The list of publications issued by the League secretariat gives evidence of the continually greater extent to which the League serves as a clearing-house for information on international subjects, such as public finance, currency and central banks, mandates, armaments, and health statistics. Within the organisation of the League itself certain changes may be noted. The number of States members rose in the year to fifty-five through the admission of the Dominican Republic. The new scale of national contributions was again adopted for 1925, and the services of the secretariat carefully gone over by the Supervisory Commission. The Budget of the League for 1925, which includes the International Labour Organisation and the Permanent Court of International Justice at the Hague, amounts to 22,658,138 gold francs-roughly £900,000. The contribution of the British Empire (exclusive of South Africa, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and India, which are separate members) will be 2,132,504 gold francs, or approximately £86,000. An extraordinary session of the Permanent Court of International Justice opened at the Peace Palace at the Hague on Monday, 12th January, under the presidency of M. Huber (Switzerland). It will be remembered that, at its last meeting in Rome on 13th December, the Council of the League of Nations decided to ask the Permanent Court of International Justice for an advisory opinion on the interpretation of the word "established used in Article 2 of the Sixth Lausanne Convention (on the exchange of Greek and Turkish populations), and also on the conditions to which the persons designated in the said article as "Greek inhabitants of Constantinople must answer in order that they may be considered as "established" in the meaning of the Convention, and therefore exempted from the obligatory exchange provided for in it. This question being deemed urgent by the Council, an extraordinary session of the Court has been summoned to deal with it, and, in conformity with its Rules, the Court shall, at the same time, deal with any other question submitted to it, which may be ready for its intervention. SPECIAL NOTICE. The Editor will welcome legal problems or questions of interest from subscribers, and will, wherever possible, arrange for articles thereon by experts. Interesting points are continually cropping up in practice, and there is at present no means other than that now suggested whereby a lawyer in one part of Scotland may benefit at a saving of time and money from the experience of a lawyer in another part who has dealt with a similar problem. The death has taken place suddenly at Forres of Mr James Munro, solicitor, a partner of the legal firm of Mackenzie & Grant. A native of Novar, Ross-shire, Mr Munro, who was only thirty-nine years of age, contracted pneumonia and was just recovering when he was attacked by appendicitis. He was removed to Leanchoil Hospital and operated upon, but death followed in a few hours. Mr Munro was a keen motorist and bowler, and held office as president of the Forres Bowling Club. During the recent election he played a prominent part as a Unionist worker in Moray and Nairn. DECISIONS IN THE ENGLISH COURTS. Attorney-General v. Parr and Others. REVENUE-ESTATE DUTY-SETTLED PROPERTY —RESETTLEMENT AFTER DISENTAIL-AGGREGA TION—FINANCE ACT, 1894 (57 & 58 VICT. CAP. 30), SECTIONS 1 AND 4- -FINANCE ACT, 1900 (63 VICT. CAP. 7), SECTION 12 (2)-FINANCE ACT, 1907 (7 EDW. VII. CAP. 13), SECTION 16.-An estate was devised for the use of the testator's son for life, and after his death for the use of his first and other sons in tail male. The testator's son and his first son disentailed the estates, and by deed of resettlement appointed them, along with certain estates belonging in fee-simple to the testator's son, to such uses as they should jointly appoint, and, subject thereto, for the testator's son for life by way of restoration and confirmation of his life estate under the will. The testator's son died possessed of considerable free estate. Held that for estateduty purposes the settled property passed under the deed of resettlement and not under the will, and therefore fell to be aggregated with the free estate left by the testator's son. Decision of Rowlatt J. affirmed.-Court of Appeal (Pollock M.R. and Atkin L.J., Sargant L.J. dissenting).-13th March 1924. -PROPERTY HELD IN FEE SIMPLE UNDER BURDEN OF ANNUITY-FINANCE ACT, 1900 (63 VICT. CAP. 7), SECTION 11 (1)-FINANCE (1909-10) ACT, 1910 (10 EDW. VII. CAP. 18), SECTION 59 (1).-A testator left heritable property to his son, subject to the burden of an annuity to his daughter of £1000. On the son's death the property passed by his will to the grandson of the testator in fee-simple, and estate duty was paid upon the value of the property after deduction of a sum representing the value of the annuity. Thereafter, in 1910 and 1922, the annuitant executed deeds purporting to release the estate from payment of the annuity. The annuitant died in 1922. Held that as the grandson was entitled to the estate in fee-simple and not in remainder or reversion, the estate was not deemed to pass, on the death of the annuitant, to the extent to which a benefit accrued by cesser of the annuity.