If the solicitor, or the party chargeable with the bill, having due notice, neglects to attend the taxation, the officer to whom the same is referred may proceed to tax and settle the bill and demand exparte (scc. 37).

If the bill when taxed be less by a sixth part than the bill delivered, then the solicitor or his representative is to pay the costs of the reference; but if the bill when taxed be not less by a sixth part than the bill delivered, then the party chargeable with such bill making the application or attending the taxation thereof is to pay such costs. The order of reference is to direct the officer to whom the reference is made to tax the costs of the reference, and to certify what upon such reference shall be due to or from the solicitor in respect of such bill and demand, and of the costs of the reference, if payable (id.).

Upon the taxation and settlement of the bill, the certificate of the officer by whom the same shall be taxed is (unless set aside by order of Court) to be final and conclusive as to the amount thereof; and payment of the amount certified to be due and directed to be paid may be enforced according to the course of the Court in which the reference is made (sec. 43).

Formerly, upon the Master's certificate being obtained and filed at the Report office, a copy thereof was served upon the party from whom the balance was reported due, and a demand made; after which, upon an affidavit of service and of default, an order nisi was obtained for the party to pay within a given time or stand committed. The order was afterwards made absolute upon an affidavit of service and of default, and thereupon the party was committed.

Since the orders of the 11th April, 1842, however, the party in whose favour the balance is found, may, would appear, proceed to enforce payment thereof in a similar manner as previously directed with respect to enforcing decrees (ante, p. 133); and under the Act 1 & 2 Vict., c. 110, whereby all orders of the Courts of Equity for the payment of money, costs, charges, or

expenses, are to have the effect of judgments, he would also appear entitled to levy a fieri facias or elegit for the amount found due, as to which see ante, p. 138.

Serving notices on.

With a view of affording greater facility for the service of notices, &c., upon the solicitors engaged in the cause, various orders were issued on the 26th August, 1841. These orders were, however, subsequently suspended by the 4th order, 11th April, 1842, and have not since been brought into operation, being in fact superseded by the orders of the 26th October, 1842, by the 17th of which it is ordered, "That every solicitor of a party suing or defending by a solicitor shall cause to be indorsed or written upon every writ which he shall sue out, and upon every information, bill, demurrer, plea, answer, or other pleading or proceeding, and all exceptions, which he may leave with the Clerks of Records and Writs to be filed, and upon all instructions which he may give to the Clerks of Records and Writs for any appearance or other purpose, his name and place of business, and also (if his place of business shall be more than three miles from the Record and Writ Clerks' Office), another proper place (to be called his address for service), which shall not be more than three miles from the said Office, where writs, notices, orders, warrants, rules, and other documents, proceedings, and written communications, may be left for him, and where any such solicitor shall only be the agent of any other solicitor, he shall add to his own name or firm and place of business, the name or firm and place of business of the principal solicitor."

By the 19th id. it is ordered, "That where the party sues or defends by a solicitor, and no address for service of such solicitor shall have been indorsed or added pursuant to the directions of the 17th order, all writs, notices, orders, warrants, rules, and other documents, proceedings, and written communications, not requiring

personal service upon the party to be affected thereby, and which have heretofore been served upon the sworn clerks, or waiting clerks, shall, unless the Court shall otherwise direct, be deemed sufficiently served upon the party, if served upon his solicitor at his place of business but if an address for service of such solicitor shall have been indorsed or added as aforesaid, then all such writs, notices, orders, warrants, rules, and other documents, proceedings, and written communications, shall be deemed sufficiently served upon such party, if left for his solicitor at such address for service."

How changed.

By the 18th order, 26 Oct. 1842, it is ordered, "That a party suing or defending by a solicitor, shall not be at liberty to change his solicitor in any cause or matter without an order of the Court for that purpose, which may be obtained by motion or petition, as of course; and that, until such order is obtained and served, and notice thereof given to the Clerk of Records and Writs, the former solicitor shall be considered the solicitor of the party."

Prepare a petition in the usual way, and take it to the Secretary of the Rolls, who will thereupon draw up and enter the order, for which you pay 7s. Take the order to the Clerk of the Records and Writs in whose division the suit is, and he will make a note thereof; after which, serve a copy of the order on the former solicitor, and also on the solicitor of the opposite party.

Privilege from arrest.

A solicitor having been arrested upon a warrant issued for disobedience to an order for the delivery of certain title-deeds, applied to be discharged out of custody, he having been arrested whilst on his way from his house to Westminster, for the purpose of being present at the hearing of two petitions which were to be pre

sented to the Court, in which he acted as solicitor. The Master of the Rolls said, "There can be no doubt but that a solicitor proceeding in a direct line on the business of his client is entitled to privilege from arrest, and ought not to be interrupted. The question, therefore, is, whether he was proceeding in a direct line. He himself has made an affidavit that he was, and in this respect he is corroborated by another person. A doubt is thrown on the accuracy of his statement, because at the time of arrest he did not give a clear account to the officer in whose custody he was; but he might have been flurried, and any little inaccuracy under such circumstances ought not to be taken as contrary to an affidavit deliberately made. The ground of his arrest cannot be taken into consideration, and it appearing by the affidavit that he was at the time engaged in the business of his client, I am of opinion that he was entitled to privilege from arrest, and must be discharged out of custody."-(Attorney-General v. Leather-sellers' Co., 2 Law Times, 306.)

ADDENDA.

Serving Defendant with Copy Bill, p. 8.

WHERE the plaintiff, by original bill, claimed to be equitably entitled as customary heir to certain customary premises, and prayed that the then defendants, the trustees in whom the legal estate was vested, and all other nccessary parties, might be decreed to convey and give up the premises and the title-deeds, &c. to him, it was objected by the trustees, at the original hearing, that certain parties claiming an interest in the premises were not before the Court, and the cause was directed to stand over, to give the plaintiff an opportunity of making them parties to the suit. The plaintiff accordingly made them defendants by supplemental bill; but, on the supposition that no direct relief was prayed against them, served them with a copy of the bill, under the 23rd order, 26 Aug. 1841. The Court, however, held that they were not persons against whom no account, conveyance, or other direct relief was sought within the meaning of the order. Knight Bruce, V. C., said, "The words in the order, 'where no account, &c.,' are not words of introduction or direction, but words of condition, and it has been so construed by one of the Judges of the Court. If the conditions were not fulfilled, then the whole order was out of place, and these parties are not bound to regard it.