Of whom 120 were husbands and 322 wives. 111 1357 As in former years the advising staff have conducted a large correspondence, and have held numerous outside interviews. Every endeavour is made to effect amicable settlements. Cases where legal proceedings require to be taken are remitted to the officially appointed Agents for the Poor. During the year 287 cases were so remitted for further proceedings. Great care is taken that the privileges of the dispensary are not abused, and that advice is only given to those who are unable to pay for it. The secretary recently had considerable correspondence with barristers and solicitors in London in connection with proposals to improve the system of giving legal assistance to poor persons in England. The lawyers who attended the dispensary during the past year are cordially thanked for their services. Messrs C. C. Learmonth, solicitor, J. M'Lauchlan, solicitor, C. R. M'Vittie, W.S., Jas. S. Scott, solicitor, R. Tedcastle, W.S., and George W. Wallace, W.S., have resigned; and Messrs R. H. Sherwood Calver, M.A., LL.B., Allan J. Grierson, M.A., LL.B., Robert Martin, W.S., D. G. M'Gregor, W.S., John Baird, solicitor, D. G. Fraser, B.L., solicitor, R. C. Jack, solicitor, John G. Mitchell, solicitor, and R. C. Notman, W.S., were appointed advising lawyers. Messrs A. H. C. Hope, W.S., C. C. Learmonth, solicitor, C. R. M'Vittie, W.S., N. G. Paulin, W.S., and R. Tedcastle, W.S., have been elected life members. An abstract of the accounts for the past year is appended to the report. It is gratifying to report that the sum collected in the donation boxes is larger than in any former year. The directors are at present in communication with the Town Council with the view of securing suitable accommodation for the dispensary. If this is obtained it will entail additional expense, and it is hoped that not only will present subscribers continue their support, but that many new friends will assist in carrying on the work. Mr H. E. Richardson, W.S., is cordially thanked for the gift of periodicals for the dispensary waiting-room. The financial side is fairly strong, there being a balance in hand of £255, 18s. 11d. MR JAMES W. DAVIDSON, Town-Clerk Depute for many years, has been appointed by the Aberdeen Town Council to the position of Town-Clerk, in succession to the late Dr Gordon. The salary is £1300 per annum, in lieu of all fees and emoluments pertaining to the office or claimable in respect of the official duties of Town-Clerk, the appointment to be for a period not exceeding five years, at the end of which The Defensor in the Police Court has appeared period he should be entitled during his life to in 208 cases during the year. His services are a retiring allowance at an annual rate of not much appreciated by the Bench, and greatly more than two-thirds or less than one-half of assist in the administration of justice. The that salary. The directors regret to record the death of Sir John Stewart Clark, Bart., who was generous supporter of the dispensary, and also the death of the Rev. D. M. W. Laird, who was a regular contributor for many years. MR JOHN R. PURDOM, who was joint TownClerk of Hawick along with his late brother, Mr Robert Purdom, has now been appointed Town-Clerk. measure COPARTNERSHIP.-Entitled the Companies Amendment (Copartnership) Bill, a introduced in the House of Lords by Viscount Cecil of Chelwood is designed to promote the adoption of copartnership by statutory and other companies. The bill, of which the text was issued this week, empowers any company incorporated by Act of Parliament or registered under the Companies Acts, without further authority of Parliament or application to any Court, to introduce a scheme of copartnership, under which any employee is further remunerated either by the allotment of shares of the company credited, or paid up in full or in part or by a share or interest in the profits of the company. The election of employees to boards of directors is authorised. The second clause of the bill provides that companies or corporations not formed for the THE death has occurred at 19 Findhorn Place, Edinburgh, of Mr Andrew Tosh, S.S.C., a well-known lawyer and citizen. Mr Tosh entered the legal profession at an early age, having completed both his practical and University training before he was twenty-one. In 1884 he was admitted to the S.S.C. Society. The younger son of the late Mr George Tosh, Surveyor of Taxes, Ayr, he always maintained a deep interest in his native town and county, and was one of the founders of the Edinburgh Ayrshire Association, of which he was president for a period of three years. In politics, Mr Tosh was a staunch Unionist. He is survived by his wife. CURRENT LAW LITERATURE. Annotations. Vol. XVII. Editor-in-Chief and purpose of profit, including Municipal Corpora- The English and Empire Digest. With Complete By Seventy-Two Years at the Bar: A Memoir. Oke's Fishery Laws. Fourth Edition. By Hubert Chitty's Annual Statutes. Vol. XXII. Part I. Con- The Law Relating to Lunacy. By Sir Henry Studdy (Michaelmas Sittings, 1919, to Hilary Sittings, J THE LATE MR D. W. ROBB, S.S.C. In the previous issue of this journal reference was made to the sudden death which occurred on 11th April