CAP. LXX. An Act for further promoting the Establishment of Free Public Libraries and Museums in Municipal Towns, and for extending it to Towns governed under Local Improvement Acts, and to Parishes. (July 30, 1855.) 1. 13 & 14 Vict. c. 65, repealed. 2. Short title of Act. 3. Interpretation of terms. 4. Town councils of certain boroughs may adopt this Act if determined by inhabitants. 5. Expenses of carrying Act into execution in a borough to be paid out of the borough fund. 6. Board of any district within limits of any improvement Act may adopt this Act if determined by inhabitants. 7. Expenses of carrying Act into execution by improvement commissioners to be charged on improvement rate. 8. Certain parishes may adopt this Act, with the consent of two-thirds of the ratepayers; the vestry to appoint commissioners for carrying the Act into execution, who shall be a body corporate. 9. One-third of such commissioners to go out of office yearly, and others to be appointed, but those retiring may be re-appointed. 10. General and special meetings of commissioners. 11. Minutes of proceedings of commissioners to be entered in books. 12. Distinct accounts to be kept by commissioners, and duly audited. 13. Expenses of executing Act in any parish to be paid out of poor rate. 14. Vestries of two or more neighbouring parishes may adopt the Act. THE LAW TIMES. were then sitting, until the end of the then session of CAP. LXXXI. An Act to amend the Law concerning the certifying 1 Will. & M s. 1, c. 18; 52 Geo. 3, c. 155; 31 Geo. 3, c. 32; 23 Will. 4, c. 115; 9&10 Vict. c. 59; 15 16 Vict. c. 36. Whereas by an Act of the first session of the first year of King William and Queen Mary, chaptereighteen, and an Act of the fifty-second year of King George the Third, chapter one hundred and fifty-five, places of meeting of congregations or assemblies for religious worship of Protestants (save as therein excepted with respect to places of worship of the established church and otherwise) were required to be certified to the Bishop's or Archdeacon's Court, or to generrl or quarter sessions of the peace, and to be registered in such court, and recorded at such sessions: and whereas by an Act of the thirty-first year of King George the Third, chapter thirty-two, every place of congregation or assembly for religious worship of persons professing the Roman Catholic religion is required to be certified to and recorded at the general or quarter sessions of the peace: and whereas by the two following Acts respectively, that is to say, an Act of the session holden in the second and third years of King William the Fourth, chapter one hundred and fifteen, and an Act of the session holden in the ninth and tenth years of her Majesty, chapter fifty-nine, her Majesty's subjects professing the Roman Catholic religion, and her Majesty's subjects professing the Jewish religion, in respect of their places for religious worship, are made subject to the same laws as Protestant dissenters: and whereas by an Act passed in the session holden in the fifteenth and sixteenth years of her Majesty, chapter thirtysix, places of meeting of congregations or assemblies for religious worship of Protestant dissenters are required to be certified to the Registrar-General of births, deaths and marriages in England, and to be recorded in the general registrar office, in lieu of being certified to and registered and recorded in the Bishop's or Archdeacon's Court, and at the general or quarter sessions, as herein before mentioned: and whereas it is expedient that all places of religious worship, not being churches or chapels of the established church, should, if the congregation should desire, but not otherwise, be certified to the said Registrar-General: be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the 26. This Act shall not extend to Ireland or Scot- Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this land. 15. Rates levied not to exceed one penny in the pound; accounts of board and commissioners to be open to inspection. 16. Power to council, &c to borrow on mortgage. 17. Provisions of 8 & 9 Vict. c. 16, as to borrowing, extended to this Act. 18. Lands, &c. may be appropriated, purchased, or rented for the purposes of this Act. 19. Provisions of 8 & 9 Vict. c. 18, incorporated with this Act. 20. Lands, &c. may be sold or exchanged. 21. General management to be vested in council, board, or commissioners. 22. Property of library, &c. to be vested in council, board, and commissioners respectively. 23. If any meeting determine against adoption of Act, no other meeting to be called for a year. 24. Act may be adopted in the city of London if two-thirds of persons rated to the consolidated rate, assembled at a public meeting, assent. 25. Museums to be free. CAP. LXXI. (July 30, 1855.) (July 30, 1855.) 1. Geo. 4, c. 74; provisions concerning the restoration of the standards by reference to the pendulum, &c., 5 Geo. 4, c. 74, ss. 3 and 5, repealed. 2. Restored standard yard established. 3. Standard pound Avoirdupois. 4. Provisions of 5 Geo. 4, c. 74, not hereby repealed, &c. to remain in force. 5. Copies of the old standards to continue to be legal. 7. Provision for restoration of standards in case of loss, &c. CAP. LXXIII. An Act to extend the Period for applying for a Sale under the Acts for facilitating the Sale and Transfer of Incumbered Estates in Ireland. (July 30, 1855.) CAP. LXXIV. An Act to enable Grand Juries of Counties in Ireland to present for Payment of Expenses in certain (July 30, 1855.) Cases. CAP. LXXV. An Act to continue certain temporary Provisions concerning Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in England. (July 30, 1855.) 