sion, consisting of the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas as president, and certain of the other judges of the Common Pleas, to whom shall be assigned such business (in general) as would before the Act have belonged to the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster or at Lancaster, or to the Court of Pleas at Durham; the fourth, to be styled the Exchequer division, consisting of the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer as president, and certain of the other barons of the Exchequer, to whom shall be assigned such business (in general) as before the Act would have belonged to the Court of Exchequer either as a court of revenue or of common law, or to the London Court of Bankruptcy; and the fifth, to be styled the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty division, consisting of the judge of the Court of Probate as president, and of the judge of the High Court of Admiralty, to whom shall be assigned such business (in general) as would before the Act have belonged to the Court of Probate, the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, or the High Court of Admiralty (x).

It is also enacted, that such causes and matters as are not proper to be heard by a single judge shall be heard by divisional courts of the High Court of Justice; that any number of such courts may sit at the same time, and shall consist of two or (if practicable) of three of the judges of the court, the president being the senior judge of those present (y).

And until rules of court to the contrary shall be issued, all business belonging to the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer divisions respectively, which according to the existing practice would have been properly disposed of in banc,—or belonging to the Chancery, Probate, Divorce or Admiralty divisions which are proper to be so heard,—may be disposed of by divisional courts, which, where practicable and convenient, shall include one or more judges attached to the particular division of the court (x) 36 & 37 Vict. c. 66, ss. 31, 34. (y) Sect. 40.

to which the cause or matter out of which such business

arises has been assigned (z).

II. The Court of Appeal. Before we enter upon the consideration of this court as established under the Judicature Act, 1873, it will be convenient to recall the attention of the reader to the system of appeal which has been hitherto in use. From the judgments then of such of the inferior courts as have a legal or equitable jurisdiction, an appeal or proceedings in error may (under the existing system) be taken to one of the superior courts of common law or to the Court of Chancery, as the case may require. In the case of most of the inferior courts existing at common law, or by antient Acts of parliament or charters, the appeal has been to the Queen's Bench exclusively. And with regard to the courts out of which the Supreme Court of Judicature is composed, the appeals from their several judgments has been to the Court of Appeal for the Court of Chancery, the Court of Exchequer Chamber, or the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, according to the distinctions already set forth. While from the judgments of the Court of Appeal in Chancery and of the Court of Exchequer Chamber, an ultimate appeal has also hitherto been allowed to the House of Lords, as the supreme court of appellate judicature in the kingdom.

To this authority this august tribunal succeeded upon the dissolution of the aula regia. For, as the barons of parliament were constituent members of that court, and the rest of its jurisdiction was dealt out to other tribunals, over which the great officers who accompanied those barons were respectively delegated to preside,-it followed that the right of receiving appeals, and superintending all other jurisdictions, still remained in the residue of that noble assembly, from which every other great court was derived. Hence the House of Lords has been, as the general rule, a tribunal of appeal, in causes of com

(z) 36 & 37 Vict. c. 66, ss. 41, 44.

mon law or equity in the English courts, and (since the union of those countries respectively) in those in the courts of Scotland or Ireland; and it has also been in such causes the last resort, from whose judgment no further appeal has been permitted; [the law reposing an entire confidence in the honour and conscience of the noble persons who compose this important assembly, that (if possible) they would make themselves masters of those questions upon which they undertook to decide; and in all dubious cases would refer themselves to the opinions of the judges, who were summoned by writ to advise them: since upon their decision all property must finally depend.]

It has not, however, been considered expedient to retain under the new system inaugurated by "The Judicature Act, 1873," any of these appellate jurisdictions. For under that Act all appeals from petty or quarter sessions, from a county court, or from any other inferior court, which might before its passing have been brought to any court or judge whose jurisdiction is transferred to the High Court of Justice, may be heard and determined by divisional courts of such High Court; whose determination shall be final, unless special leave be given to appeal from the same to the Court of Appeal by that Act established (c). To the same court is transferred all the appellate jurisdiction and powers of the Lord Chancellor and the Court of Appeal in Chancery, of the Court of Appeal in Chancery of the County Palatine of Lancaster (d), of the Court of the Lord Warden of the Stannaries, of the Court of Exchequer Chamber, and of her Majesty in council or the Judicial Committee in reference to admiralty or lunacy appeals; and power is also given to the crown to direct, by order in council, that all appeals and petitions to her Majesty in council, which, according to the

(c) 36 & 37 Vict. c. 66, s. 45.

(d) Sect. 18. It may be observed, that by 17 & 18 Vict. c. 82, the Chancellor of the Duchy and of the

County Palatine, together with two of the Lords Justices, were constituted the Court of Appeal from the equitable side of the Palatine Court.

laws now in force, ought to be heard before the Judicial Committee, shall be referred for hearing to and be heard by the same Court of Appeal (e). And though the jurisdiction of the House of Lords as a Court of Appeal from the judgments of the Scotch and Irish Courts has not, for the present, been interfered with, yet it forms an express provision of the new statute that no error or appeal shall be brought from any judgment or order of the High Court of Justice, or of the Court of Appeal, or of the Chancery Court of the County Palatine of Lancaster, either to the House of Lords, or to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (ƒ).

The Court of Appeal, thus constituted by the Judicature Act (g), is to consist of five ex officio judges (namely, the Lord Chancellor, 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); -of a certain number (not exceeding nine) of " ordinary" judges (consisting of the Lords Justices, the paid judges of the Judicial Committee, and three other persons appointed by patent);—and of such "additional" judges as her Majesty shall from time to time appoint from among persons who, having held the office of a judge of the superior courts or of the Supreme Court, or in Scotland the office of Lord Justice General or Lord Justice Clerk, or in Ireland the office of Lord Chancellor or Lord Justice of Appeal, or in India the office of Chief Justice of one of the High Courts of Judicature,-shall signify in writing their willingness to serve (g).

We have already mentioned the jurisdiction which is transferred to this court from appellate tribunals hitherto in use, and it is also empowered by the Act to hear and determine appeals from any judgment or order of the High Court of Justice or of any judge or judges thereof (h).

(e) 36 & 37 Vict. c. 66, s. 21. (f) Sect. 20.

(g) Sect. 6.

(h) Sect. 19.

CHAPTER VI.

OF CIVIL INJURIES, AND HEREIN OF THE REMEDY BY ACTION GENERALLY.

WE shall now proceed to the examination of the various injuries which are cognizable in the courts-other than those which have reference to the laws ecclesiastical and maritime, and such other topics as have already incidentally received such notice as the limits of this work allow. And here we may make this general remark, that in one or other of the different courts mentioned in the two preceding chapters, every possible injury that can exist in contemplation of our laws is capable of being redressed; it being a settled and invariable principle in the laws of England, that every wrong must have a remedy (a).

In the course of the disquisition upon which we are about to enter, we shall at present confine ourselves to such wrongs as may be committed in the mutual intercourse between subject and subject, reserving such injuries or encroachments as may occur between the crown and subject, to be distinctly considered hereafter; as the remedy in such cases is generally of a peculiar and eccentrical nature.

To proceed, then, to the several injuries between subject and subject, cognizable in the courts. And we shall find that such injuries, according to their nature, are capable of being redressed by an action (or suit) at law, or by an

(a) See 3 Bl. Com. p. 23.