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Reasons against the Local Courts Bill.—Chancery Regulation Bill.

except for debts under 57., has ceased, and those which were found useful in ancient times, on account of the difficulties of travelling and communication between remote counties and the metropolis, have generally fallen into disuse, as unnecessary or inefficient.

8. That in consequence of the rapidity and facility of communication, it is more convenient and expeditious to conduct legal proceedings, preparatory to trial, in the metropolis, than in different counties or districts.

9. That the great extent of professional business transacted in London, by a due division of labour, is more efficiently performed than it can be when distributed in detail over the country, amongst practitioners, each having to attend to a small portion of every kind of business.

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namely, by sending issues under a Judge's order, in all ordinary cases of a limited amount, to be tried where the witnesses reside, before a Sheriff's Jury and a competent Assessor; and the preliminary steps may be conducted in London with less expense than in the country.

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COURT OF CHANCERY REGULA-
TION BILL.

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A BILL INTITULED AN ACT FOR THE REGU-
LATION OF THE PROCEEDINGS AND PRAC-
TICE IN CERTAIN OFFICES, AND THE SALA-
RIES AND FEES OF CERTAIN OFFICERS OF
THE HIGH COURT OF CHANCERY IN ENG-
LAND."

(Concluded from vol. v, p. 509.)

OFFICE HOURS.

10. That it is cheaper and more convenient to try causes in the metropolis, and even to bring witnesses 100 miles, than from different parts of a district by cross 39. That the several offices of the High Court roads, to the places where the local Judges the dispatch of business during such hours in of Chancery shall be and continue open for may from time to time hold their Courts. the day, and that the officers and clerks be11. That the salaries of fifty Judges, Re-longing thereto respectively shall attend in such gistrars, Clerks, Criers, Ushers, and Messengers, with Court Houses and Offices, and all the travelling and other expenses incident to holding frequent Courts in different parts of a district, will not be less than 250,000l. a-year ;- -an amount disproportioned to any advantage that can be ex-in the said respective offices shall give their pected from the establishment of such Courts, especially when the other objections to the measure are considered.

offices in the discharge of their several duties during such times, and for such number of hours in each day, as the Lord Chancellor, together with the Master of the Rolls and Vice Chancellor, or one of them, shall by any order or orders to be issued by them from time to time direct; and that the officers and clerks

personal attendance in their respective offices during the times they shall so as aforesaid be directed to attend, unless otherwise engaged in the business of their respective offices, or prevented by sickness or other unavoidable

cause.

GENERAL ORDERS.

12. That although the costs of a single trial for a small debt in one of the Superior Courts are considerable, yet the object of nearly nineteen out of every twenty actions 40. That it shall and may be lawful for the is accomplished without trial; and in es-Lord Chancellor, with the advice of the timating the comparative expense of the Master of the Rolls and Vice Chancellor, or Superior and Inferior Courts, the aggregate one of them, and he is hereby required, forthof all the actions, and the sums recovered, with to make and issue such general orders as should be taken into calculation. he shall think fit for carrying the provisions of this act into execution, and such other rules and orders, not being inconsistent with the enactments and provisions of this act, as he shall think fit and proper for simplifying, establishing, and settling the course of practice of the said Court and of its several offices; and be it enacted, that the Lord Chancellor, with the like advice of the Master of the Rolls and Vice Chancellor, or one of them, shall be and is hereby authorized and empowered, by the like general orders to be made and issued by him as aforesaid, from time to time to annul, alter, or vary any orders which may 15. That the object of diminishing the have been so as aforesaid made and issued, and costs of a trial may be obtained by far less to issue new rules and orders for the purposes expensive machinery than is proposed, herein-before mentioned or any of them.

13. That the adjournment of the assizes from one principal town to another, in large counties, or holding the assizes more in the centre of each county, would considerably lessen the expense of trials.

14. That by reducing the disbursements in the progress and at the trial of causes, the expense of recovering a small debt may be diminished within such limits as are consistent with the due administration of jus

tice.

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Court of Chancery Regulation Bill.

ROLLS' SECRETARY,

41. That the principal Secretary and Under Secretary of the Master of the Rolls shall no longer receive the fees heretofore received by them respectively, but that in lieu thereof they shall receive for their own use respectively the several fees mentioned in the fourth schedule annexed to this act.

BUILDINGS.

