divorce case to be heard before a mixed jury, a distinguished leader went out of his way during his opening speech to raise the question of the desirability of the women jurors seeing certain letters. On the conclusion of the case, one of the women jurors published her condemnation of his conduct as having had the most undesirable results. As she justly put it, if he had not raised the question, it would never have occurred to anyone that women jurors would not feel it their duty to consider the matters that might come before them in the same impersonal and sensible way as men jurors. The advent of women to the jury box has also caused much speculation as to the correct mode of addressing a mixed jury. Mr Justice Shearman set the ball rolling by stating that he would continue to use the term "gentlemen," on the principle that he preferred "chairman to "chairwoman." Mr Fielding Dickens, K.C. (the Common Serjeant) adopted what seems at first sight to be the natural method of address, "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury," but this form appears to have struck another learned judge as savouring of an after-dinner speech. However, after a little excitement, the judges have agreed on the colourless phrase, "Members of the Jury," as the least revolutionary innovation. His Honour Judge Parry, in a letter to the "Times," after ringing the changes on "Comrades," "Gentlefolk," "Jurors," " Friends," and "Brethren," suggested that "Gentlemen might well be retained on the time-honoured principle that "man" embraces "woman." In any case he deprecated "members as being too anatomical. However, it appears that, anatomical or not, the exhortation to "members" has come to stay. For the first time women have achieved "firsts" in the Bar Examinations. They have a "first" in Constitutional Law and one in Real Property and Conveyancing to their credit. All the successful candidates, except one, appear to be members of the Middle Temple. At the annual meeting of the General Council of the Bar, the Solicitor-General stated that by a system of co-operation between barristers and solicitors a very large number of demobilised barristers had been restored to practice. Also, by means of the establishment of a bureau, forty appointments had been made out of a total of 176 applicants. The question of a reasonable remuneration of barristers' clerks also came up for consideration, but nothing more striking resulted than a recommendation that whenever a clerk was not receiving a fair living wage his remuneration should be reasonably increased. On the question of retaining fees the AttorneyGeneral's opinion was announced "that the consideration for a special retainer is that the recipient will take the brief of the giver and not that of his opponent," so that should counsel refuse to appear in a case for any proper reason, he is under no obligation to return the retaining fee. In the Court of Criminal Appeal, Mr Justice Avory, in the case of Rex v. Cotton, uttered a serious warning against the presentment of frivolous appeals. His language recalls with great force the criticisms levelled at that Court when it was first established in 1907. "A great deal of public time is wasted," said the learned judge, in dealing with applications like this one, which has no foundation except upon the false assumption that this Court sits for the retrial of criminal cases." To mark its sense of the necessity of making an example, the Court ordered that the sentence should date from the date of the hearing of the appeal instead of from the date of conviction. STAY OF ADVERTISEMENT PENDING APPEAL BANK PAYING ΤΟ DEBTOR MONEY PAID INTO HIS BANK ACCOUNT AFTER STAY — DEBTOR SUBSEQUENTLY ADJUDGED BANKRUPT LIABILITY of BANK TO MAKE GOOD THE SUM TO THE TRUSTEE IN BANKRUPTCY BANKRUPTCY ACT (4 & 5 GEO. V. CAP. 59), SECTION 38.-A debtor against whom a receiving order had been made obtained a stay of the advertisement thereof, pending an appeal by him against the order. In the interval he paid into the bank money which he had obtained from his creditors, and drew part of it, the bank being unaware of the receiving order. His appeal was thereafter heard and dismissed, and the debtor adjudged bankrupt. In an action by the trustee in bankruptcy to recover from the bank the moneys paid into it by the debtor, held all such sums belonged to the trustee, and that the bank was not entitled to credit to itself any part of them paid to the debtor.