CAP. 5.-An Act for punishing Mutiny and Desertion, and for the better Payment of the Army, and their Quarters. [13th April, 1835.] CAP. 6. An Act to indemnify the Governor-General and other Persons in respect of certain acts done in the Administration of the Government of the British Territories in the East Indies subsequent to the twenty-second day of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirty four, and to make those acts valid. [13th April, 1835.] CAP. 7.-An Act for the regulation of his Majesty's Royal Marine Forces while on Shore. [13th April, 1835.] CAP. 8.-An Act for the more effectual abolition of Oaths and Affirmations taken and made in various Departments of the State, and to substitute Declarations in lieu thereof; and for the more entire suppression of voluntary and extra-judicial Oaths and Affidavits. [12th June, 1835.]

S. 1. In cases where by any Act or Acts relating to the customs, excise, or other offices, any oath or affidavit may be required to be taken or made by any person, the Lords of the Treasury may substitute a declaration in lieu of such oath or affidavit.

S. 2. Such substitution of a declaration to be inserted in the London Gazette; and after twenty-one days from the date of the instrument of substitution, the provisions of this Act to apply.

S. 3. After such period of twenty-one days it shall not be lawful to administer or take an oath in lieu of which such declaration has been directed.

S. 4. If any person shall make a false declaration in matters relating to the customs, excise, stamps, and taxes, or post-office, an additional penalty of 100l. to be inflicted.

S. 5. The oath of allegiance still to be required in all cases as heretofore.

S. 6. Oaths in judicial proceedings in courts of justice, and in proceedings by way of summary conviction before justices, to be required as heretofore.

S. 7. Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and other bodies corporate and politic, may substitute a declaration in lieu of an oath.

S. 8. Churchwardens and sidesmen, on entering into office, to make and subscribe a declaration in lieu of the oath hitherto required.

S. 9. In cases under turnpike trusts, a declaration to be made in lieu of an oath.

S. 10. Same provisions on taking out a patent.

S. 11. Where by any Acts for regulating the business of pawnbrokers, an oath or affidavit is required, a declaration to be made and subscribed in lieu thereof; and all enactments and penalties relating to such oaths to apply to declarations.

S. 12. Justices not to administer oaths or affidavits touching any matter whereof they have no jurisdiction by statute: provided that this shall not extend to any oath in any matter touching the preservation of the peace, or the prosecution, trial, or punishment of offences.

S. 13. Fees hitherto payable on oaths to be payable on declarations in lieu thereof.

S. 14. False declarations to be punishable as perjury; and in any indictment for such offence, it shall be sufficient to allege generally that the declaration therein charged to have been falsely made was a declaration duly substituted in lieu of an oath.

S. 15. This Act to take effect from June 15, 1835.

S. 16. May be altered this session.

CAP. 9.—An Act to apply a Sum of Eight Millions, out of the Consolidated Fund, to the Service of the year one thousand eight hundred and thirtyfive. [17th June, 1835.] CAP. 10.-An Act to allow, until the twenty-eighth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, the Importation of certain Articles, Duty-free, into the Island of Dominica, and to indemnify the Governor and others for having permitted the Importation of such Articles Dutyfree. [3d July, 1835.] CAP. 11.-An Act to indemnify such Persons in the United Kingdom as have omitted to qualify themselves for Offices and Employments, and for extending the time limited for those purposes respectively until the twentyfifth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six; to permit such Persons in Great Britain as have omitted to make and file Affidavits of the execution of Indentures of Clerks to Attornies and Solicitors, to make and file the same on or before the first day of Hilary Term, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six; and to allow Persons to make and file such Affidavits, although the Persons whom they served shall have neglected to take out their annual Certificates. [3d July, 1835.]

CAP. 12.-An Act for continuing to his Majesty, until the fifth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, certain Duties on Sugar imported into the United Kingdom, for the Service of the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five. [3d July, 1835.]

