SEPT. 15, 1855.] Despatch of Business.-The "Times" Summary of Legal Measures. 375 the office of Master of Reports, in case any These rents or purchase-moneys should of the Clerks of Records and Writs shall be applied towards the erection of new be required to discharge the duties of such Courts and Offices in lieu of those about to Master of Reports, and the Lord Chancellor, be removed from the Palace at Westminster. with the advice of the Master of the Rolls, We hope soon to see the commencement of shall deem the duties too extensive in pro- a new "Palace of Justice' on the borders portion to their present salaries, they may of the cities of London and Westminster— receive such addition (not exceeding 2001." situate, lying, and being," between the a year each) as the Lord Chancellor shall two Temples and Lincoln's Inn, flanked by direct; but such additional salaries are to the several Inns of Chancery; and thus cease in the event of the vacancy now ex- combining, with great advantage to the isting being filled up by the appointment of Public, in the centre of the Metropolis, the a fourth Clerk of Records. convenience of both branches of the Profession.

The 4th section authorises the apportionment of the aggregate amount of the salaries which the junior clerks to the chief clerks receive collectively, between the junior clerks, in such proportions as the Lord Chancellor (with the advice of the Judge to whose Court such chief clerk is attached) may think fit. Then the 12th section regulates the salaries to be paid to the two Clerks of the Report Office, apportioned also as the Lord Chancellor may direct, not exceeding amongst them all a salary of

2501. each.

Power is then given to the Lord Chancellor by the 13th section to grant a retiring allowance, not exceeding 1001. a-year, to one of the two Clerks of Reports, who has been employed for 25 years as a clerk or writer in the Report Office and 13 years as a writer in the Registrar's Office.

دو

All the salaries given by the Act, and retiring allowances, are made payable out of the fund provided by the 48th section of the Act for the "Relief of the Suitors' (s. 14); and the 2nd section of the present Act also extends the provisions of the 15 & 16 Vict. c. 80, regarding salaries and annuities to the additional junior clerks now to be appointed.

6th. Ground and Buildings of the late Masters' Offices.

The powers given by the Statutes 32 Geo. 3, c. 42, and 15 & 16 Vict. c. 80, s. 51, relating to the ground and buildings of the Masters' Offices in Southampton Buildings are extended, enabling the Lord Chancellor to let, sell, or dispose of the Masters' Offices,-and vesting the whole of the ground acquired under the 32 Geo. 3, c. 42, in the Lord Chancellor for the time being, in trust for the uses of the Court of Chancery (s. 18); with power of leasing and sale (ss. 19, 20, 21). The rents and purchase-moneys to be paid into the Bank of England with the privity of the Accountant-General, for the benefit of the Suitors of the Court.

THE "TIMES" SUMMARY OF
LEGAL MEASURES.

"THE Session has produced two measures of the very highest importance, and destined to affect for good or for evil the future destinies of the empire.

The first is the Bill for the Government of

the Metropolis, a bold and original attempt to supply a great practical want, and to give to two millions and a-half of people, closely packed together, that organisation of which, by some inexplicable oversight, they have hitherto been deprived. Whether we consider the amount of evil it proposes to destroy, the positive good it will produce, or the promise of at last doing something for future selfgovernment under a less ridiculous form than that of obsolete civic dignities, the importance of such a step can hardly be overstated. We await with impatience the full complement of the measure in the reform of the city, which has most unfortunately, and not, we fear, without the prospect of great evil, been deferred till next year.

The other measure is, as our readers will anticipate, the Bill for Limiting the Liability of Partners, a measure conceived undoubtedly in a spirit far narrower than the principle on which alone it must be defended, but still fraught with enormous practical results, and destined to search out and to strengthen by the invigorating application of capital and competition all the weak places of our present commercial system.

Among minor measures, we view with satisfaction the Bill for Preventing Fraudulent and Dilatory Defences to Bills of Exchange, a measure good in itself, and founded on a principle capable of much wider application.

The Criminal Justice Bill, extending the summary jurisdiction of magistrates to cases of felony.

The repeal of the Conventicle Act, which may be styled a new charter of religious liberty.

A more questionable measure is the alteration of the Newspaper Stamp Act, a measure founded on exaggerated statements and expectations, which have not been, and could not be, realised, and the chief effect of which has x 2

376

The "Times" Summary of Legal Measures.-New Statutes. [LEGAL OBSERVER,

been to deprive the Government of a quarter |

House of Commons' Proceedings, c. 33,—

Income Tax, c. 20,—p. 197.

of a million of money without producing that p. 139.
cheap press in which we were told that we
were to find a full equivalent.

