An important decision on section 4 of the Statute of Frauds was given by Mr. Justice Russell on the 30th July in the case of Grindell v. Bass, which was an action for specific performance of a written agreement to sell a house. In her defence the defendant pleaded that she had already agreed to sell the house to A. on terms which were set out in the pleading which was signed by counsel. There was no sufficient memorandum in writing of the contract with A. unless the pleading constituted such a memorandum, and it was contended that counsel could not bind his client under the Statute, because he was not her agent "thereunto lawfully authorized." The Judge decided that the signature of counsel bound the defendant for the purpose of the Statutes of Frauds, as although he had no authority to make a contract for his client, this was not necessary if he had authority to sign the memorandum which he had actually signed.

The case of Leaman v. King, which was decided on the 24th July, raised a question of very great constitutional importance, namely, whether a private soldier was entitled to sue for his pay. The plaintiff, who was an ex-corporal in his Majesty's Army, had lodged a petition of right in which he alleged that on enlistment he had been promised 6/- a day and had been paid only 1/-. He claimed the payment of the difference on the ground that the Crown had contracted to pay 6/- a day. The Crown demurred to the petition on the ground of defect not in form but in law, alleging that there was no agreement to pay anything, but that the suppliant had merely a claim on the King's bounty for his pay and allowances. In upholding the demurrer Mr. Justice Acton held that the well-known rule that all engagements between those in the military service of the Crown and the Crown are voluntary only on the part of the Crown and give no occasion for an action in respect of an alleged breach of contract, applies as well to private soldiers as to officers; and that if there is a special contract between a private soldier and the Crown upon

C.L.T.-56

enrolment, as certain expressions in the Army Act 1881 would seem to suggest, it is a unilateral contract only and not one which is legally enforceable at the instance of the soldier.

It is understood that Lord Atkinson, who was appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 1905, will resign when he completes his fifteenth year of judicial office in December next. Lord Atkinson is the only Irishman among the six Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, of whom three are Englishmen and two Scotsmen.

Lord Sinha's appointment as Governor in Council for Bihar and Orissa is a striking fulfilment of the historic promise made by Queen Victoria to her Indian subjects in 1858 that race and colour should be no bar to Indian appointments. Lord Sinha (then Sir S. P. Sinha) was the first native of India to become a member of the governing body of India, being appointed a legal member of the Viceroy's Council in 1909. Last year he was appointed Under-Secretary for India and raised to the Peerage, being the first Indian to become a member of the British Government and a Peer of the Realm. Lord Sinha is a member of the English Bar, being called by Lincoln's Inn in 1886, and taking "silk" in 1918.

Sir Archibald Bodkin, who has been appointed to succeed Sir Charles Mathews as Director of Public Prosecutions, has had an extensive acquaintance with the administration of the criminal law, having been one of the Counsel for the Treasury at the Central Criminal Court since 1892.

Yours, etc.,

W. E. WILKINSON.

BY THE WAY.

Canadian Bar Meeting.

We have only been able to utilize in this issue a small fragment of the splendid material provided for the information and reflection of the Legal Profession by the recent Annual Meeting at Ottawa. The President's Speech which we had intended to give in extenso has not reached us in time for its reproduction. But let us know it is not lost: only a feast deferred to which we will bring, even by the delay, all the more relish.

Besides this, a large number of other addresses have to be brought forward if not in full dishes at least in golden saucers straight from the condensing mill. Our readers will get, at all events, the essences and exhilarations of

"A perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets
Where no crude surfeit reigns."

Contributory Correspondents.

We take this opportunity of reminding the many Barristers and advanced Students who proposed to make contributions on a wide diversity of subjects, after the holidays were over, that we are now entering upon a revitalized campaign for making more effective than ever THE CANADIAN LAW TIMES.

Its 40 years of existence are coterminous not only with the expansion of the Dominion but with the development of the Law and the elevation of the Legal Profession. He is a poor mote in the sunbeam who cannot contribute something to the general illumination.

Effuse something of your vitality-your intellectuality and legal endowments-and you shall become the greater and attain to loftier heights.

The miser hoards, becomes purse proud and personally rich; but, confined by his ever-growing avarice,

he dies poor so far as the world is concerned-so far as any human being or human cause is concerned. He can neither use his riches for his individual comfort or uplift, nor will he expend them for others. The canker gnaws at his vitals, and he stands a spectre of want and penury weighted down to oblivion with rustcoated accumulations of hoarded and stagnant money dangling around him on every side.

The man who hoards his intellectuality is in no less despicable a predicament. He becomes vain, arrogant and egotistical, and incurs universal condemnation, whereas by the effusing to the world of that which being secreted makes him obnoxious, he would command respect, esteem and even reverence, and die rich in the soul-purifying consolation that he had multiplied his talent ten-fold, and contributed by it to the grand totality of human bliss and development.

Interlopers in the Law.

It is nearly time, surely, that the Law Societies and the Legislatures of the Provinces did something to protect the men who enter the profession of the Law from the predatory aggressions of the interlopers dubbing themselves as Conveyancers, Notaries and Real Estate Brokers who prepare deeds of all kinds, register them in our Land Titles offices, and, incidentally of course, breed all kinds of litigation.

These same interlopers, also, through our Land Titles offices carry out all kinds of work under Tax Sales the redeeming of property sold, applications for and procuring Certificates of Title to the Purchasers, etcetera. This work is all legal work, and involves the preparation of Affidavits and other documents. It is largely "gobbled up" by these interlopers who have neither qualification for the task nor liability for its most unskilful performance. They are foragers in a preserve without a license, though the Lawyer has to be not only qualified to enter it but he must spend money and time for the privilege of entering it; and he must then pay an annual license fee. These for

agers pay nothing. The license implies some duty on the part of the licensing authority. It is a plain duty, but it has always been shirked in respect of the condition here protested against.

I write this in the interest of the young men of the Legal Profession. The older men are, to some extent, compensated for the loss of the Conveyancing work by getting the consequential litigation.

The Law Society should promptly bring before the Legislatures, and see enacted, stringent and prohibitory measures against aggressors and interlopers; and thus do a duty long left undischarged not only to young men entering the Law but to the Public at large who very frequently pay dearly for their game of "penny wise and pound foolish" in entrusting themselves to unqualified and unscrupulous foragers and interlopers.

Bi-centenary of British Law in Canada.

The President of the Historical Association of Annapolis Royal-L. M. Fortier, Esq.-has placed before us an announcement that this great historical event is to be fittingly celebrated; and we feel we cannot render the cause which he has at heart, and which we should, in truth, all have at heart, more effective support than by printing in extenso his own communication. Here it is:

THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OF ANNAPOLIS ROYAL.

To the Judges and Barristers of Canada:

Gentlemen. Next year (1921) will mark the Bi-Centenary of British Civil Law in Canada, the first Court of Judicature having been assembled within the walls of the old fort of Annapolis Royal in 1721.

The Historical Association of Annapolis Royal has undertaken to see that this important historical event is fittingly celebrated and a permanent memorial of it erected. The latter will probably take the form of a bronze tablet of dignified proportions, suitably inscribed, and placed in the officers' quarters building in Fort Anne, the formal unveiling to take place on a date agreeable to the Canadian Bar Association.