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REVIEW OF THE ACTS OF LAST SESSION.

THE learned recorder, Samuel Warren, Esq., Q. C.; made an able charge to the grand jury of Hull at the Michaelmas General Quarter Sessions on Tuesday the 21st October, in which, after some introductory observations on the state of the calendar, he reviewed the principal statutes of the last session.

"Gentlemen (he said) energetic attempts are being made at this moment to reduce the bulk and simplify the structure of our statute law. In this direction I devoutly hope that not more haste than good speed will be seen; otherwise we shall rue the result for many a long day. Something has been actually effected, during the last session, by statute 19th and 20th Vic. c. 64, passed solely to expunge from the statute-book 118 sleeping statutes, that is, within two of the entire number of public statutes passed during the last session.

"The law of joint-stock companies it has been endeavoured to consolidate and amend by an act which I hope will be found to stand wear and tearstatute 19th and 20th Vic. c. 47. The police of counties and boroughs has been the subject of an act of extensive and important operation, the 19th and 20th Vic. c. 69, the jurisdiction of the county courts has been extended, and in some respects remodelled, by the 19th and 20th Vic. c. 108.

"The powers of the church building commissioners have been transferred to the ecclesiastical commissioners; the law of advowsons amended, by enabling parishioners and others, forming a numerous class, to sell advowsons held in trust, and applying the proceeds in providing parsonage houses, augmenting small livings, and for other beneficial purposes; and better provisions have been made for the spiritual care of populous parishes, and forming separate parishes, by three acts-chapters 50, 55, 104. The laws of marriage in England and Scotland have been amended by the acts 19th & 20th Vic. cc. 96 & 119; the administration of intestates' estates has been rendered uniform by statute 19 & 20 Vict. c. 94.

"The good government and extension of the University of Cambridge sought by statute 19th and 20th Vic. c. 88; the coast-guard service and the manning of the navy stand on a more secure footing by statute 19th and 20th Vic. c. 83; the customs laws are amended by chapter 75; a vice-president of the committee of council on education is appointed by chapter 116; the electoral law of Scotland elaborately amended by chapter 58, and several other highly-important and valuable statutes have

the factories acts have been amended by chapter 38, and those relating to the duty on fire insurance by chapter 22; that relating to pawnbrokers, by chapter 27.

"By chapter 113, valuable facilities are afforded for taking evidence in relation to civil and commercial matters, pending before foreign tribunals, the act coming into operation as soon as the judges have framed rules and orders for carrying it into effect; while chapter 54, as I pointed out last session, effects a great improvement in the method of discharging your office as grand jurymen, at once imposing on you a responsible duty, and relieving us from needless interruption in the discharge of ours.

"By statutes 19th and 20th Vic. c. 120, an admirable alteration has been effected in the law relating to settled estates-one equally bold and beneficial; giving the courts of equity ample power to deal with a difficulty which has hitherto required the circuitous, clumsy, and costly interference of the legislature in private family settlements. The statute comes into operation on the 1st of November and I confidently anticipate that it will effect great good, by relaxing the stringency of settlements of property made with the best intentions and on the best advice, but which subsequent events, impossible to have been forseen, have rendered worse than useless, mischievous and oppressive to those intended to have been benefited by them. It appears to me impossible to overstate the benefits conferred by this act, if it be carried out by the courts of equity carefully and discreetly.

