In 1907 Mr Guthrie was raised to the Bench of the Court of Session and assumed the title of Lord Guthrie. As a judge in the Outer House he was the most popular Lord Ordinary, and his rolls soon became congested with the number of cases which were called " before him. It was probably as a judge of first instance that Lord Guthrie achieved his greatest success and did his best work. To the clearness of intellect which had marked him as a counsel he added a judicial temperament which showed itself in the patience and care with which he considered the arguments, and the sureness with which he fastened on the salient facts of the case and based his carefully considered judgments on these. When he passed in course of time to the Inner House, it was his fortune to be until his death the junior judge in the Second Division in which he sat. In that position he had too little chance for making his mark as a judge of appeal; but his opinions in the more important cases were marked by the same thoroughness and sound judicial insight which had marked his work in the Outer House. Throughout his judicial career his attitude to pleaders in his Court was marked by such invariable courtesy and consideration as made it a pleasure to plead before him.

The remarkable width of sympathy and diversified forms of his public activity outside of his judicial duties appear from a mere enumeration of his public work. While still at the Bar he acted as legal adviser to the Free, and afterwards to the United Free, Church. After attaining to the Bench he was the Scottish representative on the English Divorce Commission, and later he was Chairman of the House-Letting Commission. Among numerous literary activities he published an interesting short biography of John Knox, and he has recently been giving his personal reminiscences of Robert Louis Stevenson in the columns of the "Juridical Review." He had an extensive and accurate knowledge of Scottish, and especially of Edinburgh, history and antiquities, and, with an outlook widened and enriched by travel, he was an interesting talker. Indeed his character was notable for its rare combination of what was best in the Puritanism of his ancestors with the widest and fullest enrichment of modern culture. He was a lawyer without pedantry, a, churchman without bigotry, a gentleman in the highest sense of that term.

a wise counsellor, and now that he has gone from us we shall always remember him as a sound judge and a good man. Personally, we as his colleagues feel that we have lost a friend whom we highly esteemed."

Sheriff Fleming, K.C., Vice-Dean of the Faculty, said: "May I be allowed to express on behalf of the Bar our entire concurrence with what your Lordship has said with reference to the late Lord Guthrie."

NEW LORD PRESIDENT. INSTALLATION OF LORD CLYDE.

a full

The Right Hon. James Avon Clyde, K.C., was on 12th May installed Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice-General or Scotland with all the ceremony and formality with which ancient usage has surrounded such an occasion. To witness the ceremony, the principal part of which took place in the First Division, there was a crowded court. The Lord Justice-Clerk presided, and there was bench of judges. The members of the Bar present included Mr Morison, K.C., the Lord Advocate; Mr Murray, K.C., the SolicitorGeneral; Mr Fleming, K.C., the Vice-Dean; Mr Constable, K.C.; Mr Macmillan, K.C.; Mr Sandeman, K.C.; Mr Watt, K.C.; Mr M‘Phail, K.C.; Mr Crole, K.C.; Mr Roberton Christie, K.C.; Mr M Robert, K.C.; Mr Morton, K.C.; Mr Lyon Mackenzie, K.C.; Mr A. M. Hamilton, K.C.; Mr Pitman, K.C.; Mr M. P. Fraser, K.C. ; and the Hon. William Watson, K.C. There was also a large representation of the Junior Bar.

Mr T. B. MORISON, K.C, M.P., and Mr C. D. Murray, K.C., M.P., presented their commissions as Lord Advocate and Solicitor-General respectively.

INCORPORATED SOCIETY OF LAW AGENTS IN SCOTLAND. The monthly meeting of the Council was held in Edinburgh on 29th April, Mr Patrick Cooper (President) in the chair.

cases of discipline, and decided that proceedings should be taken in regard to one of them.

A remit was made to the Rents and Mortgage Interest Acts Committee to consider the recent report of the Committee of the House of Commons and any Bill that may be introduced into

the House to extend or vary the provisions of the Acts.

