LAWYERS AND POLITICS.

At this time, when the country has recently passed through the disturbance of a General Election, a few observations on the relation of politics to our profession and the place which lawyers fill in politics will not be inappropriate.

There is a great deal of comment on the part of lawyers who come into Parliament and attempt to do so, and it is assumed that they are there for something which they can make out of their political adventures. Apart from a few special cases, confined to members of the Bar, there is really nothing for lawyers to gain in Parliament.

There are many reasons why it is appropriate that lawyers should be in Parliament, and it is well to focus these when this question is raised. (First) Members of Parliament are and will in the future continue in the main to be people of education accustomed to form definite views and accustomed to present these views to their fellows. The lawyer is, as a rule, well qualified to fulfil these conditions. (Second) It is the duty of Members of Parliament to consider and proceed upon a number of questions both in committees and in the House and in various branches of public life. An essential qualification for this work is the capacity to see both sides and to appreciate the point of view of two different sections of the people, each probably desiring a different decision. The lawyer is, of course, particularly well qualified to enquire into and arrive at a balanced judgment on such questions. (Third) The criticism that lawyers are not business

Again, the lawyer has perhaps the most intimate personal connection with the people of the country. He has opportunities of knowing the troubles of his fellow-countrymen in a way which is not open to the layman.

Someone has said that lawyers are a cheap insurance for the preservation of civilisation. There is a good deal of truth in this, and the judicial system is the foundation of the State so long as it remains impregnable. Unattended by popular glamour and sectional outcry the State can hold its ground as a civilised community.

It is well, therefore, that there should be a wholesome local leaven in the parliamentary loaf.

IT is officially announced that an Order in Council has been issued extending the Maintenance Orders (Facilities for Enforcement) Act, 1920, to the Colony of Jamaica. The Act provides for the enforcement in England and Ireland of maintenance orders made by a Court in any part of His Majesty's dominions outside the United Kingdom or in any British Protectorate to which it extends; and the legislature of the Colony, to which it has now been extended, has made reciprocal provision for the enforcement therein of maintenance orders made by Courts in England and Ireland.

The operation of the above-mentioned Order in Council is confined to England and Northern Ireland, and similar provision has not yet been made as regards the Irish Free State by the Government of that State.

HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY, JEDBURGH.—

expressed that there should be more business men and fewer lawyers in Parliament. This, in large measure, is an unfounded criticism. Business men are, and of course ought to be, in Parliament; but a great many business men have lived their whole lives in one business, and they are naturally coloured by its requirements and its difficulties and the conditions which have a particular bearing on its progress. The lawyer (particularly the solicitor), if he has had any reasonable experience in his profession, has been in close touch with a great variety of different kinds of businesses. He has been involved in problems affecting the employer and employed. He has been in the closest touch with industrial firms, in companies in regard to their financial difficulties the difficulties of capital, the difficulties of depreciation, the troubles of overstock and understock. He has learned how a particular condition has benefited the business of one man and hampered the business of another. For these reasons it is hardly correct to say that a lawyer is not a man of business. (Fourth)

noon.

November 1924, at twelve o'clock Pleading Diet-Friday, 31st October. Service - Friday, 24th October. The Hon. Lord Ormidale. A. C. Black, Esq., AdvocateDepute; V. S. M. Marshall, Esq., Clerk.

HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY, DUMFRIES. (Special Sitting.) Dumfries, Tuesday, 18th November 1924, at half-past ten o'clock. Pleading Diet Saturday, 8th November. Service-Saturday, 1st November. The Hon. Lord Ormidale. A. C. Black, Esq., AdvocateDepute; Alexander Rae, Esq., Clerk.

MESSRS MILLER, MATHIESON & MILLER, 90 Constitution Street, Leith, inform us that the firm of Miller, Mathieson & Miller, of which they were sole partners, has, by mutual agreement, been dissolved as at 30th September 1924. With reference to the above notice of dissolution of the firm of Miller, Mathieson & Miller, Mr R. H. Miller and Mr D. Miller will carry on business at the above address under the firm name of R. H. & D. Miller.

The Fatal Countess and other Studies. By William Roughead. 1924. Edinburgh:

W. Green & Son Ltd. Price 10s. 6d. net.

Of the many readers who have been accustomed to read and enjoy Mr Roughead's studies in social history and criminology, there must be many who will welcome the opportunity of procuring them in a more permanent and convenient form than the fugitive publications in which most of them have originally appeared. We have no doubt

that the numbers of his readers will also be

increased. The present volume is more varied in topic than some of its predecessors. Criminology, though bulking large in the book, does not monopolise the space. We think, indeed, that the study for which readers will be most grateful is that entitled "Indian Peter." In that tale Mr Roughead has revived the memory of one of the quaintest and most picturesque figures among the ancient Edinburgh celebrities. The volume is exceptionally well illustrated.

The Story of our Inns of Court. By The Right Hon. Sir D. Plunket Barton, Bart., P.C., K.C.; Charles Benham, B.A., Barrister, Inner Temple; and Francis Watt, M.A., of Gray's Inn, in Middle Temple, Barristerat-Law. 1924. London : G. T. Foulis & Co. Ltd.

