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In the case of Re The Buckinghamshire Railway poration were authorised by statute to acquire Company, 14 Jur. 1064, the company purchased certain lands in Liverpool, with power to approland belonging to certain charities, one of which priate any portion which might not be wanted was almshouses. The master made a report, for certain streets to the erection of buildings finding that a proposed application of part of for the transaction of the corporation business; the purchase-money, towards the alteration and when they had done so they might dispose of the improvement of the almshouses, by dividing the site of the existing offices; and they were emrooms in them, would be advantageous to the powered to raise a rate and borrow on it for charities. The trustees of the charities obtained the purposes of their Act. The London and from Lord CRANWORTH, when Vice-Chancellor, North-Western Company took part of some land a confirmation of the report, and an order sanc-of which the corporation was seised in fee, and tioning the proposed application of the money. paid 19,000l. into court. The corporation were Acting on the Buckinghamshire Railway case, erecting the new offices at a cost of 80,000%, and V. C. WOOD made an order in Re Incumbent had borrowed on the rate 106,000l. The appliof Whitfield, 1 J. & Hem. 610. The incumbent cation by the corporation was, that the fund in had no vicarage house, but one was intended to court might be applied towards the cost of be built at an estimated cost of 1495l., to which the new offices. But Lord Justice TURNER the governors of Queen Anne's charity had objected. He did not mean positively to say agreed to contribute an advance of 1100%. He that the thing could not be done, but he thought prayed that a fund paid into court by the East that such an application of moneys paid in Kent Railway Company for part of the glebe under similar circumstances ought to be directed (which was less than the required balance) only where there were special circumstances to might be applied towards the building of the justify it. The corporation were trustees, and house. The Vice-Chancellor thought the order they desired to have money which was now promight be made, as in the case before Lord ducing income laid out in such a manner that it CRANWORTH, that judge had made an order for would produce none in future. It ought to be the application of railway money in permanently shown that the intended application of the fund improving buildings. But the Vice-Chancellor would be "urgently beneficial" to the objects considered these orders as made, not under the of the trust. Lord Justice KNIGHT BRUCE, on special power given by the 69th section in rela- the contrary, was of opinion that it would tion to buildings, but under the equity of the have been proper to make the order. The order power given by it to authorise an investment in was not made. the purchase of land. This will presently be shown to be material as regards costs.

The equitable construction of the 69th section next came under the consideration of Chancellor KINDERSLEY in Re Partington's Trust, 7 L. T. Rep. N. S. 522, where the London and North-Western Company took part of a piece of land which had been devised together with a messuage, in trust for the testator's widow and children and then to sell and divide the proceeds among his grandchildren. The trustees, with the concurrence of the competent beneficiaries, erected, on the unsold portion of the piece of land, five houses at a cost of 450%, and according to the builder's estimate, 501. more was wanted to complete the houses. The trustees prayed that 5007. paid into court by the company might be transferred to them to be applied in payment for the houses. It appeared that the net rent of the land would be increased from 11. to 321. by the building. The ViceChancellor granted the application.

The difference of opinion between the Lords Justices in the last case shows the difficulty of laying down any rule to guide practitioners in Vice-applications for the investment of money within the equity of the 69th section. The question seems to be one of the degree of benefit which the property to be built on, or to be improved by building, will gain by the proposed outlay in the particular case. There was great benefit in the case of Re Dummer's Will, but it could scarcely be called urgent. In that case, however, there was the concurrence of the family. One point in the interpretation of the Act, bearing on these dispositions of money in court, should be noticed. At first the Court refused to make the railway company pay the costs of the investment and application, because buildings are not mentioned in the 80th section. It was, perhaps, as Lord CRANWORTH said in the Buckinghamshire Railway case, a great omission from the Act; but he did not think that the words of that section, construed fairly, did include the case, though he had no doubt that the Legislature, if asked, would say that they did intend it should be included. But in the next case above noticed, the Incumbent of Whitfield's, Vice-Chancellor WooD held that his decision, founded on the equity of the Act, ought, according to the general intention, if not according to the specific expressions of the 80th section, to throw the costs on the railway company. This has since been acted on as the law.

The MASTER of the ROLLS doubted whether he had jurisdiction to make an order in Re The Will of John Dummer, 12 L. T. Rep. N. S. 626, where a portion of lands, devised in trust for a lady, with remainder to her children, was taken by a railway company for 1455l., which was paid into court. Another portion of the devised hereditaments consisted of waste land near a town, eligible for building, next to which the tenant for life had three houses; and plans were prepared showing that nine similar houses could be built for 13007., yielding a gross rental of 901. The MASTER of the ROLLS, when a petition was presented for the application of the money to build these houses, doubted respecting his jurisdiction, since the 69th section was limited to the purchase of lands, meaning, according to the interpretation clause of the Act, "lands, messuages, tenements, and hereditaments of any tenure." But the Lord Justice TURNER thought it might be done in this instance, although it was an order not to be made generally; but the order would be that no part of the money should be paid out until the production of a certificate that the buildings were thoroughly completed.

In the case of a charity, the subject being the aftermath of a meadow, the profits of which were to be applied to the repair of some bridges of the parish, and to the supplying of the neighbouring town with water, the trustees of the charity were empowered by the court to undertake, by means of money paid in by a railway company for part of the meadow, certain works for the water supply; but the works were not to be commenced until the contract and plan had been approved by the judge in chambers. This money had by mistake become mixed with the money of another charity, so that the name under which the case is reported (13 L. T. Rep. N. S. 784) is Re Lathropp's Charity.

An application under the equity of the Act was unsuccessful in a recent case, Ex parte The Mayor of Liverpool, 14 L. T. Rep. N. S. 785. The MATER of the ROLLS again hesitated, and the matter came before the Lords Justices. The cor

PROFESSIONAL THIEVES.

