THE BENCH AND THE BAR. ment Act. was upon the ground that it was a distinction wholly an omission to do something that ought to be done THE CITY OF LONDON COURT. ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE. Lincoln, March 13.-The calendar is unusually heavy, containing the names of 48 prisoners, and the offences with which they are charged are of a grave character. The cause list shows an entry of 10 causes, of which 3 are to be tried by special juries. In one of these latter (a case of right of way) there are over 100 witnesses, and it is said that the trial will occupy three or four days. NORFOLK CIRCUIT. Bedford, March 13.-There were but two causes, of which the principal, a special jury one, was Care v. The Midland Railway Company, which was arranged between the parties. The calendar of prisoners is somewhat heavy, containing the names of 39 prisoners. The principal offences are-1 murder by three men, 1 manslaughter, 2 arsons, in one of which the prisoner is also charged with attempting to defraud an insurance office, 1 rape, 1 case of night poaching, 1 case of secretly dis posing of the body of a child, 1 forgery, 3 burglaries, 1 case of wounding a police constable against four prisoners and 2 charges of perjury. The other offences are of a more ordinary descrip tion. And the following gentlemen attended:-Sir W. B. Brett (Her Majesty's Solicitor-General); Mr. David Keane, Q. C.; Mr. Hinde Palmer, Q. C.; Mr. Serjeant Payne. THE REPRESENTATION OF COVENTRY.-We understand that a requisition is being got up to Mr. A. Staveley Hill, Q. C., to stand in the Conservative interest for the vacant seat. We understand. from good authority, that the services of Lord Chelmsford having been thought deserving of some public recognition, he was offered the Grand Cross of the Bath, which he declined, MAGISTRATE AND PARISH RATES-WARRANT OF DISTRESS JURISDICTION OF JUSTICES-STATING CASE.-It is enacted by sect. 11 of Jervis's Act (11 & 12 Vict. c. 43), "that in all cases where no time is already or shall hereafter be specially limited for making any such complaint, or laying any such information, in the Act or Acts of complaint shall be made and such information shall Parliament relating to each particular case, sich be laid within six calendar months from the time respectively arose." The issuing of a distress when the matter of such complaint or information warrant to levy rates under a local Act, is not within the limitation of time in this section. It was queried but not determined whether, upon the application for such a distress warrant, the justices have power to state a special case under 20 & 21 Virt c. 43, s. 2: (Sweetman v. Guest, 18 L. T. Rep. N. S. 52. Q. B.) SALMON FISHERIES ACTS.-28 & 29 Vict. e. 121. s. 36, enacts that any person using in a fishery NOTE—The current Law under this department is noted by district "any fishing weir, fishing mill-dam, putt, CLERKENWELL POLICE COURT. MEEKS v. CRUMP. Cab law-Hiring by the hour. B. hired a cab by time. He ordered it to be drin putcher, net, or other instrument or device, not being a rod and line, for catching salinon, without having a proper licence for the same, shall be liable to a certain penalty. Proof of the bare use of any of these instruments or devices without a licence is The plaintiff's husband, in passing along a public sufficient to convict of the offence for which the footpath in the town of H., alongside of which a goit, section imposes a penalty, and it is not necessary to not protected by any fence between it and the foot-prove that the instruments were actually put down path, had immemorially run, fell into the goit and for the purpose of catching salmon. The insertica was drowned. In an action, under Lord Campbell's in a putt of a circle or wire grating which, while Act, by his widow against the defendants as the continued therein, prevented salmon being caught. local board of health, the first count of the declaration but which could easily be removed, does not exempt was founded on sect. 83 of the Towns Improvement from the penalty imposed by the section on any Clauses Act 1847 (10 & 11 Vict. c. 34), and treated unlicensed person using a putt: (Lyne v. Levard, the goit as a "hole or other place" within that 18 L. T. Rep. N. S. 55. Q. B.) section, and alleged a breach of duty in the defendants (as such local board) in their not causing the same to be "repaired, protected, or inclosed so as to prevent the same from being dangerous to passengers, &c.," within the same section. The second count was founded on the 68th section of the Public Health Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 63), and alleged a breach of duty in the defendants (as such local board), in their "neglecting to fence off, for the protection of passengers, a certain footway, near to a certain dam or goit," &c. The defendants pleaded "not guilty," by stat. The Public Health Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 63) s. 139, public Act: Held, first, that the goit in question was not a "hole or other place" within the meaning of sect. 83 of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act 1847 (10 & 11 Vict. c. 34), the holes or places there referred to being holes and similar places arising or exposed "during the construction and repair of the sewers, streets, and houses" of the town, and there was no duty, therefore, upon the defendants under that section to cause the goit "to be repaired, protected, or inclosed, so as to prevent danger therefrom:" Held, secondly, that the 68th section of the Public Health Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 63), which vests all the streets, being highways within any district, in the local board of health, and enacts that "the said local board shall from time to time cause all such streets to be repaired, &c., as and when occasion may require, and they may from time to time cause the soil of any such streets to be raised, lowered, or altered, as they may think fit, and place and keep in repair fences and posts for the safety of foot passengers," does not make it obligatory upon the local board to place fences and posts along an ancient footpath, where none had ever existed before, but vests a discretion in them in the matter; and therefore the supposed absolute duty of to the defendants, upon which the second count was framed, did not exist, and that cause of action also failed. Hartnell v. The Commissioners of Ryde, 8 L. T. Rep. N. S. 574; 4 B. & S. 361; 33 L. J. 39, Q. B. distinguished; and Parsons v. The Vestry of St. Matthew, Bethnal-green, 17 L. T. Rep. N. S. 211; L. Rep., 3 C. P. 56, commented on. Quare, whether, in addition to the well established remedy by indictment, every individual among the public has a right of action for any and authorities to perform a duty assigned to them by every injury resulting from a failure of the local the 68th section of the Public Health Act 1848? Held, thirdly, that the defendants were entitled to notice of action, it being now settled by authority (see Davis v. Curling, 8 Q. B. 286; 15 L. J., N. S., 56, Q. B.; and Poulsum