dec. 23, at eleven, at WALKER, WILLIAM, iron manufacturer, Openshaw, near Man- WATSON, JANE ELIZABETH, ironmonger, Halifax: Dec. 18, at Gazette, Dec. 12. Sol., ALLEN, BENJAMIN, blacksmith, Hanley; Dec. 21, at eleven, at AUSTIN, ALBERT, boot maker, Wells-st, Camberwell: Dec. 20, at BOND, CHARLES ROBERT, coal merchant, Eastbourne: Dec. 23, at CRESSWELL, HENRY WILLIAM, iron merchant, Old Quebec-st CROUCH, STEPHEN, journeyman carpenter, Sheerness; Jan. 4, at DAVIS, GEORGE WALTER, commonly known as Walter Laburnum, DAY, WILLIAM, lacemaker, Nottingham; Dec. 27, at twelve, at DERBYSHIRE, JOHN, ironmonger, Longton; Dec. 22, at eleven, at DUTTON, SAMUEL RICHARD, grocer, Westbury; Dec. 26, at half. EVANS, DAVID, innkeeper, Builth: Dec. 27, at two, at the County GERRIE, GEORGE, draper. Birmingham; Jan. 3, at two, at the GLAHOLM, JOHN, cartman, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Dec. 23, at HOPKINS, THOMAS JOHN, coach plater, Cranmer-rd, Brixton-rd, HORTON, VYSE, greengrocer, Hanley; Dec. 18, at eleven, at office HUNT, ELIZABETH, and HUNT, AGNES, hosiers, Leicester; Dec. KIDDELL, GEORGE ELIJAH, waiter, Mercer-st, Long-acre; Dec. LEE, JOHN WILSON, commission agent, Manchester; Dec. 21, at NORTON, WILLIAM, coffee house keeper, Erskine-rd, Regent's- PHILCOX, SAMUEL, saddler, Hastings; Dec. 22, at half-past PICKARD, THOMAS HULSE, grocer, Longton; Dec. 21, at two, at office of Sol., Welch, Longton PLIMMER, HENRY, beer retailer, Grove-vale, East Dulwich; Dec. 20, at three, at the Cherry Tree, Grove-vale, East Dulwich. Sol., Longcroft, Lincoln's-inn-fields PRINGLE, MATILDA, dressmaker, Durham; Dec. 27, at two, at office of Sol., Bond. Newcastle-upon-Tyne RABERRY, JACOB, wine merchant, Harogate; Dec 28, at twelve, at office of Sol., Bateson, Harrogate RICHARDSON, WILLIAM, out of business, Oxford; Dec. 26, at three. ROSE, PEARL, farmer, Boxted: Dec, 21, at twelve, at the Cross SMITH, JOSEPH, contractor, Tipton; Dec. 22, at eleven, at office of STURGIS, JAMES, stonemason, Northampton; Dec. 22, at half-past TEMBLETT, BENJAMIN, publican, Cardiff; Dec. 23, at eleven, at office of Bidgood, accountant, Cardiff TINKHAM, JOHN, contractor, Smethwick; Dec. 27. at eleven, at office of Sol., Shakespeare, Oldbury WARD, ALFRED, drysalter, Manchester, and Rusholme; Dec. 20, WARRALL, ELISHA, Cordwainer, Salford; Jan 3, at four, at the WILKINS, JAMES, licensed victualler, Brighton; Dec. 29, at three, WILLIAMS, DAVID MORRIS, contractor, Carmarthen, Dec. 23, at five minutes past ten, at office of Sol., Lloyd, Haverfordwest WISE, EDWARD, dairyman, East Chapel-st, Belgrave-sq; Dec. 20, at two, at office of Dubois, Gresham-bldgs, Basinghall-st. Sol.. Maynard, Clifford's-inn WRENN, CHARLES, builder, Rosemary-cottage, Chiswick-la, Chiswick West; Dec. 20, at two, at office of Holloway, Ball,s Pondrd, Islington. Sol., Pope, Fenchurch-st The Official Assignees, &c., are given, to whom apply for the Appleby, F. innkeeper, 18. 81. At offices of Sols. Mordy, Turnbull, E. Woodcock, 1, Old Market-chmbs, Rochdale.-White, J. leather seller, first, 4s. At offices of Trust. B. Nicholson, 7, Gresham-st. Barlow, G. iron merchant, first, 2s. 91d. Kinnear, Birmingham. -Bates, J. brick dealer, first, 5d. Kinnear, Birmingham.-Gok and Peake, porcelain manufacturers, first, 84. Kinnear, Birmingham.-Johnson, W. tailor, first, 2. 2d. Kinnear, Birmingham.Lewis, I. A. ironmaster, sec nd, 0d, 22-32nd. Kinnear, Birmingham.-Morley, E. baptist minister, first, 9. Kinnear, Birmingham.-Young and Cameron, factors, first, 3s. 6d. Kinnear, Birmingham. Beauclerk, C. glass dealer, first and fir.al, 4s. 107. At the Royal Insurance-bldgs, Park-row, Leeds. Buck, J. grocer, first and final, 78. d. At Trust. J. Routh, Royal Insurance-bidgs, Parkrnw. Leeds.-Henderson, T. silk merchant, first and final 94. At offices of Read and Dangerfield, accountants, 3, Milk-st, Cheapside.-Hutchinson, A. stationer, Manchester, first and final, 2s. 6d. At offices of Miller and Dawson, accountants, Chancery-pl, Manchester.-Matthews, J. late farmer, Elsing, first and final, 1s. Id. At office of Winter and Francis, St. Giles's-st, Norwich.-Myers. and Morrison, cap manufacturers, first and final, 8. 9. (15s. 4d, on. sep, estate of Myers; 168, 7d, on sep. estate of Morrison; and 20s. on sep, estate of Edmond.) At Trust. J. Routh, Royal Insurance. bldgs, Park-row, Leeds.-Pickering, C. butcher, first and final,. 45. 