The catalogue of failures is long. The Testamentary Bill, a measure sound in principle, but not framed to conciliate support;-The Church Rates and the Marriage Bills talked to death;-the Irish Tenants' Compensation Bill, a sham of ostentatious dishonesty never meant to pass ;-the Scotch Education Bill, sacrificed to that feeling of voluntaryism which is rising in that part of the island;-the Health Bill, put off for want of time; the various projects of Education, which are rather manifestoes than projects of law, and even destined to destroy each other, and the Cambridge University Bill, framed to continue the monopoly of the heads of colleges under the semblance of a free constitution, and never sufficiently purged of its original vices to be presentable to the House of Commons.

To the constitutional lawyer the Session will be remarkable for having decided the question as to the right of contractors for loans to sit in Parliament; a decision, perhaps, more consonant with common sense than the strict dictates of law. The antiquary of a century hence will also, perhaps, note in his Hallam that it was in this year that the two Houses ceased to communicate by a Master in Chancery or the Queen's ancient Serjeant, and substituted for those old gentlemen the simple expedient of a letter.

The last month of the Session witnessed a contest between the Legislature and the mob, in which the former were signally defeated. The withdrawal of the Sunday Trading Bill was denied to expostulation, but conceded at once to violence, and the victory was so far improved that the Bill for Limiting the hours during which Public Houses may be opened on Sunday afternoon was repealed in hot haste, without pausing to hear what might be said in its favour. This measure, though not in itself unjust, is full of evil augury, and tends to instil a dangerous confidence that what is denied to remonstrance will be at once conceded to violence. We do not regret the repeal of a Bill which caused so much inconvenience to innocent persons, but the manner of its repeal and the use that is likely to be made of it are greatly to be deprecated."

NEW STATUTES EFFECTING ALTE

RATIONS IN THE LAW.

THE Acts relating to the Law of the present Session, printed in the Legal Observer, with an Analysis to each, will be found at the following pages:

Stannary Courts' Jurisdiction, c. 32, pp. 214, 236.

Administration of Oaths Abroad, 18 & 19 Vict. c. 42,—p. 175.

Ecclesiastical Courts (Defamation Suits Abolition), c. 41,-p. 176,

c.

Common Law Pleadings, c. 26,—p. 176.
Infants' Marriage Settlements, c. 33, p. 198.
Palatine of Lancaster Trials, c. 45,-p. 241.
Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes,
67,-p. 256.

Cinque Ports, c. 48, p. 258.

Commons Inclosure (No. 2), c. 61,—p. 275. Incumbered Estates Acts (Ireland) Continuance, c. 73,—p. 276.

81,

Places of Religious Worship Registration, c.
p. 276.

Friendly Societies, c. 63, pp. 296, 319, 342.
Limited Liability, c. 133,-p. 316.

Despatch of Business, Court of Chancery, c. 134,-p. 338.

Charitable Trusts, 1855, c. 124,-p. 358.
Crown Suits, c. 90,-p. 376.
Criminal Justice, c. 126,-p. 377.

CROWN SUITS.

18 & 19 VICT. c. 90.

In all Crown suits, &c., where the Crown is successful, costs to be recovered as between subject and subject; s. 1.

Defendant entitled to costs, if successful against the Crown; s. 2.

Power to Judges to make rules and orders for regulation of pleading and practice in Crown suits; s. 3.

The following are the Title and Sections of the Act:

An Act for the Payment of Costs in Proceed-
ings instituted on behalf of the Crown in
Matters relating to the Revenue, and for the
Amendment of the Procedure and Practice
in Crown Suits in the Court of Exchequer.
[14th August, 1855.]

Whereas in divers proceedings instituted by or on behalf of the Crown against the Queen's subjects in respect of matters relating to the revenue no costs are recovered by the Crown, except in certain cases, and no costs are paid by the Crown to the subject: And whereas it is expedient to assimilate the law as to the recovery of costs in such proceedings by or on behalf of the Crown to that in force as to proceedings between subject and subject: Be it therefore enacted, as follows:

1. In all informations, actions, suits, and legal proceedings to be hereafter instituted bePurchasers' Protection, 18 Vict. c. 15,-p. 5. fore any Court or tribunal whatever in the Lunacy Regulation Act, c. 13,-p. 32. Commons' Inclosure, c. 14, p. 32. Newspaper Stamp Duties, c. 27,-p. 137. Sewers (House Drainage), c. 30,-p. 139.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, by or on behalf of the Crown, against any corporation, or person or persons, in respect of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or of

New Statutes effecting Alterations in the Law.

any goods or chattels, belonging or accruing to the Crown, the proceeds whereof, or the rents or profits of which said lands, tenements, or hereditaments, by any Act now in force or hereafter to be passed are to be carried to the Consolidated Fund of Great Britain and Ire-regulations shall have been laid before Parlialand, or in respect of any sum or sums of ment, to suspend the whole or any part of money due and owing to her Majesty by virtue such rules, orders, or regulations, and in such of any vote of Parliament for the service of the case the whole, or such part thereof as shall be Crown, or of any Act of Parliament relating to so suspended, shall not be binding and oblithe Public Revenue, her Majesty's Attorney-gatory on the said Courts, or any other Court General, or in Scotland the Lord Advocate, of Common Law or Court of Error.

