prepared, not as in England, for popular use. To added a glossary of technical terms of common occurrence in Scottish law which cannot fail to be of great use to English lawyers. And on this part of the book it occurs to us to remark, that if our law language requires a glossary, we hope the first English law book which is prepared for the use of Scotland a similar help may be added, to enable us on this side of the Tweed to understand their technicalities. An index of cases is prefixed to the Digest, and, in addition to the glossary, an index of subjects is added. We have thus, in the compass of less than 400 pages, a Digest of every important case decided in the House of Lords from Scotland, from nearly the period of the Union down to the last session of Parliament. THE LAW MAGAZINE AND LAW REVIEW, or Quar- LEGAL reviews and magazines, treating partly of pure law, partly performing the functions of the legislator, and partly dealing with legal literature, have not, we regret to say, been very successful in either end of the kingdom. More than one attempt has been made in Scotland to establish a Law Review, with the aim and the scope of the quarterlies, but not one of them took vigorous root and flourished, and now the northern part of the kingdom is contented with a single monthly publication of no great ambition, which forms a hybrid between a monthly digest of cases decided in the Courts and a magazine wherein occasionally appears a tolerable paper. It would be difficult, perhaps, to explain this want of interest among lawyers, because there is no profession which offers so large a field of collateral topics as does the science of law. It may be that the cautious and matter-of-fact character usually attributed to lawyers prevents them from travelling beyond the beaten track of the practising barrister, advocate, or attorney, and that their professional habits lead them to distrust all theory and speculation as visionary and profitless. There are exceptions certainly to this general disinclination to speculation, but these exceptions, as usual, only make the rule more clear. The publication we have noted above is published in London, and is, we believe, the only one of the kind presently existing. We have read it for some time back, and, with few exceptions, it deals entirely either with English legal questions, or Imperial or Colonial ones. It has occurred to us that if the editor of the Law Magazine and Review could obtain a fair proportion of papers affecting Scotland, and made an effort to bring it under the notice of the profession in Scotland, it might be of use as an international medium for the discussion of legal branch of the civil service, is perhaps nearer the questions affecting all parts of the kingdom. Scottish law, almost in spite of Scottish lawyers, is year by year becoming more and more mixed with English law; and the fact is notorious, that in our Court of Session and our Sheriff Courts, reports of English cases decided in the Courts there, are every day cited, and relied on with as much confidence as cases decided in our own Courts. If English lawyers to some extent, and Scottish lawyers to a greater extent, feel themselves driven to study and endeavour to understand both systems, the time surely has also arrived for an attempt being made to establish a common medium of a high class character, such as that we are now considering. The present number consists of nine articles, all of a high character, and which ought to be interesting to every lawyer. The first article is entitled Historical Observations on the respective functions of the Judge and the Jury-a subject which has long been in conflict among English jurists; and the writer of this paper gives an excellent summary of the cases which have served to settle the point in the English Courts, and which, so far as we understand it, seems to be fairly set forth in the maxim attributed to Lord Mansfield, ad questionem juris non respondent juratores, ad questionem facti non respondent judicis. The next article is on the legal position of the Church of England-a question in which, as Scotchmen and Presbyterians, we have not much interest. Regarded, however, in the light of the famous judgment of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of the Bishop of Natal, it is certainly an important legal question, and the epigrammatic definition of the President of the Board of Trade that the Church of England was now simply a truth than the friends of the Church may like. It may be of importance to the United Kingdom, and may, by and by, indirectly come to affect our own ecclesiastical organisations. The Church of England has no legislative authority, nor has it any judicial authority. It cannot pass Acts like our Scottish Establishment, nor can it try any of its clergy like the Scottish General Assembly, although it has its Upper and Lower House of Convocation. It is bound by its thirty-nine articles, and these the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council read as a portion of the law of the land, and apply the same rules for their definition and application as they would to any other part of the law. Opinions of course differ as to whether the English or Scottish system is the better, and the paper discusses the question as it effects England, and will amply repay an attentive perusal. "A Legal Triptych-Plunket, Eldon and