with great accuracy, and also with great justice fully to judge of these points, we want a comas to the result, so far as justice can be mea-plete analysed return from each Clerk in Court sured by the strict application of their rules.” separately, and not a return from the whole office jointly. Having observed upon the duties of the Six Clerks' Office, Mr. Field next considers what is its real staff. tion. These sources are principally the halfyearly bills delivered by the Clerks in Court to the solicitors, and these have been used. Court's bills for fifteen half years, nearly con“By a tolerably careful analysis of Clerks in "Such a document has been moved for more than once, but as yet no return of the income of the Six Clerks' Office has ever, as "There are at present, I believe, twenty-fore, driven to less certain sources of informa far as I know, been published. We are thereeight clerks in Court. But there are not more than six or seven in any extent of practice. I do not know more than eight or ten by sight. And certainly, if only one clerk in Court were required to attend a taxation, which, if he were taxing officer would be the case, four could do this part of the work of the office, except per-secutive, the earliest being in 1832, altogether haps for six weeks before the long vacation; amounting to 36007., I get the following reand then, if paid by fees, they would, I have no doubt, get through it, as the taxations taken then are not of a hostile nature. There are only two agents to the clerks in Court in any very extensive practice; and one of these (a gentleman whose accuracy and activity are are well known) acts for four or five clerks in Court; so as really, with an efficient assistant, to do the filing, cause-book keeping, issuing of writs, handing over of notices, making out of Clerk in Court's bills, and all the other work, except taxation, of a very considerable part of the office. Even allowing the business of this office to go on, on its present principle, six Clerks in Court, and three agents, with assistants and writers under them who would be paid by the Id. a folio for the copies made, and by the fees paid by solicitors for carrying round warrants after office hours (a fee never spoken of, but which must bring in some good portion of pay to these under-officers), would. should think, well perform all the duties of the office. If I spoke my entire mind, I should say a smaller staff would do." sults: "I find that the amount received for taxa tion is generally less than one-eleventh of the whole bill. "That the amount received for office copies is very nearly seven-twelfths of the whole bill. it seems as far as this mode of averaging paid to the clerks in Court may be divided as can be relied on, that every thousand pounds follows: Mr. Field next proceeds to the emolu- Commons, and printed February 1st, 1832, it ments of the Clerks in Court. appears that the total amount received for taxation was, in "The reports and returns as to this office afford a strong instance of the want of statistical information. The individual fees, and the profit on each individual fee, have been inquired about by committees and commissioners, and published over and over again; we have been told of the 6s. 8d. term-fees, and the 7s. 4d. filing, and the 10d. a folio; but there seems to have been a delicate backwardness on the part of all the inquirers to ask what was the total revenue produced to the office by -each fee, and in what proportion the business was divided among the several Clerks in Court. From this, had it been asked, it would have appeared how many working men there were in the office, and what were their annual emoluments. If the emoluments of these officers are to be continued to them in the character of fees for work done, and if they are also to remain entitled to a monopoly of that work, this is the material question; 6s. 8d. a term or 10d. a folio will be an under or over payment, just in proportion to the quantity of causes moving or folios copied in the course of each year. To obtain the data requisite Reform in the Equity Courts.-Removal of the Courts from Westminster. We must then deduct four-tenths for the six clerk's proportion of the sum for office copies . . . Also for payments to the Lord Chancellor's officers on writs, and to other officers on other proceedings, which I feel sure will be well covered by.. 14,769 Assistants.. Record keeper and enterer of Assistants. 341 £ Head taxing officer at (ɛay).. appearances.. 1,000 800 800 Leaving to support the clerks in Court, sworn clerks, and waiting clerks, and their officers, at least, 47,5641. per annum. After various details to establish the accuracy of these calculations, Mr. Field proceeds— "As the solicitors would have no additional trouble thrown on them by the altered mode of doing their business, I do not apprehend there need be any fees added for them; at any rate except as to writs. As to these, if they had all the Clerk in Court's present profit (the dedimus, however, should be abolished) it would only be 1,5007. a-year; and with re above calculation, this 1,500l. per annum may be set against the relief which will be given in the master's offices, by taking away taxation from them. "Thus might a total saving to the suitors, to a very important extent, he produced by the reforin of the Six Clerks' Office; that is to say, after the immediate burden of compensation has been got rid of. Taking the gross income of the Six Clerk's Office to be...... The expenses of conducting the business by officers newly constituted 63,000 14,900 "Having ascertained as far as the materials will enable ine what are the emoluments of the office, we come to the question, "Why should this office be continued?" It was formerly inference to the question of saving upon the keeping with the general