between the parties, and determining all questions raised, has been conferred upon every branch of the Supreme Court; the result being that although, for the more convenient despatch of business, some kinds of litigation are assigned to particular divisions, law and equity are now administered in every branch of the Court. And having regard to the direction that in all cases of conflict or variance between the rules of Equity and of Common Law, the rules of Equity shall prevail-Judicature Act, 1873, s. 25 (11)—it is apprehended that the Forms contained in this work have lost no portion of their value and importance, but have rather become more generally applicable than heretofore.

Since the Judicature Acts, the expression "decree," having lost its distinctive meaning, has been superseded in use by the more comprehensive word "judgment;" but is still properly and usefully retained in reference to the pre-existing procedure.

The following classes of business have been assigned to the Chancery Division of the High Court by the Judicature Act, 1873, s. 34, viz. :— (1.) All causes and matters pending in the Court of Chancery at the commencement of the Acts.

(2.) All causes and matters to be commenced after the commencement of the Acts, under any Act of Parliament by which exclusive jurisdiction in respect to such causes, &c., has been given to the Court of Chancery, or to any Judge thereof, except County Court appeals. Under this head are included proceedings under the Lunacy Regulation Acts (the jurisdiction in respect of lunatics of the Lords Justices of Appeal in Chancery at the commencement of the Acts being reserved to them by the Judicature Act, 1875, s. 7); and under the Solicitors Acts, the Trustee and Trustee Relief Acts, the Leases and Sales Acts, the Lands Clauses Acts, and the various Acts more particularly noticed in the course of this work.

(3.) All causes and matters for the administration of the estates of deceased persons; dissolution of partnerships, or taking partnership or other accounts; redemption or foreclosure of mortgages; raising portions or other charges on land; sale and distribution of the proceeds of property subject to any lien or charge; execution of trusts, charitable or private; rectification, or setting aside, or cancelling of deeds or other written instruments; specific performance of contracts between vendors and purchasers of real estates, including contracts for leases; partition and sale of real estates; wardship of infants and the care of infants' estates.

By the Judicature Act, 1873, s. 100, "cause" includes any action, suit, or other original proceeding between a plaintiff and a defendant, and any criminal proceedings by the Crown (which, by s. 34, are assigned to the Queen's Bench Division).

"Suit" includes action; "action" means a civil proceeding commenced by writ or in such other manner as may be prescribed by Rules of Court, but not a criminal proceeding by the Crown; and "matter" includes every proceeding in the Court not in a cause. An

originating summons under O. LV. 3, has been held to be an action: In re Fawsitt, Galland v. Burton, 30 Ch. D. 231; Gee v. Bell, 35 Ch. D.

160.

In judgments in Equity, the final working out of the particular question to be determined, or further consideration generally, is frequently adjourned. It is in many cases necessary, before the rights of the parties can be finally determined, to make inquiries as to facts, or parties, to take accounts between the parties, or take the accounts of the estate to be administered, or to get in the personal estate, and sell the real estate. In such cases the usual course has been to direct that the further consideration of the cause be adjourned; and when the inquiries have been answered, or the accounts taken, and the Chief Clerk's certificate showing the result of such inquiries or accounts has been filed, the cause is brought on again. The further hearing was formerly termed the hearing upon further directions, or, after proceedings directed at law, the hearing upon the equity reserved. Now the direction is, "that the further consideration of the action be adjourned." And O. xxxvi. 21, directs that the cause when set down again be set down "for further consideration."

The Judicature Act, 1875, distinguishes between final and interlocutory judgments by providing (s. 12) that where the subject-matter of an appeal is a final order, decree, or judgment, the appeal shall be heard before not less than three Judges of the Court of Appeal, and when it is an interlocutory order, &c., before not less than two Judges of such Court; any doubt as to what judgments, &c., are final, and what interlocutory, to be determined by the Court of Appeal. The effect of this enactment is considered in Chap. XXXVI., "APPEALS."

REFERENCE TO RECORD.

By O. LXI. 19, every judgment, order, certificate, petition or document made, presented or used in any cause or matter, shall be distinguished by having plainly written or stamped on the first page thereof the year, the letter, and the number by which the cause or matter is distinguished in the books kept at the Central Office.

The year referred to is the year of the issue of the writ or originating summons; the letter is the initial letter of the first plaintiff's surname; and the number is the consecutive number in the Central Office books for the year.

REFERENCE TO REGISTRAR'S BOOKS.

The references lettered A. and B., followed by a numeral, which occur constantly in the following pages after the names of cases referred to, apply to the entries in the Registrars' books A. and B., kept in the Record Department of the Central Office. Judgments and orders are entered according to the names of the plaintiffs or the titles of the matters. The books marked A. contain the entries from A. to K. inclusive, and those marked B. contain the rest. The legal year

began with Michaelmas Term, so that in decrees and orders previous to the change of style in the year 1752, when the year commenced on the 25th of March (see the 24 Geo. 2, c. 23), the date of the year of our Lord in the decree or order does not correspond with that of the book, except in Michaelmas and Hilary Terms; and since the change of style in that year, down to the year 1860, the date does not so correspond, except from the 2nd November to the 31st December. From the 1st January to the 1st November the date of the book is one year earlier than that of the decree or order.