3. At Sols. Arrowsmith and Richardson, Castlegate, Thirsk. -Price, D. G. builder, Cardiff, first and final, 4d. At Trust. F. C. Hill, 80, Saint Mary-st, Cardiff.-Procter, W. cabinet maker, first. and final, 38. 10d. At Trust. J. Ronth, Royal Insurance-bldgs. Park-row, Leeds.-Roper, F. commission agent, first and final, 48. 7d. At the Royal Insurance-bldgs, Park-row, Leeds.-Shaun, J. cloth merchant, first and final, 3s. At the Royal Insurancebldgs, Park-row, Leeds.-Wilson, W. currier, first and final, 28. 6d. At Sols., Arrowsmith and Richardson, Castlegate, Thirsk.-Wolsey, H. B. dealer, Norwich and Cringleford, first and final, 20s. At offices of Sols., W. H. Tillett and Co., St. Andr5w'sst, Norwich. MARRIAGES. KIRBY-PAGET.-On the 11th inst., at the Great Meeting, Leices. HEATON.-On the 7th inst., aged 80, C. H. Heaton, Esq., barrister- POWELL-On the 27th ult., aged 72, James Powell, Esq.. many TEPPER. On the 10th inst, at Notting-hill-square, aged 54, Jabez PARTRIDGE AND COOPER THE ANGLER'S DIARY, wherein the LIST OF BOOKS WHOLESALE & RETAIL STATIONERS, 192, FLEET-STREET, AND 1 & 2, CHANCERY-LANE, LONDON, E. Carriage paid to the Country on Orders exceeding 208. DRAFT PAPER, 48. 6d., 68., 78.,78. 9d., and 98. per ream. ENVELOPES, CREAM OR BLUE, 48. 6d., and 68. 6d., per 1000. Year. An extensive List of Fishing Stations throughout the London: HORACE Cox, 346, Strand, W.C. FACTS and USEFUL HINTS relating to Recipes on the Management of Dogs in Health and Disease. London: HORACE Cox, 346, Strand, W.C. THE NEW "VELLUM WOVE CLUB HOUSE NOTE, 98. 6d. per Evil Drawings, Plans, and Sections. By FRANCIS ream. "We should direct particular attention to their New Clubhouse Paper: in our opinion it is the very best paper we ever wrote upon."-London Mirror. INDENTURE SKINS, Printed and Machine-ruled, to hold twenty LEDGERS, DAY-BOOKS, CASH-BOOKS, LETTER OF MINUTE-BOOKS Now ready, Second edition, price 38., EPORTS on SALMON LADDERS, with London: HORACE Cox, 346, Strand, W.C. HE COUNTRY HOUSE; a Collection of THE SILKWORM BOOK; or, SILK- SPRING "This book contains life-like and pleasing episodes from Mrs. Sidney Cox's volume is one of excellent counsel. I is also an entertaining book."-The Athenæum. Our girls will find a valuable monitor in Spring Time "We exhort all English girls to study this book. London: HORACE Cox, 10, Wellington-street, Strand. London: HORACE Cox, 346, Strand, W.C. HIFTS and EXPEDIENTS of CAMP THE London: HORACE Cox, 346, Strand, W.C. PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX, AT WELLINGTON-STREET, STRAND BAKER'S LAW of SALMON THE DOGS of the BRITISH ISLANDS : parts: THE DOGS USED WITH THE GUN (price 5s.). PRACTICE of a COUNTRY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE. Ninth Edition. By W. PATERSON. Price 21s. cloth. PRACTICAL STATUTES OF THE SESSION 1871 BEAUTIFUL POETRY: a Selection Life Assurance Companies Act (1870) Elementary Education Act (1870) COX'S REPORTS of CRIMINAL Amendment Act Public Schools Act (1860) Amend. Election Commissioners Expenses Charters (Colleges) Act. ment Act. Local Government Board Act Bills of Exchange and Promissory Railway Regulation Amendment East India Stocks (Dividends) Act. Lodgers' Goods Protection Act. University Tests Act. Debenture Stock Act. Post Office (Duties) Act. The Trade Union Act. Threats, &c.) Act. Industrial and Provident Societies Criminal Law Amendment (Violence, Church Building Acts Amendment Burial Law Amendment Act. Ecclesiastical Dilapidations Act. LONDON: HORACE Act. Amendment Act. Expiring Laws Continuance Act. Vaccination Act (1867) Amendment Discharge and Chain Cables and Anchors Act. List of Local and Personal Acts Index. COX, 10, WELLINGTON-STREET, STRAND, W.C. Safes made entirely by Machinery, at a Reduction of 25 per Cent. PATENT RELIANCE FIRE AND WEDGE PROOF SAFES. 11, NEWGATE-STREET (from 30, Walbrook) LONDON LAW CASES at the Central Criminal Court, and WINDING-UP of COMPANIES and RAILWAYS.-All the Statute and Case Law in the new Edition (being the SEVENTH) of COX'S LAW and PRACTICE of JOINT STOCK COMPANIES, by CHARLES J. O'MALLEY, Barrister-at-Law. This new edition includes the whole law to this time, with all the decided cases and a practical introducti n by Mr. Serjt. Cox, on the formation and management of Companies, with precedents of Articles of Association, and of all other forms required. Price 218. LAW TIMES OFFICE, 10, Wellington-street, Strand, London Os. 6d 3s. 6d. Every additional ten words Four lines or thirty words. Advertisements specially ordered for the first page are charged one-fourth more than the above scale. Advertisements must reach the office not later than five o'clock on Thursday afternoon. 