WATKINS, HENRY, and WATKINS, WILLIAM (trading as Watkins and Nephew), WILLER, RICHARD. North Walsham, cattle dealer. Ct. Norwich. Meeting. Nov. 14, NOTICES OF DAYS APPOINTED FOR PROCEEDING WITH PUBLIC BROBSON, EDWARD, late Nottingham, upholsterer. Ct. Nottingham. Exam. Nov 18, at 11.30, at County Court-house, Nottingham. GAZETTE, Nov. 3. WARD, JOHN SANDILANDS, Charing Cross. Ct. High Court. Exam. Nov. 17, at noon, at Bankruptcy-bldgs. ADJUDICATIONS. GAZETTE, OCT. 30. BERNERD, MONTAGUE, Birmingham, tobacconist. Ct. Birmingham. Order, Oct. 27, CHATTERLEY, JOHN (trading as Chatterley and Co.), Smethwick, grocer. Ct. West DIXON, THOMAS OLIVER, and DIXON, WALTER, JOHN, Martinhoe, contractors. Ct. Barnstable. Order, Oct. 21. DAVIES, THOMAS (trading as T. and W. Davies), Carmarthen, provision merchant. Ct. Carmarthen Order, Oct. 28. DOBBS, FREDERICK, Mattishall, wheelwright. Ct. Norwich. Order, Oct. 28. HODGSON, JANE, late Bradford, Yorks, lodging-house keeper. Ct. Bradford. Order, HAYCOCKS, JAMES, late Johnstown, licensed victualler. Ct. Wrexham. Order, Oct. 28. JONES, REES, Dukestown, stocking dealer. Ct. Tredegar. Order, Oct. 28. MCCRAITH, FRANCIS ALBERT, late Ynysybwl, no occupation. Ct. Pontypridd. Order, NICOLSON, JONATHAN, Birmingham, wine merchant. Ct. Birmingham. Order, Oct. 26. OSBORNE, JAMES, Kidderminster, upholsterer. Ct. Kidderminster. Order, Oct. 26. POWERS, JAMES, Birmingham, late grocer. Ct. Birmingham. Order, Oct. 28. Order, RHODES, SAMUEL THOMAS, Derby, goods guard. Ct. Derby. Order, Oct. 26. SILVERMAN, MORRIS PHILIP, Union-st, Commercial-rd, wholesale provision dealer. STEPHENSON, JAMES, Burnley. grocer. Ct. Burnley. Order, Oct. 26. SMITH, CHARLES THOMAS, Whitby, tobacconist. Ct. Stockton-on-Tees and Middlesbrough. Order, Oct. 27. TAYLOR, WILLIAM EDWARD; GLEDHILL, DAVID JAMES; and GLEDHILL, LEWIS (trading as Peel Brothers and Pym), Meltham, theatre proprietors. Ct. Huddersfleld. Order, Oct. 26. WILLER, RICHARD, North Walsham, cattle dealer. Ct. Norwich. Order, Oct. 26. WATKINS, HENRY, and WATKINS, WILLIAM, Cardiff, glass dealers. Ct. Cardiff. Order, Oct. 23. GAZETTE, Nov. 3. ALDRIDGE, HENRY GEORGE (trading as Henry Aldridge and Son), High-st, Marylebone, china merchant. Ct. High Court. Order, Oct. 50. AOUST, PIERRE JOSEPH EMILE, Albemarle-st, Piccadilly, club proprietor. Ct. High Court. Order, Oct. 30. ANDREWS, WILLIAM, Carmarthen, licensed victualler. Ct. Carmarthen. Order, Oct. 30. ARMSTRONG, JOHN, Kirkby Stephen, dog breaker. Ct. Kendal. Order, Oct. 29. BOWEN, EBENEZER, Pontardulais, chemist. Ct. Carmarthen. Order, Oct. 30. Order, Oct. 31. Order, DEWAR, HARRY GEORGE, late Trowbridge, china merchant. Ct. High Court. Order, Oct. 30. DUERDEN, JOHN, Burnley, late greengrocer. Ct. Burnley. Order, Oct. 30. Order, FIRMAN, JOSEPH SPENCER, Rattlesden, farmer. Ct. Bury St. Edmunds. Oct. 28. Order, HOLDEN, EDWARD GEORGE, Maidstone, commercial traveller. Ct. Maidstone. Order, Oct. 30. HARRISON, SARAH BUCHANAN, Fallowfield, lodging-house keeper. Ct. Manchester. Order, Oct. 30. HUMPHRY, ALBERT ALFRED, Chichester, saddler. Ct. Brighton. Order, Oct. 29. JOHNSON, SIDNEY EDDELS (trading as Miller and Johnson), Mark-la, chemical manure manufacturer. Ct. High Court. Order, Oct. 31. NAIFF, JAMES FRANCIS, late Blaina, baker. Ct. Tredegar. Order, Oct. 30. OXENDEN, Sir PERCY DIXWELL NOWELL DIXWELL, late Folkestone, baronet. Ct. RICCI, LUIGI, Fleet-st, journalist. Ct. High Court. Order, Oct. 31. RATCLIFFE, RICHARD (trading as Ratcliffe and Co.), Leicester, fruit merchant. Ct. Leicester. Order, Oct. 28. RAMSBOTTOM, JOHN, Prestwich, commercial traveller. Ct. Salford. Order, Oct. 29. ROTTER, DAVID, Swansea, hawker. Ct. Swansea. Order, Oct. 30. SOUTHGATE, TUFNELL BECKET, late Artillery-mansions, Victoria-st, Westminster. Ct. High Court. Order, Oct. 30. SCHREINER, OTTO (trading as Otto Schreiner and Co.), Liverpool, general merchant. Ct. Liverpool. Order, Oct. 30. THUBRON, DAVID, late Middlesbrough, engineer. Ct. Scarborough. Order, Oct. 30. TOWERS, ALFRED, Lansdowne-rd, Clapham, clerk in the civil service. Ct. High Court. Order, Oct. 30. WENDT, AUGUSTUS, late Theobalds-rd, corset maker. Ct. High Court. Oct. 30. Order, WILLIAMS, DAVID, Blaengarw, haulier. Ct. Cardiff. Order, Oct. 29. ADJUDICATIONS ANNULLED. GAZETTE, Ocr. 30. HART, CHARLES HENRY, Bradford-on-Avon, watchmaker. Ct. Bath. Adjudication, March 12. Annulment, Oct. 15. GAZETTE, Nov. 2. TOMKINS, ALFRED