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"of his unlettered eloquence. 'Who is it,' said the jealous ruler of the forest, "encroached upon by the restless foot of English adventure, Who is it that 'causes these mountains to lift up their lofty head? Who raises the winds of the "winter, and calms them again in the summer? The same Being who gave you a country on your side of the water, and ours to us on this.'" 1

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Erskine was indebted to nature for a singularly sweet and flexible voice. Plutarch, in his enumeration of the ten Greek orators, is careful to mention their excellent voices, and the pains bestowed by some of them in training them. Erskine had a charm of voice which in itself enchained attention, and which was adequate to any emergency. Like other great orators of ancient and modern times, he went to the stage for lessons in elocution. Demosthenes studied delivery under the comedian Satyrus. Cicero studied under the comic actor Roscius and the tragedian sopus. Gambetta studied under the famous Coquelin. Erskine found his model in Mrs. Siddons, whose cadences and intonations he carefully noted. He once said that he was indebted for his best displays to the harmony of her periods and pronunciation.

Erskine was an unflinching upholder of the dignity and integrity of the Bar. There is a fine passage in his speech for Thomas Paine, too long to quote, in which he enlarges upon the duty of an advocate. He was much attacked for undertaking the defence of Paine, and he justifies his action in unhesitating language. "Little indeed did they know me, who thought that such calumnies would influence my conduct. I will for ever, at all hazards, assert the dignity, independence, and integrity of the English Bar, without which impartial justice, the most valuable part of the English constitution, can have no existence." This passage recalls the boldness of another great advocate, Cicero, who,

1 This famous passage is differently given in different works. The above version is from the chapter on Erskine in Public Characters of 1799-1800, published in London in 1799.

The other quotations in the article are from Speeches by Thomas Lord Erskine, with a Memoir by Edward Walford, 1880.

in his speech for Roscius Amerinus, gives utterance to words worthy to be placed beside those of Erskine. The opponent of Roscius was supported by very powerful friends, and Cicero says that perhaps he acted rashly under the impulse of youth in undertaking the defence. But having once undertaken it, no terror or danger would keep him from standing by his client. One occasion, on which Erskine refused to allow Mr. Justice Buller to browbeat him, is famous. "Sit down, Sir," said Mr. Justice Buller. Remember your duty, or I shall be obliged to proceed in another manner." Erskine retorted, "Your Lordship may proceed in what manner you think fit. I know my duty as well as your Lordship knows yours. I shall not alter my conduct."

Erskine, like Cicero, found that boldness in the performance of his duty paid in the end. Cicero told his son that the surest way to attain reputation and favour as an advocate was to undertake the defence of those who were oppressed or overborne by the influence of powerful opponents, as Cicero himself had done in the case of Roscius Amerinus. Erskine's experience was the same, and with the passage in which he says so this article may fitly be concluded:

"It was the first command and counsel of my youth always to do what my "conscience told me to be my duty; and to leave the consequences to God. I "shall carry with me the memory, and, I hope, the practice of this parental "lesson to the grave. I have hitherto followed it, and have no reason to com"plain that the adherence to it has been even a temporal sacrifice. I have found 'it, on the contrary, the road to prosperity and wealth; and shall point it out as such to my children."

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J. A. LOVAT-FRASER.

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II. THE LAW OF THE UNIVERSITIES.

THE

V. DISCIPLINE.

HE disciplinary powers of the universities extend over graduates, undergraduates, and non-members. As to graduates, by the Oxford statutes of 1882, framed under the powers of the Act of 1877, a visitatorial board has been constituted consisting of the Vice-Chancellor and six other graduates. It has disciplinary authority over professors, readers, and other university officers, and may deprive, suspend, or admonish for grave misconduct, neglect of duties, or wilful disobedience of statutes of the university. There is no similar board at Cambridge, but an analogous jurisdiction is exercised by the Vice-Chancellor and the Sex Viri (elected by the Senate) for the trial of graduates.' Another remedy for offences committed by graduates is degradation or deprivation of degrees by the university itself. The principal disciplinary officers over those in statu pupillari are the two proctors and the four proproctors, whose powers are based partly on 31 Hen. VIII, c. 10, partly on statutes of the universities. The whipping of old times has long ceased and so have some of the old offences, such as poaching at Shotover or Woodstock. The usual punishments now are fine, "gating," rustication, and expulsion. For graver offences the magisterial powers of

1 There is an appeal from this body to the Senate, but apparently none from the visitatorial board.

2 The best-known cases are those of Bentley in 1718, and of W. G. Ward, a Fellow of Balliol, during the Tractarian controversy. In 1896 a M.B. of Caius was deprived of his degree by the Sex Viri after a sentence of penal servitude (Guardian, 21 Nov. 1896).