"Let me now glance at three short statutes effecting salutary and extensive changes in that department of the law more directly concerning such a community as Hull. First of all, I warmly congratulate the sailors, and all interested in the welfare of them and their families, on the passing of statute 19th and 20th Vict. c. 41, which affords great inducements to economy, and facilities for securing to sailors their hard earnings, by establishing a central savings bank for seamen in London, and branch banks at all our principal sea ports, at any of which sailors may instantly deposit their wages with complete safety, withdraw the whole or any portion at any port they please, receive interest on their deposits, and in the event of death, both principal and interest will be handed over at once to their families. The wives, widows, and children of seamen are also liberally allowed to open accounts on the same terms; and sailors may deposit money for their children, which those children, if above 14 years old, may draw out as, and when, they require it. Is not this better than expending the money hardly earned in a voyage round the globe, in a first day or night's profligacy ashore? Is there a sessions here at which we have not the sad duty of dealing with such cases, and seeing the poor foolish sailor driven back, ashamed of himself, and a beggar, again to the wide ocean, leaving often his wife and family beggared and heart-broken? Let him now, however, only make the Board of Trade his bankers, instead of scattering his earnings among crimps and thieves, and in brothels, and beer and gin shops, and he may take ship again, lighthearted, and with a smile reflecting God's approval, while he dashes a tear from his eye at parting with a happy and affectionate family. The legislature has done its duty, and let our gallant seaman do his, and let you and me, gentlemen, be spared the pain of seeing him stand either here, or there—

beside me here, or before me there-in the witness box, or at the bar-as prosecutor or as prisoner, publicly telling, when sobered and ashamed, the wretched story of his folly and guilt!"

"Gentlemen, by another act (chapter 26), a banker's cheque, bearing across its face, in written or stamped letters, the name of a banker; or the words "and company," either in full, or abbreviated, is now payable only to or through some banker; which the statute I think truly recites will conduce to the ease of commerce, the security of property, and the prevention of crime.

"Another act is chapter 97; and I recommend the careful study of it, not only to the professional lawyers of Hull, but to all engaged in trade and commerce, for it effects great changes in mercantile law. First of all, it makes it no longer necessary that a written guarantee should state the consideration on which it was given, and which may now be proved by word of mouth. Again, a guarantee given to, or for, a firm, ceases to be binding after a change in any one or more of its members, unless the contrary be the expressed or necessarily implied intentions of the parties; and every surety paying his principal's debt is entitled to the immediate and fullest advantages of all securities then held by the creditor; in whose place the surety is thenceforth to stand. Again—a written acceptance on the bill is now necessary in all bills of exchange, whether inland or foreign; and bills and notes drawn in any part of the United Kingdom, or the channel islands and islands adjacent, within the Queen's dominions, and payable there, are henceforth to be deemed inland bills, but without affecting the stamp duties. And as to the rights and remedies of those who have done repairs to ships, or furnished supplies for them, every port in the United Kingdom, the channel islands, or other adjacent islands within the Queen's dominions, is to be deemed a home port. Important improvements, also, are effected in the Statutes of Limitations, and others relating to the law of debtor and creditor, principal and agent, and co-contractors, and co-debtors, whether liable jointly only, or jointly and severally.

"Another valuable section protects persons bonâ fide, and for a valuable consideration, acquiring a title to goods, against writs of execution against the seller, provided the buyer had no notice that any writ was in the hands of the sheriff, unexecuted. Finally, singularly stringent provisions are made by this act to enforce the specific delivery of goods contracted to have been delivered, for a price in money. A jury will henceforth have to say (under the direction of a judge) what are the goods remaining undelivered, and what the plaintiff would have had to pay if they had been delivered according to contract; as well as what damages he would have been entitled to receive, if the goods should, or should not, be afterwards delivered, in conformity with the act; which provides that the judge may order execution to issue for the goods, on payment of the sum due, without giving the defendant the option of retaining them, as payment of the damages; and, if the goods cannot be found, then all the lands and chattels of the defendant within the jurisdiction of the sheriff are to be distrained till the delivery of the goods; or, if the plaintiff prefer it, the sheriff must realise the assessed value, or damages, out of the defendant's goods.