Romilly," is rather a sketchy biographical notice of these three notable Judges, in which the writer deservedly places Romilly far above his two compeers, in the impetus which he gave to Law Reform, the unselfish good he did to his generation, and the illustrious name he has left behind him. Articles follow "On the Law of Marriage and Di vorce in America and England,” —a review of "Foss's Judges of England," another on the "Es Scheme for the Amendment of the present system Law Reporting," a review of "Forsyth's Life of Cicero," an article "On Criminal Responsibility," and another on the "Report of the Patent Law Com missioners;" these, with notices of new law publica tions make up what we consider to be an excellent number of the Law Magazine. THE SCOTTISH LAW MAGAZINE AND SHERIFF COURT REPORTER. THE PROCURATORS' BILL, AS AMENDED. print this Bill, as amended, and we call our ers' attention to the difference between its ent shape and that in which it was introduced. is now simply and purely a Procurators' Bill. veyancers and Notaries are now excluded. The dof apprenticeship has been made four years lace of five. The incorporating clauses, in stimation the great blot of the Bill, have been ed; but to meet the objections we formerly 1, as to the possibility of half the profession becoming incorporated, because, in more than of the counties, there are not twelve procurators found, the difficulty has been met by perag two or more counties to combine where less ten procurators are not at the seat of any Sheriff Court, and the power to incorporate is isive. As we never have been able to see the which the profession is to reap from these paltry porations, the present modification in no way its our objections. We can see the benefits general national incorporation, and we have ly stated these on more than one occasionpoint to England as an example; but why and is to be parcelled out among these little es, while England is benefited by a great ration, we cannot tell, unless it be that our rymen are provincial and exclusive, or that hate, with a bitter national hatred, anything, er good, if it only comes to them recomed by the practice or the advice of the inints south of the Tweed. LL [as amended in Committee] to Amend the s relating to Procurators, and to Conveyancers Law Agents, in Scotland. EAS the number of Procurators practising before aferior Courts in Scotland has of late years greatly sed, and the interests entrusted to the care of such rators have risen in importance: And whereas it is us to improve the qualifications and standing of embers of that branch of the legal profession, and ulate the mode of admitting them to practice, and afer corporate powers on certain Faculties and ties: Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent ty, by and with the advice and consent of the Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this nt Parliament assembled, and by the authority of me, as follows: The following Words and Expressions, when used s Act, shall have the Meanings hereby assigned to unless there be something in the Subject or Con text inconsistent with or repugnant to such construction; that is to say, "Inferior Court" shall embrace Sheriff Courts, Commissary Courts, Burgh Courts, Admiralty Courts, Dean of Guild Courts, Justice of Peace Courts, and all other Courts of Law having only local Jurisdiction in Scotland: "Procurators" shall include all persons who have already been admitted as Procurators in any Sheriff Court in Scotland, or who shall hereafter be admitted as Procurators under this Act: "Sheriff" shall include Steward, but not SheriffSubstitute or Steward-Substitute: "Sheriff Clerk" shall mean Sheriff Clerk Depute as well as Sheriff Clerk, and shall include Steward Clerk and Steward Clerk Depute: "County" shall include Stewartry. 2. No person shall hereafter act or practise as a Procurator before any Inferior Court, or assume the name or title of Procurator, Writer, or Solicitor, unless prior admitted a Procurator, or unless subsequently to the to the passing of this Act he shall have been duly passing of this Act he shall be admitted a Procurator pursuant to the directions and regulations of this Act. 3. From and after the passing of this Act, the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes and their Officers shall, previous to issuing any Stamped Certificate to any person applying for the same who has not previously had issued to him a like Certificate, require evidence that such person is either a Writer to the Signet, or a Solicitor before the Supreme Courts, or a Notary Public, or that he has been admitted a Procurator. 4. No person shall hereafter be deemed admissible as a Procurator unless he shall be of the full age of Twenty one Years, and shall have been bound under an Indenture in Writing to serve, except as herein-after provided, at least Four Years as an Apprentice to a Master declared by this Act to be competent, and shall have duly served his said Apprenticeship by Personal attendance in the office of such Master or in the office of some other Master to whom his Indenture may have been transferred, as herein-after provided, and unless he shall have been reported qualified for admission after an Entrance Examination in manner herein-after specified: Provided always that any person who may before the passing of this Act have served, or may be at the date thereof in course of serving, an Apprenticeship for a shorter term than Four Years, in such form as would have qualified him for admission under the Provisions of the Act of Sederunt of the Lords of Council and Session, dated Tenth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, Chapter Five, shall be deemed admissible, in so far as regards Apprenticeship, if he have served or shall serve, either as an Apprentice or Clerk to the same or some other competent Master, such further term as F may be sufficient along with his previous service to complete the full term of Four Years, and if he shall have been reported qualified as aforesaid, and such service may be instructed by a Certificate under the hand of such Master, or otherwise, as herein-after provided. 