intrusted to police magistrates, and that without any correctory review; that the assessors in Glasgow, removeable at pleasure, and dividing the responsibility, were in a false position; that citizen magistrates were not more but less merciful than the professional, and sometimes were too merciful; that the duties of the police bench were a great burden on the mercantile community, the best qualified members of which were frequently prevented thereby from undertaking municipal duty; that the police magistrates as such inflicted fines which in Glasgow they had the disposal of in their character of Commissioners of Police. "In the Police Board, a gentleman got up, and, like the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he was bringing out his budget; he told the Commissioners of Police that so much had been collected from fines during the past year-£5000 and some odd hundreds―and for the next year they might safely calculate on £6000. Was that a thing to be smiled at or laughed at? It was a matter for very serious consideration. He did not believe that the magistrates, acting as Commissioners, ever acted corruptly, but they could not prevent people speaking about it; and they said this, that fines exacted from these people ought not to be disposed of by the parties exacting them." The motion was negatived by a majority of 25 to 12. There are no doubt some arguments that may be fairly urged on the other side, but, from the full report of the proceedings before us, they do not appear to have been known to the councillors forming the majority.

Glasgow Sheriff Court.-At the Appeal Court on Oct. 3, the Sheriff, as usual at the opening of the winter session, gave some statistics of the judicial business of the Court since 1st Oct. 1866. Gross number of new ordinary actions 1263, being 29 above last year, which showed an increase of 66 over the previous year. In 825 appearance was entered, and in 438 decrees in absence were pronounced. The printed rolls of the weekly ordinary courts have contained 5961 enrolments, being an increase of nearly 400. Of these 1646 were motions; 520 adjustments and closing records: 1547 for fixing diets of proof; and 2135 for debates. Enrolments in the Appeal Courts Lower Ward alone, 1695, or 500 above last year. Final judgments in cases admitting of advocation cannot have been less than 500, and, said the Sheriff, "it affords satisfactory evidence of the confidence reposed in the soundness of these judgments that caution was found with a view to advocation in only 15 instances, and in some of these no advocation was carried out." There were 492 summary applications in sequestrations for rent, interdicts, lawburrows, and ejection. The summary applications under statutes 302, mainly under the Police Act, Merchant Shipping Act, Railway, Turnpike, Lands Valuation, and Poor Law Acts. Under the Glasgow Corporation Water Company's Act, four Appeal Courts were held, in which upwards of 1000 appeals were disposed of. There were 466 applications for warrants to commit lunatics, 350 at the instance of the

Inspector of Poor, and warrants were granted on all these applications. The applications for ejectment where the rent did not exceed £30, and where the premises were let for less than a year, amounted to 1696. Under the Registration Acts there were granted 116 warrants, authorising registrars to register births neglected to be registered, and correct erroneous entries; and under the 19 and 20 Victoria, cap. 96, 15 warrants authorising the registration of irregular marriages. 56 meditatio fugæ warrants were granted, and 20 of the persons complained of were apprehended and examined. There were from eight to ten applications daily by paupers claiming relief. In Bankruptcy there were 16+ judicial sequestrations, a large number of appeals against trustees' deliverances and resolutions of creditors, and a considerable number of competitions for the office of trustee. Of the pending sequestrations, seven were wound up under deeds of arrangement, 35 on composition, and 36 without composition, and 75 trustees were discharged. In the Small Debt Court 23,492 summons were issued, and 631 sists, total 24,123 cases, being an increase of 1450. 620 cases were continued, and heard in Chambers before being decided. There were 295 criminal jury trials, being an increase of 62, and 81 without a jury. 651 judicial declarations were taken from persons accused of crimes, and there were 151 investigations into sudden deaths. The Sheriff announced that a new arrangement had been carried into effect, by which, with the entire concurrence of the Procurators, four ordinary Courts are held weekly. He also observed that "The Debts Recovery Act " necessitated the opening of a new roll of causes, and that it had been arranged that the cases brought under it should be called on the four ordinary Court days at the opening of the Court, but he did not expect that the steps to be taken in such cases on these days would occupy much time, as proofs and discussions would proceed chiefly in chambers. He had considered very minutely the whole provisions of the statute with the Sheriffs substitute, and had no doubt that it would be interpreted with uniformity and accuracy, and that there would be fairly got out of it whatever advantages it afforded in the limited class of actions to which it applied.

