and the person against whom the action is brought the defendant. Before the suit is begun, the attorney of the plaintiff, if a respectable one is employed, writes a letter to the defendant, apprizing him of the demand of his employer, and that, if not romplied with, legal proceedings will be instituted: this intimation producing no satisfactory result, the action mostly begins by issuing a writ of summons, which is a judicial writ proceeding out of the court in which the plaintiff brings his action, directed to the defendant, commanding him, within eight days from the service of the writ, to enter an appearance in the court, or, in default, an appearance will be entered for him by the plaintiff, who will thereon proceed to judgment. Writ must be served within six alendar months from its date, or, if renewed, from the date of such renewal, the day of such date inclusive. By obeying the writ, a copy of which is served on the defendant, and entering an appearance, that is, leaving a memorandum termed an appearance, with an offer of the court, the defendant recognizes the jurisdiction, and both plaintiff and defendant are now said to be in court, and ready to enter on and contest the legal issue.

Under the old law, the plaintiff, at the commencement of an action, who was prepared to swear to a debt of £20, might cause the defendant to be arrested, and make him put in substantial sureties for his appearance, called special bail. This was called arrest on mesne process, by way of contradistinction to arrest on final judgment; that is, arrest to compel the payment of a debt judicially adjudged by a competent tribunal to be due. But the 1 & 2 V. e. 110, abolishes the power of arrest in any civil action on mesne process, and provides that all personal actions in the superior courts shall be commenced by writ of summons. A defendant can now only be arrested, prior to final judgment, provided there is danger of his leaving the kingdom; in which case the plaintiff, or some one for him, must make affidavit that his cause of action amounts to £20 or upwards, and that there is ground for believing the defendant intends to quit England; upon which the judge will issue a special order to hold the defendant to bail for the amount of the debt. The capias so issued, under a judge's order, is in force for one calendar month from the date (including the day of the date), within which time the sheriff is required to arrest the defendant, and detain him till he shall have given bail-bond, or, according to the former practice, made deposit with the sheriff to the amount of plaintiff's claim, together with £10 for costs.

Another important curtailment of the power of personal arrest was that made by 7 & 8 V. c. 96, which abolishes the power of arrest even upon final process, that is, upon judgment debts, provided the sum recovered does not exceed twenty pounds, exclusive of the costs recovered by the judgment. Neither does the County Courts Act empower to imprison merely for failure of payment of the whole debt or any instalment. Under the 9 & 10 V. c. 95, as

imprisonment does not extinguish or satisfy the debt, the act does not give to the judge power to punish, unless it be for a positive offence, by the fraudulent concealment of property, or contempt of court, or other wilful default.

Having noticed these coercive meliorations, we resume the course of the suit after an appearance, as already explained, has been entered. The next step is the PLEADINGS, or mutual statements, in legal form, of the facts which constitute the plaintiff's cause of action, or the defendant's ground of defence; these were formerly made viva voce, by counsel in court, and minuted down by the chief clerk or prothonotary, but this practice was abandoned in the reign of Edward 3, and they are now set down, and delivered into the proper office in writing. They begin by the plaintiff delivering to the opposite party an instrument called a declaration, consisting of a formal written statement of the title of the court in which the action is brought, the county, or venue, in which it is to be tried, and the subject-matter of the complaint or ground of action. This is followed by notice to the defendant to plead, or put in his answer, which he must do in four days, or, if a country cause, in eight days, though in either case an extension of time is generally granted on applying to a judge.

The reply of the defendant is called a plea. Pleas are of various kinds, consisting of any allegation by which the defendant endea vours to frustrate the suit; as by objecting to the jurisdiction of the court, denying the validity of the plaintiff's claim, his right of action, or by pleading a tender of payment, or set-off.

