the peace.

Justices of other jurisdiction, the members of such county council being elected by the ratepayers of the different divisions of the county, &c., into which it is divided. Among the powers so transferred may be mentioned the making of the county rate and management of the county fund, the borrowing of money, the maintenance and repair of main roads (1), the building and repair of county bridges, the granting of licenses for music and dancing and racecourses, pauper lunatic asylums, reformatory and industrial schools, county coroners and officers, the administration of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Acts (2), One duty of quarter sessions, which is not wholly transferred to the county council, namely, the control of the police, will be undertaken by a joint committee of the county council and of the justices in quarter sessions. Other duties of justices in quarter sessions which they retain, and which are not affected in any degree by the Local Government Act, are their judicial duties. Firstly, the chairman, with the assistance of the other justices, and by means of a jury, tries indictments for that class of offences with respect to which jurisdiction is given by statute. The justices of quarter sessions, under the presidency of their chairman, but without a jury, try appeals against the decisions of justices in petty sessions, both in criminal and certain quasi criminal and civil matters over which they have control. For purposes of petty and special sessions, each county is divided into petty sessional divisions. In all or nearly all of them there is a petty sessional court-house and one or more occasional court-houses. When justices sit at one of the latter places, their power to punish by fine or imprisonment is limited. But though a justice usually acts for one division, his jurisdiction extends over the whole county, and he may sit anywhere in the county for most purposes. At petty sessions the justices sit to hear matters which are within their summary jurisdiction. These are (3) either criminal, such as assaults, drunkenness, and similar offences of a minor kind; or civil, such as bastardy, maintenance of the poor by their relatives, disputes between employers and workmen, and the like. In special sessions justices sit to grant and renew licenses for the sale of liquor, to hear appeals against poor-rates, and for a few other purposes. Special sessions are so called because each justice of the division is specially summoned to attend. Besides these summary powers, justices have the power to inquire into all charges of indictable offences.

(1) Stephen and Miller's County Council Compendium, 2nd ed. pp. 5, 6, 68, 69.

(2) See McMorran's Local Govern

ment Act, 2nd ed.

(3) See List, p. xi., Stone's Justice's Manual.

Their duty in this respect is simply to take the evidence, and, Justices of the peace. if they think that a prima facie case is made out against the accused, to commit him for trial to assizes or quarter sessions (1). In certain cases of indictable offences they have under the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, power to dispose summarily of the charges, when the amount involved is small or when the accused consents to be so dealt with. It should be borne in mind that the jurisdiction of justices depends upon the provisions of a very large number of statutes. With certain exceptions the justices perform their functions without fee or reward, but in the metropolis and other large municipalities where the business is too important and complex to be undertaken by persons without a legal training, magistrates paid by salaries are appointed.

To revert for one moment to the jurisdiction of quarter sessions, it is necessary to state that in those municipalities which have a grant of quarter sessions in addition to a separate commission, a recorder is appointed, who must be a barrister of five years' standing. In his jurisdiction he absorbs in himself the functions which would otherwise be exercised by the quarter sessions bench (2).

The subject of Local Government is so vast, and such important changes would appear to be imminent in the immediate future, that it has been deemed advisable to omit from the present work any account of the numerous authorities, boards, and other bodies at present entrusted with its administration. The reader who desires further information on this interesting subject is referred to the work mentioned in the note, where he will find the existing organization of local government in England considered under the two heads of (1) the existing units of local government in England and (2) the matters which are locally administered (3).

Other courts, which may here be mentioned, are the Palatine Court of Lancashire, the Palatine Court of Durham (4), the

(1) See now the Assizes Relief Act, 52 & 53 Vict. c. 12.

(2) See list of municipalities, with their characteristics in this respect in English Municipal Code, by Somers Vine, published by Waterlow & Sons, and also Archbold's Q. S., P. 1008.

() Local Government and Local Taxation in England and Wales, by R. S. Wright and H. Hobhouse, M.P. This work must, of course be, read subject to the changes introduced by

the Local Government Act, 1888.

The attention of the reader may also be directed in connection with this subject to the following Acts passed in the year 1890. The Public Health Act Amendment Act, 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 59). The Metropolis Management Act, 1862, Amendment Act, 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 54). The Metropolis Management Amendment Act, 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 66).

(4) See the Palatine Court of Durham Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 47).

Court to

have juris

diction of Chancery Division.

Jurisdic-
tion of
Court of
Appeal.

Court of Passage in Liverpool, the Stannary Court, held before the Vice-Warden of the Stannaries in Devonshire and Cornwall. An Act which is to be cited as the Chancery of Lancaster Act, 1890 (1), provides that after the passing of the Act (July 25, 1890) the Court of Chancery of the County Palatine of Lancaster, called the Lancaster Chancery Court shall, “as regards all persons, bodies corporate, and property within or becoming subject to its jurisdiction, have and exercise the like powers and jurisdiction, and in a similar manner, and subject to the same restrictions in all respects, as the High Court in its Chancery Division now has and exercises, or may, under or by virtue of any Act of Parliament hereafter passed, and not expressly enacting to the contrary hereof, have and exercise, in respect of all persons, bodies corporate, and property within its jurisdiction."

It is also provided by the same Act that Her Majesty's Court of Appeal shall, as to all judgments and orders of the Lancaster Chancery Court, have and exercise the like appellate and original jurisdiction as the Court of Appeal now has and exercises, or may, under or by virtue of any Act of Parliament hereafter passed, and not expressly enacting to the contrary hereof, have and exercise with respect to judgments and orders of the High Court or of any judge thereof.