Ir is a great defect in our criminal law that it provides no special punishment for systematic, or as it may be more properly entitled, professional crime. It treats the accidental criminal and the criminal by calling as in the same category of offenders. Theft is merely theft, whether it be the taking of a loaf from a shop window by a hungry passer-by, or plundering wheresoever opportunity offered. Cumulative crimes are rarely visited with cumulative punishments, and the value of the article charged in the particular indictment, and not the general character of the thief, determines his sentence.

This should not be. Professional crime should be an offence in itself distinct from the particular crime that chances to be tried. A systematic thief should be indicted as such, just as he is now indicted for having been formerly convicted. If convicted of the particular offence laid in the indictment, evidence should then be admissible to sustain the allegation of professional crime, and it should be permitted to the prisoner to answer such charge by his own oath, if he pleases, or by witnesses to prove his general good character; the jury should then pronounce a verdict of guilty or not guilty of being a systematic thief (as now they do of a former conviction), and on that finding a very much heavier punishment should be inflicted-indeed, in all cases a long term of penal servitude-for such offenders are infinitely worse than casual criminals, who commit crimes individually much higher in degree, and should

be dealt with accordingly. Mercy to them is cruelty to society; they are never reclaimed, and the only security is to make the continuance of their iniquitous trade impossible by banishing them for a long term from the community upon which they prey. The Pall-Mall Gazette recently had some excellent remarks on this:

We noticed the other day a case in which a person was charged with having received an immense quantity of stolen goods, and in which it was perfectly obvious that, if guilty at all, the man arrested must have been a professional criminal of the very worst kind for a long time past. If he should be convicted of receiving, and if there is no previous which he can receive for this enormous offence will conviction against him, the highest punishment be two years' imprisonment and hard labour. The only way in which this could be increased would be by trying him on several indictments and giving him cumulative sentences in respect of each indictment. This, however, is a course which in the present day is hardly ever taken. The fact is that the want of special punishments for offences which are obviously systematic and professional is a great defect in our system of criminal law. It would be offences punishable by the most severe secondary no difficult matter to make a variety of systematic punishments. For instance, systematic receiving, systematic thieving, systematic passing of bad money, ought to be punished in a totally different spirit from isolated offences of the same class. A systematic criminal of mature age is the enemy of the human race, and ought to be treated as such. If the whole of a man's life and career might be given in evidence, and if he were required to prove that he had honest means of livelihood, a jury would find it belonged to the class of professed criminals or not. very easy to say of any particular man whether he

This is as

DEED REGISTRY IN IRELAND. A SURPLUS of 5800l. a-year going from the fees in the Middlesex Registry to sinecurists, as we showed (3rd Feb.), is almost matched by the disposal of a balance of 41,000l. from the like source in the Irish Deed Registry office, between May 1830 and May 1864. Out of that large sum there was "laid out or expended in rendering the office more useful and convenient to the public," pursuant to the Act of the 2 & 3 Will. 4. during the same period 8007. only. It was allocated by the Treasury between Dec. 1862 and April 1863, for the payment of working up arrears in transcripts of memorials. loudly complained of by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of Dublin, in a memorial presented by them to the Treasury, as the oppressive character of their own registry is, or ought to be, by the house and land owners of the English metropolitan county. On the occasion above referred to we also brought to our readers' notice that the fees charged at the Middlesex registry exceeded those authorised by the Act of Anne. The Dublin memorialists remind the Lords of the Treasury that the Act of Will. 4, which placed the Irish Registry under their control, provided that no greater fees should be charged there than would amount annually to a sum of money sufficient to discharge the current expenses of the establishment, and the Lords were empowered to order all or any part of the surplus to be laid out in the improvement of the registry, and to reduce the fees. No such reduction has, so far as appears, yet taken place. What adds to the grievance, or, at least, the grievous feeling of the people of Dublin is, that the 41,0007. odd, after the small deduction of 8001, or about 2 per cent., for their peculiar benefit, has been paid into the Consolidated Fund. They deny the justice of this. It is scarcely overCeltic on their part to remonstrate that the sum, having been contributed solely and specially from Irish sources, is not applicable to any imperial purposes. But as the same might be said of the taxes collected in that part of the United Kingdom, we had rather not press the argument too far. It is sufficient to rest the matter on the

Act of Will. 4, for of course the payment of surplus from the Registry-office into the Consolidated Fund was not intended to prejudice the right of those resorting to or interested in the good working of the Registry-office to have it organised and conducted in the manner "most useful and convenient to the public." The Lords of the Treasury, however, raise an issue of fact, answering that for some years past the fees have only just been sufficient to meet the salaries and expenses of the office, and that there has been little or no surplus after these charges have been defrayed. The memorialists reply that by a Parliamentary paper it appears

that the average yearly surplus for the five years ending May 1864 amounted to 7871., and for the previous five years the average was 1672, and for the three years before that period 27321. To this counter statement the Lords have not rejoined.

