The number of suits tried on each circuit was:-Home Circuit, 240; Midland, 106; Norfolk, 43; Northern (excepting Lancashire and Durham), 125; Oxford, 122; Western, 121; North Wales, 42; South Wales, 23; County Palatine of Lancashire, 125; County Palatine of Durham, 20. Total, 1,059. This portion of the Judicial Statistics is not without its interest to a barrister in quest of a circuit. The total number of judgments in 1862 was 36,166; in 1861 it was 41,297. Of the former number, not less than 15,936 were entered up in the Exchequer. Of the contested suits the plaintiff obtained a verdict in 1,515; the defendant in 370. The total of executions was 25,727. The number of motions for new trial, &c., was 579; in 1861 the corresponding return was 105. It is necessary that we should here caution the reader against applying statistics to cases to which they are unsuited. Statistics are the data of general laws only. They are the elements on which averages are calculated, and are, indeed, the sine quâ non of all important cases of abstraction or generalisation. But they do not at all apply to individual cases. If the proportion of successful plaintiffs in past years has been considerably higher than that of successful defendants, this only proves that this proportion is likely to be maintained in future as regards all plaintiffs viewed collectively. But no particular plaintiff could, with any show of reason, estimate his chances of success according to this proportion. Such an application of statistics would imply that every plaintiff was more likely to succeed than his opponent. A like observation applies to the probable result of a particular motion for a new trial. No survey of the judicial statistics of past years could be of the least use in determining such a question. Particular cases bear no more intimate relation to the general averages of success in litigation than those quali ties of a simple substance do to a compound, in which, though constituting part of its elements, they no longer appear. To the 103,564 writs of summons issued there were only VOL. XVII.-NO, XXXIII. D 37,654 appearances entered. Nearly three-fourths (73.4 per cent.) of the suits commenced were therefore uncontested. This proportion varies but little (the report observes) from year to year. Of the cases in which appearances were entered, only 3,621 were entered for trial; and further, of this number only 3,204 or 2.1 per cent. of the suits commenced were actually tried, and of these almost 9 per cent. were undefended. The following are a few of the more important items relating to the business in judges' chambers for the last two years. The total of summonses in 1861, was 45,814; in 1862, it was 43,434; common orders, 38,876 in 1861, and 37,030 in 1862; special orders 12,820 in 1861, and 12,334 in 1862; affidavits filed, 22,065 in 1861, and 20,505 in 1862. The proceedings in the Court of Error Exchequer Chamber complete the summary of the business of the superior courts of common law, and were as follows for the last two years, These returns are in a more simplified form than that in which they were issued in preceding years. In the county courts the total number of plaints in 1862 was 847,288; in 1861 it was 903,957; in 1860, it was 782,384; and in 1859, 714,623. The total amount for which plaints were entered, was £2,006,680. The total amount on judgments obtained by plaintiffs on original hearings was, for defendants, £1,000,223, and for costs, £40,037. The total amount of fees on all proceedings was £270,641. Although the average amount of each plaint does not exceed £2 7s. 11d., so that the whole amount of fees must consequently be considerable, yet so excessive an impost as the amount of fees mentioned cannot be justified. An increase appears in the returns of these courts under every head for 1861. In the total number of plaints entered, the increase amounted in that year to 121,573, or 1.55 per cent. on the number for 1860. In 1862 there was a decrease of 6.6 per cent. under this head. A remarkable proof of the growing popu larity of these courts appeared in the increase of the number of judgments obtained in 1861 for debts above £50. This number, in 1861, was 204; in 1860, it was only 17; and in 1859, only 16. In 1862, we were sorry to perceive that it again had fallen to 11. Under the Charitable Trusts Act, only one matter was heard; although this return was 16 in 1861, it was 137 in 1860, and 140 in 1859. Of the causes brought into Court, 99.8 per cent. were determined without a jury, both in 1861 and in 1862. This, however, is but slight if any evidence whatever of the general unpopularity of trial by jury. For besides costing a few shillings, it virtually entails the employment of advocates-an expense greater in most cases before these courts than the sum at issue. In 5 of the 33 ancient Manorial Courts no proceedings took place in 1862. In several of this class, however, considerable business is transacted. In the Sheriffs' Court of London, 11,410 plaints were entered. The amount of costs and fees in this class of courts was 25 per cent. upon the amount of debt recovered. The ancient practice of approaching persons in authority only after the presentation of valuable gifts, would still appear to flourish in a modified form in this description of courts. The amalgamation of these courts, however, with the County Courts, would not, as we have seen, quite cure this evil. If there is any doctrine of political economy, the justice and expediency of realising which have been conclusively demonstrated, it is that law taxes ought to be abolished, This argument applies with especial force to courts that are resorted to chiefly by the less wealthy classes. The Blue Book before us contains no returns from the Courts of Bankruptcy for the year 1862. The bankruptcy statistics for 1861, relate only to the proceedings that were transacted from the 1st of January to the 11th of October, 1861. In this period there were— Petitions for adjudications by creditors Petitions for adjudications by traders against themselves Number of such petitions prosecuted to adjudication Petitions for private arrangement under the control of the Court upon which adjudications in Bankruptcy were made Of the petitions presented in 1861, upwards of 5 per cent. were not prosecuted. The total number of bankrupts was 1,222. The total amount of the debts, was £3,894,322. In 1860, the amount was £4,478,037. The average for each case is £3,791. The expenses of administration, to lessen which so. many remedies have been suggested, amounted to £310,722, or £32 9s. 11d. per cent. In 1860, the charges were £30 9s. 8d. per cent. on the amount administered. The amount ordered for dividend to the creditors, averaged £16 17s. 5d. per cent. on the total debts in the balance sheets, and £68 14s. 5d. per cent. on the amount received by the official assignee for administration. These averages, in 1860, were respectively £16 11s. 5d. and £78 19s. 7d. In almost 30 per cent. of the cases the dividend was nil, while only in one in every 52 cases was the full amount of 20s. ordered. Under the new Bankruptcy Act the classification of certificates is abolished. We need not, therefore, give any averages respecting them. The abolition of their classification is of very questionable expediency. He who contemns small things errs quite as much as the stoic; nor is the confounding together of different degrees of culpability likely to have general good results. In 84.1 per cent. of the cases, the bankruptcies were attributable to the misconduct of the bankrupts. There were 33 appeals from the Commissioners; in 11 the judgments were affirmed, in 9 reversed, in 10 varied; 3 were left pending or abandoned. The proportion of the business transacted in each Court was as follows: The number of petitions for private arrangement up to the 11th of October was much beyond the number in either of the complete preceding years. The total number of petitions was, in the period specified, 301; in 1860, it was 218; and in 1859, it was 123. The total amount of debts in the balance sheets, was £1,443,478. Under the non-trader statutes 7 & 8 Vict. c. 70, and 23 & 24 Vict. c. 147, there were 31 petitions filed, 23 of which were by debtors not in custody. The expenses of administration were £18 11s. 2d. per cent. Under the Winding-up Acts, there were 17 petitions filed. |