Page images
PDF
EPUB

employed for part of the work, half the scale fee is charged, with certain extras for time and distance.

In Austria and Hungary there is no fixed tariff of professional charges, but I was told by lawyers in good practice in both countries that their charges are not at all serious. In Vienna about £1 is a very usual fee for the purchaser's lawyer for investigating the register, drawing the deed, and attending to completion and registration. £10 is a high fee, even in large matters, and with wealthy clients. One of the judges spoke to me somewhat complainingly of a bill of 80 fl. (about £6 12s. 6d.) which he had been charged for professional help in a purchase of 50,000 fl. (about £4176).

Of course these particulars as to cost must be taken subject to the reserve that the general scale of remuneration, both professional and official, in Germany is considerably lower than it is in England; but it seems evident, from statistics given in the detailed report, that any allowance required on this account is more than counterbalanced, at least as regards official charges and costs, by the much higher ad valorem fee that would be earned in England per case-owing to the rarity of very small transactions (£50 and under), which are the staple work of Continental registries.

Turning next to the time occupied in sales and mortgages; the statements of the officials, corroborated by the evidence of landowners and professional men, is every where the same. As a general rule, ten to fifteen days is the outside time occupied in transactions relating to land, from the first beginning of the negotiations down to final completion of the record in the land register, the effect of which recording - it is important to bear in mind is to enable the purchaser or mortgagee, in his turn, at once to dispose of the property, or the security, with equal rapidity and ease, in the open market, and at no further expense or trouble to himself, as is also the case in the English Land Registry under the Act of 1875. If expedition is required, a matter can be carried through in three days, and sometimes in one day, as the officials will always push forward cases where time is of importance. Mortgages to the Land Banks are completed in about three days. In fact, so rapid and free from difficulty is the whole matter usually, that it is not the practice to place any interval between contract and conveyance; both are contained in the same deed. A certified copy of the register is the only title shown, and this can usually be perused in a few minutes; and even where the title is involved an hour will almost always suffice to test it. The representative of an English company, buying land some years ago in Pesth, could not believe that the whole matter could be concluded at a sitting; but it was, and notice of the completion of the registration was received by the purchasers the next day.

In Prussia, a bona fide purchaser or mortgagee from a registered owner becomes, immediately on registration, absolutely secure from all adverse claims. In Austria and Hungary there is, in theory, an interval varying from thirty to sixty days allowed for objection, with a very remote possibility of disturbance extending over three years. But these latter intervals are disregarded in practice, and are not known to have been ever utilised.

There always remains the theoretical possibility of a forged transfer, followed by the registration of the transferee, and then a sale by him to a bona fide purchaser ignorant of the fraud-in which circumstances the original registered owner would, if he did not discover the fraud and lodge an objection within the prescribed period, lose his land. But I was confidently assured, in answer to frequent inquiry, that no such case had ever arisen in practice. The parties to all dealings are identified by officials or notaries, and written notice of every application is sent to the registered address of every person affected by it, even when they have appeared personally and have consented to the entry being made. In Hungary no identification is required.

The simplicity of the system may be judged partly from the low scale of professional charges, which include all searches and communications with the registry, and from the fact that in the towns people commonly search the registers themselves, and often draw up their own deeds. If it is inconvenient to go to the registry to search, an official copy of the entries is obtainable for the perusal of the intending purchaser or mortgagee. Land certificates are not issued. The interests recorded in the register books are occasionally complicated and involved; but owing to the mode of entering everything in its right place, and a very complete system of cross references, a comparatively short time enables a searcher to make an accurate note of the present state of any title and incumbrances, or to extract the title to any parcel or particular interest (such as a life interest, or an estate in remainder, with its incumbrances), or the title to any incumbrance, from among the other entries. This applies to the largest as well as to the smallest estates.

In Prussia all conveyances are now made verbally, by declaration of the parties in the presence of the land registrar (or in some parts before a notary public), who takes a note of the declarations made, and, on comparison with the register, the purchaser is entered as owner without more ado. This procedure results in the vast majority of country sales being concluded without any legal assistance whatever, at the mere cost of the registry fees. If desired, the attendance and declaration can be made by attorney.

It may be remarked in passing that these Prussian verbal conveyances have already a parallel in some of the late English land transfer bills, which proposed to give an option to purchasers on sales to apply for registration of themselves as owners of the land purchased without any conveyance: this registration, when completed, was to have the same effect as a conveyance by deed. This provisiou could easily be extended to transfers of land already on the register.

In Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and (it is believed) in most other German States, the registers are strictly private, and are only

shown to persons having an interest in the land. In Austria and Hungary, and also in Baden, they are, and always have been, public. In the examples cited in the detailed Report, care has been taken to remove or alter any details likely to lead to the identification of particular estates in countries where the register is private.

Owing to the extreme ease with which, after a little practice, any ordinary business man can test a title, and draw up a mortgage, an immense business is carried on under the title of Real Credit Institutions and Land Banks. The ordinary bankers, like our own, do not regard permanent mortgages of land as a very desirable form of investment, though, like our own bankers, they occasionally lend to their own customers on real security by way of favour. But the land banks (as to which fuller particulars are given in the detailed Report) are specially formed for the purpose of lending money on security of land, and here landowners can obtain permanent loans, or, what is more common, loans to be paid off in forty or fifty years by terminable annuity, including principal and interest, to any amount, without delay, and usually without commission or any other expense than the bare land-registry fees. The largest landowners use these banks as well as the smallest, and are stated to have found of them the utmost service. The debentures of the land banks appear among the highest forms of securities in great numbers, in the daily published lists of the Stock Exchange.

It does not appear that the various results above stated are due to any special degree of simplicity either in the titles or in the transactions recorded. On the whole, from a perusal of a very large number of registers in all parts, it appeared that the subsisting interests in land in Germany and Austria are, as a general rule, at least as complicated as they are in England, and the entries in the registers especially in Austria (where all servitudes are registered), are certainly far more complicated than the entries in the registers kept under the Land Transfer Act 1875 are, or could ever become.

The main sources of complication in the German and Austrian registers. are entails and settlements affecting the large estates; wills, family charges, life estates, and co-ownership, affecting every class of property, the last co-ownership-being excessively common, owing to an arrangement often made on marriage, which gives a wife an immediate half-share in all her husband's acquired property; the law of intestate succession, which divides the property equally among all the children: and the usual practice of testators, to a similar effect. Under the English Land Transfer Act 1875, complicated beneficial interests are protected by cautions and other indirect means which do not complicate the register. The mortgages, too, in the Continental registers, both for small and large sums, are numerous and often very involved, being secured on whole estates, parts of estates, and on the separate undivided shares, life interests, and other partial ownerships; with subsequent transfers, alterations, part payments, and other dealings, all of which are recorded on the register. Examples of these transactions will be seen in the detailed report.

