It appears from the evidence that the practice of the court might be modified so as to further this object. In the early part of the year 1847 the Master of the Rolls, with the aid of an experienced officer of NEW LAW BOOKS, Lately published by EDWARD J. MILLIKEN, 15, COLLEGE GREEN. AW OF DEBTOR AND CREDITOR IN IRELAND. his court, prepared the draft of a bill, with a copy L The new Act for the abolition of arrest for sums under ten AND of which he has favoured the committee, and which is inserted in the Appendix to the evidence. The objects proposed by this draft were to simplify proceedings in Chancery for the sale of incumbered property, to remove the evils in practice which occasioned delay and expense, and to redress such abuses as had been discovered by him in the course of his professional and judicial duties. Sir Edward Sugden, in his evidence, states that the and for the recovery of the possession of small tenements before Justices of the Peace, with a full Commentary, Index, Notes and Forms, adapted for the professional and trading classes, By WILLIAM GERNON, Esq., Barrister-at-law, "The concise and lucid style in which the subject of this work is treated cannot fail to render it clear and intelligible to the most limited capacity, ***We can confidently recommend it to the patronage of the profession, and the public at large."- Freeman's Journal. "The value of this Treatise is much enhanced by the forms appended, and the whole is a very good available summary which will be found alike useful to the Lawyer, the Magistrate, the Proprietor of landed property, and the Trader."—Dublin Evening Mail. Court of Chancery in Ireland might be worked with Ireland, with a Copious Index and Direction for proceeding under as much expedition in prosecution of suits as any other superior tribunal. He recommends the practice which obtains in England in suits by mortgages, as encompassed with fewer difficulties than that which has been established in Ireland; but, on the other hand, it is stated by the Master of the Rolls, that the course in Ireland is, in its general principles, better adapted to the exigencies of that country and is capable of being simplified and freed from objection by such a measure as that which he has prepared. It may be anticipated that by the aid of the legislature, with the co-operation of the judges and officers of the courts of equity, an improvement may be gradually accomplished in this department, which must for some time, deal with a large portion of the property of Ireland. 12mo, Second Edition, Price 2s. 6d.-by post, 3s, Act to facilitate the Sale of Incumbered Estates in the provisions of the Act,) for the Sale of Lands subject to Incumbrances By W. M. M'CAY, Esq., Solicitor. "This book should be in the hands of every one interested in Irish estates, or the securities affecting them."-Dublin Evening Mail, "It possesses the valuable quality of being intelligible to the non.pr fessional, as well as instructive to the professional reader."-Freeman' Journal. 12mo. price 2s. 6d.-by Post, 38. TREATISE ON THE LAW OF INTERPLEADER, containing all the Reported Cases in this Country and in England with an Appendix, containing the Act 9 & 10 Vic. c. 64, with Forms of Affidavits, Rules, Orders, and the Record on a Feigned Issue. By Joy BLACKHAM, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, 8vo. price 168.-free by Post, A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON PLEADING BY BILL in the COURTS OF EQUITY in IRELAND; adapted to the General Orders, By ALFRED M'FARLAND, Esq., Barrister at Law." REPORTS OF PRACTICE AND NISI PRIUS CASES, (including Registry and Civil Bill Appeals,) DECIDED in the SUPE RIOR COURTS, and at the AFTER SITTINGS; with Index and Table of Cases. By J. BLACKHAM W. J. DUNDAS, and R. W. OSBORNE, Esqrs., Barristers at-Law. Part IV., completing Vol. L., price 5s, QUE UESTIONS FOR LAW STUDENTS on the Second Edition of Mr. Serjeant Stephen's New Commentaries on the Laws of England. By JAMES STEPHEN, Esq of the Middle Temple, Bar. rister at-Law. I vol. 8vo. cloth boards, price 10s. 6d. CONCISE FORMS OF WILLS, with Practical Notes, By W. HAYES and T. JARMAN. 4th Edition, cloth bds, 158, THE LAW OF HUSBAND AND WIFE. A Treatise upon Roper's Treatise, and comprising Jacobs' Notes and Additions thereto, on the Law of Husband and Wife as respects Property, partly founded By J. E. WRIGHT, Esq. of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law, 2 volk, royal 8vo. £2 10s. boards. Your committee recommend the repeal of the power of legally assigning judgments hereafter to be acknowledged; they think it also advisable to repeal the right of appointing a receiver on a judgment, where the unsatisfied demand does not exceed £150; to give a year of grace on a judgment, in all cases, before a receiver can be obtained; and to treat the costs of appointing a receiver as part of the debt, to be paid in the same priority only; to give a legislative sanction to such rules as may be considered proper to secure the appointment of competent receivers, and the useful discharge of their duties, in the least expensive manner-to give the court the authority already suggested; to be exercised according to the principles of equity jurisprudence, and the peculiar circumstances of each case, under the restrictions which have been A SELECTION OF LEADING CASES IN Various stated. In conclusion, your committee wish to express their conviction, that the present management of properties under the courts is attended with equal detriment to the agriculture of the country and the condition of the tenantry. 