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LAWYERS' PRAYER UNION.

It is Proposed to hold another Social and Religious Meeting in London for Barristers and Solicitors, and their Clerks only, on THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE 16th, 1887. Mr. ARCHIBALD in the Chair. Any Gentlemen in the Legal Profession, or their Clerks, who desire to attend, or will assist in inviting others, are requested to apply to Mr. H. O. NISBET, 35, Lincoln'sinn-fields.

IF you want Money without Fees-amounts

£10 to £1,000-before applying elsewhere see Mr. O. CLIBURN, personally if possible, 43, Great Tower

street.

EDUCATION.To Solicitors and other

Professional Men and Gentlemen of Limited Income.-A few boys, sons of the above, are admitted into a well-known School of high tone on greatly reduced fees.-For full particulars address, in strict confidence, "MU." care of Messrs. Relfe Bros., 6, Charterhouse-buildings, Aldersgate, City, E.C.

SOLICITORS.-A fine Suite of Offices

(three or five Rooms) to be Let, at New Stonebuildings, Chancery-lane, close to the Law Courts and the Chancery-lane Safe Deposit; lighted by electric light; every convenience; moderate rent. Use of elegant Arbitration Rooms in same Building at reduced Terms.-Apply at the Collector's Office, in the Hall of 63 and 64, Chancery-lane.

AW STATIONERS. PRINTERS, and

LA

Others.-Convenient Premises to be Let in Chancery-lane, in a fine building close to the Law Courts and the Chancery-lane Safe Deposit; lighted by electric light, and fitted with every convenience; moderate rent. - Apply at once at the Collector's Office, in the Hall of 63 and 64, Chancery-lane, W.C.

GROUND FLOOR.-Fine large Premises

to be Let in Lincoln's-inn-fields; well suited to Solicitors, Barristers, Law Stationers. and others desiring to be near the Law Courts; splendid situation; moderate rent. Apply to Attendant, 3 and 4. Lincoln's-inn-fields; or at the Collector's Office, in the Hall of 63 and 64, Chancery-lane.

THE

HE MORTGAGE INSURANCE COR-
PORATION, LIMITED.

AMOUNT OF CAPITAL SUBSCRIBED, £710,000
Offices of the Corporation-

Winchester House, Old Broad-street, E.C. Rt. Hon. E. PLEYDELL BOUVERIE, Chairman. Sir SYDNEY H. WATERLOW, Bart., Deputy-Chairman. Policies are now being issued by this Corporation insuring Mortgages of Freehold and Leasehold Property, holders of Mortgage Debentures and Debenture Stock, against loss of principai and interest.

These Policies will be of especial advantage to Trustees who may be held responsible for losses consequent upon their Investments.

Mortgagors insuring with the Corporation will possible rate of interest. also be enabled to obtain Advances at the lowest

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For Lawyers, specially fitted with japanned boxes from For Books and documents

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MILNER'S SAFES

MILNER'S SAFES

For Church Plate.
For Jewellery
For Registrars, specially
fitted

The Corporation also grants Policies to Leaseholders insuring the return of the Amount invested periods. at the expiration of their leases or at any fixed For particulars and conditions of Insurance apply MILNER'S SAFES to the Secretary. By order, JAS. C. PRINSEP, Secretary.

ᎡᎬ EVERSIONARY and LIFE INTE

RESTS in LANDED or FUNDED PROPERTY or other Securities and Annuities PURCHASED, or Loans or Annuities thereon granted, by the EQUITABLE REVERSIONARY INTEREST SOCIETY (LIMITED), 10, Lancaster-place, Waterloo Bridge, Strand. Established 1835. Capital, £500,000. capitalized. Interest on Loans may be F. S. CLAYTON, Joint C. H. CLAYTON, Secretaries

ORTHERN ASSURANCE COMPANY.

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OFFICE in a fine building close to the Law
FFICES to be LET. Some splendid BIRKBECK

Courts, the Patent Office, and the Chancery-lane
Safe Deposit; lighted by electric light, and with
every convenience; moderate rent; well suited for a
solicitor, law stationer, or patent agent.-Apply at
the Collector's Office, in the Hall of 63 and 64, Chan-
cery-lane.

FFICES and CHAMBERS, close to the

and handsome building; rooms, £10 to £30 per annum; suites at a reduction.-Apply, New-inn-chambers, Strand (nearly opposite New-inn); or to Messrs. COLLINS & COLLINS, Surveyors, 14, Cockspur-street, Pall Mall, S.W.

