CONVEYANCING ACCORDING TO THE LAW OF SCOTLAND BEING THE LECTURES OF THE LATE ALLAN MENZIES, A.M. WRITER TO THE SIGNET PROFESSOR OF CONVEYANCING IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. TIA EDINBURGH THOMAS CONSTABLE AND CO. HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO., LONDON. MDCCCLVI. PREFACE. THE Trustees of the late Professor MENZIES, in presenting this Volume to the Public, have been chiefly influenced by the conviction, that it will be found in a great measure to supply a desideratum that has for many years past been felt, not less by the members of the Legal Profession at large, than by the successive classes of Students, for whose benefit the Lectures were originally designed. Since Pro The Lectures are accompanied by references, in the form of footnotes and an Appendix, to the recent important decisions of the Court of Session and of the House of Lords. fessor MENZIES ceased to occupy the Chair of Conveyancing, several extensive modifications of the Law have been introduced by the Legislature, and especially in the matter of Bankruptcy. In the notes the attention of the Student has been called to these Statutes, and he is requested to read the text with reference to their provisions. The Trustees take this opportunity of acknowledging their deep obligations to Professors SWINTON and MORE for their kindness in undertaking the active duties of the Chair of the late Professor MENZIES during last Session, and to JAMES MITFORD MORISON, Esq., Advocate, for the great labour which he bestowed upon the Examinations. Their sincere thanks are also due to the last-named gentleman, and to JOHN HUNTER, Esq., Auditor of the Court of Session, for superintending the present publication. EDINBURGH, 1st October 1856. LECTURES ON CONVEYANCING. INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER I. EDUCATION OF THE CONVEYANCER, GENERAL AND PROFESSIONAL. THE business of the Chair of Conveyancing is to shew how property in this country may be acquired, possessed, and transferred. To most of you, it may be presumed that the study of the law in any of its branches is recent, if not entirely new, and it may not be without advantage, if at this stage of the student's progress, we glance backwards upon the pursuits which have hitherto engaged his attention, and inquire what prospective bearing these may have had upon the labours to which he is now to devote himself-how the acquirements already made may assist him in attaining his present object-and whether, while he is striving to become a lawyer, the studies of bygone years have any longer a claim upon his regard. PARATORY TO Until the period which introduces the student to professional GENeral Edutraining, the design of his education is the general formation of his CATION, AS PREintellectual and moral character. His lessons, as regards their sub- PROFESSIONAL. ject-matter, take an extensive range. They relate to the mind, and RETROSPECT OF its affections and powers, and address him through the medium of PAST STUDIES. literature, history, and philosophy. They relate also to external nature, its elements, and man's power with respect to these, in their use, direction, and control. These are wide interests, and in such pursuits the student is necessarily brought into contact with the master-minds, who have most intimately known Nature, and have spoken her language so well, that in succeeding ages men have with one assent accepted them as her interpreters, and cherished their productions as those which, next to the pages of Inspiration, they would not willingly let die. |