the principals, and entering the same in the daily agenda of the chief clerk, and of each principal.

7. A business and disbursement book to be kept by each clerk; and in such book he will every night make full, clear, and explanatory entries of the business done by him during the day. Let the entries be so perfectly intelligible and formal, that when a bill of any business is required to be made out, such entries may be used as part of the bill without alteration; and the first entry should be accompanied by a statement of the christian and surname of the client, and also of the residence.

8. Let each clerk in the several departments put away every night all such papers as he had in use during the day, that they may be readily found in their proper place when again required, whereby the mixing of papers, the delay in searching for them, and probably their loss, will be avoided.

9. Let any clerk going out of the office during office hours inform the principal or other clerk in the department when he is going, so that his absence may at all times be accounted for, and his return calculated upon; and care should be taken that at least one clerk is always left in the department to receive communications, and attend to the business of the office.

10. Whenever a clerk in any of the departments has out-door business to transact, he must apply to the principals in the other departments, and to the chief clerk, to know if there be any papers to be called for, enquiries made, or any other out-door business to be done to which he can attend, so that all the out-door business of the day may be as much as possible transacted by one clerk. A regular attention to this will save much trouble and loss of time, and tend to the despatch of business.

11. Any clerk having to transact business which requires the particular attention of the chief clerk or either of the principals should communicate with the chief clerk in the first instance; and should he be unable to attend to it, or refer to the principal, then he should see the principal. Care should be taken to let no delay arise when any business requires the above step to be taken.

12. Let a name book be kept in each department containing the names of persons calling, and of those who saw them, and their business. And let these entries be posted at night into the general name book.

13. The principal clerk in each department will be particularly attentive to the making up of the clerks' books, and he will

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see that the entries in them are well and fully made.

14. Let the principal clerk in each department consult the chief clerk from time to time in every business in respect of which he feels a difficulty, either from want of instructions or otherwise, in order that the chief clerk may communicate with the principal, and receive and communicate instructions; but if from the pressing nature of the business it is necessary for the clerk to communicate with either of the principals, he will do so without delay, giving them (if it can be conveniently done) a previous note of the business. Care must be taken to avoid perpetual recurrence to the principals, which consumes their time; and to this end as many matters as require attention should be mentioned at the same time, and not separately as they arise.

15. Let the principal clerk in each department draw the money necessary for disbursements. He will let the cashier know every night, if possible, the amount required for business to be done the next day, so that the cashier may be able to obtain a check for the amount, and pay the same to the principal clerks by ten o'clock in the morning. Should the sum required exceed a certain amount the occasion for a larger sum must be stated.

16. Let the principal clerk answer all letters relating to his department the same day they are received, if possible,-submitting such answers to the chief clerk, who will, if he think fit, consult the principals upon them; and in order that the principal clerk may know what letter is to be answered, and the point to be answered, he will, on seeing the letters the first thing in the morning after they are received, enter into the daily log such letter and point, so that he may write the answer; and when answered it should be marked upon the letter. If the letter refers to subjects in several departments, each principal clerk should furnish the chief clerk with that particular of the answer which relates to the business under his care, so that the chief clerk may write or direct the writing of the whole. Let all letters for the general post be written and delivered to the clerk having the care of the letter book to be entered as early as possible in the day, and at all events before four o'clock. When any letter is unavoidably delayed, so that it must be paid for, the payment must be charged to the business to which it relates. The clerk writing the letter must be responsible for its being sent off with any

view that the first book of Littleton was selected, as being a work of acknowledged merit and authority, and thoroughly comprehending, in a small space, all the derivative estates that arise from a fee-simple.

"If the master will assist his clerk, by writing out the questions in a section, or, where it is long, a portion of it, and let the clerk take the text-book and write out his answers to those questions, and answers to any other observations which the master may think fit to make on the section or question then before them, it will necessarily be the means of increasing the knowledge of both; for on one side it will be a reviving of former associations, and enforcing a deeper reflection in the mind; and on the other, it will be the opening of a new source of knowledge to the latter, in a manner by no means irksome or tedious; but, at the same time, requiring his invention to be called forth, and keeping his curiosity alive, in a way very different to reading to himself an equal portion of the book straight through.

