120 County Courts, Justices of the Peace Qualification Bill. ing the cause to a hearing, as on the applica-jurisdiction under the Joint-Stock Company's tion of a private person. At the hearing, the Winding-up Act has been very rarely brought same proceedings as in other cases take place. into operation. No peculiar practice, conseThe Judge having heard the application, pro- quently, has been established with reference to nounces his judgment and makes his order. those matters. Against this order, the Attorney-General, acting ex officio, may, at any time within three calendar months after the order has been made, lodge, commence, and prosecute an appeal, without giving notice or becoming bound, as in the case of private persons, and the County Court is thereupon bound to make an order allowing the appeal. The subsequent proceedings on the appeal are the same as in other cases. It is to be observed that no deputy Judge is allowed to dispose of these matters, and a jury cannot be summoned to dispose of the facts. The clerk enters the proceedings in each case under its respective title, in a book kept for that purpose, and the various documents lodged with him are filed. No special practice has yet been established with respect to the Friendly, Industrial, and Provident Societies Act, the Literary and Scientific Institutions Act, or the Succession Duties Act. ABSCONDING DEBTORS. INSOLVENCY. In the exercise of the jurisdiction in insolvency, as regulated by the 1 & 2 Vict. c. 110, the clerk of the County Court acts as registrar, and the high bailiff, as messenger. The course of proceeding is, that the prisoner, in whatever part of England he may be confined, beyond 20 miles from the General the 1 & 2 Vict. c. 110, to the Court for relief Post Office, presents his petition for relief under of Insolvent Debtors in London. The Court in London forthwith makes an order referring the petition for hearing to the County Court, within the district, of which, the insolvent is in custody, and transmits the petition and schedule to the Court for hearing. The insolvent or his attorney delivers all books, papers, and accounts in his possession, and relating to his debts, credits, or estate to the clerk of the County Court. On the usual day (of which due notice is advertised) for hearing insolvency cases, the petition comes on in its order, and the matter is disposed of by the Judge in con. formity with the provisions of the Statute. The petition and schedule, together with a statement of what has been done in the matter, are then transmitted to the Court for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors in London, where the proceedings are filed. The Judge may recommend, but it seems cannot appoint the creditor's assignee, though his recommendation is generally confirmed by the Court in London. In other respects, the practice of the Insolvent Court in London is applied to the proceedings in the County Court. Where any person is indebted in a sum to the amount of 201. or more, and he is about to leave the country for the purpose of avoiding or delaying his creditors, it is competent for the creditor to apply, under the 14 & 15 Vict. c. 52, to the Judge of any County Court, except the Judges acting in Middlesex and Surrey, for an order to arrest the debtor. If the Judge be satisfied by affidavit that the debt exists, and that the debtor is about to leave the country for the purpose of avoiding or delaying the creditor, he may issue his warrant directed JUSTICES OF THE PEACE QUALIto the high bailiff, for the purpose of arresting the debtor. The high bailiff may execute the warrant in any part of England at any time within seven days after its date, including the day of its date. This proceeding by arrest is only auxiliary to proceedings in the Superior Court. If proceedings are not taken in conformity with the provisions of the Statute, the warrant does not operate as a protection to the party on whose behalf such warrant has been issued, but is wholly void. COMMON LAW PROCEDURE ACT. The Common Law Procedure Act, 1854, having been in operation only a few weeks, no practice has at present been established with respect to proceedings under it. CHANCERY. The power which the Court of Chancery possesses of availing itself of the assistance of the County Courts in certain cases, does not appear ever to have been exercised, and the FICATION BILL. THE attention of our readers should be directed to the Bill brought in by Mr. Colvile, Viscount Emlyn, and Mr. Ker Seymour for amending the Laws relating to the Qualification of Justices of the Peace. The 23rd section provides that no practising attorney, solicitor, or proctor shall be capable of being a justice of the peace for any county, riding, or division. It will be recollected that the 6 & 7 Vict. c. 73, s. 33-following the like sections in the former Acts-provided that no attorney or solicitor should be a justice of the peace for any county in England or Wales during such time as he should continue in practice. The 34th section exempted from this prohibition places having justices by charter, namely-cities, towns being counties, Cinque