v. Thirst, 16 L. T. Rep N. S. 324; L. Rep., 2 C. P. 449; 36 L. J. 225, C. P.) that plaint of H. Meeks, a cab driver, for nonpayment of On the 1st inst. the defendant went to the Kingstreet cab stand, Holloway, and engaged complainant to drive him down the Green-lanes by the hour. At that time nothing was said, by either party as to how long the engagement was to last. When the complainant had arrived at Wood-gram, he told the defendant that he could not take hita ay further, or even return with him, by time; but, if be was engaged at all, he must be paid by distance. The defendant, being an invalid, and there being no other means of conveyance, went back to town with the complainant, and to a police-station: but as the inspector could not settle the matter, be, public grounds, allowed himself to be summoned, so that the question might be judicially decided The complainant said that, being engaged by the hour, he was not suffered to go more than four m in the hour. Horses could not be got to walk at that regulation pace, and therefore the hirer was the gainer, the distance travelled over being more that four miles. The law was that "the driver should unless he have a reasonable excuse, drive for any time not exceeding one hour from the time he was was obliged to go, and therefore charged by distance. hired." He had completed the hour for which he It would be a great hardship on cabmen to be compelled to drive by time out of the radius, and there was no telling where they might be discharged. The defendant said that he was an invalid, and engaged the complainant's carriage for the purpose MARCH 21, 1868.] of a ride into the country, and when he engaged him he engaged him by time, and, as he contended, for as long as he pleased, the complainant not making any reasonable excuse to the contrary. He thought the words of the Act were very plain: "Fares for hackney carriages are according to distance or time, at the option of the hirer, expressed at the comHe had so engaged mencement of the hiring." him, and, never having discharged him, he was of opinion that the complainant was bound to keep on with him by the hour. For no Mr. BARKER said his opinion was otherwise, and he called attention to the words, longer than an hour." The driver had driven the defendant for an hour, and then declined to be Doncaster... Leeds. BOROUGH QUARTER SESSIONS. When holden. Friday, April 3 engaged any longer in that manner, and he was quite Newcast.-un-Lyme Saturday, April 11 justified in so doing. The defendant said that, if that interpretation of the law was correct, an invalid might be left in the middle of a cross country road when the cabman had driven him for an hour. What was the meaning of the words that, for every fifteen minutes or for a portion of every fifteen minutes after the expiration of the hour, the cabman should be entitled to The cabman had made no reasonable charge 6d. excuse for it could not be a reasonable excuse to say he preferred to drive by distance-and he had never been discharged by him. Mr. BARKER said that the complainant did not refuse to take defendant by time at the commencement of the hiring, for, if he did, he would have brought himself into trouble; but he had fulfilled what the Act of Parliament required of him-viz., In this the driving of the defendant for one hour. instance he thought the cabman right in his inThe defendant must terpretation of the clause. pay the 4s. 6d. for which he was summoned, 2s. the cost of the summons, and 3s. expenses. MARRIAGE LICENCES.-At Clerkenwell policecourt a solicitor applied for summonses against two lads who had, he stated, committed perjury before a surrogate at Doctors' Commons in obtaining marriage licences by representing that two young ladies, whose names were given, were of full age, whereas one was only eighteen and the other nineteen. Mr. Cooke said that perjury before a surrogate in obtaining marriage licences was not sufficient to sustain an indictment for perjury, and called attention to a case reported in 1 Dennison's Crown Cases. page 432. If the solicitor pleased, he might indict for misdemeanor. MURDEROUS ATTACK ON POLICEMEN.-At the Assizes held in Nottingham, John Marsden was indicted for feloniously cutting and wounding George Wesson and George Raison, two policeconstables, with intent to do them grievous bodily harm, and in another count of the indictment with intent to resist their lawful apprehension. The prisoner had been fighting and assaulting other men, and the police were sent for. They forced open the prisoner's door to arrest him. Prisoner posted himself on the stairs, armed with a billhook, and seriously wounded the two policemen. After an hour's interval he was apprehended, and his Lordship pointed out that he ought not to have been arrested without a warrant, unless it could be shown that a continuous effort had been made to apprehend him. Reserving the point of the legality of the arrest for the Court of Criminal Appeal, his lordship directed a verdict of guilty to be returned, and, this being done, prisoner was ordered to be kept in custody until the decision of the Court of Appeal could be known. From the report of the Boundary Commissioners it appears that of the 207 boroughs constituted by the Representation of the People Act 1867, the commissioners do not propose any extension of the present parliamentary limits in the following boroughs-Andover, Arundel, Banbury, Bedford, Boston, Berwick-on-Tweed, Beverley, Bodmin, Bradford, Bridgnorth, Bridport, Buckingham, Bury, Bury St. Edmund's, Calne, Canterbury, Carlisle, Chippenham, Christchurch, Clitheroe, Cockermouth, Colchester, Cricklade, Darthmouth, Devizes, Devonport, Dorchester, Dover, Evesham, Eye, Frome, Great Grimsby, Guildford, Helston, Hereford, Honiton, Horsham, Huntingdon, Hythe, Ipswich, Kendal, Knaresborough, Launceston, Leeds, Leicester, Leominster, Lichfield, Lincoln, Liskeard, City of London, Ludlow, Lyme Regis, Leamington, Maidstone, Maldon, Malmesbury, Malton, Marlborough, Great Marlow, Midhurst, Monmouth, Newark-upon-Trent, Newcastle-under-Lyne, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Northallerton, Norwich, Petersfield, Pontefract, Poole, Preston, East Retford, Ripon, Rochester, Rye, St. Ives, Salford, Salisbury, Sandwich, Scarborough, Shaftesbury, Sheffield, New Shoreham, Shrewsbury, Southampton, Southwark, Stockport, Tamworth, Tavistock, Tewkesbury, Thetford, Thirsk, Tiverton, Tower Hamlets, Truro, Wallingford, Wells, Wenlock, Westbury, Westminster, Weymouth, and Melcombe Regis, Whitby, Whitehaven, Wilton, Winchester, Wolverhampton, In Wales-Brecon, Woodstock, Wycombe, York. Haverfordwest, Montgomery, and Radnor. Northampton Rochester............ Sudbury Wigan York | Wednesday. April 8.... Recorder. T. W. Saunders, Esq....... T. H. Naylor, Esq. A. W. Daniel, Esq.. U. Corbett, Esq. ............ What notice of appeal to be given. Clerk of the Peace. J. Taylor. J. Gordon. W. O. Hare. J. H. Barker. J. Walker. J. S. Barnes. W. Smith. G. H. E. Rundle. E. Nicholson. S. G. Johnson. R. Champney, jun. J. W. Ward C. Hughes. W. I. Bull. R. E. Moore. J. Foster. W. W. Hayward R. Ransom. W. Winterbotham. G. Potts. J. Mayhew. W. Bailey J. Wilkinson. In THE LEICESTERSHIRE CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE. commanded by Parliament to drain their respective -THE TURNPIKE TRUSTS BILL-A meeting of this towns in a particular way; on the other hand they are warned by the Court of Chancery, with all the chamber was held at the Three Crowns Hotel for the purpose of considering the provisions of the solemnity attaching to that much-dreaded tribunal, be at their peril. After having constructed costly Turnpike Trusts Bill. T. Wright, Esq., presided, that if they dare to do anything of the kind it will and there were also present Lord Berners, Col. Halford, and many others. The principle of the Bill works under specific statutory authority they are now threatened with pains and penalties if they was altogether condemned as imposing additional burdens upon the land, which was already unduly venture to apply these works to the express were provided. short, as matters now stand, they can neither use taxed, though some parts of it were looked upon purpose for which they with less disfavour, the clause investing the management of the roads in highway boards being generally the works nor abandon them without on one side or approved. After considerable discussion, the follow- other breaking the law. The explanation of this simple. When Parliament passed the Acts on this ing resolutions were unanimously adopted: -1. That vexatious and disgraceful state of affairs is very this chamber being of opinion that the debt now owing upon turnpike roads throughout England subject its attention was too exclusively directed to the means of averting an immediate danger. Rewas created for imperial and general purposes, and effects of the old cesspool system It was quite clear not for a local one, they are of opinion that it would peated outbreaks of cholera had proved the fatal be unjust to place the payment of the same upon that the first step in sanitary reform must be to the local rates, and they are further of opinion that the whole of the liabilities should be properly prevent accumulations of filth within or in close assessed and paid for out of the Consolidated proximity to the habitations of men; and in its Fund. 2. That this meeting strongly deprecates anxious haste to carry out this very necessary object Parliament unfortunately overlooked an essential the principle of Mr. Hugessen's Bill as far as it the refuse when it had passed into the sewers. would have the effect of throwing the debt element in the question-What was to be done with and expense of the repairs of turnpike roads upon course it could not remain there, and in a vague the local rates. 3. That the maintenance of roads sort of way it was taken for granted that it could flow into any river that was near at hand, which be provided for by taxes laid on real property, the boroughs contributing their proper quota." an end of it. Experience, however, has disappointed also resolved to forward a petition agreed upon by would duly carry it off to sea and there would be these rather rash and unwarranted expectations. the meeting to both Houses of Parliament, the substance of which was that the chamber regretted the introduction of the Bill, the result of which would The intercepting sewers which have been conrefuse from the houses and convey it to the rivers, be to throw the burden of maintaining turnpike- structed do their part of the work-they collect the roads upon the land; that such a measure would be the rivers are not equal to the task of carrying off attended with inconvenience, and be most unjust and here the plan breaks down. In the first place, to landowners and tenant farmers; that if the salutary regulations which under the present system to sea the vast amount of sewage poured into them; impose variable tolls according to the width of and in the next place, even if they did their duty wheels of carriages and carts, &c., and other regu- promptly and efficiently, the townspeople would get use of the streams as a water supply. In effect it lations be swept away, it is manifest that persons this service performed only at the cost of losing the for the sake of economy will use narrow wheel waggons and carts, placing heavy loads thereon, has been found that the ordinary system of drainage is a doubtful improvement on the condemned cessthus doing serious damage to the roads, which under pools, when it only establishes one large cesspool in the present system is prevented, and the consequence will be that the cost of repairs will be in-place of a multitude of little ones, and at the same creased; that the turnpike roads immediately contiguous to the towns are used by tradesmen, carriers, and others, more than landowners and tenant It was farmers, and that in the event of the cost of main- A SANITARY DEAD-LOCK.-The course of recent Of time pollutes the river and poisons the water supply. that, although Parliament has conferred the right of and in some cases, such as Banbury and Tunbridge Wells, sequestration has even followed the injunction. The rule, of course, is of general application, and the consequence is that the municipal authorities throughout the country have now to choose between leaving their towns undrained, or suffering sequestration for disobeying the Court of Chancery-a state of things which obviously cannot continue. The case of the metropolis differs from that of the provincial towns, but has occasioned a similar sanitary dead-lock. The main-drainage system discharges the refuse of London into the Thames at Barking and Crossness, comparatively out of the way of population. Although there is, therefore, no sanitary objection to these works, except as regards the towns below London, such as Barking, North Wolwich, Woolwich, Greenwich, Erith, &c., a serions difficulty of another kind has arisen. The mass of matter daily washed down by the sewers of London is so great that during the few years that have elapsed since the opening of the new sewers an enormous concentrated deposit of mud, street sweepings, and sewage refuse has accumulated in the bed of the river at Barking and Crossness, and now obstructs the navigation of the river. Last November Mr. Cave stated in the House of Commons that a ship had already stranded on one of the banks thus formed. A chart of the bed of the tions. He was held to take a vested interest in the WILL-CONSTRUCTION-POWER TO RAISE A CER- WILL-CONSTRUCTION.