"The questions are set down in order, exactly corresponding with the several texts, which will account for some seeming obscurity, and want of connection or repetition of subject; but the course I should conceive best would be, to make the clerk work through all the sections of Littleton first, and then repeat them, adding the commentary. If questions had been set upon every remark of Lord Coke, it would have been descending to too a great a minuteness, and would only have increased the bulk of the volume, without leaving any thing whereon the ingenuity of the pupil could have been exer

cised."

The Bankrupt Act, 6 Geo. 4. c. 16. with all the Recent Decisions at Common Law

and in Equity, the Orders in Chancery, and Abstracts from other Statutes relating to Bankruptcy. By Charles Sturgeon, of the Inner Temple, Barrister at Law. Saunders and Benning.

THIS little work consists of a reprint of the General Bankrupt Act, the decision on each section being appended by way of note. These do not admit of extract; but we have read them with much satisfaction, and they appear accurate and useful. The general interest at present excited upon the subject to which Mr. Sturgeon's work relates, will probably attract attention to it.

for February*, the Lord Chancellor is reported to have said, that on the Master's clerk falls the delicate and difficult operation of taxing the bill of costs of the attorney who has paid him the money, — of course, on account of using expedition for his client. And the Lord Chancellor then proceeded to say : —

"Your Lordships now begin to see the light thrown on these transactions. The judicious clerk has received from the solicitor, a very worthy man, and one who, it will be perceived, knows how to invest his capital to advantage, the sum of 50%. of expedition money on account of the interests of the client; and then, when it comes to the turn of the judicious man, he repays this sum, with interest, to the worthy man, and passes lightly over some 100%. of his bill, which he might not otherwise be disposed to tax with so much lenity. It will be seen, therefore, that the worthy and the judicious man both thrive by this means in their separate calling, and that the worthy man's seeds produce a most excellent and abundant harvest; and the better, perhaps, as he does not pay as others for his

seed."

Now, Sir, whether this was really uttered in the House of Lords, or whether your reporter has succeeded in a happy imitation of the vivacious and sarcastic way in which his Lordship is accustomed to express himself, I know not; but I can assure you the facts do not bear out either your reporter or his Lordship.

It is true that the bill of the "worthy man" is left at the Master's Office, where copies are made for all the worthy men concerned, including the worthy man himself, and numerous warrants to tax are issued; but the taxation is effected by the clerks in Court for the several parties; and in case of any difference of opinion, the Master himself, and not his clerk, "the judicious man," decides the question. The clerks in Court follow the established rules of allowance, and being concerned for hostile parties, there can be no fear of col

lusion.

Nay, further, if the case were precisely as represented in the report of the speech, the "judicious" man might safely be trusted; for his supposed partiality to one "worthy" man (the solicitor for the plaintiff) is neutralized by the like partiality for the other worthy man (the solicitor for the defendant), and who, in the same or in some other cause, has paid the accustomed gratuity.

Again, the temptation to the worthy man to sow these seeds of corruption is very powerfully checked by the consider

* Page 51.

ation that it will be a long time before he can reap the harvest, and in many instances it is blighted altogether; for the costs of solicitors are not always paid- the fund in dispute sometimes falls short- after years of delay, the payment is frequently no more than a return of the money advanced and ordinary interest, and sometimes the means of remuneration fail entirely. Trusting you will find room for this correction of your Monthly Record, I am, Sir,

REMEDY AGAINST

THE HUNDRED.

To the Editor of the Legal Observer.
SIR,

THE letter of your correspondent in p. 267., gives me an opportunity of correcting an error committed in the communication I forwarded to you (p. 141.); viz. after referring to the acts of 7 & 8 Geo. 4. c. 27, & 31. I wrote as follows: consequently there is now no remedy whatever against the hundred, &c." whereas it is printed, consequently there is no summary remedy whatever against the Hundred, &c." This alteration, you will observe, makes a material differencet: my proposition being, tha he acts of 9 Geo. 1. c. 22. (the Black Act) and 3 Geo. 4. c. 33. having both been repealed, and the provisions of such acts referred to not being re-enacted by the 7 & 8 Geo. 4. c. 31., there certainly is not at the present moment any remedy against the hundred, either in a summary way or otherwise, for persons suffering from incendiaries.

