OCT. 20, 1855.] The Incorporated Law Society 485 time issued by the several Courts of Law and open to Students as well as Members. In case Equity are printed at the expense of the Society and forwarded to the Members; and other important professional information is communicated in the Annual and Special Reports of the Council. On their opinion being required as to any doubtful or disputed professional usage, particularly in Conveyancing Practice, the Council carefully consider the matter, and register their decisions in a book kept for that purpose, which is accessible to the Members of the Society. Lists of persons applying to be admitted and re-admitted on the Roll of Attorneys and Solicitors, or to renew their certificates, are printed and circulated in order that improper persons may be opposed. Where there is sufficient ground, the Council undertake, on behalf of the Society, to apply to the Courts to remove persons from the Rolls who have misconducted themselves as Attorneys, and in other respects aid in the supervision of Professional Practice. The Society already comprises a great proportion of the most respectable practitioners in town, and a considerable number practising in the country; and the Council are desirous of calling the attention of their Professional brethren to the advantages afforded by the Establishment. With a view to extend the usefulness of the Society, and bring together a larger proportion of the Members of the Profession, particularly the junior practitioners, the Admission Fee has been reduced to 51. In order to be admitted into the Society, the Applicant must be proposed by two Members, his name affixed in the Hall for 14 days, and approved on ballot by the Council. The Annual Subscription for Town Members is 2., and for Country Members 17. Every Member, immediately on his admission, becomes entitled to the benefits of the Institution, comprising the following depart ments: 1. The Hall, open daily from Nine o'clock in the morning till Ten at night, is furnished with the Votes and Proceedings of both Houses of Parliament, the London Gazette, Morning and Evening Newspapers, Reviews, and other useful periodical publications. Here also Members of the Profession, residing in different parts of the town or country, are enabled to meet one another by appointment, and for all purposes of business. any scarce book in the Library should be wanted by a Member for production in any of the Courts of London or Westminster, the Librarian, or a Messenger, will attend with it under the authority of the President, or VicePresident, or two members of the Council. The Articled Clerks of Members are admitted to the Law Library on payment of an annual subscription of 17. 3. Lectures on the different branches of the Law are regularly delivered in the Hall from November to March inclusive, and are particularly useful, in consequence of the various and extensive alterations, both in the principles and practice of the Law, which have already taken place, and are still in progress. The members of the Society are entitled to attend these Lectures gratis; and their Articled Clerks are admitted on payment of 11. for each set of Lectures, or 21. for the whole. The Articled Clerks of Gentlemen not members pay 17. 108. for each set, or 31. for the whole; and other Students, not falling within either of those classes, are admitted on paying 21. for each set, or 41. for the whole. 4. The Registry Office, for the use of Members and their Clerks, is open daily from Nine in the morning until Eight at night. Here are kept an account of Appeals in the House of Lords, the General and Daily Cause Papers, lists of Petitions in causes in the Courts of Equity, and in Lunacy and Bankruptcy, the Sittings Papers, Peremptory Papers, Special Papers, and Papers of New Trials in the Courts of Law. Boxes are provided in the ante-room for Members, in which they may deposit their papers, thus saving the trouble and expense of carrying them to and from the Courts and Offices. Books are also kept for entering particulars of property to be sold or pur chased; of money to be lent, or wanted to be borrowed on mortgage or otherwise; of applications for partners, and for articled, managing, and other clerks. 5. Rooms for Meetings of Arbitrators, or any other professional matter. 6. Fire-proof Rooms and Closets are provided for the deposit of Deeds, &c., in separate boxes; and rooms are let, either for temporary or permanent purposes, each renter having a private key of his own room or closet, to which no other person has access. 7. The Club consists of Members of the Society who pay an entrance fee of 51. 