Pastomary in addressing the judges of the superior courts of common law.

The lord chief justice of England for the time being is to be president of the high court of justice in the absence of the lord chancellor.

The "Court of Appeal" is to be constituted of five ex officio juiges, and also so many ordinary judges (not exceeding niue at any one time) as her Majesty shall appoint. The ex officio judges to be the lord chancellor, the lord chief justice of England, the master of the Rolls, the lord chief justice of the Common Pleas, and the lord chief baron. The first ordinary judges of the court to be the existing lords justices of appeal in chancery, the existing salaried judges of the judicial committee, and such three other persons as her Majesty may be pleased to appoint by letters patent. Such appointment may be made either within one month before or at any time after the day appointed for the commencement of this act; but if made before, shall take effect at the

mencement of the act. Besides the ex officio judges and the wiinary judges, her Majesty may appoint as aditional judges of the court of appeal, any persons who, having held in England the ce of a judge of the superior courts of Westminster hereby anted and consolidated, or of her Majesty's supreme court hereby constituted, or in Scotland the office of lord justice general

lord justice clerk, or in Ireland the office of lord chancellor or lerd justice of appeal, or in India the office of chief justice of the bigh court of judicature at Fort William in Bengal, or Madras, or Bombay, signify in writing their willingness to serve. The judges of the court of appeal are to be styled lords justices of appeal, and are to have equal power, authority, and jurisdiction, except as therwise expressly provided in the act. The lord chancellor is be the president of the court of appeal. Any new judge to be pointed must be of ten years' standing, and on his appointment need not be made a serjeant-at-law.

No judge can be elected to serve in the House of Commons, and yjadge but the lord chancellor must take the oath of allegiance

the judicial oath as defined by "The Promissory Oaths A 168." The oaths to be taken by the lord chancellor are to tinae the same as before.

The rights and obligations of existing judges are to remain tered by the act; and no judge appointed before the passing the act is to be required to go on circuit unless he was liable ustomed to do so at the commencement of the act. Subject the rights of existing judges, the following salaries are to be paid, including in each case any pension granted in respect of any Puhe office previously filled by him, to which the judge may be titled:

To the lord chancellor, the sums hitherto payable to him;
To the lord chief justice of England, the master of the Rolls,

the lord chief justice of the Common Pleas, and the lord chief baron of the Exchequer, the same annual sums which the holders of those offices respectively received before.

To each of the ordinary judges of the court of Appeal; and, To each of the other judges of the high court of justice, the sum of five thousand pounds a year.

No salary is to be payable to any additional judge of the court of Appeal appointed under this act;

The retiring pensions of the future judges of high court of jus tice, and ordinary judges of court of Appeal, are in the case of the lord chief justice of England, the master of the Rolls, the lord chief justice of the Common Pleas, and the lord chief baron of the Exchequer, to be the same amount of pension which at present might under the same circumstances be granted to the holder of the sain office and in the case of any ordinary judge of the court o Appeal or any other judge of the high court of justice, to be th same amount of pension which at present might under the sam circumstances be granted to a puisne justice of the court of Queen' Bench.

The second part has reference to jurisdiction and law, and set forth the business to be conferred on both courts and the transfe of pending business. By section 16, the high court of justice i made a superior court of record, and there is vested in it jurisdiction which at the commencement of the act was vested i the courts of Chancery and Common Law, and the courts Admiralty, Probate, and Divorce, and in the London court Bankruptcy, and the court of Common Pleas at Lancaster, and Pleas at Durham, and also in the assize courts. By section 18, t appellate branch of the high court has transferred to it the appe late jurisdiction of the court of Appeal in Chancery, both as chancery and bankruptcy appeals, and also the jurisdiction of t court of Appeal in Chancery of the county palatine of Lancast and the jurisdiction of the chancellor of the duchy and coun palatine of Lancaster, and of the lord warden of the Stannarit and all jurisdiction of the court of Exchequer chamber, and jurisdiction vested in the judicial committee of the privy coun upon appeal from the court of Admiralty, or from any order lunacy made by the lord chancellor or any other person havi jurisdiction in lunacy. By the 19th section, the court of Appeal empowered, subject to the rules and regulations contained in t act, and to the rules and orders made pursuant to the act, to h and determine appeals from the high court of justice; and by s tion 20 it is declared that there shall be no appeal from the h court or court of Appeal to the House of Lords or judicial co mittee. The Queen is empowered by section 21 to transfer by or in council the appellate jurisdiction of the judicial committee to court of Appeal.

The court of Appeal, when hearing any appeals in ecclesiasti

es, is to be constituted of such and so many of the judges thereof, and is to be assisted by such assessors, being archbishops or bishops of the Church of England, as her Majesty, by any ceneral rules made with the advice of the judges of the said court, or any five of them (of whom the lord chancellor is to be one), and the archbishops and bishops who are members of her Majesty's privy council, or any two of them (such rules to be made by order in council), may think fit to direct. The rules must be laid before ach house of Parliament within 40 days of the making them, if Parliament be sitting, and if not, then within 40 days of the commencement of the next session, and then rules can be annulled by an order in council made by her Majesty in consequence of an address from either house. The 22nd section deals with the transfer of pending business, and provides for the giving judgment in causes that have been fully heard at the time of the commencement of the act, but have not been decided. The 24th section declares that in every civil cause or matter commenced in the high court of justice, Aw and equity shall be administered in the high court of justice and the court of Appeal respectively, according to the rules laid

The 25th section delares the rules of law in certain points which are to prevail in future, and declares that in questions relating to the custody and education of infants the rules of equity shall prevail, and in all matters, except as in the act mentioned, in which the rules of equity and common law are at variance, the rules of equity shall prevail.