Since the establishment of the Cadasters or Land Tax Registers in the various states the land registries have been worked in close relationship with them almost the entire work of the description of estates being taken over by those departments; but that a Cadaster is not essential to a land register is clear from the fact that most of the registers existed for a long period before the Cadasters were made. In Austria, properties are now always described by reference to the Cadaster-numbers of their parcels; but in Prussia a general verbal description may sometimes be entered instead. When a parcel is cut up, a tracing, made or approved by the Cadaster officer, with a new number, also given by the Cadaster officer, is attached to the conveyance (or brought with it, if verbal) and left in the registry. In Austria, where the Cadastral maps are lithographed, copies are kept in the land registries and corrected up to date; but in Germany, where the maps are not lithographed, no copies are kept in the land registries. A full account of the relations of the Cadaster to the land registry will be found in the detailed report.

Mortgage certificates are issued in Prussia only. They are required to be produced on all registrations affecting the mortgagee's title, and are indorsed with notes of the transactions recorded. No other certificates of any kind (except certified copies of the registers) are issued.

It may be useful to add here a short description of the general official machinery by which the excellent results above stated are produced, and of the mode of introduction of the system (where known) into the principal states and provinces; this in some cases is lost in the mists of antiquity, and in others is still in progress at the present day.

The system is essentially a local and district system, the registers being everywhere kept in special rooms forming part of the offices of the local courts of first instance, which, wherever the state of the population admits of it, are (like our own County Courts, of which there are 546 in England and Wales) within easy reach of every man's door. Except in Hungary, and a few very thinly peopled districts, no registry is more than about fifteen miles from the furthest hamlet it serves. Baden and Wurtemberg the registers are still more localised, being established in every commune.

In

The registrais are members of the large body called Richter or Amtsrichter (of which there are 4219 in Prussia, and 3844 in Austria), who do the whole of the judicial and quasi judicial work of the country. In small places, where there is only one Richter, he combines the land registry with his other work; in large places in Germany there are one or more Richter exclusively employed in superintending the land registry work. In Berlin, for instance, there are thirteen, in Cologne six, in Dresden five, so employed. In Austria and Hungary it is otherwise, no Richter being exclusively employed in land registry work, but there are always one or more superior clerks who attend to nothing else.

This system appears to be both economical and convenient-securing the services of competent men, acquainted with the locality and knowing

many of the landowners personally, at a minimum of cost; while the offices are so well distributed over the country that the poorest proprietors can, if they wish, inspect the registers and settle their business on market days, with no expense for travelling, and none of the difficulty and uncertainties of correspondence, abhorrent to the rustic mind. The large landowners, who of course do not always reside in the district where their lands are registered, conduct their business through the post or through a local legal or other agent.

The manner in which the system has been introduced into those parts of the country (and they were many) where no registers, or only incomplete registers formerly existed, is naturally of the highest interest and importance at the present juncture in England.

A great variety of circumstances antecedent to the present system existed in different parts of the German and Austrian empires. In some places-Bohemia, for instance, generally, and many of the principal cities and numerous isolated manors and districts in the country-registers of ownership have existed from time immemorial. In Vienna, for instance, there are still preserved registers of 1368; in Prague, of 1377; in Munich, of 1440. In other places, such as the Rhine Provinces, Hanover, and some of the remoter Austrian provinces, e.g., Bukowina and Dalmatia, ownership of land had never been registered at all, until the present system was introduced, not many years ago-though even here there was usually some kind of registration of mortgages. Between these extremes a great variety of mixed systems prevailed, and during the latter half of the present century there has been nearly everywhere the Cadaster, or Government land tax register, which, though neither complete nor authoritative as to title, showed at any rate the person for the time being in ostensible possession of the land and accountable for land tax.

Registration of title was made universal for the then Austrian Empire in 1811; it was adopted in Saxony in 1843; in Hungary in 1849-56; and in Prussia (in its present form) in 1872. The system was in all cases gradually applied -province by province, district by district, commune by commune under the general control of the Ministry of Justice and under the local control of the provincial Courts of Appeal. All inquiries were made at the Government expense, but this was not heavy. Although absolute titles were everywhere registered, very little documentary evidence of title was required, considerable reliance being placed on the local notices and advertisements, and information obtained from the land tax (Cadaster) books and local authorities. In Prussia, a very low scale of fees, amounting in small cases to a few shillings only, paid on first registrations, reimbursed the Government for all outlay.

Only in a few very remote and primitive districts have errors been at all noticeable, and then they appear to have been rather due to misapprehension of the motives and objects of the inquiry than to intentional fraud. In the Rhine Provinces, where registers are still in course of formation, where the sub-division of the soil is so minute that there are as many landowners as in the whole of England and Wales, and where only registers of mortgage deeds formerly existed, no instance of intentional fraud has occurred in the returns sent in by the proprietors. Disputes are few, and chiefly relate to boundaries, which are, however, in nearly all cases amicably settled by a visit to the ground. Similar conditions a few years ago in Hanover, with the additional embarrassing element of a very prevalent system of verbal conveyances (which were duty free) have led to equally satisfactory results, no instances of erroneous registrations having occurred. This, indeed, has been the experience throughout Germany, but these two districts are specially cited here because, owing to the absence of preceding registers, they form a closer parallel to the case of England and Wales than other districts where a tolerably complete system of land registration was already in existence when the present registers were formed.

For fuller information on all the above subjects and various other matters to which attention has recently been directed, or which appear worthy of remark, reference should be made to the detailed report. In the appendixes will also be found, among other things, translations (with notes) of the subsisting Prussian and Austrian laws relating to the land registers, and extracts on important points from the Austrian code of 1811 and other laws; together with examples of registration taken from the actual books in various places, fee tables, and miscellaneous forms and statistics.

I venture to suggest that the above statement and the accompanying detailed report and appendixes may be forwarded to the Lord Chancellor and the Treasury with a view to publication should it be deemed expedient. I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant, C. FORTESCUE-BRICKDALE, Assistant Registrar.

To Robert Hallett Holt, Esq., Land Registrar.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN SOUTH

AFRICA.

WE extract the following from a paper read before the Royal Colonial Institute last week by Sir Sidney Shippard, K.C.M.G., M.A., D.C.L.

