MR. JAMES ALEXANDER REID-better known perhaps even among lawyers as Colonel Reid-whose portrait we reproduce in the new official gown of the Dean of the Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow, is, as one would infer from his present office, at the head of the legal profession in Glasgow.

The Dean was highly distinguished as a student in the law classes in the University of Glasgow, and early in his professional career was recognised as an able conveyancer, and many years ago entered the old-established firm of M'Grigor, Donald, & Co., and of that firm he is now senior partner. His success as a lawyer in Glasgow is due, not only to his intimate knowledge of the law and his capacity for affairs, but to his wide knowledge of men, derived probably in no small part from his experience in the volunteer force in Scotland. His sound judgment and legal acumen are held in high esteem by his professional brethren, and his services as arbiter have been for years in requisition. The thorough appreciation by the legal profession of the qualities shown by him in the course of an honourable career was manifested in June, 1903, when he was unanimously elected Dean of Faculty.

Mr. Reid is the first to wear the distinctive gown which will henceforth be officially worn by successive Deans of the Faculty, by historical succession probably the oldest legal body in Scotland and certainly one of the oldest chartered societies in the country. It is interesting to note that the design of the gown is, so far as can now be ascertained, that appropriate to lawyers under the provisions of the Act of the Scots Parliament, passed in the reign of James VI., intituled "Act of Apparrels of Judges, Magistrattis, and Kirkmen." The robe is of black silk, with pleader's sleeves, to which has been added-in recognition of the scarlet gowns worn in former times by members of the Faculty when practising in the

E

Commissary Court-scarlet silk on the shoulders and scarlet silk facings.

In all the affairs of the Faculty the Dean takes a keen and lively interest, and he ungrudgingly gives his time, knowledge, and wide experience to promote the welfare and protect the rights of the members and to maintain a high standard of professional conduct in Glasgow. Socially also, he has done much to bring the members into friendly intercourse. A keen golf player, he recently instituted a golf tournament for members, and most enjoyable matches in connection with the tournament are played within his grounds at Mugdock Castle.

The Dean is well known as a Freemason and also as clerk to the Incorporation of Wrights. The same qualities which have distinguished the Dean as a lawyer have been displayed by him in many other capacities, but it is in volunteer circles in Scotland that his name is best known. Entering the 1st Lanarkshire Rifles as a private, he was soon known as a first-class rifle shot, and he rose step by step until he reached the rank of colonel of that crack regiment. He retained command for a number of years, and earned, along with the love and respect of his subordinates, the high appreciation of the General Officers under whom he served. Speaking of his abilities as a commanding officer, General Sir Archibald Hunter, in a report to the War Office, dated November, 1902, said, "Colonel Reid is a host in himself. No officer of volunteers has done more by individual effort and example to promote efficiency, good feeling, friendly rivalry, and hearty comradeship amongst Scottish volunteers than has Colonel Reid. He commands his own regiment. He knows his work and does it; and expects others to do likewise." This tribute to the ability and energy of the Colonel may with equal force and truth be applied to the Dean.

THE SHERIFF COURT BILL.

WITH the near approach of the opening of Parliament, the hopes of the lawyers once more rise to the possibility of this long-delayed bill seeing the light, and this has been a hope long deferred, but the final draft of the bill is understood to be now engaging the personal attention of the Lord Advocate, who has always taken a keen personal interest in the subject, and has several times recently, on the platform and in the House, promised such legislation. It is now nearly ten years since the Departmental Committee was appointed, and three years since they made their report. A bill was long ago so the subject cannot

prepared, but it has not yet seen the light, certainly be said to have been rushed. The committee of

