register of shipping, and flying the Dutch flag, was captured as prize. The shares of the company were held by two other Dutch companies, the shares of which in turn were all held by German companies. In substance the vessel and her trade were part of the commerce and shipping of the German Empire, and her Dutch flag, ownership, and management were adopted merely for convenience. Held that as the centre and whole effective control of the business of the owning company were in Germany the vessel was to be regarded as belonging to German subjects, and must be condemned. Decision of the Prize Court (Evans P.) affirmed.-Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (Lord Sumner, Lord Parmoor, Lord Wrenbury, Lord Sterndale, and Sir Arthur Channell).-31st July 1919. Britain Steamship Co. v. the King. British India Steam Navigation Co. v. Green. SHIP CHARTER-PARTY-POLICY OF MARINE INSURANCE "WARLIKE OPERATIONS." Held that the expression "warlike operations" used in a clause in a charter-party or policy of marine insurance, inserted for the purpose of excluding risks arising therefrom or for defining the risks undertaken or insured against, implies the commission of an act of belligerency or an act done with the object of meeting or avoiding an actual or threatened act of belligerency, and (affirming decision of Bailhache J., 1919 S.L.T. 55) does not cover navigating without lights under Admiralty orders or (reversing decision of Bailbache J., 1919 S.LT. 55) obeying the orders of the officer in command of a convoy which are not given in consequence of an actual or threatened hostile attack, provided the occupation of the vessel is a peaceful one.-Court of Appeal (Warrington, Duke, and Atkin L.JJ.).—31st July 1919. In re Thellusson-Ex parte Abdy. BANKRUPTCY—LOAN TO BANKRUPT-LENDER AND BORROWER UNAWARE OF RECEIVING ORDER AGAINST BANKRUPT-JURISDICTION OF COURT TO SET ASIDE TRANSACTION AND ORDER REPAYMENT BY TRUSTEE IN BANKRUPTCY-A loan was made to a bankrupt, the lender and borrower both being unaware that on the previous day a receiving order had been made against the bankrupt. Held in an application by the lender to have the transaction set aside and the official receiver, as trustee in bankruptcy, ordered to repay to him so much of the money as had come into his hands that the Court was entitled to order the trustee, as an officer of Court, to repay the lender, on the principle of fair and honourable dealing as between man and man. Decision of Horridge J. (1919 S.L.T. 75) reversed. -Court of Appeal (Warrington, Duke, and Atkin L.JJ.).—31st July 1919. Hepworth Manufacturing Co. v. Ryott. CONTRACT-RESTRAINT OF TRADE-USE OF ACTOR'S STAGE NAME-CONTRACT PROHIBITING USE OF NAME BY ACTOR ON TERMINATION OF CONTRACT.-An actor entered into an agreement with a cinematograph film-producing company to perform for them in connection with their production. The contract provided that if the company advertised the actor they would do so under the pseudonym of Stewart Rome; that the right to use such pseudonym should be the sole property of the company; and that upon the termination of the contract the actor should not use the name for any purpose whatever. Held that the agreement not to use the name was unenforceable as being in restraint of trade, oppressive, and affording more than reasonable protection to the company. Decision of Astbury J. (1919 S.L.T. 77) affirmed.-Court of Appeal (Warrington and Atkin L.JJ., and Eve J.).— 16th October 1919. his duty to insure up to the sum for which a reasonably prudent owner would have been content to insure.-K.B. Div. (Roche J).-20th October 1919. Fletcher & Son v. Jubb, Booth & Helliwell. LAW AGENT-NEGLIGENCE-ACTION AGAINST PUBLIC AUTHORITY-PUBLIC AUTHORITIES PROTECTION ACT 1893 (56 & 57 VICT. CAP. 61), SECTION 1-DUTY ΤΟ INFORM CLIENTS OF STATUTORY LIMITATION OF RIGHT OF ACTION.Held that solicitors who were instructed to negotiate a claim of damages against a city corporation were bound to keep the provisions of the Public Authorities Protection Act 1893, section 1, in view and were negligent in failing to inform their clients, when intimating an offer in settlement by the corporation, of the effect of the provisions of the statute in the event of an action not being timeously raised. Decision of Lawrence J. reversed.-Court of Appeal (Bankes, Scrutton, and Duke L.JJ.).—21st October 1919. Ashrody v. Owners of S.S." Edinburgh Castle." DE WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION SEAMAN CLARATORY AWARD-MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 (6 EDW. VII. CAP. 48), SECTION 34 (1)— WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACT 1906 (6 EDW. VII. CAP. 58), SECTION 7 (i) (e).-Held that the fact that employers were paying his wages, maintenance, and medical expenses, under section 34 (1) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1906, to an injured seamen did not disentitle the seaman to compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act 1906, although under section 7 (i) (e) of that Act the weekly payment was not payable, and that the arbitrator was entitled to make a declaration of liability against the employers.