CHARLES, King Edward-st, Islington, gentleman. Ct. High Court. Winding-up of Companies. THE COMPANIES ACTS 1862 TO 1890. CROUCH END CENTRAL MUTUAL BUILDING SOCIETY, Park-rd, Crouch End. ROYAL TRUSTS, ASSETS, AND SECURITIES INSURANCE CORPORATION LIMITED, NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT OF LIQUIDATOR. ACME CYCLE SADDLERY COMPANY LIMITED, Birmingham. Ct. Birmingham. Liquidator, Joseph William Blackham, 180, Corporation-st, Birmingham. Appointment, Oct. 19. NOTICES OF RELEASE OF LIQUIDATORS. HILL. On the 29th ult., at 49, Palace-ct, W., the wife of J. R. Dunlop Hill, Barristerat-law, of a daughter. JONES. On the 30th ult., at Greenhill, Holywell, the wife of Mr. F. Llewellyn-Jones, MARRIAGES. ELRINGTON BISSET-TOTTENHAM.-On the 27th ult., at St. Michael's, Chester-sq, the WALTON-STALLARD.-On the 29th ult., at the Church of the Ascension, Blackheath, BULLAR. On the 28th ult., at 20, Carlton-cres, Southampton, Rosa Bullar, aged 79, wife of the late John Bullar, Barrister-at-law, of 11, King's Bench-walk, and Basset Wood, Southampton. GILKES. On the 14th ult., Emma, widow of Edwin Gilkes, Esq., and daughter of the INNES. On the 28th ult., at Atherstone-ter, Gloucester-rd, S. W., Sir Joseph George PIGOT. On the 30th ult., at Ollerton, Bolton, Mary Taylor Pigot, widow of the late PRICE. On the 28th ult., after a very short illness, James Price, of Haverfordwest, Solicitor and H. M. Coroner for Pembrokeshire. ROBSON. On the 29th ult., at 56, Upper Grosvenor-rd, Tunbridge Wells, Anne, widow of G. Young Robson, Barrister-at-law, and daughter of J. J. Tufnell, Esq., of Langleys, Essex. 25 To Readers and Correspondents. All communications must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. Anonymous communications are invariably rejected. All communications intended for the Editorial Department should, in order to prevent Advertisements, orders delay, be addressed to the EDITOR OF THE LAW TIMES." for papers, &c., should be kept distinct, and addressed to the Publisher, Mr. HORACE Cox, Law Times" Office, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.C. 254 SCHOLFIELD v. LORD LONDESBOROUGH. Bill of exchange-Alteration-Duty of acceptor-Negligence-Estoppel -Bills of Exchange Act (1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 61), s. 64, sub-sect. 1 ...... SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE. COURT OF APPEAL. POTTLE. SHARPE.-Master and servant-Dismissal of servant-Public elementary school established under trust deed HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE CHANCERY DIVISION. ANDREWS. GAS METER COMPANY LIMITED.-Company-Memorandum of association-Articles of association-Alteration of articles-Invalid issue of preference shares..... FILEY . HOUNSELL.-Vendor and 265 OLDROYD T. OLDROYD.-Restitution of conjugal rights-Bona fides and conduct of petitioner-Matrimonial Causes Act 1884 (47 & 48 Vict. c 68), 8.5 LEADING ARTICLES, &c. 281 267 OUR LITERARY COLUMN.- An Irish Judicial Humorist-Stories from the Law Reports purchaser- Agreement-Memorandum-Name of vendor--Principal and agent-Statute of 272 (29 Car. 2, c. 3). s. 4........ Be NEW TRANSVAAL COMPANY.Company-Winding-up-Construction of articles- Surplus assets QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION. THOMAS . JENNINGS AND OTHERS 274 QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION IN BANKRUPTCY. PROCEEDINGS AFFECTING THE PRO- LAW SOCIETIES.-United Law Society | CORRESPONDENCE... 42 48 43 44 44 LAW STUDENTS' JOURNAL.-Bar Examination Results-The November Final-Council of Legal Education: Hilary Pass Examination, 1897; Hilary Honour Examination, 1897Students' Societies LEGAL OBITUARY.-Sir Joseph George Long Innes-Mr. Thomas William Gray..... 45 47 THE COURTS AND COURT PAPERS.Judicial Committee of the Privy Council: List of Business, Nov. and Dec. 1896-Circuits of the Judges, Autumn Assizes, 1896-Rota of Registrars 47 THE GAZETTES... 48 BIRTH, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS... 50 N.B.