-B. thus expressed him- good title can be made: (Gunston v. The East Glowcestershire Railway, 18 L. T. Rep. N. S. 8. M. R.) A notice to treat given by the company to the landowner under the compulsory powers, must be acted upon within a reasonable time or will be considered abandoned: (Richmond v. The North London Railway, 18 L. T. Rep. N.S. 8. M. R.) LANDS CLAUSES Аст COMPENSATION - B. directed that his sons, who had been his partners, might occupy certain leasehold premises so long as they should carry on business therein, paying rent, &c. The premises were required under compulsory powers given by an Act of Parliament. B.'s execu tor claimed compensation for the interest which his testator had had therein, and the sons also claimed compensation for the loss of their business. The executor was held to be entitled to a gross sum in respect of the value of the lease, subject to a deduction of the value of the interest of the sons in the premises, in consequence of their being compelled to cease carrying on the business. The Vice Chancellor thus stated the general principle on which the valuations should be made. "I think the general principle-and really this case must be decided upon that principle-renders it clear what ought to be done. The principle is, that where a claim is served upon a person, whose property is about to be affected by a public body requiring his property for public purposes, the Act of Parliament requires simply that the person shall send in a statement of what his interest consists. The claim therefore was sent in by those gentlemen who claim under the testator's will. They said, "there is the will, there is the bequest, which show the exact nature of the interests we have. Those whose duty it was to have these interests valued would do so as best they could." To me it appears that the exact time of valuing these interests is when the public body are about to take down the house. Upon that principle they must proceed. They say we buy your interest in order to make certain public inprovements. There is an interest in reversion subject to the inconvenient clause in the will as to habitation, and as long as the premises are habitable you may value the reversion. The reversioner who came in by his claim would be obliged to submit to a deduction of some sort-that would be matter for the jury. It is let to the sons so long as they carry on the business there. There are the chances of bankruptcy, or lunacy, and other chances which may happen during these men's lives-these chances are all knots which a jury must untie. The public want the land, and therefore the interests in it must be valued, and the public body must get it as best they may. It is not the value to the board, but the bona fide value which the mau has who is obliged to river at Barking which has recently been prepared shows that in the very centre of the channel the soundings have diminished at low water from 21 to 10 feet. The Thames Conservators have already officially remonstrated with the Metropolitau Board of Works, and on receiving a reply from them to the effect that they had simply carried out the provisions of their Act of Parliament, and were in no way responsible for the consequences, the Conservators, acting on the opinion of counsel, have applied to the Home Secretary to institute proceedings against the Board of Works under the 31st section of the Metropolis Local Management Act of 1858. By that clause the Home Secretary is authorised, on representation being made to him of any nuisance arising out of the sewage works, to make inquiry into the matter and to direct a prosecution, or take such other proceedings as he may think fit, in order to stop the nuisance complained of. Perplexed probably by the embarrassing nature of the situation and the difficulty of determining what should be done with the sewage if it is not to be cast into the river, Mr. Hardy hesitates, we believe, to interpose. But whatever may be the legal aspect of the question, it is quite evident that the navigation of the Thames cannot be allowed to be obstructed even for the sake of draining the metropolis, and that legislative interference will be required if the existing Acts are at all doubtful on this point. Indeed, the whole subject demands the careful consideration of Parliament, in JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES' LAW deal with the board. This interest was a lease at a order to release the municipal authorities throughout England from the embarrassing position in which they are now placed. Some way must be discovered of draining our towns at a less sacrifice than is involved in the pollution of streams and blocking up of navigable rivers.-Pall Mall Gazette. CONVEYANCER NOTES OF NEW DECISIONS. TRUST FUNDS-STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.-On the marriage of B. in 1821 funds were assigned to trustees for her separate use for life without power of anticipation, with remainder to C., her husband, for life, remainder to the children of the marriage, remainder to C. and D. in equal moieties. The trust funds were never transferred into the names of the trustees, and were converted by C. to his own use. There were no children. C. died in 1858 and B. in 1864. D. being dead, on a claim made by his personal representatives, it was held that the circumstance of C. being both trustee and cestui que trust did not bar the claim, and that it was not barred by the Statute of Limitations: (Butler v. Carter, 18 L. T. Rep., N.S. 11. M.R.) B. gave her property to trustees to convert and pay the income to her niece for life and then to her children at twenty-one or marriage, and she gave an annuity to C., one of the trustees, so long as he should continue to exercise the office of trustee under her will." The amount was held to be payable until the fund was paid over: (Hull v. Christian, 18 L. T. Rep. N. S. 50. V.C. M.) A direction to a legatee to pay debts and legacies the proper fund for their payment, and not to make was held merely to make the property given to her her executrix according to the tenor: (Re Murphy, 18 L. T. Rep. N. S. 63. Prob. Ir.) JOURNAL. certain rent which determined at a certain time, or made. I see no difficulty in saying what is the right principle of valuation: (Penny v. Penny, 18 L. T. Rep. N.S. 13. V.C. W.) · WINDING-UP PRACTICE.-In a voluntary windingup, under supervision, every proceeding with reference to it must be taken in the same branch of the court: (Re Alexandra Printing Ink Company, 18 L. T. Rep. N.S. 18. V.C. M.) NOTES OF NEW DECISIONS. GARNISHEE ORDER AGAINST A SHAREHOLDER.— An assignment by a railway company of calls which had been made, but not paid, in consideration of a debt to their contractor, is valid against a subseREAL PROPERTY LAWYER AND quent garnishee order by a judgment-creditor of the company against a shareholder for the amount due from him upon those calls. The Devon and Somerset Railway Company being indebted to their contractors, the plaintiffs, in this interpleader issue, passed a resolution on the 11th June 1866 making a call of 51. per share payable on the 16th July following. On the 13th June an indenture of mortgage was made by the company, by which all the money arising from the said calls was assigned to the plaintiffs; the indenture gave power to the plaintiffs to enter upon and sell the company's land, on the failure of the company to pay the debt on a certain day. Lord Poltimore was the holder of 200 shares, and was the chairman of the directors at the meeting of the 11th June when the call was made, and the proposal to assign was considered; he never had, however, formal notice of the execution of the mortgage. The Ilfracombe Railway Company, the defendants in this issue, had preRUNNING STREAM-OBSTRUCTION-DYE WORKS.