The original authority of the proctors included, among other curious matters, jurisdiction against those who paid their tailors more than the statutory allowance. They had also practically unlimited powers against those suspectos qualitercunque. See Wood, Fasti Oxonienses, 3.

In one case it was held that a man might be expelled from the university without being expelled from his college (R. v. Chancellor of Cambridge [1784], 6 T. R. 89). The offence was writing a pamphlet against the Established Church, and the tribunal was the Vice-Chancellor and heads of houses in the Chancellor's Court. It is difficult to suppose that this decision would be followed now, unless in the case of an unattached student.

the Vice-Chancellor would be invoked. By the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge may sit as a borough justice at Cambridge. He is also president of the Court of Discipline (six heads of houses), for the trial of offences committed by those in statu pupillari. He may also hold a court under the Cambridge. University and Corporation Act, 1894. At Oxford the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor were by the charter of 14 Hen. VIII justices for the City of Oxford and the counties of Oxford and Berks. In 1886 a new court of summary jurisdiction was established by the Oxford University (Justices) Act, 1886, (49 & 50 Vict., c. 31), by which a place may be fixed within the precincts of the university where the Chancellor and his commissary (the ViceChancellor), and the deputy of the latter, may sit as justices for the counties of Oxford and Berks, and any justice. for Oxford and Berks may sit with him.1 For the graver crimes the Court of the High Steward, dating from 1406, still nominally has jurisdiction to try a member of the university, graduate or undergraduate, for treason, felony, or mayhem. A true bill must be found at assizes and removed by certiorari to the university court, and half the jury must consist of matriculated persons. The court may now be considered obsolete. Even in Blackstone's time there had been no trial for over a century. High Stewards and Deputy High Stewards are still appointed by both universities, but the office is an absolute sinecure. In one case there is a vicarious responsibility for offences. The Act 28 Geo. III, c. 64, provided for paving and

1 Probably a mandamus would not lie to review the decision of a disciplinary authority. It was refused to restore a fellow of New College who had been deprived as being "guilty of enormous crimes" (Appleford's Case [1672], 1 Mod. 82). In the case of Widdrington, a fellow of Christ's, who had been deprived as "peccant," the King's Bench refused a writ of restitution. Later he brought an action on the case against the Master, the matter was referred to certain commissioners, he was restored, and the proceedings were "buried in oblivion" (Widdrington's Case [1663], T. Raym., 31, 68).

lighting Cambridge. By sect. 74 of the Act (amended by 34 Geo. III, c. 104, s. 21), if any matriculated person break or damage one of the lamps set up under the powers of the Act, he is liable to pay for the damage; if he refuse to do so, "the tutor of the college of which the offender is a member shall be answerable for the same." Some curiosities are contained in railway Acts. By 6 & 7 Vict., c. x, proctors, pro-proctors, heads of houses, and the marshal of the university are to have access to the Great Western railway station, and the company are not to convey as a passenger any member of the university under the degree of M.A., when the company shall be requested by an officer of the university not to convey him. No such provision occurs in the London and North Western Company's Act, but a similar clause is contained in the Acts dealing with Cambridge railway station (7 & 8 Vict., c. lxii, 9 & 10 Vict., c. clxxii). In addition to these powers of the university the colleges have their own modes of enforcing discipline, so that every undergraduate is subject to two jurisdictions. If rules of discipline be reasonable, the Courts will not interfere.1

Of powers of university officers in the case of nonmembers, the most important are those over "common prostitutes and night-walkers," over places of amusement, and over citizens. The former class of power depended at one time on charter, but has in more modern times been the subject of imperial legislation. 6 Geo. IV, c. 97, applies to both universities as to appointment of constables. Under this Act the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor may appoint constables. At Oxford, any woman of the description. mentioned, found wandering and not giving a satisfactory account of herself, is to be deemed an idle and disorderly

2

1 Green v. Peterhouse, Appendix.

2 The proctor's constables are not entitled to claim conusance in an action for trespass, Turner v. Bates [1847], 10 Q. B. 292.