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TEMPLE CHAMBERS (Residential and TE Official).-Adjoining the Temple, close to the Royal Courts of Justice, Lincoln's-inn, and the Strand, and within five minutes' walk of the City; central and quiet, with immediate rail and omnibus conveyance to all parts of town. Hydraulic lifts, heating by steam - radiators, perfect arrangements, &c. sanitary Rents of remaining rooms to let, from £20 to £90. Suites, £100 to £250.-Apply to the Secretary or the Steward, on the premises, Temple Chambers, Temple-street, E.C.

MESSRS. PUTTICK & SIMPSON, Literary

and Fine Art Auctioneers, 47, Leicester-square London, W.C., beg to inform Executors, Trustees, Solicitors, and the Trade, that their Season for the disposal by Auction of Libraries of Books and Music, Engravings, Paintings, and other works connected with the Fine Arts, Musical Instruments, and all descriptions of Valuable Property, will commence on October 17, and that their warehouses are open daily for the reception of goods consigned to them for sale. Messrs. P. & S. will hold several important Sales during the Season, and will include small properties in appropriate Sales, thus affording the same advantages to small as to large consignments. Libraries and other properties catalogued, arranged, and valued for Probate and Legacy Duty, or for Public or Privat Sale.

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Southampton-buildings, Chancery-lane. DEPOSITS, repayable on demand. THREE per CENT. INTEREST allowed on

TWO per CENT. INTEREST on CURRENT ACCOUNTS calculated on the minimum monthly balances, when not drawn below £100.

The Bank undertakes for its Customers, free of Charge, the Custody of Deeds, Writings, and other Securities and Valuables; the collection of Bills or Exchange, Dividends, and Coupons; and the purchase and sale of Stocks, Shares, and Annuities. Letters of Credit and Circular Notes issued.

lars, post-free, on application. The BIRKBECK ALMANACK, with full particu

FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT, Manager.

MILNER'S SAFES

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For Bankers...

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For Diamonds MILNER'S SAFE DEPOSITS

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ILLUSTRATED DRAWINGS AND ESTIMATES FREE BY POST.

MILNER'S, MILNER'S,

MILNER'S, MILNER'S,

28, Finsbury-pavement, E.C.

28, Market-street, Manchester. 8, Lord-street, Liverpool. Phoenix Safe Works, Liverpool.

PARTRIDGE & COOPER,

LAW AND GENERAL STATIONERS,

1 & 2, CHANCERY LANE LONDON E.C.

Taw Copping and Engrossing.

Deeds and Writings engrossed and copied on the Premises with punctuality and dispatch, at the lowest scale of charges. A good Discount allowed on agreed accounts LAW PRINTING.

STATEMENTS OF CLAIM AND DEFENCE, AFFI
DAVITS, and other PLEADING, Printed at 1s. per folio.
DEEDS, CONVEYANCES, MORTGAGES, &c., Printed
in form for Registration,

Discount allowed for cash on agreed accounts.
LITHOGRAPHY.

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MESSRS. JOHNSON & DYMOND beg Plate, Watches, Chains, Jewellery, Precious Stones, to announce that their Sales by Auction of and Fridays. &c., are held on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, PARCHment and LEGAL PAPERS

The attention of Solicitors, Executors, Trustees, and others is particularly called to this ready means for the disposal of Property of deceased and other clients.

In consequence of the frequency of their sales Messrs. J. & D. are enabled to include large or small quantities at short notice (if required).

Sales of Furniture held at private houses. Valuations for Probate or Transfer. Terms on application to the City Auction Rooms (established 1793), 38 and 39, Gracechurch-street, E.C.

Messrs. Johnson & Dymond beg to notify that their Auction Sales of Wearing Apparel, Piece Goods, Household and Office Furniture, Carpets, Bedding, &c., are held on each day of the week Saturday excepted).

YACHTING CRUISE TO THE LAND OF THE
MIDNIGHT SUN.

THE Splendid Steam Yacht "CEYLON,"

2,200 tons register, will leave Gravesend on June 9th and July 9th for a Twenty-five days' Pleasure Cruise to the beautiful Norwegian Fjords and the North Cape; and on August 6th for a Fourteen days' Cruise to the Fjords and Moldé, keeping in smooth water inside the Islands.-For particulars of these and subsequent cruises apply to MANAGER, Yacht Ceylon" Office, 7, Pall Mall, S. W.

