The Property Lawyer. Notices of New Books: Logan on the Laws of England, &c. 325 This proposal is not, however, altogether new, for Mr. Wooddeson, in his lectures on the law, departed from the classical plan, and pursued an arrangement of his own. The several Abridgments and Digests of the law may also be considered as other methods of study. The latter works contain many excellent outlines of particular branches of the law; but being compiled in alphabetical order, the student cannot conveniently avail himself of their contents, without the constant advice of some competent instructor, who may point out the succession in which the principal articles should be read. deed where the change occurs by a sudden ad- | wrongs. Mr. Logan does not, indeed, assert vance or recession of the water. In Scotland, with any positiveness, that his mode of a river containing a valuable salmon fishery, arranging the doctrines of the law is better belonging to the present Lord Chief Commissioner Adam, was suddenly transferred to the than that of the learned commentator; but land of his neighbour. Afterwards, by another he contends that a change will be beneficial, equally violent effort of nature, the river re- by presenting the subject in a new light. turned to its former channel; but in neither case did the owner of the bed of the river lose his right to the soil. But in all cases of gradual accretion, which cannot be assertained from day to day, the land so gained goes to the person to whom the land belongs to which the accretion is added; and vice versa. That is the rule between subject and subject; but it is said to be different as between the Crown and subject. But Sir F. Pollock says, we all hold by grant from the Crown: then the Crown holds by the same rights and with the same limitations as its grantee. This being then the case of a gradual access of the water, it makes the land now between high and low water mark the property of the Crown. No authority is needed for this position, but only the known principle which has obtained for the mutual adjustment and security of property, Alderson, B.-I am of the same opinion. I think the question is precisely the same, whether the claim is made as against the Crown or the Crown's grantee. Suppose the Crown, being the owner of the fore shore, that is, the space between high and low water mark, grants the adjoining soil to an individual; and the water gradually recedes from the fore shore, no intermediate period of the change being perceptible; in that case the right of the grantee of the Crown would go forward with the change. On the other hand, if the sea gradually covered the land so granted, the Crown would be the gainer of the land. The principle lail down by Lord Hale, that the party who suffers the loss shall be entitled also to the benefit, governs and decides the question. That which cannot be perceived in its progress is taken to be as if it never had existed at all. Gurney, B., and Maule, B., curred. Judgment for the Crown. Hull and Selby Railway, 5 M. and W. 327. In con re Mr. Logan first takes up the subject of marriage. He considers that this contract, and the rights connected with it, are so important that it may be conveniently taken as the subject with which to commence a compendium of the law. "From marriage,” he says, "the principal relations which the law contemplates are derived. On it the descent of real and personal property depends, With it, the most important rights of persons and things are mediately or immediately connected.” We will first state the general scope of Mr. Logan's labours, and then consider whether his plan is likely to facilitate the acquisition of legal knowledge, in comparison with the plan of the commentaries. The work, so far as it has been published, comprises; 1. The requisites of the Contract of Marriage. 2. A summary of decisions 3. The Wife's acts beon Promises, &c. fore Marriage. 4. Acts of the Wife after Marriage. 5. Grants and Contracts between Husband and Wife. 6. Whether admitted as Evidence for or against each other. 7. Divorces à mensa et thoro. Divorce à vinculo matrimonii. 9. Bigamy. The author then enters on the Scottish, and Compendium of the Laws of England, Scot- afterwards on the Roman Law of Marriage, land, and Ancient Rome, for the Use of the consideration of which we may defer Students. Parts I. and II. Of Marriages. for the present, if not sine die. By James Logan, Esq., Advocate. Fraser, Edinburgh Maxwell, London. 1839. NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. : THE author of this work has attempted a new method of studying the law. Our readers are all well aware of the plan of Blackstone, who treated (after the manner of Justinian's Institutes) of the rights of persons; the rights of things (or the laws of property); of private wrongs; and public 8. The principal objection to the plan of Mr. Logan appears to be, that he mixes up several distinct systems of law, founded on different principles, and each having a different origin. Thus the validity of the contract of marriage is determined partly by the Ecclesiastical Courts, and partly by the Courts of Law and Equity. Mr. Logan, under the head of "Decisions on Promises 326 Notices of New Books.