"Questions arising upon testamentary cases may be divided into two classes: 1. Those which arise before probate or administration; 2. Those which arise afterwards.

"The questions which arise before probate or administration are fivefold: 1. Informality; 2. Incapacity; 3. Fraud; 4. Forgery, which are all peculiar to probate; and 5. Succession, which is peculiar to administration. Those which arise after probate or administration are twofold, namely: 1. Construction; 2. Administration of Assets.

"It has been considered that little, if any, difference exists between the registration of a will and the grant of probate. The registration of a will consists in ascertaining the papers which constitute it, and providing a proper depository for it. By a grant of probate, not only are the papers constituting the will ascertained and a proper depository provided for them, but, in addition thereto, the legal contents of the will are determined, a personal representative to the estate is created, and the collection of the probate, administration, and legacy duties is effected or facilitated.

"Under the present law grants of probate and administration affect personal property only: but it is now proposed, where the deceased has left a will, to extend such grants to real estate. No provision for real estate has been made in cases of intestacy, because real estate passes by succession to one person, or to one class of persons; whereas personal property, in cases of intestacy, passes under the Statute of Distribution to many persons and to several classes of persons, viz. the next of kin of the deceased. The interests of creditors in respect of real estate seem to be sufficiently protected.

"If the same Court is to decide on the validity of wills of real and personal estate there must be the same mode of trial; and, without reference to the superiority of one description of testimony or the other, the decision by a jury, upon vivá voce evidence, as to the validity of a will of real estate, is so firmly established as the Law of the land, and so consonant to the feelings of the community, that no one would venture to suggest an alteration in that respect. Eccles. Com. Rep. p. 31. It is proposed, that in all cases the validity of a will shall be tried by vivâ voce evidence, and where the parties desire it by a jury.

"It is proposed to give and transfer to the High Court of Chancery jurisdiction over all matters with respect to the granting

tration with the will annexed affecting real and personal estate; or administration of the personal estate of deceased persons dying intestate, and to constitute a Court to be called 'Her Majesty's High Appellate Court of Probate and Administration for England and Wales,' with appellate jurisdiction over all such matters. This Court is to consist of the Lord High Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, a Common Law Judge, and an Ecclesiastical Judge, and one or two other persons who have held the office of Lord Chancellor of Great Britain or of Ireland: of whom three shall constitute a Court. It is also proposed that the Queen shall appoint so many fit persons as may be needed to act as Her Majesty's Judges of the Court of Chancery in Probate and Administration. These Judges will also have jurisdiction and authority over the foregoing subjects."

No scheme could possibly hope for success which did not embrace a general registry of wills in the Metropolis. Mr. Stephens's plan, as it abolishes the Diocesan Courts, also dispenses with their inefficient local registries.

"There cannot be expected, and in fact, there are not to be found, safe places of custody for the wills to be deposited in the registries; and thereby the most important titles to real and personal estate may be endangered. In admitting testamentary papers to probate in common form, according to the existing state of the Law, an accurate knowledge of the rules which ought to govern the practice is very essential; but where the opportunities of acquiring experience are few, such accuracy cannot be attained. In cases where it is necessary to make searches, the multiplication of Courts, for the probate of wills, greatly increases the trouble and expense.

"The convenience and advantages of having in the Metropolis one place of perfect security, under the absolute control of the Queen's Court of Probate and Administration, where may be found all testamentary instruments sanctioned by probate, and where the utmost facility may be afforded for inspection and obtaining copies at a reasonable expense, are so obvious as not to require any arguments to support them, more especially as the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, in their Report of 1832, expressed a decided opinion as to the imperative necessity of having a Metropolitan Registry of Wills. Under the plan proposed this desideratum will be supplied without retaining local registries, which, besides other disadvantages, would entail an unnecessary

expense upon the humble classes in the country, by making it requisite to have a double copy of every will, while in London this would not be required."