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conveying, in connection with his West Highlalla HENRY GREEN, Advertisement Agent,

Steamers, passengers for Oban, Fort-William. Inverness, Lochawe, Skye, Gairloch, Staffa, Iona, Glencoe, Stornoway, &c. Official Guide. 3d.; Illustrated, 6d. and 1s., by post, or at W. H. Smith & Sons' Railway Bookstalls. Time Bill with Map and Fares free from the owner, DAVID MACBRAYNE, 119, Hope-street, Glasgow.

begs to direct the attention of the Legal Profession forty years, in the special insertion of all pro forms to the advantages of his long experience of upwards of notices, &c., and hereby solicits their continued support.N.B. One copy of advertisement only required, and the strictest care and promptitude assured. Official stamped forms for advertisement and file of "London Gazette " kept. By appointment.

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fections is deliberately and carefully criticized and considered. And we may add once more, as we have said before, that the best thing which could happen would be that the Bill should this session be referred to a Select Committee, and that next session it should be split into two Bills-one dealing with the changes in the law of real property, and the other devoted to registration; both redrafted, and the latter consolidating such portions of the Act of 1875 as it is considered desirable to retain. With regard to the other matters above referred to, we are glad to find that the whole profession is at our back. At the same time, we question the expediency of opposing ultimate compulsion after the system has been well tested. The authorities in both Houses of Parliament are, we believe, set on this feature of the Bill, and to

The Solicitors' Journal and Reporter. resist it is simply running your head against a stone wall. The

LONDON, JUNE 11, 1887.

CURRENT TOPICS.

WHEN WE SUGGESTED in January last the main outlines of the festivities of this week, we expressed an earnest hope that the entertainment would be carried out in a manner worthy of the occasion which gave rise to it. That hope has been fully realized,

and the future historian will have to chronicle the solicitors' cele

bration of the Jubilee as among the most successful organized by any class of the community. But there is another more important aspect of the matter. The result of the entertainment, judging from the expressions which have reached us, has been to evoke a cordiality of feeling on the part of the country solicitors towards the Incorporated Law Society and their London brethren which

has not before existed. And this has occurred at a time when it is most essential that solicitors throughout the kingdom should be prepared to act in unison, and that the hands of the society should be strengthened in every possible way. We think that the guarantors to whose generosity the entertainments are due may well feel that their expenditure has been fully rewarded.

THERE IS REASON to believe that the order permitting the courts and offices to be closed on the Queen's Jubilee day, will be carried out by a total cessation of business in all the courts and offices on the 21st inst.

THE RULE relating to petitions presented in the district registries of Liverpool and Manchester (which we printed last week) will introduce the registrars of those districts to a practice which, to them, will be entirely new. There are sundry regulations scattered over the rules of court relating to the time to elapse between the presentation and the hearing of various classes of petitions and to the requirements to be complied with on presentation. These, together with the practice adopted by the chancery registrars with regard to petitions, will have to be carefully studied in order to avoid complications.

Mr. MARKBY hit the nail on the head when he remarked, in his address on Tuesday, that what is to be apprehended with regard to the question of land transfer is not factious opposition by the legal profession, but that the pressure put upon the Government for a "large and liberal" measure of land reform may lead to the hasty passing of a measure" which will only add another to the numerous failures upon this subject." It is this apprehension which has led us frequently to urge that the Bill now before Parliament should be held over till next year, and that voluntary registration should be tried in each district before compulsion was attempted, and to suggest that combined action should be taken to secure postponement of compulsion. As regards the first matter, the information which reaches us tends towards the conclusion that the course we have urged will be adopted. And we have some reason to believe that, even if the Bill should scrape through this session, no steps will be taken to form any registration districts until after the passing of the consolidating Bill next session. It is as well to speak plainly, and therefore we say that the credit of the Lord Chancellor is involved in the success of the measure; but that success will depend on the extent to which a Bill-hastily prepared and, even after amendments amounting in bulk to a fresh Bill, still full of imper

true course seems to us to be to urge the postponement of compulsion until the system has been thoroughly tried.