5. Provided also, That any person who shall have taken a Degree in Arts in any one of the Universities of Great Britain or Ireland, or who shall be a member of any of the Councils of the Scottish Universities, shall be deemed admissible as a Procurator, in so far as regards Apprenticeship, if he shall have served an Apprenticeship under Indenture as aforesaid for the shorter period of three years, and such person shall not be obliged, as a part of his entrance examination, to undergo an examination in general knowledge. 6. In reference to all Apprenticeships and Clerkships to be entered into in terms of this Act, any Writer to the Signet, or Solicitor before the Supreme Courts, or Procurator, or Sheriff-Clerk, shall be deemed a competent master in the case of a person seeking to qualify himself as a Procurator. 7. In case any master with whom any person shall have entered into any apprenticeship or clerkship, as aforesaid, shall, during the currency of the term of such apprenticeship or clerkship, die or become bankrupt, or cease to practise, or be unable to continue to employ such apprentice or clerk, it shall be lawful for the Sheriff of the county, or Sheriff-Substitute of the county, ward, district, or division in which such apprenticeship or clerkship is being served, upon the application of such apprentice or clerk, as the case may be, to direct the indenture or agreement of clerkship to be discharged, or to authorise the term of service to be completed with any other master declared competent by this Act, and named in such application, without prejudice to the voluntary transfer of any apprenticeship or clerkship to a competent master mutually agreed upon, and made in writing. 8. Any apprentice who, either before or after the passing of this Act, has entered into an indenture for any period exceeding three years, and who may be desirous of making himself acquainted with the Forms of Procedure in the Supreme Courts, or with the mode of conducting business in any county other than that in which he has bound himself to serve, may, in lieu of the last year of his said apprenticeship, with the consent of his master, substitute a term of service as clerk for not less than one year with a Writer to the Signet, or Solicitor before the Supreme Courts, or with a Procurator practising in such other county, which service as clerk shall be equally effectual for the purpose of admission as if such apprentice had completed the full term of his apprenticeship. 9. All indentures which shall, after the passing of this Act, be entered into, with the intention of qualifying the apprentice for admission in terms of this Act, shall be recorded in the register of probative writs of the county where the same shall have been entered into, within six months from the date fixed therein for the commencement of the term of apprenticeship, and upon the expiration thereof such indenture, with a certificate endorsed thereon, under the hand of the master with whom such apprenticeship was completed, setting forth that the party has actually and bona fide served the apprenticeship set forth in the application for admission as required by this Act, may be received as evidence of such apprenticeship having been duly served. 10. No service as clerk, in terms and for the purposes of this Act, entered into after the passing thereof, shall be held a qualification for admission as aforesaid, unless the agreement to serve as clerk for a specified time shall be entered into in writing before the commencement of service; and the production of a written agreement, with a certificate under the hand of the master, of the time having been actually and bona fide served by personal attendance in his office, may be received as evidence of service; provided that in case of the death or incapacity of the master, the Sheriff shall be entitled to receive such other evidence of service of apprenticeship or clerkship as shall seem to him reasonable and satisfactory. 