Mr Robert Whyte reported as to the conference between representatives of the principal legal societies with reference to the report of the Council on the reform of legal education in Scotland. The conference was agreed that there should only be one General Knowledge Examination, which should be passed prior to the commencement of apprenticeship; that there should be an intermediate examination in bookkeeping and other subjects during apprenticeship, and that the final examination in law might be passed in sections; that university training should be made more practical, and that lectures in law should be delivered to apprentices in non-university towns. It was also agreed by a majority that attendance at Scots law and conveyancing classes at a university should be compulsory. The Council approved of the report and considered that a memorial should be submitted to the Court embodying these recommendations.

A letter from Mr Freer Myles, Forfar, suggesting that parish councils should undertake the responsibility of carrying through litigations on behalf of poor persons was considered. The Council sympathised with the hardship on agents who had to conduct litigation for the poor, frequently without remuneration and in some cases without being able to recover out-of-pocket expenses, and resolved that the whole question of legal assistance for the poor should be fully considered.

The Council had under consideration a report by the Bills Committee on the Duplicands of Feu-Duties Bill which was adopted, and it was remitted to the Bills Committee to communicate with the promoters of this Bill.

The following law agents were admitted members of the Society: T. Y. Smeall, Jedburgh; J. F. Myles, Forfar; J. C. Masterton, Anstruther; H. W. Leask, Forres; T. W. Alexander, Rothesay; J. M'Kinlay, Barrhead; A. M'Donald Chalmers, 243 West George Street, J. K. Barclay, 100 West Regent Street, A. G. Watson, 65 Bath Street, W. Henderson, 116 West Regent Street, N. C. Anderson, 144 St Vincent Street, A. H. Charteris, 19 St Vincent Place, W. R. C. Murdoch, 98 West George Street, George Philip, 203 Hope Street, James Waddell, 144 St Vincent Street, J. M'Fadzean, 100 West Regent Street, A. Aitken, 109 Bath Street, W. A. Bowes, 170 Hope Street, T. Galbraith, 179 West George Street, J. W. Galloway, 144 St Vincent Street, Charles MacMillan, 170 Hope Street, Alexander Martin, 180 Hope Street, E. R. Mitchell, 124 St Vincent Street, all of Glasgow.

LAW AGENTS FINAL EXAMINATION.- The following candidates have passed the examina tion in law held in Edinburgh on 26th, 27th,

28th, and 29th April, viz.: James William Nourse Black, Oban; John Arthur Cameron, M.A., B.L., Glasgow; Robert Macnaughton Connell, M.A., Dunfermline; Robert Dow, Perth; Thomas Ross Galloway Flowers, Edinburgh; Thomas Ernest Forsyth, B.L., Airdrie ; Alexander Aitken Gardner, M.A., Glasgow ; James Nisbet Humble, Glasgow; John Hay Ingram, Rutherglen; Hugh M'Cormack, Dumbarton; John Donald Mackenzie, Glasgow; Thomas Mason Macquaker, B.L., Glasgow, W.; John Martin, Edinburgh; Thomas Pate, Beith, Ayrshire; Joseph Clarence Patterson, Glasgow; Robert Robertson, Edinburgh; George Roddick Russell, Portobello; William Kidd Ogilvy Shepherd, Markinch, Fife; William Inverwick Thomson, B.L., Glasgow; Alexander Robertson Thorburn, Kirkintilloch; Archibald Cawdor Campbell Whyte, M.A., LL.B. Edinburgh.

SALARIES OF SHERIFF-CLERKS AND PROCURATORS-FISCAL.-On Monday last a Special Committee appointed to inquire into the salaries and position of Sheriff-Clerks and ProcuratorsFiscal and their staffs commenced their sittings in Parliament House, Edinburgh. Lord Blackburn is the chairman. The proceedings were private.