In

enforced and developed the important suggestion which we recently THE PAPER read by the president at the meeting on Tuesday discussed-viz., that the membership of the Incorporated Law Law Society should include every solicitor on the rolls. that the result of a measure making membership compulsory one respect the president cleared the way by his statement who are not at present members of the society; an increase of on every solicitor need not impose any serious burden on those the fee now paid to the society as registrar of solicitors-which increase need not be of large amount-was, he thought, all that would be requisite, and that increase could be made to constitute membership without any further annual subscription. We understand the suggestion to be that subscriptions eo nomine shall be abolished for all members, and that every solicitor, paying an increased fee to the society as registrar of solicitors, shall become a member of the society. That is a proposal the feasibility of which it is difficult to discuss without the data on which it was founded, but we venture to think that before it can be adopted the council of the society will have to reconsider their refusal to set their faces in the direction of pressing for a reduction in the certificate duty. If they could base their proposal for a moderate increase of the registrar's fee on the ground that they were using, and would continue to use, their influence to procure a reduction of the certificate duty, it would obviously have a better chance of acceptance by the two-thirds of solicitors now outside the society. But there are other points besides the question of payment which will have to be settled before membership of the society can be rendered obligatory on all solicitors. What are to be the relations of the Incorporated Law Society and the local law societies? Before all the members of all these latter institutions are made compulsorily members of the London society it would seem that some scheme should be propounded for a closer bond than at present exists between the chief society and the local societies.

ON ANOTHER POINT the President's paper contained matter of extreme value and interest to the profession, relating to the exercise by the society of its disciplinary functions over solicitors. The most prominent point in his statement is the enormous increase which has taken place in the magnitude of these functions in the course of a very few years. The President said that in 1873 there was an average of one complaint a week with regard to the conduct of solicitors, while at the present time the cases presented for the consideration of the Discipline Committee average from thirty to forty a week (including, however, applications for exemption from the preliminary examination and applications relating to unqualified persons). A large part of this increase, of course, is due to the additions made in recent years to the number of solicitors, and to the fact that the remedy by complaint to the Law Society is much more widely known than was formerly the case; but the state of things disclosed by the President affords matter for very serious consideration, especially when coupled with his subsequent statement, that "only those who have served on the Discipline Committee can conceive the number of complaints which are made that a certain class of solicitors allow unqualified persons (usually clerks who have had experience in the office of a solicitor) to practise in their name, on a division of profit or some other arrangement, in which the delinquent solicitor is

fers, but the regulations now in force as to this branch of the business will have to be altered as much as the requirements on first registration are proposed to be altered, or they will break down under the weight of business." Supposing a central district conterminous with the Metropolitan police district, and proceeding on the average shewn by registrations of deeds in Middlesex, there would be in that office alone about 100,000 dealings to register per annum-over 300 in each working day-independent of first registrations, so that rules which may have worked without difficulty "when the documents to be registered were one or two in a week will cause a hopeless block when transfers have to be registered at the rate of hundreds a day." It may be doubted whether one or two deeds a week are all that the present office has to register-two or three a day would, we believe, be nearer the mark-but the general force of the observation remains nevertheless unshaken.