They show an increase of 10 over 1864 and of 89 as compared with the average of 5 years. In causes

In the Acts relating to public charities
In the Trustee Acts

In the Trustee Relief Acts

In the Leases and Sales of Settled Estates
Acts

Dublin is not the only place which has memorialised. Tuam, Ballinasloe, and Athlone have raised voices of discontent. We wish that Mid-In the Acts relating to railways and other dlesex would take example of impatience at the In the Winding-up and Joint-Stock Companies public works

But

fardel which it bears. These memorialists disclose that, in addition to the fees, there is an annual payment of 5000l. in stamps on searches, attested copies, and other matters; so that, if the yearly amount from stamps for thirty-two years to May 1864 be added to the surplus from fees, 200,7001. has been paid into the office over and above the working expenses by the owners of property in Ireland for the purposes of the Imperial revenue. They ought to be proud of it. But they prefer to descend to the base things called statistics of the office. When the Act of Will. 4 was passed there were twenty-two clerks there, and it was then intimated by the Treasury that the establishment should be reduced. the office is now employing, and has for several years employed, sixty-three clerks. On a comparison, in this respect, between the different registries, it is stated that, in Scotland, there are thirty persons employed, and 7080 searches made in a year; in Middlesex, thirteen persons, 17,000 deeds registered in a year, and no searches issued; Dublin, sixty-six persons, 12,000 deeds registered, 1000 negative searches, and 600 common searches ; in Yorkshire (three offices), twenty-five persons, 10,000 deeds registered, no searches issued. In the report on the Irish system, the books used in that system were said to be too multifarious and complicated, which causes incompleteness and delay, and leads to an increase in the staff of the office, and consequent expense.

It seems clear on the whole that some further parliamentary inquiry is necessary into the system and expense of deed registry in the various parts of the kingdom. Men of business, when using a registry, have no time to think of the system, good or bad. They are busied only with their clients' interests, according to the system, whatever it may be, and of course the client knows little or nothing about it, while he has to pay either in actual money or in delay, and perhaps in disappointment. Hence it comes to pass, strangely enough, that in Dublin it is the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and burgesses who take up the matter. In Tuam it is the town commissioners, in Ballinasloe the board of guardians, and likewise in Athlone. One would suppose if there were congruity in the national character, that paupers in Ireland were the principal owners of real property. The owners of the land ought to stir. Let the landed proprietors of England, or at least of her two register counties, and of Ireland, make a strong pull together, and try and get rid of some of these official abuses connected with their conveyancing.

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In the Infants Settlement Act, 18 & 19 Vict. c.

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In other matters

total number of accounts 26,721. The fees collected by stamps amounted to 6501.

The following is the statement of the Suitors' Fund and Suitors' Fee Fund:

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Balance of cash on 1st October 1764 Dividends of 4,222,6767. 19s. 10d. stock......

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123,761 14 7

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affidavits of committees and receivers in lunacy passed during the year Amount of disbursements and allowances therein......

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£482,956

£402,513

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138

84

614

Under Acts relating to railways and other public works

Other orders, including fiats confirming masters' reports

322

606

Under the Trustee Acts of 1850 and 1852 Under the Trustee Relief Acts 1847 and 1849

213

223

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Number of orders made in pursuance of the Lunacy Regulation Act 1862, for the application of properties of small amount for the maintenance of lunatics Certificates of costs filed Certificates of the masters in lunacy filed Affidavits filed

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Under the Infants Settlement Act 1855 In other general matters

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THE NEW LORD JUSTICE.
(From the Times.)

THE dinner given by his constituents to Sir HUGH CAIRNS has connected with it many circumstances which make it remarkable among similar demonstrations. It was a compliment paid by an Irish constituency to its Parlia mentary representative, a compliment which in that distracted country very few members of Parliament are considered worthy to receive. It was intended to commemorate the assumption by Sir HUGH CAIRNS of a high legal office under the Crown, and it turned out to be the commemoration of his assumption of an office nominally of much higher rank and dignity, but incompatible with the further prosecution of a singularly brilliant and successful political career. The language which Sir HUGH CAIRNS might employ to his constituents would always have been read with respect as proceeding from the highest legal adviser of the Government, but it is clothed with special weight and significance now that it has become the language of the highest permanent judge in our courts of equity. The speaker is really making his political testament; he has no longer any purpose to serve by exaggerating party differences, attributing preeminent merits to his own side, or extraordinary deficiencies to his opponents; and all that falls from him should, therefore, be received with respect, and be considered with no common

attention.

Sir HUGH CAIRNS may certainly claim to rank among the most distinguished men of the present day. He has achieved at the Bar the most splendid success, and yet, so far from being indebted to that success for his Parliamentary 21 position, his success as a debater has been fully 197 equal to his reputation as a lawyer. In the 430 debate on Lord ELLENBOROUGH's policy with 884 regard to Oude he made a speech which probably decided the fate of the motion, and completely established his Parliamentary reputation-a reputation which he has since maintained and increased whenever an occasion offered itself for displaying his remarkable powers of lucid arrangement, of stating facts in a manner to which no one could object, but which materially assisted his own views, and of reasoning from those facts clearly and conclusively. Perhaps, from the habit of continually addressing one Judge, his reasonings were somewhat too subtle and his investigations too minute and detailed for a great popular assembly like the House of £18,559,386 Commons; but had he left behind him nothing beyond the two speeches which he contributed to the two great Reform debates of this year, he would have done enough to establish a Parlia

....

Amount of stock directed to be sold and transferred out Amount of stock directed by orders in lunacy to be transferred otherwise than into court

58,326 28,524 136,040 456,354

..... 182,559 able. It exhibits of cash securities: The Accountant-General's return is remarkPaid into court

Paid out of court.

.... £17,864,414 The number of cheques signed was 45,544. The powers of attorney issued were 33,091. The

mentary reputation such as few indeed of our

JOTTINGS IN CHAMBERS.

IN PARTICULAR.
(Continued from p. 890.)

ment. The learned V. C. also stated some doubts
he says,
"that the bond in its form is only The
company hereby acknowledge that they stand in-
indebted with respect to the contract made with
debted to A. B.,' which I suppose is meant to be
him.'" In this particular case, and under these
peculiar circumstances, the learned V.C. determined
that the bonds were not a fraud upon Parliament,
and allowed them to have effect.
C.

(To be continued.)

IRELAND.