10 11 Vict. c. 98-Certain provisions of recited Act further continued.—Whereas an Act was passed in the session holden in the tenth and eleventh years of the reign of her present Majesty, intituled "An Act to amend the Law as to Ecclesiastical Jurisdic tion in England," by which it was enacted, that certain of the provisions therein contained should continue until the first day of August one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, and, if Parliament present Parliament assembled, and by the authority 1. 15 & 16 Vict. c. 36, repealed, but places of worship 2. Places of worship to be certified to Registrar- of meeting therein mentioned to be recorded as here- 3. Places of meeting to be recorded.-The said Registrar General shall cause all places of meeting for religious worship certified to him under this Act to be recorded in a book to be kept by him for that purpose at the general register office, and no such place of meeting as aforesaid shall be certified to or registered in any court of any bishop or archdeacon, or be certified to or recorded at any general or quarter sessions; and the certifying to the said RegistrarGeneral of any such place of meeting for religious worship of Protestant dissenters or other Protestants or Roman Catholics, or persons professing the Jewish religion, and of any place of meeting for religious worship of any other body or denomination of persons, shall, subject to the provisions herein contained, have the same force and effect as if such place had been duly certified and recorded or registered and recorded as before the passing of the said Act of the fifteenth was required by law, and such Act and this Act had and sixteenth years of her Majesty, chapter thirty-six, not been passed. 4. Places of meeting already certified, save those certified under 15 & 16 Vict. c. 36, may be certified to Registrar-General, and be recorded by him.-Any place of meeting for religious worship heretofore certified and registered or recorded in manner required by law, and which continues to be used for religious worship, save any such place of meeting certified to the said Registrar-General under the said Act of the fifteenth and may, at any time after the passing of this Act be cersixteenth years of her Majesty, chapter thirty-six, tified in writing to such Registrai-General through the superintendent-registrar of the district in which such place may be situate, and shall be recorded by such Registrar-General in manner herein-before mentioned concerning places of meeting not heretofore certified and registered or recorded. 5. Fee of 2s. 6d. to be paid with certificate to Superintendent-Registrar.-Upon the delivery of every certificate to the superintendent-registrar for transmission to the Registrar-General for the purpose of being recorded under this Act, the person delivering the same shall pay to such superintendent-registrar for his own use the sum of two shillings and sixpence, and it shall not be lawful to demand or take any 6. Notice to be given to Registrar-General of every greater fee or reward for the same respectively. place of meeting becoming disused for the purposes for which it was certified.-Whenever any place of meeting for religious worship which may have been certified under the said Act of the fifteenth and sixteenth years of her Majesty, chapter thirty-six, or this Act, shall have wholly ceased to be used as a place of meeting for religious worship, the person or one of the persons who so certified or last certified the same (as the ease may be), or the trustee or one of the trustees for the time being of such place of meeting, or the owner or occupier or one of the owners or occupiers thereof, shall, if then resident within the superintendent-registrar's district within which such place shall be situate, forthwith give notice to the Registrar-General through such superintendent-registrar that such place has so ceased to be used as a place of meeting for religious worship, such notice to be in a form in accordance with the schedule B. to this Act, or to the like effect, and which form shall be provided by the said Registrar General, and may be obtained (without payment) upon application to the said superintendent-registrar; and the person giving such notice shall sign the same in the presence of such superintendent-registrar or of his deputy, who shall Office. forthwith transmit the same through the general post to the Registrar-General at the General Register 7. List of certified places to be printed.-The said Registrar-General shall, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, and also at such subsequent periods as one of her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State shall from time to time in that behalf order or direct, make out and cause to be printed a list of all places of meeting which have been certified to and recorded by him under the said Act of the fifteenth and sixteenth years of her Majesty, chapterthirty-six, or this Act, and the record of which has not been cancelled as hereinafter provided, and shall state in such list the county and superintendentregistrar's district within which each of such places to which the persons for the time being certifying it of meeting is situated, and the religious denomination belong, and shall cause a copy of such list to be sent to every superintendent-registrar of births, deaths deaths and marriages in England, and such list shall be open at all reasonable times to all persons desirous of inspecting the same, on payment to such superintendent-registrar of a fee of one shilling. 8. Direction to the Registrar-General to cancel records of certificates of places of worship ceasing to be used as such.