-Court of Appeal (Warrington and Atkin L.JJ., and Eve J.).-31st October 1919. Woodfield Steam Shipping Co. Ltd. v. J. L. Thompson & Sons Ltd. CONTRACT — PERFORMANCE - DELAY DUE TO GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE-FRUSTRATION OF CONTRACT.-In 1916 a firm of shipbuilders contracted to build two vessels for the plaintiffs. The contracts provided that "whereas no delivery date can be specified the builders will make their best endeavours to give as early delivery as possible, which they anticipate will be in 1918 [in one contract early in 1918']. If the builders be delayed or prevented by strikes, combinations, or lock-outs, whether partial or general. . . . or by fire, war, riots, insurrection or any other unforeseen " the occurrence of any kind whatever. builders shall be allowed an extension of time for all time lost directly or indirectly by reason of the aforesaid matters. At the date of these contracts the Government was encouraging the building of ships under private contracts; but before the defendants started work on the vessels, orders were issued forbidding the construction of any but standard ships. It was impossible therefore at that time for the defendants to proceed with the building of the ships. In November and December 1918 the plaintiffs claimed that the defendants should proceed with the contracts; but the latter refused. In an action by the plaintiffs for a declaration. that the two contracts were valid and subsisting, and that the defendants were bound to perform the contracts, held (affirming judgment of Rowlatt J., 1919 S.L.T. 76) that the interference on the part of the Government had so changed the circumstances in contemplation of which the parties had contracted that the doctrine of frustration applied, and the action must therefore fail.-Court of Appeal (Lord Sterndale M.R., Atkin L.J., and Eve J.).-4th November 1919. The latest issue of the "Juridical Review is a double number, containing articles of very various interest. Antiquarian interests, scientific jurisprudence, modern law, both British and foreign, and even personal gossip are represented. On the more serious side Mr F. P. Walton's learned article on "The French Administrative Courts" deserves a special word of notice, for it touches on a vital difference between British and Continental jurisprudence which deserves to be further studied. Antiquarian research is represented by an article by Mr Hilton Brown on "The Old Scots Law of Heresy" and by an interesting study on "An Elizabethan Precedent Book." It is to be regretted that the notes of decided cases, both Scottish and English, and also the reviews of books have been held over so long that they have somewhat lost the freshness of their interest. Mr Roughead contributes in his familar vein a readable account of Macdonell of Glengarry and Lord Guthrie continues his reminiscences of R. L. Stevenson. THE LATE MR CHARLES E. GREEN. seeing business capacity of Mr Green. They comprise several hundred large volumes, beginning with his well-known "Encyclopædia of Scots Law" in 14 volumes. His next venture was the We mourn to-day for one who though not in the legal profession was akin to it and whose name will always be associated with legal litera- "Encyclopædia Medica" in 15 volumes, and ture. It is meet that a tribute to his memory when this had been set agoing another scheme should appear in the "Scots Law Times" and was taken in hand by his turning his attention of the Laws of England " in 15 volumes. that the profession should know something to England and issuing Green's "Encyclopædia about the founder and publisher of this very successful legal newspaper. Mr Charles Edward Green was born in Edinburgh fifty-four years ago and was intended for the medical profession, but on the sudden death of his father it became necessary for him to abandon his studies and, as a young man of twenty, take up the business of law publishing. It is difficult for us to realise the magnitude and importance of the works which have been published through the untiring industry and far An undertaking of greater magnitude was now engaging Mr Green's attention-nothing less than a revised reissue of all the official Scots Decisions prior to 1873, which were becoming increasingly scarce and dear and which in the originals extended to upwards of 80 volumes, but which, denuded of obsolete and out-of-date decisions, were reduced to 45 volumes, thus bringing the "Scots Reports" into reasonable compass and cost. b The "Scots Digest," a complete digest of reported cases from 1800-1914, with supplements keeping it always up to date, was a natural complement to the foregoing work. The Scots Style Book was another legal encyclopædia which Mr Green found was required and which he took in hand to supply, the demand for these