Changes in the Law. Court of quarter sessions of corporate cities or towns it is therefore enacted 333 Remuneration to officers of said second Court. -That such assistant barrister shall be entitled to a remuneration of ten guineas per diem for muneration for inore than two days. (s. 2.) Appointments not subject to duty.-That the appointments and certificates authorized and directed by this act shall not be subject to any stamp duty or other tax whatsoever. (s. 3.) Power to the recorder or other person pre-each day that he shall so preside as aforesaid; siding to form a second Court and appoint a and such assistant clerk of the peace shall be barrister to preside therein. Clerk of the peace entitled to a remuneration of two guineas per in such cases may appoint an assistant. Recorder diem; and such additional crier shall be enmay direct such Court to be adjourned. Pro- titled to a remuneration of half-a-guinea per ceedings preliminary to the exercise of the diem, for such time as they shall execute their powers hereby given.-That whenever it shall respective offices in such second court; and appear to such recorder or other person pre- such remuneration shall be paid by the treasiding as aforesaid that the said quarter sessions surer of the borough out of the borough fund; are likely to last more than three days, includ- and the recorder or other person presiding ing the day of assembling, it shall and may be shall grant a certificate to such assistant barrislawful for such recorder or other person so ter, such assistant clerk of the peace, and such presiding, at his discretion, but subject to the additional crier respectively, stating the num provisions hereinafter contained, to order a ber of days that each shall have executed his second Court to be formed, and to appoint by several office, and the amount that he is enwriting under his hand and seal a barrister at titled to claim; and such certificate shall be a law, of not less than five years standing, to sufficient authority to the treasurer of the preside, and try such felonies and misdemea-borough to pay the same, and shall be retained nors as shall be referred to him therein, whilst by him as a voucher for such payment: Pro the said recorder or other person is sitting in vided always, that such assistant barrister, such quarter sessions; and for the effectual assistant clerk of the peace, or additional crier, execution of the powers of this act, such re-shall not in any case be entitled to claim recorder or other person so presiding shall be empowered in such case to call upon the clerk of the peace, and such clerk of the peace is in such case hereby authorized and required to appoint an assistant, and such recorder or other person shall himself appoint an additional crier Two or more justices at adjourned quarter for such second Court, and such barrister shall sessions may sit apart for despatch of business. be styled "assistant barrister," and shall ex--And reciting that doubts have arisen wheercise, for the time being, whilst the said re-ther it is lawful for the justices assembled at corder or other person is so sitting as aforesaid, any adjourned quarter sessions of the peace the same powers as are exercised by the said held for any county, riding, or division, to recorder or other person presiding as aforesaid, carry into effect the provisions of the act and subject to the same rules and regulations; passed in the fifty-ninth year of his late Maand the proceedings so had by and before such jesty King George the Third as aforesaid: it assistant barrister shall be as good and effec-is therefore enacted, that from and after the tual in the case to all intents and purposes as if the same were had before the said recorder or other person so presiding as aforesaid, and shall be enrolled and recorded accordingly Provided always, that if at any time during the sitting of such second Court the recorder or other person shall be of opinion that it is no longer required, he may direct the assistant barrister, at a proper opportunity, to adjourn the same: Provided also, that no such recorder or other person so presiding as aforesaid shall at any time exercise the powers and discretion given by this act, unless it shall have been theretofore and before each such quarter sessions certified to him under the hand or hands of the mayor or of two of the aldermen of such corporate city or town, that the council of such corporate city or town have resolved that it will be expedient and for the benefit of the inhabitants thereof that the same should be exercised, nor unless the name of the barrister proposed to be appointed, in case such recorder or other person shall in the exercise of such discretion deem such appointment necessary, shall have at some previous time been transmitted to and approved of by one of his Majesty's principal secretaries of state as a fit and proper person to be from time to time so appointed. (s. 1.) : passing of this act it shall be lawful for the justices assembled at any adjourned quarter sessions of the peace for any county, riding, or division, on the first day that they shall assemble, should the state of the business be such at such adjourned quarter sessions as is likely to occupy more than three days, including the day of their being so assembled, to appoint two or more justices to sit apart from themselves in some place in or near the Court, there to hear and determine such busiuess as shall be referred to them whilst others of the justices are at the same time proceeding in the despatch of the other business of the same Court; and the proceedings so had by and before such two or more justices so sitting apart shall be as good and effectual in the law to all intents and purposes as if the same were had before the Court assembled and sitting as usual in its ordinary place of sitting, and shall be enrolled and recorded accordingly. (s. 4.) This act may be amended, altered, or repealed by any other act to be passed in this present session. (s. 5.) 