This is the best book of its sort that the present reviewer has ever had the luck to come across. The narrative is clear and simple; footnotes and citations are, as far as possible, dispensed with in order not to distract the reader's attention; but he cannot fail to observe beneath the transparent surface of the narrative the wide knowledge and the careful research upon which it proceeds. Sir D. Plunket Barton, the senior of the three authors, says (p. 194) that "Francis Bacon's work in laying out and in planting the gardens (of Gray's Inn) was a labour of love." The words may fitly be applied to this book. It consists of three parts. The first, written by Mr Benham of the Inner Temple, gives the history of the two Temples; in the second Sir D. Plunket Barton deals with Gray's Inn; and Mr Watt, of Gray's Inn and the Middle Temple, writes of Lincoln's Inn in the third. To these three sections is prefixed an introduction by Sir Plunket Barton, in which he gives a bird's-eye view of the history of the Inns of Court and of the position which they occupy in our own time. He traces their origin in the days when Holborn was a country village, and Fleet Street and the Strand "“ were merely the continuation of a country footpath which connected the City of London with the cluster

of houses growing round the Abbey of Westminster."

As its name suggests, the Temple was originally the habitation of the Knights-Templars, but after their expulsion it was leased by their successors to the lawyers. According to our authors, the four Inns were founded towards the middle of the fourteenth century, and, thanks to the extraordinary faculty of the English people for preserving ancient customs and old institutions, they have come down substantially unchanged to our own time. During their six hundred years of existence they have produced many great lawyers, eminent statesmen, brilliant writers. It would be superfluous to give instances of the two former. After all, a legal body exists for the purpose of training lawyers, and there has been no lack of great counsel who have also been great statesmen,

were

from the time of Demosthenes down to Loreburn and Reading. But a glance at these pages will shew how many famous men of letters members of the English Bar. One cites at random such names as Chaucer, Sir Philip Sidney, Henry Fielding, De Quincey, Boswell, Lord Macaulay, W. M. Thackeray. To these must be added Sir Francis Bacon, who belonged to both worlds.

The Inns of Courts are unlike any other corporate body. They have the exclusive right to grant or refuse the petition of students to be called to the Bar, and their conduct in this respect is not subject to the control of the Civil Courts. The only redress is by way of appeal to the judges as a domestic tribunal. But they form at the same time a legal university, where prospective barristers may obtain the equivalent of a degree in law, and also a club where members may lunch and dine. It is, indeed, a little startling to learn that prior to 1857 the student did not require to pass any examination in order to qualify for call. Unhappily these days are past. There is another characteristic which differentiates the English Bar from, probably, any other institution in the world. It is open to the citizen of any country who enters an Inn of Court and qualifies in the prescribed manner" (p. 77). Sir Plunket Barton instances (p. 240) the fact that among the benchers of Gray's Inn are included "the Chief of the Scottish Bench," the Solicitor-General of the United States, and one of the leaders of the New York Bar. If it be permissible to give a less exalted instance the reviewer has dined as a student in the Inner Temple hall with two future members of the New York Bar, while over against him there sat a motley assemblage of Cambridge undergraduates, civil servants, Scotsmen, Indians, and women. To those, whether members or visitors, who know that old-world region with its courts and gardens

66

Strand and the Embankment, this book will

give great pleasure. Mr Benham indeed regrets that the old common life is waning. Students keep term merely as a matter of duty; and

66

busy barristers are well away to their homes in South Kensington, Knightsbridge, and Belgravia, a good hour before grace." But, anyhow, Grand Night survives, and if "the sword and the dagger no longer have any place in hall, yet a milder generation has passed, not without honour, through the most terrible ordeal that this poor human world has ever known."

The book is adequately illustrated, but surely it was a pity to omit the Inner Temple.

C. de B. M.

An Analytical Digest of Cases decided in the Supreme Courts of Scotland and, on appeal, in the House of Lords, 1868 to 1922. Prepared for the Faculty of Advocates by Members of the Bar. Vol. I. 1924. Edinburgh and Glasgow: Wm. Hodge & Co. Ltd. Price 63s. per volume.

The first volume of the long-promised Digest of Case Law issued by the Faculty of Advocates has now appeared. The work, which it is intended to complete in six volumes, is designed upon the analytical method; but a logical adherence to this method has not been allowed to override the paramount considerations of utility. The ascertainment of the precise category under which any particular case ought to be sought for is often a matter of difficulty, and the strictly logical classification has been supplemented with a full use of the method of cross-references. By these means the whole work has been carefully adapted to the needs of the practising lawyer who requires to find the reference to all reported cases bearing upon a particular question of law. The present volume brings the alphabetical list of Titles

down to Donation.

A History of English Law. By W. S. Holdsworth, K.C., D.C.L. Vol. VI. 1924.

London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. Price 25s. net.