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

Dublin, Wednesday. THE new Master of the Rolls, and the law officers, were sworn in to-day before the LORD CHANCELLOR The MASTER of the ROLLS has appointed Mr. ERNEST SWIFT, barrister-at-law, his secretary.

greatest lawyers have left behind them. The SECURITIES-BONDS IN GENERAL-LLOYD'S BONDS concerning the form of the bond. "Here, I observe," warnings which Sir HUGH CAIRNS has bequeathed to the Irish people and to the English Government are few, but emphatic. He protests, as he did four months ago, against placing the property, the intelligence, and the institutions of this country at the mercy of a mere numerical majority, and he vindicates not at all sooner than was required, the right of members of Parliament to express their opinion as to the fitness of the great mass of the people to the exercise of the whole political power of the country without being exposed to systematic abuse, or held up as fitting objects for lawless popular vengeance. This might have had comparatively little weight as coming from Lord DERBY'S Attorney General holding a brief on behalf of Government, but is entitled to careful consideration, even from the most reckless, when proceeding from one who has no longer anything to gain or to lose by the expression of any political opinion. Sir HUGH CAIRNS is, as always, emphatic in his denunciation of any plans for the destruction of the Episcopal Church in Ireland. He speaks with no more than merited severity of the means by which the late Government obtained the power to modify the constitution of the Queen's University, and to bring the Senate more into harmony with the feelings of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. He gives his testimony in favour of the maintenance of mixed education in Ireland.

He thinks that the object of government in Ireland should not be the maintenance of any party or sect. but rather the maintaining an impartial attitude between all sides; not chastising Ireland one day and coaxing her the next; not sacrificing permanent and just principles to temporary and shifting expediency, nor seeking to propitiate extreme parties by giving up what has been well considered and firmly established. To the general truth of these principles there are very few who will not heartily subscribe, and Sir HUGH CAIRNS is fairly entitled to take to himself the credit that, though a Conservative, he has never been wanting to the cause of practical improvement whenever it lay in his way. A signal instance of this is to be found in the Bill for the Registration of Titles to Land introduced by him into Parliament during the last administration of Lord DERBY-a Bill which was thought by many superior to the measure ultimately passed by Lord WESTBURY, and which certainly had the merit of presenting a new and difficult subject for the first time in a clear and well-digested form.

for in vain.

Sir HUGH CAIRNS has never been wanting to the cause of party allegiance; but his personal courtesy, the admiration felt for his talents, and the fairness with which he generally conducted his arguments, had secured him the respect and consideration of both sides in the House of Commons. As a political event his retirement is of the utmost consequence. The able lawyer who succeeds him has neither sat so long in the House, nor succeeded in making for himself any considerable Parliamentary reputation; and occasions will speedily present themselves when the clear good sense and the ready debating power and the pointed argument of the late ATTORNEY-GENERAL will be looked and longed Taking him all in all, he was probably the most useful and important membea of his party in the House of Commons. There is no one who might not have been better spared, no one whose place might not have been more easily supplied. In the deliberations on which the Government is about to enter, first with regard to the introduction of a Reform Bill, and next, if that question be resolved in the affirmative, with regard to its scope and tenour, the opinion of Sir HUGH CAIRNS would have been of the greatest value, and will be often missed. We do not doubt that this eminent lawyer has judged wisely for himself in giving up a position of infinite labour and responsibility, which his health was barely able to support, for a dignified position, easy for one of his great legal acquirements, and far removed from the stormy arena of politics. As a Judge of Appeal, Sir HUGH CAIRNS will probably be able to render great services to the settlement of the law, and to fill the place so long and so ably held at the head of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council by Lord KINGSDOWN with equal honour to himself and advantage to the suitors.

WE now come within the new sphere created by
companies. Companies under their several Acts, and
the general Act of 1845, contract liabilities which
are foreign to individuals, and foreign to ordinary
partnerships. Their powers as to borrowing money
on mortgage or on bond are regulated by the Com-
panies Clauses Consolidation Act 1845. Sect. 41
says every mortgage or bond for securing money
borrowed by the company shall be by deed under
the common seal of the company, duly stamped,
and wherein the consideration shall be truly stated.
mortgage or bond may, from time to time, transfer his
Sect. 46 says that any party entitled to any such
interest therein to any other person, and every such
transfer shall be by deed duly stamped, wherein the
consideration shall be truly stated. Railway com-
panies are thus peculiarly the creatures of Acts of
Parliament, differing from all other corporations.
Corporations are bound by their deed in all cases.
Companies created for special purposes are not.
Their deed, though under their corporate seal, does
not bind them if it appears by the express provisions
of the statute creating the corporation, or by neces-
that the deed was ultra vires, that is, that the Legis-
sary or reasonable inference from its enactments,
lature intended that such a deed should not be made:
(The South Yorkshire Railway and River Dun Com-
pany v. The Great Northern Railway Company, 9
Ex. Rep. 55, per Lord Wensleydale.) At a time
previous to the Consolidation Act companies had
shown a strong disposition to go beyond their
legitimate limits, and to borrow money upon
loan notes, and the 7 & 8 Vict. c. 85, after recit-
ing "that many railway companies have bor-
rowed money in a manner unauthorised by their
Acts of incorporation, or other Acts of Parliament
relating to the said companies, upon the security of
loan notes, or other instruments purporting to give
a security for the repayment of the principal sums
borrowed at certain dates, and for the payment of
other securities issued otherwise than under the
interest thereon, and that such loan notes and
provisions of some Act or Acts of Parliament have
no legal validity, and that it is expedient that the
issue of such illegal securities should be stopped,
but such loan notes, &c., having been issued and
received in good faith as between the borrower and
the lender, and for the most part for the lawful
purposes of the undertaking, and in ignorance of
their legal invalidity," &c., goes on to enact, "that
after the passing of this Act, any railway company
issuing any loan note or other negotiable or assign-
able instrument purporting to bind the company,
shall for every such offence forfeit to Her Majesty a
sum equal to the sum for which such loan note or
other instrument purports to be such security."

