edition consisting of forty five densely printed quarto volumes.

The several points to which the President of the first department specially directed the attention of his auditors, and many of which afterwards became subjects for discussion,

were:

The Condemnation of Centralisation of the Law Courts in London. Whilst he considered the harmonious decision of all the Courts most desirable, and that the judgments should be uniform and homogeneous, local courts, with local bars of men of talent, were equally indispensable and more in harmony with the British principles of self-government and de-centralisation. He did not think that London should be the legal metropolis of the United Kingdom. What he desired was, an assimilated code, but independent judicature. We have ourselves proofs in Liverpool of the disadvantage and positive injury occasioned by the centralisation of some departments of justice in the metropolis. I may name the Admiralty, and also the Chancery Court, especially the former, which operates to the great detriment of our merchants and shipowners. Happily, our Chamber of Commerce has for some time past endeavoured to get the jurisdiction of the Admiralty Court extended to Liverpool, with an independent Judge; and I trust the time is near when this request, so urgently needed, will be granted.

The speaker then alluded to International Law, which must undergo modification to adapt itself to the altered times in which we live. The dispute about the Alabama, between this country and the United States, is sufficient proof that International Law must be more clearly defined, in the interest of an enduring peace, and in order that reciprocal protection may be extended to the interest of commerce.*

* The Hon. Dudley Field delivered an able address on International Law, on the closing day of the Congress.

He was also desirous that perfect security should be established for the property which intellect creates. He further advocated the importance of a Public Prosecutor for England, as also a Court of Criminal Appeal, rather than that the responsibility and power should be longer placed, in matters of life and death especially, in the hands of the Home Office. I believe that England is the only country in Europe where no Public Prosecutor, nor a Criminal Court of Appeal on facts, exists; even in Ireland and Scotland, the former official is ingrafted on the administration of justice; and it is well understood that many evil-doers in England escape punishment for want of so important and useful an officer as a public prosecutor. Justice O'Hagan further recommended that the Encumbered-Estates Court should be extended to this part of the United Kingdom; and that the Registration of Titles recently introduced in England might become a reality, and be extensively availed of by less cumbersome and less expensive processes. The Chief-Justice reminded his hearers that in this and other legal respects Ireland had long been in advance of England.

The laws relating to the property of married women were also alluded to during the Congress, as most unsatisfactory and unjust, often leading to a degree of suffering, by mothers and children, much to be deplored. We are in this respect greatly behind our French neighbours. These all were considered deserving the attention and serious consideration not only of those who study jurisprudence as a profession or as a science, but of a reformed Parliament, that by wise legislation we may maintain the settled order in which progress grows.

Revision and Restoration of Local Administration of Justice, as it existed during the Roman, Norman, Lancastrian, and Tudor periods, was mentioned at this Congress, as it had been also at previous ones. Our forefathers

seem to have been better aware than we are, of the necessity for local courts in commercial centres, to settle differences and suits, as it was an established rule that, when and wherever a fair was held, a court should daily sit, although that court often consisted only of the manorial chief. If it was necessary then, how much more stand we in need of it now, when in one hour the transactions in a town like Liverpool are probably of greater importance than the whole transactions at one of these fairs. In course of time Local Permanent Courts arose from these fairs; we still have one such in the Passage or Borough Court, which might well be remodelled, and its jurisdiction so enlarged as to answer all the purposes of commerce. It certainly would be more congenial to English ideas and practice than the tribunals of commerce abroad. On this subject also, the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce held some time ago a conference with the Law Association, which showed every disposition to act in harmony with the Chamber's suggestions. Similar ancient Courts of Record in Manchester and Salford are about to be amalgamated, and are to hold daily sittings. I am aware the County Courts do partially supply the want of permanent courts, but their jurisdiction is limited to small amounts.

Justice O'Hagan expressed himself warmly on the withdrawal of the Professors of the Irish language from the Queen's and University Colleges in Ireland, by which the study of such authors as O'Curry and O'Donnovan will be lost to the Irish student. This fact surprised me not a little; and appeared to resemble somewhat the action of Russia with the Poles, who are compelled to abjure their national language; and also of the Government of the Netherlands previous to the Belgian revolution, when Holland forced Belgium to plead, and to furnish all legal documents, in the Dutch language, which was one of the causes that led to the

revolution in 1831. The difference in the jury-laws between England and Scotland was also discussed, and on the whole, the Scotch system, where a majority of nine, after three hours' sitting, may form a lawful decision, was considered the more desirable.

In passing from this department to my next subject— Popular Education-I must commence with a remark which applies equally to Education, Medicine, and Law. Strong objection may be made to the mode by which many students for the legal and medical professions are instructed or prepared for their high calling; and to the facility with which they obtain those important positions on which in one case the life and health, and in the other the prosperity and often happiness and misery, of families and individuals depend.

In Holland, Germany, and on the Continent generally, a member of the one or other of these professions usually studies three years at one of the universities, having first passed through a course of some years' instruction at a gymnasium, in the classics and modern languages, mathematics, ancient and modern history and literature, natural philosophy, political economy, &c. Finally, the examination and promovation of the candidates for either profession are of the most searching description.

Now, how do matters stand in this country? We have two renowned and ancient universities, but their beneficent action is so circumscribed, and they are hampered by so many restrictions and ancient regulations and customs, that but a very limited number of the two professions come from either university. It was stated at a previous Congress, by the Rev. B. Zwecke, chaplain to the Queen, that “in the capital of an agricultural county, with a population amounting to more than 40,000, there was not a single individual, with the exception of some of the clergy, who had received a

university education. In fact, this disregard had now become so wide-spread, that if the bishops were to withdraw the rule they generally act upon, requiring from candidates for holy orders certificates, which imply a university education, our universities would literally collapse for want of students."

In a recent work by the Rev. Mark Pattison, the Rector of Lincoln, On Academical Organisation, these statements of Mr. Zwecke are fully confirmed. He shews that "the universities, especially Oxford, lose their hold more and more on the wealthier classes, and one-third of the students are paid by bounties for coming there."

Even the barrister, the crême de la créme of the legal profession, is not obliged to receive a university education. True, examinations have to be passed. These however are greatly assisted by what is usually called the art of cramming. In fact, the road is too easy to insure either talent worthy of the name or plodding mental labour. I find, on enquiry, that £10 has been lately paid to a crammer in London, who coached a candidate for his examination as solicitor; a moderate amount, forsooth, to obtain the diploma of the foreign avocat or even avoué.

It is then by no means surprising that the ordinary members of the legal profession, viz. solicitors, occupy a much higher position on the Continent than they do in this country. Even the chemists or dispensers of medicine on the continent, although they do not attempt, nor are they allowed to usurp, by prescribing medicines, the place of the regular medical practitioner, have to receive instructions, or attend such lectures as will enable them to pass an examination in medical botany, chemistry, and compounding of medicine. Hence the apothecary or chemist is considered a bona fide member of a learned profession. I know of at least one instance in Holland, and in the town in which I resided, where the chemist I employed was called from the