DAMAGES.-Held that the measure of damages FOR INTEREST ON DEBENTURE STOCK - FINANCE for the seller's breach of warranty as to quality ACT 1899 (62 & 63 VICT. CAP. 9), SECTION 8.— of the goods is the difference between the value A company which had already issued debenture of the goods at the time of delivery to the buyer stock, issued under statutory authority prior and the value they would have had if they had lien debenture stock, and issued to the holders answered to the warranty, and is not affected of the debenture stock, in lieu of payment in by the fact that the buyer has implemented a cash of the interest, deferred warrants bearing subcontract, entered into without the seller's interest and payable out of the first available knowledge, by supplying the goods thereunder funds of the company, subject to prior charges. at a price equal to or greater than the contract Held that the company had not, by the issue of price.-Court of Appeal (Bankes, Warrington, the deferred warrants, issued loan capital within and Scrutton L.JJ.).—5th December 1919. the meaning of the Finance Act 1899, section 8, and were not liable to an ad valorem duty under that section. Decision of Rowlatt J. (1919 SL.T. 94) affirmed.-Court of Appeal (Lord Sterndale M.R., Atkin and Younger JJ.).10th December 1919. Wilson Shipping Co. Ltd. v. British and INSURANCE - UNRE MARINE INSURANCE PAIRED DAMAGE-SUBSEQUENT TOTAL LOSSCONTINUING PREJUDICE.-A vessel was insured against marine risks only, but including particular average. She was chartered to the Admiralty, who undertook to pay for loss of the vessel by war risks, the value to be ascertained at the date of loss. During the currency of the policy the vessel was torpedoed and sunk. Prior to her loss she had sustained some damage, which had been only partly repaired, and the Admiralty deducted from the sum paid to the owners the amount of the depreciation due to unrepaired damage. Held that the deterioration of the vessel, owing to the unrepaired damage, was a continuing prejudice to the owners, and that they were entitled to recover from the underwriters their proportion of the damage. Decision of Bailhache J. (1919 S.L.T. 96) reversed.-Court of Appeal (Bankes, Warrington, and Scrutton L.JJ.).-5th December 1919. CONTRACT-SALE-SALE OF GOODS SELLER REPUDIATION SELLER where a buyer accepts, as a breach of contract, the seller's refusal to deliver before the contractual time for delivery, and there is thus an anticipatory breach of contract, the buyer may bring an action for damages at once without buying against the seller, but that if he does so his damages must be assessed not with reference to the market price of the goods at the date of the seller's repudiation of the contract but at the time when the goods should have been delivered, unless the seller can shew that the buyer acted unreasonably in not buying against him, in which case the date to be taken is the date at which the buyer should have gone into the market to mitigate damages.-K.B. Div. (Bailhache J.).-10th December 1919. MARINE INSURANCE WAR RISKS COLLISION WITH WARSHIP GOING TO Both TAKE UP WARLIKE DUTIES.—A merchant vessel BILL OF LADING --- OBLIGATION TO DISCHARGE CARGO WITH CUSTOMARY DISPATCH BUT ACCORDING TO CUSTOM OF THE PORT-CUSTOM OF PORT IMPOSING DUTY ON RECEIVER OF CARGO TO PROVIDE VACANT BERTH AND HAVE CLEAR QUAY READY AND SUPPLY OF BOGIES AND LIGHTERS--DELAY DUE TO CROWDED STATE OF PORT-LIABILITY OF RECEIVERS FOR DEMURRAGE. The steamship "Lizzie" was chartered to take a cargo of timber from Sweden to Hull. The charter-party provided that the cargo should be loaded and discharged with customary steamship dispatch as fast as the steamer could receive and deliver during the ordinary working hours of the respective ports, but according to the custom of the respective ports, and provided for demurrage if the vessel were detained beyond the time stipulated. The bills of lading, which incorporated the terms of the charter-party, were assigned to the defendants. Owing to the congested state of the port on the vessel's arrival at Hull, the defendants were unable to secure a vacant berth for several days and were unable to provide a clear quay space or to obtain a sufficient supply of bogies, and the discharge of the vessel was consequently delayed. A custom of the port of Hull, which was held proved, imposed a duty on the receiver of a wood cargo at that port to provide a vacant berth to which the vessel could forthwith proceed, and to have a clear quay space ready and/or a sufficient supply of bogies and/or lighters. Held, in an action by the shipowner for demurrage, that the custom did not impose on the defendants an obligation to discharge the ship as absolute and unconditional in character as if a definite number of days had been fixed for her discharge, and that, as the delay was due to causes over which they had no control, they were not liable for demurrage. Decision of the Court of Appeal (1919 S.L.T. 39) affirmed on a different ground.