-The Vols. from 1858 to 1895 may also be had. Price 5s. a volume if complete set is taken HORACE COX, "Law Times" Office, Windsor House, Bream's-buildings, E.C. The Law and the Lawyers. THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS stated, in his speech at the Guildhall banquet, that he had attended on twenty-four A similar occasions, and that the present would be his last. quarter of a century of Lord Mayors' dinners is a tremendous record. THE LORD CHANCELLOR, in his speech, was pithy as usual. Everything the question of the House of Lords and its judicial work-is "flat." The Profession will agree with him. THE General Council of the Bar met on the 27th Oct. and on the 10th Nov. It will meet again on the 23rd. IN consequence of the action of the Council, in no less than four Bills last session a clause providing against the employment of counsel in local and other inquiries was struck out. THE resignation of Lord ESHER will be the beginning of the The first result retirement of the Superannuated Ten. must be the promotion of Sir Richard Webster, who ought to be succeeded as Attorney-General by Sir EDWARD CLARKE. SIR HARRY POLAND'S letter to the Times on the anomalies once more to a cause of of our criminal law points scandalous waste of judicial power on the Circuits. His suggestions are all excellent; they appear too late for us to Ideal with them this week. The waste on the civil side is equally great, causing paralysis of business in London. WHAT critics of judicial waste do not seem to see is, that the High Court judges are doing, to a large extent, County Court work. The jurisdiction of County Courts, on the other hand, is being every day extended by consent; and whilst libels and slanders fill the general Queen's Bench lists, County Court judges, official referees, and arbitrators are deciding disputes involving hundreds and thousands of pounds. If things go on as they are going, a reform will be silently worked which will astonish the Bench and the Profession. THE Bar Council cannot control the action of County Court judges. If barristers appointed to the County Court Bench choose to disregard and ignore the opinion of a representative body of the profession to which they still nominally When the late Mr. MONTAGUE belong, they are free to do it. Circuit, was Recorder on the Western BERE, being a appointed a County Court judge, Lord COLERIDGE intimated to him that he must resign his Recordership, and he did so. The Western Circuit expects his Honour Judge BOMPAS to do likewise. THE General Council of the Bar has put an end to a species of legal journalism which was considered obnoxious to the A very ably conducted strict etiquette of the Bar. periodical devoted to a special branch of law for a long period without objection bore upon its face the names of its editors who authenticated answers to questions published in its columns. The objections to this are obvious: the Law Vol. CII.-No. 2798. TIMES has steadily discouraged efforts to make its columns the medium for obtaining counsel's opinion at the cost of a subscription. We are glad to say that, owing to the action of the Council and the loyalty to its decrees of the editors referred to, the practice of legal journalism is now uniform. THE Federation of Belgian avocats has projected an International Congress of Advocates to be held in Brussels next year. The objects declared are: (1) By a comparative study of legislations on the Legal Profession to promote reforms. (2) To bring the Bars of different countries into more direct and frequent communication with each other by means of the exchange of views on legal questions and mutual hospitality. THE ultimate fate of the Council of Legal Education is now beyond doubt. The members dined quâ Council with the Benchers of Gray's-inn on Thursday. Once an educational body submits to gastronomic blandishments of this kind, they are doomed. We know nothing heavier than a complimentary Benchers' dinner. A School of Law is now imperatively necessary. The next guests, we suppose, will be the Council of Law Reporting, in celebration of the wonderful reproduction of old Scotch revenue cases in the Weekly Notes during the Long Vacation. Then the staff of the Law Reports, with disastrous consequences to head-notes. And finally, the General Council of the Bar. It is hard to conceive the combined effect of indigestion and patronage upon the independence of that body. THE amenities of lawyers contrast most favourably with the amenities of political life. On his return from America, filled no doubt with feelings of patriotism, Sir FRANK LOCKWOOD encountered Sir EDWARD CLARKE's York speech on Venezuela. A solemn and paternal rebuke was promptly applied. Weeks pass, and in York itself, Sir FRANK revives the incident, and repeats his reproof with even