334 Notices of New Books: Irving on the Study of the Civil Law. NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. some time, in the Archbishop's Palace at Lam. beth, to great numbers, whom first the novelty of the study, and then the fashion of the age, An Introduction to the Study of the Civil had drawn about him. The fame of the Law. By David Irving, LL.D. Fourth teacher was high, and the new science had Edition. London: Maxwell, 1837. made a great progress, when on a sudden it ALTHOUGH the general practitioner in the whence one should not naturally expect it. I received a severe check, and from a quarter legal profession rarely possesses much know- In short, the King himself interdicted the ledge of the Civil Law, and, according to study of it. Some have imagined that this inthe prevailing opinion, can have but little hibition was owing to the spite he bore to occasion for it, there is no doubt that Archbishop Theobald. But the true reason the accomplished lawyer should make him- seems to be, that the cannon law was first self acquainted at least with an outline of colour of the imperial. I think we may colread by Vacarius at the same time, and under the subject. To those who are inclined, lect thus much very clearly from John of and whose leisure enables them, to enter Salisbury, who acquaints us with this edict. this ancient and classical region of juridical For he considers it as an offence against the study, the work of Dr. Irving will be par-church, and expressly calls the prohibition an ticularly welcome. It is written in a lively impiety.' stile, abounding with acute criticism (occasionally perhaps a little too severe); displaying great learning and research, with infinite zeal in behalf of the study he re-sufficiently apparent from the treatise on the commends. "The academical study of the civil law seems thus to have commenced in England it made some progress at this early period, is under auspices sufficiently favourable. That pho de Glanvilla;' an inscription which by no means describes the Chief Justice as the author. From these words, says Lord Lyttel ton, I infer that the book was not written by Glanville himself, but by some clergyman, under his direction and care; I say clergyman, because it is written in Latin, which could hardly be done by a layman of that age.' This treatise, to whatever author it may be ascribed, is the most ancient book now extant on the law of England. It is not without considerable obligations to the civil law; and the beginning of the prologue is little more than a transcript from the prooemiun of Justinian's Institu Laws and Customs of England, which is com. It will perhaps be a more useful course monly ascribed to Ranulph Glanville, Chief to our readers tl.an any other we could Justice during the reign of Henry the Second. adopt, if we limit our present notice to the Sir Matthew Hale has remarked, that although author's observations on the Civil Law, so it perhaps was not written by him, yet it seems to have been wholly written at that time. Acfar as they bear on English Jurisprudence. cording to the title of the book, it was com "In England (he observes) the civil law posed in the time of Henry the Second, ‘juswas publicly taught at a very early period.ticiæ gubernacula tenente illustri viro RanulThe first professor was Vacarius; whose history has recently been illustrated in a separate volume by Dr. Wenck, a very learned civilian of the university of Leipzig. Such a book could only have proceeded from a German university: such is the proficiency, and such the assiduity of the German civilians, that they are capable of deriving instruction, or of finding entertainment, where those of most other nations could perceive nothing but a barren waste. The name of Vacarius is not unknown to those who are acquainted with the writings of Selden and Duck; and his services are stated in the following terms by an author of considerable note, Dr. Hurd, the late Bishoptions." of Worcester: Matters continued on this footing during the three first of the Norman reigns. The Prince did his utmost to elude the authority of the English laws; and the nation, on the other hand, laboured hard to confirm them. But a new scene was opened under King Stephen, by means of the Justinian laws; which had lately been recovered in Italy, and became at once the fashionable study over all Europe. It is certain that the Pandects were first brought amongst us in that reign; and that the reading of thein was inuch favoured by Archbishop Theobald, under whose encouragement they were publicly read in England by Vacarius, within a short time after "The influence of the Roman law on the the famous Irnerius had opened his school at law of England has been much more consiBologna. There is something singular in the|derable than most lawyers are aware. Of the readiness with which this new system of law nature and extent of this influence, we cannot was embraced in these western parts of Eu-expect any sound estimate from individuals rope...Vacarius had continued to teach it for who are almost totally ignorant of the laws of Glanville, according to Dr. Irving, has servilely copied Justinian, and the author of Fleta has servilely copied Glanville. It is well known (adds our author) that the Treatise ascribed to the Chief Justice was at a very early period adopted in Scotland, with a few changes and