is productive of large public consequences. Great events turn upon what is termed good or bad election weather, bad election weather being the inclement weather when people will not expose themselves to add merely an unit, as they conceive, to some thousands of a large aggregate. Here, it is testified by Mr. Sidney Smith, bribery begins with the elector, and almost always begins with the question, But who is to pay me for my lost time? I think I have shown in poor law administration, that this large source of bribery is to be met, and that it is effectually met by the house to house collection of votes, by means of voting-papers. I am glad that we have had an instance of the voluntary collection of opinion by this method, by means of returns, obtained through the post, of declarations from electors, for whom they intended to vote, and of such declarations having been made the means of reducing canvassing and avoiding contests. It would be for the organisation proposed to consider whether the voluntary use of that method may not be much extended, for the avoidance of contests altogether.

THE CONVICT QUESTION.-We have repeatedly advocated in this MAGAZINE the introduction into Great Britain of the Convict System which has been so successfully and beneficially carried out in Ireland by Sir Walter Crofton. The Government have strangely lagged behind the intelligent convictions of the country on this question, and Sir George Grey has seemed determined to resist every suggested improvement. The House of Commons, however, is more wise. On going into Committee on the Penal Servitude Bill, Mr. Hunt, the learned Member of Northampton, moved a clause establishing police supervision throughout the country over discharged convicts. This wholesome provision was carried, in the teeth of the Home Office, by a majority of twenty-eight.

COPYRIGHT AMENDMENT AND LEGISLATION.-The Sub-Committee on the Law of Copyright appointed by the Law Amendment Society, embodied the opinions arrived at by them in the following resolutions :

I. That the British municipal laws of Copyright in works of literature, the drama, music, and the fine arts, are in a most unsatisfactory state in consequence of the legislation upon the subject being voluminous, complicated, and inefficient.

II. That such defective legislation is unjust in its operation upon authors, and other proprietors of British Copyrights; and also very injurious to the commercial interests of the British public.

III. That such defective municipal laws of Copyright are likewise very unjust and oppressive towards the subjects of those States with which Her Majesty the Queen has entered into International Copyright Conventions, because all those Conventions profess to be based upon the principle of reciprocity, whereas, in fact, such reciprocity does not exist in the British dominions, inasmuch as in France and other of the States in question their municipal laws of Copyright are simple and efficient, while ours are quite the reverse.

IV. That, as British Copyright is, and always has been, based upon the principle of that property to which an author is justly

VOL. XVII.~~NO. XXXIII.

Q

entitled in the re-production of his works after their publication, he ought, in all cases, to have a summary remedy for the violation of his Copyright.

V. That, in order thoroughly to reform the British municipal laws of Copyright in works of literature, the drama, music, and the fine arts, it is essential that all the existing legislation on the subject (so far as circumstances will permit) should be repealed, and the laws consolidated and amended.

VI. That, considering the existing state of the British municipal laws of Copyright, and also the conflicting legislation of other States upon that subject, especially those States with which Her Majesty the Queen has entered into International Copyright Conventions, it has become of the utmost importance, as far as possible, to promote uniform municipal legislation as to Copyrights upon the following points :

1st. The works which shall be entitled to Copyright.

2nd. The period for which such copyright shall continue.
3rd. The conditions to be performed in the State where the
work is first published, in order to acquire such Copyright.
4th. The prohibition of piracy of works first published in any
foreign State.

5th. The remedies to which the proprietor of a Copyright shall
be entitled for the protection of his property therein.
6th. That no conditions should be required to be performed
for the acquisition of Copyright, except those essential
according to the municipal laws of the State where the
work was first published.

VII. That, considering the vast and rapidly increasing demand for works of literature, the drama, music, and the fine arts, the extensive capital now embarked in undertakings for the re-production of such works; together with the great number of persons who are directly and indirectly employed in such undertakings, it has, in the interests of commerce, as well as upon grounds of justice to the proprietors of Copyrights, become of the utmost importance that our legislation upon Copyright should be efficiently consolidated and amended.

