ter of our government written by Chief Justice Marshall are illuminating and convincing as to the character of the nation which was created by the constitution. Whatever the merits of this particular League may be, it would be a great interference with the usefulness of the government of the United States for the people of the United States, on the one hand, and for the neighbours of the United States, and the worldfor all the world is her neighbour now-if the United States might not enter into obligations of an affirmative character to do certain things in consideration of other nations doing either the same thing or a thing of some other nature. And I do not think those people who contend against the power of the United States to make such a contract fully realize how completely such a construction of the constitution would relegate our great nation and our great government, the power of which Marshall and the whole court have always exalted, would relegate that government and nation to the limbo of infants and of persons irresponsible, so that they may not make obligations that shall be binding on them. (Great applause.) The Editor, OUR LONDON LETTER. 44 Bedford Row, London, W.C. 1. Canadian Law Times," Toronto, Canada. SIR,-The opening days of the Michaelmas Sittings have already proved that the existing number of Judges is not large enough to deal adequately with the unprecedented number of cases awaiting trial. The Autumn Assizes are now sitting, and consequently a large number of the Judges are away on Circuit. The list of cases for hearing before the Judicial Committee shows a substantial increase, there being 50 appeals set down as against 40 at the corresponding period last year. This increase is entirely due to India, which has 32 appeals in the list. Canada has only 4, while South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Ceylon and Gibraltar each furnish one. There are 9 Prize Court appeals. Some of the appeals involve questions of great constitutional importance. One of the Canadian appeals concerns the solidity of legislation passed by Quebec imposing duties on property outside that Province, while another raises the question whether Dominion Companies are subject to Provincial legislation requiring license or registration before they can exercise their corporate powers in the Provinces. Viscount Cave, who has just returned to England after a visit to Canada and the United States, comes back greatly impressed by the strong affection which exists in Canada for the Old Country. Lord Cave, who is a member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, has told an interviewer that he found that in Canada the feeling towards the Committee was, on the whole, one of complete approval. The importance of the work of the Judicial Committee is not always realized in this country. It hears O.L.T.-67+ appeals from all parts of the Empire, and applies in the course of its work the rules of an extraordinary diversity of legal systems. In one case Hindu or Mahomedan Law is involved, in another the decision must be given on Roman-Dutch Law, and in a third the old French laws administered in Quebec are concerned. The rumour (officially denied) that Mr. Justice Darling, the Senior Judge of the King's Bench Division, is about to retire and that Mr. Edward Shortt, the Home Secretary, is to be made a Judge, has brought once more into prominence the question whether members of the Executive should be appointed to the judicial bench. Both as Irish Secretary and as Home Secretary, Mr. Shortt has achieved a large measure of success, and before he became a member of the Ministry, he occupied a prominent position at the Bar. When Sir H. Duke, the then Irish Secretary, was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal, and when Lord Cave left the Home Office to become a Lord of Appeal, the appointments were criticized on the ground that it was undesirable for members of the Ministry to become occupants of the Bench. It is of the highest importance that a Judge should sit absolutely apart and removed from political movements, and never was it more important than now that the independence of the Bench should be preserved. The belief that the Judiciary is independent of the Executive will be seriously impaired if it becomes customary to appoint Judges from members of the Ministry. In consequence of the miners' strike and the threatened strike of railwaymen the Government have secured the passing of the Emergency Powers Act, which provides that if at any time it appears to His Majesty that any action has been taken or is immediately threatened by any persons or body of persons of such a nature and on so extensive a scale as to be calculated, by interfering with the supply of and distribution of food, water, fuel, or light, or with the means of locomotion, to deprive the community, or any substantial portion of the community, of the essentials of life, His Majesty may by proclamation declare that a state of emergency exists, and when such a proclamation has been made, Parliament, if not then sitting, is to meet within five days. Where a proclamation of emergency has been made, it shall be lawful for His Majesty by Order in Council, to make regulations for securing the essentials of life of the community. There is no power to enforce compulsory military service or industrial conscription. The Act is not a temporary measure. Yours, etc., W. E. WILKINSON. NOTABLE CASES NOTATED. Damages for Crim. Con.; Value of a Wife. The measure of damages in an action for Crim. Con. constantly arises in England under the Law of Divorce and largely in the Provinces of Canada by a separate action under the Common Law. The question has been elaborately discussed in the case of Butterworth v. Butterworth. There were five other cases involving the same question before the Court at the same time and Judge McCardie reviewed all the authorities and principles relating to the assessment of damages, both before the Matrimonial Causes Act, 1857, and subsequent to its going into operation. He drew special attention to the fact "that the action must be carefully distinguished from the Common Law action which lay either for knowingly inducing away a wife from cohabitation with the husband or for harbouring a wife after notice that she had left her husband without his consent." The action of Crim. Con. he said was based on the mere act of adultery, and in substance it was an action upon the case and involved only liability for damages actually sustained. In divorce proceedings, he said, the petitioning husband will not necessarily be granted even nominal damages; and the damages should be compensatory and not punitive. The actual value of the wife to the husband is then the great question which arises in these actions, that is her value in a pecuniary sense. The consortium aspect of the matter depends upon the purity and general character of the wife, her general disposition and loyalty to her husband. The facility with which the paramour achieved his object and the acquiescence or resistance of the wife are also elements to be considered in ascertaining the wife's value. Then there is also the question of the wounded pride of the husband who finds that what he had idolized as an angel has emerged in reality 189 L. J. P. 151.; 1920 P. 126. |