Mackinnon of Balinakill. He was appointed Procurator of the Church of Scotland in 1880, and Sheriff of Ross, Cromarty, and Sutherland in 1881, and he held these offices until 1886, when he was elected Dean of Faculty in succession to Mr J. B. Balfour.

In 1889 Mr Mackintosh was appointed a Judge of the Court of Session in succession to Lord Fraser. He spent sixteen years in the Outer House, for it was not until 1905 that he succeeded Lord Trayner as a member of the Second Division. He sat there for only two years, resigning in 1907 to the great regret of everybody who had to do with the Court. It is the fashion to say that he was not a good judge of fact, and it was certainly true that he found the mastering of figures, plans, specifications, and other complicated facts a difficult and somewhat painful process. This, however, was largely due to his determination to make sure that he thoroughly understood the case from every possible point of view, and when the bare facts were once mastered his judgments on questions of fact were very good indeed. His eminence as a lawyer was never in dispute. Even in his younger days at the Bar his legal learning and ability were regarded as something unusual, and within a very short time of his appointment to the Bench it was universally recognised that his was one of the finest legal minds that ever existed. His knowledge of the feudal law of Scotland has seldom been equalled, and he was well versed in the law of entail, of vesting, and of settlement-in short, in all those branches of law which are most dreaded by the lawyers of the present generation. It was a misfortune to the law that his term of office in the Inner House was so short, but several of his Outer House judgments-notably Wylie's Trs. V. Wylie (vesting subject to defeasance) and Sheriff v. Denholm (relevancy of averments of malice in slander actions) have attained the rank of leading cases.

In politics Lord Kyllachy was originally a Liberal, but on the Home Rule question being raised by Mr Gladstone in 1886 he threw in his lot with the Liberal Unionists. He was, however, much more of a lawyer than a politician, and he was never a candidate for Parliamentary honours.

HOUSE OF LORDS.-The latest list of causes standing for hearing in the House of Lords includes 29 appeals, of which 12 are from England, 13 from Scotland, and 4 from Ireland. The Scots appeals are: North British Railway Co. v. James Nimmo & Co. Ltd.; John G. Stein & Co. Ltd. v. The Lord Advocate; Craig v. Corporation of Glasgow; Ferries v. Viscountess Coudray; Waddell v. Commercial Union Assurance Co.; Malcolm v. Lockhart; Baikie v. Corporation of City of Glasgow; Grant v. G. & G. Kynoch; Hamilton v. The Lord Advocate; Clarke

v. Edinburgh and District Tramways Co. Ltd.; Corporation of City of Glasgow v. Hepburn; Highland Railway Co. v. Sellar; The Lord Advocate v. Marquis of Zetland. It is unusual to find the Scots cases more numerous than the English appeals, but this is perhaps accounted for by the fact that the last sittings were devoted almost entirely to the hearing of English appeals, only one Scots appeal (Caledonian Railway Co. v. Great North of Scotland Railway Co) being taken. That case was decided towards the end of the sittings, so that there are no Scots appeals awaiting judgment.

Mr Archibald Crawford, 9 South-East Circus Place.

Mr J. C. Fenton, 41 Great King Street. Mr George Hart, 53 Castle Street. Mr Edwyn O. Inglis, 27 India Street. Mr James Macdonald, 15 Stafford Street. Mr R. H. Maconochie, 23 Northumberland Street.

Mr Charles Milne, 23 Stafford Street.

Mr T. D. King Murray, 1 Dundonald Street.
Mr T. Graham Robertson, 8 Dundas Street.
Mr A. N. Skelton, 11 Castle Street.
Mr G. D. Valentine, 17 Great King Street.
Mr J. L. Wark, 23 Duke Street.
Mr J. B. Young, 46 Great King Street.

THE LATE SHERIFF CRAWFORD.

We regret to record the death of Mr Donald Crawford, K.C., which took place in Edinburgh on 1st January. Mr Crawford, who was born in 1837, was the only son of Alexander Crawford, of Aros, Argyllshire. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy and at Balliol College, Oxford. He subsequently studied at Heidelberg, and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1862. In 1880 he became legal secretary to Lord Advocate M'Laren, and continued in the same office under Lord Advocate Balfour. Mr Craw ford remained a Liberal throughout his life. He entered Parliament for the North-East Division of Lanarkshire in 1885, and continued to represent that constituency until 1895, when he was appointed Sheriff of Aberdeen, Kincardine, and Banff, a position which he resigned in 1911. During his tenure of office he exhibited judicial and administrative faculties of a high order and won the confidence and esteem of the legal profession and of the community. In 1909 the University of Aberdeen conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. In 1904 he was appointed chairman of a committee on whaling and whale-curing in the North of Scotland, and in 1910 he was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Fiars' Prices. He was a D.L. for the counties of Aberdeen and Banff, and a J.P. for the City of Edinburgh.

To the last Mr Crawford continued to take an interest in the affairs of the Faculty of Advocates, and although he was not often seen in the Parliament House after his resignation, he generally contrived to be present when any business of importance was down for discussion at a meeting of the Faculty.

On the occasion of his retirement from the office of Town-Clerk of Paisley, which he has held for forty years, Mr Francis Martin was presented with an illuminated address by the

heads of the Departments under the Corporation. The ceremony took place in the Council Chamber on 26th December, and Mr Macnaughton, Superintendent of the Fire Brigade, presided. The address, which was signed by nineteen officials, referred to the esteem in which Mr Martin was held by all sections of the community, the high standard which he had set himself in the discharge of his official duties, and the eminent position which he had won among the town-clerks of Scotland. Mr Martin acknowledged the compliment paid him by his former colleagues.

