term opens without some new member taking his seat. Last year was an exceptional one, from the great number of new judges elevated to the bench owing to the political changes which took place; and this year three new judges, consequent on the passing of the Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, took their seats for the first time-viz., Mr. Justice Hayes, Mr. Justice Brett, and Mr. Baron Cleasby. A large number of persons assembled in the hall to witness the arrival of their Lordships. The procession which was escorted by a body of armed mounted police, reached Westminster Hall about two o'clock, and at half-past two their Lordships took their seats in their respective

courts.

THE NEW JUDGE.-Mr. Baron Cleasby, the recently appointed Puisne Judge of the Court of Exchequer, was on Thursday morning sworn in as one of the barons of that court, and subscribed the roll accordingly.

The cause list of the Divorce Court shows 201 cases far hearing during Michaelmas Term. There are in the Probate Court for hearing during the present Michaelmas Term ten causes without juries, thirteen with special juries, and three with common juries.

IRELAND.-There is a rumour that the result of the elevation of one of the law officers to the vacant judgeship of the Bankruptcy Court may be the appointment of the Hon. David Plunket, one of the candidates for the city of Dublin, to the office thus vacated. Another rumour is that Mr. Macdonogh, Q.C., will receive the vacant judgeship.

SERJEANTS' INN.-No less than fourteen of the Judges dined in the hall of this ancient society on the first day of Term, and among them were the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, the Chief Baron, and the three new Judges. The three new Serjeants, Cox, Sleigh, and Sargood, were received in the usual form. Such a gathering has not been seen in Serjeants'-inn for thirty years.

DISCOVERY IN THE TEMPLE.-As the workmen were engaged in excavating the ground for the foundation of the new Temple Hall, they discovered a portion of a gilt door of the fourteenth century, the gilding and the stonework being in excellent preservation. These ancient relics were taken care of, and are now in the possession of the principal foreman of the works.

The death is announced of Mr. Hatley Frere, late one of the Judges of Her Majesty's High Court of Judicature at Madras. Mr. Hatley Frere was educated at Westminster, and won an Indian writership given as a prize by the late Mr. Watkins W. Wynne, when at the head of the Indian Board of Control. He was appointed to a post in the Madras Presidency, and having served his full time, he retired from the Indian service less than three years ago.

THE LATE LORD BROUGHAM.-At the meeting of the General Council of the University of Edinburgh, held last week, the following minute was adopted, on the motion of Dr. Alexander Wood:That this council desires to record its sense of the loss which it, in common with the whole nation, has sustained by the death of the Chancellor and head of the university, Lord Brougham and Vaux. After receiving his education within the walls of the University, he early vindicated for himself a proud position in literature, science, and politics, and has left his impress on the legislation as well as on the philosophy of his country. Called, nine years ago, to be the first Chancellor of our reformed and liberalised University, he took a warm and enlightened interest in its prosperity. Gathered to his fathers in a ripe old age, he has left behind him an example for our students to imitate, and a blank in our councils which it will be difficult to fill up."

MAGISTRATE AND PARISH LAWYER.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.

Monday, Nov. 2.

1868.

Monday, Nov. 23. Monday, Dec. 14.

1869. Monday, Jan. 11. Monday, Feb. 1. Monday, March 1.

1869.

Mr. Baron Bramwell then inquired of Mr. Avery whether there was any other business.

not, and the court was then formally adjourned to The Officer of the Court replied that there was Monday, Nov. 23.

WESTMINSTER POLICE COURT.
Wednesday, Nov. 4.

THE FANCY BREAD QUESTION. Mr. Hay, baker, of Cadogan-terrace, Chelsea, appeared to receive judgment on a summons charging him with selling bread, the same not being fancy bread exempt by statute, otherwise than by weight, under the 3 Geo. 4, c. 106, s. 4. of Rochester-row. The prosecution was conducted by W. D. Smyth, of Epsom, defending. Oppenheim, barrister, instructed by Harrowell,

Mr. John Wilson Nix sent a lad for a halfquartern cottage loaf to the shop of the defendant, and the boy returned with one weighing 74 ounces short. Complainant requested defendant to weigh it, but the latter refused to do so, and stood on the law, terming it "fancy bread," the Act of Geo. 4 exempting such bread from weight. The rest of the case for the prosecution depended on the evidence of a baker's foreman in Pimlico, who stated that cottage, although fancy bread, was of the same material as household, and was weighed before being sold, besides the evidence of the complainant and others, who stated that they had bought cottage bread by weight.