--House of Lords (Viscount Haldane, Lord Dunedin, Lord Atkinson, Lord Wrenbury, and Lord Buckmaster). — 12th December 1919. Inland Revenue Commissioners v. Gittus. DEFI REVENUE-EXCESS PROFITS DUTY-CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP OF BUSINESS LOSS CIENCY BELOW PRE-WAR STANDARD OF PROFITS —LOSS APPLICABLE TO PERIOD BEFORE CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP-SET-OFF-FINANCE (NO. 2) ACT 1915 (5 & 6 GEO. V. CAP. 89), SECTIONS 38 (3), 40 (2), SCHEDULE IV., PART II., RULE 5.-The respondent succeeded to his father's business on the latter's death on 6th September 1915. The accounts for the period 1st October 1914 to 30th September 1915 shewed a loss, making a deficiency as compared with the prewar standard of profits. The proportion of the loss attributable to the period after 6th September 1915 was allowed to be set-off against the respondent's assessment to excess profits duty for the accounting period 1st October 1915 to 20th September 1916, and he claimed to be allowed to set off in addition the proportion attributable to the period 1st October 1914 to 6th September 1915 under section 38 (3) and Schedule IV., Rule 5, of the Finance (No. 2) Act 1915. Held that the relief allowed by section 38 (3) was personal to the individual, and that the respondent was not entitled under section 40 (2) and Schedule IV., Rule 5, to set off loss suffered by his predecessor in the business. Decision of Rowlatt J. (1919 S.L.T. 78) affirmed.-Court of Appeal (Lord Sterndale M.R., Atkin and Younger L.JJ.).—12th December 1919. HOLDERS TO HONORARY SECRETARY AND LIQUIDATOR OF COMPANY ON TERMINATION OF SERVICES-OFFICE OF PROFIT-INCOME TAX ACT 1842 (5 & 6 VICT. CAP. 35), SECTION 146, SCHEDULE E, RULE 1.-Held that a voluntary payment by the shareholders of a company to the secretary and liquidator, who had acted without remuneration, after his services had terminated, was not assessable to income tax under Schedule E. Decision of Rowlatt J. (1919 S.L.T. 68) reversed.-Court of Appeal (Lord Sterndale M.R., Atkin and Younger L.JJ.).—15th December 1919. LAW LIBRARY. BOOK NOTICES. Dictionary of Anglo-Belgian Law. By L. E. F. Anspach, Avocat à la Cour d'Appel de Bruxelles, and A. M. Contanche, Barrister-atLaw. London: Sweet & Maxwell Ltd. 1920. Price £1, 1s. net. The collaboration of a Belgian advocate and an English barrister, whose friendship was formed on the battlefields of France, has produced, in the form of a legal dictionary, a concise explanation in the language of each country of the technical legal terms in use in the other. For those who have occasion to consider matters of Belgian law this volume should prove a useful work of reference. College of Justice in Scotland, in room of the of the Faculty of Advocates, and in 1900 a Hon. Lord Guthrie, deceased. The appointment of Mr John Wilson, K.C., to fill the vacancy on the Bench caused by the death of the late Lord Guthrie has given general satisfaction, and indeed his promotion does not come unexpectedly, as Mr Wilson's claims to the appointment were so outstanding. Mr Wilson is the eldest son of the late Mr James Wilson, solicitor, Falkirk, who held several public appointments, including that of Town Clerk, Dean of Faculty of Solicitors of the barrister-at-law of the Inner Temple. In 1899 he was appointed an Advocate-Depute, and in the following year he took silk on his appointment as Sheriff of Caithness, Orkney, and Shetland. He has since been several times advanced, becoming Sheriff of Inverness, Elgin, and Nairn in 1905, Sheriff of Renfrew and Bute in 1912, and Sheriff of Perthshire in 1917. During his tenure of office as Sheriff of Inverness, special difficulties-often involving disturbances-arose in relation to crofters' land tenure, in which connection Mr Wilson made special visits to South Uist, Barra, and Vatersay during the years 1906-8, which, it will be remembered, proved successful in the restoration of peace and order. year when standing as the Unionist candidate for Montrose Burghs against the Rt. Hon. John Morley. Mr Wilson married in 1894 a daughter of the late William Hartley, Esq., commissioner to From 1900 to 1917 Mr Wilson was ex officio a Lord Mansfield. The elder of his two sons, on Commissioner