A defendant may also plead the Statute of Limitations, or the elapse of that period of time allowed by the 21 Jac. 1, c. 16, for the commencement of actions. Personal actions for trespass, or debt on simple contract, must be commenced within six years after the cause of action; and actions of assault, menace, or imprison ment, within four years after the injury committed. All penal actions for forfeitures made by statute must be sued within one or two years. Actions on bills of exchange, attorneys' fees, and a demand for rent on parol lease, must be within six years.

By the Mercantile Law Amendment Act, 19 & 20 V. c. 97, s. 9, "all actions of account or for not accounting, and suits for such accounts as concern the trade of merchandise between merchant and merchant, their factors or servants, shall be commenced and sued within six years after the cause of such actions or suits, or, when such cause has already arisen, then within six years after the passing of this act; and no claim in respect of a matter which arose more than six years before the commencement of such action or suit shall be enforceable by action or suit by reason only of some other matter of claim comprised in the same account having arisen within six years next before the commencement of such action or suit.' The absence of a creditor or his imprisonment does not entitle him to a longer term within which to commence an

action,

and the period of limitation extends to joint debtors, though some of them are abroad, ss. 10, 11.

By 3 & 4 W. 4, c. 27, no person shall make an entry or distress, bring an action to recover any land or rent but within twenty years next after the time at which the right to make such entry or distress, or to bring such action, had first accrued. In case of tenants at will, the right of action accrues either at the determination of such tenancy, or at the expiration of one year after the commencement of such tenancy, at which time the tenancy is deemed to have determined; but no mortgagor or cestui que trust is deemed within the clause. Money charged on land or rent is deemed satisfied, unless claimed within twenty years. No arrears of reat, or of interest in respect of any sum of money charged upon or payable out of land or rent, or in respect of any legacy, is recoverable after the expiration of six years from the time the same may have respectively become due.

By the Common Law Procedure Act of 1852, material changes were made in the process, practice, and pleadings of the superior courts of common law. In the 15 & 16 V. c. 76, new forms of writ were given, and the defendant empowered to demand of any attorney whose name is endorsed on the writ, whether such writ has been issued by him, or with his authority or privity; and if he answers in the affirmative, then he shall also, within a time allowed by the court, on pain of contempt, declare in writing the profession, occupation, or quality and place of abode of the plaintiff; and if he answer in the negative, all proceedings shall be stayed, and not be renewed without leave of the court or judge. Concurrent writs may be issued, and may be served in any county. In cases where personal service cannot be effected, and it shall be made to appear to the court that defendant knows of the writ, or that he wilfully evades service, and reasonable efforts have been made to effect service, the court may order plaintiff to proceed as if personal service had been effected.

With regard to pleadings, it is provided that where the parties are agreed as to the question of fact to be decided between them, they may by consent and order of a judge proceed to trial without formal pleading, and such question may be stated in a form given in the schedule to the effect that A. B. affirms and C. D. denies the matter in issue. The parties to a suit may enter into an agreement that, upon the finding of the jury in the affirmative or Degative, a sum of money, fixed by the parties or to be ascertained by the jury, shall be paid by one to the other of them. Questions of law may be raised after writ issued without pleading, and parties may make agreements as to money and costs, to be paid according to the judgment in such special case. Fictitious and needless averments are not to be made, and either party may object by demurrer to the pleadings of the opposite party, on the ground that such pleas do not set forth sufficient ground of action,

defence, or reply; and where issue is joined on such demurrer, judgment may be given "on the very right of the cause." Objections by way of special demurrer are taken away, and pleadings so framed as to prejudice, embarrass, or delay, may be struck out or amended. The former verbose and cumbrous declarations were abolished, and a simple form of declaration given.

Another provision tended to save expense in the causes to which it applied. It is that either party may call on the other by notice to admit any document, saving all just exceptions; and, in case of refusal or neglect to admit, the cost of proving such document is to be paid by the party refusing or neglecting to admit it, whatever the result of the trial may be, unless the judge shall certify that the refusal to admit was reasonable.