"I am far from saying that the British Government was to be blamed for excess of generosity in having conceded to the original colonists of the Cape the privilege of retaining the antiquated laws and customs of Holland as they existed prior to the introduction of the Code Napoléon into that country. The Roman foundation of those laws, at any rate, is still sound and solid. But in the interests of the Cape Dutch themselves, it appears to me to be matter for regret that undue tolerance should have been extended to what they are pleased to call their language. They have thus been enabled to build around themselves in course of time a kind of Chinese wall, figuratively speaking, by continuing to use a nondescript

mixture of Dutch, French, and divers other tongues forming a sort of bucolic dialect peculiar to themselves, with a ludicrously limited and insufficient vocabulary, hardly intelligible in Holland itself, devoid of literature, incapable of growth save by the admixture of pigeon-English, and in itself an insurmountable barrier against intellectual progress, expansion, or enlightenment of any kind. Had the English taken a leaf out of the Dutch book for once, and introduced-as could easily have been done at first the compulsory teaching and use of the English language, and so supplanted the local dialect from the outset, in the same way that the Dutch had formerly crushed the French language out of South Africa, the ultimate benefit to all the descendants of the original settlers would have been incalculable. Only by acquiring the English language can Africanders ever hope to attain to their true position among civilised races. Of the descendants of the original Dutch and French colonists themselves, I desire on all occasions to speak with the highest and most sincere respect and esteem. Of the Roman Dutch law of which they are so tenacious I am able to speak with some authority, as it has been the study of my life, and I have had many years' practical experience of it both at the Bar and on the Cape Bench, and also while exercising supreme judicial authority throughout Bechuanaland.

[ocr errors]

The laws in force in Natal, in the Transvaal, and in the Orange Free State are, broadly speaking, based on the old common law of Holland as interpreted by certain great Dutch jurists and by judicial decisions, and are of course subject to modifications and additions by the respective legislatures. The laws of the Cape Colony prevail not only throughout its dependencies, but also in the Bechuanaland Protectorate and in Rhodesia, subject to the provisions of local proclamations sanctioned by the Secretary of State.

"The written law of the Cape Colony was first collected and published in 1858 by a commission appointed by the then governor, Sir George Grey, who is still remembered with respect and affection by the people of South Africa. The materials for this compilation consisted of such placaats or proclamations from 1652 till 1806 as were unrepealed or not obsolete, and of similar selections from the alphabetical digest of laws for the government of the Dutch East India possessions passed by the Dutch East India Company in Holland and by the Government of Java, commonly called the "Statutes of India," which were in force at the Cape as part of the Dutch East India possessions; and, lastly, of unrepealed proclamations, ordinances, and enactments locally promulgated between the years 1806 and 1858. From 1806 till 1825 the written law of the Cape consisted of proclamations and notices issued by the Governor. In May 1825 a Council of Government was appointed, and from that time till 1834 Ordinances were passed under the authority of the Governor in Council. In 1834 a Legislative Council was established in the Cape Colony, and thenceforward till 1853 Ordinances were passed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council. In 1853 a Parliament was established for the Cape by a Constitution Ordinance as amended by a Order in Council. In Nov. 1872 responsible government was granted to the Cape Colony. Acts of the Cape Parliament, when assented to by the Governor as the Queen's representative, come into force after promulgation, subject to the right of the Crown to disallow such Acts within two years by Order in Council. Bills reserved by the Governor for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure thereon have no effect unless Her Majesty's assent there to shall have been signified within the space of two years from the day on which such Bills shall have been presented for Her Majesty's assent by the Governor. There is also a body of imperial statute law consisting of scattered enactments which have force within the Cape Colony.

"The unwritten law of the Cape Colony consists, as already stated, of the Civil or Roman laws as modified by the Legislature of Holland and the judicial decisions and customs of that country prior to the great upheaval which followed the French Revolution at the close of the last century. The Roman Dutch law, as it is usually called, is still the common law of Ceylon, British Guiana, and of all South Africa, saving, of course, the German protectorate on the south-west coast and the Portuguese possessions on the east. As it is a subject which is but vaguely understood by any but specially trained lawyers, I will endeavour to explain as briefly as possible the origin and character of the Roman Dutch law. The common law of England has grown up through the ages of our national life from roots which must be regarded as Germanic or Teutonic rather than Roman, notwithstanding the long residence in Britain of the people who are justly regarded as the greatest lawyers of antiquity. The civilisation of the Romans departed with them from England, and for a considerable time the Roman law disappeared almost entirely from our judicial system, though traces of its influence may be found all along through the erudite ecclesiastics who kept the lamp of learning alight in the dark ages. Doubtless the establishment of the School of Civil Law at Oxford in the middle of the twelfth century may have had some influence, especially in developing doctrines of equity; but the broad fact remains that the common law of England always has been, ever since the departure of the Romans, and still is, essentially Saxon or Teutonic. On the continent of Europe, on the other hand, the influence of Roman jurisprudence was far deeper and more lasting than in England. In the Netherlands the basis of the common law was mainly, if not entirely, Roman, and to this day those who desire to obtain a mastery of the principles of the common law of South Africa must begin by a diligent study of the Institutes, the Pandects, and the Code and Novellæ of Justinian as elucidated by the learned civilians of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Holland. Texts of pure Roman law are in many cases still cited in the arguments of counsel and recognised as authorities still binding on courts of justice in South Africa. Generally speaking, in default of any written law or legislative enactment and any express decision of the Privy Council or of the Cape Supreme Court, the order in which the sources of the Roman Dutch law as administered in the Cape

Colony are usually cited is as follows: (1) The old written law of Holland or placaats of the States-General having the force of law throughout the United Netherlands prior to 1795; (2) Decisions of the Supreme Court of Holland and Friesland; (3) Such reasonable, certain, and general customs as had obtained universal recognition and been held legally binding throughout those provinces; (4) In default of the foregoing, the original Roman law as interpreted by the Dutch commentators already referred to, who for the most part wrote in Latin. It is only after rich stores of the Roman civil law as interpreted by these and other great jurists have been thoroughly explored and exhausted that the legal practitioner in South Africa is at liberty to have recourse to the judicial decisions of other countries, including English decisions, in parallel cases. In the absence of all authority from statute law, Cape decided cases, and Dutch or Roman text-books, English decisions in similar cases may be cited in argument, and, though not necessarily binding, are generally acted upon by the Cape Supreme Court, provided such decisions do not happen to conflict with any distinct rule or principle of Roman Dutch law. It is therefore always necessary for counsel at the Cape Bar, failing statute law or Cape decisions, to be prepared with authorities on each point of law as it arises in the order above indicated, including the latest English and American decisions.

