4 THE IRISH LAW TIMES, [Feb. 2 ,
pool-Mr. Bateson and Mr. Lowndes; Manchester-Mr. Baker and Mr. Bunting; Birmingham-Mr. Ryland, Mr. Beale, and Mr. Allen; Hull-Mr. Roberts and Mr. Thorney; Sunderland-Mr. Robinson.
Mr. Bateson, president of the Liverpool Law Society, in the chair.
Letters were read from several of the provincial law societies concurring in the general objects of the meeting. After a lengthened discussion the following resolutions were passed unanimously:-
1. That in the opinion of the meeting the increasing business of the country urgently demands the appointment of additional common law judges.
2. That the number of additional judges should be five ; and that a fourth common law court should be constituted, to consist of a chief justice and four puisne judges.
3. That it would facilitate the administration of justice if each of the puisne judges were appointed a judge of all the common law courts.
4. That instead of the present mode of disposing of business at chambers, the following changes be recommended: that all summonses not attended by counsel or special pleader shall be heard by one of the masters, subject to appeal to a court, to be called “The Practice Court," and that all summonses attended by counsel or special pleader shall be heard by that court; and that such practice court be presided over by one of the puisne judges,who shall have jurisdiction in all matters of practice and pleading arising in any of the courts, subject to an appeal to the full court, as at present existing, from chambers.
5. That a provision should be made for holding a third or Winter assize for the trial of civil causes throughout the country; and that in those circuits where the business is not sufficiently large to justify a separate assize for each assize town, it is desirable that a central town should be fixed upon where the third assize for the whole circuit shall be held.
The following re-arrangement of the legal year was recommended:-
Michaelmas Term, to begin 24th Oct.; to end 22nd Nov.; number of days 30.
Sittings after Michaelmas Term , to begin 23rd Nov.; to end 21st Dec.; number of days 29.
Christmas Vacation, to begin 22nd Dec.; to end 6th Jan.; number of days 16.
For the Winter Circuits, to begin 7th Jan.; to end 14th Feb.; number of days 39.
Easter Term, to begin 15th Feb.; to end 16th March; number of days 29.
Sittings after Easter Term, to begin 17th March; to end 13th April; number of days 28.
For the Spring Circuits, to begin 14th April, to end 18th May; number of days 35.
Easter Vacation, to begin 19th May; to end 26th May; number of days 7.
Trinity Term, to begin 27th May; to end 25th June; number of days 30.
Sittings after Trinity Term, to begin 26th June; to end 23rd July; number of days 28.
For the Summer Circuits, to begin 24th July; to end 27th Aug.; number of days 35.
Long Vacation, to begin from end of Circuits; to end 23rd Oct
The following resolutions were also agreed upon:-
That in the opinion of this meeting, it is desirable that the number of Judges in Chancery should be increased; and that the best mode of making such increase of Judges available would be by assigning two Judges to each court, one to sit in court while the other is sitting in chambers; each Judge to work out his own decrees in conformity with the policy of the Acts of 1852.
That a deputation from this meeting do wait upon the Lord Chancellor for the purpose of presenting him with a copy of the above resolutions.-Law Times.
LAW REFORMS FOR THE SESSION.
We learn that the Government is actively engaged in the preparation of important measures of law reform, which will be introduced to Parliament early in the ensuing session. Foremost among them is a reconstruction of the law of Bankruptcy. The law of master and servent is to be amended The Merchant shipping law will be revised and improved. Considerable changes will be proposed in the administration of the Poor-law . The law of landlord and tenant in Ireland will give to the latter better security for positive improvements. Some amendments, suggested by the recent experience of its working, will be made in the law of joint-stock companies. The provisions of the Factories Acts are to be extended to the protection of women and children in all other employs. A Bill will embody the principal recommendations of the Capital Punishment Commission. The promise is magnificent, out experience proves how far short of it performance usually falls. It is one thing for a Government to produce an imposing array of good measures, it is another thing to carry them through the multiplied obstacles that thwart their passage through the Legislature. Least of all is it permitted to us to be sanguine, now that Reform threatens to engross the attention of Parliament, whether adopted by the Government, or used for its overthrow.-Law Times.
IMPORTANT RAILWAY CASE.
COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, WESTMINSTER.
(Sittings in Banco, before the Lord Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Blackburn, Mr. Justice Mellor, and Mr. Justice Lush.)
In the Matter of an Attorney.
This was an application against an attorney, under these circumstances. A person named Hill had brought an action against the Great Western Railway Company to recover damages for injuries alleged to have been received while a passenger on their line. The jury found for the company, and almost immediately afterwards the plaintiff went through the Bankruptcy Court at Birmingham upon his own petition, and on that occasion the circumstances were disclosed which were now stated as the ground for the present application. He stated that the attorney who had taken up his case had done so on an arrangement that he should receive £20 on every £100 that might be given by the jury as damages, the attorney stating that he had brought nearly 50 actions against railway companies, and had recovered in all but one of them. Upon these facts-
Mr. Huddleston (with him Mr. H. James) now moved, on the part of the company, for a rule calling on the attorney to show cause why he should not be struck off the roll for misconduct. Such an arrangement, the learned counsel said, was clearly illegal, for it was champerty in its grossest form, and such corrupt agreements were calculated to produce the most pernicious and mischievious consequences, fostering, as they did, a system of speculative litigation, which there was reason to believe had produced already most grievous results.
The Court granted a rule nisi.