Ports, &c. Justices of the Peace Qualification Bill. The present Bill, it will be observed, extends the prohibition to "ridings or divisions" of counties, and in the schedule the 33rd section of 6 & 7 Vict. c. 73, is repealed, but not the 34th. The 4th clause of the Bill expressly states that the words "county, riding, or division" shall not include any city or town which is a county of itself, and so leaves unaltered the 34th section of the 6 & 7 Vict. c. 73. The question for the attorneys will be, whether they should not avail themselves of the opportunity afforded by this Bill of discussing the principle of the prohibition against their acting as county magistrates, where they are fully as well qualified to render service to the community as in cities and corporate towns. The provisions of the Bill are sufficiently important to justify its insertion in our pages. It is as follows: I. Preliminary Provisions. 1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as "The Justices of the Peace Qualification Act, 1855." 2. This Act shall come into operation on the 1st January, 1856. 3. This Act shall extend only to England and Wales. 4. In interpreting this Act, the words "county, riding, or division" shall not include or extend to a city or town which is a county of itself. II. Repeal of former Statutes. 5. The several Acts and parts of Acts designated in the schedule hereunto annexed are hereby repealed. 6. The preceding repeal shall not extend to invalidate the operation of the repealed Acts upon matters done, qualifications sworn, rights vested, offences committed, or penalties incurred at the time of the repeal, but as to all such matters the repealed Acts shall continue in force as if this Act had not been passed. III. Qualification by Property. 7. No person shall be capable of being a justice of the peace, or of acting as such, for any county, riding, or division, unless he be possessed of one of the following qualifications (that is to say) : 1st. That he be seised or entitled, for his own use and benefit, of or to an estate, legal or equitable, in lands within England or Wales, or in the rents and profits of such lands, which estate shall not be less than for the life of some person then living, or for a term of years, either absolute, or determinable on the life of some person then living; and that such estate be of the clear yearly value of not less than 100%. over and above all incumbrances affecting the same: 2nd. That he be possessed or entitled, for his 121 own use and benefit, at law or in equity, either in perpetuity or for the life of some person then living, or for a term of years, either absolute, or determinable on the life of some person then living, of or to personal estates or effects within England or Wales, or the interest, dividends, or annual proceeds of personal estate or effects; and that such personal estate or effects, interest, dividends, or annual proceeds actually produce the clear yearly income of not less than 300l., over and above all incumbrances affecting the same: 3rd. That he be possessed, for his own use and benefit, of a ciear yearly income of not less than 3007. derived from an office or employment held under the Crown or under some department of the Government, for life, or during good behaviour, or during pleasure, or derived from a pension granted in respect of the previous exercise of such an office or employment: 4th. That he be possessed of more than one of the several kinds of property hereinbefore mentioned, which, although they be singly of insufficient yearly value to create a qualification under this Act, amount in the aggregate to the clear yearly value of 300l., over and above all incumbrances affecting the same. 8. No person shall act as a justice of the peace for any county, riding, or division until he has made and subscribed, at some general or quarter sessions of the peace for such county, riding, or division, the declaration following; that is to say, "I, A. B., do solemnly and sincerely declare, that I am, to the best of my knowledge and belief, duly qualified to act as a justice of the peace for the county [or riding or division] of within the true intent and meaning of 'The Justices of the Peace Qualification Act, 1855,' and that my qualification arises out of [here let the party state the nature of his qualification, as the case may be. If it arise, either wholly or partially, out of lands, let him state the parish, township, or precinct, and also the county in which such lands are situate; but if the qualification consists, either wholly or partially, of rent, it is sufficient to specify so much of the lands out of which the rent issues as is of sufficient value to answer such rent. Let him state also the estate in such lands, or in the rents or profits thereof, to which he is entitled.] "[If the qualification arise, either wholly or partially, out of personal estate or effects, let him state of what nature such personal estate and effects are, and where situate, what interest he has therein, and in what securities and in whose name the same are vested.] 