representative lawyers, however, which was formed immediately after the Departmental Committee reported, the chairman of which is Sheriff Fyfe, of Glasgow, may be trusted not to let the matter drift. A good deal has happened since the bill was first drafted. Amongst other Occurrences a new Workmen's Compensation Act has been passed, with a clause abolishing jury trial in workmen's claims for injury. The Lord Advocate's somewhat cryptic utterances in the debate on that clause pointed to an intention of giving the workmen a substituted remedy in the local Courts, and much curiosity prevails as to how he means to accomplish this. In other respects also it is expected that the hand of Lord Advocate Shaw will be seen in the forthcoming bill, and his is no 'prentice hand. The consolidation of the Sheriff Court statutes is no easy task, and it is not the kind of work which can be hurried. But if rumour correctly reports that a bill is actually now in print, we may perhaps hope that it will be one of the earliest measures presented to Parliament. If the proposal to set up a Scotch Grand Committee takes effect, one could hardly imagine a more appropriate bill with which to start their career than that designed to reconstitute and rejuvenate that venerable institution, the Sheriff Court of Scotland.

If the bill follows, as it is expected to do, the lines of the Departmental Committee's report, it will provide to the legal mind a very full meal, which will stand in need of a good digestive, and this, we are happy to announce, we hope to be able to offer, simultaneous with the meal, in the shape of a treatise upon the new code, written by Sheriff Fyfe, who has, during the last ten years, so ably engineered the Sheriff Court reform movement, and who, from his unique experience, is peculiarly fitted to present the commentary upon the Act which will be a necessity. It is, in anticipation, even now in active preparation, and will, we are assured, be eagerly welcomed by the legal profession.

THE OWNER'S RISK NOTE.

We have received from Mr. James Thom Jeffrey, advocate in Aberdeen, secretary of the Aberdeen Granite Association, the report of a special committee of the Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce, presented to that body on 9th October last. That the subject has been occupying the attention of Aberdonian business men for some time back is obvious from the fact that a memorandum as to the owner's risk note, also sent to us, was printed by Mr. Jeffrey in November, 1904, for the information of his association. It is not only in the Granite City, however, that the question has recently been canvassed, but, as the

report informs us, many Chambers of Commerce in England as well as other bodies, have recorded their desire to see this restriction of the carrier's liability abolished. The Aberdeen Chamber has resolved that its council should transmit a resolution based upon the report to the next annual meeting of the Association of Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom, while the Wakefield Chamber had already indicated a willingness to second at that meeting any remedial motion proposed by Aberdeen. Though the Scotch Chambers of Commerce, other than Aberdeen, do not seem to have moved in the matter, we feel that there is a great deal to be said for the contention of the Chamber of Commerce of that city that the company's risk rates are too high, that the companies are unduly careless with goods sent at owner's risk, and that it is seldom possible to obtain legal redress for damage caused by such carelessness, as the railway servants naturally cannot be got to give evidence of their own wilful misconduct. It would therefore appear not unreasonable that an attempt should be made to get the law altered so as to render it illegal for the carrier to contract out of his common law liability, which has the approval of many generations behind it. We should, however, also like to hear the other side; for if the trader is liable to loss arising from collusion, &c., against which the old edict nautæ caupones used to protect him, has not the carrier the annoyance of bogus and overstated claims against which to contend?

THE OPERATION OF THE DOGS ACT.
NEW ACT OF SEDERUNT.

IN our November issue we dealt briefly with the provisions of the new Dogs Act which came into operation on 1st January last. The statute, as was pointed out, has made considerable alteration in the law of damages for injuries by dog bite, or otherwise; there are new provisions for treatment of dangerous or derelict dogs by the police; it provides for the wearing of collars by dogs with the names and addresses of their respective owners in public places; their seizure, custody, and return to owners by the police, or, if they remain unclaimed, their destruction by the authorities. By the 5th section of the Act provision is made for the passing of an Act of Sederunt by the Court for giving effect to certain provisions in an Act of 1878 regarding the exemption of certain dogs from duty, and just before the Court rose for Christmas recess the Lords prepared the necessary Act of Sederunt, which is dated 22nd December last, and has now been issued. This Act is intended to regulate the procedure in applications under the new dog statute to a Sheriff for a consent to the granting of a certificate