For the defence an old baker in business at the time of the passing of the Act was called, and stated that cottage bread was then fancy bread; of better material than houshold bread, more carefully made, and difficult to make and bake; besides losing more by evaporation; and Mr. Bonthron, of Regent-street, thirty years a baker, proved that the ingredients of his cottage loaf were of a superior flour altogether to the household bread.

DEATH OF LORD CURRIEHILL. Mr. John Marshall, who, as a judge of the Scotch Court of Session, bore the courtesy title of Lord Currichill, and who retired from the Bench about a fortnight since, died at Curriehill last week. The Edinburgh Courant says of him: "Lord Curriehill has not long survived his retirement from the Bench, which he so well adorned. Many of his friends had hoped that a release from official duty might be the means of yielding him a certain space of serene quiet and comparative ease. But it was otherwise ordained. The malady which led to his retirement had gained more strength than was supposed, and last night he peaceably breathed his last. We have thus lost a lawyer of a very eminent and peculiar kind. He came to the bar Defendant's own foreman was called, and, after fifty years ago, in the year 1818. From that time making three different statements, admitted in forward he was distinguished as an honest, indus-cross-examination that defendant made cottage trious, and intelligent lawyer. No one ever found and household bread of precisely the same matehim deficient in the discharge of his duty, or ill- rials. prepared in the lesson that he undertook. He was for some time Dean of Faculty, and performed the duties of the office with propriety and dignity. In 1852 he was raised to the Bench, and it cannot be doubted that thereby the country derived the most

Oppenheim summed up, relying on the evidence of Mr. Bonthron, as well as on the evidence of two of the complainant's own witnesses, who said it was known in the trade as fancy bread, and only sold in the poorer parts to save any dispute as to its being

full weight. His argument was lengthy, but to the point, as was an able reply, by

Smyth, who, putting aside the fact of cottage bread being more difficult to make, of better material, more trouble to bake, and losing more by evaporation than household bread, was not at all in a position to admit that at the time of the passing of the Act cottage loaves were fancy bread. He contended that the words "usually sold" were the great point of argument, and submitted that he had satisfactorily shown, even by the cross-examination of the defendant's witnesses, few, and with his evidence he contrasted that of that it was generally sold by weight. Mr. Bonthron was a high-class baker, of whom there were the defendant's own foreman, who admitted, at last, that cottage loaves were made of the same material precisely as the best household. It was of vast importance to the poorer classes of the community that this question-the first of the kind ever raised before a police magistrate-should be decided, after mature consideration, by a sound lawyer; for if bakers were allowed to sell half-aquartern loaf seven and a-half ounces short, it

would open the door to all kinds of fraud, and materially affect those who made bread a staple article of food.

Mr. ARNOLD, in an elaborate judgment, agreed that the real question was the interpretation of the term "usually sold," whether that referred to the time of the passing of the Act or any future period. At the time of the legislation the cottage loaf was, by the evidence, known and sold as fancy bread, and it was, in his opinion, the general practice to make it of a superior class of material, taking more time and labour, and wasting more in the process of baking than the household loaf; and he was of opinion that it came within the meaning of bread usually sold under the denomination of fancy bread." After carefully going through the arguments pro and con., and contrasting them with one another, he considered a cottage loaf fancy bread, which a baker was not bound to weigh, and could sell at a superior price, in the same manner that a butcher sold prime and inferior joints. Another tribunal, on the same evidence, might have decided differently, and he was glad the question was now awaiting argument in the Court of Queen's Bench. He dismissed the summons, with nominal costs.

BINGLEY PETTY SESSIONS.
Wednesday, Oct. 28.

(Before Messrs. WALTER DUNLOP, JOHN CRAVEN, and GEORGE STANSFIELD.)