"It need hardly be observed that this demands on the part of Cape advocates a varied and profound knowledge of the science of jurisprudence, as well as familiarity with a wide range of case law; and, inasmuch as the English subdivision of practice between different branches of law and equity is unknown in South Africa, the advocate practising at the Cape Bar must be prepared to deal in turn with every imaginable variety of legal business, though happily he is not troubled with the intricacies of the English law of real property, as registration of title has reduced conveyancing to a mere formality. His success will depend in no small degree on the grasp he has obtained of the principles of Roman jurisprudence at the outset of his legal studies. Besides being a fluent speaker, he must be able to read Latin as easily as English, and above all, he must be possessed of habits of untiring industry and of the patience which spares no pains to ensure accuracy.

"The Supreme Court of the Cape Colony consists of nine judges, distributed in three divisions as follows: the Chief Justice and two Puisne Judges sit in Capetown, take the Western Circuit, and form a Court of Appeal for the rest of the Cape Colony; a Judge President and two Puisne Judges constitute the court of the Eastern District, hold sittings at Grahamstown, and take the Eastern Circuit, which is now of vast extent, including the Transkeian territories; a Judge President and two Puisne Judges form the High Court of Griqualand, and hold sittings at Kimberley, whence they take the Midland Circuit, including Graaff Reinet and the recently annexed territory of British Bechuanaland. In cases involving amounts of interests exceeding £500 an appeal lies from the Cape Supreme Court to the Privy Council, which has given decisions of the highest importance in many cases, and especially on questions affecting the position of the English Church in South Africa.

"In Kimberley one of the judges must always be available to preside over the Special Court for the trial of cases of illicit diamond buying. This court, which has statutory power to pass very heavy sentences, is anomalous in two respects. It consist of a judge and certain assessors, who give a verdict without a jury; and the ordinary presumption of innocence is not allowed to prevail in favour of the accused, as in England. The trapping system, with all its evils, is in full force; and when certain facts have been prima facie established to the satisfaction of the court, the burden of proof is shifted from the prosecutor to the accused, who must then prove his innocence affirmatively or take the consequences. At first sight such procedure seems likely to lead to trumped-up charges, blackmailng, conspiracy, and gross miscarriage of justice. In practice, the system on the whole works well: the innocent escape, and the convictions and sentences have a deterrent effect; though this only means that the men who carry it out are better than the system. The excuses urged in support of it are the prevalence of the crime, the ease with which so small an object as a diamond can be secreted, the immense losses suffered by owners of mines or claims, and the extreme difficulty, not to say impossibility, of securing convictions under ordinary English criminal procedure without the aid of the trapper who tempts the accused to commit the crime. The force of these reasons cannot be denied; yet it must be admitted that the procedure of the Kimberley Special Court is at variance with modern English ideas of fair play to the accused, though quite in accordance with the old criminal procedure of Holland, and indeed with all continental systems of criminal jurisprudence based on the Roman law. A familiar illustration of the essential difference between English criminal procedure and that of the civilians is to be found in the warning to a prisoner that he is not bound to make any statement, though any voluntary statement he may make will be taken down in writing and may be used against him. According to the civilians, the confession of the accused was requisite for what was called plena probatio, or full proof. The consequences of such a doctrine have been ghastly. Before the writings of Beccaria and the lessons of the French Revolution had produced their full effect, prisoners were habitually tortured, both in gaol and in court, and confession was a mere question of physical strength and powers of endurance. Judicial torture has indeed disappeared, but traces of the old system still survive. In pursuance of that system, even now in France an accused person is at first placed in solitary confinement and subjected to the moral torture of repeated interrogatories with a view to extracting from him an admission of guilt to be used against him at his trial."

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

British occupation may be briefly described as based upon certain doctrines of Roman law-doctrines which, according to modern ideas, are singularly crude the Caroline Constitutions or criminal laws of the Emperor Charles V., the criminal code of Philip II., certain placaats of the StatesGeneral, the Latin treatise of Antonius Matthæus "De Criminibus," the commentaries of Voet on the Pandects, the "Statutes of India," and the local placaats already referred to. A careful study of the work of Matthæus and of the criminal code of Philip II. will well repay the jurist who is interested in the history of criminal procedure. It is hardly possible to imagine a more glaring contrast than that between the system of criminal procedure which Philip II. imposed on the Netherlands and that of modern England. The defeat of the Armada happily saved England just as the genius and courage of William the Silent saved the Netherlands from the judicial racks and fiery torments of Spain; but the impress of the Spanish mind remained on the criminal system of the Netherlands till the French Revolution heralded the birth of new ideas."

[blocks in formation]

"The Kaffir has a natural taste for litigation; time is no object to him: he full endorses the well-known South African proverb, "To-morrow is also a day"; the law's delays have no terrors for him; only he has the strongest possible objection to surrendering cattle to cover costs in the event of his losing a case.

"It is hardly possible to speak of the administration of justice in South Africa generally without some reference to the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, though for reasons which must be sufficiently obvious my remarks on this part of the subject must necessarily be brief. I have already mentioned the sources of the common law of both states. The statute law of the Transvaal leaves much to be desired, and the complaints of the Uitlanders, who are developing, if not creating, the wealth of the country, are only too well founded. Among their many grievances are (1) the enforced use of Cape Dutch in all courts of law, even when all parties concerned are ignorant of it, and the court itself would prefer to use English; and (2) the dependent position in which the Transvaal judges are kept, presumably for political reasons, by the Executive Government, which practically controls both chambers of the Volksraad. The Transvaal judges are shamefully underpaid, in spite of the enormous wealth ground out of the foreign capitalists who work the mines, and the natural result is a loss of public confidence in their independence, notwithstanding the fact that on the Transvaal Bench are to be found men whose integrity is above suspicion.

"The Bench of the Orange Free State holds a high place in public estimation throughout South Africa.