works proving how indispensable they were to the profession. The "Scots Statutes Revised" from 14241918, being a complete series of all the public general statutes affecting Scotland which are still in force, has been brought down to date in 14 volumes. The "Encyclopædia of Accounting" followed in due course, and as a matter of course, and by reason of its not being confined to Scotland, it has been ordered from all parts of the world. Agriculture had long been a favourite study of Mr Green's, hence he now produced an "Encyclopædia of Agriculture" which in a very literal sense covered the whole field. Mr Green began in 1889 the "Juridical Review," a quarterly legal magazine, which is now entering its 32nd year, and in 1893 he started the "Scots Law Times," and in the ordinary course of business he has published a large number of legal and medical treatises, including the "Parliament-House Book," and during war time started a new quarterly, entitled the "Veterinary Review." It was characteristic of Mr Green not to allow any difficulty to stand in his way when he was carrying out his plans; hence, when it became necessary to have a printing office of his own, he proceeded to organise such an establishment, which having served the purpose for which it was intended was closed last year. It is, however, in undertaking the publication of a complete re-issue of the "English Reports" that Mr Green has shewn his courage and enterprise; this monumental work, which embraces all the reports from 1400 to 1866, was to extend to about 150 volumes and it is now nearing completion, 163 volumes having now been published. A short extract from the "Times" with reference to Mr Green's publications may be quoted in conclusion, viz.: "In no other country in the world would so important works as these, which contain in brief yet sufficiently ample space the whole law, have been carried out by private enterprise, but by the State at the public expense." Mr Green has also written, edited and planned many other works, too varied and numerous to be mentioned here, and he has devoted a considerable portion of his leisure to the study of cancer, with a view to finding the cause of this malign disease. Mr Green married a daughter of the late John Dalrymple, who survives to mourn his loss, and he will be greatly missed by a large circle of friends, for he was of a kindly nature and thought no trouble too great if it was undertaken in the service of others. Possessed of great mental power, Mr Green pursued a strenuous career and persistently overworked himself for thirty years, with the result that his health had been seriously undermined, although he remained at business until the end. The legal profession will be interested to know that arrangements have been made to carry on Mr Green's activities without interruption. PUNCTUATION IN PROBATIVE The attention of the legal profession was pointedly drawn to this matter by a bench of seven judges which recently delivered judgment in the case of M. P. Ewart (Alex. Robertson's Tr.) v. Wishart. That case involved the construction of a will, and it was argued for one of the parties that the punctuation of the will necessarily led to a certain construction. The decision of the House of Lords in the case of Turnbull's Trs. v. The Lord Advocate (1918 S.C. (H.L.) 88; 1918, 1 S.L.T. 112) was founded on. print below the observations of Lord Cullen on Turnbull's Trs. in his leading opinion in M. P. Ewart. We "I desire to add an observation apart from the merits of the case. Until recently it had been, I think, the general understanding of the legal profession in Scotland that, in cases of disputed construction, punctuation found occurring in probative writings fell to be ignored in respect of its not sharing the probative quality. For it has not been the practice to use the testing clause of a deed either for the purpose of declaring the deed to be unpunctuated or for declaring in detail any punctuation contained in it; and holograph quality in punctuation is out of the question. I hope, therefore, that the attention of conveyancers will be given to the recent case of Turnbull's Trs. v. Lord Advocate (1918 S.C. (H.L.) 88), where the above view was rejected by the House of Lords and it was held proper to use punctuation found in a probative deed in construing it. In view of the law so laid down it may be for consideration whether, in the making of probative deeds in the future, some provision, so far as possible, should be made for guarding against the unauthorised insertion after execution of punctuation which may materially alter the sense, and the origin of which may wholly elude ascertainment. The difficulty is, of course, more acute in the case of holograph writings without any testing clause." SLACK PLEADING IN THE SHERIFF COURT. STRICTURES BY COURT OF SESSION JUDGES. In a case which was decided by the Second Division on 3rd December 1919 some severe comments were made on a looseness of pleading which was said