of the Northern Lighthouses, and the outbreak of war, obtained a commission in in 1912 on the nomination of Lord Pentland, the Special Reserve of the Cameron Highlanders, then Secretary for Scotland, he was appointed and was killed at the Battle of Festubert on 9th a Commissioner for the Board of Lunacy for May 1915, his surviving son also being an officer Scotland. This appointment proved to be most in the same regiment. Mr Wilson himself in opportune, in the sense that it was made at a his earlier years held a commission in the Argyll time when new legislation was under considera- and Sutherland Volunteers, and during the war, tion in relation to lunacy, and in the drafting besides rendering valuable aid in recruiting, he and adjustment of the Bill which emerged as was chairman of the Military Appeal Tribunals "The Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) in his Sheriffdom. Subsequently, in 1918, on Act 1913" Mr Wilson's wide experience as a the appointment by the Army Council, he acted parliamentary lawyer and his intimate know- as chairman of a committee to enquire into the ledge of law proved of the utmost value. When accounts of the Territorial Force Association. under that Act of 1913 the old Board of Lunacy became the General Board of Control for Scot land, Mr Wilson was appointed one of the two legal commissioners and is now the senior legal commissioner of the Board. In 1917, on his appointment as Sheriff of Perthshire, he became ex officio a member of H.M. Prison Board for Scotland. Both as a junior and as a senior counsel Mr Wilson had one of the largest and most varied practices at the Bar. His wide knowledge of law and his retentive memory of case precedents have stood him in good stead in many cases of technical difficulty. He has throughout been especially identified with parliamentary work as counsel, both in private Bills before the committees at Westminster and in Provisional Orders before the Commissioners under the Private Legislation Procedure Scotland Act. In 1904 he acted as sole counsel for the Scottish Docks and Harbours at the enquiry held in London into the draft regulations made under the Factory and Workshop Act 1907. In the sphere of arbitrations Mr Wilson has been an active and prominent figure both as counsel and oversman. As arbiter appointed by the General Industrial Commissioner by the Ministry of Labour in wages disputes, as chairman of committees in questions arising under the Scottish National Health Insurance Commission, and as chairman of the Rents Tribunal, under the Housing and Town Planning Act he has rendered extensive and valuable public service. Amongst the many criminal trials in which Mr Wilson has acted for the defence, what is known as the Ardlamont Mystery case is one of the most familiar, and since then he has had many notable successes in this department of the law. He has twice entered the arena of politics, but was unsuccessful both in contesting Leith Burghs at the General Election of 1895 against Mr Munro Ferguson and also in the following Mr Wilson carries with him to the Bench the good wishes of all his colleagues at the Bar and professional brethren throughout the country. FACULTY OF ADVOCATES.-At a meeting of the Faculty of Advocates held on Friday, 28th inst., A. H. B. Constable, K.C., was elected Dean of the Faculty in room of Mr C. D. Murray, resigned, on his appointment as SolicitorGeneral. We hope to publish a portrait biography in an early issue. MINUTE OF COURT.-EDINBURGH, 19th May 1920.-The Lords, in respect that Saturday the 5th day of June next has been appointed by His Majesty's command to be kept as a holiday in celebration of the King's Birthday, allow the papers due on Saturday to be boxed and received on Monday, 7th June. J. A. CLYDE, I.P.D. EDINBURGH'S LEGAL ASSESSOR.-The Lord Provost's Committee of the Edinburgh Town Council has nominated Mr H. P. Macmillan, K.C., who was counsel in Edinburgh's case before the House of Lords Committee of Enquiry on Amalgamation, as successor to Mr C. D. Murray, the Solicitor-General, in the capacity of Legal Assessor to the City, Mr Murray having intimated his resignation. The Committee also recommended that Mr T. Graham Robertson, advocate, be appointed Junior Assessor. MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE FOR GLASGOW POLICEMEN.