Charge of game trespass.

To day an extraordinary charge of game trespass was heard, in which the parties were Mr. W. B. Ferrand, complainant, and Mr. Kaberry Baines, of Cottingley, the defendant.

Ferns, of Leeds, appeared in support of the information that had been laid.

Terry, of Bradford, for the defence.

The defendant was charged with, that he, on the 15th of Sept. last, at Wilsden, did commit a trespass in unlawfully being upon a certain piece of land called Copping Hall, Far Field (then being in the legal occupation of Mr. Ferrand, as lord of the manor of Wilsden-cum-Allerton, and the game on the land being lawfully reserved to the lord of the manor), in pursuit of game.

Ferns said that Mr. Ferrand was lord of the manor of Allerton-cum-Wilsden; and, as such, entitled to the land named in the information. There could be no doubt but that the defendant was on the land in pursuit of game, and, that being so, he contended that it was for the defendant to show that he was legally entitled to kill game there.

Terry, at this stage of the proceedings, contended that it was incumbent on Mr. Ferns to prove, in the first place, who was the prosecutor, and that the person who prosecuted was entitled to the game on the land. The information was laid under the 30th section of the 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 32, which provided penalties for two offencesone for trespassing in pursuit of game, and the other for persons to the number of five or more committing such trespass. For the former offence the penalty was 40s., and for the latter 5. In the section of the Act it was stated that the landlord, lessor, or other person who should have the right to kill game upon the land by virtue of any reservation, or otherwise, should be the party for the purpose of prosecuting for each of the two offences.

Ferns replied that any credible witness might lay such information.

Terry said he did not object to that; but it was incumbent on the party complaining to prove that the real prosecutor was entitled to the game; for, surely, he argued, the Bench would not hold that if he (Mr. Terry) happened to have his own game certificate, and to be shooting upon his own freehold land, that he was to be liable to be summoned as a trespasser, and then to prove that he was on his own land, and that the game was his. He should

summoned from the neighbourhood, for their supposed knowledge, sworn to speak the truth. If any of the jury declared their ignorance of the matter given them in charge, they were to be withdrawn, and others substituted in their stead, and Britton applies this doctrine of afforciament to the jury who tried in criminal cases. The consent of the prisoner to be tried by the jury thus officered, was required under severe pains and penalties, even to peine forte et dure.

The great change which has taken place in regard to juries will instantly occur to any one, when it is considered that the slightest knowledge of the facts of a criminal case will disqualify a petit juror at the present time, although it is conceded, I believe, that a grand juror can find indictments, and make presentments solely upon their own knowledge.

The secrecy of a grand jury, which would startle any person not familiar with its history, becomes perfectly regular when it appears in all history, only as an accusing and informing tribunal, although evidence was frequently submitted to them in open court.

A number of reasons have been given why the proceedings of a grand jury should be secret, the principal ones being, that it would prevent subornation of perjury, and would shield timid jurors from being overawed by the power and connections of the individual charged. In the present age, when life, reputation, and property are all so carefully guarded, no such reason could be adduced, or if adduced, would have the least force

whatever.

Surrounded as we are, by all the guarantees of an enlightened civilisation, and living under a constitution which secures to every individual the largest personal liberty, it would appear to be entirely anomalous in its character, and utterly antagonistic to the whole theory of our government and the spirit of our institutions.

"If it be a judicial tribunal,' as one writer has said, its secrecy is at variance with all experience and the whole theory of the English law, and its power to adjudge upon knowledge of its own members, without oath and without evidence accusator et judex, accuser and judge, or judge and jury, would make it appear at variance with the theory of all judicial proceedings with which we are familiar. If it be only an informing and accusing, not a judicial tribunal, its entire independence of the court, which it is the tendency of modern decisions to establish, contradicts the theory of the judicial system of England, and its irresponsibility contravenes as well that as the American constitutional and statutory guarantees. Sir William Blackstone lauds it to the skies, as the soul of English liberty; but Jeremy Bentham condemns it, as deforming English judicial proceedings, whose publicity is their honest boast. In the city of London the grand jury system has been completely abolished, and in some of the states in our country, it has been greatly modified, and in one, at least, been abolished.