modifications; and that under this new form it bears the title of Regiam Majestatem, from the initial words of the prologue. Dr. Irving then contends that— Notices of New Books: Irving on the Study of the Civil Law. 335 The author after adducing some illustrations, particularly the case of Wakefield for the abduction of Miss Turner, as to the necessity of a knowledge of the Civil Law, and its application to our judicial proceedings, proceeds as follows: every country but their own; and as with | never understand law as a science so well as ignorance prejudice is apt to march hand in by seeking it there, and therefore lamenteu hand, we cannot expect such individuals to be much that it was so little studied in England.' very willing to admit the probability of this The statute law of England respecting the opinion, to which they are incapable of apply-distribution of the estates of intestates is in a ing the proper test. I do not venture to inter- great measure borrowed from the 118th Novel pose any decision of my own; but it may here of Justinian; and the statute of distributions be proper and seasonable to produce the opi- is known to have been prepared by a profes nion of several competent judges. Inasmuch sional civilian, Sir Leoline Jenkins, Judge of as the laws of all nations,' said the Lord Chief the High Court of Admiralty. It may thereJustice Holt, are doubtless raised out of the fore be presumed that a familiar acquaintance ruins of the civil law, as all governments are with the original text must be of no small imsprung out of the Roman empire, it must be portance to a practical lawyer." owned that the principles of our law are borrowed from the civil law, and therefore grounded upon the same reason in many things. A similar opinion is delivered by Dr. Wood: Upon a review, I think it may be maintained that a great part of the civil law is part of the law of England, and interwoven with it throughout. According to Dr. Cowell, the common law of England is "There is one English Court which prenothing else but a mixture of the feudal and sents the most ample prospects of honour and the Roman law. And in reference to the emolument, and in which a competent knowPandects, Sir William Jones has hazarded the ledge of the civil law is confessedly of no small subsequent opinion: With all its imperfec-importance to the judges and practitioners. tions, it is a most valuable mine of judicial The forms of administering justice in the knowledge; it gives law at this hour to the Court of Chancery are in a great measure greatest part of Europe, and, though few Eng- derived from the Roman jurisprudence. The lish lawyers dare make such an acknowledg- chancellors were for many ages dignified ecclement, it is the true source of nearly all our siastics, eminent for their skill in the civil and English laws that are not of a feudal origin.' canon laws; and their assistants, the masters Many other testimonies might easily be added; in Chancery, were, till a much later period, but we already seem entitled to conclude, that doctors in the saine faculties. And (to speak to an English lawyer some knowledge of the with all due deference) if the other practicivil law is by no means a superfluous or use- tioners in this honourable and important seat less acquisition. Of this study I venture to of justice would sometimes condescend to look extend my recommendation somewhat further back upon the real sources of their proceedthan has been done by Roger North. Be-ings, and correct some of their redundancies sides history,' he remarks, there are other by the first principles of their profession, the sorts of learning most reasonable for a lawyer civil law would not appear in a less favourable to have some knowledge of, though even light, nor would the suitors be more bursuperficial, as of the civil law. A man of the thened with delay and expense. One prinlaw would not be willing to stand mute to the cipal object of this Court arises from testaquestion, what is the difference between the mentary causes; in which it has in many civil and the common law, what is the imperial instances an exclusive jurisdiction, in others, law, what the canon, what the Pandects, a concurrent one with the Ecclesiastical Courts. Codes, &c.? It is not at all needful to study | But as devises of lands were little known in questions in these laws; but the rise and pro- the English constitution till the statutes of gress of them in gross is but a necessary know-wills in the reign of Henry VIII., the profesledge, and so far taking up but little time, and had by mere inspection of some books, and perusing their introductions. For this recommendation, faint as it certainly is, I am inclined to give the writer some degree of credit. But of the importance of acquiring a knowledge of the civil law, a much higher estimate has been formed by several English lawyers of greater name; and at present I shall content myself with referring to the opinion and the example of Sir Matthew Hale. We are informed by his biographer, Bishop Burnet, that he set himself much to the study of the Roman law, and though he liked the way of judicature in England by juries much better than that of the civil law, where so much was trusted to the judge, yet he often said, that the true grounds and reasons of law were so well delivered in the Digests, that a man could sors of the common law were very poorly provided with the rules for determining such disputes as then began daily to arise, and to open an entire new scene of very lucrative business. The right of testation however being very free and unlimited in the Roman republic, they gladly resorted to that rich magazine of good sense; from whence they have imported very large and valuable materials, wherewith they have enlivened their more modern juridical writings; and have thereby much improved the system of public justice. Here therefore the civil law speaks with good effect, where the common law is silent or deficient; and deserves to be studied with great care and precision. And the same may be said of several other objects of this high jurisdiction." " We must, for the present, conclude with 336 Notices of New Books.