"Gentlemen, even as far as I have gone, and assuring you that I have necessarily omitted from my view perhaps 80 or 90 out of 120 acts of the

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last session-I think we shall be entitled to say, looking solely at the record of the statute-book, to which I strictly confine myself here-that parliament has not been idle during the last session; and, speaking solely as an administrator of the law, I deprecate excessive, far more anxiously than deficient, legislative action, in matters of such magnitude as those which I have just been laying before you. Inconsiderate legislation serves only to plunder the public and enrich lawyers, whether they will or not!"

The honourable and learned member then enlarged with much eloquence on the code of reformatory procedure, and the means adopted for the moral and social improvement of the people, and especially the education and correction of juvenile offenders.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON LEGAL EXAMINATIONS.

seasons.

THE BAR AND THE ATTORNEYS.

SUBJECTS of discussion seem to recur with the Until changes are effected-until reforms are accomplished-it is the duty of the journalist to keep them before the eyes of the public, to repeat again and again the arguments in favour of the proposed improvement, with fresh illustrations if possible, and to answer such objections as seem to carry most weight with them. If the fashion of the world prevents us from levelling abuses with one single blow, let us imitate the slower, but not less certain, process of the dropping water, whose pertinacious touch hollows even the "everlasting flint."

We are again on the eve of term; the lawyers are hurrying back from their sea-side reveries, their Paris gaieties, or sporting idleness. The Temple begins to assume its look of monotonous activity, and parchment-faced creatures, armed with dulllooking papers, begin to people its deserted walks. The judges are, no doubt, beginning to rub their eyes as they awaken out of their vacation slumbers. And youths about the age of discretion are busy searching for lodgings, where in the foggy November evenings their anxious parents at home picture them cutting up the leaves of their new Blackstone, or mastering the enigmas of Fearne's Contingent Remainders. In a few days, in short, the courts will be sitting, the barristers' chambers will be open, and the legal professors will have resumed their functions.

Nor should we forget that this also is the season at which the board of examiners for the admission of attorneys and solicitors holds it sittings; and, if we are rightly informed, the approaching examination presents features of peculiar interest, for we understand that some sort of certificates of merit are to be awarded, so that the able and diligent student may entitle himself, not only to a certificate of competency, but to a certificate of having passed with distinction. In other words, the Law Institution seems to have taken the first step towards the introduction of a class list into their examination. This, surely, is in the right direction, and we have no doubt that it will stimulate young students to renewed activity.

We wish we could discern any signs of a similar sort in the benchers of the inns of court. As yet there is no examination imperatively required of any candidate for the degree of a barrister. Lectures are established, prizes are offered, certificates of merit are granted; but it is quite possible, and indeed it is the usual practice, to call men to the bar

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without applying any test for the purpose of ascertaining whether they know the meaning even of the term "fee-simple." It is certainly extremely difficult to understand this practice. Of old it certainly was not so; indeed, the very forms still followed at Lincoln's-inn show that examination was a reality. Nor is the English plan of eating yourself into a lawyer sanctioned by the practice of any nation on the face of the earth-nay, even in this anomalous country of ours, there is nothing whatever analogous to such an absurdity in any of the other learned professions. England and Ireland enjoy the distinction of possessing amongst the body of lawyers a certain class who have imbibed their title of lawyer through their bellies. Now there are two favourite arguments in defence of this state of things which are by some deemed unanswerable.

In the first place, it is said to be of immense importance that there should be the sons of country gentlemen among the law students. They give such a gentleman-like tone to the profession. They come sometimes to the chambers of their tutor in the Temple; and although they prefer discussing the merits of the newest actress to the newest case in the Queen's Bench, still they throw an air of refinement over the musty monotony and vulgar narrowness of the tutor's chambers. Then they go down to the country. They meet, perhaps, at quarter sessions dinners the very men whom they saw in chambers, and who are now the leaders of the sessions bar. They have some recollections in common with them. Though these quondam students-now become justices of the peace-don't know any law, still they have imbibed something of the legal mode of looking at a question; and at all events they are disposed to regard with something like toleration the man who earns his bread by every-day work. Now all this is surely a tissue of garrulous imbecility. is the argument, not of country gentlemen, but of the benchers of the inns of court. Their secret ground for facilitating admissions to the bar is shrewdly suspected to be, not any philosophic desire to encourage idle young squires to become legal pupils, but the somewhat less lofty desire to increase their funds by the fees demanded of those on their books. So far are the majority of country gentlemen from adopting the puerile fallacy propounded by the sordid sages, that we have reason to know they warmly repudiate any such notions.

