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the bar, this meeting being of opinion that the resolution of the Inns of Court should not be accepted, but that solicitors should have facilities for call to the bar equal to those already given to the members of the bar for admission to the roll of solicitors."

Mr. F. MILLER seconded the amendment. Mr. BOLTON asked whether the suggestion that solieitors who wished to go to the bar should be divided into two classes-those who had passed the preliminary examination and those who had not-came from the council or from the Inns of Court? He asked this, not only in the interest of those solicitors who had obtained dispensing orders, but also of the senior members of the profession who had entered it before the institution of the preliminary examination.

Mr. MASON said that the council had rather helped the barristers than the solicitors in their endeavours for several years. He urged that the solicitors should make greater use of the influence they possessed in the House of Commons and elsewhere.

Mr. R. TODD spoke of the want of efficient arrangements for the distribution of stamps, due, as he believed, to some extent, to the fact that the commission at one time allowed to law stationers on their sale had been withdrawn. He gave an instance where he went to the county court at Wandsworth to file a petition in bankruptcy, and the £5 stamp which was necessary could not be procured nearer than London, where he was obliged to send a messenger, involving a waste of a couple of hours. It was very desirable that this defect should be remedied. He asked why some arrangement could not be made for informing the solicitor when a judge would not attend at chambers? He had recently had a case in which, when he attended on the Saturday at chambers, he found that there was no judge, but a notice to the effect that summonses set down for hearing on that day would have precedence on the following Monday. If a solicitor's time was to be wasted in this way, the client would naturally have to pay for it.

Mr. FRANCIS MILLER said that there were many matters in the report which the members would like to have an opportunity of discussing, and a late hour had now been reached. He moved the adjournment of the meeting until the following Friday (yesterday).

Mr. F. K. MUNTON seconded the motion, which was carried.

A motion by Mr. MILLER, seconded by Mr. KIMBER, that the hour of meeting be seven p.m. was proposed, to which an amendment by Mr. TODD was moved, and seconded by Mr. PAINE, that the hour be two p.m. amendment was carried, and was then adopted as a substantive motion.

OBITUARY.

LORD HATHERLEY.

The

The Right Hon. William Page Wood, Lord Hatherley, formerly Lord High Chancellor of England, died at his residence, Great George-street, Westminster, on the 9th inst., in his eightieth year. Lord Hatherley was the second son of Alderman Sir Matthew Wood, who was twice Lord Mayor of London, and was created a baronet in 1837, his mother having been a daughter of Dr. John Page, of Woodbridge, Suffolk. He was born in 1801, and was educated at Winchester. Having spent several months studying at Geneva, he proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge, of which society he was successively scholar and fellow, and he graduated as twenty-fourth wrangler in 1824. Soon after taking his degree, he entered at Lincoln's-inn, and was a pupil of the late Mr. Roupell (who was afterwards a master in chancery), and subsequently of Mr. John Tyrrell, the well-known conveyancer. He was called to the bar in 1927, and soon succeeded in obtaining business, both as a conveyancer and as an equity draftsman, as well as before Parliamentary Committees. In 1845, he received a silk gown from Lord Lyndhurst, and he then selected for practice the Court of ViceChancellor Wigram, in which he speedily became one of the leaders. In 1849, he received from Lord Campbell, then Chancellor of the Duchy, the appointment of Vice-Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster, which office he held for only two years. Mr. Wood's politics were those of an