-K.B. Div. (Rowlatt J.).—8th July 1924. The present edition of Mr Muirhead's work represents nearly twenty years of additional statutes and case law since the publication of the last edition. As the law has grown so has the book, which has been expanded into two substantial volumes. The careful collation and annotation of the statutes relating to municipal government makes an invaluable book of reference on that branch of the law. The case law bearing on each topic is fully considered, and references to authorities are abundant. The new edition is thus assured of a welcome from the profession. INCOME TAX REPAYMENT ON FARM LOSSES. In the last few years claims by farmers under Rule 6 of the Rules applicable to Schedule B of the 1918 Act have no doubt been widely made for the purpose of having the Schedule B assessment cut down to the actual profit as shewn by farm accounts, or in the event of a loss, for the purpose of having the assessment cancelled and the loss set off against other taxable income of the farmer. A claim of this kind is naturally also open to the estate proprietor who runs a home farm on his own account. In the ordinary case, where there is no special operation carried on beyond ordinary cropping, or dairy-farming, or sheep-farming, the claim has not, so far as known to the writer, met with any serious opposition on the part of the Revenue. In the case, however, where the breeding of pedigree stock, cattle, or horses has been undertaken by estate proprietors on their home farms, there have been several attempts made to resist the claim. In three or four cases in Scotland during the last year the same attitude has been taken up by the Inland Revenue Authorities, and the claims have gone before the General Commissioners of various counties. The case made by the Revenue is that the breeding of stock and the losses incurred in connection there with are not items of expenditure proper to farm accounts, and that lands used for this purpose are not used for purposes of husbandry only" in the words of Rule 6, Schedule B, and section 34 of the Income Tax Act, 1918. It would appear a fair inference from the case of Duncan Keir (1920 S.C. 67; 1919, 2 S.L.T. 251), that the raising of live stock is part of the ordinary operations of husbandry. In that particular case the taxpayer, for special reasons, contended that sheep-breeding and grazing were not husbandry and the Revenue contended that they were. The Revenue were successful, and the Court refused to restrict the meaning of husbandry to mere cultivation of the soil. It is not unreasonable, therefore, to conclude that horse-breeding and cattle-raising are also included in the ambit of ordinary husbandry. But even assuming that such operations are not husbandry, it would not appear to exclude the claim from acceptance by the Commissioners in view of the varied terms of section 34, which give relief in the case of any trade, profession, employment, or vocation. If the horse- or cattle-breeding were not, therefore, pure husbandry, the profits made thereby would be assessable under Schedule D, and any loss incurred would be recoverable under section 34. In order, therefore, to exclude the case from the operations in the relief sections, the Revenue would require to shew that the expenditure incurred in such manner was for the purpose of amenity or, as an inspector put it, pursuit of a hobby." This would appear an almost impossible task if proper evidence is submitted by the Commissioners. in It appears that a case decided in England by the General Commissioners, namely, Bruce v. Burton (4 Tax Cases, Part 7, p. 399), is the basis for this attitude. In that case it was contended by the Revenue that the breeding of short-horn cattle carried on by the proprietor was in the nature of an additional amenity to his residence, and was not part of legitimate farm operations. Unfortunately, no evidence was led by the proprietor in that case, and the Commissioners decided in favour of the Revenue and disallowed the claim. The case is only reported in the Law Reports for the purpose of recording the High Court's decision that the finding of the General Commissioners on such a claim is not subject to appeal, and, accordingly, we have not the benefit of the High Court's opinion on the merits of the claim or the fairness of the decision arrived at by the Commissioners. A very recent similar case, which is not yet fully reported, namely, The King v. The Commissioners of Inland Revenue (ex parte Shaw), was decided in the King's Bench Division on 18th December 1924. In this case also it appears that the General