-Following upon a letter from the Chief-Constable, the Watching and Lighting Committee of Glasgow Corporation recommend that a course of lectures on medical jurisprudence be instituted as part of the police training, and that Dr John Glaister, jun., be appointed the lecturer. DIVORCE LAW IN SCOTLAND. The Rev. Professor James Cooper, Glasgow University, in his report to the Scottish Church Society which held its annual meeting in Edinburgh last week, said that the promoters of the Divorce Bill now before Parliament, among whom it was interest ing to find the Lord Chancellor, had been saying that they were only following a precedent which worked well in Scotland in making desertion as well as adultery a ground for dissolving marriage and allowing the re-marriage of both parties. This was hardly accurate. It was not fair to say that Scotland was unanimously in favour of the law even as it stood. Many in Scotland profoundly disapproved of it. The judges themselves seemed to be shocked with the growing number of divorce cases-very largely of divorces for desertion. Might it not be the case that those who were anxious to be loosed from the matrimonial bond shrank from committing adultery in order to obtain their end, but had not the same hesitation about deserting wife or husband? It could be done without any overt act; it did not strike the imagination as so great a sin as adultery; it needed no partner. If it was said that the Confession of Faith allowed divorce for desertion, that also was inaccurate. The words of the Confession were: "Such desertion as cannot be remedied by the Church or the civil magistrate." An Act was passed some years ago omitting all call on "the Church" to bring her remedies to bear, and he did not know what efforts were used by the civil magistrate. Anyhow, the present law of Scotland was not the law of the Church of Scotland, and her ministers were not compelled to give a blessing on unions which had no sanction in the Word of God. They offered their warm congratulations to the Church of England on the Enabling Act, which she would find conducive to her efficiency, but which she must not expect to find equally conducive to comfortable ease. The Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, and was for a short time assistant master at Eton. He was called to the Bar in 1872, took silk in 1896, and in 1900 was elected a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn. Mr Rawlins was the author of "Rawlins on Specific Performance," and joint-author of "Rawlins and Macnaghten on Companies," and edited the fourth and fifth editions of "Day's Specific Performance of Contracts." ACT OF SEDERUNT AMENDING C.A.S., BOOK L, CHAPTER EDINBURGH, 25th May 1920. The Lords of Council and Session, considering that difficulties have arisen in the administration of the provisions of section 4 of C.A.S., Book L, Chapter xiii., and that it is expedient that these be obviated, do hereby, by and under the powers conferred by the Workmen's Compensation Act 1906, enact and declare that said section 4 shall be read and administered as if the following paragraph (c) had been inserted after paragraph (b) in subsection (3) of section 4, viz.: "or (c) in which the ship is registered." And the Lords direct this Act of Sederunt to be entered in the Books of Sederunt, and to be printed and published in common form. J. A. CLYDE, I.P.D. DECISIONS IN THE ENGLISH Inland Revenue Commissioners v. Korean REVENUE EXCESS PROFITS DUTY - TRADE GUARDIANSHIP OF INFANTS BILL. Guardianship of Infants Bill, the text of which has been issued, is presented by Col. Greig, and is supported by Viscountess Astor, Sir James Agg-Gardner, Mr James Brown, Dr Murray, OR BUSINESS-COMPANY HOLDING INVESTMENTS Sir Martin Conway, Major Hills, and Captain-FINANCE (NO. 2) ACT 1915 (5 & 6 GEO. V. Loseby. The measure is intended to replace CAP. 89), SECTION 39.-Held that a limited comthe Guardianship of Infants Act 1886, and the pany whose activities were confined to the most important change proposed is that the holding of investments in such circumstances mother is made joint guardian with the father that, in the hands of an individual, the holding and has equal authority, rights, and responsibility of the investments would not amount to carrywith regard to the child in every case. It further ing on a trade or business within the meaning of lays down for the first time that the parents of section 39 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 1915, was any child shall be liable for the maintenance of not carrying on a trade or business so as to render that child according to their means. This it liable for excess profits duty.-K.B. Div. liability holds whether the parents are living (Rowlatt J.).-15th December 1919. together or separately. Inland Revenue Commissioners v. Sangster. THE LATE MR W. D. RAWLINS, K.C.-Mr REVENUE-EXCESS PROFITS DUTY-CARRYING -- |