143 WILSON e. WILSON AND HOWELL Correspondence Matrimonial suit-Jurisdiction 600 COURT OF ADMIRALTY. LAW STUDENTS' JOURNAL: THE ACHILLES Costs-Consent to a motion 605 THE THURINGIA Collision-Objection to registrar's re port.. 605 LEADING ARTICLES, &c. Articled Clerks' Society 145 TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS 129 Exeter Law Students' Society. 145 Liverpool Law Students' Society 145 LEADING ARTICLES: Norwich Law Students' Society.. Topics of the Week 129 LEGAL OBITUARY 145 Jury Trials in the Court of Chancery...... 130 LEGAL EXTRACTS: 130 The Reservation of Rights Against Sure The Humours of Injunction. ties 131 The Elements of the Law of Average Court of Chancery, 1871 146 133 NOTES OF THE WEEK: Sittings in and after Hilary Term 1871 147 14 Court of Appeal in Chancery... 134 Rolls Court 134 BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS TO THE 145 146 PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS.......... 146 PROFESSION. 147 WITH this number of the LAW TIMES the LAW LIFE AND PROPERTY NOTICE.-NOW PUBLISHING. A GENERAL INDEX to vols. 11 to 20 of the LAW TIMES REPORTS, New Series, will be published in ten parts, price 1s. each. Sent free of postage to subscribers. The General Index to vols. 1 to 10, N. S., may still be had, price 7s. 6d. in cloth. The Law and the Lawyers. We would ask those of our readers who are in positions of influence in the Profession, to do something to concentrate the energies of English lawyers which are ready to be devoted to replacing the lost libraries of Chicago: Mr. AsHWORTH, of Manchester, informs us that a very strong desire exists in that city that VOL. LII.-No. 1499. He says: "It is believed THE United Law Clerks' Society was founded in 1832, and by its rules there is a provision for arbitration in the event of a dispute. It is much to the credit of the society that for twenty years no member has had a complaint to bring before the arbitrators, and the first dispute after this lapse of time was decided on Saturday last on a claim to superannuation. The accumulated funds of the society now amount to 50,000l., and there are 900 members. THE Bankruptcy Act 1869 allowed the continued existence of local Mr. WILKIE COLLINS, in his new Christmas story "Mrs. or Miss," makes his plot turn pretty much on the pledging by a merchant in an hour of necessity of one copy of a bill of lading, whilst obtaining the delivery of the goods under the other. In a note he observes that an eminent firm in the City actually did advance a large sum of money upon such security, without making any inquiry. It is usual for a copy of the bill of lading to be retained by the consignor, who sends one or two copies to the consignee. If by a fraud a copy gets into strange hands, or is fraudulently applied, it is hardly such gross want of business care on the part of a lender, as Mr. COLLINS imagines, if he do not make inquiry, for the presumption is that the goods will be delivered by the captain to the bona fide holder of a bill of lading, and one copy is as good as another. The case of Meyerstein v. Barber, recently before the House of Lords, illustrates the evils almost inseparable from the practice of drawing bills of lading in sets. There is hardly any practice adopted for mercantile convenience which may not be abused by the fraudulent. In another column will be found a decision given by Mr. OSBORNE, the County Court Judge of Salford, which, we believe, will be approved of by the great majority of attorneys in the country, no less than by the Bar. In point of law, it is clearly unimpeachable; and we have been given to understand, what is indeed pretty obvious, that the great mass of the Profession following the legitimate practice of attorneys and solicitors do not find their interests served by certain members of their body who habitually act as advocates in causes in which they are not generally retained. There is a further consideration which is worthy of attention. If attorneys are found to adopt to any great extent the business of advocates, barristers will probably be compelled in self-defence to infringe upon the business of the other branch of the Profession, by