of Mr David Winter Robb, S.S.C., information of which was received just as the number was going to press. This premature and sudden removal of an outstanding figure in Edinburgh legal circles has caused widespread regret. Mr Robb, who was born in 1864, was a son of the founder of the firm of George Robb & Co., the well-known printers of the Court of Session Reports. Whether owing to hereditary influence or not, Mr Robb developed an intimacy with the technique of printing and the press, a love of literature and knowledge of books in general, and an exceptionally extensive and ready knowledge of case law. He was educated at the Royal High School and University of Edinburgh, at which, respectively, he was a dux and a prizeman, and served his apprenticeship with Mr John Galletly, S.S.C., still remembered by the older members of the profession as carrying on a large Court practice, and for some years treasurer of the S.S.C. Society. On the death of Mr John Galletly, Mr Robb was assumed as a partner of the firm of J. & J. Galletly. As a practitioner Mr Robb was well equipped. In Court of Session practice he was a recognised expert, and in practically all branches of professional work he was held in high repute as a skilled lawyer. A rapid worker and a clear thinker, he seemed almost intuitively to take the judicial view of any question presented to him. Few men, probably, were so much resorted to by professional brethren for assistance and advice-never asked for in vain. He spared no trouble for others, and seemed to possess an equable temperament, never subject to doubts and difficulties. In at least three recent legal works he gave valuable assistance. He possessed great facility in figures and in matters of finance. Ten years ago he was appointed treasurer of the S.S.C. Society and collector of their widows' fund; and in these offices, as well as in his help and counsel in the business of the society, he earned the high appreciation of its members. From his early days Mr Robb was interested in stenography, and outside the ranks of the professional shorthand writer few men had such a thorough knowledge, both theoretical and practical, of the various systems of shorthand. His habitual use of this art probably helped to explain his exceptional expedition in the despatch of business. The forms of recreation more usually followed by the legal practitioner did not appeal to him-he found his delight in literature and travel. He was conversant with many of the European languages and the literature of various countries. Short holidays he spent tramping in Scotland; the longer vacations were occupied in travelling over Europe and North Africa. Mr Robb was endowed with an optimistic outlook, an irrepressible sense of humour, and a great joy of life. He had rare conversational powers, and was at home in any company. A flow of allusion, incident, and jest was always at his command. With it all, he had a singular power of self-effacement. Assertiveness and pushfulness in any form were foreign to his nature, and he had no love of publicity. Such gifts, combined with his ready tactfulness and never-failing courtesy, led to his popularity with men of varying views and temperaments. He was unique in the possession of a mystical charm of personality. No one of the large company which assembled at Warriston Cemetery the other day could go from his grave without feeling that the world would become a poorer and a duller place by his removal from it. Mr Robb leaves a widow, to whom the sincere sympathy of his many friends is extended. LEGAL EDUCATION IN SCOTLAND-II. By W. H. MILL, S.S.C., Edinburgh. The recent changes in the issue of certificates by the Scottish Education Department, as well as the issue of new regulations by the C.A. Society making the Leaving Certificate of the Education Department the standard for entrance to that profession, afford grounds for considering the standard of entrance to the profession of Law Agent. The present writer contributed an Article on this subject in the "Scots Law Times" of 4th February 1922. Certain proposals that are being submitted to the legal societies render it important that there should be a clear understanding regarding the value of the certificates that are now to be issued by the Scottish Education Department, as certificates of that Department are accepted as equivalent to a pass in the examinations under the Act, and are also taken as a standard of educational equipment. The Intermediate Certificate, which has been accepted in place of the First General Knowledge Examination under the Law Agents Act, will not be issued after this year. In its place there has now been established the Day School Certificate (Higher and Lower). This certificate will be issued to pupils who have completed a satisfactory course of study in the new Advanced Divisions, or in any continuing Intermediate Schools, in n both of which the provision aimed at is for pupils over twelve years of age who will be leaving school at fourteen or fifteen. In these schools the instruction given will be (1) English, including History and Geography; (2) Mathematics and Science; (3) Drawing and, it may be, one Foreign Language. For a two years' course the Day School Lower