I was perfectly aware of the facts of the case in 9 B. & C. 134. alluded to by your correspondent, the decision in which case I did not attempt to question; and my only object in noticing it was to call the attention of our branch of the pro- fession to the repeal of the act, on the construction of which the case turned. I considered it necessary to notice the case cited from the following title of the act of 7 & 8 Geo. 4. c. 31. viz." An Act for consolidating and amending the Laws in England relative to Remedies against the Hundred;" and it appeared to me that, on re ading the above case with a knowledge of the last mentioned act having passed, but without a particular perusal of it and a reference to the several acts before noticed, many persons were likely to be misled in their general idea of the law on this subject, as you must be aware that few professional men in active practice canspare the time to compare different clauses in acts of parliament of this nature, unless with a view to a case in which theyare immediately concerned.

The 8th section of the 7 & 8 Geo. 4. c. 31. noticed by your correspondent, does not affect my statement of the law in the case of incendiaries, as the act relates solely to damage done by rioters. In addition to what I have stated in

Superior Courts.

my former communication on the subject of this last mentioned statute, I beg to point out to the attention of your readers, sections 4. & 8. of the concurrent act of the 7 & 8 Geo. 4. c. 30. which scem completely to confirm the construction I put upon the statute of the same session, c. 51. in cases of threshing and other agricultural machines not fixed in a building and destroyed by rioters: I should however observe, that under the concluding words of the 2d section of the 7 & 8 Geo. 4. c. 31. it seems probable that a party suffering, might recover where a threshing or other agricultural machine is fixed in a building, and the building and machine are destroyed together. Your obedient servant,

Gray's Inn, March 1. 1831.

SIR,

STAMP LAWS.

A. B.

HAVING read in the Legal Observer of last week, a letter on the subject of the bill about to be laid before the House for the purpose of altering the laws relating to stamps, suggesting the insertion of a clause in the new act, which he flatters himself may be of material service to the public at large, to the effect that "the solicitor of stamps be bound, on the tender of any engrossment or writing, to make a memorandum on the margin, of the amount of the stamp proper to be affixed; that such memorandum be an indemnity to all parties interested in such instrument for the accuracy of the stamp; and that for such memorandum the solicitor be entitled to 6s. 8d. as his remuneration;" I would beg to ask, miscellany, whether the probability would not through the medium of your valuable and useful be great, in the event of the solicitor not duly considering the nature of the engrossment or instrument tendered for such memorandum, or he having considered it, and entertaining a doubt on the amount of stamp proper to be affixed, that he should affix a stamp in amount more than sufficient for the validity of the same, and consequently incur an additional expense, and thereby increase instead of remedying the evil already so much complained of.

I am, Sir, Your obedient servant,

2. Inner Temple-Lane, Feb. 28. 1831.

SUPERIOR COURTS.

F.I.H.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S COURT.

INJUNCTION. COPYRIGHT.

In this case an author had stipulated with the defendant, a printer, that he should print a certain number of a work, being a Greek Lexicon, and that each copy should be sold at a certain specified sum. The defendant, notwithstanding this stipulation, had sold, and was selling, the copies at a higher price than was agreed upon.

Mr. Wright moved for an injunction to restrain the defendant from so doing, and supported his application by an affidavit of these circumstances.

The Lord Chancellor at first refused to grant an injunction, thinking that the plaintiff had a sufficient remedy for the injury he had sustained by an action at law; but consented to hear the case further on notice being given on the other side. Donneghan v. Dove. L. C. Feb. 26.

VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT.

CANAL. RAILROAD.

This was a bill filed by the plaintiff for the purpose of restraining the defendants from making application to parliament for a bill to convert the Manchester, Bolton, and Bury canal into a rail-road. A similar bill had been filed, in which a Mr. Cunliffe, the law clerk of the company, was plaintiff, and an injunction against the defendants had then been granted. The company had since, to avoid legal proceedings, bought the shares that had belonged to that gentleman; but the plaintiff, being also a shareholder, had, while the subject was before parliament, filed his bill in order to prevent the proposed conversion, to which the defendants had demurred.