42. That it shall be lawful for the Lord Chancellor to give such directions as he shall deem necessary for altering and fitting up the several buildings in which the business of the aforesaid offices respectively is to be carried

on.

altering and fitting up the said buildings; and that it shall be lawful for the Lord Chancellor

to order and direct that a sufficient sum out of

the common and general cash belonging to the suitors of the said Court, lying dead and unemployed, not exceeding the sum of be applied, and the same shall be applied accordingly, under the order and direction of the Lord Chancellor, in defraying so much of the expence of altering and fitting up the said buildings for the purposes aforesaid as the proceeds of the said sum of one thousand five hundred and seventeen pounds nine shillings and five pence, three per cent. Consolidated Bank Annuities shall not be sufficient to pay. 44. And whereas by an Act passed in the 43. And whereas by an act passed in the fourteenth year of the reign of his late Mafifteenth year of the reign of his late Majesty jesty King George the Third, intituled An King George the Third, intituled An Act for Act for rebuilding the Offices for the Six applying the funds provided for rebuilding the Clerks of the King's Court of Chancery, and Offices of the Six Clerks of the King's Court of for erecting Offices for the Register and AcChancery by an Act made in the Fourteenth countant General of the said Court, for the Year of the Reign of his then present Majesty, better preserving the Records, Decrees, Orintituled An Act for rebuilding the Office of ders, and Books of Account kept in such the Six Clerks of the King's Court of Chan-Offices, it was enacted, that the ground and cery, and for erecting Offices for the Register houses to be purchased for the purpose of and Accountant General of the said Court, rebuilding the said Six Clerks Offices should for the better preserving the Records, De- be conveyed to and vested in the said Six crees, Orders, and Books of Account kept in Clerks, to hold to them and their successors such Offices, in building Offices for the said for ever, in trust for the purposes in the said Six Clerks in the Garden of Lincoln's Inn, recited Act mentioned: And whereas a portion instead of rebuilding the present Six Clerks of the ground belonging to the Society of Office in Chancery Lane, and for other pur- Lincoln's Inn was purchased in pursuance of poses, the ground on which the former Six the said recited Act; and by an Act passed in Clerks Office then stood, and the buildings the fifteenth year of the reign of his late, thereon erected, were directed to be sold, and Majesty King George the Third, the said it was directed that the monies to arise by parcel of ground so purchased was vested in such sale should be paid into the bank in the the said Six Clerks, to hold to them and their name and with the privity of the Accountant successors for ever, to the intent to erect General of the said Court, and placed to the thereon an office for the Six Clerks and an account of money arising by sale of Six Clerks Enrolment Office: And whereas the said ofOffice, and then placed out on government or fices have since been built upon the said parcel parliamentary securities, to the intent that the of ground so purchased; be it enacted, that interest and annual produce thereof might be the said parcel of ground, and the erections, paid to the Six Clerks of the said Court and offices, and buildings thereon erected and their successors in manner therein mentioned: built, shall hereafter be and the same are And whereas the said sale took place accord- hereby vested in the said Six Filacers, to hold ingly, and the monies arising therefrom have to them and their successors for ever, such been invested as directed by the said Act, and offices respectively to be used and employed there is now standing in the name of the said by the said Filacers and their assistants and Accountant General the sum of one thousand clerks, and the clerks of the enrolments of the five hundred and seventeen pounds nine shil- said Court, and their clerks, for exercising lings and five pence, three per cent. Consoli- their respective duties, and by such other dated Bank Annuities, to the account of money officers or in such other manner as the Lord arising by sale of the Six Clerks Office; be it Chancellor, by virtue of the powers conferred enacted, that the said sum of one thousand five upon him by this Act, shall direct: Provided hundred and seventeen pounds nine shillings always, that the remedies given by the said and five pence shall be sold by the said Ac-last-recited Act for the recovery of the land countant General under an order to be made by the Lord Chancellor for that purpose, and that the proceeds of such sale, together with the interest and dividends which shall have accrued on the said sum of one thousand five hundred and seventeen pounds nine shillings and five pence three per cent. Consolidated Bank Annuities subsequently to the time when this Act shall come into operation, shall be applied, under the orders of the Lord Chancellor rds payment of the expenses of

tax assessed upon the said buildings or offices shall remain and continue in full force; and when any officer or officers belonging to the said offices shall neglect or refuse to pay the sum or sums of money assessed for such land tax upon them or any of them, such land tax shall be recovered against the officers, who by virtue of this Act shall belong to the said offices, and upon whom such land tax shall have been assessed, in the same manner as the same might have been recovered by virtue of the

Court of Chancery Regulation Bill.

said last-recited Act against the officers, who before the passing of this Act belonged to the said offices respectively.