5s., and an annual subscription of 51. 5s. for Town Members, and 31. 3s. for Country Members." 2. The Library is open daily from Nine o'clock in the Morning until Nine at night, and on Lecture Evenings till Ten, except on Satur days, when it is closed at Four. It comprises rated Law Society in behalf of the Profession In considering the services of the Incorponearly 12,000 volumes, and is divided into two parts; an Inner Library, for the exclusive use at large, we may notice the Annual Certificate of Members, containing Parliamentary Works, Duty, which amounted to 120,000!. a-year and Public Records, County History and To- (of which 90,000l. was paid by the Attorneys pography, Genealogy, Heraldry, and Miscel- of England and Wales), and which was relaneous works; an Outer or Law Library, comprising the Statutes, Reports, Digests, Treatises, duced one-fourth principally by the exertions and other works relating to the Law, which is of the Council during many Sessions of 486 Law of Costs.-Inns of Chancery. [LEGAL OBSERVER, Parliament, and at a large expense. Thus | should be ascertained and enforced, not for 30,000l. has been annually saved to the Pro- giving new rights." fession.-ED. L. 0. LAW OF COSTS. IN ERROR, ON REVERSAL OF JUDGMENT BELOW. THE plaintiff in an action had obtained judgment in the Court of Queen's Bench (2 Ellis & B. 118); but on error being suggested, the Court of Exchequer Chamber reversed the judgment (3 Ellis & B. 642). The Master on taxation having refused to allow the defendant any costs in error, this rule had been obtained to review the taxation. Lord Campbell, C. J., said,—“I am of opinion that the Master did well to disallow those costs. Formerly they could not have been claimed; and we are to see whether the law has been altered in that respect. It has not been altered by any enactment; for the Common Law Procedure Act, 1852, sect. 148, says merely that the writ of error shall be abolished, and the proceedings in error be a step in the cause; altering the form of the proceeding in error, but not its effect. Then has it been altered by any rule which the Judges had authority to make? If I adopted Mr. Ball's construction of the rules, I should doubt if the Judges had authority to alter the Statutes which regulate the giving of costs. But on a fair construction of those rules they mean that, where the costs are allowable, they shall be so taxed. They are regulations as to the mode in which the amount of costs shall be ascertained where by law they may be claimed, not affecting the liability to costs. error Coleridge, J., added:-" It is admitted that before the Common Law Procedure Act, 1852, then costs were not claimable. The Court has no power to impose costs. We must therefore discharge this rule unless we find that, directly or indirectly, these costs have been given by the Legislature. It would be a very strong thing to infer from the words ' shall be a step in the cause,' that this step and all which followed it were to carry costs. "Then as to the rules, I think they bear the interpretation given by my lord. If they did not, I should think them beyond the authority given to the Judges who framed them. That authority is in the Common Law Procedure Act, 1852, sect. 223. All the language of that section points to the framing of rules for regulating the manner in which the existing rights Wightman and Crompton, J. J., concurred, and the rule was discharged. Fisher v. Bridges, Ellis & B. 666. INNS OF CHANCERY. To the Editor of the Legal Observer. SIR, I have read the several articles in the Legal Observer relating to the Inns of Chancery, particularly the statement and remarks made in the Number of the 6th October, in which you call attention to the regulations of the Inns of Court by which in 1825 and 1828 the Attorneys and Solicitors and their Articled Clerks were excluded from the Inns of Court, and yet that the Benchers of those learned societies retain the rents received from the Inns of Chancery, the members of which you are aware are always Attorneys. It is very remarkable that the old lease of Furnival's Inn expired a short time prior to the Rules made by the Inns of Court for the exclusion of Attorneys. It is certain that the principal and antients of Furnival's Inn went into commons in their old hall down to the year 1817. There is a report of the trial of an action in 3 Campb. 