11. The admission of procurators shall, as heretofore, proceed on the application of any duly qualified person to the Sheriff of the county within which he wishes to practise; but such applicant shall, prior to admission, except as herein-after provided, undergo an entrance examination in regard both to general knowledge and to law, and legal training and practice, on a remit made by the Sheriff to the examiners herein-after mentioned, and no further procedure shall be had on such application until the applicant shall have been reported by the examiners qualified for admission: Provided always, that no entrance examination shall be required if the applicant for admission be a Writer to the Signet, or a Solicitor before the Supreme Courts, or hold a degree of Bachelor of Laws granted by a Scottish University after the twelfth day of July eighteen hundred and sixty-two; nor shall any entrance examination in general knowledge be required from any person who is under indenture at the passing of this Act, or who may have completed the term of such indenture prior to the passing of this Act; provided also, that the Sheriff of any county to whom an application for admission shall be made by any person who has been already admitted a procurator in another Sheriff Court shall be entitled to dispense with such entrance exami nation, unless the Incorporated Faculty or Society d Procurators practising in the county, ward, district, or division in which such application is made, shall, on the application being intimated to them, along with a statement of the circumstances under which the applicant is desirous that such examination should be dispense with, object to such dispensation. 12. On the production of the certificate of apprenticeship, or of apprenticeship and clerkship, as herein-befor provided, and of a certificate under the hands of the examiners of the applicant being duly qualified in regar both to general knowledge and to law and legal training or of written evidence that the applicant falls within some of the exceptions herein-before contained, the Sheriff may, unless he see cause to the contrary, sin the applicant as a procurator in his Court, and such admission shall qualify the person admitted to practice therein, and in all the other Inferior Courts held within the county; provided that where the mode of sitting procurators in any county is regulated by Royal Charter, conferring exclusive privileges on any Faculty or of Procurators practising in such county, or by any usage following thereon, such mode of admission shal not be altered by anything in this Act contained without the express consent of such Faculty or Society. Society 13. The Sheriff-Clerk of each county, or of eac ward, district, or division, when a county is so divided shall keep a register in a separate book, to be called th Register of Procurators," in which he shall insert th names of all such persons then in life as may have bee duly admitted procurators before the Sheriff Court such county, ward, district, or division prior to th passing of this Act, and shall arrange such names in th order of the dates of admission of such persons r spectively, and likewise of every person who shall, sul sequently to the passing of this Act, be admitted procurator before such Court, pursuant to the direction and regulations herein contained, specifying in t register the date of such admission, and shall, as occasio requires, make the alterations on said register rendere necessary by death or otherwise; and said register sh be patent to all the lieges, and an extract therefro subscribed by the Sheriff-Clerk, certifying the admission of any procurator, and specifying the date thereof, and for which extract a fee of two shillings and sixpence shall be payable, shall be sufficient evidence of the facts therein set forth. 14. In any county, ward, district, or division of a county, in which there does not at the date of the passing of this Act exist an Incorporated Faculty or Society of Procurators, it shall be lawful for the procurators of such county, ward, district, or division, provided their number exceeds ten, voluntarily to form themselves into a society, by the assent given in writing of at least three-fourths of their number, and on such writing being recorded in the Court Books of the county, district, division, or ward, such society shall, ipso facto, be held to be incorporated under such name or title as shall in such writing be fixed, and shall include all the procurators of such county, ward, district, or division, and thereafter such faculty or society shall have power in its corporate name to sue and be sued, and to acquire, bold, and transfer property, heritable and moveable, and also from time to time to adopt such constitution and bye-laws for the management of the affairs of the society as the Sheriff of such county, ward, district, or division shall, on application made to him, approve of, and shall possess such other powers as by law belong to an incorporation. 15. In the event of the number of procurators in any County, ward, district, or division being less than ten, but more than three, it shall be competent to them, or to not less than three-fourths of their number, by their sent given in writing, to combine with the procurators in any one or more counties, wards, districts, or divisions, to form themselves into a Society of Procurators under this Act, provided the aggregate of the whole shall be at least ten; and on such assent being given in writing, and recorded in the Court books of each of the said Counties, wards, districts, or divisions, such society shall in all respects, for the purposes of this Act, be entitled to the same corporate powers and privileges as any other Society formed under this Act; or otherwise, in the event of no such combination, the procurators of any county, ward, district, or division whose number is less than ten, shall be entitled individually to become members of the Society of Procurators formed in any other County, ward, district, or division, in terms of this Act, and who shall be willing to receive them, and they shall, on being duly admitted, become Members of said society: Provided always, that in case of the procurators in two Ir more counties combining to form a society as aforeaid, the Sheriff of the county having the largest number of procurators at the time such society is formed, shall alone exercise the functions which are conferred on Sheriffs by this Act in relation to such societies. 