The third part of the statute relates to sittings and distribution of business. The division of the legal year into terms is to be abolished so far as relates to the administration of justice. Vacations may be appointed, and in London or Middlesex during vacation provision is to be made by rules of the court for the hearing of cases in London or Middlesex. There are to be "five" divisions, called the Chancery division, the Queen's Bench division, the Common Pleas division, the Exchequer division, and the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty division. Rules of court are to provide for the distribution of business, and there are to be divisional

Subject to rules of court, any plaintiff may choose in what division he will sue, but any cause or matter may at any stage of the proceedings be transferred, by such authority as the rules of court may direct, from one division of the high court to another. There is a provision in the act as to crown cases reserved to be heard by the judges of the high court.

The fourth part refers to "Trial and Procedure" and the appointment of referees, a new feature in legal jurisprudence. By the 60th section, her Majesty is empowered to establish district registries in the country for the supreme court.

By the 68th section, rules of court may be made by order in council

before commencement of the act. Such rules are to be laid before Parliament, and may be annulled on address from either house. The rules contained in the schedule to the act are to come into immediate operation, and are to remain in force till changed by other rules after commencement of act. Criminal procedure, subject to future rules, remains unaltered. And the act is not to affect the rules of evidence, or the law relating to juries. The existing procedure of courts, when not inconsistent with this act or rules, is to continue to be made use of.

The supreme court may at any time, with the concurrence of a majority of the judges (of which the chancellor is to be one), present at any meeting held for that purpose, make and alter rules after the commencement of the act. Section 75 declares that there is to be a yearly meeting of the judges on days to be fixed by the lord chancellor, with the concurrence of the lord chief justice of England, for the purpose of considering the operation of the act and the rules in force, and acts of parliament relating to former courts are to be read as applying to courts under this act.

The fifth part relates to "Officers and Offices," the sixth to the "Jurisdiction of Inferior Courts," and the seventh contains "Miscellaneous Provisions," containing an interpretation of terms used in the act. The schedule as to the rules of procedure is an important part of the new law, and will effect considerable alteration in the practice of the courts.

Every action in the high court is to be commenced by a writ of summons, which is to be endorsed with a statement of the nature of the claim made, or of the relief or remedy required in the action, and which is to specify the division of the high court to which it is intended that the action should be assigned.

Forms of writs and of endorsements thereon, applicable to the several ordinary causes of action, are to be prescribed by rules of court, and any costs incurred by the use of any more prolix or other forms are to be borne by the party using the same, unless the court otherwise directs.

All actions which have hitherto been commenced by writ in the superior courts of common law at Westminster, or in the court o Common Pleas at Lancaster, or in the court of Pleas at Durham and all suits which have hitherto been commenced by bill or infor mation in the high court of Chancery, or by a cause in rem or i personam in the high court of Admiralty, or by citation or other wise in the court of Probate, are in future to be instituted in th high court of justice by a proceeding to be called an action.

All other proceedings in and applications to the high court may subject to rules of court, be taken and made in the same manne as they would have been taken and made in any court in which an proceeding or application of the like kind could have been taken made if this act had not passed.

In the absence of any agreement between the parties, and subject to any rules of court applicable to any particular class of cases, the witnesses at the trial of any cause or at any assessment of damages, are to be examined vivâ voce and in open court; but the court or a judge may at any time for sufficient reason order that any particular fact or facts may be proved by affidavit, or that the affidavit of any witness may be read at the hearing or trial, on such conditions as the court or judge may think reasonable, or that acy witness whose attendance in court ought for some sufficient cause to be dispensed with, be examined by interrogatories or otherwise before a commissioner or examiner; provided that where it appears to the court or judge that the other party bonâ fide desires the production of a witness for cross-examination, and that such witness can be produced, an order may not be made authorizing the evidence of such witness to be given by affidavit.

Subject to the provisions of this act, the costs of and incident to all proceedings in the high court are to be in the discretion of the court; but nothing in the act contained is to deprive a trustee, mortgagee, or other person, of any right to costs out of a particular estate or fund to which he would be entitled according to the rules Eitherto acted upon in courts of equity.

The new rules will be published some time before the operation of the act in November, 1874, and it will take a considerable period before the working qualities of the new law will be brought out in the concurrent administration of law and equity.

PART III.

LAWS AFFECTING CLASSES.

It will be well next to consider the relationship with each other of the different subdivisions and classes into which society in this country is divided and the various laws by which they are exclusively affected, which will form the subject of this part.

We shall commence by a short account of the laws relating to education.

CHAPTER I.

Education.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY. The constitution and government of this national foundation was sought to be reformed in 1854 by the