-Whenever it shall appear to the satisfaction of the said Registrar-General, from any notice which shall have been given to him as aforesaid or otherwise, that any certified place of meeting for religious worship has wholly ceased to be used as such, the said Registrar-General shall cause the record of 242 such certification to be cancelled, and shall give public notice of the cancellation thereof by advertisement in some newspaper circulating within the district in which such place of meeting is situated, and in the London Gazette, and shall also expunge the name of such place from the list of certified places so to be printed by him as aforesaid; and after such thereof as aforesaid suby as cancellation and publicatdeemed of the place of meeting above described. To the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages in England. of in the county 9. Certified places exempted from the operation of I, the undersigned "The Charitable Trusts Act 1853." Every place of being the person or one of the persons who meeting for religious worship certified to the said of Registrar-General under the said Act of the fifteenth certified or last certified [or being "the trustee," or and sixteenth years of her Majesty, chapter thirty-one of the trustees," or the "owner," or "occupier," or one of the owners or occupiers" (as the case may six, or this Act, and recorded by him as aforesaid, so long as the same continues to be bond fide used as a be), of] a certain building known by the name [or a dwelling-house, &c. (as the case may within the in the county of place of religious worship, and the record of the cer- of [and being tification thereof has not been cancelled as hereinbe- be)] situate at fore is provided, shall be wholly freed and exempted superintendent-registrar's district of now resident within the same district], do hereby from the operation of an Act passed in the session year of her present Majesty, holden in the sixteenth and seventeenth years of her declare and give you notice, in pursuance of an Act Majesty, chapter one hundred and thirty-seven, in passed in the that the aforesaid building [or dwellingday of tituled The Charitable Trusts Act 1853," and shall not be subject or liable to any of the provisions of the house, &c.] which was on the same Act, save that the exempted charities may avail 185 recorded by you as a place of meeting for or by a congregathemselves of the sixty-third and sixty-fourth sec- religious worship by a congregation or assembly of persons calling themselves tions of the said Act, if they shall think fit. tion or assembly of Roman Catholics, or of persons belonging to the Society of Friends, or of persons professing the Jewish religion (as the case may be)], day has wholly ceased to be used as a place for public religious worship. Witness my hand, this of 10. Nothing to affect churches, &c. of Established Church.-Nothing in this Act shall affect or be construed to affect the churches or chapels of the United Church of England and Ireland, or the celebration of divine service according to the rites and ceremonies of the said United Church by ministers of such Church, in any place hitherto used for such purpose, or being now or hereafter duly consecrated or licensed by any archbishop or bishop or other person lawfully authorised to consecrate or license the same 179 certified to to be 11. Certificate of place having been c given. The Registrar-General, on payment to him of a fee of two shillings and sixpence, shall, with respect to any place certified to him as a place of meeting for religious worship, the record whereof remains uncancelled, give to any person demanding the same a certificate, sealed or stamped with the seal of the General Register Office, that at the time or respective times in such certificate in that behalf stated the place therein described was duly certified and duly recorded as required by this Act, and that at the date of such sealed or stamped certificate the record of such certification remained uncancelled; and every such sealed or stamped certificate, if tendered in evidence upon any trial or other judicial proceeding in any civil or criminal court, shall be received as evidence of the said several facts therein mentioned, without any farther or other proof of the same. 12. Sums received by or on account of RegistrarGeneral to be accounted for, and expenses defrayed as other expenses of the General Register Office. All sums to be received by or on account of the Registrar General in pursuance of this Act shall be accounted for and paid in manner directed by the said Act of the seventh year of King William the Fourth, for registering births, deaths and marriages in England, with respect to sums received by him or on his account under the provisions of that Act; and all expenses incurred by the said Registrar-General, or by any superintendent-registrar, or registrar, with his sanction and acting under his direction or authority, in carrying this Act into execution and making known its provisions, shall be deemed to have been incurred in carrying on the business of the General Register Office, and be defrayed accordingly. 13. To remove doubts as to validity of marriage. Notwithstanding the provisions of this or any other Act, all marriages which heretofore have been had or solemnised in any building which has been registered for the solemnisation of marriages pursuant to the provisions of an Act passed in the sixth and seventh years of his late Majesty King William the Fourth, chapter eighty-five, but which may not have been cortified as required by the provisions of this or any other Act, shall be as valid in all respects as if such place of worship had been so certified. 