The Glasgow Sheriffs and the Debts Recovery Act. The following document is printed by our Glasgow contemporary, the Scottish Law Magazine, which describes it as "Notes of a Conference between the Sheriff of the County and the Substitutes in Glasgow," and acknowledges its obligations therefor to Mr Sellar, S.C.D. It rather appears to be an informal Act of Sederunt:

"SHERIFF'S CHAMBERS, GLASGOW, 1st Oct. 1867. "Mr Sheriff Bell had to-day a meeting with the Sheriff-Substitutes at Glasgow (excepting Mr Murray, who was absent from town), to make arrangements for the working of the 'Debts Recovery (Scotland) Act, 1867,' and to exchange views on the more obscure provisions of the Act. The following were the results, viz.:—

"1. That the cases shall be called (before the other cases) in the ordinary Courts of the Sheriff-Substitutes, and the 'Notes of Pleas' in opposed cases taken in Court. 2. Should the parties come with their pleas written, the Sheriff may adopt and authenticate them by his signature, if they appear to be properly stated. 3. The

pleas should be noted before any question of remit to the ordinary Court can be considered. 4. In some cases the Note of Pleas may, of consent of parties, form the record in the ordinary Court, but in the general case it will be necessary to order condescendence and defences. 5. It will be more convenient, at least in Glasgow, to 'try' the cases in Chambers, so that the business of the ordinary Court may be as little as possible interfered with. 6. The power to take proof at large by commission has not been conferred. Only on special cause shown may commission be granted to examine any particular witness or haver, or take the oath of a party. 7. It is thought inexpedient, in the meantime, to employ short-hand writers in the taking of evidence, even could the services of proper parties be obtained, which is doubtful. 8. In all opposed cases there is an appeal from the Sheriff-Substitute to the Sheriff; but where no 'notes of evidence' have been taken, this appeal is confined to points of law. 9. There is an appeal from the Sheriff to the Court of Session in all opposed cases above £25; but this appeal, like the other, where no notes of evidence' have been taken, is also confined to points of law. 10. Considerable difficulty was found in solving the question how the appeal allowed on points of law, in the cases where no notes of evidence have been taken, could be given practical effect to; but the resolution ultimately come to was, that the Sheriff-Substitutes should, in these cases, issue Interlocutors containing their findings in fact and law, the same as in cases where notes of evidence have been taken; and that the provisions at the end of section eighth, were to be read as more applicable to the form of the extract to be issued by the Sheriff-Clerk, than to the Interlocutor of the Sheriff-Substitute. 11. Where the Sheriff remits back to the Sheriff-Substitute to take new evidence, and re-hear the case, the Sheriff-Substitute should, of new, give judgment. 12. That there are no proper provisions for sequestrations currente termino. 13. It is not considered expedient, in the meantime, to take up cases under the Act at the Circuit Court of Wishaw-the only existing Small Debt Circuit in the county. 14. A form for Book of Causes,' submitted by the Sheriff-Clerk Deputes, and containing certain additions to the form in the schedule annexed to the Act, was approved of. 15. The summons must necessarily go out with the extract of the decree; but the other papers, such as notes of pleas, note of evidence, Interlocutors, with findings, etc., should be retained by the Clerk. Productions, however, may be borrowed up by the parties in the usual way."

Obituary.-STODART MACDONALD, Esq., S.S.C., (1845), and N.P., died at Cameron House, near Edinburgh, on Sept. 13. Mr Macdonald was a Roman Catholic, and had a large and influential business connection among that persuasion. He was agent for the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway Company during its separate existence; and it is reported that during its construction he discovered that very many progresses of titles in the kingdom of Fife were vitiated by serious flaws. He was an able and clear-headed man of business, somewhat formal in manner, but in feeling and conduct a thorough gentleman.

JOHN LEISHMAN, Esq., W.S., (1835), died at Braid House on Sept. 19, from the effects of a fall from his horse. Mr Leishman was Edinburgh agent for the West of Scotland Iron and Coal Masters' Association, and was long known as an active and able practitioner in the Court of Session.

GEORGE MCLELLAND, Esq., W.S., (1823), died at Edinburgh, Oct. 18.

ALEX. THOMSON, Esq., of Whitrig, W.S., (1818), formerly of the firm of Thomson, Elder, & Bruce, W.S., died at Mains, Tillicoultry,

Oct. 10.

DOUGLAS HAMILTON ROBERTSON, Esq., Writer, Hamilton, died suddenly while witnessing a Volunteer Review at Capellie, Sept. 28.

General Council of Procurators.-The annual meeting of this body, which includes twenty-three local faculties and upwards of eleven hundred practitioners before the Sheriff Courts of Scotland, was held in the Faculty Hall, Glasgow, on Sept. 19-Mr Murdoch, Dean of Faculty, Ayr, presiding. The following office-bearers for the year were elected:-President, Mr James F. Murdoch, Dean of the Ayr Faculty of Solicitors; vice president, Mr John B. Baxter, President of the Faculty of Procurators and Solicitors in Dundee; secretary and treasurer, Mr James W. Barty, Representative of the the Faculty of Solicitors and Procurators of the Western District of Perthshire, Dunblane; special councillors, Mr James Mitchell, Dean of the Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow; Mr A. M'Neel Caird, Dean of the Faculty of Procurators for the Rhins of Galloway; Mr Robert Watt, Dean of the Society of Solicitors, Airdrie; Mr Thomas Falconer, Dean of the Faculty of Solicitors of Inverness-shire; and Mr James Watson, Dean of the Faculty of Procurators of the county of Linlithgow. On Sept. 20 and 21, candidates for admission as Procurators before the Sheriff Courts in Scotland, were examined in the same place by a Committee of examiners appointed by the General Council. Sixteen candidates remitted by Sheriffs for examination, presented themselves, and after a searching written and oral examination, the following were found to be duly qualified for admission, viz.: -Messrs William Smith Neill Patrick, Ayrshire; Archibald Thomas Gray, Stirlingshire; Robert Urquhart, Elginshire; William Bishop Dunbar, Forfarshire; Arthur Wellesley Kinnear, jun., Kincardineshire; Malcolm Stewart, Perthshire; James Auld, Renfrewshire.