11th July, 1849. We have received the letter of a Barrister; in much of it we acquiesce, but we cannot, as a rule, insert the communications of anonymous correspondents. A TREATISE ON THE LAW OF LEGACIES. By the late R. S. DONNISON ROPER, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, of Gray's.inn; and by H. H. WHITE, Esq., Barrister.at-Law, of the Mid dle Temple. Fourth Edition. 2 vols, royal 8vo. £3 38. boards. A TREATISE ON THE LAW OF EVIDENCE, as administered in England and Ireland; with Illustrations from the American and other Foreign Laws. By JOHN PIT TAYLOR, E. of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law. 2 vols, royal Svo £210. Branches of the Law, with Notes. By JOHN WILLIAMSMITH, Esq.. of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. Third Edition. By HS, KEATING, Esq, and JAMES S. WILLES, Esq., of the Inner Temple Barristers at Law. 2 vols, royal 8vo. £2 12s. 6d. All communications for the IRISH JURIST are to be left, addressed to the Editor, with the Publisher, E. J MILLIKEN, 15, COLLEGE GREEN. Correspondents will please give the Name and Address, as the columns of the paper cannot be occupied with answers to Anonymous Communications-nor will the Editor be accountable for the return of Manuscripts, &c. Orders for the IRISH JURIST left with E. J. MILLIKEN, 15, COL LEGE GREEN, or by letter (post-paid), will ensure its punctual delivery in Dublin, or its being forwarded to the Country, by Post, on the day of publication. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION-(payable in advance): Yearly, 30s. Half-yearly, 17s. Quarterly, 9s. Printed by THOMAS ISAAC WHITE, at his Printing Office, Na 45, FLEET STREET, in the Parish of St Andrew, and published at 15, COLLEGE GREEN, in same Parish, by EDWARD JOHNSTON MILLIKEN, residing at the same place, all being in the County of the City of Dublin. Saturday, July 21, 1849. Erish Jurist No. 39.-VOL. I. JULY 28, 1849. PRICE (Per Annum, £1 10s. [Single Number, 9d. The Names of the Gentlemen who favour THE IRISH JURIST with Reports in the several Courts of Law and Equity in Ireland, are as follows: Court of Chancery, in- (ROBERT LONG, Esq., cluding Bankruptcy Appeals........ Rolls Court.... Equity Exchequer.... and JOHN PITT KENNEDY, Esq., Bar- WILLIAM BURKE, ESQ., and CHARLES HARE HEMPHILL, Esq. Bankrupt Court....... ROBERT GRIFFIN, Esq. and W.G. Chamber...... Court of Exchequer (JOHN BLACKHAM, Esq., and Queen's Bench, including Civil Bill and Registry Appeals........ Exchequer of Pleas, including Manor Court and Registry Appeals. Common Pleas .. CHAMNEY, Esq. Barristers-at-law. Admiralty Court...... As the bill originally stood, no receiver could be appointed on judgments to be obtained after the 31st of December, 1849; it is now proposed to allow the existing law to remain unchanged, save that no receiver can be obtained upon judgments, decrees and orders having the effect of judgments, entered up after the passing of the act, where the amount shall not exceed £150. Neither are such judgments any longer to remain a charge upon land from the time of their being entered up; but by the 3rd section it is enacted "That the sheriff or other officer to whom any writ of elegit, or any precept in pursuance thereof is directed, at the suit of any person, upon any judgment subject to the provisions of this act, recovered in action in any of her Majesty's superior courts at any Dublin, shall make and deliver execution unto the party in that behalf suing, of all such lands, &c., as the person against whom execution is so sued, or any person in trust for him, is seised or possessed of, at the time when such writ of elegit is delivered to the sheriff or other officer, or over which the person against whom execution is so sued out has, at the time when such writ of elegit is delivered as aforesaid, any disposing power which he might, without the assent of any other person, exercise for his own benefit, which lands, &c., shall accordingly be held and enjoyed by the party to whom Such execution shall be so made and delivered, subject to such account in the court out of which CHAS. H. HEMPHILL, Esq., and WILLIAM HICKSON, Esq., Bar risters-at-Law. ROBERT GRIFFIN, Esq. and W. G. {CHAMNE, Esq. Barristers-at-law. S ROBERT GRIFFIN, Esq. and W. G. CHAMNEY, Esq. Barristers-at-law. such execution shall have been sued out, as a party to whom execution is made and delivered under the recited provision of