had appeared; and that if the defender appear at any time before the decree has been carried into execution, he may get a farther hearing upon payment to the complainer of such expenses as the Sheriff may find reasonable. The form of the decree is given in the statute, and it is provided that it shall be final and not subject to review of any kind.

Where the defender appears and finds caution for violent profits, the case must be conducted in the ordinary manner. It is in the power also of the Sheriff, if he does not think the case suitable for being disposed of summarily, to order answers; and in that case also the action goes to the ordinary roll, and the defender, if the defence be not instantly verified, must find caution for violent profits.

8. Obligation in Lease to Remove.—Where any probative lease specifies a term of endurance, the lease, or an extract of it from the books of any court of record, has the same force and effect as an extract-decree of removing obtained at the instance of the landlord against the tenant, provided that certain conditions are complied with. (d) Firstly, previous notice of at least forty days must be given to the party in possession before the expiration of the term, or, where the lease has separate terms for lands and houses, before the term which comes first. This notice is to be given by a sheriff-officer of the county in which the lands and heritages are situated, or by a messenger-at-arms in the statutory form, (e) and is to be delivered to the party in possession, or to be left at his ordinary dwelling-house, or to be transmitted to his known address through the post office. This notice must (secondly) be proved either by a certificate in the statutory form, (g) indorsed by the officer on the lease or (9) Act quoted, Sch. (J).

(d) 16 and 17 Vict. c. 80, § 30. (e) Act quoted, Sch. (I).

extract, and attested by a witness, or by an acknowledgement indorsed by the party in possession, or by his known agent on his behalf. Thirdly, the officer ejecting must have, in addition to the lease or extract, a written authority from the landlord, or from his factor or agent. Fourthly, the removal or ejectment must take place within six weeks from the expiration of the term of endurance.

A tenant threatened with ejection under these provisions may bring a suspension.

9. Removing on Letter of Removal.-Where any tenant grants a letter of removal, either holograph or attested by a witness, in a form provided by the Act of 1853,(h) the letter has the same force and effect as an extract-decree of removing, and is a sufficient warrant to any sheriff-officer of the county within which the premises are situated to eject, provided certain conditions are complied with. (2) The first and second of those conditions are, that if the letter bears date more than six weeks before the term of removal, notice must be given and proved in the same way as under the preceding article; and the third is, that in like manner the ejection must be carried out within six weeks from the term.

The proceedings may be suspended in common form.

EJECTIONS.

10. Ejection as Enforcement of Removing.-The decree of removing, if not complied with, is carried into force by an ejection conducted by officers of court, who have power for that purpose to open shut and lockfast places, and to (i) Ib. § 31.

(h) Ib. Sch. (K).

remove all the tenant's goods and effects from the premises, using all the requisite force for that purpose. In all ejections except those under the Act of 1838 a charge of forty-eight hours is given ;(k) and under that Act the time for the charge, if any, is fixed in the decree.

11. Petition for Ejection-Petitions for ejection are presented against parties who have no legal right or title of any kind to possess the subjects, or whose right or title, if they ever had one, has been brought competently to an end. Sometimes the petition or action-for it may be either-is called one of intrusion, where the defender has recently taken possession of the premises, but the proceedings are in substance the same. It is of the essence of such a petition that it contain an allegation that the possession of the respondent is vicious or precarious without any title. (7) The proceedings (mutatis mutandis) are much the same as in the process of removing.

Section XXIII.-PROCEEDINGS CONCERNING SCHOOLS.

1. Removal of Teachers. | 2. School Board Elections, &c.

1. Removal of Teachers.-Under an Act passed in 1861, (n) the jurisdiction which the Presbyteries of the Church of Scotland formerly exercised over the good conduct of parochial schoolmasters was transferred to the Sheriff. The Act of 1861 was repealed by the Education Act of 1872, but its provisions on this point were sub

(k) A. S. 27 Jan. 1830, Schedule (C); Alexander's A. S. p. 404.

(7) Hally v. Lang, 26 June 1867,

5 Macph. 951.

15.

(n) 24 and 25 Vict. c. 107, §§ 14,

stantially re-enacted, in so far as concerned teachers in office at the passing of the new Act.(o) Where a complaint is to be made against such a schoolmaster, charging him with immoral conduct, or with cruel and improper treatment of the scholars, the School Board may complain to the Sheriff of the county. The petition must specify the particular acts in respect of which the complaint is made. A copy is to be served upon the schoolmaster, and he is required to appear on an induciæ of eight days to answer to the complaint. The defender, if he deny the charge, may lodge written answers; or he may, when the cause comes to be tried, simply state his plea to be not guilty. The Sheriff thereafter will proceed to trial, and take evidence in the manner observed in ordinary civil cases. Should the Sheriff find the complaint, or any material and relevant part of it, proved, he must pass sentence of deprivation. The sentence is final, and not subject to review. There is no need for the personal presence of the respondent when sentence is being pronounced. (p) The Sheriff has no jurisdiction over teachers appointed after the passing of the Education Act.

2. School Board Election Disputes, &c. - Under the Education Act of 1872 the Sheriff decides any question or dispute regarding the election of candidates for the School Boards. The question may be raised on the petition of any person having a legal title and interest to raise it. It is to be determined summarily, and the Sheriff's determination is to be final. In a petition of this kind it would be contrary to the meaning of the Act to have any record or pleadings other than the petition and the interlocutors. When the

petition is presented, the usual course is to appoint it to be served on the respondents, and to fix a diet for hearing parties. If necessary, proof is then ordered. If proof is led, no record of it is kept. And there is no appeal from the determination of the presiding judge.(q)

The other duties of the Sheriffs under the Education Act of 1872 seem either penal or ministerial, and not to be such as can give rise to civil litigation.

1. Jurisdiction.

Section XXIV.-SERVICE OF HEIRS.

2. Form of Petition.

3. Publication of the Petition. 4. Proceedings.

5. Competing Petitions.

6. Opposing Petition.

7. Appeal to Court of Session.
8. Recording and Extract.
9. Reduction of Service.

1. Jurisdiction.-Since 1847 the service of heirs has proceeded on petition to the Sheriff instead of before a jury. The regulations have been re-enacted in the recent Titles to Land Consolidation Act.(r) In a petition for a general service, the heir applies to the Sheriff of the county within which the ancestor had at the time of his death his ordinary or principal domicile; and in the case of a special service the heir applies to the Sheriff within whose jurisdiction the lands, or the burgh containing the lands, are situated. In both cases the Sheriff of Chancery has a co-ordinate juris

(q) 35 and 36 Vict. c. 62, § 14. The usual course has not commended itself to Dr Patrick Fraser, who holds it to be clear that there is an appeal from the Sheriff-Substitute to the principal Sheriff. To make this effectual, it would be requisite either

to have a record of pleading and evidence, or for the case to be reheard ab initio courses which seem not to have been contemplated. See Journal of Jurisprudence, vol. 17, p. 328.

(r) 31 and 32 Vict. c. 101.