-Local and Personal Acts. the following notice of the Advocates at | tion was, within a recent period, decided in Doctors' Commons: sion being expressly forbidden by the canons of the church. To this decision, which was he submitted with great reluctance; and he confirmed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, made a formal appeal to the public respecting a case in which the public could not be ex the case of Dr. Highmore, who, perhaps some"In the year 1768, it was enacted by the directed his attention to the three learned what unluckily for himself, had successively Senate [at Cambridge] that no candidate should be admitted to the degree of LL.B. Professions. His objects and his pursuits apwithout producing a certificate of his having worth while to mention that he had prosecuted pear to have been so various, that it may be attended the professor's lectures for three his studies in at least four universities. Philoterms; and what has been found practicable in logy and divinity he studied at Göttingen, and the one university, may be worth attempting in he became a deacon of the church of England. the other. Under the present system at Ox- He studied medicine at Leyden and Edinford, a bachelor of laws is not better trained in burgh, and in one of those universities he be juridical studies than a bachelor of arts. His name must continue seven years on the boards, civil law he prosecuted at Edinburgh and Camcame a doctor of physic. The study of the but the necessary period of his residence is bridge, and in the latter university he took the only about four years. He continues nomi- degree of doctor of laws. Having at length nally, though in too many cases not really, a made his election to adhere to the legal prostudent for five years longer, before he can be admitted to his doctor's degree; but if he de- fession, he applied in due form to the Dean of clares his intention of following the profession taken deacon's orders, he could not be adthe Arches, but was informed that, having of a civilian, he is permitted to take that de-mitted a member of the college, such admisgree in four years instead of five. Having thus been engaged in pursuing a shadow for eleven years, he is qualified to present himself at Doctors' Commons; and, after the expiration of his year of silence, may at length be qualified to plead in the Ecclesiastical and Admiralty Courts. If he has sufficiently imbibed the spirit of his foster-mother, he is like-pected to feel any very deep interest. If he wise prepared to view with supreme contempt the graduates of all other universities except those of Oxford and Cambridge, doubtless with good reason; for what is Cujacius's knowledge of the civil law, or Van Espen's knowledge of the canon law, when put in competition with the multifarious advantages of keeping one's name for eleven long years on the books of some college in the magnificent University of Oxford? A graduate of another denomination once endeavoured to intrude himself into this learned society. It is not universally understood that the Archbishop of Canterbury enjoys the privilege of conferring degrees in all the faculties; nor do I think it superfluous to add that, so far as my knowledge extends, this privilege has generally been exercised with sufficient propriety and reserve. Archbishop Herring having conferred the degree of doctor of laws on John Hawkesworth, a very distinguished English writer, the new graduate made an attempt to be admitted as an advocate; but it was decided that a Lambeth de2. An act for maintaining the causeway and gree did not impart the requisite qualification, of Uly Lelant, over Hayle River and Sands, turnpike road from Grigg's Quay in the parish nor are we aware that any similar question has and through Hayle Foundry, in the county of since been moved. Dr. Kenrick has made the Cornwall, and for extending the said turnpike subsequent allusion to this unsuccessful at-road from the western end of the said causetempt: Repeatedly engross'd you see wards entered into holy orders, it is to be prehad first become an advocate, and had aftersumed that the two professions of divinity and law would, in that case, have been declared equally incompatible. Dr. Taylor, having taken orders, ceased to be a member of the college, and consequently was no longer qualified to practise in the Courts at Doctors' Commons." LOCAL AND PERSONAL ACTS, 1837, DECLARED PUBLIC, AND TO BE JUDICIALLY NOTICED. 1. An act to enable the corporation of Leicester to apply the proceeds of their real estates in payment of money borrowed for the purchase and enlargement of the gaol and house of correction for the borough of Lei cester. way towards Penzance. 3. An act to amend and enlarge the powers of an act passed in the first and second years of his present Majesty, for erecting a county hall and Courts of Justice, and also for providing accommodation for his Majesty's justices of assize in and for the county of Worcester. "To these anecdotes of the profession in England, I may add that no person in holy Runcorn otherwise called Higher Runcorn 4. An act for lighting with gas the town of orders can be admitted a member of the Col- and Lower Runcorn, and also the township or lege of Doctors of Law exercent in the Eccle- Chapelry of Halton, both in the parish of siastical and Admiralty Courts. This ques-Runcorn in the county of Chester. Local and Personal Acts. 5. An act for making and maintaining a turnpike road along the south side of the river Dee in the county of Kincardine. 