added solemnity. The frank persistence of one ex-law officer, and the passive submission of the other, offer a lesson not to be overlooked. In these modern days of callous indifference to week-day religious ordinances in connection with the Inns of Court -although clergy are kept as a permanent staff it is curious to look back to the records of a Parliament held in the Inner Temple when "Mr. Huddleston" was treasurer (25 Eliz. A.D. 1582-3): "For that it is thought a convenient thing to have overseers in the church for church causes, whose office it shall be to note the absence of all such as shall not usually come and resort to the church and receive the Communion. That out of the term time the ordinary service in the church shall not begin in the morning before seven of the clock, and in the term time not until half an hour after six." THE Four Inns of Court have accepted the resolution of the Bar Council against calling to the Bar clerks to guardians and persons holding similar appointments; but one of the Inns is considering whether the category of unfit persons formulated by the Council should not be extended. How did the Temples come by their badges? This is answered by Mr. INDERWICK in his introduction to the Inner Temple Records: "A probable suggestion naturally arises from the history of the badges of the Knights Templars. Their original banner was a parti-coloured flag of black and white, and their seal, representing the early traditions of the order, was the figure of a horse carrying two knights, typical of the charity and humility of the poor brothers of Christ. At a later date the knights adopted as a second seal the Agnus Dei, with the flag and the red cross. I entertain little doubt that the figure of the two knights on the one horse had been a badge of the New Temple during the 120 years in which it was occupied by the Knights Templars. If this were so, it would probably, on the constitution of the second society within the walls, have been retained as a badge by the Inner Temple, which comprised the old Hall and other ancient buildings of the order. That there was formerly some such carving or fresco in or about the Inn is most probable, and I find no unreasonableness in the tradition which credits the ingenuity or the ignorance of the local workmen at some period between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries with the alteration of the Templars' emblem from a horse with two knights to a horse with two wings." MR. INDERWICK calls these Temple Records "monotonous." The business which occupied the Benchers was always about as trivial as that which occupies them now. Here are two interesting extracts: "Order that an allowance of money shall be made to two beadles to receive such rogues as shall be found within the precincts of the Temple from time to time between this and the next term. And twice at least, or three times if need be, the gardener's men and the undercook during the time of these Christmas holidays shall make privy searches within the precincts of this House for rogues and help to carry them to Bridewell or to some other place of punishment." "The gardener's man to be allowed 2s. 4d. for links [did they golf in those days?]. Allowance of 3s. 4d. a week each granted to the three butlers, the steward, the panierman, and the turnspit, which were not allowed by the company last Christmas." Are there to be many volumes of this antiquarian rubbish? THE Railway and Canal Commission is perhaps the most expensive tribunal that ever existed. It has two paid lay commissioners, who have no other judicial work, assisted by a High Court judge when required. In 1894 the court sat for twenty-three days. In 1893 it sat only nine! The costs "brought in" in 1894 were £3865, taxed at £1803. In 1893 those brought in were £2649, and taxed at £766. What a farce to keep alive such a court as this! CONTRAST this with the proceedings before the Official Referees, who receive only one-half the salaries of the Railway Commissioners. In 1894 the three sat altogether 473 days, and they disposed of 306 causes and matters referred to them. THE indictment preferred against the Welsh Land Com-mission is the most serious which any similar body has encountered for a very long time. No sooner did its report appear than it was condemned wholesale by the Times, whilst members of the Commission are impeached in a work by Mr. J. E. VINCENT, a