to be creeping into the practice of the Sheriff Courts. The case related to the poisoning of a cow by eating paint which had been scraped off a fishing-boat in the course of repair. The old paint scraped off the boat was said to have been left lying on the pasture of the pursuer's cow. The defender baldly pleaded that he, though the owner of the boat, had contracted with a man for its repair and was not liable for the loss of the pursuer's cow. No specific de fence was stated by way of denial that the paint in question was the cause of the cow's death, nor as the defence very clearly stated that the defender was not, in law, liable for the acts of contractor." What followed may best be ted in the words of the Lord Justice Clerk: "The proof went on and evidence was led on oth of these points with no exception taken. In the first place, I think that if these specific defences had been to be founded on, it was the duty of the defender to state them on record and thereby give notice to the pursuer of the case he bad to meet. I think equally it was the duty of the pursuer's agent, if evidence of matters of fact, apposite or which might be apposite to the case, but of which no notice had been given on the record, was tendered, to have objected that such case was made on record. And it would ave been the duty of the Sheriff-Substitute to dis the evidence until the defence was placed on record. "In this case nobody carried out what I think was their duty. The defender did not state his case properly; the pursuer did not object to the improper evidence that was led, and the Sheriff just allowed the whole evidence to be taken, with the result, as happens often, that your Lordships were faced with the case on a concluded proof, which had little relation to the pleadings, and we have had to spell the case out of the evidence. In this case we have had a good instance of how unfortunate that method might have been for the pursuer, because, had it not been that the veterinary surgeon, Mr Panton, Lo visited the pursuer's cow was the same eterinary surgeon who visited the two cows belonging to Mackenzie, which died some five months after the pursuer's cow, the result might have been very different from what it is. there the grounds of action or of defence, which is not the proper place. And some day some poor litigant will find himself done out of expenses and will lose his case because of such irregularities and the way the procedure has been carried out." Lord Dundas in the course of his opinion referred to the same topic, thus: "I should only like to say in conclusion that I very much agree with the remarks made by the Lord Justice Clerk in regard to the procedure followed in this as in many of the cases that come before us. I do most earnestly agree that there is a great and growing necessity for more care and more reasonable vigilance in the Sheriff Courts in framing pleadings and conducting proofs, and I would fain hope that the observations made by my Lord may reach Sheriff Courts for their guidance, and, I hope, attention." THE LATE SIR HENRY RATTIGAN.-The bench in India has lost a scholarly lawyer by the death of Sir Henry Rattigan, judge in the Chief Court of the Punjab. Sir Henry was born in 1864 and, after graduating at Oxford University, was called to the Bar, Lincoln's Inn, in 1888. He joined the Bar as an Advocate of the Chief Court of the Punjab in the following year. He held the post of Legal Remembrancer to the Punjab Government; and for several periods he officiated as judge of the Chief Court before he was promoted to that office in 1909. He was knighted in 1918. Sir Henry Rattigan made several useful contributions to the study of Indian law. The Digest of the Customary Law of the Punjab under his editorship attained its seventh edition; and he shared in the authorship of an important study on Tribal Law in the Punjab. Under the title of the "Law of Divorce applicable to Christians in India," Sir Henry published a careful commentary on the Indian Divorce Act, 1869, in which he made a comparison between the provisions of that Act and the divorce statutes in England. MR W. G. NORMAND, advocate, has been appointed Editor of the "Juridical Review." All communications should be addressed to the Editor, c/o W. Green & Son Ltd., St Giles Street, Edinburgh. WE understand that Tods, Murray & Jamieson, W.S., have assumed Mr J. D. H. Dickson, Mr W. Coventry, and Mr J. C. Scott as partners. Mr Dickson is a nephew of the Lord Justice-Clerk, and Messrs Coventry and Scott were well known as members of the staff to all persons who have done business with Messrs Tods, Murray & Jamieson. "I make these observations to say that I think there is a laxity growing up as to proedure in the Sheriff Court to which we have over and over again referred. We do not find the case stated on record at all, and only find it MR CUTHBERT PETER LYLE, solicitor, has when we come to read the proof, discovering commenced business on his own account at |