and 6th June, and the following is the class list of the successful candidates for honours on that occasion. 1. Mr. William Fowler, of the Inner Temple. 4. Equales 5. Æquales Mr. Richard William Fisher, of Lincoln's Inn. 6. Mr. John Lindsey Reed, of the Inner Temple. David Kitcat, of the Inner Temple. 7. Æquales {Mr. George Tayler, of the Inner Temple. Mr. Fowler received from the lecturer, Mr. W. D. Lewis, his prize, consisting of a complete set of the Reports of Vesey, junior (20 vols.) LONDON AND DURHAM UNIVERSITIES.—The Masters of the Bench of Gray's Inn have recently passed an order that members of the London and Durham Universities shall have the same privileges with respect to calls to the bar at Gray's-Inn as are enjoyed by members of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin. The Students of the Inner Temple Society have presented Mr. Hurlstone with a handsome silver tea service, as a token of respect for his long and efficient duties in the society. It bore the arms of the society, and had the following inscription:-" Presented by the students of the Inner Temple to Mr. William Hurlstone, on his completion of the 37th year of his connection with the society.Trinity Term, 1851." Mr. Henry Sedgwick Wylde, barrister-at-law, has been appointed one of the Registrars of the Court of Bankruptcy, in the room of Mr. Charles Waterfield, resigned. J. S. Mansfield, Esq., is appointed Stipendiary Magistrate of Liverpool. In Scotland Mr. Rutherford has succeeded Lord Moncrieff, deceased, as a Judge of the Court of Session; Mr. Moncrieff as Lord Advocate, and Mr. Cowan as one of the Lords Justiciary, and Mr. Deas as Solicitor-General. M. Duncan Mac Neill has also been appointed one of the Lords Justiciary. A deputation from Jersey-Mr. Edward Nicolle Law and Mr. W. Grant Dumaresq-had an interview with Sir George Grey at the Home Office, to present a petition from the inhabitants of Jersey, praying for the establishment of a paid police, a sitting magistrate, and a Court of Requests for the recovery of small debts. It will be very wrong in the government to refuse some such measure of common justice to Jersey. We believe the abuses of the present system are infamous. List of New Publications. Archbold-The Law relative to Pauper Lunatics, with Forms in all cases required in Practice; also the Law and Practice in Appeals against Lunatic Orders. By J. F. Archbold, Esq., Barrister. 12mo. 7s. 6d. boards. Archer-An Index to the unrepealed Statutes connected with the Administration of the Law in England and Wales, commencing with the Reign of William IVth, and continued to the close of the Session 1850. By T. G. Archer, Solicitor. 8vo. 5s. boards. Arnold-A Treatise on the Law relating to Municipal Corporations. By T. J. Arnold, Esq., Barrister. 12mo. 12s. boards. Cockburn A Letter to Sir A. Cockburn, M.P., Attorney-General, on Advocacy in the County Courts, by a Barrister. 8vo. 1s. sewed. Colquhoun-A Summary of Roman Civil Law, illustrated by Commentaries on, and Parallels from, the Mosaic, Canon, Mahommedan, English and Foreign Law. 8vo. part 3, 12s. 6d. Royal Conveyancing-The Hand Book of Precedents in Conveyancing, with Practical Notes prepared by Counsel. 12mo. 10s. 6d. cloth. County Courts-New Rules of Practice to be observed in the County Courts, together with a Scale of Allowance to Witnesses, and of Fees payable on Proceedings therein, with Notes and a copious Index. By a Barrister. 12mo. 3s. sewed. Darling-Can a Clergyman create an Equitable Charge on his Living, under the Statute 1 & 2 Vict. cap. 110? By J. Darling, Esq., M.A., Barrister. 8vo. 1s. sewed. Godson-A Supplement to Godson's Practical Treatise on the Law of Patents for Inventions, and of Copyright in Literature, the Drama, Music, Engraving, and Sculpture, and also in Designs for the purposes of Sale and Exhibition. By P. Burke, Esq., Barrister. 8vo. 8s. boards. Hare-Supplement to a Short Proposal for Diminishing the Costs and accelerating the Determination of Suits in Equity. By T. Hare, Esq., Barrister. 8vo. 1s. Lawes-The Act for promoting the Public Health, with Notes, and Appendix containing the Supplemental Acts of 1849 and 1850. By E. Lawes, Esq., Barrister. 12mo. Third Edition. 8s. boards. Lund-A Treatise on the Substantive Law relating to Letters Patent for Inventions. By H. Lund, Esq., Barrister. 12mo. 6s. cloth. Oliphant-The Law of Church Ornaments and Utensils; including Communion Tables, Vestures, Organs, Candles and Crosses. By G. H. H. Oliphant, Esq, Barrister. 12mo. 5s. boards. Prideaux-The Act to amend the Law for the Registration of Voters, with an Analytical Introduction, a Reference to Cases, and other matters of Election Law. By C. G. Prideaux, Esq., Barrister. 12mo. Second Edition. 5s. boards. Roscoe-A Digest of the Law of Evidence on the Trial of Actions at Nisi Prius. By H. Roscoe, Esq., Barrister. Eighth Edition, by E. Smirke, Esq., Barrister. Royal 12mo. 25s. boards. Stephen-Bar Etiquette (in reference to the Rule requiring the intermediary Agency of an Attorney between Counsel and Client): with an Analytical Account of the Alterations in Practice, proposed by the Common Law Commission. By J. Stephen, Esq., Barrister. 8vo. 1s. sewed. Sugden-A Concise and Practical View of the Law of Vendors and Purchasers of Estates. By Sir Edward Sugden. 