CROWN'S REQUISITION OF PROPERTY.-The decision of the House of Lords in the De Keyser's Royal Hotel case is of considerable interest to property owners throughout the country, and to some extent has a bearing on some of the cases under the Government Indemnity Bill now in progress through the House of Commons.

The De Keyser Royal Hotel (Ltd.) alleged two rights to compensation-one for the rent and use and occupation of their hotel, of which the Crown took possession during the war with the permission of the Receiver; the other for a fair rent as compensation in that they voluntarily delivered possession though protesting against the rights then alleged. The Crown in answer alleged an exercise of the Royal Prerogative for the Defence of the Realm and also founded on the Defence of the Realm (Consolidation) Act of 1914. The Crown's offer of payment of whatever award might be made by the Defence of the Realm Losses Commission was refused. Mr Justice Peterson decided in favour of the Crown, but the Court of Appeal found that the suppliants were entitled to a fair rent by way of compensation under the Defence Act 1842. The Crown appealed to the House of Lords, where judgment was entered against it.

CHILDREN'S COURTS.-A meeting of representatives of societies interested in juvenile probation was held on Monday last in the office of the Scottish Christian Social Union, Glasgow

the Rev. Dr David Watson presiding. The

chairman called attention to the statement of the Home Secretary that he meant to bring in a bill for the establishment of children's courts, wholly apart from the ordinary police courts, with experienced magistrates devoting them selves entirely to children's courts. He moved that they express their deep gratification at this statement, and request Mr Shortt to include Scotland in his bill. It was agreed, on the motion of Mr H. T. Galbraith, seconded by Mrs W. R. Morris, to co-operate with the Scottish Central Association on Probation, and to bring the matter of children's courts before the Ward Committees and candidates at the municipal elections in November.

deed, the mere collection of those provisions within the covers of one book would almost justify the publication of such a work in the view of the harassed officials to whom their administration is committed. Here, however, the authors have done much more. The scheme of this work is to prepare a "code" embodying all the statutory provisions on the subject. Such a method of treatment appeals to the instincts of a logical-minded writer, and has some advantages for the utilitarian reader. The operative (as distinct from the repealed) statutes are dovetailed together in such a way as to bring sections of different Acts into juxtaposition when they relate to the same subjectmatter; and the result is to produce an orderly exposition of the subject in a more logical sequence than Acts of Parliament commonly present. It is, however, an unfortunate illustration of the difficulties of preparing books of this useful if unpretentious kind that, even while the work was in the Press, yet another Act on the subject found its way to the Statute Book-the Housing (Additional Powers) Act, 1919-and this amending Act the authors have been reduced to printing in an appendix, without inserting any references to its provisions in the body of the work. Not the least useful part of the book to the officials concerned with housing and town-planning projects-for whom the work will be principally useful-is a collection of Orders, Circulars, and Regulations of the Scottish Board of Health which have been printed in an appendix.

The Sovereignty of the British Seas, Written in the Year 1633 by Sir John Boroughs; Edited with Introductory Essay and Notes by Thomas Callander Wade. Edinburgh: W. Green & Son Ltd. 1920. Price 7s. 6d. net.

What

For the enlightenment of King Charles I. and his Ministers on the vexed question of "freedom of the seas" or mare clausum, this little treatise was written by Sir John Boroughs, the Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London. ever qualifications its author may have had for entering into a controversy which divided jurists for many centuries, he certainly espoused the cause of the Sovereignty of the Seas with a thoroughness which should have won the approval of his royal patron. "The Soveraignty of our Seas," he concludes, "being the most precious Jewell of his Majesties Crowne, and (next under God) the principall meanes of our Wealth and Safetie" was to be maintained by Englishmen "even with utmost hazzard of their lives their goods and fortunes." We are indebted to the editor for resuscitating this forgotten relic of an obsolete but historically interesting controversy, and for a learned historical essay with which he has introduced his author.