In Connecticut, the prisoner is admitted to the grand jury room, and to cross-examine the witnesses produced against him, and the whole system seems to partake more of the ancient grand jury of the hundred than in any other state. In Michigan the system has been abolished altogether.

The question here is not how long has this institution existed, but is it best adapted to the condition of society among us here now?

1. Antiquity. Any argument in favour of the grand jury system, drawn solely from its antiquity, if it prove anything, proves too much. It is an argument which would sustain a body of hereditary legislators in Great Britain, with its bench of bishops. It is an argument which has proved a main support of old abuses in every shape and form, and unless its workings tend to the benefit of society, it should be modified and improved, or entirely abolished.

2. Expense. It is expensive and burdensome to the community; it is onerous upon the people who are compelled to serve upon grand juries; it is no small tax upon the industry of each county in this state, for eighteen or twenty men to be called together twice a year, and kept in session a week or ten days. And yet, a free government may require more checks and balances than a pure despotism. In the advancing stages of civilisation, the machinery of the body politic becomes more complex, the simple laws and usages of savage life will not meet the wants of civilised man, and we should cheerfully bear whatever burdens are necessary to the support of good government.

3. The grand jury is a secret and ex parte tribunal, and is contrary to the genius and spirit of the present age, and is liable to great abuses. Men go before grand juries to make light and frivolous accusations which they would not dare to do in the face of day. The malevolent go there to gratify their malevolence, to pull down the honest reputation of his neighbour, and it is one of the commonest things for an indictment to be pro

cured, with the idea that if the party did not get his victim convicted, that the infamy of the accusation will cling to him as long as he lived, and that, if acquitted, the person would never again occupy the same position in society which he did before he was suspected. The proceedings of grand juries are anomalous in our system of jurisprudence, and oftentimes thieves and villains use its machinery to prosecute their victims, and effect their own escape.

The publicity of courts affords the best guarantee of their purity. Because, if prejudice or partiality or corruption existed, the world would see the indication of it; but in the grand jury-room, like the Inquisition or the Star Chamber, all is enveloped in darkness.

tainly better founded. He said the children of that parish cost the ratepayers 11s. 3d. each per week. On referring to the annual report of the Poor Law Board to test that assertion, we find the workhouse children of St. Pancras are in the Central London Pauper School. Now, in 1865, the cost of maintaining and educating a child at that establishment was 281. 10s. 10d. for the twelve months; in 1866 it was returned at 291. 18s. 5d. ; but better management, we presume, reduced the expense in 1867 to 241. 10s. 1d.. At the lowest of these sums nearly a whole year's wages of a strong but unskilled man would be consumed by the expenditure on one child. A dock labourer, for example, gets 15s. a week at full work; but if he obtain employment for nine months in the year he is rather fortunate, and his total earnings would be then 28. 10s. Now compounding is abolished, the ratepayers in London who will be compelled to contribute to the maintenance and education of It is secret where it should be public, and pauper childen on a scale hopelessly beyond that public where it should be secret. The particular which they can devote to their own offspring may mode of conducting proceedings in the grand-jury literally be counted by thousands. A family of room was just about all that there was secret in four children at schoolgoing ages is not an it; about the results there was no secrecy. The unusually large one, but at the St. Pancras grand-jury were sworn to secrecy; but the wit-rate it would entail an outlay of 1201. a year. nesses were not, and the miscalled secrets of the Truly the parishioners in the north of London are grand-jury room were blazoned to the accused and not calling out before they are hurt.-Pall Mall

If any person was accused of a crime, would he prefer a secret ex parte examination, or choose to hear the testimony, cross-examine and sift it, and explain it ?

the world.

4. No man should be tried for an aggravated crime, unless a complaint in writing, and under oath, had been made to a magistrate, and an opportunity given the accused to defend himself. The magistrate should then proceed to hear the allegations and evidence on the part of the prosetion and accused, and if probable cause was found to believe him guilty, a certificate to that effect should be made to the prosecuting officer, which should form the basis of an information to be filed against the accused. I would commit no power or discretion, more than the prosecuting officer now possesses, into that officer's hands.