Some other salutary enactments pertain to the abatement of suits. In future, the death of a plaintiff or defendant is not to cause an action to abate, but it may be continued by or against the personal representative; and if one plaintiff or defendant should die, and the cause of action shall survive to the surviving plaintiff or defendant, the action is to proceed. It is also provided that the marriage of a female plaintiff or defendant is not to abate an action: and that in case of the bankruptcy or insolvency of a plaintiff, his assignees may, within a given time, continue the action.

Procedure was further amended, in 1854, by 17 & 18 V. c. 125, and the parties to a cause, by consent in writing, may leave the decision of any issue of fact to the court; and the verdict be the same as the verdict of a jury, save that it shall not be questioned on the ground of being against evidence. For other amendments under this and the former statute, see Arbitration, Evidence, and Libel.

Resuming the progress of a lawsuit after the pleadings, the next stage of procedure is the ISSUE, which may be either upon matter of law, or matter of fact. An issue upon matter of law is called a demurrer, in which the statement of facts is admitted; but it is denied that the law arising upon those facts is such as stated by the opposite party. An issue of fact is where the fact only, and not the law, is disputed.

Here it may be proper to observe, that during the whole of these proceedings, from the time of the defendant's appearance in obedience to the writ of summons, it is necessary that both the parties be in court from day to day, till the final determination of the suit. For, if either party neglect to put in his declaration, plea, or the like, within the time allowed, the plaintiff, if the omission be his, is said to be non-suited, or not to follow and pursue his complaint, and he loses the benefit of his writ; or if the negligence be on the side of the defendant, judgment may be had against him for default. But these observances and attendances, as it is almost needless to remark, are all performed by the

neys of the respective parties, though the plaintiff and de-.

fendant are ostensibly before the court, and bear all the consequences of its proceedings and adjudication.

An issue of law, or demurrer, is determined by the judges, after bearing argument by counsel on both sides. But an issue of fact may take up more form and preparation to settle it; for here the matter alleged must be investigated before a jury by the questioning of witnesses, and whatever evidence can be adduced to : estat Esh the truth. This examination of facts is properly the TRIAL BY JURY, to which the preceding stages of a lawsuit are only preliminary steps. Of the constitution, the mode of summering and empannelling juries, and also of the nature of evidence, we shall speak more at large hereafter; at present we shall continae the progress of the suit to its termination.

The jury being sworn, the pleadings are opened to them by the counsel for the plaintiff, who states the nature of the action, and the evidence intended to be produced in its support: when the evidence of the plaintiff is gone through, the counsel for the defendant states his case and supports it by evidence; and then the party who began is heard in reply, if witnesses have been called by the defendant in support of his case, otherwise no reply is allowed to plaintiff's counsel.

Br 17 & 18 V. e. 125, s. 18, it is provided that "upon the trial of any cause, the addresses to the jury shall be regulated as fclows: the party who begins, or his counsel, shall be allowed, in the event of his opponent not announcing at the close of the case of the party who begins, his intention to adduce evidence, to address the jury a second time at the close of such case, for the purpose of summing up the evidence; and the party on the other side, or his counsel, shall be allowed to open the case, and also to sum up the evidence if any; and the right to reply shall be the same as at present." Court may adjourn a trial, subject to such terms as to costs as it think fit, s. 19. Affirmation in lieu of oath allowed to parties who religiously object to be sworn.

Both sides having finished, the judge sums up the whole to the jury, omitting all superfluous circumstances; observing wherein the main question and principal issue lie; stating what evidence has been given to support them, with such remarks as he thinks necessary for their direction; and giving his opinion on matters of law arising upon that evidence. If, in his direction, the judge mistake the law, either through inadvertence or design, the counsel on either side may require him publicly to seal a bill of exceptions, stating the point in which he is supposed to err; and this he is obliged to seal, or, if he refuse, the party may have a compulsory writ against him, commanding him to seal, if the fact alleged against him be truly stated.

Next follows the VERDICT, which, to be valid, must be unanimously agreed to by the jury, and delivered publicly in court. When a verdict will carry all the costs, and it is doubtful from