Certificate will be granted. For a three years' course the Day School Higher Certificate will be granted. The latter certificate (Higher) might be accepted as the equivalent of the First General Knowledge Examination, if this were to be continued. There is, however, general agreement that one General Knowledge Examination should be prescribed, and that it should be accepted as the educational standard for entrance to the profession. It is quite evident that, in such circumstances, the test cannot be the standard of the First General Knowledge Examination under present regulations. That would be to lower the present standard for admission to the profession. The Day School Certificate (Higher) must therefore be ruled out as a standard. The only remaining certificate of the Scottish Education Department is the Leaving Certificate, which "testifies to the satisfactory completion of a well-balanced course of Secondary Education suitable for pupils who leave school at seventeen or eighteen years of age" (Circular 62 of the Department). The subjects of a Secondary course of Education are taken from (1) English, including Literature and History; (2) Mathematics, Science; (3) Latin, Greek, four Modern Languages; (4) Art, Music, Applied Science. For the Leaving Certificate it is prescribed that pupils must pass on the Higher Standard in at least two subjects, and on at least the Lower Standard in two others. One of the subjects on the Higher Standard must be English (including Literature and History), and the other must be chosen from (1) Mathematics; (2) Science; (3) Latin; (4) Greek; (5) the Modern Languages, French, German, Italian, Spanish. A pass in at least the Lower Standard in Science or Mathematics, and in a Foreign Language, will, as a rule, be a condition of the award of any certificate. It is submitted that this standard, and the course of education of which it is the test, is the only suitable entrance qualification for entering any of the professions, and it is now the test for entrance to the Church, Medicine, Teaching, and (by the most recent regulations) to the Chartered Accountant profession. By adopting this standard the profession of Law Agent is brought in line with the other professions. Is there any reason why this standard should not be prescribed? Would its adoption be a handicap to any boy in any part of Scotland? The answer is that educational facilities are provided in all parts of the country, with suitable equipment, for an examination prescribed on these lines, and no boy desirous of entering the legal, or any, profession need be prevented doing so. Certain proposals are at present being discussed which provide a lower standard. The range of subjects suggested is the same as for the Leaving Certificate, except that Italian and Spanish are not included among the modern languages for examination, which in these days shews surely a lack of discrimination. But there is a great difference in the emphasis placed upon certain of the subjects. In English, History, Geography, Arithmetic, and Compulsory Latin, the Lower Standard is only asked. It is only in two optional subjects that the Higher Standard is required. If a candidate were to choose as his optional subjects Greek and German, he would require to take these on the Higher Standard, although they have no relation to his profession; while in English, Arithmetic, and Latin, which seem essential to the education of a professional man, he would only have to pass on the Lower Standard. Such proposals seem not only to be on a false basis, but only produce confusion in the standard of qualification. It is therefore urged that the opportunity should be taken to put the legal profession alongside the other professions by adopting the Leaving Certificate as the entrance test for apprenticeship, or an equivalent standard in any examination prescribed under the Law Agents Act, or a pass at the Preliminary Examination of the Scottish Universities admitting to a graduating curriculum in Arts and Science. It might be desirable that the regulations should specify which subjects are to be passed on the Higher Standard and which on the Lower Standard. If so, it is essential that English should be passed on the Higher Standard. In view of the proposal that there should be now one entrance examination, and that, if the standard of the Leaving Certificate is accepted, the normal age at which this certificate may be taken, or an equivalent examination at that standard may be expected to be passed, is seventeen or eighteen, it is worthy of consideration whether the period of apprenticeship should be continued at five years. This would mean that, in ordinary circumstances, the Final Examination in Law cannot be taken at the earliest before the applicant is twenty-two or twenty-three. While it is not suggested that this is too late an age for such examination, it does not seem to be quite fair that a youth should be still in his apprenticeship years at that age, with the probability that, being regarded as an apprentice, his work is not of the experienced type which one of that age might quite well claim should be given to him. There are other considerations which enter into this question, such as the amount of salary