When a man commits theft, robbery, or murder, people do not wait for a session of the grand jury to arrest him, but they arrest him at once, on the spot.

5. When first instituted, a grand jury was of value. Then the King, by his fiat, could send the man to his creatures to be tried, and then to the dungeon and to death; but the occasion which gave it birth has passed away. Grand juries exist in no other countries except England and America the two most enlightened countries in the world --and imperfect and subject to abuse as the system is, there are evils which will attend the introduction of any substitute, that may make the most advanced and progressive theorist in the science of government pause before wiping it entirely out. "A frequent recurrence, however, to the fundamental principles of government is absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty."

"IT'S ALL A MISTAKE."-An incident almost

---

unprecedented in the annals of courts of justice occurred at the Surrey Sessions on Tuesday. A charged with stealing a bag and the sum of man named William King was put on trial, 37. 68. 6d. The man had been admitted to bail. In the course of the morning Mr. Cartridge, the officer of the court, directed him to be called upon to surrender. No response being made to the voice, called out in the court, "Is William King summons, Mr. Cartridge, in a somewhat sharp here ?" Thereupon a respectably-dressed man in the body of the court responded, "Here I am." Mr. Cartridge: Go into the dock." The gaoler (Mr. Cook) placed the man in the dock. Mr. Marshall (the clerk of the peace) then said: "Prisoner at the bar, you are charged that you, on the day of October, did wilfully and feloniously steal from the person of John Barrow." Prisoner (who was trembling apparently with fear) here said sotto voce to Mr. Cook, the gaoler: "Please, sir, it's all a mistake. The gaoler: "Oh, there's no mistake; you listen to the indictment." The clerk of the peace having read the indict ment, asked in the usual form: "Prisoner, how say you-are you guilty or not guilty?" Prisoner: If you please, my lord, there is some mistake.' The clerk of the peace: "We shall see that presently. Are you guilty or not guilty? Prisoner: "If you please, my lord, I am a juryman.' This announcement was received with a roar of laughter from a crowded court, during which the unhappy juryman was liberated from his unpleasant and somewhat dangerous position. WHO WOULD NOT BE A PAUPER?-At the meeting of remonstrant ratepayers of St. Pancras held a day or two since, one of the speakers, opposing the outlay of a large sum for the erection of new schools and infirmaries, is reported to have said :-" These pauper children are going to receive a college education and are better cared for than most of the ratepayers.' The "college education "was of course a mere rhetorical flourish of the aggrieved expostulant. But another observation by the same gentleman will to many appear equally surprising, and is cer

Gazette.

IMPORTANT TO TRADERS IN LIGHT WINES.At the Trowbridge Petty Session, before Messrs. J. P. Stancomb and W. R. Brown, a case of great importance to grocers and dealers in light wines was heard. Thomas Allen Kingham, grocer, of Trowbridge, was summoned by Mr. Thomas Wilford, supervisor of excise, for, on the 17th July selling a bottle of gin and a bottle of brandy without a licence. The case for the Crown was conducted by Mr. J. W. Mason, solicitor of Inland Revenue at Bath. The facts of the case are these :-The defendant is an agent for a wine company in London, who advertise in the local papers, amongst other liquors, "Spirits in bottle," &c., with the name of the defendant at the bottom as agent for Trowbridge. On the 17th July the supervisor sent an old man to the defendant's shop with an order for some grocery and a bottle of gin and a bottle of brandy. Defendant supplied the groceries, took the money, and gave the change. The old man said he wanted the spirits, but defendant said he did not sell any, and directed the old man to the agent in the town, who did. The old man feigned to be overcome with heat and fatigue, said he had come a long distance, and the spirits were for a man who had come home from a long distance. Upon this representation, and out of pure kindness to the old man, the defendant's assistant took up a portion of the change from the counter, went across the road, and got the two bottles of spirits for the old fellow, who took his purchases and went back to the excise officer who had sent him. The defendant said this was the only time he had ever obliged a person in this way. He got no profit out of the transaction. The bench considered that defendant had clearly licence within the meaning of the Act, and inflicted transgressed the law by selling spirits without a a mitigated penalty of 121. 10s., the collector saying it was so gross a case that he could hold out no hope of a further mitigation. The case has excited the indignation of the whole town.-Bristol Daily Post.