-viously obtained a judgment against the Devon and The bed of a flowing stream is the property of each Somerset Railway Company for a large sum, and on riparian owner to the middle of the stream, and each the 31st July, before the payment by Lord Poltimore is entitled to make use of it so long as he does not of the amount due for the calls upon his shares, a injure his neighbour or interfere with the flow of the garnishee order nisi was granted to attach the 1000l. water, and an encroachment on the alveus of a due from him to satisfy the judgment-debt of the running stream may be complained of without the defendants. This money was subsequently paid CONTRACT BY COMPANY AFTER A WINDING-UP necessity of proving that damage has been sustained into court, and this interpleader issue was ordered ORDER-COMPANIES ACT 1862, s. 153.-The 153rd or is likely to be sustained. But where upon a to be tried to decide between the claims of the plain-section, which provides (in effect) that all disposi balance of testimony it appears that the quantity of tiffs and defendants: Held, upon a special case tions of the company's property after the presen water sent on to the plaintiff's works will not, in all stating the facts and setting out the indenture of tation of a petition for winding-up shall, unless the probability, be substantially diminished in quantity mortgage, that this was not an assignment of future court otherwise orders, be void, is an enactment to or quality, by the means adopted by the defendants calls; that the power of sale in the indenture, if prevent, during the period which must necessarily with that object, the court will not proceed by man- beyond the powers of the directors, did not invali- elapse before the petition can be heard, an improper datory injunction, but leave the plaintiffs to their date the assignment, and that no notice to Lord alienation and dissipation of its property when it is remedy at law, if any: (Edleston v. Crossley, 18 L. T. Poltimore was requisite; therefore the claim of the in extremis; but in the case of a company actually Rep. N.S. 15. V.C. W.) plaintiffs was good against the defendants: (Picker-trading at the time when the petition is presented, whose business it is most desirable to preserve and N.S. 650. C. P.) dispose of as a going concern, it is not to be sup posed that transactions in the ordinary course of its trade bona fide entered into and completed, are to be thus avoided; for it will be in the proper exercise of the discretion of the court under the section to WILL-CONSTRUCTION.-B. bequeathed 15007. stocking v. The Ilfracombe Railway Company, 17 L. T. Rep. on trust for her nephew C. until twenty-one, and then over. And she directed that in case any one of the four legatees therein named (C. being one of them) should die without leaving lawful issue, then in trust for the survivors of them, in certain propor RAILWAY-LANDS TAKEN.-On a suit by the landowner for specific performance, the court will not make a decree where there has been No investigation of title, but refer it to chambers to see whether a LIABILITIES OF SHAREHOLDERS. - A proposed transferee of shares who has acted as owner of them, will be liable in equity, though he has neither executed nor registered the transfers: (Shepherd v. Gillespie, 18 L. T. Rep. N. S. 37. V.C.S.) MARCH 21, 1868.] Anction and maintain them. When, however, such bond fide transaction was entered into, but there ras no change or disposition of the property, the oods which were the subject of the contract reaining still in the possession, or subject to the rders of the company, a claim to the goods on the art of the purchaser, although he had actually paid to the hands of agents of the company the agreed rice, was disallowed, and he was regarded simply 3 in the position of one who had a contract which ad been broken, and the goods were to be treated as ssets of the company to be applied pari passu for the enefit of the creditors generally: (Pearson's Claim -No. 1-18 L. T. Rep. N. S. 38. Lord Cairns, L. J.) RAILWAY COMPANIES-PAYMENT OF DIVIDEND UT OF CAPITAL.—The Lord Chancellor affirmed le judgment of Wood, V. C. restraining directors om paying dividends out of capital (17 L. T. Rep. 1. S. 637): (Bloxam v. The Metropolitan Railway 'ompany, 18 L. T. Rep. N. S. 41. Lord Chancellor.) FRAUDULENT PREFERDEBENTURE-HOLDERS NCE-COMPANIES ACT 1862, s. 164.-A company onsented to assign all property to inspectors for ayment of creditors and persons who would be atitled to prove under a winding-up order. A ividend of 2s. in the pound was paid to all creditors xcept debenture-holders, who were omitted, appaently by mistake. The company being wound-up, n an application by a debenture-holder, it was held hat he was not entitled to a dividend of 2s. in the ound by preference, but he was admitted as a reditor for the amount of principal and interest: Ashbury's case, 18 L. T. Rep. N. S. 45. M. R.) WINDING-UP-CONTRIBUTORIES.-Shareholders in club, whose shares are fully paid up, and who vere also members of the club, are not liable by eason of their being in debted to the club, to be put n a supplemental list of contributories under ss. 4 and 101 of the Companies Act 1862: (Re Marlorough Club Company, 18 L. T. Rep. N. S. 46. M. R.) LAW STUDENT'S JOURNAL. TRINITY EDUCATIONAL TERM, 1868. PROSPECTUS of the LECTURES to be delivered during the ensuing Educational Term, by the several Readers appointed by the Inns of Court. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND LEGAL HISTORY. Constitutional Law and Legal History proposes to deliver during the ensuing Educational Term, Six Public Lectures, on the History of the English Constitution and of English Law during the concluding years of the Eighteenth Century. With his Private Class, the Reader proposes to go through the principal Statutes, Trials, Cases, and State Documents, which illustrate the History of the English Constitution and the History of English Law, from the Revolution of 1688 to the Death of Queen Anne. He will use Hallam's Constitutional History as his principal text-book. He will also, so far as time permits, go through the principal cases in Broom's Constitutional Law, EQUITY. The Reader on Equity proposes to deliver, during the ensuing Educational Term, Two Courses of Public Lectures (there being Six Lectures in each Course), on the following Subjects: An Elementary Course. 1. On Charitable Trusts. THE LAW TIMES. JURISPRUDENCE, CIVIL, AND INTERNATIONAL LAW. 2. The Doctrines of the Roman Law relating to 3. The Patria Potestas of the Roman Law, compared with the Power of the Father over the Person and Property of his Child by the English and French Systems of Law respectively. The Reader in his Private Class will discuss the Roman Law of Property, using Sandars' Edition of the Institutes of Justinian, and the Systema Juris Romani of Mackeldey as text-books, and contrast it with the English and French Law upon the same heads. The Reader, in his Private Class, will also discuss the doctrines of International Law with respect to "The Absolute International Rights of States," using the work of Wheaton as the Text-Book, and referring to the works of the principal modern Jurists, the Decisions of the Admiralty and Prize Courts of England and America, the Debates in Parliament, and State Papers relating to the matters under dis cussion. COMMON LAW. The Reader on Common Law proposes to deliver, during the ensuing Educational Term Two Courses (of Six Public Lectures each), on the subjects undermen tioned: Elementary Course. 