which should be paid. In the whole circumstances, it seems desirable that the apprenticeship period should be now limited to three years, or at any rate not to exceed four years. DEATH DUTIES ON SETTLED LEGACIES. This is a subject which has received a great deal of judicial consideration in England, but Dunn's Trs., decided by the Second Division on 22nd March 1924, is the first case which has come before the Scottish Courts, which makes the present a suitable occasion on which to deal with the matter. It is true that we see that it is recruited by men who, at any rate, have had some wide reading in the Law of Scotland. It is understood that the professors of Scots Law in our universities feel that the instruction given by them in this subject is The question of an examination in Book- inadequate, on account of the subject being keeping, and the stage at which this should take treated in one session, and if it were provided place, is also a matter for consideration. It is that the instruction should be given in the difficult to understand the reason for the Book-course of two years, it is believed that the keeping Examination being made so much of a professors would welcome the division of their fetish, especially as a part of the General Know-subject into that period. ledge Examination. It is well known that candidates are coached specially for the examination, and immediately it is over forget anything that they have learnt. It is really of no service for practical purposes, and, in any event, is not a test that the applicant is able to deal with such matters in his professional career. In these days when finance and financial con- | siderations enter so much into business life, it seems to be a farce that the Law Agent is presumed to be acquainted with this side of business by merely being tested as to whether he can pass an examination in Book-keeping. are not in the habit of speaking of a settled It seems most desirable that a broader study legacy by that name, but the thing itself of accountancy and of commercial subjects is quite common in the wills of domiciled should form part of the training of a Law Agent. Scotsmen and Scotswomen. It is possible, Provision for this study is now supplied in the however, that in Scotland it is more common class of Accounting and Business Method" than in England to find that a provision of that at the Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen, nature consists of a share of residue, or is given in the class on "The Principles and Practice in the form of a direction to pay a sum of money of Accounting" at the Glasgow and West of to the trustees of a daughter's marriage conScotland Commercial College, and also at tract, to be held on the same trusts as the other Dundee. The law and practice with regard to funds and estate thereby settled, though in income tax, the procedure and requisites in the Dunn's case the provision took neither of these investigation of accounts of public companies, forms. In re Palmer ([1916] 2 Ch. 391) in bankruptcies and liquidations, and the is a judgment of the Court of Appeal recognispractice connected with the preparation of trusting that the setting apart of funds by and executry accounts and the division of trust estates, seem to the writer to be suitable for an examination on the broader lines indicated, and might form part of the final examination in Law. 66 There is one other matter to which the writer would again seek to draw attention, and that is the curriculum of study in Law. In the former article referred to, it was advocated that this should be extended, and while still of opinion that that is desirable, and that in time steps in that direction will be taken, it is now suggested, as a preliminary at least to that end, that there should be prescribed for all applicants a two years' course in Scots Law. The extent of this subject is so great that it is impossible to do justice to it in one year's course of lectures, and it must be with an infinitesimal amount of knowledge of the subject that every Law Agent starts upon his career, badly equipped for the many questions that await him to deal with. No doubt practice in the end makes the best professor, but it is the duty of the profession to trustees in their own names, which is the usual Scottish machinery, has exactly the same effect as if the money had been handed over or paid by the executors to separate trustees. The matter has special importance at present for two reasons. One is the political situation, with a definite announcement already made of an intention to increase the rates of estate duty, a proposal which has received significant Conservative support in the correspondence columns of the "Times" newspaper. The other is a definite curtailment of the English judicial view of the effect of such clauses, as evidenced by two decisions of the Court of Appeal, In re Wedgwood ([1921]1 Ch. .601) and In re Beecham, decided so recently as 4th December last and reported in 68 Solicitors' Journal 208. The difficulty arises with reference to death duties which may be attracted by the trusts of a will, but which are payable, not on the testator's death, but on subsequent events, such as the deaths of successive liferenters. |