"While a guest at the Grey Institute in Bloemfontein on the occasion of the festivities to celebrate the opening of the railway connecting the Orange Free State with Capetown, I had the honour of speaking on a subject in which I have long felt a deep interest. I mean the establishment of an Appeal Court for all the states and colonies of South Africa. At that time the political horizon appeared comparatively clear, and I even hoped that the two Republics might be induced to take part in a scheme which had already commended itself to some of the most eminent judges and best lawyers in South Africa. I must admit with regret that I no longer entertain such hope or expectation, but I still think that an Appeal Court might and ought to be established for the whole of British South Africa that is to say, for the Cape Colony, Natal, Basutoland, the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and Rhodesia. Such a court ought in my opinion to be held periodically in Capetown, and might consist of the Chief Justice of the Cape Colony (who should preside), the Judge President of the Eastern Districts Court, the Judge President of the High Court of Griqualand, the Chief Justice of Natal, and the future Chief Justice of Rhodesia. From its decisions a final appeal should lie to Her Majesty in Council. If either of the Republics should hereafter wish to secure the benefit of such a system of appeal, a convention could at any future time be entered into, subject to parliamentary sanction and Royal assent, in the Cape Colony and Natal, and to confirmation by the Volksraad of such Republic. The door, so to speak, should be left open for their admission. To attempt any step beyond this would, in my opinion, be futile. We can only hope now that time may heal many sores and bring about a peaceful and satisfactory solution of difficulties that at present seem almost insuperable. Meanwhile it is clearly the duty of all who have at heart the welfare of South Africa to do the utmost in their power to bring about a cordial union between all its European inhabitants of whatever race. In conclusion I can only repeat the opinion I expressed at the beginning of this paper; I know of no firmer bond of union, no better guarantee for peace; order, and good government, than the impartial, fearless, and incorruptible administration of justice."

[blocks in formation]

were able to cultivate and train in their own way, although now and again with the help of kindred gardeners, the Danes, the upward, turning, twisting vine of land law.

[ocr errors]

Through the centuries from the first Teutonic land invasion (449) to the Norman Conquest (1066) the development of land tenure kept steady pace with the needs of the nation. As the nation became larger, and the wants of its members more complex, the changes in the law of land were quietly and advantageously effected. Despite the fact that a learned and justly praised writer on "Anglo-Saxon Land Law sees nothing in these various changes, but, to quote his words, "the stupidity of the awkward Anglo-Saxon mind," we see beauty where he sees imperfection and malformation. We value the result of the growth of the land laws in the time of the AngloSaxons as one of those two strong, beautiful stems, from which grew the present system of real estate legislation in England and the United States.

We think of the 449 A.D. We can imagine the rushing galleys of the invaders, tossing the wild foam crests on either side of their serpentheaded prows as they cleft the waters of the North Sea on their way to Britain. We can see the hardy seafarers leap knee deep, yes, waist deep, into the dark waters, and, hand on gunwale, bear high the sand-grating keel. We can hear the angry roar of the waves beating in impotent wrath on the track of those tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed, white-skinned men, running their way up the strand of Britain in the face of the fierce opposition of those dusky home defenders, who, beaten and scattered, flee, leaving to the victors the acres of England.

The war-loving freemen in the van are led by the noble war chiefs, and supported by the Laet and the slave. Women and children follow with the household gods. The Saxon invasion was not a war party; it was a nation in arms. The kinsmen fought side by side, shoulder to shoulder, in the same way that, centuries later, the brothers of King Harold fought by his side at Senlac.

The battle over and won, each kin gathered its hundred. Family after family assembled around the standard of the Pagus to rest from the conflict and forget their toil in plans for the future. The dusk deepened into blackness; around the watch-fires the host slept. Day broke, all sprung to action.

The conquered land spread fair and wide in the light of the morning. the Britons had fled westward with the setting sun. The wolf and the red deer seemed the only representatives of the occupants of Britain, and they could not bring an action of "trespas vi et armis." No one would show them cause; 66 quare clausum (querentis) fregit" and "præcipe quod reddat" did not run in the land. The Saxons had no one to dispute their title.

In the invasion we may, perhaps, imagine the procedure of land division to be as follows:

The elected war chiefs of the people met in council with the leader of the entire host people in arms. After this leader, whatever may be his title, and his immediate staff or chiefs of division had received such areas as they chose to carve from the newly acquired territority for might was right in the days of which we speak-such portions of the conquered land as was, from a consideration of the number of warriors or families in a hundred, or pagus, deemed equitable, was given to these subdivisions of the host. Given to each subdivision as a unit, and by it in the manner sanctioned by the hundred court, or, for smaller subdivisions, the village court, was divided amongst the families which composed the subdivision.

While the term hundred, or pagus, of which we have just spoken, has not been positively, that is, conclusively defined, it is generally understood that these terms were at first applied synonymously to a hundred warriors. The whole host, or people-in-arms, was divided into hundreds of warriors inter-united by real or supposed bonds of kinship. These warriors in all probability came from the same neighbourhood. In the course of time the term hundred lost its primary significance, and came to be applied to the people, that is, the families producing the hundred warriors. Later, another change came in the terminology. The hundred signified the locality or definite area from which the hundred warriors were furnished to the host. Then it lost its connection with the army and became an administrative district. In other words, the term Hundred was at first personal, then territorial.

When the apportionment of land was concluded the families composing the Hundred were found grouped into townships or villages in a similar, if not identical, manner to the old Germanic form of settlement. It is probable that the new land was occupied by the settlers in the same relative positions (intertribal) that they had held toward each other in their continental homes.

The main feature of the old Germanic communal organisation was that known by the name of "The Mark;" whether the word as thus used is philologically correct is not here a question for us, for the word Mark has become indissolubly connected with the system of land terms known to have existed among many Germanic tribes.

In the Mark division each freeman was assigned a determinate portion of ground upon which to build his house and establish his various domestic offices. This was the separate and individual property of the heads of the family, and was held in dependence on no other man or body of men.

The possession of land was of much greater importance then than now, for it was at that time the basis of political distinction and constitutional right.

The arable land remaining in the township after the residential allotment was divided into three fields, or to speak more pecisely, portions, one of which was to lay fallow each year. The yearly use of a share of the arable land, together with a share in the meadow or hay land, was assigned to each of the freemen. All freemen enjoyed rights of common of pasture and could use the woodlands and their products.

After the various assignments had been made, there still remained a more or less large body of land, which lay not only between the separate township and hundreds, but within the township limits. This was used in common by the whole community, and as it was used in common, we will call it the people's land or the folkland.

The first division of the folkland, that lying without the township or hundred limits, increased as the boundaries of the nation were enlarged by further conquest, and the consequent dispossession of the native inhabitants. The second division, or folkland within the limits, continually decreased, it being appropriated by, or granted to individuals. With the passing years the flow of population and increase of power in the central governments brought isolated townships in closer touch with each other, and as waste after waste was brought within the sphere of influence of this or that great lord, the Mark system failed, leaving its shadow in the folkland. The folkland became the lord's land or the king's land. The land of the people diminished, passed away, and to-day the village green is almost the only vestige of the mighty Mark system of Germany and England.