-New Bills in Parliament.— Law of Attorneys. In the also enacted, that certain rules and regulations therein prescribed and set forth should be observed in every prison in England and Wales in addition to and in amendment of the other rules and regulations which should be in force in such prisons: and doubts existing whether the several rules and regulations prescribed and referred to in and by the said statute can be properly applied to debtors forming the said first class of prisoners, and to be observed in such parts of the said prisons as should be appropriated to the confinement of debtors: and inasmuch as several of such rules and regulations ought not to be applied to prisoners for debt, it is necessary and expedient that such doubts should be forthwith removed, and that such of the said rules and regulations only should be applied and observed, in regard to such first class of prisoners, as shall be made by the persons authorized by law to make rules and regulations for the government of the said gaols and prisons, and approved of by one of her Majesty's principal of Marriage," treats of actions for the breach | first of such classes: And by such statute it is of such promises, the pleadings therein, the evidence, the defence, and the jurisdiction in Equity regarding settlements. course of a few pages, therefore, the student is abruptly introduced (supposing this to be his first book) into detached parts of the Ecclesiastical, the Statute and Common Law, the Principles of Equity, and various matters of practice, pleading, and evidence. Proceeding a little further, we come to the fifth Chapter, in which the Grants and Contracts between the Husband and Wife are treated of, with their mutual interests in each other's estate and property. Here we have opened up a large field of the law of real property. Then comes (as a part of the Common Law again) the Privileges of the Wife from Arrest; and this is followed by the Incapacities of the Wife; the Suing of Husband and Wife, or suing either of them alone; the Pleadings, &c. secretaries of state. The 7th and 8th chapters on Divorce, are of course peculiarly of ecclesiastical cogni-regulations prescribed and set forth in the said zance, and the 9th on Bigamy, comes under the branch of Criminal Law. Although, however, we cannot subscribe to Mr. Logan's new Readings of the Law of England, as any improvement upon the ancient ways of study, we do not mean to say that his labors are without merit; on the contrary, we think that those who have leisure to peruse, not only Blackstone, but Wooddeson, and the present author, will be benefited thereby. As cited by Mr. Logan from Sir John Herschell, It is always of advantage to present any given body of knowledge to the mind, in as great a variety of different lights as possible." Our only wish is, that the student (for whose use Mr. Logan expressly writes) should first make himself master of such parts of the law as remain unaltered, according to the admirable method of Blackstone, and this or other works aiming at the same object of elementary instruction may then be profitably perused. NEW BILLS IN PARLIAMENT. PRISONS ACT AMENDMENT RELATING TO By the 2 & 3 Vict. c. 56, it is among other things enacted, that the prisoners of each sex in the gaols and prisons therein mentioned should be divided into the classes therein also mentioned and set forth, and that debtors in those prisons in which debtors might be lawfully confined should form and constitute the It is therefore proposed to be declared and enacted, that the said several rules, orders and statute are not and shall not be deemed to be applicable to the said first class of prisoners, and shall not be observed in that part of any gaol or prison where prisoners for debt shall be confined, except as by this act is hereinafter enacted and provided. 2. That in all prisons in which debtors may several rules, orders and regulations set forth be lawfully confined, such and so many of the and prescribed or mentioned or referred to in and by the said statute as shall be selected by the persons authorized by law to make rules and regulations for the government of the said prisons, and approved of by one of her Majesty's principal secretaries of state, shall be prisons as are appropriated to the confinement observed and applied in such parts of the said of debtors, and no other of such rules and regulations. 3. That it shall be lawful for the said persons authorized as aforesaid, with the approval of such secretary of state, from time to time to make such other additional rules, orders and such class of prisoners. regulations as may be required in regard to LAW OF ATTORNEYS. THE several points contained in the reports of the Superior Courts published during the last three months, relating to the law of attorneys, are the following. They are extracted from the first part of our Analytical Digest for 1840. ATTORNEY. "1. If a party applying to be admitted an attorney undergo the examination under R. H. Law of Attorneys. — Examinations for Degrees in Laws at the London University. 