the

advanced Liberal, although on such questions as abolition of church rates, and marriage with a deceased wife's sister, his views differed from those of his party. At the general election of 1847 he was elected M.P. for the city of Oxford. He gave a steady support to the Government of Lord John Russell, and in 1851, when Sir John Romilly became Master of the Rolls, and Sir Alexander Cockburn Attorney-General, he was appointed Solicitor-General, and received the honour of knighthood. His career as a law officer was, however, a very short one, for in February, 1852, he retired with his party. In the following December, on the formation of the Earl of Aberdeen's Government, Lord Cianworth became Lord Chancellor, and Sir George Turner Lord Justice of Appeal, and Sir W. P. Wood was appointed a Vice-Chancellor. He held that office for over fifteen years, and achieved a very high judicial reputation. His judgments (which are to be found in "Kay and Johnson," "Johnson and Hemming," "Hemming and Miller," and the earlier volumes of the Law Reports) were very seldom reversed on appeal. He was a member of the Chancery Procedure Commission and the Cambridge University Commission, and he was also one of the arbitrators between her Majesty and the late King of Hanover in respect of the disputed claims to the Hanover Crown jewels. In February, 1868, on Lord Cairns becoming Lord Chancellor, Sir W. P. Wood received from his political opponents the appointment of Lord Justice of Appeal, and was sworn as a member of the Privy Council. The appointment gave very great satisfaction to the profession, and Sir Charles Selwyn, who had been appointed a lord justice a few weeks earlier, waived his right to precedence. Sir W. P. Wood did not long occupy this office, for in the following December, on the formation of Mr. Gladstone's first administration, he accepted the Great Seal, and was raised to the peerage with the title of Baron Hatherley. He was a frequent speaker in the House of Lords when on the woolsack, for it became his duty to defend the provisions of the Irish Church and Land Bills, and the arrangements of the Alabama Treaty. Lord Hatherley was less successful as a legislator than as a judge. He passed the Bankruptcy Act of 1869 and the Judicial Committee Act of 1871, but he failed to carry a Judicature Bill. In October, 1872, in consequence of the weakness of his sight, he resigned the Great Seal to Lord Selborne, but he continued to be most conscientious in his attendance on the hearing of appeals in the House of Lords. He sat for the last time at the end of July, 1880, and at the commencement of the present session he intimated to Lord Selborne that he felt no longer equal to the performance of judicial duties. All his judgments were most carefully reasoned, although he erred on the side of diffuseness, and his style of expression a little involved; and it was often remarked that he owed much to the reporters. Lord Hatherley was a liberal supporter of the leading Church societies, and took an active part in charitable and religious undertakings in the city of Westminster. For many years he regularly taught in St. Margaret's Sunday-schools, and he was one of the chief founders of the Westminster Free Library. He published, some years ago, a work on "The Continuity of Scripture.' Lord Hatherley was married to a daughter of Major Edward Moore, but he became a widower in 1878. He leaves no family, and the title becomes extinct.

was not

MR. R. K. RODWELL.

Mr. Robert Kedington Rodwell, barrister, of No. 7, Newsquare, Livcoln's inn, died very suddenly on Sunday, July 3, at his father's house in Bury St. Edmunds, aged thirty-four years. He was the eldest son of Mr. Robert Rodwell of that town, and was educated at Bury School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. After a distinguished university career he took his B. A. degree in 1869, being seventh in the first class of the classical tripos, seventeenth senior optime, and second Chancellor's medallist. He was shortly afterwards elected to a fellowship at his college. He was called to the bar in Trinity Term, 1874, and practised as a conveyancer and equity draftsman. He was one of the commissioners chosen to represent his college at the sittings of the Cambridge University Commissioners.

have only two representatives whilst the bar had no less than thirteen? The solicitors had reports of their own in the SOLICITORS' JOURNAL and other legal publications, and what power would the two solicitors possess in the presence of the thirteen barristers ? He would be glad to know if the council had had under their consideration the subject of the accommodation of solicitors in waiting-rooms at the new Law Courts ? In the chambers of Vice-Chancellor Hall there were two rooms for the accommodation of the bar on the first floor and one on the second, whilst there was only one room for solicitors, which was on the second floor. Considering that solicitors and their clerks were constantly attending before the judges, and that they were twenty times as numerous as barristers, better accommodation ought to be provided.

Mr. PARKER bad put a question three years ago to the then president as to whether the council could not make arrangements to hold the examination in some other place or building, so that the library might not be closed to the members every now and again. Or the council might find it convenient to hold the examination on several days, for there was no reason why the members of the society should be excluded from the enjoyment of the library. At all times the students occupied the greater part of the library and of the books, and he looked upon this as a present and a greatly increasing evil which would be felt to a yet greater extent when the new Law Courts were opened, and a greater number of solicitors would be brought to the building, both in London and from the country. The students, as a body of strangers, had no right whatever to turn the members out of their own library, and they were gradually making it a study of their own, not merely coming there to read the books to be found in the library, but bringing their own text-books and passing the day in reading them. This was not putting the library to its legitimate use, and was very much to the inconvenience of the members who had occasion to resort to it. He would venture to sug. gest that it might be possible to exclude the students altogether from the library. There was an examination hall in the building in which they might be accommodated, and the library could then be retained for the enjoyment of the members. He believed that if the council were to consult Mr. Busk and the examiners they would find that the number of books used by the students would be about one hundred, and these could easily be supplied in the examination hall. Another cause of complaint was that the students made marks in the books occasionally, and damaged them in a way that ought not to be. It should be remembered that whilst the bar bad four good libraries, the solicitors of England had only one, and that was closed upon examination days, and at other times only one-third was open to them. The solicitors flung back upon the bar all suggestions of inferiority or want of dignity, and yet they did not possess a proper library. He would be glad to know whether the council would object to the appointment of a library committee, with two of the outside members who really used the library and took an interest in it?