principles of the Courts, to have certain privileged attornies practising therein; but, one by one, all other monopolies of this kind have dropped away, leaving only this enormous one. A rule which requires every suitor to employ a particular privileged attorney to do certain particular de tached parts of his business when thereunto moved by the suitor's own confidential adviser, not otherwise, and which obliges him to pay this particular privileged attorney for such work, while, of course, in some shape, the confidential adviser must be paid for looking after such work, and for setting the privileged attorney in motion, is certainly much against our first notions; but still, it may be advan- Gives an estimated saving of ...... £48,100 tageous for the suitor. But if it be, it hardly need be made compulsory. If the Clerk in Court say that his office should be continued for the protection of the Court, he gives up his whole case. This is all that is contended for against him. Nobody desires that in so far as the Court requires any of its operations to be performed by officers appointed by itself, and not by the nominees of the suitors, it should not have such officers. So far as duties of this kind have to be discharged, let the officers for the purpose be really and peculiarly appointed by the Court, and be placed on the same footing as all the other officers of the Court; but do not allow them to mix up the inconsistent characters of officers of the Court and solicitors-parties to check and parties to move. Let them keep either to the duty of advancing the simple individual interest of the client, or to that of protecting the general interests of justice, and of exacting compliance to the rules of the Court. * "If the office be abolished, as sooner or later it must be, then, for the purpose of executing the duties now performed by it, which would be continued, and such of those performed by the masters as relate to costs, (warrants certificates, &c.) the following staff would, I should think, amply suffice. REMOVAL OF THE COURTS FROM IT is rumoured that some alteration or ad- Chambers. A Court is also required for the Court of Review, and very soon, we hope and expect, two other Courts will be necessary for the new Equity Judges. All these objects might be combined with the entire removal of the Courts from Westminster. We have frequently gone over the 342 Removal of the Courts from Westminster. grounds in favour of such removal to the [ the press of business requires it, and it is the neighbourhood of the Inns of Court, and tained in a pamphlet, called "Westminster suitor ; 2dly. Inconvenient and costly to the public; and 3dly. That the present Courts are irremediably inconvenient in themselves. We believe that many of the Judges are opposed to the removal. With respect to the Bar, the Author says, best the barrister can do. The practitioner who is less engaged, prefers to lose these intervals, and to reserve his papers for an undisturbed perusal at night; but were the courts near his chambers, he might so economize his time, as to be able to devote his evening to literary studies, or social relaxation. Again, many men at this bar, who have but little prac tice, engage in professional or literary works, and their time is thus of essential value to them. When these get a brief, however trifling, it but before they can get their opportunity of receives their prompt and anxious attention; addressing the court, two, three, or more days may elapse, and all that time be wasted, not only without remuneration, but positively at a loss of money, and this, again, owing only to the distance of the courts from chambers. "The practitioners at the Equity bar are more sensible of the advantages of courts contiguous to their chambers than those of the other bar, inasmuch as they have experience both ways. As to the leaders, who do not bar, namely, those who have no practice at all, "There is yet another class of men at this or collateral occupation of another kind;these will perhaps see no necessity for the "The members of the bar are materially in-removal of the courts; the walk to Westminster fluenced in opinion in this matter, according to is agreeable, and the court a lounge, admitting the description and quality of their business of an easy adjournment to the clubs. To consider first, those of the common-law bar. The leaders here will be least desirous of any change; a few of them never visit their chambers, but pass their time between Westminster Hall and their private residences, which are in some instances in the immediate neighbour-draw the pleadings, they may be personally as hood; some, too, are in parliament, and they find it agreeable to leave their courts now and then at certain intervals, and look into the committee-rooms; or, at the rising of the courts, to walk thence into the house, and secure their seats for the evening. These are slight personal gratifications, not in any way essential to the public service, and therefore not to be interposed in the consideration of this question. "The next class at the common-law bar, (for we exclude for the present the considera. tion of those attending the House of Lords, and parliamentary committees), are those barristers in full practice, who have no leisure, whose whole time is occupied with court and chamber business;-these must be in and about the courts to take part in, or be prepared for, the several cases in which they are retained. And here begins the disadvantage of the courts being a mile and a half from the practitioner's chambers. It often happens, that the barrister can see a clear interval of two or three hours before his presence in court will be needed. How valuable this opportunity, could he pass it in the quiet of his own chambers, working up his cases with his own books, and writing on questions submitted