With the change in the land itself, the old relations of the free man to the land took different form, and from the old independent holding he passes, either from the need of protection or the want of bread, to a greater or less dependency on the more powerful than he.

We find, upon a survey of the Anglo-Saxon land system, that all the land in the kingdom may be resolved into two great classes: 1st. Land of the people, or folkland. 2nd. Land of the individual.

The folkland was of two classes: 1st. The waste land or common land upon which the community pastured their cattle and sheep, and from which they took house bote, fence bote, plough bote, and other necessary wood, and where the swine fed on the mast that plentifully lay beneath the beech, or the acorns that fell from the old oaks of young England. This waste land was primarily regarded as the common stock from which grants could be made, and could well be called the people's, and later the Royal Treasury. 2nd. The folkland was in many cases enjoyed by individuals to whom the use (usufructus) was granted by the State, either as a mark of favour or for some suitable return. These persons obtained and used the profits from the land, but the reversion remained in the State. These usufructory rights over folkland were sometimes made the subject of disposition by its individual holders, but this could only be carried out by the assistance of the King as head of the community. No individual rights in folkland could be permanently alienated either inter vivos or by will without the consent of the community or its chief. The State land was, therefore, of two kinds : 1st, common land or folkland ungranted; 2nd, common land of which use had been granted.

The land of individuals (and we include by this term not only natural persons but religious houses) falls into three subdivisions: 1st, land which was part of the original allotment of the conquering host; 2nd, land which had been acquired in fee simple from the State; 3rd, land of which the use only is enjoyed by the holder.

The first class, or land from original allotment, was known by various names. Erfland, erbland, family land, heirland, or ethel. One can imagine a mead-stricken Saxon wandering in the gloaming and inquiring anxiously, 'Where is my Ethel? Where is my Ethel?"

[ocr errors]

The second class of land owned by individuals, that is the land acquired from the folkland. This land was at first granted by the King and his Witan, then, perhaps, by the King alone. In other words, folkland was granted by the community or its representatives. The granting act was recorded on a piece or "boc" of parchment. This was signed by the King and those members of his Witan that either joined in the gift or were present at the session of the Witan wherein the draft of the grant was presented for ratification.

This boc, or evidence of title, was delivered to the grantee of the land. From it the land itself received the name of "bocland" or "bookland." It must not be imagined that these bocs or grants were drawn after any uniform legal style, or after well-established precedents. They were, on the contrary, very loosely constructed, and in most cases were the work of the grantees. The third class of land held by individuals we have already described.

To repeat: The individual could hold, 1st, Ethel or family land; 2nd, boc or book land; 3rd, could have temporary enjoyment of folkland. The community or State held folkland. This was either enjoyed by the State itself or its ruler, by the nation at large or the community, or by the individual under grant.

Ethel or family land had four marked characteristics: 1st, it was the creation of customary law, as was folkland; 2nd, it was an estate of inheritance; 3rd, it was based on family and subject to certain rights of the family; 4th, in origin and theory it was liable to no public burdens except the trinoda necessitas. That is the (a) arcis constructio, (b) pontis constructio, (c) expeditio. That is the repair of fortifications, bridges, and defence of the State.

In earliest times it is probable that Ethel could not be aliened by the holder. Its only mode of transfer was by descent or reversion to the State, this reversion is not escheat, as the bonds of the family and township loosened there came these steps: 1. Alienation within the family, but with the consent of possible heirs, as well as the community. 2. Consent of community became needless. 3. Consent of family grew to be unnecessary, and transfer to strangers became possible. While at first such transfer was, in all probability, by a delivery with the accompaniment of possessory symbol, it was at a later time accomplished or evidenced by means of writings or bocs.

Without entering into the detail of the process, I would assert that at the time of the Norman Conquest every acre of land in England had, through the necessities of national life, become boc-land.

The term Ethel became synonymous with boc-land, and both terms came to be nearly, if not quite, co-extensive with the conception of

allodial land. This term allodial, from its first meaning of independent ownership, the subject of free disposition inter vios or by will, came, as we see by documents preserved to us, to mean land which would descend to heirs.

Allodial land was generally held free from all burdens. Its owner was under no obligation to render either money payment or services to any one. He was only liable to the trinoda necessitas to which all landowners were liable and all lands were subject.

The owner of an allod could grant the land to anyone in his lifetime or leave it by will, and if not thus disposed of it would descend to his heirs. The question arises, what rights could he grant during his life in the land held allodially? 1. He could grant the fee simple. 2. He could grant the estate, but with the proviso that it should descend to particular heirs of the grantee, i.e., to his son or sons by a certain wife. 3. He could grant a life estate, either for the life of the grantee or another, with reversion in grantor or another. 4. He could grant the estate for a term or terms of years with reversion as he pleased. 5. He could suffer a person to remain on the land for an indefinite period or at his will.

The allod was the highest type of ownership in land. The second was the beneficial enjoyment of folkland.

Any person holding either of these estates could in his turn grant to another the beneficial enjoyment of such land on such terms as might be agreed between them. At the expiration of the grant the land would revert to grantor, if no other agreement had been made. Land thus granted or let was called laenland, and it was held on various terms, e.g., agricultural services, suit at court, or money rent. We find in earliest examples of this laenland, and perhaps in usufructory book-land, the elements of pure tenure.

Folkland was at first regarded as the land of the nation, using the word nation as the persons inhabiting a particular area as viewed in relation to mankind. These folk lands came to be looked upon as the land of the people, i.e., the State, then when the country was brought under the head of a single King, this land seems to have been regarded as in a special manner the property of the King, and is frequently spoken of as the King's folkland, and from this came the conception, in later times, that all land was originally vested in the Crown.

Having now traced the manner in which land was held in Saxon times and the main features of each variety of holding, it only remains to give a moment in this paper of the leading principles contributed by AngloSaxon customary law to the conception of the rights of property in land. As indicated they consist of:-1st, The conception of tenure as developed in book and laen law. 2nd, The conception of the duration of an interest in lands, an interest which would descend to successors ad infinitum, as we noted in the Ethel. Out of this grew the idea of limiting estates to particular descendants. Estates for life were also known as leased lands. 3rd, The freedom of alienative inter vivos and by will, which is characteristic of book land. 4th, Upon the death of landholder, his land, as a rule, descended as local custom dictated, but often to all the sons alike. GUY CARLETON LEE.

