the contract that plaintiff should work? Thirdly, has he actually done substantial work?-(Ingram v Barnes, 28 L. T. Rep. 246. TESTAMENT.-Reduction-Proof.-A will, prepared by the party in whose favour it was executed, concealed by him, and never afterwards alluded to or homologated by the testator, who had signed it in circumstances indicating ignorance of its contents, was declared invalid. Per Dr Lushington" In all ordinary cases, where there is execution and capacity, the validity of the will would be established; but where a will has been prepared by the party principally benefited, and executed by the testator under his supervision, proof, if the circumstances are suspicious, must be given that the testator knew its contents, and was under no control at the time."-P. C. C.-(Scoular v. Plowright, 28 L. T. Rep. 193.) Legal Intelligence. APPEALS IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.-The following is the Scotch Cause List in the House of Lords for the present session. Causes fully heard-Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway Company v. Provost, etc., of Linlithgow; Gammel et al. v. Her Majesty's Commissioners of Woods, etc., and the Lord Advocate for Scotland; the Bartonshill Coal Company et al. v. Clark (or Reid) et al. (Bill of Exceptions.) Causes standing for hearing (set down in Session 1854) ;—M‘Ewan v. Sir John Campbell et al., ex parte as to certain respondents. (Set down Session 1854-5)-the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway Company . Philip; Martin et al. v. Kelso et al., ex parte as to certain respondents (1st appeal); Martin et al. v. Kelso et al, ex parte as to certain respondents (2d appeal); Cochrane et al. v. Baillie; the Caledonian Railway Company v. Lord Belhaven et al., ex parte as to certain respondents. (Set down in Session 1856)-Finnie . the Glasgow and South-Western Railway Company; l'eddie v. Brown, Gordon and Company; Dempster (or White) and Husband v. Dempster; Borthwick v. Glassford et al.; Belford et al. v. Morton; the London and North-Western Railway Company v. Lindsay; Edmond v. Gordon and another; Morgan and another v. Morris et al., ex parte as to certain respondents; Tennant v. Morris et al.; Dixon and another v. Dimmock, Thompson, and Firmstone et al. Claims of Peerage Depending--Annandale Peerage; Herris Peerage; Lovat Peerage; Lord Inchiquin's claim to vote; Newburgh Peerage. MERCANTILE LAW CONFERENCE.-An important gathering of the mercantile men and lawyers, for the purpose of procuring reform in the Mercantile Law, took place in London on the 28th ult. Lord Brougham, who presided, opened the meeting with a speech on the Bankruptcy Laws. After some discussion, it was referred to the committee to consider what specific points should be brought under the notice of Lord Palmerston. A paper on the Judgments Execution Bill was read by Mr Craufurd, M.P. A resolution was passed, approving of the bill. The committee appointed to consider and report upon the expediency of adopting the Scotch system of summary diligence with regard to bills of exchange, and other matters of that nature, reported in favour of adopting the Scotch system. The report was approved of by the conference, and it was arranged that the subject should be brought under the consideration of Lord Palmerston by the deputation appointed to wait upon him. In the evening, tribunals of commerce were discussed. A resolution was proposed in favour of the establishment of permanent local courts, with compulsory powers and equitable jurisdiction to decide in all maritime and mercantile disputes, and that the judges should consist partly of commercial men, with an appeal from them to the Superior Courts of Law. A long discussion ensued, and it was arranged, with the approval of Lord Brougham, that the subject should be referred to the general committee. On Thursday, the Chairman remarked that the subject of codification was to be taken into consideration that day, and he announced that he entertained little hope that any digest of the whole or any portion of the laws would be successfully carried into effect. The ineffectual attempts that had been made to codify the criminal law showed that his apprehensions were well founded, and he now almost despaired of obtaining any digest. It could only be effected by Parliament reposing entire confidence in the persons employed to make the digest. Although he despaired of codification, he did not despair of improvements being effected by means of the conference. Mr Leoni Levi then read a paper on the subject of a commercial code; and on the motion of Mr Bushell of Liverpool, seconded by Mr Malcolm Ross, Vice-President of the Manchester Commercial Association, it was resolved, that it is highly important that the laws affecting trade and commerce should be enunciated in as clear a manner as possible; and that for this purpose, it would be desirable that a commercial code should be formed, comprising both the statutes and the most established principles of common law regulating the principal transactions of commerce. Mr Wm. Entwistle (of the firm of Loyd and Co., bankers, and a director of the Manchester Commercial Association) read a paper with relation to the registration of partnerships, and submitted to the conference the heads of a bill for establishing a system of registration. In the course of a long discussion that ensued, the opinion of the meeting, with the exception of Mr Wm. Haines, and another gentleman, was declared to be in favour of the proposition contained in Mr Entwistle's paper; and a resolution was passed in favour of a general system of registration. A resolution was also adopted to the effect that the 17th section of the Statute of Frauds, which requires written contracts where the value of the goods sold is above L.10, ought to be repealed; provision, if it should be found necessary, being made for enforcing the employment of written contracts in particular cases. On the motion of Mr Holland, seconded by Mr Headlam, M.P., a vote of thanks was passed to Lord Brougham, and the meeting separated. DEATH OF BARon Alderson.