168, of Hussey v. Crickitt, brought upon a wager "laid in May, 1809, when the plaintiff, the defendant, and seven other gentlemen, were dining together in Furnival's Inn Hall," regarding the ages of some of the members. The wager was for a rump and dozen." An objection was taken before the Court that it was void for uncertainty, but the Court took judicial notice that a rump and dozen" meant "a good dinner and plenty him the amount of the tavern bill. In addiof wine," and decided for the plaintiff, giving tion to this evidence, there are several Solicitors still alive who are well acquainted with the "keeping of commons" in Furnival's Inn Hall down to 1817. I agree with you that the neglect of the remaining antients of that Inn of Chancery to renew their lease ought not to deprive the Attorneys of the improved rents arising on the new building, and which at the expiration of the lease to Mr. Peto, the builder, will amount to several thousands a-year, as appears by the proceedings in a suit in Chancery since the builder's death. You have suggested a doubt as to the proper persons entitled to receive and distribute these rents. Now I would suggest that the attorneys who occupy chambers in Furnival's Inn should unite with the surviving members of the old society and re-constitute it, and then make application to the Benchers proved rent, minus the old quit-rent of 10 of Lincoln's Inn for the payment of the immarks, and place themselves in a position to institute the necessary proceedings either in the Court of Chancery or to apply to Parlia ment for redress. A SOLICITOR. OCT. 20, 1855.] Metrop, and Prov. Law Association.-Charges of Law Stationers. 487 METROPOLITAN AND PROVINCIAL | for crown debts and judgments, to obtain the LAW ASSOCIATION. THE Committee have received notice, that the following papers will be read at the Annual Provincial Meeting of this Association, to be held at Birmingham, on Monday, the 22nd inst., at two o'clock : 1. Observations on the working of the sys- By Richard 3. On Conditions of Sale. 5. Sketch of the Organization of the Profes- the After the reading of each paper it will be discussed by the members present, if they be so minded. The place of meeting is the Theatre of the Birmingham and Midland Institute, 7, Cannon Street. The Members will afterwards dine together at Dee's Royal Hotel, Temple Row; the tickets for the dinner being 5s. each, exclusive of wine. A further Meeting will be held at the Theatre of the Institute the following day at 10 o'clock A.M., to continue the discussion of papers. It is requested that the members on their arrival will enter their names and addresses in Birmingham in a book placed for that purpose in the Geological Museum of the Institute, which has been placed at the service of the Association as a reception-room. The Committee feel very strongly, that to give this Association the weight and influence it should possess, and without which its power of usefulness is necessarily limited, it ought to have largely increased support; and they take this opportunity earnestly to entreat the members, and especially those in the metropolis, to use their best endeavours to obtain an addition to their numbers. execution of deeds by parties resident in Lon- It is useless to tell the public of the evils I could quote, during my 32 years' experience, many similar instances of honourable conduct on the part of the Profession, but the above will suffice to show the public, as well as country Solicitors, the importance of placing their business in the hands of responsible professional men-whether it be in town or country. It has been well said, "that it is not all gold so it is with cheap law. I rethat glitters: " collect an instance, where through an unprofessional person, the steward of a nobleman, using a printed form of lease, which contained CHARGES OF LAW STATIONERS. clauses in opposition to the power of the donor, the reversioner, when he came into possession, ejected the whole of the tenants, some of whom ENCROACHMENTS ON SOLICITORS.-CHEAP had laid out between one and two thousand AGENCY. pounds upon their farms. To the Editor of the Legal Observer. The same remark applies to cheap law staSIR, AS your Journal is the unwearied ex- tionery. How few Solicitors consider of the ponent and advocate of the Statutes, Rules, and number of folios which should be put into a privileges appertaining to the Legal Profession, brief sheet; they will find that the seemingly I am induced to draw your attention to a cir- cheap sheet is only a half one, as allowed by cular just issued by a professedly cheap sta- the Taxing Master, and sometimes only the third tioner, and which has been most extensively of one; whereas the respectable and legitimate circulated amongst country Solicitors, wherein law stationer gives a full one,—and to test it is he professes, for almost nominal fees, to search but too happy to charge his customers by the 488 Metropolis Act.