for his opinion; his clerk meanwhile watching the progress of the courts, to announce to him the necessity of his attendance. At present, these precious intervals are spent in the bar newsroom, in pacing the great hall, or else in a corner of the court, or the passages about it: in these places, and under these disadvantages, briefs and cases, involving life, character, and property, are attempted to be studied: indeed | indifferent upon the question as the commonlaw leaders, or they may find their convenience in Westminster Hall; but to those behind the bar, whose chamber business is the most laborious portion of their practice, and who are yet required to be in frequent attendance in court, to these, the sitting of the courts in term time at Westminster is the most grievous inconvenience, and is, moreover, the cause of great delay to the suitors of the court. Solicitors well know they can get no draft pleadings from the men of most practice during the four terms. For thirteen weeks, therefore, that is, for one-third of the legal year, a great bulk of pleadings is totally suspended, whilst, during this very time, the practitioners lose hours and hours in hanging about the courts. The time thus uselessly spent in the close atmosphere of the court, they have to make up by late nightwork in chambers. Many of the younger men at this bar, in addition to drawing chancery pleadings, (their chief employment), practise also as conveyancers; and these young men constantly lose day after day in Westminster Hall on a guinea brief, whilst urgent papers are lying idly on their tables in Lincoln's Inn. "It is undeniable, that but for the cessation of the evils here complained of during vacation intervals, (when the Equity Courts, to consult the convenience of the profession, sit in Lincaln's Inn and Chancery Lane), the practition ers of these courts could not get through the business of the suitors; and under existing regulations, one of the greatest delays experienced in Chancery suits, is the long period which counsel necessarily take to advise on and draw the pleadings." Removal of Courts.-Institution of Law Lectures in Dublin. With respect to the Attorneys, the case | No. 4. is thus represented: No. 5. "The law offices, the chambers of the judges and the masters in Chancery, the chambers of all the barristers, are, it need scarcely be said, in or near to the Inns of Court; and where are the attorneys? To answer this question, the map of London has been divided into districts, and the number of attorneys resident in each district has been carefully ascertained by means of the Law List for 1839, and thereby No. 6. the proportion of attorneys resident in the law quarter, and remote from it, has been exactly obtained, "The following are the limits comprised in the several districts : "No. 1. The law district: bounded by Bridge Street Blackfriars, Farringdon Street, Holborn Hill, including Ely Place, Hatton Garden, and Furnival's Inn, Gray's Inn Lane to Guilford Street, the latter street, Keppel Street, Store Street, thence down Tottenham Court Road in a line through St. Paul's Church Covent Garden, to Cecil Street, Strand: the river forming the southern boundary. 66 No. 2. The City, eastward of Blackfriars and Farringdon Street. and eastwards of Nos. 1 and 2. Town attorneys... The facts collected by the Author of the pamphlet before us, are of great importance in determining the question. He has also added a map, shewing the law and other districts to which he refers; and it is obvious that not only three-fourths of the profession are congregated in that district, but that the law district is really the very centre of the metropolis; and consequently the site which would be most convenient "No. 3. The outside district, northwards to the great body of both branches of the "No. 4. The Westminster district: The profession, would also be most convenient space bounded by the river from Vauxhall to the public at large. Bridge to Northumberland House, Trafalgar Square, including its neighbourhood, the Haymarket, Piccadilly, Grosvenor Place, and Vauxhall Bridge Road. "No. 5. The outside Westminster district, including all the Middlesex side of the river not comprised in the foregoing divisions. "No 6. The town on the Surrey side of the river. "It will be seen that the attorneys in the districts Nos. 1, 2, and 3, and, by consequence, the clients of those attorneys are disadvantaged by the remoteness of the courts from their districts; and, on the other hand, the attorneys resident in Nos. 4 and 5, and the clients of those attorneys, are benefitted by the present site. The district No. 6 may be treated as neutral. The following is the result of the analysis. The proctors are excluded. On the principle before explained, the country attorneys are placed within the districts in which their agents reside. No. 1. ..1,365 Town attorneys INSTITUTION OF LAW LECTURES WHATEVER difference of opinion there may be, regarding the rank which ought to be given to lectures as one of the means of legal instruction, we presume there can be no doubt that they are highly useful to the larger class of students. There may be some fortunate individuals, who have a natural taste for the study of the law, (and we think there are attractions connected with it which no other profession affords), but generally speaking, "all appliances and means to boot," are not too many to aid and urge on the legal student in his progress even to a moderate degree of eminence. He who becomes an eminent lawyer must possess, not only many natural endowments, but great industry and extensive experience. Besides the unavoidable difficulty of mastering the law in any of its principal 2,124 departments, to say nothing of compassing the whole!