By a letter from the L. C. to the senior Registrar, dated 19th November, 1859, Reg. Lib. 1859, B. 1, his Lordship authorized "a supplementary book to be made, marked 1859, to contain the orders made from the 2nd November up to the 31st December, 1859, and that from and after the 1st January, 1860, all orders dated during the current year should be entered in a book or books to be marked with that year." Since then the dates of the decrees, judgments and orders correspond with the dates of the books in which they are entered.

The Registrars' Books and Court Minute Books, prior to the year 1870, have been transferred to the Public Record Office, Rolls House; those of later date are kept at the Central Office and the Registrars' Offices.

Provision is made by O. XLI. 1—3, for the entry of judgments by the proper officer in a book to be kept for the purpose, and that the entry of the judgment shall be dated, and the judgment take effect as on the day on which it is pronounced: see post, Chap. XVI., "ENTRY OF JUDGMENT." In the Chancery Division the Registrar is the proper officer. The entry of orders and judgments, final or interlocutory, in the District Registries established by the Judicature Act, 1873, ss. 60-66, is regulated by O. xxxv.

GENERAL FORM AND ARRANGEMENT OF JUDGMENTS AND ORDERS.

In point of form, a judgment or order of the Court, as ultimately drawn up, consists usually of two parts: one, preliminary or introductory, and the other containing the actual adjudication or pronouncement of the Court.

The function of the first or preliminary part of the order is to show the circumstances attending the making of it. Accordingly, in this part is stated briefly the form of the application to the Court, who are the parties appearing, and any consents, waivers or undertakings given by them (a), and reference is made to the evidence adduced before the Court upon which the order is based: v. inf. Chap. XV. These are matters with which the Registrars of the Court are specially conver

(a) It is, however, to be observed that where a consent, waiver, undertaking, or admission relates only to a particular part of the judgment or order, it should be inserted so as immediately to precede that part, as otherwise it might be considered that the entire judgment or order was grounded on such consent, &c.

sant, and this part of the order (in the preparation of which care and accuracy are of the utmost importance) is under their special supervision.

Judgments and orders in the Chancery Division are, in their second or substantive part, of so varied and often complex a character that no specific rules as to the arrangement of them can be given. There is, however, a generally defined natural order of clauses which is usefully adopted. Thus, any declarations made by the Court as to the rights of the parties naturally precede the accounts and inquiries which are directed in order to ascertain the nature or extent of such rights, or to give effect to them, and these again are followed by consequential directions or specific adjudications inter partes, as for the recovery of money or land, delivery of property, directing the performance of or abstention from any act, any sale, conveyance or other dealing with property, or the lodgment in Court or payment out of funds, and taxation and payment of costs. Where accounts or inquiries are directed, the order concludes by making provision for the further consideration by the Court of any part of the subject-matter which may, on the result of such accounts or inquiries, require such consideration.

Formerly the decree contained statements of the pleadings; anciently they were interwoven with the directions; more recently the entire statement was placed first, and the ordering part afterwards. Several general orders have been issued, with the view to shorten the recitals in decrees and orders: see Sand. 236, 568. And at the present time the practice of reciting in judgments or orders any facts proved in the evidence has altogether fallen into disuse as unnecessary, except in cases of contempt of Court, or in a limited class of circumstances in which it may be thought expedient.

Judgments and orders are drawn up without regard to punctuation, the separate clauses being indicated by the use of capital letters (b), and it must be understood that the punctuation in the forms given in this work has no official significance, but is introduced merely for the assistance of the reader.

As the names of the parties to an action or other proceeding sufficiently appear in the title of the judgment or order, it is usual in the body of the order to refer to them simply as plaintiff, defendant, or otherwise, as the case may be, without naming them; but where the order directs payment by one party to another of any sum of money, or the performance of any act which may be enforced by attachment, it is essential to insert the names both of the party to perform the act, and, in cases of payment of money, of the party to receive payment.

(b) The advantage of this practice is, that it necessitates careful wording of the clauses, and tends to prevent ambiguity and mistake, or the possibility of the order being tampered with. If punctuation were permitted, a looser style of drafting would probably prevail, and though the duties of the Registrars might be simplified, their utility would be diminished.

In their preliminary stage, judgments or orders (or rather the second or substantive part of them) are ordinarily drawn up in "minutes," i. e., in a compendious form, eschewing details, and indicating the nature of the directions given by the Court. These minutes are subsequently expanded, under the supervision of the Registrar (v. inf. Chap. XV.), into the complete order.

In the ensuing pages, the material contents of judgments and orders are given sometimes in minute form, and sometimes in the completer form. The difference between the two species of forms will, however, be readily understood on reference to the forms given in Chap. XII., and a comparison of them with other forms throughout the work in which the mandatory part of the order begins with the word "Let."

All orders dealing with funds in Court which are to be acted on by the Paymaster are printed with a Schedule exhibiting the several transactions he is to carry out. The specimen forms of directions which are commonly inserted in "Lodgment and Payment Schedules," given in Chap. XVI., afford an illustration of the requirements of that which is technically designated a "money" order.