It

His own

The object that any sensible man has in sending his son up to London to a barrister's chambers is, that he may read law in a serious way. experience has taught the father the advantages of a knowledge of the principles of law, whether he continues to reside at his place, or aspires to a seat in Parliament. He knows well enough the danger which surrounds any young man just released from college amidst the thousand temptations of this modern Babylon. Therefore, so far from desiring to see every restraint removed-every incitement to intellectual exertion cut off-it is his wish rather to see some at least of those tests retained, by which he may know whether his son devotes any considerable portion of his time to reading and reflection. may, indeed, be said, that any father may insist upon his son presenting himself at the examination; but experience shows, that unless an examination is made imperative, to insist upon this is very difficult, if not practically impossible.

It

But there is another view of this subject. It is sometimes urged by those who advocate a compulsory examination that the public have a right

to know whether those persons who style themselves barristers are instructed in their profession. In the case of attorneys or physicians this is deemed reasonable. Why does not the same principle apply to barristers ? To this the approved answer is that the barrister stands upon a special ground. The attorney advises his client in his own room, he manages his affairs, he deals with his property in private; and, until the poor client is ruined by negligence, ignorance, or deliberate fraud, nothing is heard of the attorney. The relation in which the attorney stands to his client is so close, so confidential, that a client ought to have some method of ascertaining whether the attorney is fit to transact his business. So it is with the surgeon and physician. The damage which they may do, the injury which a man may suffer at their hands, is so terrible, that it is clear they ought to be furnished with a certificate of knowledge. The unfortunate person who meets with an accident, or falls ill, has no time to inquire into whether an uncertificated person has the requisite knowledge of medicine. Moreover, the public have sanctioned compulsory examinations in the case of medical men and attorneys, and therefore such examinations are properly insisted But the case of a barrister is very different. He must appear in open court. He must display his knowledge before a judge-generally an eminent lawyer-who will at once detect the ignorance of counsel. Hence we are told it is impossible to suppose that ignorant barristers can long deceive the public, because they will at once be openly exposed.

on.

If,

This, however, is a simple mis-statement. indeed, it were true that all business transacted by barristers was conducted in open court, there might be something in the argument. But the fact is that a very small proportion of a barrister's business is conducted thus openly. Two branches of the profession-the special pleaders and the conveyancers never go into court at all; and sometimes the junior counsel, who is responsible for the conduct of the prior steps of the case, is not heard in court. What proportion, let us ask, does the number of cases in court bear to the number of cases for opinion, of conveyances of large property, or the thousand matters which are done in a barrister's chambers? and yet, upon such matters as these transacted in private men's rights are determined, resolutions to take or to refrain from legal proceedings are adopted, enormous possessions are transferred, and vast sums are paid. That such matters as these should be conducted with knowledge, promptitude, and economy, is quite as essential as that those gentlemen who argue cases in court should do so with learning. And yet it is notorious that the class of lawyers who transact the one sort of business is quite distinct from those who transact the other sort. If the vigilance of the Bench is required to ensure knowledge on the part of those who figure in court, what means are there to ensure knowledge on the part of those who transact business in chambers? For these at least the test of an examination is imperatively needed.-From the Daily News, October 23rd.

SELECTIONS FROM CORRESPONDENCE.

UNDUE CHARGES OF CEMETERY COMPANIES.

Nearly a quarter of a century ago an act of the Legislature was passed for establishing a cemetery