-K.B. Div. (Bankruptcy) (Horridge and Salter JJ.).—7th February 1921. subscriber leaving the service of the bank. Troy v. Eastern Company of Warehouses, etc. Ltd. CONTRACT-CARRIAGE OF GOODS-DELIVERY -PAYMENT FOR THE PART OF TRANSIT NOT for the purpose of entering the service of any other Eastern bank shall be entitled to any return in respect of his contributions to the TAKEN BY CONSIGNEE IN COURSE OF TRANSIT fund. . . . . He left this bank and secured a situation with what was admittedly another Eastern bank, in the sense of the rule. Thereafter he sued for his contributions on the ground that the rule was void as in restraint of trade. Held that the rule covered an area wider than was reasonably required for the protection of the respondent bank and was void as in restraint of trade.-K.B. Div. (Greer J.).-10th February 1921. Société Maritime Française v. Shanghai Dock and Engineering Co. Ltd. dants to arrange for the carriage of goods from PERFORMED. The plaintiff employed the defenLiverpool to Petrograd, via Vladivostok, and paid the price quoted therefor. The consignee took delivery at Vladivostok owing to the difficulty sued for recovery of the cost of the carriage of of getting the goods to Petrograd. The plaintiff the goods for the part of the journey not performed. Held that the defendants were not liable to refund to the plaintiff the sum saved by the consignee not requiring the contract to be performed in its entirety.-K.B. Div. (Rowlatt J.)-17th February 1921. LAW LIBRARY. BOOK NOTICE. MASTER AND SERVANT NEGLIGENCE-SERVANT LENT TO ANOTHER EMPLOYER-LIABILITY FOR FAULT OF SERVANT.-Circumstances in which it was held that employers had so parted with the control of their servants in lending them to another employer that they had ceased to be liable for their negligence, although they continued to pay the wages of the servants so lent. The Scottish Law List. Edinburgh: T. C. & E. C. Judgment of the Supreme Court for China at Shanghai affirmed.-Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (Lord Buckmaster, Lord Dunedin, and Lord Shaw of Dunfermline).-11th February 1921. -- Bowler & Blake v. Lovegrove. Jack. 1921. Price 12s. 6d. We have received the new edition of this well-known Law List. This Directory is sufficiently established in the affections of the profession to require no recommendation other than that the current issue maintains the high standard of its predecessors. The price remains moderate despite high costs of production. 11646--Paterson Hughes Engineering Co. Ltd., 36 Charlotte Lane, Glasgow (private company), to take over the business of Thomson-Knox Co., engineers, at above address. Capital-£4000 in £1 shares. 11647-Kirkpatrick & Barr, Glasgow Ltd., 124 St Vincent Street, Glasgow (private company), to take over the business of coal exporters now carried on at Glasgow under the name of Kirkpatrick & Barr. Capital-£20,000 in £1 shares. 11648-Robb Bros. Glasgow Ltd., 27 Oswald Street, Glasgow (private company), to carry on the business of engineers, £3000 in £1 shares. machinists, brassfounders, ironfounders, etc. Capital 11649-Cartvale Engineering and Foundry Co. Ltd., 61 New Sneddon Street, Paisley (private company). Capital »£25,000 in £1 shares. RESTRAINT OF TRADE-AGREEMENT NOT TO CARRY ON "BUSINESS OF AUCTIONEERS AND ESTATE AGENTS "-QUESTION WHETHER BUSINESS OF ESTATE AGENT ONLY WAS COVERED BY AGREEMENT. Where a clerk to a firm of auctioneers and estate agents agreed not to carry on the "business of auctioneers and estate agents' within a certain area for a year from the termination of his employment, and thereafter set up, within the excluded area and time, as an "estate agent." Held that he had not committed a breach of the agreement.-Chan. Div. (P. O. Lawrence J.).-17th February 1921. EDITORIAL NOTE.