14. Extent of Act.-This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland. of SCHEDULE A. 46 within the [was To the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, and chapter وار MACISTRATE AND PARISH bundetrolio LAWYER. oʻqt? BIQ mlf petalingen an de Correspondence. REG.. CROCKER, AND MR. MILES, CHAIRMAN OF services are rendered to society without fee or reward, - TICKET-OF-LEAVE CONVICTS. The operation of the new law substituting penal servitude for transpor tation is, we are informed, daily becoming more and more felt in the increasing numbers of emancipated convicts, the great proportion of whom, it is asserted, return to their old vocations. Almost every steamer from London brings down several of these men bere. men arrived at Granton-pier, and this week six others followed. Last week, it is understood, that eight ticket-of-leave A pretty large proportion of the panels now coming before the higher courts of justice are returned convicts.-Edinburgh Courant. 1 POOR-LAW UNION CLERKSA return obtained, prior to the prorogation of Parliament, by Mr. T to the clerks of the poor-law unions in England and Chambers, shows that the total amount of salaries paid Wales was 65,884, whereof 62,4894 is paid in parishes amounts to 14,096, the population thereof (by last census) to 15,854,011, the number of orchinary England, and 3,3951. in Wales. The number of weekly or fortnightly meetings of the boards in each year to 24,468, the compensation of clerks for comducting the election of the guardians, to 54001, andi the annual payments to clerks for the use of the office as a register-office, to 24084 Thus, the total payments to the clerks would amount annually to 73,6937 GENERAL.The following appears in the Londor BUST OF THE LATE MR. JUSTICE TALFOURD-Our attention has been called to a remark in the Times report of the summer assizes at Stafford. The members of the Bar of the Oxford Circuit have recently erected on the south side of the Criminal Court of this town (Stafford) a monumental bust honour of the late Mr. Justice Talfourd, who, it wil be recollected, died suddenly in this court while in AUG. 18, 1855.] THE LAW TIMES. of the M. R., already reported, that the Inclosure The M. R. has decided that the owner of a A wills case is reported from the Prerogative Queries on Points of Practice. on an aged life, sold for 4107. A reversion to one-fifth of 18,5537. on the death JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES' LAW JOURNAL. LIMITED LIABILITY. Ar the time of writing this (Friday night), the the act of addressing the grand jury, on the 13th March 1854. The likeness of the deceased judge is far from giving satisfaction to those who knew him, which may, part, be attributed to the fact that it is placed at so great a distance from the spectator. It is surrounded by a sort of monument, in a very ordinary style, with an inscription on it, in which the letter" is uniformly substituted for the letter "u.' Nothing is more probable than that the manner in which this bust is placed may preclude the possibility of forming a just opinion of it, either as a likeness or a work of art; but in such case it is clearly advisable that the expression of opinion should be reserved. The writer of these few lines had an opportunity of seeing the bust before it left London, and he shared in the admiration of it felt and expressed by those who were nearest to the deceased judge in kindred and affection. We believe, indeed, that among ali who saw it to whom Talfourd was well known, no difference of opinion existed as to its excellence. A good likeness is the first essential in matters of the kind, and here it had been caught with singular success. For the face belonged to the class most dificult of all to render truly, where what attracts you is derived from no single feature or trait, but from the play and combination of all. Taken separately there was no feature noticeable beyond the common in Mr. Justice Talfourd's face, yet with intellect and fancy both impressed upon it, there was also a sweetness and delicacy in the general expression which did no imperfect justice to the sensitive beauty and refinement of his mind. This is reproduced by Mr. Lough with a charming effect, and the result is a portrait, which, to borrow a word from the great Duke's vernacular, no ordinary "buster" could have achieved. Without going so far as old Northcote, who used to say that neither painter nor sculptor could put into his work what he did not himself possess, we may safely say that a poet will fare best at the hands of an artist himself of unquestionable imagination. And this, the author of this bust of Talfourd, Mr. Lough, has proved himself to be. We do not know that any remark need be made on what is said of the "sort of monument in a very ordinary style," and of the substitution of " for "u" in the letters sculptured on it. In both parBut whatever its destructiveness to the existticulars, it is probable, Mr. Lough simply followed CONDITIONS OF SALE, FEES, &c.