Queen's the court of appeal from palatine courts. Enactments in ss. 19 to 32 to apply to every civil court of judicature in England and Ireland. Commencement of act. Her Majesty may direct all or part of this act to extend to any Court of Record. peal, that the Court of Queen's Bench, being the Court of Error from the said Court of Common Pleas at Lancaster and Court of Pleas at Durham respectively, shall also be the Court of Appeal from the said respective courts, for the purposes of this act in reference to motions for new trials, or to enter verdicts or nonsuits previously made to the judges of the said respective Courts of Common Pleas at Lancaster and Court of Pleas at Durham respectively. 103. The enactments contained in sections nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twentythree, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven and twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, and thirty-two of this act shall apply and extend to every court of civil judicature in England and Ireland. 104. The provisions of this act shall come into operation on the twenty-fourth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four. As to whether the act has a prospective or retrospective effect with regard to its several provisions, see Pinhorn v. Sonster, 21 L. J. 336, where it was held that special demurrers pending at the time when the Com. L. Proc. Act, 1852, came into operation, were not affected by its provisions, but must be decided according to the old law. See also Goodliffe v. Neaves, ibid. 338. The cases and general rules applicable to the construction of this question will be found cited in Pinhorn V. Sonster. 105. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty from time to time, by an order in council, to direct that all or any part of the provisions of this act, or of the rules to be made in pursuance thereof, shall apply to all or any court or courts of record in England and Wales, and within one month after such order shall have been made and published in the London Gazette such provisions and rules respectively shall extend and apply in manner directed by such order, and any such order may be in like manner from time to time altered and annulled, and in and by any such order Her Majesty may direct by whom any powers or duties incident to the provisions applied under this act, or the Common Law Procedure Act, 1852, shall and may be exercised with respect to matters in such court or courts, and may make any orders or regulations which may be deemed requisite for carrying into operation in such court or courts the provisions so applied. act. 106. In citing this act in any instrument, Short title of document, or proceeding it shall be sufficient to use the expression "The Common Law Procedure Act, 1854." 107. Nothing in this act shall extend to Act not to Ireland or Scotland, save as aforesaid. extend to Ireland or Scotland. THE EQUITABLE JURISDICTION OF THE Common Law Courts UNDER THE COMMON LAW PROCEDURE ACT, 1854. DISCOVERY. THE new jurisdiction of the Common Law Courts upon Discovery, is conferred hy the 50th and subsequent sections of 17 & 18 Vict. c. 125. Discovery and production of documents.-Either party to any cause or other civil proceeding (see note to sect. 50, supra, p. 80), may apply by affidavit stating his belief that any document to the production of which he is entitled for the purpose of discovery or otherwise, is in the possession or power of the opposite party, for an order that such party shall answer on affidavit stating what documents he has in his possession or power relating to the matters in dispute, or what he knows as to the custody of any of them, and the grounds of his objection (if any), to the production of such as are in his possession or power; and upon such affidavit being made, the court may make such further order as shall be just. As to the production of documents in Courts of Equity upon motion, see 15 & 16 Vict. c. 86, ss. 18, 20 (The Equity Jurisdiction Amendment Act.) Under the Evidence Amendment Act (14 & 15 Vict. c. 99, s. 6), a party cannot call upon his opponent to answer by affidavit whether he has any document in his possession relating to the matters in question in the action, and if any, to specify them: (Rayner v. Allhusen, 21 L. J. 68, Q. B.; Galsworthy v. Norman, ibid. 70.) This object, however, can now be obtained under the above section 50. Discovery of facts.—In all causes upon the order of the court or a judge, the plaintiff may with his declaration, and the defendant with his plea, deliver to the opposite party interrogatories upon any matter as to which discovery may be brought, and require such party to answer the questions in writing by affidavit (sect. 51), and in case of omission, without just cause, to answer sufficiently such written interrogatories, the court or judge may direct an oral examination of the interrogated party as to such points as they or he may direct before a judge or master: (sect. 53.) Both as regards the discovery of documents and facts, the cases must be such as a Court of Equity would allow a discovery in, to entitle a party to proceed under the Common Law Procedure Act, 1854. It becomes, therefore, necessary to give an outline of the principles of equity on discovery. Principles of discovery.-That which is emphatically called in equity proceedings a Bill of Discovery, is a bill which asks no relief, but which simply seeks the discovery of facts resting in the knowledge of the defendant, or the discovery of deeds or writings, or other things in the possession or power of the defendant, in order to maintain the right or title of the party asking it in some suit or proceeding in another court: (Story Eq. Jur. s. 1483.) It is apprehended that the common law jurisdiction as to discovery, is not limited to this meaning of the term, but that it is coextensive with the powers of Courts of Equity in bills of discovery. The object of the new jurisdiction is to give the Common Law Courts the |