-Notes of Week.-Superior Courts: Rolls. [LEGAL OBSERVER, folio, which is the most honourable mode of charging, inasmuch as the Solicitor's bill is taxed by the folio. Common sense would dictate that this is the proper mode of paying the law stationer, and would save on taxation a great deal of trouble to the Solicitor as well as Taxing Master. JOHN ROBERT TAYLOR. 54, Chancery Lane, 17th Oct., 1855. NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. By Metropolis Local Management Act. JAMES J. SCOTT, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, Author of "Law and Practice of Local Boards of Health," and other Works. London: Knight & Co., 90, Fleet Street. THIS work seems from its dedication to Sir Benjamin Hall, and its publication by Knight & Co., the publishers to the Poor Law Board and Board of Health, to be the authorised edition of the recent important enactment, which has effected what may justly be termed a revolution in the management of the local affairs of the metropolis. To any edition of this Statute the affectation of "practical notes," or the subjoining of "decided cases,' would mislead the unwary. Mr. Scott has wisely done no more than what was to be done, and what he is well qualified to do, he has abstracted the measure itself in an introduction, and added a copious index to its provisions. His work should be in the hands of every vestryman or vestry clerk, and indeed of every one interested in having our local affairs properly administered. NOTES OF THE WEEK. LECTURES AT THE INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY. THE Lectures on Equity and Bankruptcy will be delivered by Mr. Joseph T. Humphry ; on Conveyancing by Mr. Baggaliay; and on Common Law and Criminal Law by Mr. Malcolm Kerr. The Lectures will commence on Friday, the 2nd November, and be continued every Monday and Friday evening to the 21st December, and be resumed on the 7th January. The subscription for the three Courses payable by the Articled Clerks of Members of the Society, is 21. only, or 11. for each course separately. The Articled Clerks of Solicitors who are not members pay one-half more, and strangers double fees. PARLIAMENTARY RETURN OF SALARIES OF JUDGES AND OFFICERS. A return has just been printed to an order of the House of Lords of 27th March last, of the amount of salary of all the Judges and Officers of all the Courts, and the Fund out of which they are paid; also the Fees collected from Suitors and the appropriation thereof. There officers in Chancery and Common Law. In seems a marked difference in the salaries of the Chancery, the Registrars' salaries vary from 2,000l. the senior to 1,2501. the junior, Taxing Masters 2,000l., Examiners 1,500l., Judges' Chief Clerks 1,200, with power to increase to 1,500l., Clerks of Records and Writs 1,200 Now, the Common Law Masters (about half of whom are Barristers and the rest were Solicitors) combine in the duties of their office the business of Taxing Masters, Registrars, Examiners, the investigation (like the Chief Clerks) of matters referred to them, and the superintendence of the Records of the Court. For all these duties only 1,2001. a-year is awarded. It was some time ago suggested that the Masters should relieve the Judges of summonses for time, the administration of oaths, and other routine matters; and it was proposed that the salary should be increased to 1,5001. We think that the Chancery Officers are not overpaid, but the Masters of the Superior Law Court are evidently under-paid. OCT. 20, 1855.] Superior Courts: V. C. Wood.-Exchequer. Vice-Chancellor Wood. In re Holden's Estate. July 31, 1855. LANDS' CLAUSES' CONSOLIDATION ACT, 1845.-PAYMENT OF COSTS OF INVEST MENT AND PAYMENT OUT OF COURT BY RAILWAY COMPANY. A railway company had paid into Court the purchase-money of lands taken before the passing of the Lands' Clauses' Act, 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. 18), and it had been invested. Their Act (the 3 & 4 Wm. 4, c. xxxvi.) made no provision as to the payment by them of the costs of investment and payment out of Court, although the Act passed on their amalgamation with other companies (9 & 10 Vict. c. cciv.) incorporated the Lands' Clauses Act in the usual nanner: Held, that the railway company were not liable to the costs of a petition for payment of the dividends to the parties entitled. The decision of Lord Truro in Exparte Eton College, 20 Law J., N. S., Ch. 1, only refers to the exercise of new powers under the new Act, and not to a transaction completed before the Company were liable to costs under the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 18, s. 80. Ir appeared that before the passing of the Lands' Clauses' Consolidation Act, 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. 