Mr.

THE REPRESSION OF CRIME.-This subject was discussed very fully at the Gloucestershire Quarter Sessions, on a motion by Mr. Lloyd Baker, who referred to the confessions of the noted professional burglars Geary and Hackett, recently convicted at the Gloucestershire Assizes. Baker's resolution was to the following effect :"We beg to represent to the Secretary of State among the poorer and the protection of the proour anxiety to promote the repression of crime perty of the wealthier class. We desire that such systems may be adopted as may prevent hardened and skilled thieves from being loose on the world with perfect liberty-should their punishment have failed to reform them to return to their former course of plundering the wealthier and corrupting the poorer without supervision or check on their actions. It appears from the judicial statistics that the probability of reformation decreased with each successive conviction. In the last year there are reported 98,775 first convictions, 19,313 second ditto, 8369 third, 4779 fourth, and 3169 convicted for a fifth time. The public has been equally desirous to repress crime and to secure property, and has pressed upon your department several apparently severe measures; but, unhappily, the result has been the opposite of the intention. Judges and magistrates endeavour as carefully as they can to allot to each crime a proportionate punishment. Exactly, therefore, as the executive department renders the punishment more severe, the judicial authority shortens the sentence, and convicts are thus allowed the sooner to return to their evil course." The resolution went on to affirm that police supervision since 1864 had been exercised on licence holders with

good effect, and an opinion was expressed that this period of supervision appeared on the one hand to be effectual in preventing the return to serious crime, and on the other was so slight a punishment that judges did practically pass a longer sentence when it was known that a large portion of it would be passed on licence. The opinion was also expressed that the restoration of it to life sentences was much to be desired, as well as that it should occupy a larger proportion of all sentences of penal servitude. Considerable discussion followed Mr. Baker's proposition, and an opinion was expressed that the experience as to the effect of supervision was too limited to found a memorial upon; and the chairman (Mr. Curtis Hayward) recommended a postponement of the matter until the next sessions, so that in the mean time they might communicate with the chief constables of other counties and ascertain what was their experience of the effect of the system. This course was ultimately agreed to.

attention to rehearsals, and to the due performance of our respective vocations faithfully and regularly according to professional custom or

usage.

4. I will keep the books, papers, and writings pertaining to the business of my employment in a proper manner, and will attend at the office of the said concert hall at all reasonable times during the day for the due transaction of my various duties, and whenever required I will render a true statement of all business done, and of everything belonging to you in the possession or control of myself or my wife, and deliver up the same, and in the meantime will take proper care of all things intrusted to my keeping, and will not conceal, waste, or make away with, obliterate, or deface, nor permit (so far as I am able to prevent it) the same to be done by others any property or things in my care as aforesaid in connection with my said employment; and when I cease to be in your service I will desist from interfering therein, and from holding myself out as your manager or servant. 5. No salary is to be payable to me or to my wife REAL PROPERTY LAWYER AND during such time (if any) as we or either of us shall be absent through sickness or otherwise. Dated the day of 18

CONVEYANCER.

NOTES OF NEW DECISIONS. WILL-SECRET TRUST-CHARITY. - NOTICE.The fact of an intention on the part of a testator to make a secret bequest to charity must be communicated or made known to the contemplated trustees of his will in testator's lifetime. Where, therefore, a testator devised and bequeathed his real and personal estate to devisees (who were also executors to his will), absolutely, but left three letters, probably intended for and directed to his executors, but not communicated to them in his lifetime, whereby he expressed a wish that the surplus of his estate to be realised by public auction should be given to a county hospital: Held, that such letters, not having

been communicated to the executors in testator's lifetime, or any knowledge of testator's intention proved to have been known to them, a bill to set aside the devise and bequest to the devisees and executors dismissed with costs: (Juniper v. Batchelor, 19 L. T. Rep. N. S. 200. V.C. G.)