Commissioners in one of the English counties refused an application for relief on the ground that the lands were not occupied for the purpose of husbandry but for the purposes of amenity. Again, however, the The General Commissioners, in three cases of Court merely refused the writ of mandamus; in which the writer has personal knowledge, other words, refused to set aside the decision of rejected the contentions of the Revenue and the Commissioners in respect that there was no allowed the claim on the full amount, which right of appeal. The Revenue were accordingly included the horse-breeding losses. As similar successful in these two particular cases in satisfy-decisions have been arrived at in other counties, ing the Commissioners that the land was not bona fide used for husbandry purposes. In all branches of farming, potato-growing, cropping, and dairy-farming, the risks of losses during recent years have been very real; and if a farmer or estate proprietor chooses to take up a particular branch of agriculture, it surely cannot be the province of the Revenue to say 66 you must stop this particular branch of agriculture and try some other as you have made losses in several years in succession." and as there is no appeal against the decision of the General Commissioners, it would be a hardship on farmers and estate proprietors if these claims are to be resisted on similar grounds all over the county-on the chance of a snap victory as naturally considerable expense may be incurred in arranging for the proper evidence and professional assistance to submit the case in an adequate fashion to the Commissioners. The object of this article, therefore, is to notify the profession that the point has been definitely fought before several bodies of Commissioners, and the contentions of the Revenue Government grant of £2000 towards upkeep, which was first given in 1923. REPORT by the KEEPER of the ADVOCATES' LIBRARY to the CURATORS for the year 1924. 1. Accessions. The following is the list of rejected. As losses incurred in stock-raising Parliamentary Bills and Papers (including 377 FACULTY OF ADVOCATES. J. M. The anniversary meeting of the Faculty was held on 21st January in the Advocates' Library, the Dean presiding. The Faculty officers for the year were appointed as follows: Dean of Faculty, Mr James Condie Stewart Sandeman, K.C.; ViceDean, Mr Charles Herbert Brown, K.C.; Treasurer of the Faculty and of the Chalmers Trust, Mr John Cowan, O.B.E., K.C.; Keeper of the Library and Clerk of Faculty, Mr W. K. Dickson, LL.D.; Auditor, Mr William Home Cook, C.A. Mr J. S. C. Reid and Mr William Garrett were appointed Reporters on probabilis causa, and the Counsel for the Poor were appointed as follows: Mr J. F. Strachan, Mr A. E. Considine, Mr J. G. M'Intyre, Mr G. R. Thomson, Mr R. P. Morison, and Miss Margaret H. Kidd. The following reports of various Faculty committees were submitted and approved. REPORT by the CURATORS of the LIBRARY to the The Curators submit and refer to the accompanying Reports by the Keeper of the Library and the Law Curator. The Government Bill for the transference of the Library to the nation is in course of preparation in the Scottish Office. It will shortly be submitted to the Faculty for their approval. The Library committee, as soon as they have had an opportunity of seeing and considering the Bill, will report direct to the Faculty. During the year the Faculty received the 9,869 1,512 7,148 items received from the Government of Pamphlets Parts and Volumes of Periodicals, per London Volumes and Pieces of Music Ordnance and other Maps Total number of items received 31,425 3,415 833 54,202 Total in 10 years, 451,447 2. Buildings and Furniture.-The Library buildings and furniture are in good order. 3. Donations. A complete manuscript list of the donations received by the Library during the year may be referred to in the Business Room. Numerous donations of official publications have, as in former years, been received from Government Departments, and many learned. societies have presented their Proceedings. An exceptional number of valuable donations have been received during the year. The most interesting of these are noted. As regards general historical interest, the most important accession received during the year is the collection of papers relating to Mary Queen of Scots, which has been purchased for the Library with funds collected by Dr Walter Seton. These include the official copy of the Marriage Articles of Queen Mary and Francis II., the only known letter from Mary to her cousin and brother-in-law, Henri of Angoulême, a natural son of the King of France, dated 6th December 1564, and one of the finest known including twenty-three unpublished Carlyle holograph letters of the Queen addressed to letters-nineteen by Thomas Carlyle and four James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow, her by Mrs Carlyle. The series of