communicating directly with clients, and taking upon them other duties at variance with the etiquette which holds at present, but which, it should not be forgotten, rests upon nothing more than a tacit agreement between the two branches of the Profession that each should confine itself to what are considered its appropriate duties. ANOTHER appeal is to be made to the HOME SECRETARY for a remission of a sentence of capital punishment. The grounds upon which such appeals are based should be narrowly scrutinised, for the simple reason that they are frequently set on foot by those who oppose capital punishment altogether, and desire that it may be abolished. So long as death is the punishment of murder it should be inflicted, unless it can be shown that the jury found a verdict which in a civil cause would be upset and a new trial granted. Having found a prisoner guilty of killing with malice aforethought, it is idle for a jury afterwards to say that they do not believe that he meant to commit murder. The law, rightly or wrongly, presumes that every man who is in his right mind intends the natural consequences of his acts, and if a jury says that a man did that which resulted in the legal offence of murder the process is complete, and he stands condemned to forfeit his life. We do not desire to prejudice the chance of a mitigation of the extreme penalty which Mr. TAYLOR seeks for two poachers recently convicted, but if mercy is extended let it be plainly understood that it is mercy and not legal stultification which revokes the verdict. MR. JUSTICE WILLES has directed attention to the baneful effect of that legislative enactment which provides that the fact of a prisoner who is on his trial having been previously convicted shall be with. held from the jury. No one who has seen the practical operation of this law can fail to agree with the learned Judge in condemning it absolutely. We saw a striking illustration of it in an assize court only last year. Two men were separately indicted for passing counterfeit coin. The real criminal was tried first, and acquitted. It then appeared that he had been previously convicted of a similar offence. His dupe was then placed in the dock, and, of course, also acquitted, it being perfectly plain that he had been the tool of the convict who had just escaped. We pass Acts providing for police supervision of criminals, but a jury called upon to try those who are such for second or third offences are to treat them as innocent persons. It would, of course, be hard that every convicted person should have so strong a prejudice raised against him in the minds of a jury as this knowledge would create, because, undoubtedly, people are sometimes wrongly convicted. But with a court of criminal appeal in matters of fact, we might hope to get rid of the law which now enables convicted criminals to have all the indulgences and loose presumptions at present available. There is something to be said on both sides of the question, but the argu ment of expediency is on the side of the public, and against the convicted criminals. THERE are some reformers who imagine that our law can be made reasonable by a fusion of law and equity; others believe in an extension of County Court jurisdiction. But it is perfectly plain that by a long course of practice our rules of procedure have become a source of vexation and increased litigation which no tinkering of jurisdiction will cure. The prospect of the TICHBORNE case being tried over again is so portentous that the means by which and the grounds upon which such a catastrophe is made possible present themselves conspicuously to the public eye. Lord Chief Justice BOVILL has drawn the attention of the ATTORNEYGENERAL to the fact that the improper rejection or admission of a little and uuimportant evidence may furnish occasion for a new trial. The practice as to new trials on questions of evidence is laid down in the widest terms. CHITTY'S ARCHBOLD states it thus: If a Judge at the trial admit improper evidence, or reject evidence which ought to be admitted, by which means the result of the trial might have been different, the court will in general grant a new trial. A court would have very considerable difficulty in a case involving so nice a question as that of identity in saying that the verdict might not have been affected by the exclusion of evidence which was admitted. A new trial has been, and