missioner must travel from place to place to take the answer of each defendant, and when all the defendants have been sworn to the answer, that Commissioner delivers it to a messenger to bring to London in theol usual way; if, however, the plaintiff's solicitor will consent to the answer being received without oath of messenger, one particular Commissioner need not be present at the swearing to the answer by each defen dant, but it may be sent by parcel from the Commis sioners at one town to those at another, and when it is sworn to by the last defendant, it may be sent by the Commissioners who have received his oath, by parcel, to the defendant's agent in London.

When the defendant's solicitor has received the dedimus, he should look to the label of it, to see whether the plaintiff has joined in commission; if he have, it will appear from the label to which of the plaintiff's Commissioners the notice of the time and place of taking the answer is to be given; and such notice should be given accordingly (a), at least six days before the time appointed; and at the time appointed, the plaintiff's Commissioner has a right to read the answer, if he chooses. If the plaintiff have not joined in commission, of course no notice is necessary. Two of the Commissioners must be present at the taking of the answer, and two only should attend; for, though all may attend, the fees of two only will be allowed in costs: the answer having been ingrossed and signed by the defendant, (and a conscientious Commissioner will carefully read it over to him, particularly if he be illiterate, and must do so if he be a marksman,) they proceed to take it in this manner :One of the Commissioners takes the answer, and asks the defendant if he has read, or heard read that his answer, [or answer and plea, or answer and demurrer, or plea and demurrer, or plea, answer and demurrer, as the case may be,] and whether he exhibits it as his answer [or plea, &c., as before] to the Bill of Com

(a) See form of Notice, Appendix, sect. 4.

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plaint, of (the plaintiff). The defendant answers in the affirmative, and one of the Commissioners then administers to him the oath in the following form:"You swear that what is contained in this your answer, [or plea, or plea and answer,] as far as concerns your own act and deed, is true of your own knowledge, and that what relates to the act and deed of any other person or persons, you believe to be true. So help you God." The caption of the answer must then be written and signed by the Commissioners ; it is usually written at the foot of the answer (a); they must then indorse a return on the dedimus in the following words: “The execution of this commission appears in a certain schedule [or schedules, if more than one skin] hereto annexed;" and they must both sign their names to this return. The answer, when taken, must be annexed to the dedimus, and the whole folded up together in a convenient size and form, so as to leave out the label of the dedimus; it should then be bound round with tape, at the crossings of which the Commissioners affix their seals; they then inscribe their names in the vacant spaces. Each Commissioner is entitled to a fee of thirteen shillings and fourpence for taking the answer. The answer thus taken may be brought to the Office of the Clerks of Records and Writs, by one of the Commissioners, if he should happen to be going to London; but this seldom happens; and the usual way is to send it up by a messenger, some person who happens to be going the whole of the way to London. It must be delivered to the messenger by one of the Commissioners who has taken it, and the messenger must know from whom he received it, and he must be in structed not to let it go out of his possession till he is sworn in London. He should be directed to call with the answer on the defendant's London agent ; and when he does so, he will be taken to the proper office, where he must make oath that he received it

(a) See the form, Appendix, sect. 5.

from the hands of A. B., one of the Commissioners, and that it has not be opened or altered since he so received it. It is usual for the agent to pay the messenger's fee (which, in strictness, is five shillings, but half-a-guinea is always paid); and it is better to leave him to do so, lest the fee should be paid twice over; although there be more than one answer, halfa-guinea is the fee paid, and not half-a-guinea for each. In many cases the plaintiff's solicitor will instruct his agent, on being so requested, to consent to the answer being received without oath of messenger, in which case it may be sent to the defendant's agent by parcel. In some cases a plaintiff will consent to the answer being taken without oath, or without oath or signature of the defendant; and, in such cases, an order for that purpose is obtained by the defendant's agent, the plaintiff's agent having previously been instructed to consent. The defendant's signature to an answer taken withcut oath should be witnessed by his own or some other solicitor. A dedimus to take an answer is returnable without delay.