1. Contracts under Seal Generaily-Bonds-Indentures of Demise. 2. Matters of Defence and Proofs Admissible in Actions on the above Instruments. 3. Indictable Offences of Ordinary Occurrence. The Course of Procedure and Rules of Evidence applicable at a Criminal Trial. Advanced Course. 1. The Indictment, considered with reference to Ordinary Offences and the Proofs necesarry to support it. 2. Matters of Defence available at a Criminal Trial. 3. The Mode of Proof and the Rules of Evidence applied in Criminal Cases. With his Private Classes the Reader will consider in detail the Subjects above set forth, exemplifying them by recent Cases, and using for reference the following Books and Treatises : Elementary Class.-Smith's Leading Cases, Roscoe on Evidence at Nisi Prius, and Broom's Commen taries. composed of three questions on each of the foregoing THE FOLLOWING ARE THE DAYS AND HOURS The Public Lectures on Constitutional Law and Legal History, at Lincoln's-inn Hall, on Wednesdays, at 2 p.m.; the first lecture on 15th April. The Private Classes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, at 10 a.m.; first class meets on the 16th April. The Public Lectures on Equity, at Lincoln's-inn Hall, on Thursdays (Elementary Lecture at 2 p.m.; 16th April. The Private Classes on Mondays, at Advanced Lecture at 3 p.m.); the first lecture on 3.45 and 4.30 p.m.; Wednesdays and Fridays, at 3.15 and 4.15 p.m.; first class meets on the 17th April. The Public Lectures on the Law of Real Property, &c., at Gray's-inn Hall, on Tuesdays (Elementary The Private Lecture at 2 p.m; Advanced Lecture at 3 p.m.); the first lecture on 21st April. Classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 11.45 a.m. and 12.45 p.m.; first class meets on the 22nd April. The Public Lectures on Jurisprudence, Civil and The Private Classes on Tuesdays and April. International Law, at the Middle Temple Hall, on Fridays, at 2 p.m.; the first lecture on the 17th Thursdays, at 3.45 p.m., and Saturdays, at 2 p.m.; first class meets on the 18th April. The Public Lectures on the Common Law, at the Inner Temple Hall, on Mondays (Elementary Lecture at 2 p.m.; Advanced Lecture at 3 p.m.); the first lecture on 20th April. The Private Classes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, at 11.45 a.m. and 12.45 p.m.; first class meets on the 21st April. The Educational Term commences on the 15th April, and ends on the 31st July. The lectures and classes will be suspended after Friday, May 8th, and be resumed at the appointed days and hours on and after Friday, May 29th. The First Public Lecture of this course will be delivered by the Reader on Constitutional Law and Legal History on Wednesday, 15th April, at p.m. Students who have been unable to attend a Lecture or Class of either of the Readers, and desire dispensation as a qualification for call to the Bar, should make application, with an explanation of the cause of such absence, in writing, to the Reader (last Edition, by Bruce), Roscoe on Criminal Evi- during the course, or immediately after the delivery dence. Advanced Class. - Archbold's Criminal Plead. EXAMINATION ON THE SUBJECTS OF LECTURES AND CLASSES. The Examinations for Exhibitions on the subjects of Lectures and Classes delivered in the three Educational Terms, 1867-8, will commence on Wednesday, the 1st July, at Lincoln's-inn Hall. Students who propose offering themselves for Exor before amination must enter their names on Monday, the 1st June next, at the Steward's Office, and a Reader's Certificate of having Lincoln's-inn; duly attended the Lectures and Classes on the subjects in which a Student offers himself for Examina 2. On the Equitable Incidents to the Relation tion, must be sent to the Council of Legal Education between between Principal and Surety. at Lincoln's-inn, on or before Monday, the 22nd June. Students having duly attended the Lectures and Classes of one or more of the Readers from the Michaelmas Term preceding the July Examination, are qualified to enter for Examination on such subjects, but they are not allowed to enter for the Elementary and Advanced Examination on the same subject, and provided that the terms they have kept do not exceed the limits prescribed by Clause 39 of the Consolidated Regulations of the Inns of Court. Students who have passed an Examination under the 44th Clause, are not eligible to enter for the July Examination under the 38th Clause of the Consolidated Regulations. Students who have obtained Exhibitions under Clause 38, are not eligible to enter again at a subsequent Examination on the same subjects. The Examinations for the Exhibitions will be partly oral and partly in writing, by means of Printed Papers of Questions. The following Days and Hours have been, set for the said Examination: apart Wednesday Morning, July 1, from 10 o'clock to 1 o'clock, Constitutional Law and Legal History. Wednesday Afternoon, July 1, from 2 to 5, Jurisprudence, Civil, and International Law. Thursday Morning, July 2, from 10 to 1, on Equity. Thursday Afternoon, July 2, from 2 to 5, on the Common Law. Friday Morning, July 3, from 10 to 1, The Law of Real Property. Friday Afternoon, July 3, from 2 to 5, A Paper of the last Public Lecture of the course; and the Reader's report thereon, together with the application, will be forwarded to the Council of Legal Education, who alone have the power of granting dispensation. The Council have resolved that in no case shall Students be allowed to change from the Elementary to the Advanced courses of Lectures and Classes, or vice versa, while qualifying for call to the Bar, or for the Examinations on the subjects of the Lectures. By order of the Council, (Signed) WESTBURY, Chairman. Council Chamber, Lincoln's-inn, March 9th, 1868. COUNTY COURTS. NOTES OF NEW DECISIONS. JURISDICTION-TRANSFER TO COUNTY COURT. Where a party to a suit in the Court of Chancery subject matter may be under 500l., the judge to attached will not order a whose court the suit has not obeyed an order of that court, although the transfer of it to the County Court under the 142nd section of the 30 & 31 Vict. c. 142, s. 8: (Maudesley v. Maudesley, 18 L. T. Rep. N. S. 51. V.Č. M) NEW BANKRUPTCY LAW. THE decided in the County Courts, opinions of counsel, doubts [NOTE-Practitioners will oblige by forwarding new points and difficulties that may arise in their practice, and queries for this department of the LAW TIMES.] An NOTES OF NEW DECISIONS. SET-OFF-PROOF.