doubtless will generally be, refused where there clearly appeared to be sufficient evidence to support the verdict, independent of the evidence improperly admitted. The only possible legislation on the subject, as it appears to us, would be an enactment providing that a new trial shall not be granted upon the ground that evidence was improperly admitted. There certainly ought to be a new trial where evidence is improperly excluded. The ATTORNEYGENERAL, however, does not hold out the prospect of any legislative action whatever dealing with what may be called the surface defects of our law. JURY TRIALS IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY. Ir, as Mr. LocOOK WEBB told the court which is trying Tichborne v. Lushington, the Court of Chancery would have disposed of it satisfactorily in a month, it is matter for regret that it was not possible so to dispose of it. The study of the process by which the Court of Chancery has gradually obtained power to decide questions of law and to summon a jury is instructive, and shows how tenacious we are of the vicious habit of patching up our legal system. In an Act" To amend the Law concerning Games and Wagers' (8 & 9 Vict. c. 109) we find a section (sect. 19) inserted to the effect that in every case where any court of law or equity may desire to have any question of fact tried by a jury, it shall be lawful for such court to direct a writ of summons to be sued out by such person or persons as such court shall think ought to be plaintiffs and defendants, in the same manner as at the time of the passing of the Act was practised under a feigned issue. Then, by the Act of 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. 86) to amend the practice and course of proceeding in the Court of Chancery, that court was prohibited from directing a case to be stated for the opinion of any court of common law (sect. 60), but full power was given to it to determine any questions of law, which in the judgment of the court shall be necessary to be decided previously to the decision of the equitable question at issue; and where, according to the then existing practice of the court such court declines to grant equitable relief until the legal title or right of the party or parties seeking such relief shall have been established in a proceeding at law, the court may itself determine such title or right, without requiring the parties to proceed at law to establish the same: (sect 62.) Six years afterwards another Act was passed (21 & 22 Vict. c. 27) to amend the course of procedure in the Court of Chancery in England, Ireland, and the County Palatine of Lancaster, which gave a limited right to summon a jury and try certain questions as they would be tried at Nisi Prius. This jurisdiction is limited by the second section to "all cases in which the Court of Chancery has jurisdiction to entertain an application for an injunction against a breach of any covenant, contract, or agreement, or against the commission or continuance of any wrongful act, or for the specific performance of any covenant, contract, or agreement." In such cases it was made lawful for the court to award damages to the party injured; and by sect. 3, "to cause the amount of such damages in any case to be assessed, or any question of fact arising in any suit or proceeding to be tried, by a special or common jury before the court itself." Four years subsequently Parliament again patched up the procedure of the English courts by an Act which is not styled an amending Act of which there were already two on the statute-book-but a regulating Act: the Chancery Regulation Act 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 42.). After reciting that the High Court of Chancery has power in certain cases to refuse to postpone the application of remedies within its jurisdiction until questions of law and fact on which the title to such remedies depends have been determined or ascertained in a court of common law, and that it is expedient that such power should no longer exist, but that in all such cases every question of law and of fact cognizable in a court of common law arising in the Court of Chancery, on which the right of any party to any equitable relief depends, and whether the title to such relief or remedy be or be not incident to or dependent upon a legal right should be determined by or before the court itself, it is enacted that every question of