The Vice-Chancellor said it was not necessary to advert to what had taken place before him when the injunction was granted, because, supposing that he had since completely changed his opinion, it would not in the slightest degree affect the present question. The question now was, whether, upon the plaintiff's own showing, there ought to be any relief administered? The bill, after the usual preliminary matter in such cases, prayed that the defendants might be restrained from employing the funds of the company, in any way, towards effecting the proposed conversion. It was obvious that the Court was bound to restrain the parties from applying the funds of the company to purposes essentially opposed to the original provisions of the act of parliament. His Honour was, therefore, of opinion, that the demurrer should be overruled. Maudsley v. Manchester Canal Company. V. C. Feb. 23. 1831.

ROLLS COURT.

JUDGMENT.

In this case the defendant was entitled, under a will, to an annuity, to her separate use for her life, charged upon real estate. Having become thus entitled, she, along with her husband, for a valuable consideration conveyed and assigned her interest to the plaintiff. At this time, the gift being to her separate use, she was entitled in equity to the whole beneficial interest, and had power by the rules of the Court to dispose of it. The husband, taking the legal interest in her right, was entitled to it for the joint lives of her and himself. He died, and the legal interest accrued to her; and she insisted that the assignment of the equitable interest which she had assigned to the plaintiff, ceased, at her husband's death, to operate in his favour.

The Master of the Rolls was of opinion, however, that, this contract having been for a valuable consideration, she could not be relieved from the assignment of the equitable interest, which was made at a time when she had power to dispose of it.—The plaintiff is therefore entitled to

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the relief he seeks. Mayor v. Landsley. M. R. Feb. 24.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH.

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.

Assumpsit for goods sold and delivered. Plea, the general issue and statute of limitations. Replication, that the defendant was, at the time the credit expired, beyond seas.

The defendant, Mr. Thomas Turton, was a barrister, and had long practised in the East Indies. The plaintiffs, Messrs. Rundell and Bridge, were silversmiths. Their demand upon him was for plate furnished at different times before he went to India, during the years 1819, 1320, and 1821. It was sold at twelve months' credit, and the defendant was to remit the money from India. Letters were written to him demanding payment, and no answer was returned In September, 1829, he returned to England; and in April following, the plaintiffs' clerk waited on him with a copy of their bill, amounting to 95l. 6s. 8d., with interest at five per cent. from the expiration of the twelve months' credit. The bill not being paid, the present action was brought. It was proved that the defendant went to India on the 4th of August, 1822, and returned to England in September, 1829.

Sir James Scarlett submitted, upon this evidence, that the plaintiffs must be nonsuited. The last item in the bill was dated the 2d of August, 1821. The twelve months' credit, therefore, expired on the 2d of August, 1822. This fact disproved the allegation in the replication, that the defendant was beyond seas at the time the credit expired, for it appeared he did not leave England till the 4th of August, 1822.

Mr Gurney, for the plaintiffs, admitted the objection was good. Plaintiffs nonsuited.Bridge and another v. Turton. Sit. after H. T. 1851. K. B.

PROMISSORY NOTE, BILL OF EXCHANGE -NOT
NEGOTIABLE.

Assumpsit to recover 102. 16s. 1d. due upon a promissory note and a bill of exchange.

The note and bill had been given to Messrs. Key, Brothers, and Son, by Messrs. T. and J. Allman, in the years 1823 and 1824. The note was for 971. 2s. 7d. at thirty months after date, and the bill for 50l. at twenty-four months. Messrs. Key and Co. endorsed them over to Mr. Webber, one of their creditors. Their affairs becoming embarrassed, they applied to their creditors for time, and an arrangement was made for payment of their debts by instalments at five shillings in the pound. Mr Webber made no objection to receiving his debt by instalments, but he refused to execute the deed which the other creditors had, and the note and bill of Messrs. Allman remained in his hands. Messrs. Allman also made an arrangement with their creditors to pay instalments at the rate of 2s. 6d. in the pound They paid three instalments upon the note and bill in the hands of Mr. Webber. On the 3d of January, 1828, there remained a balance due upon those two instruments of 1027. 16s. 1d, which sum was made up by Mr. Tilleard, an attorney, a friend and relation to Messrs. Allman. The object of that payment was stated at the time to be to release Messrs.