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amalgamated company, to enter into relations with that new company and pay premiums, and to make no protest with regard to the footing upon which they are paying those premiums, they lose the security of the old company and become creditors of the new.'

Let us now compare these propositions laid down by Lord Cairns with the principles upon the subject of novation which were established by Lord Westbury. The whole mass of his decisions indeed is in the same direction, and it will appear to any one who has followed Lord Westbury's decisions with any degree of attention to be a perfectly idle task to select from his judgments any authorities upon such a subject. We shall, however, venture to lay before our readers a few of the most striking passages. In one of his earlier judgments-several of Lord Cairns's decisions having been cited to him-he said, 'Now it has been argued at the bar here and I am sorry to say that some colour has been furnished for that argument by some of the technical decisions which have been cited as if it was incumbent upon the policy-holder to prove that he did not intend to adopt and to accept by way of substitution the liability of the transferree company. That is quite an inversion of the proper order. It is incumbent upon the company which alleges a substitution, or what has been termed a novation, to prove an agreement by the policy-holder to make that novation, and to prove acts of the policy-holder, in the absence of any written declaration, that unequivocally involve the evidence of that intention on the part of the policy-holder to accept the new company instead of the old.' The three rules on the subject of novation which Lord Westbury laid down at an early stage of the arbitration, for the guidance of counsel, and from which he never subsequently seceded in the least, are also express on the point. The third of these rules was that the acceptance of the offer by the policy-holder should be proved by acts which would unequivocally denote his understanding and acceptance of the proposal, to accept a new contract in lieu of the old.' The following extracts from several of his judgments will, we think, 'put the matter beyond the possibility of doubt:- I am extremely unwilling, and shall always remain unwilling, to transfer one policy-holder from his original company to another company unless I have clear and indisputable proof that the policy-holder did deliberately elect to take the second company in lieu of the former, that must be founded upon facts and circumstances that unmistakably warrant that conclusion.' 'I have again and again stated that I will not be misled by this term novation, that I will not pay any attention to it unless the parties

can show me that there was an express contract to substitute the second company instead of the first, and that the parties entered into the contract knowingly and advisedly, and that they entered into the contract that the second should bear the burden, and not only bear it as well as the first, but that they should bear it to the exclusion of the first and in substitution for the first.' 'I repeat again, I will not transfer a man who is a creditor from one person to another, and bind him to take that course, unless I have most unequivocal proof that it was done with his knowledge, and that he has subsequently assented to it, and that with competent information on the nature of the case he has agreed to accept the new debtor instead of the old.' In Swift's case the argument was strongly pressed that Mr. Swift had, by paying his policies to the transferree company, abandoned all right to prove against his original company. To this argument, which would have been, according to Lord Cairns's view of the question, of perfectly irresistible power, Lord Westbury replied as follows: What Mr. Swift did was therefore nothing in the world more than an acquiescence in the transfer of that business, and payment of the premiums in accordance with the notice he had received, amounting to no more than this-as if the Royal Naval Society had told him, 'Our bankers are henceforth the London and Westminster or any other; please to pay your premiums into the London and Westminster Bank.' He did pay his premiums to the assignee, agent, and attorney of the Royal Naval Society, he did nothing more." Lord Westbury consequently held that in this case there was no novation. Lord Cairns would have unquestionably held that such a case as this was the clearest case of novation possible.

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One point more and we have done. The writer in the Times seems to think that the conclusions,' deducible from the decisions of the various arbitrators, may at all events 'supply materials for legislation.' We do not wish to be hard; we do not in fact wish to make against the writer in the Times any such violent presumptions as Lord Cairns was in the habit of making against the unfortunate policyholders who came before him. But surely, this looks uncommonly like as if our writer had never even heard of the Life Insurance Companies Act, 1872. We will, therefore, take the liberty of referring him to its 7th section, the passing of which is, we believe, very largely to be attributed to a series of articles which appeared in the columns of The Review in the months of April and May, 1872-i.e. several nonths before Lord Westbury commenced his sittings as arbitrator. [The practical effect of this enactment is to

establish Lord Westbury's views on the subject of novation, which we had previously advocated as the law by which the future of life insurance is to be governed.] After so doing we shall for the present take leave of our writer, and content ourselves with warning him to abstain for the future from entering upon a discussion on difficult questions in Insurance Law without a very much more intimate acquaintance with the subject than that which he has displayed in his recent article."