-In answer to Mr. II. his instructions. It was indispensable, we suppose, Wiles in yours of 4th inst., the custom varies in dreining race of tradesmen, there can be no doubt it will be very advantageous to the Lawyers, by that the architectural part of the tablet should agree strictly with the building in which it is placed, localities. In some its adoption is matter of course. mouldings and all, and no doubt the sculptor, if need hardly be a doubt that it is neither liberal, reasonable, nor bringing business to them. Every company must be, could produce the inscription exactly as he re-politic to cast the fees in question, particularly the auc- have its solicitor, it must be legally formed and continually advised. Questions will always be ceived it, even to the offending letter. For ourselves tioneer's, upon the purchasers. arising between the company and its debtors, and we can only regret that a work in all respects so adbetween the shareholders and the directors. If mirable as a likeness, and so pleasing as a work of After art, should be badly placed and inadequately seen. companies die before complete registration, they Examiner. must be wound up under the Winding-up Acts, without any limit to liability. their formation, though the shareholders are and wrongs done, they are liable, without exempt from liability for the debts, contracts limit, for the costs of actions brought against the company, and disappointed creditors will be sure to punish with costs the defrauding them of their just dues. The ruin of thousands of the small 'will produce a great crop of insolvencies and traders by the rivalry of the privileged companies bankruptcies; and, lastly, in all probability there will soon be such another joint-stock mania as was witnessed about ten years ago, and our readers whose memories extend back so far know what a harvest to the Profession that was. But there is this difference with the mania that is now spreading-it is more attractive; it offers up" of companies, and the schemes will probably far more scope for the ingenuity of the "gettersbe more numerous and various. Let us, however, A company provisionally regisgive timely warning to our readers, that the limitation of liability does not begin until complete registration. tered, and its promoters, are liable without limit for all the preliminary expenses, if complete reregistration is not effected. CLOSING THE TEMPLE CHURCH.-Notice has been given that Divine service at the Temple Church will be discontinued until Sunday, the 7th Oct. next. A MAIDEN ASSIZE IN RADNOR.-At the assizes at Presteign, Lord Chief Justice Campbell complimented the grand jury on their attendance, and declared the county a sort of Paradise. His Lordship claimed and received the usual token of a maiden assize-a pair of white kid gloves, which, he said, he should preserve with the blank calendar, as a pleasing memento. This was the completion of his grand circuit of England Wales, and presiding as judge in every county of England and the Principality, according to his own previous arrangement; and in none had he experienced more excellent accommodation and comfort, or more justice and obedience done to the majesty of the law. The gaol did not contain a single prisoner on a charge of felony.' Mr. Massey, M. P. for Newport, has been appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department. Mr. Massey has represented Newport, in the Isle of Wight, since 1852. He is in favour of an extended で suffrage and vote by ballot. Answers to Queries. In others I have found it quite discountenanced; but there can F. F. COVENANT FOR PRODUCTION OF TITLE-DEFDS-STAMP.-A THE LAND MARKET. The Balfeagan estate, in the county of Meath, consisting of 650 acres, with farm-buildings, and let for 5501. per acre, was sold by Norton and Co. for 14,000l., or about 217. per acre. An estate at Saltashi, in Cornwall, 130 acres, was bought in at 49807., which we presume, therefore, to be the selling price, and that is at the rate of 381. per acre. 25 acres and a farmhouse, at Sutton Montis, in Somersetshire, was bought in at 2500l., or 1007. per acre. That this is not a fancy price, is REAL PROPERTY LAWYER AND proved by the fact that a piece of land near it, CONVEYANCER. Summary. A SCOTCH appeal to the H. of L. supplies consisting of only la. Ir. 26p., sold for 140%, which arbitrator. It appeared that the arbitrator was one of several trustees, who had lent part of the trust-moneys to B. unknown to C., who, on discovering it, and that A. was insolvent, applied to the Court to rescind the submission; but the H. of L. held the interest of the arbitrator too remote to justify this. It was also proved that the arbitrator had examined witnesses behind the back of one of the parties; but that the party so wronged had continued his attendance at the proceedings after the fact had come to his knowledge. It was held to be an irregularity which would have vitiated the award, but that the conduct of the party grieved was a waiver of it: (Drew v. Drew, 25 L. T. Rep. 282.) Correspondence. CERTIFICATES OF BURIAL.-As the number of cemeteries and cemetery companies is increasing very rapidly-not only in the neighbourhood of London, but all over the country-I think it right to caution the Profession that burial certificates obtained from SATURDAY HALF HOLIDAY. enacts that if any member shall be dissatisfied A PUBLIC MEETING for all promotion of Saturday with the settlement of his claim, he may apply to the judge of the Co. C. of the district, who half-holidays throughout all departments of business where practicable, and the earlier payment of wages, is to make such an order "as he may think the was held at the Guildhall on Wednesday evening, justice of the case may require." August the 15th. Sir James Duke, Bart., M.P., in the chair. It was an unprecedentedly large meeting, the - 1. That early closing on Saturdays having been already adopted in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and the principal towns in Scotland, also in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, and other places in the north of England, as well as by some important branches of business in London, and the result having proved to be highly beneficial to large classes of society socially, mentally, and