This important work, of which we have expressed high appreciation in former notices, has now reached its sixth volume. The peculiar interest of the present volume arises from the fact that it contains a very full treatment of the political revolutions of the seventeenth century from a purely legal standpoint. This feature makes it a contribution of the highest value to the history of English constitutional law.

and Usage of Parliament. By Sir Thomas Erskine May, K.C.B., D.C.L. Thirteenth Edition by Sir T. Lonsdale Webster, К.С.В. 1924. London: Butterworth & Co. Price 55s.

Sir Erskine May's classic work on Parliamentary Practice has grown in its successive editions into a bulky volume. First published in 1844 it has long been recognised as the indispensable guide of legislators and those who seek to understand the workings of the intricate machinery of Parliament. It is fortunate, as well as appropriate, that the preparation of successive editions is in the capable hands of Sir Erskine May's successor at the table of the House of Commons. The

present edition has incorporated a number of new standing orders; but the general arrangement of the work does not differ from that to which the readers of previous editions have become accustomed.

Adolph Beck (1877-1904). Notable British Trials. By Eric R. Watson, LL.B. 1924. Edinburgh and London: Wm. Hodge & Co. Ltd. Price 10s. 6d. net.

Everybody knows something of the case of Adolph Beck as the classic example of a miscarriage of justice due to mistaken identification by a large number of witnesses. In this volume the whole story will be found in great detail, the almost incredible story of Beck's identification by a large number of witnesses, and the subsequent conclusive proof by real evidence that he was not the guilty man. It is a case that retains a perennial interest for the student of criminal methods and procedure, and it has an assured place in the annals of crime. This careful collection and presentment of all the facts bearing on the case has therefore a per

manent value.

Leading Cases in Constitutional Law, briefly stated, with Introduction and Notes. By Ernest C. Thomas. Fifth Edition by Hugh H. L. Bellot, M.A., D.C.L., Barrister-atLaw. 1924. London: Sweet & Maxwell Ltd. Price 10s. net.

The important decisions on constitutional questions which arose out of the war made a new edition of this work necessary. With these decisions included and the whole work revised it now forms, for the student of constitutional law, a most important supplement to the textbooks on that subject.

REAL WARRANDICE.

By WM. YEAMAN.

The Conveyancing (Scotland) Act, 1924, which comes into force on 1st January 1925, has made certain reforms on our law. One

of these reforms is the abolition of real warrandice by section 14 of the Act, which is as follows:

14. (1) From and after the commence

to dispone lands in real warrandice of a conveyance of other lands, and such real warrandice shall not arise ex lege from any contract or agreement entered into after

the commencement of this Act.

(2) On the expiry of twenty years from and after the commencement of this Act, all dispositions in real warrandice of a conveyance of other lands, and all such

contract or agreement, granted or entered into prior to the commencement of this Act, shall be no longer operative.

In Erskine, II. iii. 38; Bell's "Commentaries" (7th ed.), p. 733; Duff's "Feudal Conveyancing," p. 90; and Bell's "Principles" (10th ed.), section 894, the subject is dealt with, and in support of the propositions therein set forth the case of Blair v. Hunter, 6th November 1741 (Morison's "Dictionary of Decisions," p. 16624), is referred to.

In that case the subject was fully expounded, and it is hoped that the matter which follows, and which is drawn from the report of the case, will throw more light on what real warrandice is and the machinery by which it can be made effectual, and be more interesting to the student than the bare statements in the text-books.

In the year 1683 James Blair of Ardblair purchased the lands of Hatton of Rattery from Patrick Johnston of Gormoch, and as Gormoch's right thereto was only a gift of forfeiture (which was thereafter rescinded) Ardblair did not think himself safe to rely on Gormoch's title to the lands, or his personal warrandice, but asked for real warrandice as security for his purchase. Accordingly, Gormoch disponed to Ardblair the lands of Hatton as for the principal lands and the lands of Mains of Gormoch " and that in special and real

the damages he had sustained through the eviction; for declaring that he had recourse upon the warrandice lands for those damages, and that the warrandice lands were really affected with the value of his damages.

In the course of this process the pursuer proved the rents of the evicted lands at the date of the eviction, the value thereof, and that he had been excluded from the possession of the principal lands from the year 1722 and claimed that the loss of those interim rents, as a damage arising from the eviction, was really secured upon the warrandice lands.

The lords found that the infeftment of warrandice gave the pursuer a real right and security in the warrandice lands, to the extent of the value of the principal lands at the time of the eviction, and also found that the said real security extended as far as the personal obligation of warrandice to all his damage arising before or after the eviction without any fault in the pursuer.

A dissertation on real warrandice and the distinction between an infeftment in excambed lands (where real warrandice is implied) and in those conveyed in real warrandice appears in the pursuer's pleadings, which, to a certain extent, are here given as printed in the report : "That personal warrandice, in all onerous contracts, both by the Roman law and ours, has always been understood, not only to extend to the value or price of the subjects evicted, but to the whole damage arising from the eviction: And if this holds with respect to the warrandice implied in a sale, when it is not expressed, with what reason can it be said, that, where lands are disponed in real warrandice in a sale, the warrandice has a more narrow and different signification? That a real security is