CAP. 13.-An Act to regulate the Importation of Corn into the Isle of Man. [3d July, 1835.] CAP. 14. An Act to continue to the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, and from thence to the end of the then next Session of Parliament, an Act of the tenth year of his late Majesty's reign, for providing for the Government of his Majesty's Settlements in Western Australia on the Western Coast of New Holland.

[3d July, 1835.]

EVENTS OF THE QUARTER.

No material change has taken place in any of the superior Courts at Westminster within the last three months, which, considering the state of the highest (the Chancellor's), is a lamentable announcement to make. Complaints are heard on all hands of the inconvenience which placing the Seals in the hands of the three existing Commissioners has produced; but the government have unfortunately no lawyer properly qualified whom they can trust, and the press of other matters has hitherto prevented them from resorting to the final measure of division, as suggested by Lord Brougham. He suggested it, no doubt, under the expectation of being able to select whichever half might best please him for himself; little thinking that the almost unanimous voice of the profession and the public would so soon denounce him as glaringly unfit for either-unfit by reason of his indiscretion and bad faith for the political part, and unfit by reason of his notorious ignorance of law for the judicial one.

Most of the Bills mentioned in our last Number as pending are still before one or the other of the Houses of Parliament. Amongst these the Imprisonment for Debt Bill deserves particular mention, for clause after clause has been added to it until it presents a truly formidable mass of alteration; too formidable, we trust, for the legislature to grapple with at this season of the year, notwithstanding the unseemly haste with which the Attorney-General seems anxious to accelerate it. It may be as well, at all events, for members of parliament to know that the Bill in question goes far beyond the simple object originally proposed by it. Besides abolishing imprisonment for debt on mesne process, it dispenses in the great majority of actions with all the ordinary proceedings between process and judgment, thus enabling the plaintiff to spring to execution at a bound-reverses or replaces the whole known method of proceeding against debtors—and even supersedes the present country commissioners of bankruptcy, who, we should suppose, have already been changed often enough to satisfy the most ardent votary of innovation. There is now to be one circuiteering judge or commissioner for each county; a plan which will probably not last a year from its commencement. It seems also that the Court of Review, the uselessness and impolicy of which have been proved to demonstration, is to be bolstered up anew, with the view of its forming part of the machinery rendered necessary by the Bill. Surely a measure of so sweeping a character should not be hurried over during the morning sittings, and at a period when most of the lawyers are necessarily absent from the House. The ample patronage the Bill proposes to vest in the government sufficiently accounts for the avowed readiness of the ministry to second the zeal of their law-officer in its behalf.

There has been a complete silence upon the subject of Local Courts, with the exception of a few remarks elicited during the debates on the Corporation Bill; from which it appears that the scheme is not so much abandoned as postponed. In the Corporation Bill itself, we are happy to find that the principle advocated in our last Number, of vesting the judicial appointments in the Crown, has been adopted. The discussion of this subject has contributed to throw light on a state of things to which we formerly adverted in illustration of the unwillingness of the people to resort to inferior tribunals so long as superior lie open to them. We allude to the

existence in numerous towns of Courts of competent jurisdiction for the trial of civil cases, presided over by judges full as competent on the average as those Lord Brougham's or any other Local Court Bill would create; in which, notwithstanding, no causes are commenced, or are commenced only with a view to their immediate removal to the superior Courts.

The Prisoner's Counsel Bill has passed the Commons by a majority of one; a sufficient proof that it was opposed to the conviction of the House; for many members voted for it with exclusive reference to its alleged liberality and popularity. It is now under the consideration of a select committee of the Lords, and will not improbably be rejected, or stand over, after all. For ourselves, we think that its importance has been greatly overrated, and that it is capable neither of so much good nor of so much evil as its advocates and adversaries contend; but we anticipate much more evil than good from it if passed. Criminal trials differ essentially from civil causes in this--that the jury have no conflicting claims to balance, no complicated questions of damages or liability to adjust: one simple question (guilty or not guilty) is submitted to them, and in nineteen cases out of twenty, this question may be answered, without hesitating, immediately on the conclusion of the evidence. Will any good result from the introduction of a new element, from exposing juries to have their own plain impressions disordered by the glosses counsel may put upon the facts? or will even the prisoner be a gainer by the privilege, with a judge released from the direct responsibility of protecting him, and a prosecuting counsel set free from the restraints imposed on this peculiar department of advocacy? The additional time, too, during which the judges will be occupied must be taken into the account, as we fear it will be found impossible to restrict the exertion of the privilege to cases of difficulty or doubt. This effect will be comparatively immaterial so long as no alteration in the system is made necessary by it; but if additional judges should be required in consequence, the whole administration of justice will suffer by the change. The expense of keeping prisoners and witnesses in assize towns will also be proportionally augmented.