-Cross-demands existing in separate rights cannot be set off one against the other, except under special circumstances. executor has an absolute power over the debts due to his testator, and may deal with them as he pleases. If, therefore, he proves a debt under a bankruptcy, it has the same effect as if he were proceeding in his own right, and consequently the debt must be held to be satisfied: (Stammers v. Elliott, 18 L. T. Rep. N. S. 1. Chan.) HOW TO ASCERTAIN CREDITORS-DEED.-Where previous to the registration of a deed of inspectorship under sect. 192 of the B. A. 1861, a majority in number of the creditors had not assented to it, but subsequently additional assents sufficient to make a majority were obtained, it was held, that the deed was not binding, and leave was given to a nonassenting creditor to issue execution against the debtor: (Ex parte Raistrick, 18 L. T. Rep. N. S. 41. Chan.) PETITION OF ADJUDICATION-APPLICATION TO DISMISS WHEN TO BE MADE. An application, under the 199th section of the B. A. 1861, to dismiss a petition for adjudication of bankruptcy filed by an executing debtor prior to a registration of the deed, which took place without his concurrence, is too late, after the bankrupt has passed his examination and obtained a discharge. Semble, the deed was revocable prior to registration, and under the circumstances, therefore, not binding on the executing debtor. Semble, the petition referred to in the 199th section is a creditor's petition only, and an application under that section is supposed to be made on behalf of, and not adversely to, an executing debtor: (Re Wm. Bell, 18 L. T. Rep. N. S. 62. Bank. Per Abrahall, Com.) APPARENT ASSETS MORE THAN SUFFICIENT TO PAY THE COMPOSITION OFFERED-SECURITY FOR INSTALMENTS. Although the assets of an arranging trader may appear capable of paying a larger composition than is offered, yet if his stock be of that character that it would require a long time to realise the money, the court will not, at the suggestion of a creditor who thinks it should pay more, cause the trader to increase his offer. Where the last instalment is secured by the indorsement of a third party, the bills must be lodged before the court will approve and confirm: (Re an Arranging Trader, 18 L. T. Rep. N. S. 64. Ir.) LIVERPOOL POLICE COURT. BANKRUPTCY PROSECUTION. John Henry Fuller, commission and insurance agent and marine insurance broker, of Colonialbuildings, Dale-street, was brought up on remand (before Mr. Raffles, stipendiary magistrate), charged with having attempted to defraud his creditors. The charge was preferred under the 11th branch of the 221st section of the B. A. 1861, which prescribes that if a bankrupt, being a trader, shall, with intent to defraud his creditors, within three months next before the filing of his petition for adjudication, pawn, pledge, or dispose of, otherwise than by boná fide transactions in the ordinary way of his trade, any of his goods or chattels which have been obtained on credit and remain unpaid for. he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be liable to imprisonnot ment for more than three years. Etty, for the prosecution, stated the facts of the broker. Cobb dissented from that view, but did not press his objection. Evidence was then adduced to prove that on the 8th Jan. last, within a month of the bankruptcy, defendant had purchased a watch on credit for 261. 10s., and had on the 15th of the same month pawned it for 127., and that it was still unpaid for. Mr. Bolland, of the Bankruptcy Court, identified the defendant as being the bankrupt, and produced the file of proceedings in the bankruptcy, on which were the examinations of various parties taken in that court disclosing other pledges of articles of jewellery. Cobb objected to the reception of the latter evidence on a criminal charge, and contended that it could not be read. The cases of Reg. v. Sloggett, and Reg. v. Scott (25 L. J. Mag. Cas.), which were the leading cases on the point, did not go further than permit the answers of the bankrupt himself to be read. Raffles thought the 203rd section of the B. A. 1861, made all proceedings in the Bankruptcy Court admissible for all purposes in any other court, but as the witnesses were present their evidence, if wanted, had better be taken again. At the close of the case a lengthy discussion took place upon the question whether the charge came within the provisions of the Act. Etty contended that the words "any of his goods or chattels" used in the section were wide enough to cover the present case, and if so, it was, he submitted, according to the ruling of Lord Cairns in ex parte Stallard, re Howard (reported in the LAW TIMES of Feb. 22, p. 315), à question for a jury to decide, as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant. Cobb argued that the case of the defendant was not within the section, as by its very terms the goods pawned must be so pawned or disposed of otherwise than by bona fide transactions in the ordinary way of his trade. Now the watch in the present instance could not have been disposed of in the ordinary way of his trade, as he was not a dealer in watches, jeweller, or exporter of watches. Further, if the charge made were an offence, the section would not have been limited to a trader, seeing it was an offence which a non-trader could commit, for that which both classes of bankrupts could alike be amenable, both would have been made equally punishable. The section, although like most of the sections in the B. A. 1861 badly expressed, clearly was meant to apply to a trader pawning goods or chattels, obtained for the purposes of trade and not to the pawners of articles of jewellery or wearing apparel. Mr. RAFFLES held that the case did not come within the terms of the 11th branch of the 221st section, and discharged the defendant, remarking that if the prosecutor wished he might be bound over to prefer an indictment at the forthcoming assizes. Etty replied, that as it was not necessary to be bound over at once he should consider what course to pursue. CORRESPONDENCE OF THE PROFESSION. TRUSTEES AND MORTGAGEES ACT, 23 & 24 VICT, c. 145.