18), the purchase-money of certain land taken by the London and Birmingham Railway Company had been paid into Court and invested, and that in July, 1846, the London and North Western Railway Company was formed of the above, together with two other railway companies. There was no provision in the London and Birmingham Railway Act (3 & 4 Wm. 4, c. xxxvi.) as to the payment of the costs of investment and payment out of Court of the purchase-money of lands taken, although in the London and North Western Railway Act (9 & 10 Vict. c. cciv.) the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 18, was incorporated in the usual manner. 489 moneys, or of the securities wherever the same shall be invested, and of all proceedings relating thereto, except such as are occasioned by litigation between adverse claimants." Springall Thompson now appeared in support of this petition for payment of the dividends on the purchase-money to the parties entitled, with costs, citing the decision of Lord Truro, Exparte Eton College, 20 Law J., N. S., Ch. 1. The Vice-Chancellor (without calling on .Speed, contrà, for the railway company) said, that the case cited only showed that a railway company could not avail themselves of the new powers under their Act without incurring the new liabilities thereby created, and did not refer to a case like the present, where the whole transaction was completed before the passing of such new Act and under the powers of a former Act, which did not impose costs. The order would be therefore made without costs. Court of Exchequer. Morgan v. Fernihaugh. June 12, 1855. COSTS OF THE DAY.-SIDE-BAR RULE FOR, OBTAINED WHEN DEFENDANT ABSENT. Where a defendant was absent upon a cause being called on at the assizes for trial pursuant to notice, a side-bar rule under rule 39 of Hilary Term, 1853, for the costs of the day, obtained on the plaintiff's absence, was discharged. IT appeared that notice of trial had been given in this action for the Liverpool Assizes, but that no briefs had been delivered on either side to counsel, nor were the attorneys of either party present when the cause was called on although the defendant's attorney had attended for four days at the assizes. A side-bar rule for the costs of the day having been obtained by the defendant, this rule nisi had been granted to set it aside. By rule 39 of Hilary Term, 1853, it is provided, that "the costs of the day for not proceeding to trial or to execute a writ of inquiry may be obtained by a side-bar rule, on the usual affidavit." Milward showed cause against the rule, which was supported by Brett. By sect. 80 of this Act it is enacted, that "in all cases of monies deposited in the bank under the provisions of this or the special Act, or an Act incorporated therewith," "it shall be lawful for the Court The Court said, that if the defendant had of Chancery in England or the Court of Exchequer in Ireland to order the costs of the been present he might have craved judgment following matters, including therein all reason- of nonsuit, but by his neglect he had, as much The rule able charges and expenses incident thereto, to as the plaintiff, occasioned costs. be paid by the promoters of the undertaking; would accordingly be made absolute to disthat is to say, the costs of the purchase or tak-charge the side-bar rule. ing of the lands, or which shall have been incurred in consequence thereof, other than such *We have nearly exhausted our stock of costs as are herein otherwise provided for, and Reports of the Practice and important Dethe costs of the investment of such moneys in cisions of the legal year 1854-5, and do not Government or real securities, and of the re- deem it expedient to fill up" with the reinvestment thereof in the purchase of other maining cases, which for the most part relate lands, and also the costs of obtaining the pro- to particular and unimportant points. Besides, per orders for any of the purposes aforesaid, the "regular reports" are now carried down to and of the orders for the payment of the divia very recent period, and our readers will find dends and interest of the securities upon which the most useful of their contents duly noted in such moneys shall be invested, and for the various articles week by week. payment out of Court of the principal of such |