If the defendant be a peer or peeress, the answer is not taken upon oath, but on protestation of honour, which may be administered in this form :"My lord, so much of this your answer, as concerns your own acts or deeds, you wage your honour to be true, and so much as concerns the acts and deeds of any other person or persons, you believe to be true :" in other respects, the same proceedings are to be taken in this as in ordinary cases.

When the answer is filed, the plaintiff bespeakes and procures agent an office copy of it, and sends a copy to the plaintiff's solicitor in the country. When the latter receives the copy answer, he and his client should immediately peruse it together, and make any observations which may be deemed to be important, either with a view to amend the bill or otherwise. It is then usual and proper for the plaintiff to lay the bill and answer, and

any observations made upon the latter by the plaintiff or his solicitor, before counsel, to advise on the sufficiency of the answer, and as to the plaintiff's further proceedings: if counsel advise that the answer is insufficient, it becomes necessary to file exceptions to it; the exceptions are numbered first, second, and so on, and each points out some question which the defendant has not answered, or not answered sufficiently, or charge of which he has given no explanation: these exceptions the agent gets prepared by counsel and filed (which must be done within six weeks, exclusive of vacations (a), from the time the answer was filed, otherwise the answer will be deemed sufficient); they are then, unless the defendant within eight days submit to answer them, referred by an order of the Court, obtained on a petition of course, to the consideration of one of the Masters; this order must be obtained after the expiration of the eight days during which the defendant may submit, and within fourteen days, exclusive of vacations, from the filing of the exceptions, otherwise the exceptions will be of no avail, and the defendant's answer will be deemed sufficient. If the defendant (not being in contempt) submits to answer the exceptions before the plaintiff obtains the order to refer them, he is allowed three weeks from the date of the submission

(a) As there may be occasion to refer to the vacations several times in the course of this work, it may be convenient to state here when they occur.

1. The Easter Vacation is not fixed; it is to commence and terminate on such days as the Lord Chancellor shall every year specially direct.

2. The Whitsun Vacation commences on the third day after Easter Term, and terminates on the second day before Trinity Term in every year.

3. The Long Vacation commences on the 10th of August, and terminates on the 28th of October.

4. The Christmas Vacation commences on the 24th of December, and terminates on the 6th of January.

But the Lord Chancellor may by special order direct any of the vacations to commence and terminate on different days from the above.

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to put in his further answer to the bill. When the exceptions are referred, the Master after hearing the matter decides whether the answer is sufficient or insufficient with reference to the exceptions taken to it; if he decide that it is insufficient, he will by his report point out in what repect, or rather on which of the exceptions; and as to the matters pointed out by those exceptions, the defendant (unless he is successful in appealing to the Conrt, which is done by excepting to the Master's report) must put in a further answer within a time fixed by the Master. If the Master disallow all the exceptions, and report that the answer is sufficient, the plaintiff (unless he except to the report with success) must ultimately pay the costs of the reference, and the answer is deemed sufficient. If the plaintiff has obtained an order, referring to the Master exceptions to the defendant's answer for insufficiency, he must obtain the Master's report thereon within fourteen days, exclusive of vacations, from the date of the order, unless the Master allows further time, or else the answer will be deemed sufficient. If a defendant has put in a further answer after exceptions, that further answer may be excepted to like the first, and the plaintiff, if he excepts, must obtain an order to refer the answer back to the Master on the old exceptions, within fourteen days, exclusive of vacations, after the filing of the further answer; if he does not obtain the order within the fourteen days, the answer is deemed sufficient, and if after obtaining such order, he does not obtain the Master's report thereon, within fourteen days, exclusive of vacations, from the date of the order, or within such further time as the Master may allow, the answer is deemed sufficient. If counsel, instead of excepting to the answer, advise that it is sufficient, he will then either advise that enough is admitted on the answer to entitle the plaintiff to the relief he seeks, or to a reference to the Master, or that the plaintiff must enter into evidence to prove the allegations in his bill, or to disprove those in the defendant's an