Further, by the same Act (ss. 8 and 9), compa-
nies were impliedly prevented from borrowing
money in any other way than by mortgage, and as a
learned judge remarks in a case to which we shall
presently refer, if they could borrow on bond as
they pleased, the provision empowering them to
borrow on mortgage would be idle.

The companies being thus prevented from issuing
that they should turn their attention to a means of
notes having no legal validity, it became necessary
providing for this loss of irregular capital, and an
ingenious draughtsman hit upon the instrument now
so notorious as Lloyds Bonds. Here is the form :-
The A. B. company do hereby acknowledge that
they stand indebted to C. D., of, &c., Esq., in the
sum of £ for money due and owing from the
said company to the said C. D. and the said company
for themselves, their successors, and assigns hereby
covenant with the said C. D., his executors, admini-
trators, and assigns, to pay the said sum of £
upon the
186
day of
and also interest
thereon at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum from
the date hereof until payment, such interest to be
payable half-yearly upon the 1st day of January
and the first day of July in each year. Given
under the common seal of the said company, the
day of
186 ." This instrument
was invented for one particular purpose. Companies
deprived of the advances upon the loan notes were
unable to pay their contractors, and they desired to
give them some security upon which the contractors
marthen and Cardigan Railway Company, 33 L. J. 93,
could raise money. Thus, in White v. The Car-
Ch., these bonds were given to the contractors, to
whom the company owed money, and in legal
phra eology they are accounts stated under seal of a
debt which is actually due. In the Chancery case
just referred to Wood, V. C. tested by the facts the
statement in the bill that the bonds were issued to
evade the Act. A contract was entered into by the
company with contractors, who were to be paid
through the medium of bonds, which were to
be deferred to a specified interval, which was,
apparently, until the company could obtain
a further Act giving them extended bor-
rowing powers, and he could not say, upon
the prima facie case, that he must assume the
issuing of the bonds to have been in fraud of Parlia-

A correspondence has appeared in some of the Northern journals, from which it appears that the Rev. Dean WOODWARD has been dismissed from the office of chaplain to the county gaol at Downpatrick (of which the emolument is little more than nominal), on account of his having aided in procuring for a prisoner who is of superior rank to the generality of prisoners some indulgences not a reply, in a very independent tone, vindicating his authorised by prison rules. Mr. WOODWARD writes right to use his discretion with regard to the intellectual solace to be supplied to a prisoner, and stating that in the instance in question his offence was that he furnished the Saturday Review to a person who, being an educated man and "a member of the English bar," required some literature of a different kind to that usually found in prison cells.

I had an opportunity on Monday of ascertaining, in the course of a long conversation with Mr. J BRIGHT, M.P. (who is now visiting Dublin), the changes which he proposes to make in the landed system of these countries. The presence of several members of the legal profession led to a fuller exposition of Mr. BRIGHT's views on the land question than usually is afforded before a large and miscel readers to know what alterations in our laws of laneous audience; and it may interest many of your property are suggested by this great leader of the advanced Liberal party.

Mr. BRIGHT disclaimed any change which is not consonant with sound political economy, and which disregards the rights of property, bearing in mind, however, that all rights in landed property are subject to the limitatious which the welfare of the community will render necessary. He laid particular stress on the acknowledged fact that in England the number of landowners is year by year decreasing. This tendency exists in Ireland also, but has

been counteracted for some years by the sales of
land in the Incumbered Estates Court. The ten-
dency of large landed estates to increase he attributes
not so much to the difficulties of making title-to
the obstacles in the way of land transfer-as to
the fact that the very large proprietors (some of
whom he named) have many of them a surplus of
income which they are generally desirous to
invest in land, so as to swell their possessions and
increase their political influence. As they are,
willing to give higher prices than other persons,
lating land. But while (as Mr. BRIGHT expresses
of course they cannot be prevented from accumu-
it) the accumulating forces steadily increase with

the wealth of the country, the forces which should
assist subdivision and dispersion are all checked by the
laws. [The arguments against the law of primo-
geniture are well known and need not be repeated.]
When a death or change of fortune occurs, the law
should give every aid to a dispersion of property,
and should be so framed as to work well in the
absence of contracts or other dispositions. The
landed interest will always be the most powerful
politically-even in America. In these countries
the more landowners there are the better. In
Ireland the largest estates are those of a dozen peers,
who rarely or never visit the country. This is so
great an evil that it should be checked by law.
There will be no loyalty among the Irish peasantry
unless they can by industry acquire some property
in the soil; and hence the necessity (as the country
is purely agricultural) of a law similar to that pro-
posed by the late Government, giving to a tenant
compensation for all unexhausted improvements
effected by him on his farm.

Mr. BRIGHT further proposed the abolition of the "laws of entail," but could hardly be expected to demonstrate any way in which testators and settlors can be prevented from limiting life-interests only to their children, and in fact did not exhibit a larger knowledge of this branch of the subject than other men who have received no legal training. The foregoing is but a brief note of an interesting moreover comprised other conversation, which questions, not within the scope of this journal. On the following day Mr. BRIGITT, at the banquet given to him in the Rotunda, made a specific proposition as to the absentee landlords in the following terms: "There should be a Parliamentary commission empowered to buy up the largest estates in Ireland belonging to the absentee English peers, for the

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male maner, femre, that the proportion who word prnest for their votes should be comjadi 1339 may be held to have en treny i ndredy, sominally or really, corrugen e itinery sense

Lawn din, and with reference to the undue and ch controverted words of Mr. Lome as 1. the prevalence of venality at the bottom raduerta as the sop of the social scale, give the percentages of the brided in each class:

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REPRESENTATIVE REFORM.
ABALTUR OF YARCTORAL CORRUPTION.

from the Pall Mall Gnette)

He tre box * most curious and instructive
SONDANT, WHD We teneve may be relied upon as not,
my mentally but circumstantially correct. At
jaus, no yaina have been spared by the compiler to

LANCANTER ELECTION COMMISSION. Classification of the voters and the numbers in each class proved to have received "direct" brim:

Freemes RESIDENT 18 LANCASTER.