Appointments.-Sir William Gibson-Craig, Keeper of the Signet, has appointed Mr John Richardson, W.S., Substitute-Keeper of the Signet, in place of Mr John Hamilton, resigned.

Clerks of Court currying on business as Agents.-It appears that we were in error in the statement which we made last month that the "Return of all clerks of court in the Court of Session or other courts in Scotland, who either in their own names or in partnership with others carry on business as Writers to the Signet, Solicitors, or Agents," obtained by Mr. Aytoun M.P., for the Kirkcaldy Burghs, had not been printed. It was printed, though not without some delay, at a late period of the session. We now give the return, omitting for convenience of printing the tabulated form. Besides the name of the clerk and his office the return consists of a column headed, "Business carried on either in their own name or in partnership with others as W.S.,Solicitors, or Agents," and of a column for remarks.

COURT OF SESSION.

Archibald M'Neill, P.C.S., W.S., Edinburgh, carrying on agency business with a partner, remarks, "Previous to my appointment as a Clerk of Court I carried on business as a practitioner in causes before the Court, but on my appointment as a Clerk of Court I ceased to carry on business as a practitioner before the Court, and from that date have not had any interest directly or indirectly in profits or emoluments derived from litigation or the conduct of causes; I have, however, as all my predecessors from time immemorial have done, retained my other business, such as conveyancing and the management of estates, and in doing so I have had the assistance of a partner in that department of business, so that my attendance on the duties of my office has not been in any respect interfered with."

H. Maxwell Inglis, P.C.S., W.S., Edinburgh, carrying on business as such.

Alex. Mann, Clerk of the Bills, in partnership with Mr. Alex. Duncan, solicitor, Leith.

SHERIFF COURT OF CHANCERY.

Adam Morrison, Sheriff-Clerk of Chancery, S.S.C.; but he does not, either in his own name, or in partnership with any other person or persons, practise before the Sheriff Court of Chancery.

SHERIFF COURTS

ABERDEEN.-John Legertwood, Sheriff-Clerk, advocate in Aberdeen, carries on the business of a conveyancer in Aberdeen in partnership with Robert Legertwood, advocate, Aberdeen, under the firm of J. & R. Legertwood.

Do. Alexander Henderson Chalmers, Commissary Clerk, W.S., Edinburgh, in partnership with John Auld, firm Auld & Chalmers, W.S.

Do.-James Augustus Sinclair, Clerk of the Peace, C.A. & bank agent in Aberdeen.

AYR.-Evan A. Hunter, Sheriff-Clerk, W.S., Edinburgh, in partnership with others under the firm of Hunter, Blair, & Cowan, W.S., Remarks: "Mr. Hunter does not carry on business in Ayrshire."

Do.-Robert Goudie, junr., Commissary Clerk, solicitor, Ayr. Do.-Charles George Shaw, Clerk of the Peace, solicitor, Äyr. BANFF.-John Forbes, Commissary Clerk, solicitor and procurator before sheriff and other courts in county and Burgh, exclusive of the courts in which he is clerk.

Do. John Allan, Clerk of the Peace, solicitor and procurator before sheriff and other courts in county and burgh, exclusive of the court in which he is clerk.

BERWICK-Robert Romanes, Commissary Clerk, solicitor in Lon

don.

Do.-Jonathan Melrose, Clerk of the Peace, partner of the firm of Melrose and Porteous, solicitors, Coldstream.

BUTE.-Daniel Macbeth, Sheriff-Clerk, Commissary Clerk, and Clerk of the Peace, agent, Rothesay.

CAITHNESS.-William Miller, Commissary Clerk, and Clerk of the Peace, Procurator before the Sheriff Court of Caithness.

CLACKMANNAN.-John Ewing, Commissary Clerk, Procurator before the Sheriff Court of Clackmannanshire.

Do. David M'Watt, Clerk of the Peace, Procurator before the Sheriff Court of Clackmannanshire.

DUMBARTON.-John Denny, Clerk of the Peace, writer in Dum

barton.

DUMFRIES.-Henry Gordon, Sheriff-Clerk, a partner of the firm of Gordon & Whitelaw, writers, Dumfries.

Do.-Christopher Harkness, Commissary Clerk, and Clerk of the Peace, writer in Dumfries.

EDINBURGH.-James L. Hill, Commissary Clerk, W.S., and carries