physically, added to the most important effect of tending materially to a better observance of the Lord's Day, these facts afford safe grounds for assuming that such a measure must prove a national benefit, and that this meeting has, therefore, the greatest confidence in recommending it for general adoption. On the motion of Mr. John Robert Taylor (law stationer), seconded by T. H. Tarlton, Esq. (secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association), it was unanimously resolved: 2. That this meeting consider that the hour for closing on Saturday, so far as is practicable, should be two o'clock, believing that the Government, law, public, and other offices and wholesale houses generally, may, compatibly with public convenience, be closed at that hour; they therefore strongly urge the adoption of this measure. the offices of these companies are not always such as PATERSON'S PRACTICAL STATUTES.-I am well pleased to see from your paper of this day's date, that Mr. Paterson's edition of the statutes is to be continued, and I wish to do the author the common justice of observing, that to the general practitioner in the country the work is of very great value and practical utility. I heartily wish it could be extended backward to Magna Charta." Wareham, Aug. 11, 1855. F. F. 5, Walbrook, London, 16th Aug. 1855. We beg to call your attention to a case which we think worthy of a comment in the LAW TIMES. A cause was entered by us for trial at the present Croydon assizes, and stood No. 54 in the list; at seven o'clock in the evening of the 7th inst. it was announced that Mr. Justice Cresswell would try common jury causes on the following morning, commencing with our cause. At the sitting of the court on the following morning, application was made to Mr. Justice Wightman, on the plaintiffs' behalf, for a postponement of the trial for one week, upon an affidavit stating that a material witness had been subpoenaed to attend two trials in the Stannaries Court at Truro on the 9th inst. and could not be at Croydon until Tuesday, the 14th inst. The judge refused the application, which, if complied with, could not have in any way damnified the defendant, and we were therefore compelled to withdraw the record, entailing upon the plaintiffs the costs of the day in addition to the delay. The only reason we can imagine for the refusal was, the extreme desire that the judge may possibly have for getting rid of the heavy cause-list at the present assizes without reference to the injustice which he is doing to the parties. HARRISONS. [The entire regulations for trials, both at Westminster and at the assizes, require revision. The question, however, is surrounded with difficulties. We urpose to direct attention to it during the vacation, with a view to elicit suggestions for improvements.-Ed. L. T.] Queries on Points of Practice. DECLARATIONS.-I have scen an opinion expressed that neither Commissioners for taking oaths in Chancery nor for taking common law affidavits, are empowered to receive a declaration in support of title. Now, if this is so, it is rather awkward, for I have known many important titles verified chiefly by declarations taken by masters extra (non-commissioners, &c.), under 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 31. s. 18; and in a sale wherein I lately had to deal with various solicitors for different purchasers, tendered without question declarations thus taken. Can any of your experienced readers advise me? F. F. ILLEGAL SOCIETY.-Is a society which possesses a fund expressly provided to protect it from prosecutions for libel a legal association? JUSTITIA. On the motion of E. S. Bailey, Esq., Solicitor, (Bailey, Shaw, Smith and Bailey), seconded by T. H. Bower, Esq., Solicitor (Bower and Son), it was unanimously resolved: 4. That the foregoing resolutions be respectfully submitted to the Right Honourable the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, the Lord Chief Justices and the other Judges of the realm, the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury, and the heads of other Government departments, and that they be brought under the consideration of the principals of every profession, business, and wholesale trade in London. On the motion of J. Howard Williams, Esq., Solicitor (of the firm of Winter and Williams), seconded by W. Castle Smith, Esq., Solicitor (of the firm of Minet and Smith), it was unanimously resolved: 5. That the best thanks of this meeting are due and are hereby tendered to Sir James Duke, Bart., M.P., for his kind and able presidency, and that the further thanks of this meeting be awarded to the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor for his kindness in granting the use of the Guildhall for the purpose of the present meeting. SOLICITOR STRUCK OFF THE ROLLS-The Court of Chancery have ordered the name of Mr. John Collins, solicitor, to be struck off the rolls. Mr. Collins was the solicitor of his own niece, Mrs. Wheatley, of her mother also, and of her husband, who were interested in a fund in the Court of Chancery. Without any commission which could have been considered to justify his act, he instructed counsel on behalf of Mr. W. Bastow and Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley, some of the parties, to consent to the abstraction of the fund for purposes alien and opposed to their interest, while Mr. Bastow was absent from England. The Lords Justices made some severe comments upon the defendant. COUNTY COURTS. Summary. A FULL report of the case of Bennett v. Powell, The New Friendly Societies Act, 18 & 19 Vict. Sect. 40 enacts that where the rules of any existing society direct