Mr. JOHN INDERMAUR quite agreed that the closing of the library on examination days was a source of great discomfort to the members and their articled clerks. It was also most unnecessarily closed on days when dinners took place. He, however, altogether disagreed with the remarks which had been made with respect to the students. A large part of the income of the society was derived from the students, and they were the only people who ever used the library in a grateful and useful manner. The members visited it in a mere casual way, but many of the students derived the greatest advantage from it. They no doubt were in the habit of bringing their text-books to the library, but it was necessary for them to refer to reports and statutes which, as a matter of course, they would not have an opportunity of doing in their own chambers. His own experience as a student had always been that, when a solicitor came into the library and required a book which was in the hands of a student, it was taken away from the student and given to the member. There was an admirable idea in the report with respect to the remuneration of solicitors, which the council were of opinion should be "according to the skill, knowledge, and exertion which he employs in the business, and according to the importance and his consequent responsibility, and not according to the time employed, the length of documents prepared, or the number of letters or confer. ences." He thought this a mere idle formula, and that Bolicitors would never arrive at that period when they would

be so remunerated. In his own experience the taxing masters were always inclined to consider the length of documents in their allowances. The present state of the taxing office was a scandal, especially in the Chancery Division. A few days since he had left a bill for taxation and had been told it was impossible to give an appointment until after the long vacation. He thought the council would be better occupied in considering such questions as these than in dealing with subjects which concerned the far future. With regard to the division of the two branches of the legal profession, he asserted that economy in procedure would never be accomplished until there was a fusion between the two branches, and he was sure that time would arrive. Although he congratulated the council upon the steps they had taken for facilitating the call of solicitors to the bar, yet he grieved when he saw that they considered the resolution which had been arrived at to be satisfactory. It was still necessary that solicitors should spend four terms and pass an examination. This was not a satisfactory termination of the question.

Mr. J. A. ROSE regretted the manner in which the books in the library were spoilt by the writing in them of insolent remarks by the students. He was opposed to rendering the access of solicitors to the bar so easy, and could not see any objection to the keeping of the four terms which was required. Did they wish that gentlemen should be solicitors one day, barristers the next, and solicitors again the day after, so that they would become perambulating nuisances? He could not agree in abusing the late Chief Baron of the Exchequer because he had smoothed the way for respectable solicitors' clerks to become solicitors. Some of the best and most honourable solicitors he had ever met had risen from the lowest ranks of the profession, and he could not see why their course should not be facilitated. They certainly ought not to have any slur put upon them as was done in the report. Referring to the encounter which had taken place between the solicitors and the Attorney-General, in which the council, having the better case, had conducted it so magnificently that at the end they had to apologize, he said they had now transferred the quarrel from the barrister to his clerk, and were objecting to his fees. He had never heard a client say one word against the 2s. 6d. to be paid to the clerk, but had heard a good deal said against the guineas paid to the barrister.