the said act of the 4th year of her Majesty, is made subject to under such provision." The recited provision was the 19th section of the 3 & 4 Vic., by which the entirety of the debtor's lands, both present and after acquired, could be delivered in execution, and the elegit creditor was made subject to such account in the court out of which such execution should have been sued out, as a tenant by elegit was then subject to in a court of Equity. The new bill varies from this provision, by leaving out the words " or at any time afterwards," and by rendering the existing, and not the future property liable to be delivered in execution; the mode for the last nine years a judgment creditor had the of accounting is the same. It is observable, that power of obtaining the entire of a debtor's lands under an elegit, subject to an account in a court of Law, and yet there is no reported instance of a creditor ever resorting to such a remedy, when he had the alternative one of a receiver in a court of Equity. We commend the alteration in the proposed bill, of depriving a judgment creditor for a small sum of the power of appointing a receiver, whilst the present receiver system is allowed to continue; though the better test would probably have been the value of the debtor's lands, and not the amount of the creditor's debt; but we are by no means enamoured of the remedy by elegit. The 12th Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the courts of justice in Ireland, in giving a history of custodiams, and the monstrous abuses to which they led, contains a few observations on some of the defects connected with the law of elegits, Amongst others, the expense of the remedy by ejectment, as sometimes being very great owing to the obstacles interposed by setting up prior leases, by reason of which the creditor was obliged to file a bill in Equity to remove temporary bars. They observe, "It is likewise a hardship incident to the proceedings under the elegit, that the debtor, in every instance where an account is to be enforced, is obliged to have recourse to a suit in Equity; a farther disadvantage arises both to the creditor and debtor from the responsibility of the creditor, on the one hand, in a court of Equity for the full, unascertained value, and his uncontrolled discretion, on the other, in setting any lands extended which become out of lease." It may be as well to mention what discretion the courts of law exercised in granting or refusing an account. O'Brien v. Goold, (Al. & Nap. 41 ;) per Curiam." Where it appears in the first instance that complex questions are sought to be brought before the officer, the Court will refuse the account." Holmes, amicus Curiæ, mentioned to the Court that the Court of Exchequer always refuses such a reference when it appears to involve any complex question. It was to meet this state of the law that in all probability the words were inserted in the 3 & 4 Vic. c. 105, s. 19, "subject to such account in the court out of which such execution should have been so sued out, as a tenant by elegit was then subject to in a Court of Equity." But the insertion of these words effects little or nothing, as the officer of a court of common law has not the power to take the accounts in the same way that an officer of a court of Equity could; the former cannot examine the parties themselves on oath, the power of personal examination being confined to courts of Equity. It was not alone when considered with respect to creditor and debtor, that the system of elegit was productive of public mischief and private hardship; the poor working farmer was the sufferer. Powerless as the Court of Chancery has been to allow improvements, it was enabled to attend to his interests better than the elegit creditor; he might, if the lands were out of lease, let at what value he chose, but whilst the rent was reserved by lease, he could not abate, or improve, or do a single act of a landlord, except screw out the rent. Amid the conflict of elegit creditors, extending bit by bit of the debtor's land, the unfortunate tenant knew not to whom he was to pay his rent; and yet those evils are about to be re-introduced, the remedy of the creditor to be confined, and to confine him to a bad one. The question is, no doubt, one of extreme difficulty; it has not been happily solved by the present bill. Let us take a practical test of some of the injustice likely to spring from the want of uniformity in the same mode of assurance which will be occasioned by the proposed measure. There is no distinction made between judgments obtained in adverse actions and those by confession. Let us suppose a just debt for which the creditor is obliged to sue; he obtains his verdict and his judgment in Michaelmas Term of the year 1850, brings his ejectment, and, after much difficulty, delivers his writ, and gets possession in Michaelmas, 1851. A judgment for £160 is confessed by the same debtor in Trinity, 1851, which becomes a charge from the date of its entry, and has thereby