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

PUNCTUATION IN PROBATIVE WRITINGS.

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 was the defence very clearly stated that the defender was not, in law, liable for the acts of the "contractor.' What followed may best be stated in the words of the Lord Justice Clerk:

"The proof went on and evidence was led on both 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 had 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 no such case was made on record. And it would have been the duty of the Sheriff-Substitute to disallow 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, who visited the pursuer's cow was the same veterinary 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.

character to afford him experience which will be invaluable to him in his new sphere. In February 1917 he was appointed as Counsel for the Crown qua ultimus haeres, and during the War he also acted as junior counsel for the Liquor Control Board, for the Minister of Munitions, and in enquiries under The Coal Mines Act 1911. Throughout his career at the Bar Mr Forbes has shown himself assiduous in availing himself of those opportunities which

would be as diffi

cult to find as a

needle in a hay

ing and improving knowledge of the law. Since 1902 he has been a reporter on the staff of the

stack.

Mr Forbes, who is a son of the late Mr Alexander Forbes (for many years Principal Keeper of the Register of Deeds), was born in Edinburgh in 1866. He went to George Watson's College, where he early gave promise of ability and power of work, taking a school bursarythe first of many such-at the early age of nine. Before leaving school he was Greek Medallist and gained one of the school bursaries

tenable at the University. In after life he has shown himself consistently loyal to his old school, being always ready to throw himself devotedly into the support of any scheme which has had for its object the welfare of "George Watson's."

Passing on to Edinburgh University, Mr Forbes in ordinary course graduated in Arts and Law, gathering honours by the way, being a classical medallist, and taking the Spence and Thomson Bursaries. In 1891 he was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates.

Mr Forbes soon obtained a considerable junior practice, which, if not so great in volume as his well-wishers could have desired for him, was

with Mr J. E. Graham, K.C., he prepared a Digest of Local Government Board Decisions (1898-1914); he edited the Poor Law Magazine for a number of years, and contributed Legal Notes to the Accountants' Magazine; and acted as Lecturer in the Heriot-Watt College on Commercial Law, being appointed to succeed Mr Condie Sandeman, K.C., in this post.

Mr Forbes' knowledge of law and practice and his competency in affairs obtained for him frequent appointments as Commissioner in important cases. He acted for some time as an Honorary Sheriff-Substitute of Lanarkshire, and as interim Sheriff-Substitute at Falkirk, Stirling, and Perth. And amid his professional activities he found time to take his part in civic duties. He has acted as a Parish Councillor for Edinburgh since 1905, showing a keen interest in Poor Law Administration. And during the War he rendered invaluable service at the Y.M.C.A. Huts at the Mound, where he spent many long night hours in ministering to the needs of our soldiers and sailors.

C