Mr. J. E. Fox expressed his satisfaction with the report, but observed that, as the society had permitted a Bill to pass enabling the barrister of five years' standing, on being disbarred, and passing the society's final examin ation, to be finrolled as a solicitor, should not be satisfied with a result which placed the solicitor at a greater disadvantage. The council had prepared a Bill for the purpose of facilitating the call of solicitors to the bar, and the bar, wishing to prevent its passing, had effected a compromise, by which a solicitor of not less than five years' practice might, after keeping four terms, and having passed the bar final examination, be called to the bar. The report told them that "the council had hoped to get rid of the interval altogether, but with the uncertainty as to the result of their bill in Parliament, they considered that it would be prudent to accept the resolution of the Inns of Court." In connection with this subject, there was a suggestion as to preliminary examination; and, if the council accepted that resolution, all solicitors who had not passed the preliminary examination of the Incorporated Law Society, no matter how they might have been exempted from it, would be prevented from going to the bar. This was not right or just, as many solicitors had passed the Oxford or Cambridge local examinations, an1 some had obtained degrees, whilst others had been exempted, and the solicitors ought to have equal advantages with the members of the bar. As regarded the audience of solicitors, the Bankruptcy Act had admitted that solicitors were qualified to have audience in the Bankruptcy Court, and, if this were the case in that court, why should they not be qualified to have audience in the other courts? He would observe, with regard to the library, that the bye-laws concerning it were not carried out. There was a bye-law that none but members should be admitted, and if this was not carried out in its entirety, at any rate the students should be restricted to the further end of the library. He moved, as an amend ment, "That the report be received, with the exception of that part thereof which relates to the call of solicitors to

the bar, this meeting being of opinion that the resolution of the Inns of Court should not be accepted, but that solicitors should have facilities for call to the bar equal to those already given to the members of the bar for admission to the roll of solicitors."

Mr. F. MILLER seconded the amendment. Mr. BOLTON asked whether the suggestion that solieitors who wished to go to the bar should be divided into two classes-those who had passed the preliminary examination and those who had not-came from the council or from the Inns of Court? He asked this, not only in the interest of those solicitors who had obtained dispensing orders, but also of the senior members of the profession who had entered it before the institution of the preliminary examination.

Mr. MASON said that the council had rather helped the barristers than the solicitors in their endeavours for several years. He urged that the solicitors should make greater use of the influence they possessed in the House of Commons and elsewhere.

Mr. R. TODD spoke of the want of efficient arrangements for the distribution of stamps, due, as he believed, to some extent, to the fact that the commission at one time allowed to law stationers on their sale had been withdrawn. He gave an instance where he went to the county court at Wandsworth to file a petition in bankruptcy, and the £5 stamp which was necessary could not be procured nearer than London, where he was obliged to send a messenger, involv ing a waste of a couple of hours. It was very desirable that this defect should be remedied. He asked why some arrangement could not be made for informing the solicitor when a judge would not attend at chambers? He had recently had a case in which, when he attended on the Saturday at chambers, he found that there was no judge, but a notice to the effect that summonses set down for hearing on that day would have precedence on the following Monday. If a solicitor's time was to be wasted in this way, the client would naturally have to pay for it.

Mr. FRANCIS MILLER said that there were many matters in the report which the members would like to have an opportunity of discussing, and a late hour had now been reached. He moved the adjournment of the meeting until the following Friday (yesterday).

Mr. F. K. MUNTON seconded the motion, which was carried.

A motion by Mr. MILLER, seconded by Mr. KIMBER, that the hour of meeting be seven p.m. was proposed, to which an amendment by Mr. TODD was moved, and seconded by Mr. PAINE, that the hour be two p.m. The amendment was carried, and was then adopted as a substantive motion.

OBITUARY.

LORD HATHERLEY.

The Right Hon. William Page Wood, Lord Hatherley, formerly Lord High Chancellor of England, died at his residence, Great George-street, Westminster, on the 9th inst., in his eightieth year. Lord Hatherley was the second son of Alderman Sir Matthew Wood, who was twice Lord Mayor of London, and was created a baronet in 1837, his mother having been a daughter of Dr. John Page, of Woodbridge, Suffolk. He was born in 1801, and was educated at Winchester. Having spent several months studying at Geneva, he proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge, of which society he was successively scholar and fellow, and he graduated as twenty-fourth wrangler in 1824. Soon after taking his degree, he entered at Lincoln's-inn, and was a pupil of the late Mr. Roupell (who was afterwards a master in chancery), and subsequently of Mr. John Tyrrell, the well-known conveyancer. He was called to the bar in 1927, and soon succeeded in obtaining business, both as a conveyancer and as an equity draftsman, as well as before Parliamentary Committees. In 1845, he received a silk gown from Lord Lyndhurst, and he then selected for practice the Court of ViceChancellor Wigram, in which he speedily became one of the leaders. In 1849, he received from Lord Campbell, then Chancellor of the Duchy, the appointment of Vice-Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster, which office he held for only two years. Mr. Wood's politics were those of an