-Many country clients are seriously alarmed by a will of greater length than two or three brief sheets, and many object even to that, however strictly they may desire their property to be tied up. Under these circumstances, the Acts of 22 & 23 Vict. c. 35, 23 & 24 Vict. c. 38 and 23 & 24 Vict. c. 145, were hailed as a boon by country practitioners, many of whom have of late omitted clauses which they had previously been careful to insert in all their wills which involved any continuing trust. We should be glad to know if any of your readers are aware of any decision under section 26 of the last named Act, has it yet been judicially settled what power a trustee has under this section or if not judicially settled, what is the prevailing opinion and practice as to omitting a maintenance clause from wills? In reference to this clause Lewin on Trusts and Trustees, 4th edit. 1861, page 384, says in a note: "The infant must, it is conceived, be indefeasibly entitled to the income though his title to the legacy itself be contingent; or one of whom must take the fund." We confess that we do not quite understand what the first paragraph of this note means, but it seems to be a narrow construction put on words which appear plain, broad, and comprehensive. We have recently been told by counsel that he could not advise trustees to apply the income of an infant's contingent What then, we ask, is the use or at all events he must be a member of a class some share for his benefit. of the word "contingently" so plainly used in the section referred to? Then with regard to section 27, Mr. Hallilay in his answers to examination questions (LAW TIMES, 15th Feb. 1868, p. 292) says, It is useful to give a power to appoint new trustees notwithstanding the 23 & 24 Vict. c. 145, s. 27, as it is still necessary, under this Act, to name a donee of the power." What does this mean? Surely the Act plainly enough makes the surviving or continuing trustees or trustee and other persons therein named the "donees or donee of the power." If the above constructions are to be put on the clauses referred to, We must adhere to what is the good of the Act? long wilis comprising all the clauses which it was thought the above Acts would enable us to dispense with. Of course our observations are not intended to apply to marriage settlements or wills disposing In these there is no object in curof large estates. tailment and it certainly is more convenient for trustees to have all their powers set out plainly in the document under which they are acting. Your own remarks and those of some of your readers on the above subject will, we think, confer a benefit on the Profession. P. G. SHORTHAND. The most universally known method of writing shorthand is Mr. Isaac Pitman's phonography. This system is also the simplest and most easily acquired. The book to begin with is the Phonographic Instructor, to be had of Mr. F. Pitman, 20, Paternoster-row, London, E.C., from which may be obtained all necessary information as to the mode and means of learning the art. I have learned it, and therefore can speak of its merits, and should be happy to give your correspondent any further infor mation. Dunkirk House, St. Ives, Hunts. S. R. GINN. An experience of some years, after a previous knowledge of Taylor's and an acquaintance with several other systems of shorthand, warrants me in stating that "Pitman's Phonography, or Phonetic Shorthand" is beyond all question the simplest and the best. That it is also "the most universally known method" is demonstrated by the fact, that there are at least half a dozen weekly and monthly publications in phonetic shorthand circulated among the learners and writers of that system; a fact which is, I believe, unique in the history of shorthand. Y. Z. INTERMEDIATE EXAMINATION. - In reply to "E. P." in your last number, I recommend as text These are annual inflictions, and, as they are imposed, not under any local, but under public general Acts, they are not improbably borne, to some extent, at least, by many other boroughs besides Sunderland, the corporation of which has not one penny of yearly income beyond what is extracted by compulsory taxation. The figures are taken from the last published accounts of the corporation, for the year ending the 31st Aug. 1867. Amongst the accounts, I find what I would fain hope is exceptional-an item for "precautionary sanitary having a separate municipal inspection of weights measures" amounting to 2741. 148. 3d.; loss by and measures, 1287. 14s. 9d.; and "preparations for firing a time gun" (which it was ultimately decided not to fire), 301. It was not worth mentioning, amongst the permanent expenditure, such trifles as repairs and water for drinking fountains! In this large town, the ratepayers pay over and above the relief of the poor and contribution to all the burdens of the county of Durham, other than the cost of the rural police, about 3s. 1d. in the pound every year to the municipal corporation, which is also the local board of health. Luckily a local Act limits the power of taxation for all purposes not chargeable on the borough fund to half-a-crown per annum. Se far as the borough fund is concerned, there is practically no limit but the Queen's Bench, and borough rates, I need hardly observe, are collected and paid along with the poor rates, almost blindfold, I may say. Except by way of illustration of your own remarks, I must not trouble you with what is purely local, but I cannot help pointing out a danger to which other towns may be exposed. Last year our corporation got an Act of Parliament to pull down and rebuild all the worst parts of the town, or, in plain English, to make new streets for the poorer classes at the expense of the ratepayers. There is nothing whatever of of a commercial or self-remunerative character in the scheme. On the contrary, these vulgar and selfish considerations were magniloquently disclaimed, the whole thing is professedly "purely sanitary," and is acknowledged to be an experiment at the cost and risk of the ratepayers, to diminish "pauperism, disease, and crime One section is to enable the corporation to "erect and fit up with proper conveniences improved dwelling-houses for mechanics, labourers, and other persons of the working and poorer classes." All this is euphoniously termed a novel duty cast upon municipalities by the course of modern legislation." I call it Comin a new form. munism in disguise: Chartism and Socialism The ratepayers may spend a vast sum of money in sewering a town, and may annually do all that can be done in the way lighting, watching, paving, scavenging, and suppressing "unsanitary" nuisances, and they may then be told that all this is not enough, and be and poorer classes," because the original construction called upon to literally rehabilitate the "working of their town is incurably inconsistent with proper and effective "sanitary reform." I only mention a local grievance to show to what lengths Parliament is willing to be led in local Acts, and lest Sunderland be made a precedent for other towns just as Edinburgh was set up as a precedent for Sunderland. It is some consolation to reflect that while our half-crown limitation remains, our ratepayers cannot be much worse off, whatever may become of money-lenders and other public creditors. We have town councils raising and disbursing revenues equal to those of some European states. I do not much like centralisation, but I would forgive it for the sake of some check like the Poor-law Board. Who can wonder that on the sittings of the recent Boundary Commission, rural and semi-suburban parishes and townships objected to be included in Parliamentary boroughs lest they should afterwards find themselves drawn in for municipal taxation? It is all very fine calling town councils "local parlia ments;" they far too often assume to be such, and "responsible self-government" frequently simply means the tyranny of a junta of small shopkeepers or municipal demagogues, elected by compound householders with no direct or immediate interest in the amount of local taxation. In municipal elections, |