-the students and practitioners of the present day labour under the additional difficulty of studying a system which has undergone many extensive changes of a recent date, the exact effect of which is 8,333 not settled by the courts, and which is every year visited with further alterations; 113 344 Institution of Law Lectures in Dublin. being conducted through the medium of printed questions and written answers, with fictitious signatures, it may be observed, that persons inay attend without being in any way subjected of the questions is intended to he voluntary, to any species of examination. The answering and to be extended to all or any of the questions at the disposition of the students. so that, although our modern law works are less repulsive than the old, they are much more numerous and perplexing. The larger part of them, also, are designed for practical purposes, and not for elementary instruction. It is manifest, therefore, that a well considered course of lectures cannot fail to assist the student in his progress. In London, the plan appears to be very well arIn the Equity department, Echlin Molyneux, ranged. At the King's College, and Uni. Esq., is the lecturer. His course will embrace versity College, the lectures are generally of of Courts of Equity; as account—fraud—misthe several subjects involving the jurisdiction an elementary character, suited to the stu-take-accident-administration of the assets dent on his first entering on his career; of deceased persons-confusion of boundaries whilst at the Incorporated Law Society, the-partition trusts-specific performanceseveral courses of lectures on Conveyancing, interpleader, quia timet, and possessory bills, Equity and Bankruptcy, Common Law, and and those for the purpose of discovery, and to Criminal Law, are evidently designed for perpetuate testimony-petitions for receivers on judgments, under the 5 & 6 W. 4, together practical application. with the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery in infancy, bankruptcy, and lunacy; and, as incident to the foregoing course, the Lecturer will investigate the doctrine of equity pleading, so far as relates to the frame of the prayer for relief, and the selection of the proper parties to the suit. A on the practice and forms of pleading peculiar concurrent course of lectures will be delivered to Courts of Equity. In this latter course the suit in equity will be traced through its successive stages from the commencement to the conclusion; and the various interlocutory orders and proceedings incident to its progress severally noticed; and at the same time the differences existing between the practice of the Courts of Chancery in England and Ireland, and between the practice of both of those Courts and that of the Court of Exchequer in Ireland, will be pointed out. The order of preparatory reading for each lecture will be suggested at the meeting of the class next immediately preceding. The twenty-seventh chapter of the third book of Blackstone's Commentaries, and the introduction to Cooper's Treatise on Pleading in Equity, may be read with advantage by the students. We are glad to find that an institution has been established at Dublin, to supply the want which appears there to have been sensibly felt, of a preparatory course of legal education. Both branches of the Irish profession are largely indebted to the perseverance of Mr. Tristram Kennedy, and to the other members of the Irish Bar, who have formed The Dublin Law Institute." We observe also, that the plan has received the approval of the Dignitaries of the Irish Bar, and that there are four courses of lectures now in progress. In the Common Law department, Joseph Napier, Esq. is the Lecturer. The class-books for the first session will consist of the 3rd vol. of Blackstone's Commentaries, 20th and 21st chapters. Stephen on Pleading, with the references. Selections from Smith's Leading Cases. In addition to the weekly lecture, the professor will occasionally deliver a written lecture on questions of general interest, connected with his department, and in which the comparative merit of text-books, and the authority of reports, will be discussed; as also, the course of reading and study most likely to be profitable. Such occasional lectures will not be accompanied by any examination of the students, or others who may attend. A separate course of lectures will be delivered on Common Law, Civil Bill Proceedings, and the Law of Nisi Prius. The first will comprise the following subjects :-Indictable offences of the more usual occurrence at the assizes and sessions. General outline of criminal pleadings. Leading points of evidence. Conduct of a criminal trial. The second will relate to Civil Bill Jurisdiction. Course of proceedings. Appeals. The third will involve the consideration of the preparing of proofs, the application of evidence, the con duct of the case. The lectures on Nisi Prius Law will be delivered by James Whiteside, Esq. The examination on the Wednesday evening, In the department of the Law of Property and Conveyancing, James J. Hardey, Esq. is the Lecturer. The class-books for the first session will consist of the following:-1st. Blackstone's Commentaries, chaps. 15, 16, 17, and 18. 2nd. Blackstone's Commentaries, (except the 22d and 28th chapters, and except such parts of the other chapters as relate exclusively to copyholds.) 3d. Blackstone's Commentaries, chap. 2, and from the 10th to the 16th chaps., both inclusive. 4th. Blackstone's Commentaries, chaps. 29 and 33. Watkins on Conveyancing, Selected parts of Sheppard's Touchstone. The course will consist of 1st. the Law of Property.-2d. Practical Conveyancing; or, the preparation of the drafts of deeds, and other instruments relative to the transfer or alienation of every species of property. The latter subject will not, however, be entered upon until some progress shall have been made in the former. Besides |
