matters; 3rd. The transfers of such particular interests when created from one person to another; and 4th. Conveyances in which several owners of particular interests unite to convey their aggregate rights to another, or to distribute them afresh in a new manner among a new group of particular tenants. But of this division only the first and second parts have as yet been executed. They constitute the volume under review, and, as we fully anticipate the favourable reception the author desires, we hope in due time to receive the remaining portion of his undertaking.

We have not space for any lengthened review, but we commend to particular attention the Introductory Chapter, on the contents of a Conveyance and the order of considering them, which is not only learned but wise and sensible. Speaking of an indenture inter partes, and after enumerating the various clauses of such a deed, and remarking that the Conveyance itself is generally conveyed in but a few clauses, he says:

"Of these, the clauses from the testatum to the trusts inclusive are the most important. By them is the transfer effected, and the destination of the property declared. And if they be wrong, accuracy and skill in constructing the other clauses cannot always effectuate a proper conveyance. They are the most independent parts of the deed; and, in truth, upon them will depend in great measure the form and substance of the rest of the instrument. The student should, on these accounts, arrange and determine their form and contents first; and we shall, accordingly, in all cases, to assist him, and to avoid anticipation in our remarks, begin our examinations of the examples by commenting upon these parts."

Chapter VII., on a new form of mortgage, deserves notice. The author gives it as an illustration of his own views, but he fears it may not prevail "over the proverbial inertia and jealousy of novelty begotten by the practice of the law." He describes this form

"As an attempt to effect a mortgage, such that the lands shall

revest in the mortgagor or his assigns, without the intervention of a reconveyance, or a simple repayment of the mortgage money, acknowledged by the parties entitled to it; and which yet shall afford the mortgagee all the security necessary for the recovery of his money, and enable the parties taking the mortgage debt alone to sell, and make good title to the purchaser."

In his Appendix he follows in the wake of Lord St. Leonards, by subjecting the Transfer of Land Act to a criticism which is not very favourable to the ready adoption of the machinery it provides, or rather professes to provide, for securing a good title.

Mr. Lewis's work is conceived in the right spirit. Although a learned and goodly volume, it may yet, with perfect propriety, be called a "handy book." handy book." It is, besides, a courageous attempt at legal improvement; and it is, perhaps, by works of such a character that law reform may be best accomplished.

ART. VII.-CONVICT DISCIPLINE.-REPORT OF THE PENAL SERVITUDE COMMISSION.

Reports of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Operation of the Acts (16 & 17 Vict. c. 99; and 20 & 21 Vict. c. 3), relating to Transportation and Penal Servitude.

Papers and Discussions on Punishment and Reformation: being the Transactions of the Third Department of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science. London Meeting, 1862.

On the Treatment of Convicts in Ireland. By Four Visiting Justices of the Wakefield Prison.

Our Convict Systems. By the Rev. W. L. CLAY, M.A.

The Immunity of "Habitual Criminals."

Sir WALTER CROFTON.

The Intermediate Prisons a Mistake.

Chaplain.

By Captain

By an Irish Prison

Irish Fallacies and English Facts. By Scrutator.

The Transportation of Criminals: being a Report of a Discussion at a Special Meeting of the National Association

for the Promotion of Social Science, held at Burlington House, on the 17th of February, 1863.

Society for Promoting the Amendment of the Law. Report of the Special Committee on Convict Discipline.

THE 'HE public is liable to periodical panics on the subject of crime. Every now and then an apprehension arises that the evil and dangerous elements, which lie under the surface of modern society, will escape control, defy repression, and put an end to security. We are just emerging from one of these panics, of which the Blue Book, at the head of the long list of publications before us, is the latest result. The issue, on the 29th of December, 1862, of a Royal Commission, to inquire into the working of the Penal Servitude Acts, was announced in the midst of an eager public controversy on the merits of the English and Irish systems of convict discipline, as means of repressing and diminishing crime, which for the last two years has appeared to be alarmingly on the increase, both as regards the number of offences and their magnitude and daring. There followed a comparative lull in the controversy in expectation of the result of the inquiry, though from the constitution of the Commission it was generally expected to be anything but favourable to the Irish system.

On the 2nd of July, a column of the Times was devoted to what purported to be an account of the Report about to be given to the public. According to this account, the Irish system stood completely condemned. But it speedily became known that the statements there made were not to be depended on;

and in a few days the Report itself proved them to be utterly at variance with the truth. The unaccountable misstatements contained in the article are the more to be regretted inasmuch as many who take an interest in such questions rely upon the leading journal for a faithful digest of a bulky Blue Book which they have not the time to read. And although, in the same journal, there has since appeared another statement of its contents which does not convey exactly the opposite conclusions, inasmuch as it quotes the summary of recommendations in the words of the Commissioners, it utterly fails to bring out the strong and emphatic approval of the leading principles of the Irish system which the Report pronounces. Before attempting to do this, in justice to the Report, which is very valuable, but which the Times characterizes, probably in self-justification, as "not worth reading," it may be useful to glance back at the previous state of the question.

At the meeting of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, in June, 1862, Sir Walter Crofton, and the late Sir Joshua Jebb put their respective systems of convict discipline to the test of a public discussion. The discussion thus opened was carried on without intermission up to the close of the year. A perfect storm of pamphlets was showered upon the public. Facts and Fallacies served equally for attack and defence-the facts of one party doing duty as the fallacies of another, and vice versa. The press took up the subject, and, on the whole, treated it with great candour and ability. Most of the higher Reviews, including the Westminster, the Edinburgh, and the Quarterly, ranged themselves on the side of the Irish system. In short, no public question was ever more thoroughly sifted. But turning back to the Report of the Social Science discussion, though the amount of evidence has been overwhelming, nothing has been added to the arguments brought forward or the conclusions urged in the papers there published. It may appear a trespass upon public patience to recapitulate

the points in these arguments, but these papers afford a complete survey of both sides of the question, and that question one which is still to be decided.

The paper contributed by the late Sir Joshua Jebb gives a rapid sketch of the history of transportation, in order to show that the ticket of leave was first applied in the colonies, as part of his own system, to which he calls attention as having been "successfully carried out in Ireland." When transportation ceased, and the Amending Act of 1857 followed the original Penal Servitude Act of 1853, the following were the conditions inscribed on the licence, except that "will" stood in the place of "may," till its application was more than doubtful:

"1. This licence is liable to be revoked in case of misconduct.

"2. It may be revoked in the case of the holder of it being convicted of any new offence, unless the punishment for that offence extends beyond the term of his former sentence.

"But it is not necessary that the holder should be convicted of any new offence.

"If he associates with notoriously bad characters, and leads an idle and dissolute life, with no visible means of obtaining an honest livelihood, he will be liable to be re-committed to prison under his original sentence.

"3. If his licence is revoked, he may have to undergo the whole remaining portion of his original sentence."

Starting from this point, the whole matter may be put into the question, What entitles a convict to a ticket of leave; and to what kind of treatment does a ticket of leave entitle a convict? The difference between the rival systems lies in the answer to this question. "The systems are identical in theory and design," says Mr. Burt, echoing Sir Joshua Jebb. In both, the first stage is separate confinement; the second, associated labour; and the last, release under ticket of leave. Before this last, the Irish system introduces the intermediate stage of associated labour and comparative freedom; and, finally, insists on the fulfilment of the conditions of release. But