378

New Statutes effecting Alterations in the Law.

Provisions of 15 & 16 Vict. c. 73, for payment by salary in lieu of fees to clerks of assize for their duties as associates extended to the whole office of clerk of assize, &c.; s. 20.

So much of 12 Ric. 2, c. 10, and 14 Ric. 2, c. 12, &c., as directs payment of wages to justices and their clerks repealed;

s. 21.

In cases of injuries to property, parties aggrieved may receive compensation, though examined as witnesses; s. 22.

Interpretation of terms; s. 23.
Extent of Act; s. 24.

The following are the Title and Sections of the Act:

An Act for diminishing Expense and Delay in the Administration of Criminal Justice in certain cases. [14th August, 1855.]

Be it enacted, as follows:

[LEGAL OBSERVER,

2. Where the justices before whom any person is charged as aforesaid propose to dispose of the case summarily under the foregoing provisions, one of such justices, after the examinations of all the witnesses for the prosecution have been completed, and before calling upon the person charged for any statement which he may wish to make, shall state to such person the substance of the charge against him, and shall then say to him these words, or words to the like effect:-"Do you consent that the charge against you shall be tried by us, or do you desire that it shall be sent for trial by a jury at the sessions or assizes" (as the case may be); and if the person charged shall consent to the charge being summarily tried and determined as aforesaid, then the justices shall reduce the charge into writing, and read the same to such person, and shall then ask him whether he is guilty or not of such charge; and if such person shall say that he is guilty, the justices shall then proceed to pass such sentence upon him as may by law be passed, subject to the provisions of this Act in respect to such offence; but if the person charged shall say that he is not guilty, the justices shall then inquire of such person whether he has any defence to make to such charge, and if he shall state that he has a defence the justices shall hear such defence, and then proceed to dispose of the case summarily.

1. Where any person is charged before any justices of the peace assembled at such petty sessions as hereinafter provided with having committed simple larceny, and the value of the whole of the property alleged to have been stolen does not, in the judgment of such justices, exceed 58., or with having attempted to commit larceny from the person or simple larceny, it shall be lawful for such justices to hear and determine 3. Where any person is charged before any the charge in a summary way, and if the per-justices at such petty sessions as aforesaid with son charged shall confess the same, or if such simple larceny (the property alleged to have justices, after hearing the whole case for the been stolen exceeding in value 58.), or stealing prosecution and for the defence, shall find the from the person, or larceny as a clerk or sercharge to be proved, then it shall be lawful for vant, and the evidence, when the case on the such justices to convict the person charged, and commit him to the common gaol or house part of the prosecution has been completed, is in the opinion of such justices sufficient to put of correction, there to be imprisoned, with or the person charged on his trial for the offence without hard labour, for any period not exceed with which he is charged, such justices, if the ing three calendar months, and if they find case appear to them to be one which may prothe offence not proved they shall dismiss the perly be disposed of in a summary way, and charge, and make out and deliver to the person may be adequately punished by virtue of the charged a certificate under their hands, stating the fact of such dismissal; and every such powers of this Act, shall reduce the charge into writing, and shall read it to the said perconviction and certificate respectively may be in son, and shall then ask him whether he is the Forms (A.) and (B.) in the Schedule to guilty or not of the charge; and if such perthis Act, or to the like effect: Provided always, son shall say that he is guilty such justices that if the person charged do not consent to shall thereupon cause a plea of guilty to be enhave the case heard and determined by such tered upon the proceedings, and shall convict justices, or if it appear to such justices that the him of such offence, and commit him to the offence is one which, owing to a previous concommon gaol or house of correction, there to viction of the person charged, is punishable by be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, law with transportation or penal servitude, or if for any term not exceeding six calendar such justices be of opinion that the charge is, months; and every such conviction may be in from any other circumstances, fit to be made the Form (C.) in the Schedule to this Act, or the subject of prosecution by indictment, rather to the like effect: Provided always, that the than to be disposed of summarily, such justices shall, instead of summarily adjudicating thereon, deal with the case in all respects as if this Act had not been passed: Provided also, that if upon the hearing of the charge such justices shall be of opinion that there are circumstances in the case which render it inexpedient to inflict any punishment, they shall have power to dismiss the person charged, without proceeding

to a conviction.

said justices, before they ask such person whether he is guilty or not, shall explain to him that he is not obliged to plead or answer before them at all, and that if he do not plead or answer before them he will be committed for trial in the usual course.

4. In every case of summary proceeding under this Act the person accused shall be allowed to make his full answer and defence,

New Statutes effecting Alterations in the Law.

and to have all witnesses examined and cross-sessions under this Act shall have the same examined by counsel or attorney. effect as a conviction upon indictment for the same offence would have had, save that no conviction under this Act shall be attended with any forfeiture.