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interested"; and with the practice to which Mr. Justice FIELD alluded in a case we reported last week of "people practising as solicitors, occupying a position of trust towards the public, with the names of uncertificated and irresponsible persons over the doors," which we have some reason to suppose is not so infrequent as it ought to be. The result of this increase of disciplinary cases is to render the present system of dealing with them altogether too cumbrous. The expense attending the frequent applications to the court has become a serious item in the accounts of the society, and the time of the judges and masters is unnecessarily occupied in hearing the cases. We recently suggested that the functions now exercised by the court should be vested in the society, subject, of course, to a right of appeal, and it will be seen that this course is urged in the President's paper. We think that no one who is acquainted with the manner in which the council have dealt with disciplinary cases under their limited functions can entertain any doubt of the absolute fairness with which a more extended jurisdiction would be exercised, while the gain in prompt removal of unworthy WE DISCUSS elsewhere the careful and able report of the Commembers of the profession, and in the stamping out of unpro-mittee of the Incorporated Law Society on the Land Transfer Bill, fessional practice, would be enormous. also Mr. HUNTER's paper; but we may here draw special attention to the replies of the country law societies to the queries addressed to them by the committee. Stated briefly, the general opinion appears to be in favour of the scheme of the Bill, assuming that registration of title is to be adopted; but three-fourths of the replies are against compulsion. There is a general apprehension that the mass of work falling on the registries will be so overwhelming as to cause intolerable delay unless the districts are small and the local knowledge of practising solicitors is utilized. On the subject of the confirmation of titles opinion is divided, but generally adverse; and that the plan of settling boundaries will not work well is the opinion of 11 against 1 "yes" (Sunderland) and 1 yes, but with doubt." With regard to the insurance fund opinion wavers, but there seems to be a general impression that the premiums proposed to be charged are too high. Strong objection is taken to the composition of the Land Transfer Board, and to vesting the power of making rules in the Lord Chancellor alone. As to the proposed changes in the law of real property, there are only 3 noes out of the whole set of 21 answers to each of 3 questions put. Opinion is practically unanimous that registration must involve increased cost and delay. The Birmingham Society remark that there are about 5,000 sales and mortgages in a year in their town, of which four-fifths are under £1,000 and more than half under £500, and that the additional cost and delay will be felt to be oppressive. As regards first registration this must necessarily be true, and our readers will find in a previous issue of this journal (ante, p. 407) an approximately accurate estimate of the increased costs likely to be incurred. But whether it will be so in the case of dealings after first registration depends on the question how far the whole work of transfer will be done in the office, and on the remuneration to be allowed to solicitors. The important question is whether solicitors are to be sacrificed to avoid clamour as to the office fees. On this last question, to which we drew attention on the introduction of the Bill, we find no reference, either in the report of the committee or in the analysis of the replies of the country law societies, further than the suggestion in the former that the solicitor's remuneration should be fixed by the "Tribunal" under the Solicitors' Remuneration Act. Delicacy in pressing personal considerations of this kind is commendable enough up to a certain point; but, having regard to the Lord Chancellor's condemnation, in his speech at the first banquet, of the "canting view about men being absolutely regardless of their own interests," is it not time that solicitors should begin to interest themselves somewhat in the question what their remuneration is to be on dealings with land after the first registration? We are glad to find that Mr. B. G. LAKE, whose labours in connection with the preparation of the report deserve the gratitude of the profession, is apparently fully alive to this question. While expressing, at the Freemasons' Hall, a politic belief that the Lord Chancellor did not intend to alter the position solicitors at present occupied, he intimated that the council must "press very earnestly that solicitors must not be interfered with by the new system. Mr. LAKE no doubt knows as well as we do that the strength of the politic belief is not such as to warrant any diminution of the earnest pressing. We venture to say that, as matters stand at present, the probable result to solicitors of the passing of the

MR. JOHN HUNTER's paper on the Land Transfer Bill travels over the same ground, to some extent, as that treated by the report of the Committee of the Incorporated Law Society, which we discuss elsewhere; but it suggests also the following further considerations, which appear to us well deserving of attention. The old schemes of 1862 and 1875 are almost always spoken of as having broken down owing to the initial difficulties of getting titles onto the register in the first instance, which were, no doubt, very great. But Mr. HUNTER also usefully points out that the difficulties did not cease after a title was once registered, and he gives three instances from his own experience of difficulties in dealing with property on the register that would not have arisen with unregistered property. The result of this particularity and want of elasticity not only deterred people from putting their titles on to the register, but induced them to take them off. We have pointed out, in our articles on the Land Transfer Bill, that the establishment of the insurance fund may afford the means of enabling the office practice to admit the desired elasticity, and so remove a portion, at least, of these objections. Mr. HUNTER then goes on to consider what appears to him the most likely line of development for practice under the Bill-the possessory title. "As registration is to be compulsory, everyone applying for it will naturally apply for what costs least money and time-namely, a possessory title." With this we do not entirely concur. It is not yet clear that absolute titles will not be granted under the new system on sufficiently easy terms to induce landowners (who are compelled to incur some expense) to add a little more in order to get a greatly superior article. The large inroads now made on the theory of the "absolute title" are next considered. These are: "That a person with a certificate of an absolute title may, if he is first registered owner, have to pay compensation to a former dispossessed proprietor; or, if he is a purchaser from a prior registered owner, he may have to fight for his title in court, and, if beaten, have to give up his land and take money compensation from the insurance fund." An attempt is then made to estimate the extent of probable mischief likely to result from frauds and errors on the register, and the yearly average loss of £40,000 stated to be suffered by the Bank of England from similar causes is cited in illustration. We would submit, however, that the estimate thus formed is too high, and that the statistics of the Australian assurance funds (quoted ante, p. 407) form a more trustworthy guide; our reasons for that opinion will also be found in the same place. The very sensible suggestion is added that, as "the Bill practically abandons the attempt to confer an absolute title, it would be an improvement if, in this respect, the wording of it were made to correspond with the fact, and the principle of a guaranteed title be substituted in name for an absolute title." Mr. HUNTER does not overlook the question really by far the most important permanently, though too frequently lost sight of in view of the more obviously pressing difficulties involved in first registrations-of registered transfers. "The Bill contains no new provisions as to registration of trans

Land Transfer Bill will be, first, a considerable increase of profits, but subsequently a most unreasonable and unnecessary diminution.