Number on re-
gister
Numbers bribed

in each class...

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STOCK AND SHARE MARKETS. THE Money-market continues unchanged. The funds have drooped occasionally for a few hours, and then risen again. Money has been in good demand, and abundantly supplied at 23 on safe bills. Enterprise is still paralysed. Debentures can find no purchasers, and shares are a drug in the market. Foreign stocks partake of the general depression. Thursday afternoon.

At the weekly board meeting of the directors of the Bank of England to-day no alteration was made in the rate of discount. Money in Lombardstreet was obtainable at 33 to 4 per cent.

The Stock Exchange was closed, as usual on the 1st Nov.

The following is the table of fluctuations:

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Bank of England Stock 245 2454
Cent. Red. Ann....... 874 87 87
Cent. Cons. Ann. ...
New 21 per Cent. Ann...
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249 88 374

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TREEMEN RESIDENT WITHIN SEVEN MILES OF

Number on 10-
gister..........
Numbers bribed
In each class

LANCASTER.

Manufacturers,
Merchants, Profes
sional Men, &c.

No Occupation,

Independent
Means.

Farmers.
Tradesmen.
Clerks, Book-

keepers,
Assistants, &c.
Small Farmers
Shopkeepers.
Artisans.

Labourers.

16

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Totals.

78 361 87 357

3

64 34978 251

HOUSEHOLDERS,

Manufacturers, Mer

chanta, Professional
Men, &e
No Occupation, Inde-

pendent Means.

Farmers,

Tradesmen.

Clerks, Book-keepers,
Assistants, &c.

Innkeepers and Beer

house Keepers.

Small Farmers.

Shopkeepers.

Artisans.

Total.

Jan. 1894

Cent Ann......

Cent. Ann. ...
Cent. Annuities...
Cents. Jan. 1873

...

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India 5 Cents. 1870... 1061 106 1061 106 1063
India Bonds (10007.)......

Do. (under 10007.)......

India Debentures, 1863
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do. 1866

India Enfaced Paper, 4
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Closed.

The following are the fluctuations of the last month:

Consols

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MANY more estates deserving the attention of the solicitors having monied clients were advertised in the last LAW TIMES., We note here the most important of them.

1

On the 15th inst. Mr. PEAKE will sell a valuable residence at Buntingford, Herts.

Messrs. CHINNOCK and GALSWORTHY announce for some time in this month a residential property in South Devon having a mansion and 223 acres of rich land.

Messrs. FAREBROTHER, CLARK, and Co. will offer on Dec. 7 some freehold estates in Northamptonshire, comprising the manor of Rothwell, with mansion, farm, and 1100 acres of land, producing a rental of 2300l. per annum. And on the following day, in the same county, the Cogenhoe estate, a manor having 445 acres, with rights of fishing, and producing a rental of

13007.

Messrs. WINSTANLEY and HORWOOD sell, on the 13th inst., a residential estate of 12 acres at Hendon; and on the 22nd a freehold estate in the same parish, called Hendon-place.

Mr. HEWITT offers, on Tuesday next, 1400 acres of freehold land in the neighbourhood of Southend, Essex, a right of brickmaking in the same county, and a residence and 450 acres adjoining.

Messrs. FAREBROTHER, LYE, and WHEELER are about to bring under the hammer the famous residential estate near Ipswich, known as the Chauntry, for many years occupied by Sir FITZROY KELLY, the new Chief Baron. The estate comprises 600 acres. And they are preparing to sell a magnificent estate in Worcestershire, called Abberley Hall and Elms, having a manor, a mansion, 1500 acres of land, and a rental of 3500l. per annum.

Messrs. EDWIN SMITH and Co. offer, on the 28th inst., a detached house in Westbourne

terrace.

Here is an ample choice.

REPORTS OF SALES.
NOTE-The Reports of the Stock Exchange are officially
supplied in the following list. Auctioneers whose names
are registered there will oblige by reports of their own
sales.

Thursday, Oct. 25,

By Messrs. DOWSETT and CHATTELL, at the Guildhall
Coffee-house.

Leasehold residence, with ground of about an acre, situate at
Cholmeley-park, Highgate, term (95 years unexpired at 281.
per annum-sold for 18501.

Freehold, four cottages, known as "The Priory," situate in
Park-road, Hampton Wick, producing 48/ per annum-sold
for 7201.
By Mr. TEWSON.
Freehold residence, No. 8. Buckingham-villas, Forest-gate,
let at 251. per annum-sold for 200%

Friday, Oct. 26.

By Messrs. RUSHWORTH, JARVIS, and ABBOTT, at the
Auction Mart.
Freehold, 88 acres of grass land, with residence, farm build-
ings, stabling, &c., situate at Theydon Bois, Essex-sold
for 63401.
Absolute reversionary interest in 2-13th shares in 50 acres of
freehold building land at Holloway, also in copyhold
ground-rents amounting to 218, 10s. per annum, secured
upon houses and buildings in the Liverpool, Albion, and
Union roads, Islington; 17 freehold houses, known as "the
Francis-place Estate," Holloway-road; leasehold improved
ground-rents, amounting to 250% per annum for about 52
years, arising from houses in Essex-road, Canonbury-road,
and at Canonbury, receivable on the decease of a gentle-
man in the 69th year of his age; also an immediate annuity
of 50%., payable during the life of the above-mentioned
gentleman and another, aged 27 years-sold for 37007.
Freehold farin, situate in the parishes of Ashchurch and
Treddington, Gloucester, comprising a residence, orchard,
yard, buildings, and 126a. 2r. 12p. of arable, meadow, pas-
ture, and orchard land-sold for 65002.
Freehold cstate, known as "The Parsonage Farm," in the
parish of Eldersfield, Worcester, comprising farmhouse,
out buildings, and 115a. 2r. 27p. of arable, pasture, and
orchard land-sold for 41201.