historical Ambassador in France, written from Sheffield autographs begins with two documents signed on 13th November 1574, signed "Vostre bien by James III. of Scotland, and includes, among bonne amye et mestresse prisonniere, MARIE R.' many other papers, letters or documents A description of these documents appeared in written or signed by Samuel Pepys, Dr Johnson, the "Scotsman" and "Glasgow Herald" on Scott, William Pitt, Warren Hastings, Nelson, 8th November. Wellington, and Napoleon. One document of outstanding interest is a letter written by Sir Francis Windebank, who was Secretary of State under King Charles I., to the King in 1639, which had been returned to the writer by the King with marginal annotations in his own writing. Mr Hume has also presented some rare Kipling items, and a collection of Spanish books relating to South America. Mr James Cathcart White, advocate, to whom the Library is already indebted for many donations, has also presented some papers of the Queen Mary period, including a letter from Mary of Lorraine, the Queen Regent, to François de Noailles, the French Ambassador in England, in 1566; a document signed by James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell; and nine letters by Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney. Mr Cathcart White has also presented a copy of King James VI.'s "Essayes of a Prentise in the Divine Art of Poesie," printed at Edinburgh by Thomas Vautrollier in 1585. Some important documents were purchased for the Library at the Melville Castle sale with funds obtained through the exertions of the Right Hon. H. P. Macmillan. These comprise letters addressed to the first and second Lords Melville by Edmund Burke, James Boswell, the biographer of Dr Johnson, and Sir Walter Scott. The Scott letters are all addressed to Robert Dundas, second Lord Melville, who was a lifelong friend of Scott's, and deal with politics, theatrical matters, the purchase of Abbotsford, the affairs of the Court of Session, the disturbed state of the country, Scott's Baronetcy, and other matters of public and private interest. The Burke letters relate chiefly to the impeachment of Warren Hastings. There has also been purchased with funds provided from other sources the collection of charters and other family papers of the family of Dundas of Dundas, a collection of exceptional antiquity and completeness, commencing with the well-known original Dundas Charter granted by Waldevus, son of Cospatric, in the twelfth century. Lieutenant-General Sir Aylmer Haldane, G.C.M.G., has presented the original Marriage Contract between Walter Scott, W.S., father of Sir Walter Scott, and Anne Rutherfurd, dated 5th April 1758. The Rev. Thomas Marjoribanks, The Manse, Colinton, has presented eighteen original letters from Mrs Carlyle to her friend Miss Susan Hunter, daughter of Professor Hunter, of St Andrews, afterwards wife of James Stirling, C.E., Edinburgh, written between 1833 and 1866. Mr John Hume, of La Ruca, 12 Corrennie Drive, Edinburgh, has presented a valuable collection of literary and historical autographs, A set of the fine photographic reproductions recently made of the Liber Pontificalis of Glasgow Cathedral, an important mediæval manuscript now in the British Museum (Cotton MS., Tiberius B. viii.) has been purchased with funds provided by the Scottish National Library Endowment Trust. Sir Bruce Seton, Bt., C.B., has presented a manuscript translation into Italian of a contemporary narrative of the Jacobite rising of 1745, written in Latin by Giulio Cesare Cordaro, of the Society of Jesus, which throws some new light on the history of the 'Forty-five. Miss Frances Pemberton Anderson, Drumley House, Ayrshire, has presented a large collection of water-colour drawings, chiefly of Edinburgh, bound in volumes, made during the period between 1830 and 1850 by Thomas Brown, advocate, of Waterhaughs and Lanfine, who died in 1873. 66 A donation of Faculty interest has been received from Mr H. P. Macmillan, a copy of the rare pamphlet, The Medal; or, a full and impartial account of the late proceedings of the Dean and Faculty of Advocates in Scotland relating to that affair" (London, 1712), which contains an account of the proceedings relating to the well-known episode of the presentation of a Jacobite medal to the Faculty by the Duchess of Gordon. This pamphlet was not previously in the Library. A further instalment of Papers in Peerage Cases has been presented by the House of Lords through the Clerk of the Parliaments. These papers have been arranged and placed in the Law Library. 4. Macdonald Bequest.-The late Mrs W. R. Macdonald of Neidpath, Wester Coates Avenue, Edinburgh, who died on 21st October 1924, bequeathed to the Library the heraldic library which belonged to her husband, Mr William Rae Macdonald, Albany Herald, who died on 15th August 1923. These books include a complete abstract of the Lyon Register made |