SOME SURPRISE Will in all probability have been occasioned by the ruling of Mr. Justice Burr in Gornall v. Mason (12 P. D. 142); In an action for revocation of the probate of a will, granted about seven years ago, the defendant was unable to produce one of the attesting witnesses, notwithstanding that every effort had been made to find him. Mr. Justice BUTT thereupon admitted, as evidence of execution and capacity, an affidavit which had been made by the missing witness in 1879 in support of the probate in the district registry, basing his decision upon R. S. C., 1883, ord. 37, r. 1, which empowers the court or judge "at any time for sufficient reason "" to order that "the affidavit of any witness may be read at the bearing or trial." No order had been made for taking any part of the evidence by affidavit, and it was argued, in opposition to the admission of the evidence, that even the death of the witness would not have rendered his affidavit admissible, and that the rule was applicable only to an affidavit made during the progress of an action; but the learned judge, while feeling "great doubt and hesitation," expressed "a strong feeling" that, after so long an interval, it would be "a great injustice" to exclude the affidavit. It will be remembered that the proviso at the end of the rule gives the opposite party power to exclude any such affidavit when the witness "can be produced" for crossexamination, and it can scarcely have been contemplated by the framers of the rule that an affidavit made for a special purpose should be received as evidence without either previous notice or an opportunity for cross-examination.

A SOMEWHAT STARTLING statement as to the legal effect of a Bank Holiday was made a few days ago by a metropolitan police magistrate, who is reported to have declined to grant a summons against an apprentice refusing to work on Whit Monday, and to have laid it down that no apprentice was compellable to work on a Bank Holiday. The Bank Holidays Act, 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. 17), deals entirely with banks and banking business, the preamble reciting that "it is expedient to make provision for rendering the day after Christmas Day and also certain other days Bank Holidays, and for enabling Bank Holidays to be appointed by royal proclamation." The only part of the statute which appears to contain any enactment of a general character is section 3, which provides that " no person shall be compellable to make any payment or to do any act upon such Bank Holiday which he would not be compellable to do or make on Christmas Day or Good Friday"; but as the last clause of the section provides for the "doing such act" on the following day, the section seems to apply only to acts to be done by holders of bills of exchange and promissory notes. This Act was amended by the Holidays Extension Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 13), the preamble to which recites that it is expedient to extend certain of the holidays named in the principal Act "to the Customs, bonding warehouses, and docks," but in no way deals with ordinary employers.

THE APPEALS set down in the list for the Trinity Sittings number 148, of which eighteen are interlocutory. They comprise sixtythree appeals from the Chancery Division, eight from the Chancery of the County Palatine of Lancaster, sixty-nine from the Queen's Bench Division, seven from the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division, and one Bankruptcy appeal. At the commencement of the last sittings the appeals numbered 169, and a year ago 178.

THE CAUSES in the lists of the chancery judges comprise 146 before Mr. Justice KAY, 170 before Mr. Justice CHITTY, 228 before Mr. Justice NORTH, 168 before Mr. Justice STIRLING, and 80 before Mr. Justice KEKEWICH, making a total of 786; the total having been 761 at the commencement of last sittings, and 707 a year ago. There are 1,152 causes in the Queen's Bench Division list, and 235 in that of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division.

THE REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY ON THE (AMENDED) LAND TRANSFER BILL.

THIS very important document is, to a considerable extent, a repetition of a report drawn up by the society at the request of the Lord Chancellor shortly after the introduction of the original Bill. The present report is, however, a more complete one in two or three ways than the former; it is fortified, for instance, by the opinions of twenty-one provincial law societies which were not to hand when the original report was sent in; it extends to the large body of amendments which have been introduced in Committee of the House of Lords, and the introductory portion has been considerably amplified. It was adopted by the council on the 2nd inst.

points-1, Is compulsion necessary? 2, How will it affect the The introductory portion addresses itself to three principal expenses of next sales, &c.? and, 3, Would not guaranteed title compulsion, the council point out that, "if a system of registrabe a better system than indefeasible title? With reference to tion cannot be worked except under pressure of compulsion, it will be because it has not been made suitable to the requirements of the country." That this is not a merely obstructive criticism appears by the fact that, after suggesting a definite line for improvement, the council commit themselves to the following weighty statement :-"They believe that under such a system landowners would readily avail themselves of the many advantages incident to registration, and that, as in the case of the Australian colonies, it would be found unnecessary to resort to compulsion." It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of this statement, coming from a body so influential and so well qualified to form an accurate opinion.