barrister who attended informally on behalf of the landlords throughout the protracted sittings of the Commission. He alleges prejudice and prejudgment, the encouragement of certain classes of evidence and discouragement of others, the acceptance of hearsay, refusal to hear counsel, and violent and vulgar cross-examination by at least one member of the Commission. He gives chapter and verse for his assertions, but confesses that he writes with temper aroused by the unusual nature of the proceedings of the Commission. THE inconvenience of the form in which probates of wills are usually engrossed has often been the subject of complaint by those who have been called upon to handle such documents, and was animadverted upon by Mr. Justice KEKEWICH in court last week. The learned judge said that he never could understand why solicitors did not cause probates to be engrossed book-wise, so that they might be easily perused by the judge and by all concerned. He understood that the matter rested entirely with solicitors, and he made this statement on no less an authority than that of the President of the Probate Division, who had assured him that there was no reason whatever why probates should not be engrossed book-wise, the President being not only willing but desirous, that that course should be pursued. It is to be hoped that this intimation coming from so high an authority will induce solicitors to adopt, and the officials at the Probate Office not to obstruct, so desirable an improvement on the existing practice. 66 WHAT is "elementary education" within the meaning of the Elementary Education Acts? The term "elementary school" is defined by sect. 3 of the Act of 1870 as meaning a school at which elementary education is the principal part of the education there given, and not including any school at which the ordinary payments in respect of the instruction from each scholar exceed ninepence a week"; but the Act contains no definition of elementary education. The 97th section, however, prescribes that the conditions to be fulfilled by an elementary school in order to obtain an annual Parliamentary grant shall be those contained in the minutes of the Education Department for the time being, and these minutes, by what is termed the "Day School Code," contain a list of subjects which appear to be considered as forming part of an elementary education. The subjects are divided into two branches, the compulsory branch and the optional branch. The compulsory branch contains the subjects of reading, writing, and arithmetic for both sexes, besides needlework for girls, and drawing " for boys in schools for older scholars." The optional subjects comprise, as subjects to be taken by classes throughout a school, singing, recitation, geography, drawing in infant schools, elementary science, and history, and comprise, as to subjects to be taken by individual children in upper classes, the following amongst other subjects:Algebra, Euclid, mensuration, mechanics, Latin, French, German, and animal physiology. If these are properly and legally included, we do not see why Greek and Hebrew should not be included also. THE "Conscience Clause" and the "Cowper-Temple" clause are both so frequently mentioned in the controversy concerning the forthcoming Education Bill of the Government, that it is highly desirable to know what they are, and what provisions they contain. They are both to be found in the Elementary Education Act 1870, the Conscience Clause being the popular title of sect. 7 of that Act, and the Cowper-Temple Clause that of sub-sect. 2 of sect. 14. The 7th section is a very long one, providing (1) that it shall not be required as a condition of any child being admitted into a public elementary school that he shall attend or not attend any place of religious worship, or attend any religious instruction in the school or elsewhere, from which he may have been withdrawn by his parent; (2) that all religious instruction is to be given either at the beginning or end of a meeting of the school; and (3), that HER MAJESTY'S Inspectors are not to examine in any religious subjects. This clause applies to all elementary schools, whether school board or voluntary. The Cowper-Temple Clause, which applies to School Board schools only, provides that "no religious catechism or religious formulary which is distinctive of any particular denomination" shall be taught in any