WILL-CROSS REMAINDERS.-B. devised land "unto and between my three nephews, B. C. and D., in equal shares, and the heirs of their bodies respectively lawfully begotten, and in default of such issue, of any of them, unto E, widow, her heirs and assigns for ever." It was held that cross-remainders were to be implied between B., C., and D., and therefore that the gift over to E. was not to take effect until failure of the lawful issue of all of them: (Powell v. Howell, 19 L. T. Rep. N. S. 201. Q. B.)

E. F. [husband.] We agree to accept Mr. and Mrs. E. F. on the terms and conditions above specified. A. B. and C. D. [proprietors.]

18. Agreement for services of commission agent. Articles of agreement made and entered into,

&c., between A. B., of &c. [agent], of the

&c.

one part, and C. D. and E. F., of [principals], of the other part. It is hereby agreed between and by the said parties hereto as follows:

commission of

1. That the said A. B. shall be employed and act for the said C. D. and E. F. as their agent for the sale of the sold by them, and shall duties of his employment as such agent to the faithfully and honestly execute and perform the utmost of his skill and knowledge, and promote their interests, and from time to time, on request, render a just and true account in such manner as they shall require, of all his dealings and transactions as such agent, and he shall be paid and allowed for so acting the for every hundredweight, and so in proportion for every quarter or less quantity of goods and stores sold by him for and on account of the said C. D. and E. F., such commission to be paid to the said A. B. at the end of each on the amount of cash that shall up to that period have been actually received by the said C. D. and E. F. in respect of goods sold by the said A. B., and in respect of which the said commission shall not have been previously paid or allowed to him, and the said A. B. shall bear and pay his own travelling expenses.

2. That the said A. B. shall collect and receive the accounts and debts to become due and owing to the said C. D. and E. F. for goods, stores, and merchandise, supplied through his agency, except in cases where the said C. D. and E. F. shall, by orders on the purchaser direct, and he shall pay notice to the said A. B., elect to draw bills or cash over to the said C. D. and E. F., in cash on and in every the moneys received by him on their account as aforesaid. 3. That the said C. D. and E. F. shall not be bound to execute any orders received through the said A. B. unless they shall think fit, and the said or persons whom the said C. D. and E. F. shall previously have forbidden him to trust, and shall personally make good all loss sustained by them by reason of any breach of this stipulation, or of any of the conditions herein contained.

17. Agreement for services of husband and wife at A. B. shall not sell goods on credit to any person

concert hall.

To A. B. and C. D., of &c. [proprietors]. In consideration of your employing me and my wife F. F., at the respective salaries hereinafter mentioned, I agree, on my own behalf and on behalf of my said wife, that we will enter your service for a period of years from the day of 18 and discharge our respective duties as hereinafter defined: 1. I will become and act as principal basso and manager of the stage, mechanical, theatrical, and musical department of the concert hall, and take upon myself the entire supervision and management in that department, subject to your direction and approval, and devote my whole time and energies thereto; but it is understood that I am not to be called upon to appear in theatrical costume, or otherwise than in plain dress, in respect of which services you are to pay me a salary of L per week, payable every Saturday.

2. My wife shall become and act as principal mezzo soprano, and take upon herself and duly perform whatever duties may be incidental to her said service, or otherwise as vocalist in the musical selections performed at the said concert hall, she also being not called upon to appear in characteristic costume, and in respect of whose services you are to pay me a salary of £ rer week, payable as aforesaid.

3. We will attend at the said concert hall from to o'clock every working evening, unless prevented from illness, and give our utmost

(a) By THOMAS WILKINSON, Esq., Liverpool.

4. That the said A. B. shall be at full liberty, during the continuance of this agreement, to sell and dispose of by commission or otherwise, any goods, wares, or merchandise of a different description to that sold by the said C. D. and E. F., for any person or persons whomsoever.

5. That the agency hereby created shall be determinable by either party giving to the other or others of them a notice in writing to that effect, and on the delivery of such notice the said A. B. shall give up to the said C. D. and E. F. all books, papers, and property in his possession or control belonging to them, and shall thenceforth desist from using their names in anywise, or acting or holding himself out as their agent, and this agreement shall then be at an end, except in respect of any claim which either of the said parties may have against the other of them for any previous breach of the agreements herein contained. As witness, &c.