—The decease of Baron Alderson took place at his residence in Park Crescent, London, on the 27th ult., in his 70th year. He was the eldest son of the late Mr Robert Alderson, barrister-at-law and Recorder of Norwich, by the daughter of Mr Samuel Hurry, of Great Yarmouth, where he was born in the year 1787. Having received his early education at the Charter-house, then under Dr Matthew Raine, he proceeded to Caius College, Cambridge, where he closed a brilliant career as an undergraduate by taking his degree, in January 1809, as Senior Wrangler and Smith's prizeman, and Senior Chancellor's Medallist; thus obtaining the all but singular reward of the very highest honours which that University has to bestow for classical and mathematical attainments. In the following year Mr Alderson was elected a Fellow of his College, and in 1812 he proceeded to take his degree as Master of Arts. He had been already called to the bar of the Inner Temple in the preceding year, and for several years went the Northern Circuit. He became well known in his profession by editing, in conjunction with Mr Barnewall, five volumes of reports of cases heard in the Court of King's Bench between 1815 and 1820, which form part of the standard classical series of law reports of that court, and which were afterwards continued by Mr Justice Cresswell. He never held a seat in Parliament, but perhaps on that very account had leisure to earn even a higher reputation as a legal junior, and to secure a very extensive practice as a Chamber counsel. While still wearing a stuff gown, he was promoted, in 1830, to the Court of Common Pleas as an additional puisne judge (Mr Justice Patteson and the late Baron Taunton being his companions in the elevation); and on that occasion he received the honour of knighthood. He was transferred from that court, however, in 1834, to a puisne judgeship in the Court of Exchequer, where for many years he was second to the late Mr Baron Park. They were the two great legal luminaries of that court, and they delivered judgment in many important cases with great learning. His intercourse with the members of the bar was uniformly courteous and friendly, and his good humour, and perhaps over frequent jocoseness, made him generally popular. In 1823 he married the youngest daughter of the Rev. Edward Drewe, of Broadhembury, in the county of Devon, by whom he had a large family. APPOINTMENT.—At the Court at Windsor, the 2d Feb. 1857, present the Queen's most excellent Majesty in council:-This day the Right Hon. Sir Alexander Cockburn, Knight, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, was, by her Majesty's command, sworn of her Majesty's most Hon. Privy Council, and took his place at the Board accordingly. JUDGMENTS EXECUTION BILL.-A Bill has been brought in by Mr Craufurd, M.P., to render judgments or decreets obtained in certain courts in England, Scotland, and Ireland, respectively, effectual in any other part of the United Kingdom. Thus, judgments obtained in the courts of law at Westminster will, when memorials of them have been registered in Ireland and Scotland, or vice versa, have the effect of judgments of the court in which they are so registered. The following is the substance of the measure :— Clause I. provides that where judgment has been obtained in the Courts at Westminster, a memorial thereof registered in Ireland, and vice versa, shall have the effect of a judgment of the Court in which it is so registered. Clause II. provides that where judgment has been obtained in the Courts at Westminster or at Dublin, a memorial thereof registered in Scotland shall have the effect of a decreet of the Court of Session. Clause III. provides that no memorial of a judgment to issue without rule of Court or Judge's order or certificate. Clause IV. provides that where decreet has been obtained in the Court of Session, or in any Sheriff Court in Scotland, an extract thereof registered in England or Ireland shall have the effect of a judgment of the Court in which it is so registered. Clause V. No extract of any decreet as aforesaid shall be granted for the purposes of this Act by any of the said officers in Scotland, except under a warrant of one or other of the Divisions of the Court of Session, or of the Lord Ordinary on the Bills, to be obtained on summary application. Clause VI. provides that the memorial or extract is to be produced for registration within thirty days of date thereof. Clause VII. That Courts at Westminster and Dublin are to have same control over registered memorial or extract as over warrants of attorney to confess jndgment. Clause VIII. That in case of bankruptcy or insolvency, registered memorial or extract is not to be of greater effect than warrant of attorney to confess judgment. Clause IX. That a memorial or extract is to be filed, and satisfaction or discharge may be endorsed thereon, and certificate thereof to be evidence. Clause X. That registers may be searched, and for each search a fee of 6d. to be paid. By Clause XI. security for costs, where plaintiff resides in a different part of the kingdom, is abolished. By Clause XII. costs are not to be allowed in actions or judgments unless