327 6 W. 4, but fail to obtain his certificate, he caunot be examined without giving a fresh term's notice. In re Examiners of Attorneys, 8 A. & E. 745. "2. An attorney having been admitted in the Court of Common Pleas, in January, 1826, without fraud,-upon an affidavit that he was then an attorney of the Court of King's Bench, and upon producing his admission in that Court, in 1810, and reading his affidavit that he had paid the duty on the articles, and that he had been admitted an attorney of the Court of King's Bench,-the Court of Common Pleas refused in 1839 to strike him off the roll, on the ground that he had ceased to practice in 1820, had been re-admitted in the Court of King's Bench in 1823, but had not taken out his certificate after such re-admission till January 1836. Paget v. Chambers, 5 Bing. N. C. 630; and see Wilton v. Chambers, 2 N. & P. 392; 7 A. & E. 524; and Dig. for 1838, p. 79. "3. Plaintiff being employed as an attorney to conduct an appeal against the removal of a pauper, omitted to enter and respite the appeal at the first sessions after the removal, and proceeded to the second sessions, after having served the respondents with a notice of the grounds of appeal, signed by himself, instead of the overseers of the appellant parish, the sessions having refused to hear the appeal: Held, that plaintiff was not entitled to recover for his services. Huntley v. Bulwer, 6 Bing. N. C. 111. "4. The Court of C. P. will, under very special circumstances, relax the rules required to be observed on the re-admission of attorneys. Ex parte Smith, 7 Scott, 344. 5. The Court of Q. B. will not allow an articled clerk to be examined before the expiration of his five years' service. Ex parte Bartlett, 7 Dowl. 699; S. C. 18 L. O. 335. CLERK OF THE PEACE. "Where the town clerks of a borough always exercised the office of clerk of the peace by themselves or deputy, without any formal appointment thereto,-Held, that the deputy town clerk was not liable to penalties under the 22 Gen. 2, c. 46, for practising as an attorney at the borough sessions, without proof of his having acted as deputy clerk of the peace. Faulkner v. Chevell, 2 P. & D. 262; S. C. 18 L. O. 56." COGNOVIT. "1. In order to make a cognovit valid, its execution must be attested by an attorney attending on behalf of the defendant, other than the attorney acting for the plaintiff. Muson v. Kiddle, 5 M. & W. 513. "2. In order to render a cognovit valid, according to the provisions of Ï & 2 Vict. c. 110, s. 9, although the attorney acting for the defendant may have been named by the plaintiff's attorney, it is no objection to the validity of the instrument that the defendant adopts him, if he has a full opportunity of exercising his discretion as to the adoption; but if the circumstances are such as to preclude such an exercise of discretion, the cognovit is bad. Therefore, where a defendant was about to give a cognovit, and was unacquainted with any attorney, and at his request the plaintiff's attorney sent his clerk for one, who came and acted in that capacity for the defendant, a request to that effect being written by the plaintiff's attorney in the margin of the cognovit, the Court of Q. B. set aside that instrument. Barnes v. Pendry, 7 Dowl. 747." WARRANT OF ATTORNEY. "The 1 & 2 Vict. c. 110, s. 9, requiring the presence of an attorney on behalf of a defendant executing a cognovit or warrant of attorney, does not apply where the defendant is "6. Where an articled clerk's christian himself an attorney. The provisions in the name has been incorrectly stated in the notice statute is for the benefit of the defendant only; of admission, the Court of Q. B. will allow the and therefore a third party, who may be prenotice to be corrected. Ex parte Dukes, 7|judiced by a judgment against his debtor, canDowl. 605; S. C. 18 L. O. 31. 7. Where an attorney of the Court of Pleas of Durham, applies for admission into the Superior Courts at Westminster, the Court of Q. B. will not relieve him from undergoing the examination required by the new rules; but in case of not passing examination, he must make a subsequent application. Ex parte Marshall, 7 Dowl. 621. "8. Where an attorney has practised seven years, and has been off the roll twenty-seven years, during which time he has not been engaged in the law, but then becomes a managing clerk in the office of an attorney, and swears to his capacity as a lawyer, the Court of Q. B. will allow him to be re-admitted. Ex parte Brabant, 7 Dowl. 622. "9. The circumstance of an attorney holding a security for his claim, is not sufficient to induce the Court of Exchequer of Pleas to interfere in a summary way to compel him to account. In re Lord Cardross, 7 Dowl. 861." not object that no attorney attested the execution of the warrant of attorney on which such judgment is founded. Chipp v. Harris, 5 M. & W. 430 EXAMINATIONS FOR DEGREES IN LAWS AT THE The following are the regulations at the examination for the degree of BACHELOR OF LAWS. Period of the year. The Examination for the Degree of Bachelor of Laws shall take place once a year, and commence on the second Monday in November. After the year 1841, no candidate shall be admitted to the examination for the degree of 328 Examinations for Degrees in Laws at the London University. B. L. until after the expiration of one academical year from the time of his obtaining the degree of B. A. in the university, or in one of the universities from which this university is or may be authorised to receive certificates. Certificates.