19. Agreement to refer (concise form). An agreement made, &c., between A. B., of, &c., of the one part, and C. D. and E. F., of, &c., of the other part, whereas the said A. B. claims a considerable sum of money to be due to him from the said parties hereto of the second part, under and in respect of, &c. [set out the fact. And whereas the said C. D. and E. F. dispute such

claim, and for determining the said dispute the parties hereto have agreed to refer the same as hereinafter mentioned. Now these presents witness that the said parties agree to refer all questions as to the said dispute to the certificate or award of Y. Z., of, &c. [arbitrator], so that such certificate or award be made in writing on or before the day of next, or such further time as the arbitrator by writing under his hand (whether before or after the said day) shall from time to time appoint. And that each party shall produce before the arbitrator all deeds, contracts, plans, notices, books, or documents relating to the premises, and that they shall perform and keep the certificate or award, and shall not bring any writ of error, file any bill in equity,. or commence or prosecute any action or suit against the others or other of them, or against the arbitrator for any matter (save enforcing the certificate or award) relative hereto. And that the parties and their witnesses shall be examined on oath if required, and that if any of the parties impede the arbitrator from making such certificate or award by affected or wilful delay, or by non-attendance after reasonable notice, and without satisfactory excuse, then the arbitrator may proceed ex parte. And it is agreed that this submission may be made a rule of any of Her Majesty's Courts of Record in England, and that the costs of this agreement, of the certificate or award, of proceeding thereon, and of the expenses of making this submission a rule of court, shall be in the discretion of the arbitrator. As witness, &c. (a)

(To be continued).

JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES' LAW

JOURNAL.

NOTES OF NEW DECISIONS. Under clause 6 of sect. 133 of the Companies WINDING-UP-LIQUIDATORS PRACTICE. – Act 1862, the powers given by the Act may be exercised by such one or more of the liquidators, where several have been appointed, as may be determined at their appointment, or in default of such determination by any number not less than two, amongst such powers being that of accepting bills of exchange under sect. 95; but where a person who made a bona fide advance to the company took in payment bills ostensibly accepted on behalf of the company, it was held, that the onus lay on him, not finding on the face of the bill the authority required by the statute, to show that its provisions had been complied with. And where there had been no such determination as above mentioned, but the liquidators had passed a resolation requesting the company's bankers to honour the bank's acceptance, signed by one of the liquidators and by the manager, it was held, that upon each such bill the judgment of two, at least, of the ral authority from the whole body to one of liquidators must be exercised; and a genetheir number to accept bills for an amount which included that due to a bona fide creditor, but which did not specify the amount, date, &c., of the bill, was not sufficient to sustain a claim in respect of a bill signed by one only. But if the authority be expressly given to any person to sign a specific bill on behalf of the liquidators, it is not necessary that the bill should be actually signed by two of their number: (The Claim of the Birmingham Bank Company, 19 L. T. Rep. N. S. 193. L.JJ.)

REGISTRATION.-A person to whom, with his knowledge, it has been proposed to transfer shares in a company, and who, although he has protested against such a use of his name, has received a deed of transfer to himself, has retained it for several weeks and until after the winding-up of the company, has deposited it with the company as security for a debt which he knew to be due to the company from the person who had contracted to buy the shares, and has in other respects so acted as to lead to the reasonable belief that he was himself the holder of the shares, is liable in equity as the holder, although he has neither executed nor registered the transfer, and in a suit with that object will be decreed specifically to perform the contract entered into with the transferor: (Shepherd v. Gillespie, 19 L. T. Rep. N. S. 196, L. JJ.) WINDING-UP-CONTRIBUTORY.-Absent share

(a) It is advisable, if practicable, that the execution of an agreement to refer should be attested, either by an independent witness or by the adverse solicitor (if such a term may be applied) to each party, so that should the award have to be made a rule of court the affidavit of execution by the party against whom the award is given may be made without difficulty.