In estimating the expenses of next sales under the compulsory clauses, attention is drawn to some remarkable facts (to which we have several times referred) which were laid before Lord Cairns in 1874 respecting cheap country conveyancing, and which he mentioned in the House of Lords as one of the reasons why his Bill did not resort to compulsion. He also afterwards repeated them to Mr. O. Morgan's committee in 1879, from which latter evidence the council quote four of the most material passages. "A number of solicitors shewed me that there was going on in various populous parts of England a transfer of very minute portions of land in very great quantities and at a very small expense. Some of the solicitors told me that they had cut up a piece of land into 300 or 400 parcels to build small houses for working people on; those pieces of land were bought on the credit of the solicitor who had them for sale, and the charge in some cases would be as low as 10s., and in many cases as low as 20s." Compulsory registration will have to be very nicely adjusted in order to prevent its being a formidable obstacle to the completion of such transactions as these; while again, as the report points out, in the case of large estates the necessary description of the property by means of a. map will, even if nothing else were required, be a rather formidablə item in the expense of each next dealing or devolution.

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As to the "guaranteed versus "indefeasible" title, the distinction is one which has only recently been very clearly brought out, but when once stated its significance is obvious. It has been explained in these columns in a review of a recent work (ante, p. 104), and the council strongly urge the abandonment of the so-called somewhat after the model presented by the Australian Registration indefeasible system, and the adoption of the "guarantee" system,

Statutes.

advantages of the latter system-namely, that it dispenses with They urge this on account of two main practical the need of publicity on first registrations, and that it enables the registrar to "act on the investigation and certificate of solicitors acquainted with the applicant's title-he would, in fact, act as the solicitor for a purchaser acts at present." These two features have not, it is true, been put in practice in Australia, but the system admits of their introduction, and, under the special circumstances of the case, they would be of conspicuous value in England.

The report then goes through the Bill in considerable detail, being designed apparently to serve as a summary of its main provisions for the guidance of those who have not sufficient leisure to master the measure for themselves-a task which, it should be observed, requires the careful perusal of two bodies of legislation

hitherto little studied-namely, the Act of 1875 and the Rules of 1876-before it can be rightly appreciated. As, however, we have already attempted the same task, we do not propose to follow the council in their detailed observations, but pass at once to the list of principal suggestions, in which the leading criticisms of the Bill are summarized, adding thereto such allusions to, or extracts from, the previous detail as seem appropriate.

1. Compulsory registration is unjust to landowners, and if the system were made workable and inexpensive, would be un

necessary.

2. Guaranteed title is preferable to indefeasible title. In fact, it is pointed out (on the preceding page of the report) that parts of the insurance scheme concede the principle of the former, though the name of the latter is retained.

3. That the board should be selected from barristers and solicitors, and be presided over by a judge or person of equal position. The provincial law societies are unanimous on this point also.

4. That the outlines of the arrangement for branch offices and land transfer districts should be defined in the Bill. On this we may be permitted to remark that, assuming the first establishments and appointments to be experimental, it may, perhaps, be better to have even this matter independent of legislative enactment in case of mishap.

5. That an interval of not less than six months should be allowed between the issue of rules and the incidence of compulsion. By way of shewing that this suggestion, though apparently a trite one, is not unnecessary, allusion might be made to the last notable issue of Consolidated Rules and Orders, which, if we remember rightly, came into operation just three days before they were published.

6. That the duty of registration should be thrown on the grantee, and not, as proposed, on the grantor. In this respect the report coincides, as far as we can learn, with a universally-expressed opinion.

7. That provision should be made to relieve a purchaser from notice of the trusts of the settlement where the proprietor is registered as tenant for life."

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to increase his insurance by filing a declaration of increased value and paying an additional premium.

14. That the power to make rules should not be vested in the Lord Chancellor alone, but that rules should be framed by the Land Transfer Board (this means, of course, the board constituted as above suggested (3)) and be issued by the Lord Chancellor on their advice. "The whole character of the measure and the greater or less success of the proposed scheme, will depend to a very great extent upon the rules issued from time to time for the guidance of applicants and of the board, and it is not too much to say that the framer of the rules can greatly extend or materially diminish the scope and effect of the Bill when passed into law (p. 22). On this head the answers of the provincial law societies are unanimous also.