-The Editor will be pleased to consider Articles on Legal Subjects, and will welcome any suggestions from Subscribers which will serve to make the S. L. T. more useful to the Bar or Profession. THE LATE MR JOHN SYMONS, By the death of Mr John Symons, writer, Dumfries, the south of Scotland has lost one of its best-known and most popular legal practitioners, and occurring as it did within two months after the death of his partner, Mr J. C. R. Macdonald, W.S., Mr Symons' death seems almost tragic in its suddenness. He had been ailing for a considerable time before his death, but his devotion to business and indomitable spirit were such that Mr Symons was attending Mr Symons was held in high esteem, and in 1900 he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Procurators in Dumfries, an office which he occupied until 1903. Upon the death of Mr Macdonald in January last Mr Symons assumed as his partner Mr James Alexander Will, W.S., by whom the firm's business is now carried on. Mr Symons is survived by his wife, a daughter of the late Mr William Turner, sometime Provost of Dumfries, by one brother, Dr Mark Symons, Australia, and by two sisters. at his office and transacting business within a ON Saturday, 19th March, the last day of the few days of his death. Mr Symons was a son of the late Mr John Symons, writer, Dumfries. He was educated at Dumfries Academy, and after serving a short time in his father's office there he attended the law classes at Edinburgh University. After a successful university career he returned to Dumfries and became a partner of his father's firm of S. Adamson & J. Symons in 1880. Upon the death of Mr Adamson, Mr Macdonald was assumed as a partner in 1884, and in the following year, upon the death of Mr Symons, senior, the firm's name was changed to Symons & Mac- of the Faculty. Winter Session, an informal gathering of members of the Faculty of Advocates was held in the Reading-Room of the Advocates' Library for the purpose of presenting to Mr James Alexander Fleming, K.C., a testimonial in recognition of the conspicuous services rendered by him to the Faculty during his tenure of the office of Vice-Dean, to which he was appointed in 1905, and which he has recently resigned. The presentation consisted of a picture of the interior of the Parliament House by Mr P. W. Adam, R.S.A., and a silver cigarette case engraved with the arms The presentation was made donald, under which name it has become widely by the Dean of Faculty on behalf of the known in Scotland and even across the Border. Mr Symons was clerk to the Dumfries District Committee of the County Council of Dumfries, an office which he held uninterruptedly from the constitution of the county councils in 1889, clerk to the lieutenancy of the county of Dumfries, and likewise clerk to the heritors of various parishes in the district. He was also joint agent of the British Linen Bank at Dumfries, and held several other important public offices. One of these, of which he was justly proud and to which he devoted much time and labour, was the honorary treasurership of the Dumfries Infirmary, a position to which Mr Symons succeeded upon the death of his father. Mr Symons' firm also acted as factors and law agents for many of the landed proprietors in the south of Scotland. Amongst his brethren of the legal profession James Mill, M.A.; Bernard Wilfred Tun, M.A. * Passed with distinction. DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF LAW. * James M'Laurin Little, Colin Scott Mackenzie, The following distinctions have been awarded: FACULTY OF LAW. Thow Scholarships (each £25 for one year) to the following: SCOTTISH LOCAL RATING.-The Departmental absentia); Duncan Harald M'Neill, M.A. (Glasgow); Committee on Local Taxation in Scotland held its first meeting on Tuesday last in the chambers of the Secretary for Scotland, Parliament Square, Edinburgh, and decided to begin the hearing of evidence on 19th April. The members of the committee are-Lord Dunedin, chairman; Lord Weir, Sir Ralph W. Anstruther, Bart.; Sir Kenneth J. Mackenzie, Bart.; Sir J. Lorne MacLeod, G.B.E.; Mr Charles M. Douglas, C.B., and Mr William H. Martin, C.A., with Mr J. Row Fogo, C.A., Edinburgh, secretary. The terms of reference are to enquire into the present system under which taxation is raised by local authorities for local purposes in Scotland; to report whether the system is equitable and economical, and, if not, to suggest what alterations in the system are desirable. Public bodies and others desiring to place information before the committee should communicate with the Secretary, Local Taxation Committee, 6 Parliament Square, Edinburgh. THE Secretary for Scotland has appointed Mr James Thomson, LL.B., solicitor, Dundee, to be Clerk of the Peace for the County of Forfar, in place of the late Mr Edward Cowan. Mr Thomson is a Dundonian. Graduating M.A. at St Andrews at nineteen years of age, he entered the office of Messrs Pattullo & Thornton, solicitors, and after his apprenticeship proceeded