66 benefice, or ecclesiastical preferment, it shall [But if the qualification consist of an office, be sufficient (notwithstanding that the said office, benefice, or ecclesiastical preferment may be generally included within the meaning of 122 Justices of the Peace Qualification Bill. the word 'land' throughout this Act) to describe the same by its usual name.]" 9. Every such declaration shall be kept by the clerk of the peace among the records of the sessions whereat it was made and subscribed, and he shall supply an attested copy of such declaration to every person demanding the same, and tendering the sum of 2s. therefor; and such attested copy shall, upon its mere production, he admitted in evidence in any Court of Justice or before any person having by law or by consent of parties authority to receive and examine evidence. other property jointly charged therewith is insufficient to satisfy the same. 17. In case the plaintiff in any such suit shall be nonsuit, or judgment be given against him, the person against whom such suit shall have been brought shall receive from such plaintiff such full and reasonable indemnity, as to all costs, charges, and expenses incurred in and about such suit, as shall be taxed by the proper officer in that behalf, subject to be reviewed in like manner and by the same au thority as any other taxation of costs by such officer. 18. Not more than one penalty shall be re 10. Any person who shall make and subscribe any such declaration as aforesaid, know-covered from the same person under this Act ing the same to be untrue in any material particular, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 11. Any person who shall act as a justice of the peace for any county, riding, or division, without having made and subscribed the said declaration as aforesaid, or without being qualified according to this Act, shall forfeit the sum of 50%. 12. The penalty imposed by this Act shall be recoverable, with costs of suit, in any County Court within the district whereof the offender may reside, at the suit of any person who will sue for the same; and one moiety of the said penalty shall be paid to the treasurer of the County Court wherein the same has been recovered, and be by him paid to the treasurer for the county, riding, or division within which the offence was committed, to be applied in aid of the county rates; and the other moiety, together with all costs of suit, shall be for the sole use of the person who sued for the said penalty. 13. In every such suit the proof of his qualification shall lie upon the person against whom the suit is brought. 14. If the defendant in any such suit shall intend to insist, either wholly or in part, upon any qualification not contained in his declaration, he shall, within seven days after receiving process in such suit, or within seven days before the day appointed for the hearing thereof (whichever limitation of time may afford the defendant the longer period), deliver to the plaintiff in such suit a notice in writing, specifying such qualification, with the same certainty as is by this Act required in a declaration of qualification; and if the plaintiff shall think fit thereupon not to proceed any further, he may, within two days of the day appointed for the hearing, deliver to the defendant a notice that he will proceed no further in such suit, and the suit shall then abate. 15. Upon the hearing of any such suit no qualification not contained in the declaration or notice shall be allowed to be proved by the defendant. 16. Where property designated in a declaration or notice is chargeable with an incumbrance jointly with other property belonging to the same person, such property shall for the purposes of this Act be considered to be deteriorated in value by the existence of such incumbrance only to the extent to which the in respect of any number of offences against this Act committed before the commencement of a suit in which a penalty shall be recovered, and before the defendant in such suit had received notice of the commencement thereof. 19. Whenever any suit shall have been commenced for the recovery of the penalty mentioned in this Act, and a subsequent suit shall be commenced in respect of Acts done anterior to the commencement of the first suit, the Judge of the County Court in which such subsequent suit has been brought shall, upon being satisfied that the first suit is being prosecuted without fraud or delay, stay proceedings from time to time in the subsequent suit until the first suit has been determined, or until the plaintiff in the first suit has been guilty of unnecessary delay; and after judgment has been recovered in the first suit, and has been satisfied, the subsequent suit shall be stayed absolutely. 20. Every suit for a penalty under this Act shall be commenced within six months after the offence. IV. Qualification by Degree. 21. This Act shall not extend to, and no qualification by estate shall be required of, persons of the following degrees: 1. Peers or Lords of Parliament: 3. Justices of either Bench and Barons of the 4. Eldest sons of Peers or Lords of Parlia ment: 5. Eldest sons of persons capable of being elected a member of the House of Commons for any county, riding, or division. V. Qualification by Office. 