The Kronprinzessin Victoria (part Cargo ex).

WAR

PRIZE CONDITIONAL CONTRABAND OF WAR-ORDER IN COUNCIL OF 29TH OCTOBER 1914 ORDER IN COUNCIL OF 11TH MARCH 1915. Goods shipped from Rio de Janeiro to Sweden, which were conditional contraband of war, and as to which there was evidence that their ulterior destination was Germany, were captured by a British vessel. Held that under the Order in Council of 29th October 1914 the consignees were entitled to restoration of the goods, and that the Order in Council of 11th March 1915, though it was applicable to them, had not the effect of rendering them liable to confiscation, inasmuch as the Order of 1914 remained unrevoked. Decision of Prob., Div., and Adm. Div. (Evans P.) reversed.-Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (Lord Sumner, Lord Parmoor, Lord Wrenbury, Sir William Pickford, and Sir Arthur Channell). 13th November 1918.

Forster & Sons Ltd. v. Suggett.

CONTRACT

VALIDITY CONTRACT IN RE

STRAINT OF TRADE.-A company entered into an agreement with an engineer, under which the engineer was to be employed as works engineer at the company's works, and was not to divulge any trade secret during his employment or thereafter, except in the proper course of business. The contract also provided that he was not, for five years from the termination of the employment, to carry on in the United Kingdom, or be interested in glass bottle manufacture, or any other business connected with glass-making carried on by the company. Held that the restriction was not unreasonable and that the contract was valid.-Chan. Div. (Sargant J.).—14th November 1918.

North Shipping Co. Ltd. v. Union Marine
Insurance Co. Ltd.

Roura and Forgas v. Townend and Others.

MARINE INSURANCE CONSTRUCTIVE TOTAL LOSS -NOTICE OF ABANDONMENT-LOSS OF PROFIT ON CARGO-DELAY.-A vessel was chartered to convey a cargo of jute from Calcutta to Spain, and the profit was insured under a policy which imposed on the underwriters liability for the risk of capture; the vessel did not reach Calcutta, and after a lapse of over three months the charterers applied for payment under the policy. It subsequently appeared that the vessel had been captured by a German raider, and stranded on the coast of Denmark; she was ultimately got off and restored to her owners. Held (1) that in view of the lapse of time the charterers were entitled to assume that the vessel would not be recovered, and, the ship herself not having been insured, that notice by the owners of abandonment was not essential; (2) that the loss of the subject of the insurance was sufficient to found a claim; (3) that in the circumstances of the capture of the vessel there had been no undue delay in making the claim, and that the owners of the cargo were entitled to recover upon the policy.-K.B. Div. (Roche J.).-14th November 1918.

Smedley v. Registrar of Companies.

COMPANY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

FAILURE TO HOLD MEETING-DATE OF DEFAULT -COMPANIES (CONSOLIDATION) ACT 1908 (8 EDW. VII. CAP. 69), SECTION 64 (1).—The Companies (Consolidation) Act 1908, section 64 (1), enacts that "a general meeting of every company shall be held once at the least in every calendar year, and not more than fifteen months after the holding of the last preceding general meeting." Held that where the last general meeting of a company had been held on 21st March 1916, the failure to hold a meeting in the course of the following year was a necessary ingredient in a prosecution for failure, and that the date of default under the section was 31st December 1917.-K.B. Div. (Darling and Coleridge JJ., diss. Avory J.).-14th November 1918.

Manubens v. Leon.

MASTER AND SERVANT

WRONGFUL DIS

MARINE INSURANCE PREMIUM TERMS "LAID UP IN PORT.' -A vessel was insured under a policy which provided for the return of part of the insurance premiums in the event of her being "laid up in port" for a consecutive period of thirty days. The vessel, which had a cargo of coal, was anchored at MISSAL-ASSESSMENT OF DAMAGES-GRATUITIES. Portland with banked fires, and supplied the -Held that where damages were awarded to warships in the harbour with coal as required. a servant for wrongful dismissal, the amount Held that the words "laid up in port" were not of gratuities which he had received in the course applicable to the circumstances, and that upon of his employment ought to be taken into the terms of the insurance agreement the under- account in the assessment of damages.-K.B. writers were not liable for return of premiums. Div. (Lush and Bailhache JJ.).-15th November K.B. Div. (Bray J.).—14th November 1918.

1918.

CONTRACT SALE OF GOODS PAYMENT
INCREASE OF DUTY ON GOODS-PART PAYMENT

-SALE OF GOODS ACT 1893 (56 & 57 VICT.
CAP. 71), SECTION 4.-A purchase of saccharine

W. R. Smith & Sons v. London and North-Western was verbally agreed on, and a cheque sent in

Railway Co.

RAILWAY
PASSENGER'S LUGGAGE IN CHARGE OF PORTER.

payment. On the same day a Budget announcement was made of an increase in the duty on saccharine. The following day the seller wrote refusing to deliver at the arranged price, but retaining the purchaser's cheque. Held that part payment had been made in the sense of section 4 of the Sale of Goods Act 1893, and that the seller was under an obligation to supply the saccharine at the price agreed on.-K.B. Div. (Coleridge and Avory JJ.)-22nd November

1918.

In re Cole.

SUCCESSION WILL

CONSTRUCTION

TER

and to transfer one-third to each of his three

A passenger arriving at a railway station MINATION OF EMPLOYMENT.-A testator directed delivered his luggage to one of the company's his trustees to hold certain shares in a company porters in uniform, who took it in charge; part of the luggage, while left in his custody, was lost. The porter was not one of those employed at the station, and was only accidentally on the spot. Held that the porter was acting as a general agent of the company, and that the company was liable as a common carrier for the loss of the luggage.-K.B. Div. (Coleridge and Avory JJ.).-20th November 1918.