School Board school. It will be observed that both clauses are merely negative.. THE Statute Book of 1896 is singularly deficient in consolidating Acts, the Friendly Societies Acts being the only set of statutes which have been consolidated. No less than four consolidating Bills, however, have been unsuccessfully introduced by the Government-the Post Office Acts Consolidation Bill, the Administration of Estates Bill, the House Tax Third Sheet. Bill, and the Parliamentary Costs Bill. The Post Office Bill, although it had passed through the ordeal of a joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament, fell before the attacks of Mr. GIBSON BOWLES; the House Tax Bill had to be withdrawn from the consideration of the House of Lords, in which it was first introduced, because it dealt with taxation, and all Taxation Bills must, by constitutional practice, be introduced in the first instance in the House of Commons; and neither the Administration of Estates Bill nor the Parliamentary Costs Bill appears to have been seriously pressed on. All these four Bills will probably be introduced next session, but we cannot say that it will very much matter to the Legal Profession whether they are passed or not. The Acts which require consolidation more than any others are the Death Duties Acts and the Licensing Acts. Of these perhaps the Licensing Acts will never be consolidated, because the Parliamentary contests between the teetotallers and the liquor interest would always be too prolonged. But now that the main objections to the Finance Act 1894 have been removed by the Finance Act 1896, we may perhaps venture to hope that all the enactments relating to death duties, the earliest of which, the Legacy Duty Act 1796, is just 100 years old, may be reduced into one Act in the forthcoming session, and separated for ever from the confused mass of general revenue legislation in which they are frequently embodied. In THE Locomotives on Highways Act will have come into force before these lines meet the eye, and motor cars would have been allowed to career along the streets and roads at a speed up to fourteen miles an hour, if the Local Government Board had not made rules under the Act fixing a less rate of speed, the 4th section of the Act prescribing that "no light locomotive shall travel along a public highway at a greater speed than fourteen miles an hour, or any less speed that may be prescribed by regulations of the Local Government Board." The Board had sent draft rules under the Act to various county councils, but they were not bound to do so, nor to take into consideration the representations of those or any other public bodies to the effect that a less speed than the statutory fourteen miles should be fixed by the rules (which deal with speed in Article IV.), inasmuch as all rules of the Local Government Board are specially exempted from the provisions in this behalf of the Rules Publication Act 1893 by sub-sect. 4 of the 1st section. addition to the restriction on speed, the rules may regulate the lamps of the cars and generally their use on highways, and their construction and the conditions under which they may be used, and the Local Government Board regulations make ample provisions on these matters. The regulations contain five articles," the second and the fourth being the most important. By rule 9 of the second article, the lamp required by sect. 2 of the Act must exhibit, during the period between one hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise, "a white light visible within a reasonable distance in the direction towards which the locomotive is proceeding or intended to proceed, and a red light so visible in the reverse direction." The fourth and most important article, which is to have effect for six months only, provides that the person driving a light locomotive on a highway shall not drive it "at any speed greater than is reasonable and proper, having regard to the traffic on the highway, or so as to endanger the life or limb of any person, or to be the common danger of passengers," and shall not, under any circumstances, drive at a greater speed than twelve miles an hour. Even this speed is to be reduced to eight miles if the weight unladen is one ton and a half and does not exceed two tons, and to five miles if the weight exceeds two tons, "provided," add the board, "that whatever be the weight of the light locomotive, if