The Act also provides that judgments and orders of the Court of Appeal in causes or matters in the Lancaster Chancery Court are to be subject to appeal to the House of Lords in like manner as judgments or orders of the Court of Appeal in causes or matters commenced or pending in the High Court.

(1) 53 & 54 Vict. c. 23, s. 5, provides for transfer of causes and matters to the High Court, as follows:

(1.) Any cause or matter in the Lancaster Chancery Court, which but for the passing of this Act the Lancaster Chancery Court would not have been competent to try or deal with, and which if the same had been commenced in the High Court would not, under the provisions of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1873, and the Acts amending it or any rules made under those Acts, have been assigned to the Chancery Division of the High Court, may at any stage be transferred from the Lancaster Chancery Court to the High Court by an order either of the Court of Appeal or of the Lancaster

Chancery Court.

(2.) In the case of any such transfer all proceedings in the cause or matter shall be transmitted from the Lancaster Chancery Court to the High Court, and shall be filed there; and the cause or matter shall thereafter be proceeded with according to the practice of the High Court as if the cause or matter had been commenced in the High Court.

The Commissioner for Oaths Amendment Act, 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 7), provides that an affidavit to be used in a county court may be sworn before any commissioner to administer oaths in the Court of Chancery of the County Palatine of Lancaster not being a registrar of a county court.

CHAPTER XIX.

COUNSEL AND SOLICITORS.

Having thus described, so far as the limits of space will permit, the more important features of the practice of the Supreme Court of Judicature, and glanced at the principal of the other Courts and bodies which exercise jurisdiction in this country, we may next briefly consider the law which immediately concerns counsel and solicitors-the members of the two branches of the profession to whom the conduct of legal business is entrusted.

These are (1) Barristers or counsel, who are either members Counsel. of the inner bar, i.e., Queen's counsel, or members of the outer or junior bar. Formerly all judges of the Common Law Courts were required to take, or to have taken, the degree of Serjeant at law (1), but this was rendered unnecessary by the Judicature Act, 1873 (2). All barristers must be members of one of the four Inns of Court, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple, Middle Temple, or Gray's Inn, and (since 1872) must have passed certain examinations in Roman and English law. (2) Solicitors, who Solicitors. require the following qualifications for practice :-(1) due service under articles for a prescribed period, usually five years, but in the case of certain graduates three years (3); (2) to have passed the examinations prescribed by the Incorporated Law Society; (3) due admission as hereinafter mentioned; (4) to have taken out an annual stamped certificate. Barristers of five years' standing, who desire to be ad- Regulamitted as solicitors, are exempted on certain terms from the intermediate examinations and from service under articles (4). A corresponding rule very recently passed by the Inns of Court provides that "a student who, previously to his admission at an Inn of Court, was a solicitor in practice for not less than

(1) The reader who desires further information on this subject is referred to Pulling's Order of the Coif, the Inns of Court Calendar, Slater's Guide to the Legal Profession. In 1880 the Society of Serjeants' Inn

VOL. II.

was dissolved, and its property in
Chancery Lane sold.

(2) 36 & 37 Vict. c. 66, s. 8.
(3) See Cordery on Solicitors, 2nd
ed. p. 12, for other exceptions.

() 40 & 41 Vict. c. 25, s. 12.
3 I

tions as to passing from one branch of the profession to the other.

Retainer.

General retainer.

Special retainer.

five years (and, in accordance with rule 7, has ceased to be a solicitor before his admission as a student) may be examined for call to the Bar without keeping any terms, and may be called to the Bar upon passing the public examination required by these rules, without keeping any terms: Provided that such solicitor has given at least twelve months' notice in writing to each of the four Inns of Court, and to the Incorporated Law Society, of his intention to seek call to the Bar, and produce a certificate signed by two members of the council of the Incorporated Law Society, that he is a fit and proper person to be called to the Bar" (1).

A student coming under the last preceding rule may be exempted by the masters of the bench of the Inn to which he seeks admission from passing the examination preliminary to admission.

The consideration of our subject may be well commenced by noticing the practice in the preliminary stages of litigation. In cases where it is deemed desirable to obtain the services of a particular counsel in a certain matter the object is effected by leaving with his clerk a written "retainer "accompanied by a fee. The retainer may be either "general" or "special." A general retainer is a retainer given by or on behalf of a client to secure the services of counsel in any litigation in which the client may thereafter be involved. Its effect is to entitle the client to have notice if a brief against him be afterwards tendered to the counsel so generally retained, and the first option of specially retaining such counsel's services. A special retainer is a retainer given to secure the services of counsel in a particular action or matter. It can only be given after the action (or other proceeding) has been commenced. It can however be given before the writ or petition has been served on the defendant or respondent (2).

(1) Rule 7, above referred to, is as follows:-No attorney-at-law, solicitor, writer to the Signet, or writer of the Scotch Courts, proctor, notary public, clerk in chancery, parliamentary agent, or agent in any Court original or appellate, clerk to any justice of the peace, or persons acting in any of these capacities, and no clerk to any barrister, conveyancer, pleader, equity draftsman, attorney, selicitor, writer to the Signet, or writer of the Scotch Courts, proctor, notary public, parliamentary agent, or agent in any Court original or

appellate, clerk in chancery, clerk of the peace, clerk to any justice of the peace, or to any officer in any Court of law or equity, and no person acting in the capacity of any such clerk shall be admitted as a student at any Inn of Court until such person shall have entirely and bona fide ceased to act or practise in any of the capacities above named or described; and if on the rolls of any Court, shall have taken his name off the rolls thereof.

(2) See Counsel's Retainer, by E. B. G., 1888.