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By Messrs. DEBENHAM, TEWSON, and FARMER.
Freehold residence, known as Fern-hill Lodge, Upper Hall,
Farnham, Surrey-sold for 8001.

By Mr. DANIEL WATNEY, at the Auction Mart.
Freehold, 2a. 2r. 2?p. of building land, fronting the Epsom
turnpike-road-sold for 6201.

Freehold, 7a. 2r. 25p. of building land, fronting the New-road,
Leatherhead-sold for 18207.

Freehold, 7a. Ir. 13p of building land, fronting the New-road,
Leatherhead-sold for 12201.

Freehold, 9a. Or. 28p. of building land, fronting the New-road
and Headley parish road-sold for 16002.
Freehold, oa. Ir. 24p. of building land, fronting the New-road,
Freehold, 0a. 2r. 4p. of building land, fronting the Headley
Leatherhead-sold for 1707.
parish road, Surrey-sold for 1701.

Freehold residence, known as Old House, situate adjoining
the road from Leatherhead to the Downs, with gardens,
cottages, farm buildings, and pasture land, containing
9a. 3r. 30p-sold for 27501.

Freehold farm, with two cottages building, and 142a. 3r. 8p.
of arable and pasture land adjoining Leatherhead Downs
sold for 5750/
Freehold estate, known as Leatherhead Downs, near Epsom,
Surrey; also the covert known as Cherkley-wood, the
whole containing 359a, 2r. 13p.-sold for 21,5007.

SOLICITORS' JOURNAL.

APPOINTMENTS UNDER THE JOINT-STOCK
WINDING-UP ACTS.

ACCIDENTAL AND MARINE INSURANCE CORPORATION
(LIMITED). Petition for winding up to be heard before
Stuart, V. C., on the next petition day.

COLONIAL AND GENERAL GAS COMPANY (LIMITED).-Petition
for winding-up to be heard before Wood, V. C., on the next
petition day.
--Petition for

FINANCIAL INSURANCE COMPANY (LIMITED).
winding-up to be heard before Stuart, V. C., on Nov 9.
GRANITE AND HARD STONE WORKING COMPANY (LIMITED).—
Petition for winding-up to be heard before Stuart, V. C., on
Nov. 9.

INNS OF COURT HOTEL COMPANY (LIMITED).-Petition for
winding-up to be heard before the M. R., on Nov. 10.
LEESWOOD IRON COMPANY (LIMITED)-Petition for winding-
up to be heard before the M. R, on Nov. 10.
NOVA SCOTIA LAND AND GOLD CRUSHING AND AMALGAMATING
COMPANY (LIMITED) -Petition for winding-up to be heard
before the M. K., on Nov. 10.

CREDITORS UNDER ESTATES IN CHANCERY.
LAST DAY OF PROOF.

IVES (Francis), Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, yeoman. Nov. 1;
Bird and Moore, solicitors, 5, Gray's-inn-square, London.
Nov. 12; V. C. S., at noon.

CREDITORS UNDER 22 & 23 VICT. c. 35.
Last Day of Claim and to whom Particulars to be sent.
ADAMS (Robert), Leeds, stock and share broker. Dec. 23;
North and Sons, solicitors, 4, East-parade, Leeds.
BISHOP (Joseph), 45, Goswell-street, and 14. Cornwall-place,
Holloway. Middlesex, clothier. Nov. 30; J. Mills, solicitor,
BUCKNALL (R. C.), 3, Gloucester-place, Greenwich, Esq. Jan.
1. 1867; Risdale and Byrne, solicitors, 3, Whitehall place,
Westminster.

CLEVELY (Ann Mary), 374, Hackney-road, Middlesex, trim-
ming manufacturer. Dec. 25; F. T. Donne, solicitor, 1,
Prince's-street, Spitalfields, London.

DAY (Wm.), 2, Peer's-cooperage, Cornwall-road, Surrey.
Nov. 10: Courtenay and Croome, solicitors, 9, Gracechurch-
street, London.

DOHERTY (Charles Edmund), Clarina, Kenilworth-road,
Leamington, Warwickshire, colonel in H. M.'s 13th Light
Dragoons. Dec. 17; M. and F. Davidson, solicitors, 35,
Spring-gardens, London.

FARQUHAR (T. N.), Moorgate-street, London, and Sydenham,
Kent, Esq. Feb. 1, 1867; Lyne and Holman, solicitors, 6a,
Austin-friars, London

FONBLANQUE (J. S. M.), formerly of St. John's-wood, Middle-
sex, late of 21, Marine-parade, Brighton, Sussex, one of
the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Court of Bankruptcy.
Jan. 1, 1867; W. Jaquet, solicitor, 4, Serjeants'-inn, Temple,
London.
31;