it is used on any highway to draw any vehicle," the driver "shall not, under any circumstances, 66 drive it at a greater speed than six miles an hour." The penalty for breach of any of the regulations is, by sect. 7 of the Act, not more than ten pounds on conviction by justices and without appeal, except on some point of law to the High Court, so that the decision of of justices as to what is "reasonable' speed will be final. The regulations must, by sect. 3, sub-sect. 1, of the Rules Publication Act, be printed and sold by the Queen's Printer, but neither that Act nor the Locomotives on Highways Act contains any provisions for their publication by general notice in the Gazette or otherwise. LORD MAYOR'S DAY. Said Hawkins, J. to Phillips (Faudel), Let laws and learning, arts, and commerce be, KLEPTOMANIA. THE modified sentence of three months' imprisonment, without hard labour, which the Chairman of the Clerkenwell Sessions imposed on Mrs. Castle last week for the theft of certain goods from West End furriers-promptly and properly followed on Tuesday by the lady's release from Wormwood Scrubbs under the order of the Home Office-offers a striking illustration of the change which has come over the spirit in which English criminal law in regard to the responsibility of the insane is now administered. There is no doubt that, in the strictly technical sense of the term, Mrs. Castle "knew the nature and quality" of what she was doing. She knew, that is to say, that she was taking away property which did not belong to her; and, in view of the fact that she carefully abstained from abstracting any furs when she was watched, it was open to the prosecution to contend that she was aware of the moral, or perhaps one should say immoral, character of the offence which she was committing. A quarter of a century ago she would unquestionably have been not only convicted, but punished according to the standard by which the responsibility of sane persons is determined. It needs no great effort of historical imagination to picture the course which her trial would have pursued in the days when Lord Bramwell was in the flower of his judicial life. He would have asked each of the distinguished experts who gave evidence on her behalf, whether she would have stolen the furs if she had seen a policeman standing in front of her and keeping a close watch on the movement of her hands? Of course this question would have been answered in the negative, and thereupon Lord Bramwell would have repeated his favourite witticism on such occasions, that an irresistible impulse to steal is an impulse to steal which is irresistible in the absence of a policeman, and sentenced her as heavily as the law allowed. It is fortunate, however, that these crisp judicial methods are no longer in vogue. A priori it is quite as probable that insanity should affect the will and moral faculties of the mind, as that it should lay its grasp upon the reason or the imagination. And à posteriori, it is perfectly certain that there are numerous cases in which this diseased condition of the moral nature exists. The juridical problem to which these cases give rise is by no means easy of solution. On the one hand, it is manifestly impossible for the law to admit that the mere existence of insanity of character is an exculpatory plea. To assume that position would be to ignore the fact that we live in a world in which insane people, whom no jurisdiction in lunacy can touch, abound; and to proclaim that, in order to become irresponsible, all that a man has to do is to foster his criminal impulses till they become overwhelming in their power, and then pose as a victim of moral insanity. On the other hand, it is equally clear that the judicial attitude of which Lord Bramwell was the latest and most distinguished exponent must inevitably lead to one or the other of two extremely undesirable results, viz., unjust convictions or unjust acquittals. The only dignified course for our judges to adopt, in view of the frequency with which the phenomena of moral insanity are now presented to their notice, is to treat these phenomena as scientific propositions which must be proved, and weighed when proved, like all other alleged facts. There are cases in which an insane disturbance of the moral faculties may coexist with full responsibility to the law, just as there are cases in which a man who thinks his head is a