that disputes shall be de termined by justices, they shall be decided by the Co. Courts; and the next section (41) enacts that all applications for the removal of a trustee, or for any other relief, order or direction, or for the settlement of disputes, where the rules do not prescribe any other mode of settlement, shall be determined by the Co. C., which is empow ered to "entertain such application and give such relief, and make such orders and directions in relation to the matter of such application as hereinafter mentioned, or as may now be given or made by the Court of Ch. in respect either of its ordinary or its special or statutory jurisdic tion; such decision of the Co. C. not to be subject to appeal. The order of the Co. C., if for payment of money, is to be enforced as ordinary judgments of the Courts; but, if it be for the doing of some act, not being for the payment of money, the judge may order the party to do the act or pay a sum of money, and if he fail to comply, then the money may be recovered a the ordinary judgments of the Courts: (sect. 42) The 43rd section empowers the Lord Chanceller to make orders for regulating the proceedings in Co. Courts under this Act. It is probable that extensive use will be made of this jurisdiction. The disputes in Friendly Societies are very numerous, but wrongs on both sides are submitted to rather than incur the costly remedies hitherto alone provided. The equitable jurisdiction here given to the Co Courts will, we hope, be speedily extended to other matters, especially to the performance of all the merely administrative functions of the Court of Ch. COUNTY COURTS.-A return obtained by Mr. Mullings, M. P., gives the number of matters referred for arbitration to judges of County Courts under sections 3 and 6 of the Common Law Procedure Act of 1854, since the 24th Oct. 1854, viz.:-In circuit No. 1, none; in No. 2, 1; in No. 3, 3, in No. 4, 2; in No. 5, none; in No. 6, 1; in No. 7, none; in No. 8, none; in No. 9, none; in No. 10, none; in No. 12, 1; in No. 18, none; in No. 14, 1; in No. 15, none; in No. 16, none; in No. 17, none; in No. 18, none; in No. 19, none; in No. 20, none; in circuits from No. 21 to 29, none; în No. 30, 3; in No. 31, 1; in circuits from No. 32 to 45, none; in No. 46, 2; in circuits from 47 to 49, none; în No. 50, 1; in circuits No. 51 and 52, none; in No. 53, 1; in No. 54, 2; in circuits Nos. 55, 56 and 57, none; in No. 58, 1; and in circuits Nos. 59 and 60, none. MERCANTILE LAWYER. Two Bankruptcy cases are reported from the LAW OF CHEQUES.-In the case of Withington and others v. Jolliffe, tried at Croydon, on the 9th, a poin of some interest was involved. The plaintiffs are sili and lace mercers in Pall-mall, and the defendant was Sir Wm. Jolliffe. The action was brought to recove the amount of a cheque for 541., given by the defen dant upon the bank of Strahan, Paul and Co.. ande the following circumstances :-The wife of defenda had purchased some articles at the plaintiff's est blishment a short time prior to the 8th June, and the afternoon of that day Sir William went to t Strahan and Co., in payment of the bill. The che shop and gave a cheque for 542 upon his barke was paid on the following morning to Glyn and and, according to their custom with West-end ban who do not use the clearing-house, the cheque was presented the same day, and, Sunday intervening 電 AUG. 18, 1855.1 sent action. PROMOTIONS, APPOINTMENTS, ETC. [Clerks of the Pa e for Counties, Citles, and Boroughs will oblige by regularly forwarding the names and addresses of all new Magistrates who may qualify.] THE LAW TIMES. ought to have been 1100 or 1200 more. Notwith- was not presented at the banking-house of Strahan Langdale expressed his entire concurrence in those THE Right Hon. Sir John Jervis, Knight, Lord Mr. James Augustus Sinclair has been appointed Mr. James Eldridge, of Newport, Isle of Wight, solicitor, has been appointed Election Auditor for the county of the Isle of Wight, and also for the borough of Newport, in the said Isle. METROPOLITAN AND PROVINCIAL LAW On the Injustice lately done to the body of Solicitors by 8, Bedford-row, London, July 19, 1855. The Committee of the Metropolitan and Provincial Law Association have to lay before their fellow members, and through them, they trust, before the Profession and the public, the recent injury done to solicitors by the Great Seal, which, if acquiesced in, it is to be feared would lead to further encroachments on the position and privileges of the body,-to the ruin of its present members, so far as professional emoluments go, and to its rapid degradation as a liberal Profession. The committee allude to the mode in which the Great Seal has lately taken on itself, not only without explanation to the solicitors, but with. out a single word of previous intimation to them, or consultation with them upon the results, to lower the rate of remuneration allowed on the entire business of the Chancery Court, nearly, if not quite, one-half; and, at the same time, materially to increase the quantity of labour thrown upon the solicitors, as well as its quality; i. e. to require more work to be done than ever, and work involving greater skill; whilst the remuneration has been, at the same time, reduced one-half. Since the Act for Consolidating the Law of Attorneys in 1842-by which conveyancing business was rendered subject to taxation-the solicitors have been placed, as to the whole of their occupation and earnings, under the absolute dictatorship of the courts. New schemes of legislation are now in progress as to conveyancing and other branches of solicitors' busi ness. an end. Should any of them be carried