VIII. That, the present defective system of Registration at Stationers' Hall should be discontinued, and that the whole system and machinery of registration in all cases of Copyright should be transferred to the Registration of Designs Office, Whitehall.

These resolutions were brought up by Mr. Serjeant Burke, Chairman of the Committee, at a meeting of the Law Amendment Society, and were adopted.

Mr. Black, the enlightened M.P. for Edinburgh, has now before Parliament a bill to consolidate and amend the whole Copyright law. It has passed the second reading, and has been referred to a Select Committee. There is, therefore, every prospect that something will soon be done to effectively put an end to the present confusing and conflicting state of our copyright jurisprudence.

APPOINTMENTS.

MR. GEORGE FRANCIS has been appointed Recorder of Faversham, vacant by the resignation of Mr. E. P. Alderson.

Mr. Tindal Atkinson, and Mr. John Simon, of the Northern Circuit, and Mr. Alexander Pulling, of the South Wales Circuit, and author of the "Treatise on the Laws, Customs, and Regulations of the City and Port of London," and of the "Law of Attorneys and Solicitors," have been admitted to the degree of Serjeants-at-Law.

Mr. William Field, of the Midland Circuit, Mr. D. D. Keane, of the Norfolk Circuit, and Mr. J. J. Johnson, of the Home Circuit, have been appointed Queen's Counsel.

Mr. T. E. Chitty, Barrister-at-Law, has been appointed Clerk of Assize for the Western Circuit, in the place of the late Mr. Sidney Gurney.

Mr. E. B. Church, Solicitor, has been appointed Chief Clerk in the Chambers of the Master of the Rolls, in the room of Mr. Whiting, deceased.

Mr. Jamas Attar, Solicitor of Stamford, has been appointed Clerk of the Peace for the Parts of Holland, Lincolnshire.

IRELAND. Mr. C. H. Hemphill has been appointed to the Chairmanship of Louth; Mr. Leahy to Limerick; Mr. D., R. Pigot to West Cork; Mr. Barron to Kerry: Mr. West to Wexford; Mr. Coffey to Leitrim; and Mr. John O'Hagan to Westmeath.

Mr. R. Thos. Todd, Solicitor, has been appointed Clerk of the Crown for the County of Down, in the room of the late Mr. Thomas Courtney.

SCOTLAND.

Mr. George Moir has been elected Professor of Scot's Law in the University of Edinburgh, in the room of the late Professor Ross.

Mr. Eneas Macbean, Writer to the Signet, has been appointed one of the Clerks of the Court of Justiciary.

GOLD COAST.-Mr. M. R. Barry, of the Equity Bar, has been appointed Queen's Advocate.

INDIA. Mr. F. B. Simpson has been appointed Civil and Sessions Judge of Jessore; Mr. G. W. Edema, Registrar of Lands for the Western Province and for the Colombo District; Mr. W. Morgan, for the Southern Province and Galle District; Mr. W. H. P. De Saram, for the Eastern Province and Trimcomalee District; Mr. A. Mainwaring, for North Western Province and for Kornegee District; Mr. J. F. Lozens, for the Cultura District; Mr. D. J. Pereira, for the Negombo District; Mr. W. L. W. Ludekens, for the Matura District; Mr. O. C. Lassossay, for the Tangalle District; Mr. J. P. Meerwald, for the Batticaloa District: Mr. W. Stock, for the Central Provinces and Kandy District; Mr. S. Waytilingham, for the Northern Provinces and Jaffna District; and Mr. J. Masselamany for the Ratnapoora District.

EXAMINATIONS AT THE INCORPORATED LAW

SOCIETY.

Hilary Term, 1864.