HOLDEN (Ann). Rusholme, Manchester, widow. Dec
T. Jepson, solicitor, 2, St. James's-square, Manchester.
HOLDEN (Sarah Ann), Moon-grove, Rusholme, Manchester,
spinster. Dec 31; T. Jepson, solicitor, 2, St. James's-
square, Manchester.
HOLDEN(Mary), Moon-grove, Rusholme, Manchester, spinster.
Dec. 31; T. Jepson, solicitor, 2, St. James's-square, Man-
chester.
HOLE (L. S.), Dotheridge, Alwington, Devon, gentleman.
Dec. 1; Baker and Key, solicitors, 3, Cloak-lane, London.
SA, Brunswick-place, City-road, London.
HOWELL (J. T.). Tewkesbury and Newent, Gloucestershire,
accountant. Dec. 5; C. J. Cooke, solicitor Newent.
JONES (Thomas), Mold, Flintshire, tallow-chandler. Dec. 1;
Kelly, Keene, and Roper, solicitors, Mold
KETTEMAN (Henry), 174, Church-street, Bethnal-green, Mid-
dlesex, pork butcher. Dec. 10; Sturmy and Diggles, solici-
tors, Hibernia-chambers, London-bridge, Southwark.
MORLEY (Thos), Manchester-street, Oldham, Lancashire,
Dec. 7; C. Buckley, solicitor, 30, Clegg-street,

surgeon.
Oldham.
MCKEAND (William), 62, Brook-st, Hanover-square, Middle-
sex, Esq. Nov. 30; Simpson and Cullingford, solicitors, 51,
Gracechurch-street, London.

PATTISON (Thomas), Newcastle-upon-Tyne, merchant. Dec.
5; Spours and Carr, solicitors, Bondgate-street, Alnwick.
PERSTON (David), Brompton, Middlesex, M. D. Nov. 15;
Lawrie and Keen, solicitors, 2 and 3, Dean's-court, Doctors'--
cominons, London.
Jan. 1, 1867;:

PEDDER (Jane), Brighton, Sussex, spinster.

Attree, Clarke, and Howlett, solicitors, 8, Ship-street,
Brighton.

SEDGWICK (William), Ordnance-office, Pall-mall, and West--
bourne-place, Eaton-square, Middlesex, and of Dent, West.
Riding, Yorkshire, Esq. Dec. 1; Bridges and Co., solicitors.
23, Red Lion-square, London.

SIKES (Henry), Clapton, Middlesex, Esq. Dec. 20; T. Bate-
man, solicitor, 2, Elm-court, Temple, London.
SKEY (Joseph), Baker-street, Portman-square, Midlesex,
M.D. Nov. 24; W. Braikenridge and Sons, solicitors, 16,
Bartlett's-buildings, Holborn, London.
TATE (Barbara), Tynemouth, Northumberland, widow and
publican. Nov 16; G. Armstrong, solicitor, 3, Arcade,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

THORNTON (Claude G.), Marden-hill, Herts, Esq. Jan. 1,

1867; Domville, Lawrence, and Graham, solicitors, 6, New-
square, Lincoln's-inn, London.

WALTER (Richard), Franklin-terrace, Ashley-road, Bristol.
Dec 25; W. Hunt, solicitor, Albion-chambers, Bristol.

builder. Nov. 30; Simpson and Cullingford, solicitors, 51,
Gracechurch-street, Londor..

WORTHINGTON (Margaret), Rusholme, Lancaster, spinster...
Jan. 1, 1867; Parry and Son, solicitors, Manchester.

UNCLAIMED STOCK AND DIVIDENDS IN THE BANK OF ENGLAND. [Transferred to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, and which will be paid to the personsrespectively whose names are prefixed to each in threemonths, unless other claimants sooner appear.]

SALE OF THE ALEXANDRA (Gravesend) SALOON STEAMER.-This favourite river steamer, lately one of the fleet of the Saloon (Gravesend) Steam Packet Company, now in the course of liquidation, was sold last week at public auction, in the Captains' Room at Lloyd's, Royal Exchange. The sale attracted a goodly number of speculators. Mr. W. Ridley, of Bailey and Ridley, who had the disposal WILLIS (Francis), Askew-road, Hammersmith, Middlesex, of the steamer, alluded to the great success the steamer had met with while engaged on the Gravesend station. She was a kind of vessel long wanted on the river Thames during the summer season, and it was to be hoped she would be still retained for that traffic. She was described as 584 tons builders' measurement, drawing 4 feet 4 inches of water, and was fitted with diagonal oscillating engines of 140-horse power, the length of her main deck 240 feet, and she is licensed by the Board of Trade to carry 1048 passengers, but limited to carry but 958 passengers to Southend and Sheerness. She has two large cabins below the main deck, the after one as a dining-saloon, and above deck two other large saloons, with promenade decks above. Indeed (continued the auctioneer), it was her superior cabin accommodation and her great speed that led the public to patronise her as they did. She cost in building and fitting up 12,500. The sale was at the direction of the mortgagees, who had placed a reserved price on the steamer, namely, 3500. The bidding commenced at 36004, and eventually the steamer was knocked down for 45501. Mr. Brown, owner of the Palmerston (Gravesend) steamer, was announced the purchaser. The other steamers of the Saloon Packet Company, Alexandra Nos. 2 and 3, are not yet sold. They were offered for sale a few days since, but there were no bidders.

FYFE (McDuff), Portsoy, N. B, Esq. 4831. 75. 9d. Three per
Cent. Consols. Claimant. Eliza Forbes, administratrix.
McKIMM (Mary Ann), Woolwich, Kent, widow. 100%. Three
per Cent. Consols. Claimant, M. A. McKimm.

ADMISSION OF ATTORNEYS.-There are ninety-one new applications to be admitted attorneys during the About present term, and thirty renewed notices. 300 are annually admitted. The number practising: in London and the country is very large.

ADDITIONAL CHIEF CLERK IN CHANCERY.-In. consequence of the pressure of business in the chambers of the equity courts, arising in a great measure from the winding-up of public companies, an additional chief clerk has been rendered neces

sary in the chambers of Vice-Chancellor Stuart. Woare informed that Mr. J. H. Church, of the firm of Church and Son, Bedford-row, has been appointed. to that office.

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