the accused parties but the complainer himself, as all three guilty of a breach of the peace (not charged), and imposed upon each of them a heavy fine, ordering that they should remain in prison until the fines were paid.

The well-known and highly-esteemed American jurist, Mr. W. Beach Lawrence, sends us an interesting and judicially impartial paper on the International Obligations of the United States, reprinted from the "North American Review," JulyAugust, 1878. These Obligations are regarded chiefly from the point of view of neutrality, and Mr. Lawrence deals with. various questions of lively interest in Public International Law, such as the Declaration of Paris, the Three Rules of Washington, the Captures of British Vessels effected during the War of Secession, and the, at one time, threatening question of the Cimbria. Mr. Beach Lawrence indicates that he shares generally the views of Sir Travers Twiss in regard to the powers left to the signataries of the Declaration which abolished "La Course." He points out how entirely the doctrine of "continuous voyages" is opposed to the terms of that Declaration, as well as to the previous Treaty obligations, and the contention and practice of the United States. With regard to the vessels which entered U.S.A. ports under the German flag, with officers and men destined, it was averred, for Russian cruisers, to be purchased and fitted out in the United States, we may do well to bear in mind Mr. Beach Lawrence's just observation that "Neutrality ex vi termini implies belligerency; and a breach of neutrality can only occur with regard to a matter arising during a war."

We are glad to observe that the necessity for taking steps for the preservation of our old Parish Registers has not escaped the notice of perhaps the most important of provincial Law Societies. The Committee of the Incorporated Law Society of Liverpool, in their Report, presented to the fifty-first annual general meeting of the Society on the 6th November last, call special attention to the "Preservation of Parochial Registers and Ecclesiastical Documents," and announce that they" supported Mr. Whitwell's motion in the House of Commons for a Select Committee to inquire into this subject, which is one of considerable moment to the profession and their clients." Solicitors, much more frequently than barristers, are brought by their

professional avocations into actual contact with the original Registers, and thus acquire a personal knowledge of that destruction, mutilation, and interpolation so graphically described by Mr. Taswell-Langmead in our number for May last. It is to be hoped that other Provincial Law Societies, and also the Incorporated Law Society of the United Kingdom, will follow the good example set by their Liverpool confrères; and that in the new Session of Parliament the legal members of both branches of the profession will heartily support Mr. Whitwell's motion for a Select Committee, should that gentleman again bring it forward, as we trust he will, or, in default, themselves call the attention of the House to this important and urgent subject.

The International Literary Congress, held in Paris in June last, under the auspices of the "Société des Gens de Lettres de France," and under the Presidency of Victor Hugo and Edmond About, has had for its first practical result the foundation of an International Literary Association. With the general object of this Association, viz., the International Protection of the Rights of Authors, we have every sympathy. With its desire to procure the Amendment of the National Copyright Laws of the several countries of the civilised world, so as to secure to authors their just rights, we must needs also heartily sympathise. But we must take exception, in limine, to the extreme views with which the Association has quite unnecessarily, and therefore, to our mind, wrongly, identified itself. There was no necessity for the Association to commit itself to the speculative view that Copyright is antecedent to Law, and not created by it (Le Droit de l'auteur sur son œuvre constitue, non une concession de la loi, mais une des formes de la propriété, que le Législateur doit garantir), when, according to the Juridical Doctrine of most of the countries represented in the body of the Association, the reverse is the doctrine of the Courts. We fear that this will impede the prospect of utility to a really good cause which the Association would otherwise have before it. And along with our objection to the adoption, as a basis of action, of the theory that Copyright is antecedent to Law and not created by it, we must mention another objection, viz., to the adoption, also as a basis of action, of the theory of the perpetuity of Copyright. This is contrary to the existing Legislations of, we believe, every European country, and we think places the Association in a position of needless antagonism. We shall be curious to see

how these doctrines are received in this country when the Congress, proposed to be held by the Association, meets in London in June next. We observe that the Association appears to have some idea that it may become the recognised translating body of the World. This is a considerable ambition. Whether authors and publishers will be satisfied to hand over the right of translation to the International Association is a question which time alone can solve. Meanwhile, the first number of its "Bulletin" (for which we are indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Blanchard Jerrold, the Correspondent in England of the International Literary Association) is well deserving of careful perusal.