15. That the devolution on death of real and personal estate should either be left as at present or assimilated for all purposes. It has been supposed that the Bill was to effect this as drawn; but, as is pointed out earlier in the report (p. 25), the life estate in the whole residue of real estate given to a surviving wife or husband is by no means the same thing as the interests in personalty conferred on the same persons by the existing law, and is open to very serious objection. Though the whole realty is given them for life, "no obligation is thrown on surviving parents to maintain the children (if any) out of the income. On the intestacy of the husband his widow would be entitled to the income whether she were the mother of his children or not, and whether she were married to a second husband or not, and the children might be left destitute." It is also pointed out that the words " pari passu with personal. estate" in (amended) clause 41 (1) would greatly fetter the discretion of the representatives, and it is recommended that they should be struck out.

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8, 9. That confirmations of titles would be open to abuse, and that the determination of boundaries has not yet been made satisfactory. We have ourselves dwelt upon this in an earlier issue (p. 392). It has also been pointed out in recent works how-and, it may be added, to the public also (for whose protection the the whole difficulty of boundaries can be removed by simply "guaranteeing" them, without any publicity, on the same evidence, and no more, than purchasers now take on sales.

10. That inasmuch as landowners are compelled to register, and therefore incur a risk which, as the Bill assumes, they would not incur voluntarily, the cost of insurance against that risk should not be thrown on them, but on the country. At any rate, it would appear that, as the first registered proprietor does not obtain the full benefit of registration for himself, the moment of contribution to the insurance fund ought to be deferred until somebody does obtain this-namely, till the occasion of the first transfer for value after first registration.

11. That the enforced contribution to an insurance fund will largely add to the cost of registration, and would, if registration were optional, be unnecessary. This latter assertion we question. The function of the insurance fund is to enable the registrar to proceed in cases of doubt. Cases of doubt must continually arise, and, unless there be an insurance fund, their occurrence must

operate as a continual obstacle to the transaction of business in adopted in private dealings; it forms, in fact, the only possible official substitute for that convenient practice of " chancing it" by which private persons habitually facilitate the conduct of their affairs, with results on the whole satisfactory.

the registry on the same terms of swiftness and ease as is now

12. That if an insurance fund be established, any injured proprietor should at once have a direct claim against the fund, not, as appears to be intended by (amended) clause 20 (1), only after exhausting all legal remedies available against private persons liable -in which case, moreover, besides the trouble and delay, it does not appear that he would have any right to indemnity against his legal expenses so incurred.

13. That the right of an aggrieved proprietor should be to full compensation; not merely to the cost of the land, irrespective of improvements or at least, as suggested in an earlier part of the report (p. 20, 21), that a proprietor improving should always have power

16. That, without limiting the right of any proprietor to transact in person his own business, the conduct, for fee or reward, of legal business connected with land should, as heretofore, be intrusted to solicitors. This suggestion is mainly due to the council's apprehensions arising out of the passage in clause 53 (4) as to the authorization of "officers" to be employed on behalf of applicants," and to be "remunerated by the payment of such fees by the parties as may be prescribed "to which passage we also drew attention in our last week's issue. Its importance to solicitors present exclusive rights of solicitors have been established)—is very great. Of course, it may be (as we pointed out) that the clause is not intended to interfere with the existing rules as to legal work, but is meant to be applied cnly to the surveying department; but, however this may be, it seems that the council are doing no less than must reasonably be expected of them by the profession in suggesting that some distinct limitation should be inserted in the Act to regulate the scope of so wide a general power. "If the committee have correctly appreciated the intention of the proviso cited, they feel that, on this point, every possible opposition should be offered to the Bill.”

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The tenth annual meeting of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings was held on Wednesday afternoon in the old hall of Staple Inn, Holborn, when a paper, entitled, "The Sacredness of Ancient Buildings, Morris, and there was a numerous attendance. The Prudential Life Assurance was read by Mr. Frederic Harrison. The chair was taken by Mr. William Co. is now the owner of Staple Inn, and has announced its intention to preserve it without alteration. The old hall of the Inn has been cleansed and put in repair, and, with its ancient roof, its fine oak wainscotting, and interesting relic of Old London. Until the 24th of June the hall will be its windows rich with many-hued heraldic devices, it constitutes a most open for the inspection of the public, and after that date it will pass into the occupation of the Institute of Actuaries.

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