by order of Court. Clause XIII. Punishment of forgery of signature of officer of Court. By Clause XV. Judges at Westminster and Dublin may issue altered writs of execution if necessary. Clause XVI. Short title of Act. In citing this Act in any instrument, document, or proceeding, it shall be sufficient to use the expression "The Judgments Execution Act, 1857." The Bill was discussed in the House of Commons, on Wednesday the 11th inst., when, after considerable opposition from the Irish Members, the second reading was carried by a majority of 56 to 46. THE JOURNAL OF JURISPRUDENCE. Review of the Month. The Dissolution-Retirement of Mr Dunlop-More Lawyers in Parliament A Minister of Justice-Legislative blunders-Courts of Reconcilement Security for Costs - The Registration of Land Rights-Abolition of the Particular Registers-Danger of making the Judgments of some Sheriff's final-Indian Judgeships. THE many questions of interest to lawyers, which have already occupied the attention of Parliament, induced us to anticipate a busy session, in which some most important measures would be passed. But we have been doomed to disappointment. March, which put a term to the last Parliament, has again proved fatal to the present; the excitement of a general election will leave no time for practical legislation; and the year, which opened with such excellent promise, will, so far as law reform is concerned, prove a complete blank. The dissolution is to take place on the 25th of the present month; the new Parliament cannot well assemble before the end of May; and, by the time a new Speaker is elected, and the House has adjusted itself to the despatch of business, the limited period remaining at its disposal will leave no opportunity for the consideration of any matters beyond those of the most pressing urgency. The regret which this event has occasioned is in no way modified by the fact, that with the close of the present Session, the country is to lose the services of our learned friend the member for Greenock. His vote against the government on the Chinese question seems to have produced a most painful effect on the honourable member. Frightened at the prospect of being placed in a "position of isolation in Parliament," to which he seems to be under the delusion he is henceforward doomed, he has resolved, he says, in a letter to the Provost of Greenock, "to finally retire from public life." While we cannot but admire the straightforward honesty of the course which, in Mr Dunlop's opinion, has rendered VOL. I.-NO. III. MARCH 1857. P ter. this step necessary, we hope he will forgive us for saying, that his resignation is a blunder quite incompatible with his past characWe trust, however, it may be yet remedied, for the author of the Succession Act is the very last man we would consent to lose. Except the Lord Advocate, he is the only Scottish member who can command the attention of the House of Commons. Scotland cannot find more than two men who bring to the work of legislation a practical knowledge of law. It is not creditable to a country like this, that we should have as M.P.'s a number of men who, for all the purposes of Parliamentary debate, are no better than lay figures. The ordinary class of our representatives is the heavy country gentleman, the retired tradesman, or the heir presumptive of a noble house. They are all good enough for tendering a vote, but it is painful to think that their presence in the House of Commons would never be known if it rested upon feats of oratory. Unfortunately, the lawyers in this country are incapable of Parliamentary honours, for the very simple reason, that few can afford to make the professional sacrifices which a residence for a large portion of the year in London would involve. Hence, one of the most intelligent bodies in the community, the best fitted of all for ameliorating the laws, which it is the business of their lives to work, are seldom able to make their voices heard in St Stephens. While the English and Irish professions contribute no less than 105 members, the Lord Advocate and Mr Dunlop alone represent all the wisdom and learning of the Scotch lawyers in the House of Commons. It is quite painful and melancholy, therefore, to find a man like Mr Dunlop the victim of a crotchet, retiring into the insignificance and the uselessness of a country life at the very moment when his usefulness was proved, his merits admitted, and every person willing to encourage him in his admirable schemes of social and legal reform. Why, if he was obliged to give his vote against government, he should also feel himself obliged to resign his seat in Parliament, and take to a vegetative existence, where he can look for nothing but to be forgotten, we have been unable to learn from his singularly inconsecutive and passionate letter. Why should he not, if he has acted according to his conscience, again manfully present himself to his Greenock constituents, and ask a renewal of their suffrages? Age has not destroyed the elasticity of his spirits or the energy of his character; and we trust it is yet not too late to save a man of so much respectability from utterly throwing away the fruits of a long life of self-sacrifice, at the very moment when he was about to attain success. If we are to lose Mr Dunlop, we trust that this opportunity will not be lost in securing some Scottish seat for the present Dean of Faculty, Mr Inglis. We would all wish to see in the House of Commons one whose manly style of speaking would commend itself to that fastidious assembly, and who would do much in securing for this country its fair share of attention and influence. |