to Edinburgh, where he took a leading place in his legal classes, obtaining in 1885 the degree of LL.B., with distinction. He began practice in Dundee. In 1889 he received the appointment of Burgh Fiscal, a position he held until the abolition of the post in 1895 by the transfer of the duties to the Chief Constable as Police Court Prosecutor. Mr Thomson has taken an active part in the public life of the city. He was a member for some time of the Parish Council. Mr Thomson has also rendered considerable political service as a member of the local Liberal Association, and he is a keen temperance, church, and social worker. Of recent years he has come prominently before the public in connection with his splendid work on behalf of his Alma Mater, St Andrews University. Ten years ago he was elected an Assessor to the University Court by the vote of the General Council, and he has been twice reelected. He is Convener of the Committee on Ordinance and Regulations of the General Council, and in this and other capacities he has rendered valuable service to Scottish education. In Civil and Public Law to Ruth M. I. Russell, MESSRS J. & J. SCRIMGEOUR, solicitors, Dundee, intimate that they have assumed as a partner Mr John Murray Scrimgeour, M. A., LL.B. (Edin.), who has for the last ten years carried on business as a barrister and solicitor in Vancouver, Canada. MESSRS MACNAIR, CRAWFORD & SWAN, writers, 29 High Street, Paisley, intimate that their firm was, by mutual agreement, dissolved on 28th February 1921. Mr Macnair will continue to carry on business at the above address under the name of Macnair & Crawford. Mr Swan will carry on business in his own name at Terrace Buildings, 109 High Street, Paisley. AT a special meeting of Dumfries District Committee of the County Council of Dumfries, Mr J. E. Blacklock, solicitor, Dumfries, was appointed Clerk to the Committee. WOMEN JURORS' EXPENSES.-An interesting point has been raised at Aberdeen in connection with the payment of the expenses of women jurors summoned to give their attention to the business of the Courts. Four women sat on a Sheriff Court jury, and heard some fatal accidents enquiries of considerable length. One of those women jurors resides several miles away from a railway station, and had to hire a vehicle for road conveyance. The regulations governing travelling expenses deal only with railway fares, and the Court officials in Aberdeen were unable to admit the claim for road transport. The Sheriff-Clerk (Dr David Littlejohn) is to refer the matter to the Treasury for a decision. It may be mentioned as another point on which a decision may be given, that the woman juror in THE following were capped at a Law Gradua- question had to bring her two children into tion held on 24th March: DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF LAWS. Stair Dickson Brown, M.A.; James Naughton Dandie, M.A.; Robert Cecil Davidson, M.A.; John Gavin, M.A.; * Robert Kenyon Letts, B. L., M.A. (in Aberdeen with her, as it was not possible for her to make arrangements for anyone to look after them at home; but no claim was lodged by the woman juror in connection with their journey to Aberdeen. TAX-FREE ANNUITIES. By JOHN BURNS, W.S. The whole subject of income rights payable free of income tax is beset with difficulties, and, as Mr Justice Rowlatt said in the latest case, "the subject is a confusing one." There is the statutory nullity affecting contracts to pay free of income tax, and even it leads to complication. In a recent House of Lords case noble and learned lords did not seem to view with any favour that interference with freedom of contract, and they even went somewhat out of their way to shew how it itself might be reduced to something not far removed from a nullity. In like manner a few years ago Lord Hugh Cecil shewed, in a speech in the Commons, that in essence it is not possible to make such a nullity effectual. Coming down to routine income tax practice we understand it comes to this, that if a debenture bears that interest shall be paid at 7 per cent. free of tax, the Inland Revenue refuse to recognise any right of repayment of tax on the part of the debenture holder, and in his statement of total income £70 would be all that he would be bound to put down as his income from a debenture for £1000; but if the expression in the document is "interest at such a rate as after deduction of tax shall leave 7 per