obtained priority over a judgment which was prior in point of time, and the latter judgment creditor can displace the former. There is an obvious injustice in this. The cause of the outcry raised against the security by judg ments has been not from its intrinsic mischief, but from that of the receiver system, and because of it are we to be forced back to the worse evils of an exploded system? It would have occurred to us as more wise on the part of the Legislature to have inquired whether the mode of managing estates under the Court of Chancery was not improvable, to have traced out the cause of the evil and gone to its root, and if it were undiscoverable or irremediable to have explored a fresh remedy, and not through ignorance or forgetfulness to fall back upon a practice which former statesmen condemned. The Committee of Enquiry, to which we have already referred, suggested the expediency of permitting the elegit debtor by summary petition to ob tain an account in a court of Equity, and this was by no means a bad suggestion, confining the question solely between debtor and creditor. For the sake of the tenantry we wish to go further and vest some power in a controlling hand pending the coutinuance of the elegit. If we be right in assuming that the alterations in the bill were made with a view to keep small properties from the control of courts of Equity, and to extinguish cognovits, or judgments by confession for trifling sums, we think those purposes would have been fulfilled by prohibiting the appointment of receivers, and there should have been a difference as to classes of judgments, in respect of their being a charge upon lands, in cases where they have been obtained in adverse actions, and when obtained by confession; in the former they should, so long as any judgments are a constituted and fixed lien on land, be so likewise. The Receiver Committee sug gested that there should be a year of grace from the entry of the judgment in all cases before a receiver could be appointed; in the amended draft bill we see no such provision; it may, however, have been, ere this, inserted. They further recommend that the costs of appointing a receiver should, as in causes, be paid in the same priority as the demand, and not be the first charge on the fund; we know not whether this provision has been inserted. Having regard to the lateness of the introduction of the measure, its great metamorphosis since that introduction, and the importance of the subject, we trust sincerely the House of Lords will postpone it until the next session. It has not been prepared with sufficient care or thought, or steadiness of design. As a matter of legal curiosity we should be glad to learn whether it was ever submitted to the Irish Law Officers, or whether their advice or suggestions were ever asked. THE case of Molony v. Nugent will be found reported in another part of this journal. An appeal has been lodged from the decision of his Honour, and, by permission of the Chancellor, will be heard on Monday. On the merits of this particular case, whilst it is can add weight to testimony, recollects with gratistill sub judice, we shall offer no opinion. The tude and pleasure the incalculable benefits he rereasons assigned by his Honour for removing the ceived from the common-law lectures of our Univerreceiver, raise a question of considerable public im-sity Member† at the Dublin Law Institute, which, portance. It will appear from a perusal of his if published, would rank with the deservedly admired judgment, that the only ground of disqualification course on contracts by the late J. W. Smith, Esq. for office on which he relied, was the fact of Mr. Joly having been an attorney. There is no rule of court to prohibit such an appointment-no ground of misconduct brought against him, except general charges of having allowed arrears to accumulate and the decision must stand or fall on grounds of public policy. The question is raised rather unfavourably for his Honour, inasmuch as his decision has reference to a past transaction, and not to a future regulation. It is a removal from office for a cause which was not assigned at the date of the receiver's appoint-" ment, and on account of which no exception was then taken. The case is regarded with considerable interest by the profession; the Law Society were desirous that the appeal should be made; and it is expected, whatever may be the decision of the Chancellor on the particular facts, that his judgment will affirm or disaffirm the general principles enunciated by his Honour. A decision falling short of this will be productive of dissatisfaction, and an explicit expression of the eligibility, or the contrary, of a solicitor for the office of a receiver, is, in fact, essential to put an end to the unpleasant differences of opinion, and practice occasioned by that difference, which now prevail amongst the different judges of the court. This is but a return to the opinion of our ancestors learned in the law, and carrying out the