6. An act for repairing, maintaining, and improving the road from the town of Rochdale to near Hand Bridge near the town of Burnley and other roads communicating therewith, and for making and maintaining other roads also to communicate therewith, all in the county palatine of Lancaster. 337 20. An act for better supplying with water the town and borough of Stamford, and places adjacent thereto, in the counties of Northampton and Lincoln. 21. An act for making a railway from Sheffield in the West Riding of the county of York to Manchester in the county of Lancaster. 22. An act for making and maintaining a railway from the town of Lancaster to the town of Preston in the county palatine of Lancaster. 7. An act to extend the powers and provisions of an act passed in the last session of 23. An act to enable the North Midland parliament, for the more easy and speedy re- Railway Company to alter the line of the said covery of small debts within the borough of railway, and also to make two branches to Leicester, to several other towns, parishes, and | communicate with the same. places in the county of Leicester. 8. An act for the more easy and speedy recovering small debts within the parish of Hinckley and other places therein mentioned in the counties of Leicester and Warwick. 9. An act for the more easy and speedy re covery of small debts within the town of Loughborough, and other places therein mentioned, in the counties of Leicester and Nottingham. 10. An act for better paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, and improving the town of Whitby in the North Riding of the county of York. 11. An act to enable the company of proprietors of the Bridgewater and Taunton canal navigation to continue the line of the canal below the town of Bridgewater, and for varying the powers of the several acts relative to the said canal. 12. An act to enable "The Licensed Victuallers and General Fire and Life Assurance Company" to sue and be sued in the name of the chairman, deputy chairman, or of any one of the directors of the said company, and for other purposes. 13. An act for forming and regulating a company to be called "The Patent Dry Gas Meter Company," and to enable the said company to purchase certain letters patent. 14. An act for making and maintaining certain roads in the county of Aberdeen. 15. An act to enable the duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry to make and maintain a pier at Granton in the parish of Cramond, and a road therefrom to join the road leading from Leith to Queensferry in the county of Edinburgh. 16. An act for more effectually repairing the road from the turnpike road between Gateshead and Hexham, near Lobley Hill in the county of Durham, to Burtryford in the parish of Stanhope in the same county, together with several branches therefrom. 17. An act for anending an act of his present Majesty, for repairing the roads from Sevenoaks Common to Woodsgate, Tunbridge Wells, and Kipping's Cross, and from Tunbridge Wells to Woodsgate, in the County of Kent. 18. An act for better paving, cleansing, lighting, and otherwise improving the town of Cardit in the county of Glamorgan. 19. An act for better lighting with gas the town of Cardiff in the county of Glamorgan. 24. An act for enabling the Manchester and Leeds railway company to vary the line of such railway, and for amending and enlarging the powers and provisions of the act relating thereto. 25. An act to enlarge and amend the powers and provisions of an act relating to the Whitby and Pickering railway in the North Riding of the county of York. 26. An act to amend an act passed in the last session of Parliament, for making a railway from Birmingham to Gloucester, to extend the line of the said railway, and to make branches therefrom to the city of Worcester and the town of Tewkesbury. 27. An act for enabling the Liverpool and Manchester railway company to raise more money, and for ainending and enlarging the powers and provisions of the several acts relating to the said railway. 28. An act to alter the line of the Preston and Wyre railway, and to amend the act relating thereto. 29. An act for making and maintaining a dock or docks at Wyre in the county palatine of Lancaster. 30. An act for establishing a company for the purpose of laying out and maintaining an ornamental park within the townships of Rusholme, Chorlton-upon-Medlock, and Mossside, in the county of Lancaster. 31. An act for building a bridge over the river Thames from Streatley in the county of Berks to the opposite shore in the parish of Goring in the county of Oxford, and for making convenient approaches thereto. 32. An act for continuing, altering, and amending certain acts for regulating the police of the city of Edinburgh and the adjoining districts, and for other purposes relating thereto 33. An act for widening and improving the road from Halifax to Sheffield in the West Riding of the county of York, so far as relates to the third district of the said road; and for diverting the said district of road, and making a new line of road therefrom. 34. An act for improving and maintaining the road from Dryclough, through Shaw, New Hey, and Milnrow, to Rochdale, and other roads in the county of Lancaster. 35. An act for more effectually repairing, improving, and maintaining certain roads leading to and from the town of Llanrwst in the county of Denbigh. |