the

advanced Liberal, although on such questions as abolition of church rates, and marriage with a deceased wife's sister, his views differed from those of his party. At the general election of 1847 he was elected M.P. for the city of Oxford. He gave a steady support to the Government of Lord John Russell, and in 1851, when Sir John Romilly became Master of the Rolls, and Sir Alexander Cockburn Attorney-General, he was appointed Solicitor-General, and received the honour of knighthood. His career as a law officer was, however, a very short one, for in February, 1852, he retired with his party. In the following December, on the formation of the Earl of Aberdeen's Government, Lord Cianworth became Lord Chancellor, and Sir George Turner Lord Justice of Appeal, and Sir W. P. Wood was appointed a Vice-Chancellor. He held that office for over fifteen years, and achieved a very high judicial reputation. His judgments (which are to be found in "Kay and Johnson," "Johnson and Hemming," "Hemming and Miller," and the earlier volumes of the Law Reports) were very seldom reversed on appeal. He was a member of the Chancery Procedure Commission and the Cambridge University Commission, and he was also one of the arbitrators between her Majesty and the late King of Hanover in respect of the disputed claims to the Hanover Crown jewels. In February, 1868, on Lord Cairns becoming Lord Chancellor, Sir W. P. Wood received from his political opponents the appointment of Lord Justice of Appeal, and was sworn as a member of the Privy Council. The appointment gave very great satisfaction to the profession, and Sir Charles Selwyn, who had been appointed a lord justice a few weeks earlier, waived his right to precedence. Sir W. P. Wood did not long occupy this office, for in the following December, on the formation of Mr. Gladstone's first administration, he accepted the Great Seal, and was raised to the peerage with the title of Baron Hatherley. He was a frequent speaker in the House of Lords when on the woolsack, for it became his duty to defend the provisions of the Irish Church and Land Bills, and the arrangements of the Alabama Treaty. Lord Hatherley was less successful as a legislator than as a judge. He passed the Bankruptcy Act of 1869 and the Judicial Committee Act of 1871, but he failed to carry a Judicature Bill. In October, 1872, in consequence of the weakness of his sight, he resigned the Great Seal to Lord Selborne, but he continued to be most conscientious in his attendance on the hearing of appeals in the House of Lords. He sat for the last time at the end of July, 1880, and at the commencement of the present session he intimated to Lord Selborne that he felt no longer equal to the performance of judicial duties. his judgments were most carefully reasoned, although he erred on the side of diffuseness, and his style of expression was not a little involved; and it was often remarked that he owed much to the reporters. Lord Hatherley was a liberal supporter of the leading Church societies, and took an active part in charitable and religious undertakings in the city of Westminster. For many years he regularly taught in St. Margaret's Sunday-schools, and he was one of the chief founders of the Westminster Free Library. published, some years ago, a work on "The Continuity of Scripture." Lord Hatherley was married to a daughter of Major Edward Moore, but he became a widower in 1878. He leaves no family, and the title becomes extinct.

MR. R. K. RODWELL.

All

He

Mr. Robert Kedington Rodwell, barrister, of No. 7, Newsquare, Lincoln's inn, died very suddenly on Sunday, July 3, at his father's house in Bury St. Edmunds, aged thirty-four years. He was the eldest son of Mr. Robert Rodwell of that town, and was educated at Bury School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. After a distinguished university career he took his B.A. degree in 1869, being seventh in the first class of the classical tripos, seventeenth senior optime, and second Chancellor's medalist. He was shortly afterwards elected to a fellowship at his college. He was called to the bar in Trinity Term, 1874, and practised as a conveyancer and equity draftsman. He was one of the commissioners chosen to represent his college at the sittings of the Cambridge University Commissioners.

PENDING LEGISLATION.

SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE ACT
AMENDMENT.

A Bill intituled An Act to amend the Supreme Court of
Judicature Acts; and for other purposes.

Whereas it is expedient to amend the constitution of her Majesty's Court of Appeal, and to make further provision concerning the Supreme Court of Judicature and the officers thereof, and such other matters as are hereinafter mentioned: Be it enacted, &c.

