during the progress of the work, all the known statutes of any preceding reign shall have become wholly consolidated and reenacted or repealed, there shall be a declaration of Parliament, which shall receive the assent of the Crown, that no statute passed in such reign shall have any further force or effect whatever.1 So that by degrees, and, as I hope, at no unreasonably distant date, the whole of our now existing Statute Law may either be consolidated and re-enacted in a compact, connected, intelligible form, or else wholly repealed, swept away, abolished, and put out of sight. And I pray with all my heart that this noble work, than 'the which,' Bacon thought, 'nothing would tend more to the praise'2 of Elizabeth, may be accomplished under the auspices of Victoria, who, to so many claims upon our affection peculiarly her own, will then add a further one in her new character of a better, an English and constitutional Justinian."

Transfer of Land. The state of the Law on this subject amounts to a national disgrace; and we are not surprised that our American sisters call upon us to remove it.3 But

are made by Barrington, in p. 503. of the Appendix to his book on Statutes. I value the confirmation which mine receive from his too much to say, 'Pereant qui ante nos nostra dixere.' It is proposed that two or more barristers should be appointed, who from year to year might make a report to the Privy Council, as likewise to the Lord Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, and the Twelve Judges, of a certain number of statutes which should either be repealed or reduced into one consistent Act. It may be proper also that they should at the same time transmit such statutes as they propose to substitute in the room of those which seem liable to objection. There will then be the whole vacation for the consideration of such intended alterations, and if they should be approved of they might pass into laws the subsequent Session of Parliament.’ See also the able papers presented to Parliament in 1838, drawn up by Mr. Arthur Symonds. They embody the substance of the reports of several committees on the state of the Statute Law, recommending the appointment of permanent revisers of statutes, which recommendation is strongly supported by Mr. Symonds himself. They also contain very useful suggestions as to the mode of drawing Bills which have been since partially acted upon. And see the Report of a Committee of the Law Amendment Society, 1 L. R.,

p. 134." 1 66 By the 79th article of Locke's Code for Carolina, it is provided that all Acts of Parliament shall, at the end of 100 years after they have been enacted, become null and void without any repeal.

2" First Speech in Parliament. In his 59th Aphorism he calls such a work, "Opus heroicum."

3 The address of the American women to their sisters of England, at the commencement of the present year, states, among other grievances affecting England, the following: :-"You owe to them (the poor) every facility with

this is now so obvious to all, that the only question is the mode in which it shall be done; and we do not despair of a solution in the present Session. We invite attention to the Bill which Mr. Drummond proposes to introduce, which (although we are not acquainted with its details) we are satisfied will be right in principle; and we trust it may receive the support of the Government, unless, indeed, they introduce a Bill of their own.

Lastly, Consolidation of Jurisdictions and Fusion of Law and Equity. To the paper which commences this Number, we refer with melancholy' satisfaction as a masterly argument for thus assimilating the Legal Procedure of the chief nations of the Anglo-Saxon race. We shall be soon outstripped by our colonial possessions. In the settlement which is to take place with the East India Company in the ensuing Session, we shall be surprised if the principle of FUSION be not introduced into the Courts of the Presidencies; and the Judges of New Zealand have led the way by recommending it for that Colony,—a course which, we have reason to think, will be followed by the whole of the Australian group. Indeed, it is obvious that in the Colonies, Courts having a conjoined jurisdiction in Law and Equity must be advantageous, and could be easily introduced both as to Judges and Practitioners, to say nothing of relieving the admiral on the station from his duties as Chancellor. But in the mother country this great question must be satisfactorily disposed of. Whatever subject is to be first proceeded with, this, remaining unsettled, will be a stumbling-block. Consolidation of Laws Codification - Transfer of Land - Ecclesiastical Courts all these are to be brought before Parliament; but we submit that none of them can be settled satisfactorily

which you can surround their conflicts amid the obstacles of life; - facility to obtain land," &c. &c.

We are permitted to mention that we owe this valuable contribution to a proper study of Legal Procedure to Mr. Smillie, late Advocate-General of South Australia. Soon after its completion, he proceeded to Italy, in bad health, but died at Paris on the 11th of December. He was the son of the late Matthew Smillie, solicitor, at Leith, and has left a widow and children to deplore their loss. He was much esteemed by all who knew him, and we consider his early death a great loss to the cause of scientific Law Reform.

without first dealing with the question of whether complete justice in every matter should not be done by giving every Judge in the land the conjoined powers at present vested in various Judicatures. These are the questions now ripe for settlement, and to which we hope and believe the present Government will direct its attention, and which will be brought before the Parliament now about to assemble.

We have endeavoured, impartially, to weigh the merits of the two Governments with respect to the Amendment of the Law; and we trust that that now in power will not disappoint the expectations which we have formed of them. We cannot say that we regret the resignation of the Great Seal by Lord St. Leonards; and it is only fair to his successor to state, that we have reason to believe that the stories which were circulated, of his being requested by the Earl of Aberdeen to continue in office, had no foundation whatever. If such offer had been made, we do not doubt that it would not have been accepted; but no such offer, as we believe, was made.

It is fair to add, in mentioning the respective merits of the two administrations, that much was to be expected from the Irish law officers of the Earl of Derby. The AttorneyGeneral (Mr. Napier) brought in four Bills for the settlement of the land question in that country, which deserve great attention. The Solicitor-General brought in a Bill which adopted as its basis the principle of a fusion of Law and Equity. It is impossible that these Bills can be sacrificed by the change of administration; the only consequence of this will surely be that their extension and applicability to England will be carefully considered by the present Law Authorities of the Crown.

Jan. 28. 1853.

INDEX

THE SEVENTEENTH VOLUME.

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