45. That it shall be lawful for the Lord Chancellor, by virtue of any order or orders of the said Court to be made for that purpose, to order and direct an annual account to be taken, and to order payment out of the said several funds herein-before directed to be constituted as aforesaid respectively, of all such sums as shall appear to the Lord Chancellor to be reasonable and proper to be paid to any of the said officers in the Filacers Office, Registrars Office, the office for keeping the Duplicate Accounts of the Suitors of the High Court of Chancery, and Masters Offices, or the clerks in the same offices respectively, in order to reimburse them for any expenses reasonably and necessarily expended by them, from and after the day on which this Act shall come into operation, until the fifth day of April then next following, and after that time between the sixth day of April in every year, and the fifth day of April in the following year, both inclusive, either in paying for books or stationery provided or supplied for carrying on the business of the said respective offices (other than the paper used for making copies for parties in the offices of the Filacers or Masters), or in providing coals and candles and other necessary articles for the said offices, and each of them, or in payment of taxes, rates, and other assessments charged upon or payable for or in respect of the said offices, and each or either or any of them, or to which the said several officers of the said Court, or any of them may be liable in respect thereof; provided that the expenses of, or relating to the said Filacers Office, shall be directed to be paid out of the Chancery Filacers account, and the expences relating to the Registrars Office shall be paid out of the Registrar's Fund Account, and the expenses relating to the Masters Offices, and relating to the said office to be called the Office for keeping the Duplicate Accounts of the Suitors of the High Court of Chancery, shall be paid out of the said fund entitled, Account of Monies placed out for the Benefit and better Security of the Suitors of the High Court of Chancery," and out of the fund entitled "Account of Securities purchased with Surplus Interest arising from Securities carried to an Account of Monies placed out for the Benefit and better Security of the Suitors of the High Court of Chancery," or either of them.

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46. That any surplus monies in the name of the Accountant General, to the account of the said several funds herein-before directed to be constituted as aforesaid, after paying and providing for the several charges thereon, shall from time to time be placed out and invested by the said Accountant General, either in one entire sum or in parcels, in the name of the said Accountant General, according to the general rules and orders of the said Court, in government or parliamentary securities, and such securities shall be placed to the fund or account from which such surplus money shall

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have arisen; and such surplus funds shall be subject to such orders as the Lord Chancellor shall, from time to time, make and issue for carrying into effect the provisions of this Act.

SUPERANNUATION.

47. That in case any of the Registrars of the said Court have or shall have performed the duties of the office of clerk and sub or Deputy Registrar, or Registrar, in the Registrar's Office for the space of forty years, or in case any Filacer of the said Court shall have performed the duties of Filacer and Assistant Filacer for the like space of forty years, or in case any such officer not having performed the duties of such offices for the respective times aforesaid, shall be afflicted with or fall into a state of mental or bodily infirmity or imbecility, so as to disable him from the due execution of his office, then and in either of such cases it shall be lawful for the Lord Chancellor by order of the said Court, on the other person petition of such officer, or of any on notice to the officer so sought to be removed, such petition to be duly verified, to remove from the said office any of the said officers who shall have served the respective times aforesaid, or who shall in the judgment of the Lord Chancellor be so disabled; and, if he shall think fit, to order an annuity or clear yearly sum not exceeding to any such Registrar, and not exceeding

to any such Filacer, to be paid to such officer for his life, out of such of the aforesaid funds as to the Lord Chancellor shall seem proper, by equal quarterly payments from the quarter day next after such his removal from office.

SUITORS' FUnd.