A

sons who should enter the employment of the
company prior to attaining the age of twenty-
three and should remain in that employment
until he attained the age of thirty-three.
son entered the employment of the company,
and in 1914, while still under twenty, he joined
He
the Army with consent of the company.
attained the age of twenty-three before obtaining
his discharge. Held that his employment was
not terminated by his service in the Army.-
Chan. Div. (Sargant J.).-22nd November 1918.

NAVAL 1918. PRIZE ACT 1864 (27 & 28 VICT. CAP. 25), SECTION 42.-Held that a Turkish troop transport carrying field guns which it would be possible to use against an enemy was not an "armed - ship" within the meaning of section 42 of the Naval Prize Act 1864, and that the officers and ship's company of a British war vessel were not entitled to prize bounty in respect of her destruction. Prob., Div., and Adm. Div. (Lord Sterndale P.).-25th November 1918.

THE LATE SIR JAMES PATTEN

MACDOUGALL.

We regret to record the death of Sir James Patten MacDougall, K.C.B., Registrar-General for Scotland, which took place on 7th March.

Born in 1849, the son of Mr John Patten, Writer to the Signet, Sir James was educated at Edinburgh Academy and Christ Church, Oxford. He was called to the English Bar in 1873, and a year later was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates. For many years he acted as one of the staff of reporters on the Session Cases, and in the picture of the Bench and Bar in 1890 by Mr Skeoch Cumming he appears seated in the reporters' box in the First Division. A strong Liberal in politics, he was appointed extra Advocate-Depute on the Glasgow Circuit in 1880, and in 1886 he became Legal Secretary to Lord Advocate Balfour. He was again Legal Secretary from 1892 to 1894, and in the latter year he was appointed legal member of the Local Government Board for Scotland. In this office he displayed marked ability and aptitude, bis departmental training, business capacity, and wide knowledge of law forming a valuable equipment for his duties. He was appointed Vice-President and Chairman of the Local Government Board in 1904, and in 1909 he was appointed Keeper of the Records of Scotland, Deputy Clerk Register, and RegistrarGeneral.

Sir James' public service was not, however, limited to the performance of his official duties. He was for some years a member of the Congested Districts Board, retiring in 1910. He was Chairman of the Departmental Committee on PoorLaw Medical Relief in Scotland, and a member of the Royal Commission on Poor Laws and Relief of Distress in 1905; and he acted as a Boundary Commissioner for Scotland in 1917, when the constituencies were rearranged after the passing of the Franchise Bill of that year.

As proprietor of the estate of Gallanach, in Argyllshire, Sir James took an active part in the management of the public affairs of the county, of which he was Vice-Convener for some years.

and the Hon. Lord Cullen. Jedburgh-Thursday, 27th March; Dumfries - Friday, 28th March; Ayr-Saturday, 29th March. A. M. MacRobert, Esq., Advocate-Depute; Alexander Rae, Esq., Clerk.

NEW ENGLISH JUDGES.

Mr Justice Atkin has been appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal in succession to Lord Sterndale, and Mr F. A. Greer, K.C., has been appointed a judge of the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice in succession to Mr Justice Atkin.

Mr Justice Atkin is the eldest son of the late Robert Travers Atkin of Fernhill, County Cork, and was born in 1867. He was educated at Christ College, Brecon, and at Magdalen College, Oxford, and was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1891. He took silk in 1906, and in the same year was elected a Bencher of his Inn. For a number of years he was one of the leaders in the Commercial Court, and he has been a judge of the King's Bench Division since 1913.

Mr Frederick Arthur Greer, K.C., is the son of the late Mr Arthur Greer of Liverpool, and was born in 1864. He was educated at Aberdeen University, where he graduated with honours in Philosophy. He was called to the Bar in 1886, and joined the Northern Circuit. He practised locally until 1907, when he removed to London, and he took silk in 1910.

MR ADSHEAD ELLIOTT, barrister-at-law, has been appointed a County Court Judge in succession to the late Judge Benson. Mr Elliott is well known in Scotland as the author of a work on the Workmen's Compensation Acts, which is one of the most successful text-books of modern times.

THE King has been pleased to confer a Viscounty of the United Kingdom on Lord Finlay, who recently resigned the office of Lord Chancellor. Lord Finlay's career is so well known to all lawyers that it is hardly necessary to recapitulate it. He has won in turn all the highest honours of the legal profession-was HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY. The Spring Solicitor-General from 1895 to 1900, AttorneyCircuits for 1919 have been arranged as follows: General from 1900 to 1906, and Lord Chancellor -West: The Right Hon. The Lord Justice- from 1916 to 1918. When not in office he was Clerk and the Hon. Lord Blackburn. Stirling engaged in conducting what was probably the -Saturday, 5th April; Inveraray-Wednesday, most lucrative practice of modern times. He 23rd April; Glasgow - Monday, 28th April. was a great success as Lord Chancellor, and his John L. Wark, Esq., Advocate-Depute; Alex- resignation after only two years' service was ander Rae, Esq., Clerk. North The Hon. much regretted, but it was not altogether unLord Dundas and the Hon. Lord Sands. Inver- expected, for he made it a condition of his Monday, 31st March; Aberdeen acceptance of office that he should not be entitled Tuesday, 1st April; Perth-Thursday, 3rd to the pension which is usually conferred on a April; Dundee Friday, 4th April. Stair A. retiring Lord Chancellor, and it was understood Gillon, Esq., Advocate-Depute; Alexander Rae, that he might resign before his term of office Esq., Clerk. South: The Hon. Lord Guthrie would have come to an end in ordinary course.

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