1. Short title.] This Act may be cited as the Supreme Court of Judicature, Act 1881.

2. Master of the Rolls to be Judge of Appeal only.] From and after the passing of this Act the present and every future Master of the Rolls shall cease to be a judge of her Majesty's High Court of Justice, but shall continue by virtue of his office to be a judge of her Majesty's Court of Appeal, and shall retain the same rank, title, salary, right of pension, patronage, and powers of appointment or dismissal, and all other powers, privileges, and disqualifications now and heretofore belonging to the said office of Master of the Rolls, and all other duties of the said office except that of a judge of her Majesty's High Court of Justice: Provided that the present Master of the Rolls shall not by virtue of this Act be subject to any disqualification to which he is not by law now subject, nor shall be required to act under any commission of assize, Nisi Prius, oyer and terminer, or gaol delivery; and the existing personal officers of the Master of the Rolls shall continue to be attached to him and be under his authority, and to hold their respective offices upon the same tenure and in the same manner in all respects as if this Act had not passed: Provided also, that any Master of the Rolls to be hereafter appointed shall be under an obligation to go circuits and to act as a commissioner under commissions of assize, or other commissions authorized to be issued in pursuance of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1873, in the same manner in all respects as if he were a judge of the High Court of Justice.

3. Existing vacancy in Court of Appeal not to be filled up.] The vacancy now existing among the ordinary judges of the said Court of Appeal shall not be filled up, and the number of ordinary judges of that court shall henceforth be five.

4. President of Probate Division to be an ex officio Judge of Court of Appeal.] The President for the time being of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice shall henceforth be an ex officio judge of her Majesty's Court of Appeal with the same powers, and in the same manner in all respects as the other ex officio judges thereof.

5. Three puisne judges to sit in Court of Appeal] In addition to the ex officio judges and the ordinary judges of the said Court of Appeal, three of the puisne judges of the High Court of Justice, to be selected annually as hereinafter provided, shall be judges of the Court of Appeal with the same powers as the other judges thereof. For the purposes of this Act, every judge of the High Court, who is not an ex officio judge of the Court of Appeal, shall be deemed to be a puisne judge of the said High Court.

Such three judges shall be selected in manner following; that is to say, on or before the fourth day of November next after the passing of this Act, and from time to time on or before the same day in every succeeding year, the judges of the said High Court shall, by a majority of votes, nominate three of the puisne judges of the said High Court to serve in the Court of Appeal during the twelve months commencing on such fourth day of November and ending on the third day of November then next ensuing. If, in any case, the judges present at any meeting held for the purpose of such selection are equally divided in the choice of any judge, the judge then present, who is senior in rank or precedence, shall have a second or casting vote. The choice of a judge to fill any occasional vacancy occurring during any current year by the death, resignation, or removal from office of any judge so selected, until the end of such current year, shall be made in like manner.

Every judge so selected shall, notwithstanding his service

in the Court of Appeal, continue to be and to act as a judge of the High Court of Justice, and shall be capable of performing and liable to perform all duties which he would have been capable of performing and liable to perform, in pursuance of any Act of Parliament, law, or custom, if this Act had not passed, and shall not be bound to give attendance in the Court of Appeal at any time when his presence elsewhere is necessary for the due discharge of the business of the said High Court, or of any commission of assize, or of oyer and terminer or gaol delivery.

The provisions of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1875, section five, as to the tenure of the office of judge shall not apply (so far as relates to the Court of Appeal to any judge so selected as aforesaid; and the power for an additional judge or additional judges to attend in the Court of Appeal on the request of the Lord Chancellor, given by the same section of the last-mentioned Act, is hereby repealed. Section nineteen of the Appellate Jarisdiction Act, 1876, shall apply to any judge of the Court of Appeal selected under this Act.

6. New judge of High Court instead of Master of the Rolls.] It shall be lawful for her Majesty to supply the vacancy in the High Court of Justice, to be occasioned by the removal therefrom of the Master of the Rolls, by the appointment, immediately after the passing of this Act, and from time to time afterwards, of a judge, who shall be in the same position as if he had been appointed a puisne judge of the said High Court in pursuance of the Judicature Acts, 1873 and 1875; and all the provisions of the Supreme Court of Judicature Acts, 1873 and 1875, for the time being in force in relation to the qualification and appointment of puisne judges of the said High Court, and to their duties and tenure of office, and to their precedence, and to their salaries and pensions, and to the officers to be attached to the persons of such judges, and all other provisions relating to such puisne judges, or any of them, with the exception of such provisions as apply to existing judges only, shall apply to the judge appointed in pursuance of this section, in the same manner as they apply to the other puisne judges of the said High Court respectively. The judge so appointed shall be attached to the Chancery Division of the said High Court, subject to such power of transfer as is in the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1873, mentioned.