48. And whereas there may not be sufficient funds standing to the credit of the several accounts herein-before directed to be constituted, to answer and pay the several annual and other payments hereby directed to be made and paid thereout respectively, and it may therefore be necessary that temporary provision should be made for that purpose; be it therefore further enacted, That in case it shall at any time hereafter appear to the Lord Chancellor that the sums hereby directed to be paid, and the interest and dividends of the monies, stocks, funds, or securities standing in the name of the said Accountant General, to the credit of the said several accounts respectively, are not sufficient to answer and pay the several annual and other payments hereby directed to be made and paid thereout respectively, it shall and may be lawful for the Lord Chancellor, and he is hereby required to order and direct that any such deficiency in the said account or fund shall be made good and paid out of the surplus monies, stocks, or funds, standing to the credit of any other of the said funds so constituted as aforesaid, and if there shall be no such surplus, or no sufficient surplus, then to the whole extent, or to the extent of such de

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Court of Chancery Regulation Bill.-The Property Lawyer, No. XV.

ficiency, as the case may happen, out of the year, of the sums then standing in the name interest and dividends of the several stocks, of the Accountant General of the High Court funds, and securities, or cash, standing in the of Chancery to the credit of the before-menname of the said Accountant General to the tioned accounts entitled respectively " Acsaid two before-mentioned accounts, entitled count of Monies placed out for the Benefit "Account of Monies placed out for the be- and better Security of the Suitors of the High nefit and better security of the Suitors of the Court of Chancery," and "Account of SecuHigh Court of Chancery," and "Account of rities purchased with Surplus Interest arising Securities purchased with Surplus Interest from Securities carried to an Account of arising from Securities carried to an Account Monies placed out for the Benefit and better of Monies placed out for the Benefit and better | Security of the Suitors of the High Court of Security of the Suitors of the High Court of Chancery," and to the credit of the said acChancery," or the dividends, interest, or counts to be entitled "The Chancery Filacers annual produce thereof, or of any or either Account" and "The Registrar's Fund Acof them, or of any future stocks, funds, or count" respectively, and of the annual income securities that may stand to the same accounts, arising from such funds respectively, and of or any or either of them, subject however and the several payments made thereout in that without prejudice to any other payment to year, and a like statement of the total amount which the same may be liable. of the several public securities then standing in the name of the said Accountant General on the account of the suitors of the said Court, and a like statement of the amount of cash standing in his name at the Bank of England at the close of each month of the said year, shall annually be laid before both Houses of Parliament by the said Accountant General within thirty days after such first day of October, if Parliament be then sitting, or within thirty days after the first meeting of Parlia ment subsequently to such first day of October.

49. That notwithstanding any of the provisions of this Act, if at any time hereafter the whole or any part of the monies placed out pursuant to the said recited Acts, or to the said orders of the said Court of Chancery, or any of them, shall be wanted to answer the demands of any of the suitors of the said Court of Chancery, then and in such case the said Court shall and may direct the whole or any part of such monies to be called in, and the securities in which the same and the surplus interest and dividends herein-before mentioned 54. That if at any time it shall appear to the shall be placed to be sold and disposed of, in Lord Chancellor that the monies and securities order that the suitors of the said Court may standing to the said account, to be entitled at all times be paid their respective demands" The Chancery Filacers Account," together out of the common and general cash belonging to such suitors.

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with the interest and dividends thereof, and the fees expectant and to be payable to such account, shall be more than sufficient to answer and pay the several salaries and other payments for the time being chargeable thereon, it shall be lawful for the Lord Chancellor to order such abatement to be made in the fees hereinbefore directed to be received and paid to such account as may to the said Lord Chancellor from time to time seem fit, and as may be consistent with the purposes for which such

51. That every solicitor who shall be ap-fund is created. pointed to and shall accept any office or employment under or by virtue of this Act, shall forthwith be struck off the Roll of Solicitors of the High Court of Chancery, and off the Roll of Attorneys of any of His Majesty's Courts of Record at Westminster, on which his name may be.

EXAMINERS.

52. That the Examiners of the High Court of Chancery shall be and they are hereby authorized and empowered to administer the usual and accustomed oaths and to take the usual affirmations of the witnesses examined before them, and for which they shall receive the usual and accustomed fees; and that all depositions of witnesses examined in the High Court of Chancery shall hereafter be taken in the first person.

ACCOUNTS.

53. That a full and accurate statement, made up to the first day of October in each

55. That the powers and authorities given by this act to the Lord High Chancellor shall and may be exercised in like manner, and are hereby given to the Lord Chancellor, Lord Keeper, or Lords Commissioners for the custody of the Great Seal respectively for the time being.

56. That this act shall come into operation on the day of

57. That this act may be amended, altered, or repealed by any act or acts to be passed in this present Session of Parliament.

THE PROPERTY LAWYER.

No. XV.

PRESUMED SURRENDER OF TERMS.