object for which the Inns were founded. In the preface to Mr. Sullivan's series of lectures on the Feudal Law, delivered in the University of Dublin, where, after commenting on the many advantages an educated lawyer may confer upon society, either in his professional or social character, and the imperative necessity of his having in either character a competent knowledge of the laws, which magisterially or judicially he may be called upon to administer, says, that from hence likewise abundantly appears the necessity of proper methods being laid out for the study of the laws, and proper assistance being given to the youth intended for this profession. This was always allowed, and for this purpose were the Inns of Court originally founded: and it must be owned that in ancient times they, in a great measure, answered this end. Their exercises in those days were not mere matter of form, but tests of the student's proficiency. Their leaders laid down in their lectures the principles of particular parts of the law, explained the difficulties, and reconciled their seeming contradictions." To this I would add the opinion of Lord Brougham, whose continued zeal for the advancement of legal, as well as every other species of education, must necessarily have led him to bestow The Masters in Chancery have declined to sub-much consideration on the subject. Speaking of scribe to the reasoning of the Master of the Rolls, and continue to appoint solicitors receivers, and they are unanimously of opinion, that their discretionary power should not be controlled. It is obvious that nothing can have a greater tendency to bring the administration of justice into disrepute, than that the judges of the same court should differ on points regulating their practice. We shall recur to this important topic next week. To the Editor of the Irish Jurist. SIR, A rumour of the foundation of lectureships for the advancement of legal education by our Irish Benchers of the Queen's Inns, which has been some time gaining ground, but of the fulfilment of which I have been unable to discover any trace, has induced me to address you, in the hope that a revival of discussion on the subject might tend to carry this desirable object into effect. the utility of lectures says: "Although many men learn law very accurately and even profoundly by their own studies, they would learn it better, and at all events they would learn it easier, and save themselves a great deal of fruitless labour in its acquisition, if they had the benefit of a learned and skilful professor, accustomed to teach, and who was versed in the didactic art, which a person may be very ignorant of, and yet be very well acquainted with the art he teaches." And in the pamphlet we have adverted to, the learned author expresses himself, p. 12: "The main object of legal education ought to be to guide the young student through the labyrinth which the law presents to the uninitiated, and to establish legal principles systematically in the mind, to ground him as a lawyer in the knowledge of principles, as distinguished from a mere mechanical collector of cases. These passages bring forcibly to the mind the present state of legal education in this country as contrasted with that of the English Inns of Court, as described in the quotation first made by my Lord Coke, (pref. to 3rd Rep.); and at the present day they have united for the purpose of fully carrying out this object. That great advantages are open to the student if he diligently attend to a well-considered course of lectures upon any branch of jurisprudence is now placed beyond doubt by the unanimous testimony of At a conference of the deputations from the Comthe several learned persons examined before a Committee of the House of Commons on legal education.mittees of each of the Inns of Court, 3rd June, By the able pamphlet of a member of our Irish Bar, 1846, the following propositions were agreed upon series of letters on legal education to George A. to be offered for adoption to their respective Inns. Amilton, Esq. M. P., and the writer, if experience H. H. Joy, Esq. Q. C. in H † Joseph Napier, Esq. A. M., Q. C., M. P. principal obstacles to the transfer of land in Ireland? encumbered is one great obstacle to its sale and transfer; and there are obstacles in the expenses caused by the sale, and matters of that kind; but the great difficulty is the making out a title, not as regards the land, but as regards all the encumbran cers, who must be satisfied. "That it is expedient to institute rewards, or honours, or both, by way of encouragement to stu--I conceive the facility with which land can be dents who may be willing to undergo examinations. "That for the purpose of preparing the students for such examinations, there should be established four lectureships in addition to that on Civil Law and General Jurisprudence already established by the Middle Temple. "That the subjects of the additional lectures should be: "1. Constitutional Law, Criminal and other Crown law. "2. The