7. Judge under Judicature Act, 1877.] The power given to her Majesty by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1877, to appoint a judge of the High Court of Justice in addition Supreme Court of Judicature Acts, 1873 and 1875, may be to the number of judges authorized to be appointed by the exercised by her Majesty from time to time, so as at all times to make due provision for the business of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice: Provided that no such ap. pointment shall be made unless or until the number of judges attached for the time being to the Chancery Division of the High Court, other than the Lord Chancellor, is, by death, resignation, or otherwise, reduced below five.

8. Rolls Court Chambers and clerks, &c.] The Lord Chancellor shall have power by order under his hand to direct that the court and chambers heretofore used by the Master of the Rolls as a judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice, shall (so long as may be necessary or convenient) be used by such judge of the said Chancery Division of the said High Court as shall be in any such order in that behalf named; and the chief and other clerks, and other officers, heretofore attached to the said court and chambers respectively, shall (subject to any rules or orders of court) be and continue attached to the judge to be named in any such order, and, after such court and chambers shall have ceased to be so used, to the judge to whom the business previously transacted in such court and chambers respectively shall be for the time being assigned.

9. Title of Justices ] And whereas it is expedient to amend section four of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1877: Be it enacted that the exception of Presidents of divisions from the enactment that the judges of the High Court of Justice shall be styled justices of the High Court shall not apply to any judge to be hereafter appointed who may be or become President of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice.

10. Appeals under Divorce Act.] All appeals which, under section fifty-five of the Act of the twentieth and twentyfirst years of her present Majesty, chapter eighty-five, or under any other Act, might be brought to the full court

established by the said first-mentioned Act, shall henceforth be brought to her Majesty's Court of Appeal and not to the said full court, and the decision thereon of the said Court of Appeal shall be final, except in those cases in which it is by the same or any other Act provided that an appeal shall lie from a decision of the said full court to the House of Lords, in which cases an appeal shall lie, in the same manner and under the same conditions, from her Majesty's Court of Appeal to the House of Lords.

11. Apreal against decrees nisi for dissolution or nullity of sharriage] Any party dissatisfied with a decree nisi for dissolution or nullity of marriage pronounced under the Acts relating to divorce and matrimonial causes in England shall henceforth have the same right of appeal against such decree, within the same time and subject to the same conditions, as is given by the Divorce Amendment Act, 1868, to a party dissatisfied with the final decision of the court on a petition for dissolution or nullity of marriage; and no appeal from an order absolute for such dissolution or nullity shall henceforth lie in favour of any party who, having had time and opportunity under this Act to appeal from the decree nisi on which such order may be founded, shall not have appealed therefrom.

12. Qualifications of judges to sit on appeals.] A judge who was not present and acting as a member of a divisional court of the High Court of Justice, at the time when any decision which may be appealed from was made, or at the argument of the case decided, shall not, for the purposes of the fourth section of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1875, be deemed to be, or to have been, a member of such divisional court.

13. Selection of judges for trial of election petitions.] The judges to be placed on the rota for the trial of election petitions in England in each year, under the provisions of the Parliamentary Elections Act, 1868, or any Act amending the same, shall henceforth be selected out of the judges of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice in such manner as may be provided by any Rules of Court to be made for that purpose; and, subject thereto, shall be selected as follows; (that is to say,) the judges of the Queen's Bench Division of the said High Court shall, on or before the fourth day of November in every year, select, by a majority of votes, three of the paisne judges of such division (none of whom shall be a member of the House of Lords) to be placed on the rota for the trial of election petitions during the ensuing year.

If in any case the judges of the said division, present at the time of their meeting to make such selection, are equally divided in their choice of any judge to be placed on the rota, the Lord Chief Justice of England, or in case of his absence, the senior judge then present, shall have a second or casting vote.

The choice of a judge to fill any occasional vacancy upon the rots, or to assist the judge on the rota as an additional judge, shall be made in like manner.

The judges, who at the time of the passing of this Act shall be upon the rota for the trial of election petitions, shall continue upon such rota until the end of the year for which they have been appointed, in the same manner as if this Act had not passed.