HEIRS-AT-LAW AND NEXT OF KIN. FAINT (Joseph), formerly of the Inner Temple, and of Widford. Hertfordshire gentleman. Persons claiming to be his next of kin, according to the Statutes of Distribution, living at his death on March 15, 1833, or the legal personal representatives of such next of kin as have since died, to come in, by Feb. 22, and prove their claims at the chambers of Mr. Justice Romer. March 5, at the said chambers, at eleven o'clock, is the time appointed for hearing and adjudicating upon such claims. NOTE.-Benjamin Faint, son of Benjamin and Elizabeth Faint, a brother of the testator, was baptized at the parish church of Hunsdon, Hertford, April 27, 1757; Henry Faint, another brother, was born about Feb. 1759; and George Faint, another brother, was baptized at the parish church at Widford, Hertford, May 22. 1774, but it is not known when they died, and whether testate or intestate, and, if they predeceased the testator, whether they left any children surviving them. William Faint, Thomas Faint, and John Faint, brothers of the testator, all survived him, and have since died. It is not known whether they or either of them died testate or intestate. MCGREGOR (George Alexander), formerly of Carse O'Gowrie, Lake Learmouth, Ballarat, if living, or, if dead, any persons claiming to be his legal personal representatives, to come in, by May 20, and prove their claims at the chambers of Mr. Justice Romer. June 1, at the said chambers, at twelve o'clock, is the time appointed for hearing and adjudicating upon such claims. Note.-The said G. A. McGregor was entitled to a legacy under the will of his aunt, Sarah Brand, now deceased. He went to Australia in the year 1853, and in 1868 was at Ballarat, Victoria. He is said to have been at one time engaged as a waiter at an hotel at Geelong.

PICK (Thomas Atkinson), if living, or, if dead. his legal personal representatives to come in by June 1, at the chambers of Mr. Justice North, and prove his or their claim in the matter of the trusts of the will of Sarah Ann Pick, deceased. June 4, at the said chambers, at half-past twelve o'clock, is the time appointed for hearing and adjudicating upon such claims. NOTE. The said T. A. Pick was a son of the testatrix, the said S. A. Pick, and was last heard of in 1885, and was then residing at Waipauwa, New Zealand. The said S. A. Pick resided at Plymouth, Devonshire, and died on Feb. 9, 1896. POOR (James), 58, Waterford-rd, Fulham, who died there on Oct. 25, 1896. His next of kin to apply to the Solicitor for the Treasury, Treasury-chmbrs, Whitehall. WINTERSGILL (Mary), Aughton, Lancashire, spinster, who died on Dec. 4, 1865. Persons claiming to be her next of kin according to the statutes for the distribution of intestates' estates living at the time of her death, or the legal personal representatives of such next of kin as are now dead, to come in, by Feb. 19, and prove their claims before the Registrar of the Manchester District of the Court of Chancery of the County Palatine of Lancaster, Duchy-chmbrs, Clarence-st, Manchester. March 1, at eleven o'clock, is the time appointed for hearing and adjudicating upon such claims.

APPOINTMENTS UNDER THE JOINT STOCK WINDING-UP ACTS. BRITISH AND COLONIAL TRADING AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LIMITED.Creditors to send in, by Feb. 28, their names and addresses and the particulars of their claims, and the names and addresses of their solicitors (if any), to Mr. T. W. Mills, 13. Hatton-grdn, the liquidator of the corporation. Sutton, Ommanney, and Rendall, 3 and 4, Great Winchester-st, solicitors for the liquidator. EMPLOYERS LIABILITY AND WORKPEOPLE'S PROVIDENT AND ACCIDENT INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED.-Creditors to send in, by March 1, their names and addresses and the particulars of their claims, and the names and addresses of their solicitors

(if any), to Mr. J. W. Barratt, 22, Waterloo-st, Birmingham, the liquidator of the company. Coleman, Springthorpe, and Holcroft, 77, Colmore-row, Birmingham, solicitors to the liquidator.

GOURLAY'S RHODESIA DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED.-Creditors to send in, by Feb. 26, their names and addresses and the particulars of their claims, and the names and addresses of their solicitors (if any), to Mr. J. D. Pattullo. 71 and 72, King William-st, the liquidator of the company. Nicholson, Graham, and Graham, 24, Coleman-st, solicitors to the liquidator.

LADIES' DRESS ASSOCIATION LIMITED.-Creditors to send in, by Feb. 27, their names and addresses and the particulars of their claims, and the names and addresses of their solicitors (if any), to Mr. A. A. James, 5, Coleman-st, one of the liquidators of the company. MANCHESTER SHIPPING OFFICES AND PACKING COMPANY LIMITED (in liquidation for the purposes of amalgamation with the Globe Packing and Shipping Warehouse Company Limited and Thomas Davenport and Co.).-Creditors of the abovenamed Manchester Shipping Offices and Packing Company Limited to send in, by March 5, their names and addresses and the particulars of their claims, and the names and addresses of their solicitors (if any), to Mr. G. Williamson, 37, Brown-st, Manchester, the liquidator of such company. J. and E. Whitworth, 2, St. James's-sq, Manchester, solicitors to the liquidator.

NOKES LIMITED.-Creditors to send in, by March 2, their names and addresses and the particulars of their claims, and the names and addresses of their solicitors (if any), to Mr. S. M. Bond, 14. Temple-st, Birmingham, the liquidator of the company. Beale and Co., 3, Newhall-st, Birmingham, solicitors to the liquidator. STAR CYCLE COMPANY (SHARRATT AND LISLE) LIMITED.-Creditors to send in, by Feb. 27, their names and addresses and the particulars of their claims, and the names and addresses of their solicitors (if any), to Mr. E. Lisle, Stewart-st, Wolverhampton, the liquidator of the company. Dallow and Dallow, Wolverhampton, solicitors for the liquidator.

SECOND SUNDERLAND CROWN PERMANENT BUILDING SOCIETY.-Creditors and other persons having any claim or demand upon or against the Second Sunderland Crown Permanent Building Society, formerly established at Fawcett-st, Sunderland, Durham, to send in, by March 1, the particulars of their claims to Messrs. Botterell and Roche, 26, St. Thomas-st, Sunderland, the solicitors for Mr. R. A. Brown, of Sunderland, the trustee appointed under an Instrument of Dissolution of the said society dated July 17, 1893.

