2. Observations on the Social and Political State of the European People in 1848 and 1849; being the Second Series of the Notes of a Traveller. By SAMUEL Laing, 3. A Bill, intituled An Act for the Registration of As- surances in England and Wales. Presented by Lord CAMPBELL. Ordered to be printed 21st February, 4. Reports upon Registration, Simplification of Titles, Mortgages and Sales communicated to the Home De- partment, by the Law Amendment Society. Ordered Page 86 1. Report of the Commissioners appointed to revise and reform the Proceedings in the Courts of Justice. Mas- Curran and his Contemporaries. By C. PHILLIPS, Esq. Blackwood & Son. Second Edition. 1851 - 2. Copy of the Ninth Report of the Copyhold Commis- sioners to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department. 1850. 3. The Compulsory Enfranchisement and Commutation of Copyhold Property considered, with Suggestions for ascertaining the Value of existing Interests in such Copy of the First Report of Her Majesty's Commis- sioners for inquiring into the Process Practice and System of Pleading in the Superior Courts of Common ART. II.-CULTIVATION AND PROGRESS OF LAW IN SCOTLAND. ART. III.—THE STUDY OF JURISPRUDENCE. A Discourse on the Study of Jurisprudence. By D. CAULFIELD HERON, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, Professor The Laws of Health, in relation to Mind and Body. A Series of Letters from an old Practitioner to a Patient. Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee of the House of Lords appointed to consider the Bill intituled "An Act to give Primary Jurisdiction to the Masters in Ordinary of the High Court of Chancery A Concise and Practical View of the Law of Vendors and Purchasers of Estates. By Sir EDWARD SUGDEN. THE LAW REVIEW. ART. I. - BENEFIT BUILDING SOCIETIES. 1. Industrial Investment and Emigration. By ARTHUR SCRATCHLEY, M. A., Actuary to the Western Life Assurance Society. Second Edition. London: J. W. Parker, 1851. 2. The Law and Practice of Benefit Building Societies, terminating and permanent, and of Freehold Land Societies. By JOHN THOMPSON, Esq., of the Inner Temple. Barrister at Law. London: J. Crockford, 1850. 3. The Law relating to Benefit Building Societies. By W. TIDD PRATT, Esq., of the Inner Temple. Barrister at Law. London: Shaw and Sons, 1850. 4. A Practical Treatise on Benefit Building Societies. By WILLIAM STONE, Attorney at Law. London: W. Maxwell, 1851. THE investments of the savings of the industrial classes is a question so interesting in itself, and, in a nation like our own, where these classes constitute an immense proportion of the whole population, is of such importance, that we hail with satisfaction every indication that the subject is attracting increased attention. Such an indication we have in the report of the Select Committee' appointed in the last session of 1 The Law of Partnership, and the propriety of introducing limitations on the liability of partners, are referred to a Select Committee of the House of Commons during the present session (1851). Parliament, to inquire into the "investments for the savings of the middle and working classes." We do not, however, at present allude to this report with any other purpose than to remark on the very strong testimony which it bears to the general importance of the subject of investments. Our object is to discuss one particular form of investments; not, indeed, very prominently noticed in the report, but which has of late become very popular. We speak of Benefit Building Societies. Their very numbers, and the large amount of their annual income, are sufficient reasons for calling attention to the state of the laws which control their management; and, as new phases of these associations have recently sprung up, to which the existing enactments are in some cases scarcely applicable, and it is also likely that the sphere of their operations might usefully be extended, the time seems to have arrived when these laws require to be reviewed, improved, and consolidated. We need hardly remind our readers that, with regard to Friendly Societies, with which, as being associations for the investment of savings, Benefit Building Societies have always been intimately connected, such a revision and consolidation has already been effected by a recent statute. Common, however, as Benefit Building Societies have become, great misapprehension appears to exist as to the principles on which they are founded, and the objects to which they are applicable; and therefore, although our attention must be chiefly directed to the desiderata in the legal machinery of these societies, we shall first attempt to offer an explanation of the general system on which they are conducted. Indeed, without this preface, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to form an adequate notion of their defects, or of the improvements of which they are susceptible. Mr. Scratchley gives the following description of a Benefit Building Society: “A Benefit Building Society, when properly constituted, is a 1 Mr. Scratchley estimates the number of building societies now in existence as about 1200, with an annual income of 2,400,000l. Mr. Stone asserts that in 1851 their income must exceed 4,000,000l. According to the Financial Reform Almanac (1851), the returns of Freehold Land Companies alone to October, 1850, give an annual income exceeding 124,000%. |