22. This Act shall not extend to, and no qualification by estate shall be required of, persons holding the following offices, and acting as justices of the peace within the limits hereinafter-mentioned: 1st. Officers of the Board of Green Cloth acting within the verge of her Majesty's palaces: 2nd. Heads of colleges or halls within the University of Oxford, or Vice-Chancellor of that University, or Mayor of the City of Justices of the Peace Qualification Bill.-County Palatine of Lancaster Trials Bill. Oxford, acting within the Counties of Berks and Oxford: 3rd. Heads of colleges or halls within the University of Cambridge or Vice-Chancellor of that University, or Mayor of the Town of Cambridge, acting as justices of the peace within the County of Cambridge: 4th. Commissioners or principal officers of the Navy, Under-Secretaries in the offices of the principal Secretaries of State, and the Secretary of Chelsea College, acting within those counties or places where these officers have usually been justices of the peace: 5th. Judges of the County Court acting for any county, riding, or division for which he is appointed Judge of the County Court. VI. Special Disqualification. 23. No attorney, solicitor, or proctor in any Court shall be capable of being a justice of the peace for any county, riding, or division during such time as he shall continue to practise as an attorney, solicitor, or proctor. The Acts and parts of Acts repealed are,— the whole of 13 Rich. 2, Stat. 1, c. 7-" What Sort of Persons shall be Justices of Peace, and what their Charge is to be." 18 Hen. 6, c. 11-"Of what yearly Value in lands a Justice of Peace ought to be." 5 Geo. 2, c. 18-" An Act for the further Qualification of Justices of the Peace." 18 Geo. 2, c. 20-" An Act to amend and render more effectual an Act passed in the Fifth Year of his present Majesty's Reign, entitled An Act for the further qualification of Justices of the Peace."" 6 & 7 Vict. c. 73, s. 33-" An Act for consolidating and amending several of the Laws relating to Attorneys and Solicitors practising in England and Wales." 9 & 10 Vict. c. 95, s. 21-"An Act for the more easy recovery of Small Debts and Demands in England." 123 tine of Lancaster should be made and ordained by Commission under the King's usual Seal of Lancaster, and that in pursuance of the said proviso one Chief Justice and one other justice, being respectively Judges of the Superior Courts at Westminster, have been from time to time constituted and ordained, by grants contained in separate letters patent under the Seal of the County Palatine of Lancaster: and that it is expedient to make further provision for assimilating the practice of the said County Palatine of Lancaster to that of other counties, with respect to the trial of issues from the Superior Courts of Common Law at Westminster; proposes to enact as follows: It shall be lawful for her Majesty, her heirs and successors, hereafter to issue Commissions of Assize under the Seal of the County Palatine of Lancaster directed to the Judges appointed for the time being to the respective offices of Chief Justice and Justice of Common Pleas within the said County Palatine of Lancaster, and to such of her Majesty's counsel learned in the law, serjeants and barristers-at-law, having patents of precedence, or precedence within the Bar, of the County Palatine of Lantime to time selected for that caster, and other serjeants-at-law to be from purpose, authorising and commanding them to take all the assizes, juries, and certificates, before whatever justices arraigned, in the said County of Lancaster, in like manner and with the like effect as such commissions are issued into other counties, together with the like writs or commissions of association, and other writs and proceedings, as in other counties, and that every person so authorised shall have the like power to be and act as a Judge or Commis sioner of Assize for the trial of issues from the Superior Courts of Law at Westminster and other issues in the said County Palatine of Lancaster as any person so authorised has in any other county, and shall also be deemed to be authorised by such Commission, and shall thereby have full authority to act as a Judge for the trial of any issues of fact in any causes depending in the said Court of Common Pleas at Lancaster: Provided, and it is declared, that nothing herein contained shall deprive the Chief Justice or justice appointed or so ordained as aforesaid by grant contained in letters patent of any authority or jurisdiction to try issues from the Superior Courts at Westminster and other issues in the said County Palatine of Lancaster, and that all trials of such issues heretofore had or to be had before dained as aforesaid shall be deemed to have such Chief Justice or justice constituted or orbeen and to be tried by competent authority, and that the acting prothonotary for the time being of the Court of Common Pleas at Lancaster shall continue to officiate as associate in the said County Palatine of Lancaster, as heretofore, and shall accordingly be named in such commissions of association and other writs and proceedings. 