-Previously to the year 1842, candidates shall be admitted to examination for the degree of B. L., who have shewn evidence that they have completed their twentieth year, and who have produced a certificate of having been students during two academical years, at one or more of the institutions in connexion with this university; or have taken the degree of B. A. in this university, or in one of the universities from which this university is or may be authorised to receive certificates. The certificates shall be transmitted to the registrar at least fourteen days before the examination begins. Fee. The fee for the degree of B. L. shall be ten pounds. No candidate shall be admitted to the examination unless he has previously paid this fee to the registrar; and if he fail to pass the examination, the fee shall be returned to him. How conducted.-The examination shall he conducted entirely by means of printed papers. Subjects of examination.-Candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Laws, shall be examined on the following subjects: A B Rutherforth's Institutes of Natural Hours of examination -The examination of the candidates shall take place on Monday and Tuesday, in the morning, from ten to one, and in the afternoon from three to six; and the candidates shall be examined in subject A. on Monday, and in subject B. on Tuesday. On Monday morning in the following week, the examiners shall arrange in two divisions, each in alphabetical order, such of the candidates as have passed. The following are the regulations relating to the examination for HONORS. nors shall be examined in one or more of the Law of the Courts of Equity. Law of the Courts of Common Law. The examination shall take place on Monday, in Jurisprudence; Tuesday, in Conveyancing; Wednesday, in the Law of the Courts of Equity; Thursday, in the Law of the Courts of Common Law; Friday, in the Roman Law, and the Law of the Admiralty and Ecclesiastical Courts; Saturday, in Colonial Law. In determining the relative position of the candidates, the examiners shall have regard to the proficiency evinced by them in the B. L. examination. The examiners shall publish, in the course of the ensuing week, lists of the candidates in the order of proficiency in each subject; but candidates shall be bracketed together, unless the examiners are of opinion that there is a clear difference between them. Scholarships.-If in the opinion of the examiners any candidate shall possess sufficient merit, the candidate who shall distinguish himself most in jurisprudence, shall receive fifty pounds per annuin for the next three years, with the style of "University Law Scholar." The following are the regulations at the examination for the degree of DOCTOR OF LAWS. No candidate shall be admitted to the examination for the degree of Doctor of Laws, until after the expiration of two academical years from the time of his obtaining the degree of B. L. in this university. The fee for the degree of Doctor of Laws shall be twenty-five pounds. No candidate shall be admitted to the examination unless he has previously paid this fee to the registrar; and if he fail to pass the examination, the fee shall be returned to him. EXAMINERS. There shall be as many examiners in law as the number of candidates in the several departments may require; the candidates transmitting to the registrar their application to be admitted to a degree before the 15th of April Maximum for age.-Any candidate who has of the year in which the examination is to take passed, and has produced a certificate shewing place; and the examiner or examiners shall that he has not completed his twenty-fifth year be appointed at a meeting of the Senate, to be may be examined for honors; but in case any held between the last day on which such apcandidate should delay proceeding to the ex-plication can be received and the day of examination more than three academical years amination. from the date of his passing the examination for the degree of B. A., he cannot be admitted The following are the Regulations relating to the to the examination for honors, unless he show evidence to the satisfaction of the examiners that he has been prevented up to that time from proceeding to the examination for the degree of B. L. Subjects of examinatian.