The urgent necessity for amendment of the Bankruptcy Laws is shown by the following memorial which has been forwarded by the leading bankers and merchants of the City of London to the Earl of Beaconsfield :

:

"The Memorial of the undersigned Bankers and Merchants of the City of London

"Sheweth,-That your memorialists are, and have been for many years, largely engaged in banking and commerce, and by reason of the extent and character of their transactions, have had ample means of observing the effect of the Bankruptcy Act of 1869, both as regards creditors and debtors; and your memorialists have to represent to your Lordship and the Government of which you are the head, that the experience of every year adds largely to the body of disastrous effects, which show that the speedy amendment of the Act of 1869 has become one of the most urgent necessities of the time, both in the interest of the mercantile class, and for the maintenance of that high tone of commercial morals and honour for which this country has been distinguished. The defects of the present Bankruptcy Law may be shortly stated as follows:- I. It affords new and vicious facilities to insolvent persons to escape from the reasonable control and supervision of their creditors, by private arrangements wholly beyond the jurisdiction of any public court or judge. And by reason of these facilities it is the fact that every year there is an increasing number of cases in which the grievous and dangerous scandal is exhibited of men failing for vast liabilities and finding it easy, in consequence of the defects of the present law, to get their speedy discharge by the payment of no dividend, or a dividend of some small fraction of a pound, or even shilling, and without being subjected to any efficient investigation of their affairs, or of the conduct and proceedings which have led to their insolvency.

2. That the present law is rendered practically nugatory, by leaving to those who have already incurred losses the investigation of the bankrupt's affairs; and has laid upon them the obligation of exposing the misconduct of bankrupts, which, in the plain interests of public morality and commercial policy, should be dealt with not as a private matter, but by a public court and judge. Experience has amply proved that reliance on creditors to perform these onerous and costly functions is entirely futile. The Bankruptcy Act of 1861 did contain in Clause 159 provisions for the interference and action of the Court in all cases of misconduct on the part of the bankrupt, with a view to his exposure and punishment; but in consequence of the failure of legislation to provide an efficient court and judge, these most salutary provisions were never enforced. 3. That owing to the rapid growth and increasing complexities of modern business, as carried on by private partnerships and joint stock companies, limited and unlimited, English and foreign, it has become perfectly clear that until there is established a Court of Bankruptcy under the presidency of a judge distinguished as a mercantile lawyer, and free to give his whole time and attention to the administration of his court, it is impossible that insolvent debtors can be adequately dealt with by means of public judicial process, and the estates appertaining to them expeditiously and economically distributed. The same remark is applicable to the winding-up of joint-stock companies a branch of insolvent business of increasing extent, and unfortunately of increasing notoriety for scandals and failures of justice. Your memorialists desire to represent that, in their opinion, great public advantage would arise by the assignment to the efficient court and judge-which they respectfully but earnestly recommend-not only of the insolvency business arising from the failure of private persons and firms, but also arising from the failure of joint-stock companies, as well as from the estates of deceased insolvent debtors. Your memorialists are sensible that your Lordship's Government, represented by the Lord Chancellor and the Attorney-General, did, in the last three Sessions of 1876, 1877, and 1878, present to Parliament Bills for the Amendment of the present Bankruptcy Law. These Bills were from various causes prevented from becoming law; and your memorialists now respectfully, but very earnestly, urge upon your Lordship that the Bill of 1878with such additions as may be necessary to cure effectually the defects set forth in this memorial-be reintroduced at an early period of the coming Session, and that the passage of the Bill be made a leading Government question."

THE

LAW MAGAZINE AND REVIEW.

No. CCXXXII.—MAY, 1879.

I. ON THE TREATY-MAKING POWER OF THE CROWN: "LE PARLEMENT BELGE."

A QUESTION of no ordinary interest to Jurists, and

of the gravest importance to the Prerogative of the British Crown, has recently been raised in the High Court of Admiralty of England, and has been decided by the learned judge of that Court upon considerations of Municipal Law, in a matter in which it has been hitherto supposed that the ratio decidendi was to be sought for exclusively in the cardinal principle of International Law, embodied in the maxim "Pacta sunt Servanda." It is fortunate, on this occasion, that the chair of Lord Stowell is occupied by a Jurist, of whose familiarity with intricate questions of International Law no doubt can be entertained. His decision, however, in the present case, has been influenced, according to his own declaration, by a peculiar interpretation of an Act of Parliament, which does not seem to have ever suggested itself to his learned predecessor, Dr. Lushington, whose respect for Constitutional Law was so profound, that it might be said to have amounted almost to a superstition. Dr. Lushington, nevertheless, on more than one occasion, within the personal experience of the writer, under circumstances of almost identical character with those of the present case, refused to allow process to issue from the Admiralty Court, and summarily disposed of the application in the negative, in deference