ADULTERATION.-The Report from the Select Committee. on the Adulteration of Food Act, 1872, while congratulating the public on the fact that they are cheated rather than poisoned, substantially adopts the suggestion made in our June number. One proposition the Committee offer is, that the inspector should leave with the trader a duplicate sample of the goods he intends to have analysed, properly securing and sealing the same in the presence of the vendor, and that in no case shall more than one month elapse before the result of the investigation is made known to the trader.

is no small gain to the public that after the outcry made by the trading community the Committee recommend that the Act should be compulsory.

COMMISSION ON THE PURCHASE OF STORES.-The inquiry by a Select Committee of the. House of Commons into the existing principles and practice which, in the several public departments and bodies regulate the purchase and sale of materials and stores, while it proves the integrity of the much-abused officers employed in these departments, suggests that all amendments have proceeded from the introduction of new blood, and the application of commercial principles by commercial men. Members of committees have, it appears, yet to learn that while any sugge improvement when made within the Civil Service, determinately stamped out, any amendment from w accepted by the heads of the departments with satisfaction, because they dare not snub the promote

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GENEVA Conference on Reform anD CODIFICATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW.-The Association for the Reform and Codification of International Law, which held its first sittings at the Hôtel de Ville, Brussels, in October last, the General Secretary Mr. H. D. Jencken, by order of the Council in London, has issued circulars convening a second meeting at the Hôtel de Ville, Geneva, on the 7th September next. This Conference, we learn, will be attended by many eminent jurists and publicists from different parts of Europe, and though the proceedings by no means will assume a diplomatic character, the grave importance of the subjects to be discussed has induced the great Continental powers to countenance the proceedings. The illustrious Bluntschli and Goldschmidt from Germany have been invited to attend. Professor Mancini, of Rome, M. Asser, of Amsterdam, will, it is said, likewise be present. Advices from Boston, New York, and other places, mention that representatives are preparing to leave for Europe. The English Bar will likewise be represented: Sir Vernon Harcourt, Mr. Hinde Palmer, Mr. Osborne Morgan, Serjeant Simon, and others have been invited to attend. Mr. Thomas Webster will read a paper on Property in Intellectual Labour; Mr. H. D. Jencken, the General Secretary of the Association, has agreed to bring forward, in a treatise he has prepared, the very important question of "The International Laws regulating Negotiable Securities," including bonds and shares. Professor Amos and Professor Leone Levi will also it is hoped be present and contribute their share to the valuable matters to be considered at the Conference.

IRELAND.

THE IRISH JUDICATURE BILL.-This Bill has made remarkably slow progress, and unless it be very vigorously pushed through during the last days of July and the early days of August, it will be thrown over altogether into the limbo of dropped measures. Unquestionably its unpopularity

here is owing to a want. of knowledge of, and sympathy with, Irish professional feeling on the part of the framers of the measure, who seem to have also left out of consideration the peculiar questions in Ireland arising out of the chancellorship, the Bankruptcy, and Landed Estates jurisdictions, &c. Their knowledge of the details of the problem before them seems to have been very limited.

That an opening so presented was observed and made use of by the Right Hon. Mr. Christian (our Chancery Appeal Judge) is by no means surprising. It is a highly fortunate circumstance for this country that having no Minister of Justice, and an Attorney General domiciled during the Parliamentary Session in London, a most competent hand is found to draw public attention to the defects of legal institutions and of legal measures. The Lord Justice's former criticism of the proceedings in the Lord Chancellor's chambers was well-timed, and the results have been evident, in increased caution on the part of subordinates, that the limits of their authority should not be over stepped. The same distinguished writer has, on later occasions, and now once more taken in hand the constitution of the Equity and Bankruptcy Courts, and the results of this enquiry are believed to be that no inconsiderable modification will be made in the Government Judicature Scheme. The old number of twelve Common Law Judges is, it seems, to be maintained in deference to the feelings of both branches of the legal profession; but inasmuch as there is by no means business to occupy the hands of twelve judges, there is to be a gradual absorption by them of the whole Probate, Bankruptcy, and Insolvency business of the country. After a time these Courts last referred to will have no separate existence.

THE COURTS AND LEGAL ARRANGEMENTS.-The fate of the Landed Estates jurisdiction is not yet determined. Personal claims stand (here as elsewhere) in the way; and the desire to deal with a public question on public grounds seems wanting.

In strong confirmation of Lord J. Christian's statement as

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