Ar the final examination of candidates for admission on the roll of attorneys and solicitors of the superior courts, the examiners recommended the following gentlemen, under the age of 26, as being entitled to honorary distinction :—

C. M. Warmington, aged 21; T. Waterhouse, B.A., aged 25; J. W. Chandler, aged 25; and A. Bright, M. A., aged 23; J. W. Gabb, B.A., aged 25; J. A. Hewitt, aged 21; and R. B. Smith, aged 22, equal.

The Council of the Incorporated Law Society have accordingly awarded the following prizes of books :

To Mr. Warmington, the prize of the Hon. Society of Clifford's Inn; to Mr. Waterhouse, the prize of the Hon. Society of Clement's Inn; to Mr. Chandler, Mr. Bright, Mr. Gabb, Mr. Hewit, and to Mr. Smith, each one of the prizes of the Incorporated Society.

The examiners have also certified that the following candidates whose names are placed in alphabetical order, passed examinations which entitle them to commendation :

Nicholas Albert Earle, aged 23; John Smythies Greene, aged 21; Richard Hewlett, aged 22; Claude Ashley Anson Penley, aged 22 ; Joseph Soames, aged 23; and Sharon Grote Turner, aged 21.

The Council have accordingly awarded them certificates of merit.

The examiners have further announced to the following candidates, whose names are placed in alphabetical order, that their answers to the questions at the examinations were highly satisfactory, and would have entitled them to certificates of merit if they had been under the age of 26 :

Samuel Harris, aged 39; Thomas Martin, aged 34; and Barnard Thomas, B.A., aged 27.

The number of candidates examined in this term was 122; of these 107 passed, and 15 were postponed.

The examiners reported that the following gentlemen, whose names are arranged in alphabetical order, have passed the intermediate examination with distinction :

William Charles Lovelace Bowling, aged 22; Charles Frederick Hird, aged 20; Thomas M'Millin, aged 25; and George Francis Riddiford, aged 22.

The number of candidates examined in this term was 78; of these 68 were passed, and 10 postponed.

We regret to announce the death of a well-known author, Leonard Shelford, Esq., of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law. He was the second son of the late Rev. Leonard Shelford, B.D., rector of North Tuddenham, in the county of Norfolk, by Ellen, daughter

of William Grigson, Esq., of West Wretham, in the same county. He was one of twelve children, of whom few survive. His eldest brother was the Rev. Thomas Shelford, B.D., many years Fellow and Tutor of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge-afterwards rector of Lambourne, Essex. (Died 1846.) His next brother (third son), William Heard Shelford, M.A., Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and afterwards rector of Preston, Suffolk. (Died 1854.)

The deceased was born July 26, 1795. He was brought up as a solicitor, and served his articles with Mr. William Repton, of Aylsham, Norfolk, from whence he subsequently removed to London, and was engaged in the office of Messrs. Boodle & Co. He afterwards studied for, and was called to the Bar, by the Benchers of the Middle Temple, in 1827.

For upwards of forty years he occupied chambers in the Temple, living the life of a student, and, with short intervals, almost of a recluse. During that period he wrote no less than fifteen works on different legal subjects, most of which have passed through several editions, and some of which have been republished in America, as is told us in a list of his numerous works, "without the author's consent.

Mr. Shelford never obtained a lucrative practice at the Bar, and although his works were most of them eminently successful, and of the greatest use to the profession, we believe that he never procured any appointment as a fitting reward of his great merits as an author, nor did his works, in a pecuniary point of view, prove as profitable to him as they must have done to others. In his private character he was held in high esteem for his high and honourable principles and his keen sense of what was just and right between man and man. This was his salient point. He seemed to be incapable of anything that was unfair or in the slightest degree dishonourable. Though possessed of some eccentricity of manner, he had a kind heart and a disposition naturally generous, though perhaps a little soured by the reverses of the world.

He died March 17, 1864, from a disease of the liver of long standing. He was never married. Though he had been breaking up for a long time his death was sudden at the last, and his relatives were not aware even of his illness till a few hours before his death.