MR JOHN DRUMMOND STRATHERN has been appointed Procurator-Fiscal for the Lower Ward of Lanarkshire, at Glasgow, in room of the late Mr P. F. M'Kenna. The new Fiscal is the son of the late Mr John Strathern, of Messrs Macpherson & Strathern, writers, Glasgow. He is a native of Glasgow, having been born in the Dennistoun district, and was educated at Whitehill Academy, Whitehill Higher Grade School, and Glasgow University. His apprenticeship was served with Mr John Wark, senior partner of the firm of J. M. & J. H. Robertson. After admission as a solicitor he began business on his own account. In 1912 he received the appointment of Depute Procurator-Fiscal, and during the war he has taken a prominent part in the prosecutions that have arisen out of the special war legislation. In earlier life he was an active member of the Glasgow Parliamentary Debating Association.

MR JAMES CUMMING, solicitor, Town-Clerk of Montrose, has been appointed agent of the Montrose branch of the Commercial Bank of Scotland Ltd.

MESSRS JOHN STEUART & GILLIES, writers, Glasgow, have assumed as partners Mr William MacDonald Alexander and Mr James Rae Menzies, who have been for many years in the employment of the firm as trust-clerk and procurator respectively.

Mr

WE regret to record the death of Mr Gavin B. Motherwell, solicitor, which took place at Bridge of Allan on 13th December. Motherwell, who was seventy-four years of age, was a partner of the firm of Motherwell & M'Murdo, solicitors, Airdrie. He was Provost of Airdrie in the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria, and during his term of office, in 1885, an extension of the burgh boundaries was carried through. Subsequently he became town-clerk of the burgh. He retired from business some years before his death.

DECISIONS IN THE ENGLISH COURTS.

Wauters and Another v. Association Internationale d'Agences Ltd.

CONTRACT

EMERGENCY LEGISLATION

COURTS (EMERGENCY POWERS) ACT 1917 (7 & 8 GEO. V. CAP. 25) SECTION 1 (2)-"SERIOUS HARDSHIP "-RELIEF.-Held that the increase in

cost of the performance of a contract to supply a commodity owing to a rise in its price in the open market, due to Government action for the purpose of the defence of the realm, did not constitute" serious hardship" under the Courts (Emergency Powers) Act 1917, and that a party to a contract who had failed in such circumstances to fulfil it was liable in damages for breach of contract.-K.B. Div. (Rowlatt J.). 12th July 1918.

Minister of Munitions v. Chamberlayne.

WAR-DEFENCE OF THE REALM-EXERCISE OF COMPULSORY POWERS TO ACQUIRE LAND-MANSION-HOUSE-DEFENCE OF THE REALM (ACQUISITION OF LAND) ACT 1916 (6 & 7 GEO. V. CAP. 63), SECTION 13 (1) (b).—The Defence of the Realm (Acquisition of Land) Act 1916, section 13 (1) (b), granted authority to the Railway and Canal Commission to acquire compulsorily any park, garden, pleasure-ground, or farm, or any part thereof, on which before the passing of the Act there had been erected any building for the manufacture of munitions of war, provided that they were satisfied that it was of national importance that it should be so acquired. Held, where a park containing a mansion-house was acquired under such authority, that the right was not limited to such portion of the land as was actually in possession of the Munitions Department at the time when the Act was passed, but that a right was implied to acquire the mansion-house which was situated therein. Decision of Railway and Canal Commission (1918, S.L.T. 43) affirmed.-Court of Appeal (Swinfen Eady M.R., Warrington and Duke L.JJ.).-15th July 1918.

difference between his present wage and that which he had earned before his accident. After the lapse of six months the employers applied, under the First Schedule (17), to be allowed to redeem this weekly payment. Held that the clause authorised redemption in the case where it represented the whole measure of compensation to which the workman was entitled, and that it was not applicable to the case in which the amount paid weekly represented only part of the statutory liability of the employer.-Decision of the Court of Appeal (1917, S.L.T. 79) reversed.-House of Lords Lord Finlay L.C., Viscount Haldane, Lord Sumner, and Lord Wrenbury).-15th July 1918.

Elliott Steam Tug Co. Ltd. v. Charles Duncan & Sons Ltd.

SHIP CHARTER PARTY VESSEL REQUISITIONED BY ADMIRALTY WHETHER CHARTERPARTY TERMINATED THEREBY-GROSS BASIS OR NET BASIS.-A vessel which had been chartered for a month, with the option to the charterers of continuing the hire monthly for any further period, was requisitioned by the Admiralty, who afterwards transferred the vessel from gross basis to net basis; the ship was also employed in work not covered by the terms of the charterparty. Held that the charter-party had not been terminated by the requisitioning of the vessel, but that the question whether or to what extent the owners were entitled to participate in the hire of the vessel paid by the Government fell to be determined by a referee.-K.B. Div. (Rowlatt J.).-16th July 1918.

ACT OF SEDERUNT.

ADAPTING ACT OF SEDERUNT OF 10TH MARCH 1918 TO APPEALS UNDER THE WAGES (TEMPORARY) REGULATION) ACT 1918.

EDINBURGH, 21st December 1918.

The Lords enact and declare that in any appeal under the Wages (Temporary Regulation) Act 1918, the rules prescribed by Act of Sederunt dated 10th March 1918 shall apply as if 66 Minister of Labour" were substituted for "Minister of Munitions" therein, except in section 19 (1) thereof.

And the Lords appoint this Act to be entered in the Books of Sederunt and to be printed and published in common form.

STRATHCLYDE, I.P.D.