through, and the same violent hand be laid upon their remuneration as to those other branches of occupation, as there has just been with regard to Chancery, the Profession, as an honourable mole of livelihood, will be at Those solicitors who remain in the Profession will be able to live only by accepting the invitation now held out by the present system, and unduly lengthening and multiplying proceedings. In the year 1840, the late Master of the Rolls, Lord Langdale, addressed a letter to a member of this committee, who had then recently published some obser vations on the state of the Court of Chancery, in which he had animadverted upon the system of taxation at that time pursued, as not sufficiently remunerating for skill and expedition. In this letter, Lord The whole correspondence with Lord Langdale, ex- Meantime, in every way the solicitors have felt During the last ten or twelve years, many changes The particular injustice recently done to the solicitors, and which should excite the serious attention one knows that a fee is not a pay merely for the one and alarm of the whole body, was, as has been stated, under the Master in Chancery Abolition Act. Everypiece of work on the completion of which it becomes payable, but for all the previous work intervening between that point and the last-carned fee. The old fees for drawing and copying states of facts, for instance, covered all the work of reading the papers and collecting the necessary materials together. And so on as to all other fees. In a change of practice the real work is never changed. The development of the essential points of a suit requires such real work to be done somehow. The shape only By the 38th section of the 15 & 16 Vict. c. 80 (the is shifted. The hand may work in a different way and degree, but the brain goes through the old path. Master in Chancery Abolition Act), the Lord Chancellor is empowered and required, with the advice and consent of the Master of the Rolls and the Viceand issue general rules and orders for regulating (inter Chancellors, or any two of them, forthwith to make alia) the fees and allowances to solicitors in respect of the work which is now performed in the chambers of the matters to which the said Act relates; i. e., for the respective judges. The requirement of so many concurring judges in this order was most unusual, and would seem to betoken a desire to insure great By the same s section it is also provided that "no s shall be payable by the suitors attention to a subject so vital to the body of solicitors. the officers thereof, in respect of greater amount of of the said court to at Chambers, and their respective chief clerks than the business to be conducted before the Master of the Rolls and the Vice-Chancellors respectively sitting is now levied in respect of similar or analogous busi beton (To be continued.) LEGAL INTELLIGENCE. THE ASSIZES. Taunton, Wednesday.-The inconvenience of the courts in the county of Somerset, and particularly at Taunton, has been for many years a subject of discussion; alterations have been made from time to time, but almost without improvement. At length it was determined to erect new courts entirely, and upon a new site, at Taunton, and architects were invited to was offered for the most approved plan. Many were send in plans of a building, and a prize of 100 guineas sent in, and the committee ultimately decided in favour of a plan drawn by Mr. Moffatt, of London. Matters stood over for months, but yesterday the foundation-stone was laid by the Lord-Lieutenant (Lord Portman). A procession, formed of the High Sheriff, several members of Parliament, the gentry of the town, and the militia, paraded through the principal streets to that part where the building was to be commenced, and there the ceremony took place. About 250 gentlemen afterwards sat down to a capital cold dinner, under the able presidency of the Lord Portman, Messrs. Labouchere, M.P., Miles, M.P.,. bailiffs of the borough, supported by the High Sheriff, and Knatchbull, M.P., and most of the gentry of the neighbourhood. Some excellent speeches were made, and a grand display of fireworks closed the proceedings of the day. It is to be hoped that pains will be taken in constructing the interior parts of the courts, and that practical men well versed in such matters will be consulted, so that they may form models worthy of imitation. NORTHERN CIRCUIT. Liverpool, Aug. 13.-Mr. Baron Platt and Mr. JusCrowder took their seats in the courts at St. George's hall, to-day at twelve o'clock; Mr. Baron Platt charging the grand jury, and sitting on the criminal side. The calendar contains the names of 96 prisoners, of whom 9 are charged with murder, 1 with attempt to murder, 6 with manslaughter, 21 with burglary, 10 with robbery, 10 with cutting and bigamy, 5 with conspiracy, 5 with forgery, 2 wounding, 8 with rape, 10 with stealing from dwelling-houses, 3 with sheepstealing, 7 with The cause-list is unusually heavy. So far as it with perjury, and the rest with minor offence. Of these 39 are marked for is yet known, the Salford list contains an entry of 34 causes, and the West Derby list 115, being a total of 149 causes. special juries. In the Crown Court the trial of Mint causes in the first or Salford list have been disprosecutions has occupied the greater part of the afternoon. In the Civil Court a number of undefended posed of, and the list has been got through up to No. 16. Several causes have been referred. An action against assignees, of no interest except to the parties concerned, has occupied the afternoon. Alderman Sidney's refusal to pay the duty on the civic state carriage is, it seems, to lead to a lawsuit. |