Lord Lyndhurst has introduced an act for legitimatizing the children of marriages within the prohibited degrees, unless the validity of the marriage be impugned within a limited period (two years, we believe,) from the celebration. At present such marriages may be impugned at any time during the lifetime of the contracting parties.

A Report from the Commissioners appointed under 1 Will. IV. c. 58, to investigate the nature and amount of Fees in the Common Law Courts, has been made public. The principal recommendations are, that the offices in the King's Bench and Common Pleas shall be consolidated as in the Exchequer, and that four masters or prothonotaries, with clerks or assistants, shall be established in each of the three courts. We shall return to the subject in our next Number.

A Second Report has also been presented by the Criminal Law Commissioners, on the subject of a suggested consolidation of the Statute Law. It is to be hoped that they have discovered by this time that they themselves are not the first or only persons to whom the notion of consolidating any portion of the Statute Law had suggested itself; that, in short, nine-tenths of the operative Statute Law of Crime have been consolidated under the directions of Lord Lansdowne and Sir Robert Peel.

LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

The Law Dictionary, explaining the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the British Law; defining and interpreting the Terms or Words of Art, and comprising also copious Information on the Subjects of Trade and Government. By Sir Thomas Edlyne Tomlins, Knt. of the Inner Temple, Barrister at Law. The Fourth Edition, with extensive Additions, embodying the whole of the recent Alterations in the Law. By Thomas Colpitts Granger, Esq. of the Inner Temple, Barrister at Law. In Two Volumes 4to. Price 4l. 4s. boards.

The last Edition of this Work was published fifteen years ago. The Editor, therefore, has had the arduous duty of incorporating all the material changes in every branch of the Law that have taken place since ; and he appears to have executed his task with sound judgment and ability.

A Digest of the Law of Evidence in Criminal Cases. By Henry Roscoe, Esq. of the Inner Temple, Barrister at Law. In 12mo. price 1l. 1s. boards.

An indispensable companion for circuits and sessions.

Digest of the Cases argued and determined in the Arches and Prerogative Courts of Canterbury, the Consistory Court of London, and in the High Courts of Delegates; and contained in the Reports of Sir George Lee, Phillimore, Addams, and Haggard. Dedicated, by permission, to the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Gloucester. By Edwin Maddy, Esq. D. C. L., Barrister at Law, and Deputy Chancellor of the Diocese of Gloucester. In royal 8vo. price 15s. boards.

A Manual of the Law and Practice of Registration of Voters, in England and Wales, under the 2d Wm. IV., c. 45; more especially adapted to the Use of Local Committees and Persons engaged in the Courts of the Revising Barristers. By Richard Clarke Sewell, Esq. of the Middle Temple, Barrister at Law. In 12mo. price 4s. boards.

The Practice of the Criminal Courts, including the Proceedings before Magistrates in Petty and Quarter Sessions, and at the Assizes. By George Bolton, Gent. In 12mo. price 9s. boards.

Character of Lord Bacon, his Life, and Works. By Thomas Martin, Barrister at Law. In 12mo. price 6s. cloth boards.

We shall take a future opportunity of noticing this work.

Statement of the Provision for the Poor, and of the Condition of the Labouring Classes, in a considerable Portion of America and Europe. By Nassau William Senior, Esq.; being the Preface to the Foreign Communications contained in the Appendix to the Poor Law Report. In 8vo. price 7s. boards.

A most useful and instructive compilation.