cent. clear," then the Board allow, and require, the holder to put down £100 | of income from this source, that being the sum which leaves a free £70 after taking off tax at 6s., and in this case the debenture holder is regarded as having paid or borne £30 of tax, and he has repayment rights on that basis. tax. item of £100, and the shareholder has paid £30 This was recently decided for the purpose of super-tax (Samuel v. Inland Revenue, [1918] 2 K.B. 553). But curiously enough the Revenue has for long years back absolutely refused to extend this way of looking at it to bequests of tax-free annuities. Take it that a will says that A is to have an annuity of £70 free of tax, and that the balance of the trust income is to be paid to B. Let us suppose that the whole income of the trust is £100, received by the trustees under deduction of tax at the source. That means that the trustees get in only a net sum of £70, all of which they pay to A, and so they have nothing at all to pay to B. Time and again A has urged upon the Department that the bequest to her was in essence one of £100 a year (that is, on the assumption of a 6s. tax), that £100 was her "income," that she had paid or borne £30 of tax, and that, being exempt, she was entitled to repayment of this £30 from the Department. But all in vain. And the same fate awaited any attempt by B to get back the £30 or any part of it. The net result was that the Exchequer stuck to the £30, though both A and B might have incomes easily within the exemption limit. It will be understood that we take these humble cases simply because it makes the matter plainer, but the same official attitude was maintained in all cases, irrespective of the amount of the annuity or of the total income of the annuitant. The Department's points were (1) the annuitant has no interest and no "income beyond the net annuity; (2) the annuitant has same applies to the residuary legatee or other person entitled behind the annuitant; (4) it is a windfall to the Exchequer. There are some cases in which British insur-borne no tax and can get no repayment; (3) the ance companies contracted to pay annuities free of tax. These must have turned out bad bargains for the companies. These being contracts, and not legacies, the statutory nullity may apply to the condition of tax immunity, but of course the company would not plead it. We take it that, from the standpoint of the Inland Revenue, the position of the annuitant in these exceptional cases is just the same as that of the debenture holder dealt with in the preceding paragraph, and depends on the same variation of draughtsmanship. No one has ever suggested that the statutory nullity causes any difficulty in the case of dividends, whether ordinary or preference. The reason is that such regulations are regarded as merely domestic arrangements as to the basis of division of the profits of a business among the partners. Accordingly, it has always been the view of the Inland Revenue that "tax-free" dividends must go down in any statement of total income at the gross sum, and that the shareholder is entitled to be dealt with, in the matter of repayment, on the footing that he has paid tax equal to the difference between the gross and the net dividend. Thus a dividend of £70 free of tax is at present a gross income During the war an innovation was set up, ex gratia as it was called. A measure of relief was allowed, not to the annuitant, but to the person on whom the burden of the annuity fell. In the case above figured this would be B, but it is often the proprietor of an estate which is burdened with a tax-free annuity under the will of a previous owner. We may call this party the payer of the annuity, and what it came to was that a modified relief was given to the payer, but contingent on, and measured by, the income tax position of the payee or annuitant. If the annuitant was a wealthy woman, or at least had a large income, then the relief was nil, and so on through the various degrees. The payer could obtain only such relief, or additional relief, if any, as the annuitant would have received if the Department had been willing to treat annuities in the same way as dividends. Two things may be added. In ascertaining the total income of the annuitant in order to find out what, if any, relief was er gratia available to the payer, the annuity was still taken at only its net amount; here we have the Department |