TUDOR PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED.-Creditors to send in, by Feb. 27, their names and addresses and the particulars of their claims, and the names and addresses of their solicitors (if any), to Mr. R. F. Walker, 30 and 31, Temple House Extension, Tallis-st, the liquidator of the company. Slaughter and May, 18, Austin Friars, solicitors to the liquidator.

WEST AUSTRALIAN (GOLD DISTRICT) TRADING CORPORATION LIMITED.-Petition for winding-up to be heard Jan. 25, before the Court sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand.-Maddisons, 1, King's Arms-yard. Notices of intention to appear on the hearing of the petition must be signed by the person or firm, or his or their solicitor (if any), and must reach the above-named not later than six o'clock on Jan. 23. WOOD STREET CLOTHING AND WOOLLEN WAREHOUSE LIMITED. - Creditors to send in, by March 1, their names and addresses and the particulars of their claims, and the names and addresses of their solicitors (if any), to Mr. F. G. Painter, 19, Coleman-st, the liquidator of the company.

CREDITORS UNDER ESTATES IN CHANCERY.
LAST DAY OF PROOFS.

BAYNTON (Emily), Elmeroft, Winchester-rd, Worthing, Sussex. Feb. 2; A. 0.
Jennings, Registrar of the Sussex County Court hoiden at Brighton. Feb. 3; the
Registrar aforesaid, at half-past eleven o'clock.

JONES (Frederick Robert). Lane Ends, Crossland Moor. Huddersfield, Yorkshire, gentleman. Feb. 15; F. A. Reed, Buxton-rd, Huddersfield, a member of the firm of Learoyd and Co., of the same place, solicitors. Feb. 23; Mr. Justice North, at one o'clock.

CREDITORS UNDER 22 & 23 VICT. c. 35. LAST DAY OF CLAIM AND TO WHOM PARTICULARS TO BE SENT. ALDRICH (Sarah Maria), 165. Norwich-rd, Ipswich, Suffolk, widow. March 1: Westhorp, Cobbold. and Ward, solicitors, 32, Museum-st, Ipswich. BRAND (Harvey), 65, New Broad-st, formerly of Carron Bank, Helensburgh, North Britain, gentleman. Feb. 22; Murray. Hutchins, and Co., solicitors, 11, Birchin-la. BATTEY (Daniel). 90, Station-rd, Hadfield, Derbyshire. clothier and general dealer. Feb. 27; J. Domakin, solicitor, 32, King-st, Manchester. BRADBURY (Henry), Shell Cottage, Burchell-rd, Leyton, Essex, gardener and florist. Feb. 28; Drury Freeman, solicitor, 124, Chancery-la.

BERNSTEIN (William Frederick), 165, High-st, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, and of 26, York-st, Manchester, and of Bradford, Yorkshire, stuff and woollen merchant. March 2; Addleshaw, Warburton, and Co., solicitors, 15, Norfolk-st, Manchester.

BAKER (James), Hoo, Kent, potter. Feb. 15; G. Robinson, solicitor, 70, High-st, Strood, Kent.

BEDFORTH (George), St. Martin's Villa, South Cliff, Scarborough, Yorkshire, gentleman. March 1; W. and W. S. Drawbridge, solicitors, 74, Newborough, Scarborough.

BROWN (Frederick), Farnborough, Southampton, retired farmer. Feb. 9; F. E. Foster, solicitor, Aldershot, Hants.

BRITT (William Hopkinson), Chesterfield, Derbyshire, gentleman, formerly innkeeper. Feb. 27; Jones and Middleton, solicitors, Chesterfield.

BRETT (Stephen), Mersham, Kent, farmer. Feb. 1; Hallett, Creery, and Co., solicitors, Ashford, Kent.

Feb. 20; Shelton,

March 1; Crick and

BLADON (Samuel), Fordhouses, near Wolverhampton, carpenter.
Walker. and Taylor, solicitors, 47. Queen-st, Wolverhampton.
BRUCE (William), Hatfield Peverel, Essex, veterinary surgeon.
Freeman, solicitors, 3, Gate-st, Maldon, Essex.
BAKER (Emma). Poole, Dorsetshire, spinster. Feb. 15; H. S. Dickinson, solicitor,
Poole, Dorset.

Feb. 13; E. Swain, solicitor,

BARWISE (John Adolphus), 4, Worsley-rd, Hampstead.
36, Coleman-st.
BROCKBANK (William), Brockhurst, Didsbury, Lancashire, metal agent and merchaut.
March 5; Addleshaw, Warburton, and Co., solicitors, 15, Norfolk-st, Manchester.
BROWN (Frederick), Farnborough, Southampton, retired farmer. Feb. 9; W. E.
Foster, solicitor.

BEARD (Ann), 70, Abingdon-villas, Kensington, spinster. Feb. 1; Fladgate and Co.,
solicitors. 2, Craig's-ct.
BOLTON (Ambrose), Upper Teddington-rd. Hampton Wick. Feb. 20; Richardson
and Carn, solicitors, 17, Eden-st, Kingston-on-Thames.

BATCHELOR (Henry Wellington Charles Essex), Penhale, St. John's Antony, Cornwall, a retired fleet paymaster in the Royal navy. Feb. 26; R. G. Marsden and Wilson,

20, Old Cavendish-st.

CLARKE (Horatio St. John), Victoria-st, Richmond, Victoria, surgeon. July 15; H. E. Burgess, 1. New-sq, Lincoln's-inn. Woodroffe and Burgess, solicitors, 1. New-sq, Lincoln's-inn.

CONNELL (John), Rosehill, Low Fell, Gateshead. Durham, gentleman. March 25
Dransfield and Elsdon. solicitors, 12, Grey-st. Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
COCKSHOTT (William), 16, Tyson-st, Bradford, Yorkshire, chemist. Feb. 23:
Rawnsley and Peacock, solicitors, 14, Darley-st, Bradford.
CHRISTMAS (Thomas Argent Sanders), 6, Peas Hill. Cambridge, ironmonger. April 10:
H. J. Whitehead and Son, solicitors, 2, Post Office-ter, Cambridge.
CLIFF (Henry), Watering Trough, Madeley Heath, Staffordshire, retired farmer.
Jan. 27: R. W. Day, solicitor, 28, Glebe-st, Stoke-on-Trent.
CHILTON (John), 12, Peel-st, Fenton, Staffordshire, labourer. Jan. 28; R. W. Day,
solicitor, 28, Glebe-st, Stoke-on-Trent.

« EelmineJätka »