teapot, or that his neck is made of brass, or that a farm which he is anxious to sell is impregnated with sulphur, may yet possess full civil capacity. But there are cases also in which a man's affections are so clearly and so radically disordered that to judge and punish him by the standards applicable to ordinary human beings would serve none of the purposes for which judgment and punishment form part of the criminal law. In these cases justice and policy alike demand that the principle of modified responsibility shall be applied. It is already in use in every well-conducted asylum in Europe. If a patient is obstreperous and has sufficient sense to know that he is so, you cut off his tobacco or prevent him from being a spectator of the weekly theatricals or concert. No asylum could be carried on for a month without the aid of such sanctions as these, and parity of reasoning requires that they should also be brought into operation, mutatis mutandis, in the wider asylum of the world. Public opinion, of which juries are almost infallible representatives, will tolerate neither the wholesale condemnation nor the wholesale exculpation of the morally insane, and in this instance public opinion is in the strictest accord with scientific conclusions. POISONING BY MEDICAL PRESCRIPTION. It seems a remarkable result of the numerous Acts passed to restrict the sale of poisons that medical practitioners should be able to distribute broadcast the means by which poison may be obtained in such a way as to frustrate the very ends which the Pharmacy Acts were specially intended to secure. It is provided by the Pharmacy Act 1868 that certain poisons may only be sold by chemists, and, moreover, that on the sale of them certain regulations should be observed with regard to labelling; and, in case of the more deadly of the scheduled poisons (i.e., those in part 1 of the schedule), that the date of sale, the name and address of the purchaser (who must be known or introduced by someone known to the seller), the name and quantity of the article sold, and the object of the purchase as stated by the purchaser, should also be entered in a poison register to be kept by the chemist, to which entry the signature of the purchaser and his introducer (if any) is to be affixed. The Act contains, however, certain exceptions from these rules, and one of the most important is that which forms the subject of these remarks. It is provided that the foregoing regulations are not to apply to poisons forming part of any medicine dispensed by chemists, provided the medicine be distinctly labelled with the name and address of the seller, and the ingredients and the name of the person to whom sold or delivered entered in a book for that purpose to be kept by the chemist. "Medicine dispensed has been held to mean dispensed from the prescription of a qualified medical practitioner: (Berry v. Henderson, 22 L. T. Rep. 331). But there is a practical difficulty as well as danger in interpreting this exemption, as is illustrated by the case cited. There a chemist made up for a person unknown to him, but from what purported to be a proper medical prescription, a lotion which was merely prussic acid (one of the poisons in part 1 of the schedule to the Pharmacy Act) and rose water. Relying on the exemption referred to, the chemist merely copied the prescription into his prescription book, and labelled the bottle with his name and address as required by the Act. It turned out that the prescription was a bogus one; but, inasmuch as it was found as a fact that the chemist bona fide believed it to be a genuine one, and as the preparation was one which might have been prescribed by a medical man for his patient, the Court held that he had brought himself within the exemption, and was not liable for selling to an unknown purchaser. Now the mischief is this: A doctor prescribes a medicine for a patient under particular circumstances. That prescription may be used over and over again, and apparently a chemist does not consider himself under any obligation to make any inquiries concerning it. Its appearance may suggest its age; but once a prescription always a prescription is his rule, and the result is shown in such cases as that of Professor Middleton, who had had an opium preparation made up from the same prescription for twenty years. It is true that, so far as the chemist is concerned, he would only be |