-Candidates for ho MODE OF CONDUCTING THE EXAMINATIONS. Each examiner shall be present during the whole time that the candidates are engaged in writing answers to the questions in the papers set by him; but if a paper be set by more than Grievances of the Profession. - The Student's Corner. one examiner, the presence of one examiner shall be deemed sufficient If from sickness or unavoidable necessity no such examiner should be able to attend, the registrar shall be present. Every member of the Senate, and examiner, shall have the right of being present during viva voce examinations, but only the examiners, specially appointed to conduct the examination, shall have the right to put questions. All the examiners to whom any vivá voce examination is entrusted shall be present the whole time during which such examination is continued. No candidates shall be present except those under examination. GRIEVANCES OF THE PROFESSION. MONMOUTH SPECIAL COMMISSION.-MISTAKE Sir, I BY no means mean to impute any blame either to Mr. Maule or Mr. Bouchier, the joint solicitors of the Treasury: they are, doubtless, very able men in their way, but little used, from habit, to the technicalities of an attorney's office. The chief object of my communication is to call the attention of the profession to the fact of barristers being nominated, and that by act of parliament, Solicitors of the Treasury. Considering that there are many men in the profession equally as competent as these gentlemen to perform the duties, I do not see why the profession in such appointments should, as of late, be passed over. I feel confident, (and in this I believe I speak the sentiments of a majority of the profession) that had the late prosecution for treason been in the hands of any solicitor of respectable practice, the point reserved never would have arisen. I say this with good feeling to the present solicitors, who have never been used to such minor matters which are met with in the daily experience of an attorney's office. COUNSEL'S FEES. BETA. Sir, IN common with many members of the profession, I have had reason to complain of the absence of counsel in other courts when the causes in which they hold briefs have been called upon. In all such cases the fees should be instantly returned, and as they may be now irrecoverable in a court of law, I would suggest a legislative enactment, enabling parties to maintain actions for their recovery. I am satisfied this would operate beneficially in inducing counsel to do their duty. Counsel also should be enabled to recover their fees by action. CIVIS. Sir, THE STUDENT'S CORNER. DOWER. 329 IF the case put by "Lex," p. 280, ante, is a real one, I have only to hope that he is fortunate enough to be concerned for the widow; for as to the soundness of her claim to the improved value there can be no doubt. Under the old law it seems, dower attached to lands of which the husband was at any time seised during the coverture, and that after it once attached, it was not in the power of the husband to defeat it—and there the law stops. It goes not into any questions of value,-whether by manuring the ground beneath, or by erecting buildings upon it, but gives the widow one-third of the land. During the coverture, the land may be improved in value or be diminished-but her right does not come into possession until the husband's death; and in whatever condition the land chances to be then, such she is entitled to one-third of. The widow need not care by whom the land has been improved, and if the purchaser chose to build on land out of which he knew an indefeasible claim would probably one day take effect in possession, without procuring any release of that claim, he must take the consequence. If the widow's claim is doubted, we shall hear next perhaps of a contingent remainderman's having to refund to the purchaser from the tenant for life, the value of all improvements, so as to reduce the value to the statu quo when his remainder was limited. Let "Lex" remember that the widow's right takes effect in possession on the land at the death of the husband; and such as she finds it there is no pretence to prevent her from taking. J. S. T. Sir, In reply to the enquiry on the subject of Dower, made by your correspondent under the signa ture "Lex," (p. 280,) I presume that he intends to raise this simple question :-Whether A.'s widow is to be endowed according to the improved value, or according to the value of the land at the time of the sale by her husband? It is difficult to gather from the books any distinct proposition as to the extent of her claim; and I would premise that in all the cases which I am enabled to cite here on the point, the dispute, as respected her right, had arrived at that stage in which an assignment by the sheriff was needful. I name this in order to render the language employed in my quotations from different authors generally intelligible. That one-third in value, and not in point of quantity merely, was what was contemplated by the old law, seems to admit of no doubt: thus, the only provision made for the security of the dowress, in the simple state of property in former times, was, by requiring the sheriff to assign her a third part of each |