law of real property and conveyancing, devises and bequests. "3. Those branches of the common law which are not included in the two last heads. "4. Equitable Jurisprudence as administered in the Court of Chancery. "That the lectureship for constitutional law, criminal and other crown law, should be maintained at the joint expense of the four societies. "That the lectureship for civil law and general jurisprudence should be maintained as now, at the sole expense of the Middle Temple. "And that the other three lectureships should be maintained at the expense of the three other societies respectively,-one for each as shall be hereafter arranged among themselves. "That no examination should be required of any student as a condition precedent of his call to the Bar. "That every student should be required, as a condition precedent of his call to the Bar, to produce a certificate of his having attended two of the courses of lectures, the selection to be determined by himself." a Is there any other difference than that which you have alluded to between the laws of England and Ireland, which makes it more difficult to transfer property in Ireland than in England?The law in Ireland which makes a judgment assignable has that effect also, to a certain extent. A judgment is a very common security for a debt in Ireland, and a judgment affects all the property of which man is possessed at the time of the judgment, or which he may afterwards become entitled to; so that if a man sells a small portion of his estate he cannot give a title to it, unless he discharges all his judgment debts. The practice is to accompany every mortgage with a bond in double the amount of the mortgage, and a warrant of attorney confessing judgment is annexed to that bond. Where you talk of a bond in Ireland, it almost always means a judgment; a judgment being so much a matter of course. Mr. Bright.] I understood you to say, that a judgment which was upon the property of an individual extended to the whole of his property, though that property might lie in the four provinces of Ireland?-Yes, it extends to the whole of his property, wherever it lies. I may give an instance of a gentleman who owes 5,000l. or 6,000l. for judgment debts; if he has bought a house, for perhaps 800, and wants to sell it, he cannot sell it till he discharges all his judgment debts. you Would alter the law in that respect, so that each judgment should not extend over more than the property described in it ?—I should make the judgment what it originally was, and give the party holding that judgment no right to take execution against any property after it had ceased to be the property of the debtor, just as personal property is situated now. These suggestions appear mutatis mutandis, admirably calculated to form the foundation of a plan for the guidance of our law authorities, assisted by the now experience of the English Benchers, who have since brought them into operation. Taking them for the present as such, I propose, Sir, with your permission, in my next letter to consider their propriety, and the manner in which they would be best carried out in detail. But the present season, when every person, public and private, sole and corporate, is seeking out some means of testifying Mr. Fagan.] And leasehold property also?their joy at the expected arrival of our gracious The late Act of Parliament has made leasehold proSovereign, to commemorate that event the present perty subject to judgments in the same way as freewould appear to be auspicious for their creation-holds; that is the Act which in Ireland we call that Sovereign herself being remarkable for her Chief Baron Pigot's Act. patronage of literature, and her skill in the fine arts; her consort read in the laws of England, and a bencher of Lincoln's Inn. B. WE purpose to give extracts from the evidence given before the Committees of the Houses of Parliament, appointed this session to enquire into the Poor Law, and the system of Receivers under the Courts of Equity in Ireland, so far as such evidence bears upon legal questions, and contemplated changes in the law. We shall commence with those portions of the evidence which bear upon the law of judgments. HOUSE OF COMMONS. POOR LAW COMMITTEE. Have you any other suggestion to make as to the improvement in the law respecting the transfer of property: what would be the precise condition in which you would say the law should be?-I would have judgments placed in the same position as they were in formerly; that the judgment creditor should have the right of execution against all the property which the debtor had when be took out execution against him, but he should not have the right to disturb the possession of any purchaser of real and personal property from his debtor; and the judgment then would cease to be an encum brance. You say you would have judgments placed in the position in which they were formerly; what was that position?-The change was gradual; first The statute of elegit, as it is called, which was |