14. Jurisdiction of High Court in registration and election cases.] The jurisdiction of the High Court of Justice to decide questions of law, upon appeal or otherwise, under the Act of the sixth and seventh years of her Majesty, chapter eighteen, the County Voters Registration Act, 1865, the Parliamentary Elections Act, 1868, the Corrupt Practices (Municipal Elections) Act, 1872, the Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act, 1878, or any of the said Acts, or any Act amending the same respectively, shall henceforth be final and conclusive, unless in any case it shall seem fit to the said High Court to give special leave to appeal therefrom to her Majesty's Court of Appeal, whose decision in such case shall be final and conclusive.

15. Extension of Winter Assizes Act of 1876 to all assizes.] The Winter Assizes Act, 1876, shall henceforth extend to all assizes to be held at any time of the year, and to every session of oyer and terminer and gaol delivery to be held for the Central Criminal Court district at any time of the year, in the same manner as if the word "winter were omitted from the said Act, and as if the months of November, December, or January were not mentioned therein.

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The Winter Assizes Act, 1877, and section 2 of the Spring Assizes Act, 1879, are hereby repealed, without prejudice to anything done in pursuance of those enact

ments.

16. Presentation and swearing of Lord Mayor of London.] The proceedings for the ordaining or nominating of sheriffs,. directed by an Act passed in the fourteenth year of King Edward the First, intituled "How long a Sheriff shall tarry in his Office," and by another Act passed in the twenty-fourth year of King George the Second, intituled "An Act for the abbreviation of Michaelmas Term," to take place at the Exchequer, shall henceforth in every year take place in the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, at the same time and in the same manner as bath been heretofore accustomed in the Court of Exchequer.

17. Proceedings with regard to nomination of sheriffs.] The presentation and swearing of the Lord Mayor of the city of London, which has heretofore taken place in the Court of Exchequer at Westminster after every annual election into that office, pursuant to charters granted by her Majesty's Royal Predecessors to the citizens of London, and to the herein before recited Act of King George the Second, shall henceforth take place in the Queen's Bench Division of her Majesty's High Court of Justice, or before the judges of that division, at the same time and in the same manner as hath been heretofore accustomed in the Court of Exchequer.

18. As to fixing Sessions of Central Criminal Court.] The power of making general orders for fixing the times of holding sessions of the Central Criminal Court established by the Act of the fourth and fifth years of King William the Fourth, chapter thirty-six, which by section fifteen of that Act was given to any eight or more of the judges of the Superior Courts at Westminster, may henceforth be exercised from time to time by any four or more of the judges of her Majesty's High Court of Jus

tice.

19. Power to make rules under Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876.] The power of making Rules of Court, conerred by section seventeen of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876, upon the several judges therein mentioned, shall henceforth be vested in and exercised by any five or more of the following persons, of whom the Lord Chan. cellor shall be one; namely, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice of England, the Master of the Rolls, the President of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice, and four other judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature to be from time to time appointed for the purpose by the Lord Chancellor in writing under his hand, such appointment to continue for such time as shall be specified therein.

20. The power and right of filling any vacancy in the office of master of the Supreme Court, or in any clerkship in the Central Office by section nine of the Supreme Court of Judicature (Officers') Act, 1879, vested, subject as therein mentioned, in the Lord Chief Justice of England, the Master of the Rolls, the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, in rotation and in such order as they, by agreement among themselves, might determine, shall benceforth be vested, subject as in the same Act mentioned, in the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice of England, and the Master of the Rolls in rotation or in such order or manner as they by agreement among themselves may determine: Provided, that if any master or prin cipal officer, whose duties for the time being may have relation solely or chiefly to the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, shall be appointed by the Lord Chancellor or the Master of the Rolls, such appointment shall be made with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice of England, and if any such master or principal officer, whose duties for the time being may have have relation solely or chiefly to the Chancery Division of the said High Court, shall be appointed by the Lord Chief Justice of England, such appointment shall be made with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor or the Master of the Rolls.

21. Extension of section 14 of the Courts of Justice (Salaries and Funds) Act, 1869.] The provisions of section fourteen of the Courts of Justice (Salaries and Funds) Act, 1869, shall henceforth be applicable to all officers of the Supreme Court of Judicature in the same manner and

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