124 Acts of Parliament Amending Bill.-Review: Darling on Trust Funds. ACTS OF PARLIAMENT AMENDING der the authority of the foregoing provisions, BILL. THIS Bill of Mr. Locke King, Mr. Watson, and Mr. Chambers recites, that the consolidation under one head of all Acts of Parliament relating to one and the same subject matter will greatly advance the administration of justice, and it is therefore desirable that such changes in the mode of introducing amendments of Acts shall be made as will facilitate the consolidation for the future, and sustain it where effected: it is therefore proposed to enact : 1. That from and after the end of this session all Bills in Parliament for amending or explaining any Act of Parliament which it is not intended wholly to repeal shall be exhibited and passed in the manner hereinafter directed, and not otherwise. all amendments or alterations thereby directed to be made in any Act or Acts in the said firstmentioned Act specified shall be made accordingly; and the numbering of the sections of any such Act or Acts respectively as amended or altered shall proceed therein from number one to the last number progressively; and so soon as any such Act shall have been so amended or altered, and so numbered as aforesaid, the same shall be forthwith enrolled, printed, and promulgated under public authority in the stead of the original Act, and shall bear even date with the Act directing the said amendments or alterations. 4. After such amendments or alterations shall have been made in the manner aforesaid the office of the Act directing them shall be exhausted, and the same Act shall for ever thereafter be deemed to have expired, and it shall not be necessary to print or promulgate the same, or to reprint the said original Act. 2. Every such Bill shall specify every Act, and the sections or other divisions of the said Act, which it is intended thereby to alter or add unto, and shall set forth the sections or other divisions, or parts of sections or divisions, if any, which it is proposed by such Bill to enact in the place of or in addition to any such Act, or any section or divi-4 sion thereof; and every such Bill may be in the form or to the effect following; that is to say: "A Bill to amend a certain Act [or certain Acts] of Parliament relating to [stating the subject matter of the Act or Acts]. "Be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom [or of Great Britain, or of England, or of Scotland, or of Ireland], passed in the year of the reign of chapter relating to [the subject matter of such Act], shall be amended in the manner following; that is to say: "By omitting sections [enumerating them] of the said Act: "By omitting so much of section the said Act as is comprised between the words [words] and the words [words] in the said section: "By omitting section of the said Act, and inserting in the place thereof the following section; namely [specifying the number of the proposed section, and setting the said section forth in words]: NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. Treatise on the Administration of Trust Funds under the Trustee Relief Act: with an Appendix, containing the Trustee Relief Act, the Act for the further Relief of Trustees, the General Orders, and Forms of Proceedings. By JOHN DARLING, Esq., of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. London: V. & R. Stevens and G. S. Norton. 1855. Pp. 140. MR. DARLING in this work gives a complete view of the manner in which trust property is dealt with under the Trustee Relief Act. He thus describes the principal object of the Statute : "The principal object which the Legislature had in view in passing the Statute 10 & 11 Vict. c. 96, commonly called the Trustee Relief Act, was to improve the position of trustees, by enabling them to free themselves more easily of from the burdens and liabilities of their office. Before the passing of the Statute, a trustee could not obtain the assistance of the Court of Chancery in cases where the execution of his trust was attended with any difficulties, without a suit being instituted either by himself or his cestuis que trust for the administration of the trust property. Nor when the trust was a continuing one, and the trust instrument contained no power to appoint new trustees, could he retire from his office without giving rise to a suit for the appointment of new trustees. Now, apart from the reluctance which "And by re-enacting the said Act as so conscientious trustees would naturally feel in amended, to come into force from and after burdening the trust property with the expense the end of this Session of Parliament [or of a suit in Chancery, the Court did not conat such other period as may be deemed consider them warranted in acting so as to lead to venient]." that result, either by retiring from their office, 66 By inserting after section of the said Act the following new section [or sections]; namely [specifying the number of each such new section, and setting it forth in words]: 3. Whenever any Act shall have passed un- or by declining to act, except under the direc |