THE doctrine of the Court of King's Bench, as to the presumption of surrenders of terms,

The Property Lawyer, No. XV.-Assizes Removal Bill.

ASSIZES REMOVAL BILL.

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A BILL FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF CON-
VENIENT PLACES FOR THE HOLDING OF
ASSIZES IN ENGLAND AND WALES.

laid down in the cases of Doe d. Burdett v. Wright, 2 B. & Ald. 710; and Doe d. Putland v. Hilder, 2 B. & Ald. 782, was received with the greatest disapprobation by conveyancers; and lately, as we have already pointed out, (see Vol. IV, 230) has been overruled by Lord Tenterden, one of the Judges who de- RECITING 6 Ric. 2. c. 5, by which it was cided one of those cases. See Doe d. Blacknell ordained that the Justices assigned to take v. Plowman, 2 B. & Ald. 573. In the follow-assizes and deliver the gaols should hold their sessions in the principal and chief towns of ing case, Baron Bayley has also expressed an every of the counties where the Shire Courts opinion that his former judgment on the of the same counties should be holden: And subject, as expressed in the case of Doe v. by the 11th of the same reign, reciting that the said statute was in part prejudicial and Wright, is at any rate not to be carried further. grievous to the people of divers counties_in England, it was provided that the Chancellor of England for the time being should have power thereof to make and provide remedy, by advice of the Justices from time to time, when need should be, notwithstanding the said statute:

Case by the plaintiff, as reversioner, against the defendant, for undermining a dwelling house of the plaintiff. At the Carnarvon assizes, before Bosanquet, J., the plaintiff proved his title by shewing perception of rent; upon which evidence having been given of the injury, the defendant produced a lease of the premises in question, from the Marquis of Anglesey to the plaintiff, for lives, and likewise the will of the late Lord Uxbridge, who had been dead about eighteen years, by which he devised the premises in question to trustees, for a term of years, in trust to pay annuities, and for certain other purposes mentioned in the will, with remainder to Lord Anglesey. The plaintiff insisted that it was for the jury to decide whether the term had not been surrendered; and relied upon the manner in which the property had been treated by Lord Anglesey, as leading to that inference; but the learned Judge told the jury that they could not presume a surrender of the term, and a verdict was accordingly found for the defendant.

John Jervis moved for a new trial, and submitted that the question was withdrawn from the jury by the direction of the learned Judge, and that the circumstances did fairly lead to an inference of the surrender of the term.

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And reciting that the places at which the assizes are now held, in various counties of England and Wales, are inconvenient to the inhabitants thereof, and it would conduce to the more cheap, speedy, and effectual adminis tration of justice to appoint other places instead thereof, for the holding of assizes; Be it therefore enacted, that his Majesty, with the advice of his Privy Council, shall have power from time to time to order and direct at what place or places, in any county in England or Wales, the assizes for such county shall be holden.

That in case his Majesty, with the advice of his Privy Council, shall think fit to order and direct that the assizes shall be holden at more than one place in any one county, it shall be lawful for his Majesty, with the advice aforesaid, to divide any such county for the purposes of this act, and to make rules and regulations touching the venue in all cases civil and criminal then pending or thereafter to be pending, and to be tried within any division of such county so to be made as aforesaid; and touchBayley, B.-Is there any case where a suring the liability and attendance of jurors, wherender has been presumed within twenty years? I do not think that a jury ought to be required to presume what they do not believe. I have frequently talked with Lord Tenterden on the subject, and we have agreed in thinking that the rule as to presuming surrenders has gone far enough, and that it ought not to be extended. A Judge ought not to require a jury to find, on their oaths, what he does not himself believe. In the present case, if a surrender had really taken place, it must have been known to many individuals.

Rule refused.-Day v. Williams, 2 C. & J. 460,

See the cases on the subject, collected in 3 Stewart's Prac. Convey. 456, 469.

ther grand jurors, special jurors, or common jurors, at the assizes to be holden within any such division; and touching the use of any house of correction or prison as a common gaol, and the government and keeping thereof; and touching the alteration of any commissions, writs, precepts, or other proceedings whatsoever for carrying into effect the purposes of this act, and touching any other matters that may be requisite for carrying into effect the purposes of this act; and all such rules and regulations shall be of the like force and effect as if the same had been made by the authority of Parliament, and shall be notified in the London Gazette, or in such other manner as his Majesty, by and with the advice of his most Honourable Privy Council, shall think fit to direct.

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