16. Every Faculty or Society of Procurators already incorporated, or which shall after the passing of this Act be incorporated, in terms thereof, shall from time to time, subject to the approval of the Sheriff, issue regulations for the preliminary examination in the elements of general knowledge of persons desirous of entering into indentures of apprenticeship with any procurator of their Court, and without such examination, and the person undergoing the same being reported qualified, such indenture shall be of no force or ffect for the purpose of admission, as aforesaid; and ch society may also, if it sees fit, subject in like maner to the approval of the Sheriff, impose a curriculum of legal study on the apprentices serving their time to the members of such faculty or society, and may intitute compulsory examinations in law and in legal raining and practice of such apprentices at the end of the second, third, and fourth years of their apprenticehip, under such regulations as to extending the period of Apprenticeship, in case of failure satisfactorily to undergo such examinations, as may be established by and under authority of the General Council herein-after appointed; and any society hereafter to be incorporated may establish a fund for the benefit of indigent members, and of the widows and children of members, and provide for the use of the members of the society a law library, to be managed in such manner as may be settled by the bye-laws, and for these and other purposes may exact payment of such entrance fees from parties applying to be admitted as procurators, and such annual contribution from each member of the society, as may from time to time be fixed by the society, and be approved of by the Sheriff as aforesaid; and in counties where no such society exists, it shall be in the power of the Sheriff to order and enforce the preliminary and intermediate examinations aforesaid. 17. The Dean, President, or other chief Office-Bearer of each of the several Faculties or Societies of Procurators already incorporated, or which shall after the passing of this Act be incorporated, in terms thereof, or in his absence the Sub-Dean, Vice-President, or other member of such Faculty or Society elected to act in his place, shall form a General Council of Procurators for the purpose of exercising the powers conferred upon them by this Act, and shall meet at least once in each year, at such time and place as may be fixed in manner herein-after provided, any five members of such General Council being a Quorum. 18. The first meeting of such General Council shall be held at Edinburgh on Monday the thirtieth day of October, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, at One o'Clock, within the Sheriff Court-house; and the members present, after choosing an interim Chairman, shall appoint a Committee of their number to frame a draft of the Bye-laws herein-after mentioned, with instructions to report such draft to an adjourned meeting, to be held at a time and place to be then fixed; and it shall be lawful for such adjourned meeting, or any other meeting held by adjournment, to adopt the said Byelaws, with or without amendments. 19. The Bye-laws to be so framed and adopted shall provide for the yearly appointment of Office-Bearers, and in particular of a President, and for the time and place of all meetings of the General Council and OfficeBearers, and for the mode of calling the same, and for all other regulations necessary for beneficially transacting the business committed to the General Council by this Act, and for the future amendment of such Byelaws, if necessary. 20. The General Council shall prescribe a Curriculum of legal study for persons intending to apply for admission as Procurators, and shall by themselves, or by one or more Committees of their number, and with such assistance as the Council may see fit to appoint, act as examiners of persons applying for admission as Procurators, and shall, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, frame regulations as to the subjects both in general knowledge and law, and legal training and practice, in which all persons applying for admission after a certain date to be therein fixed shall be examined as herein-before provided, in order to ascertain that they are in these respects qualified for admission, and also regulations as to extending the period of apprenticeship of apprentices failing to undergo satisfactorily the compulsory examinations herein-before provided, and may, if need be, vary such Curriculum and Regulations to suit the peculiar circumstances of any County, and may also from time to time thereafter alter and amend such Regulations respectively. 21. The Curriculum, Regulations, and Bye-laws to be framed by the General Council as aforesaid, or any future alterations or amendments thereof, shall be of no force or effect unless the same have been submitted to the Sheriffs of Scotland convened as directed by the Act |