law or fact cognisable in a court of common law on the determination of which the title to such relief or remedy depends, shall be determined by or before the Court of Chancery. Then it is provided that the rules as to trial laid down in the Act of 1858 shall apply, and by the 4th section it provided "That in all cases in which the object of any suit in equity shall be to recover or to defend the possession of land under a legal title or under a title which would have been legal but for the existence of some outstanding term, lease, or mortgage (and whether mesne profits or damages shall or shall not also be sought in such suit), such relief only shall be given in equity as would have been proper according to the rules and practice of the court, if this Act had not passed; and nothing in this Act shall make it necessary for a court of equity to grant relief in any suit concerning any matter as to which a court of common law has concurrent jurisdiction, if it shall appear to the court that such matter has been improperly brought into equity, and that the same ought to have been left to the sole determination of a court of common law. It will now be seen, by even an unprofessional reader, why the TICHBORNE case went to law. Mr. Locock WEBB says that it is a blot upon our Legislature that such should be the position of things. We confess the legislation which we have sketched puzzles us very much. It is a thousand pities that Parliament cannot at once make up its mind concerning the jurisdiction of the various courts; and, judging from the past, we cannot but be slow to believe that the stride contemplated by Lord HATHERLEY, so as to do away with the half measures of previous Parliaments, will really be taken at last. The existing state of things is ruinous and disgraceful, and if the TICHBORNE case assists at its amelioration it will not have been fought in vain. THE LAW OF DISTRESS IN ENGLAND AND A VERY instructive decision was delivered some time since in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in which English principles, as settled by a series of decisions, were very severely attacked, and, indeed, the decisions condemned. The questions involved in the case are sufficiently shown in the charge of the court at Nisi Prius on points put by counsel. "A distress levied is not satisfaction; and until the landlord has received satisfaction, he has a right to distrain any goods found on the demised property;" and "that it does not stand in the way of the landlord in making a second distress; that it was on the plaintiff and not the defendant in the issue joined, to show that the rent was paid, and, of course, the plaintiff was bound to show that the goods first distrained had been converted into money, and were sufficient to pay the whole rent. If anything whatever were due under this issue, your verdict should be for the defendant." An intelligent critic in the Philadelphia Legal Intelligencer of Nov. 10, places the whole question in a clear light, and comes to the conclusion that the English decisions are right, and the American Judge (Kennedy) who delivered the judgment reversing the ruling at Nisi Prius, wrong. We extract the criticism, as it deals with statutes alike in both countries: In examining the decision of the Supreme Court, it must be kept constantly in mind, that the pleadings presented but one question, and that this was of the simplest description, i.e., whether the tenant had discharged the whole amount of rent claimed by the landlord. When the landlord has proceeded by a distraint of the tenant's goods, several inquiries may be mixed up in the contention between the parties. The very existence of the relation of landlord and tenant may be denied, or, admitting that it once existed, it may have come to an end before the distraint took place, &c. The pleadings must be varied accordingly. In each of these supposed conditions of fact, the landlord would have no claim on the tenant for rent. But the law does not allow in pleading argumentative statement and inferential deduction. It requires positive and direct assertion. In either of the supposed conditions of facts, argumentatively speaking, the landlord would have no claim for rent. But the authorities are clear and uniform, that, under the plea of no rent in arrear, such defences would be excluded. There is entire consistency on this subject in the English and American decisions. |