8vo. 21s. cloth. Woolrych-A Treatise on the Law of Waters, including the Law relating to Rights in the Sea, and Rights concerning Rivers, Canals, Dock Companies, Fisheries, Mills, Water Courses, &c. By H. W. Woolrych, Esq., Barrister. 8vo. Second Edition. 18s. boards. THE LAW MAGAZINE; OR, QUARTERLY REVIEW OF Jurisprudence. ART. I.-PUBLIC TRUSTEESHIPS. HANCERY Reform is the popular cry of the day; it has already worked some valuable amendments in the jurisdiction of equity, and promises wholesome alterations for the future. The abuses complained of are confessedly numerous and flagrant, but it is not wonderful, when litigation is instigated by some of the worst passions of the human heart, that its instruments, Law and Lawyers, should themselves be occasionally defiled by the contact. Where the source is so impure and the stream so polluted, some allowance must be made for the state of the channel through which it flows. Reformers have hitherto rather followed the rivulets than sought the fountain-head of abuses; consequently theirs has been a labour of cure rather than of prevention. Instead of directing their efforts to the diminution of the subject matter of equitable interference, they have laboured in the improvement of its administrative system. The object of the following proposal, on the contrary, is to ameliorate the Court of Chancery by removing from it altogether a vast amount of its most vexatious and merely formal business, instead of solely providing for its negotiation when there. The measure proposed not being retrospective or imperative, but only prospective and optional in its operation, propitiates in limine those "vested interests" generally so inimical to any innovation. It also possesses, as will be seen, the no mean recommendation of being self-supporting. : It is well known, that by far the greater portion of the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery is based on the system of trusts and that the definition and enforcement of the reciprocal rights and duties of trustees and cestuis que trusts form the most important item of its functions. The one branch alone of trusts by express declaration, without reference to the various ramifications of trusts by operation of law, is quite sufficient to justify this allegation. It is also equally notorious that the fiduciary relation of trustee or cestui que trust becomes applicable to almost every possessor of property at some period or other of his life. It is a universal social compact, regulating our dearest interests, which all good citizens are obliged to enter into, and on the due performance of which depends the happiness of the whole community. The unthankfulness and danger of the office of trustee is proverbial, and it can scarcely be otherwise, when nothing less than the exact performance of the trust is expected, and no expectation can be more Utopian. This may easily be conceived, when it is understood, to adopt the language of Lord Bacon, that for the private conscience of the trustee the general conscience of the realm, which is Chancery, is required to be substituted, and when also the extent and profundity of the science of equitable jurisprudence, which constitutes that recorded conscience, is duly taken into account. Under the present method conventional requirement imposes an unsatisfactory obligation on all parties concerned. The testator or settlor is aware that he subjects his friend to an unremunerative and perilous burden, and that the representative of that friend in whom the trust may finally vest may be as unprincipled as the friend himself is honourable. Again, the friend, although perfectly satisfied of the good faith of his present cestuis que trusts, cannot ensure that of the next generation. And if mutual amity be not preserved, where is the administration of a trust in which some flaw may not be found? In a multitude of cases the trustee or executor has alone the invidious choice of throwing the estate into chancery, or fettering himself and family with liabilities. He is offered the melancholy alternative of ruining his own or his testator's family. Some idea may be formed of the effect of the paternal care of the court on a small property by the fact, that an estate now in chancery, worth 8000l. per annum, costs yearly about 2000l. for management. Altogether the subsisting system results in this, that a man whose days have been rendered weary and nights sleepless to obtain a provision for a helpless family, on his death-bed finds the enjoyment of his hard earnings secured to them on no greater certainty than the infallibility of friends, or the costly integrity of the Court of Chancery. Truly a happy reflection to smooth the pillow of one who would be at peace with himself and the world! The foregoing is merely a very cursory allusion to a few of the inconveniences which accompany that personal confidence termed a trust, as more especially annexed to the person and acts of the trustee himself. A ponderous volume might be written on the difficulties attending the very nature of trust property itself, as in its vesting and transition, difficulties which in a number of instances can only be remedied by the court. In evidence of this, we need only mention the Trustee Act of 1850 and its precursors, commonly known as Sir E. Sugden's Acts. |