We are glad to record the following regulations for the appointment of the officers and the publicity of the proceedings of the Courts, and to observe, that the interests of the articled clerks of the proctors have not been overlooked:

"The appointments of the Chief Clerk, the Treasurer, the Proctors, and all other officers are given to the Lord Chancellor; and every judge and officer under this Act will be paid by a fixed salary, regulated by the Treasury. In addition to this, an annual report of the proceedings, receipts and disbursements of the High Appellate Court, the Court of Chancery in Probate and Administration, and all their officers, must be made and laid before Parliament.

"Under the proposed Bill, Proctors have all the rights and privileges of attorneys and solicitors, and the articled clerks to Proctors have been allowed to practise as attorneys and solicitors at the expiration of five years from the commencement of their clerkship-a measure of justice to which no opposition can be anticipated."

It has been considered by the Lord Chancellor, Dr. Lushington, the late Lord Cottenham, and others, that, in any comprehensive measure of reform, the status of the advocates, registrars, and proctors presented serious and embarrassing difficulties, arising from two causes. First, that, if these gentlemen received compensation, the sum required would be so large that no Minister dare propose it to the House of Commons. Secondly, that if these gentlemen were not compensated, it would, in the abstract, be an act of cruel injustice.

We congratulate Mr. Stephens in having propounded a plan which is not open to these objections, and which is as follows:

Apprehensions exist in the public mind that the abolition of the Ecclesiastical Courts will be attended with considerable expense from the number of persons entitled to compensation. If the provisions of the proposed Bill be adopted, it is asserted with the utmost confidence, that the amount of compensation required:

in order to the good working of the measure, to select the officers of the proposed Courts from among those persons who now hold office or are employed in the Ecclesiastical Courts. These gentlemen, if employed, would receive salaries larger in amount than any sum they could expect by way of compensation; and if reappointed, practically speaking, no compensation will be received. It should also be borne in remembrance that, under the proposed Bill, the Treasury have the regulation of the salaries, and no scale of fees can be applied unless approved of by the High Appellate Court.

"Provision has been made for granting compensation to every Judge or officer of any Ecclesiastical Court holding any office of profit, and removed from his office. The amount of compensation is to be assessed by the Treasury; but if any such person be appointed under the provisions of the proposed Bill, or by the Crown, to any public office or appointment, the payment of the compensation so awarded to him will be suspended. In framing this clause, the language of the Municipal Corporation Act has been adopted.

"If the foregoing Bills be adopted, and the Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Law of Divorce be carried into effect, all existing Ecclesiastical Courts in England and Wales will be abolished. A provision has therefore been made that the letters patent of George the Third, constituting the College of Doctors of Law exercent in the Ecclesiastical Courts a Corporation, be repealed, and its property sold, and the proceeds divided among its members. This is only consistent with public justice because, by the proposed changes, the Advocates as an exclusive bar will be annihilated. It may also be observed, that the Corporation has been entirely supported from the contributions of its members, and is not indebted for any of its possessions either to the Sovereign or to the public."

If these salutary and novel expedients be adopted, we think that neither Doctors or Proctors will have reason to complain. The proctors and other ecclesiastical officers have a right to be placed for the purposes of compensation on the same basis as the old corporation officers, and they have also an undoubted right to be appointed, if eligible, to the offices created under the new system. We believe that the property belonging to the Corporation of Doctors' Commons is worth about 50,000l. or 60,000l., which, if divided among the Doctors, will be to some of them a perfect " God-send."

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POSTSCRIPT.

BEFORE closing this Number, we should allude to two or three subjects which have been already brought before our readers :

THE ASSIMILATION AND REFORM OF THE COMMERCIAL LAW.

THIS reform is proceeding satisfactorily. We have stated at considerable length the proceedings of the Conference held on the 16th of November last, at the rooms of the Law Amendment Society. Since that time, two important steps have been taken towards the object to be obtained—the Assimilation and Improvement of the Commercial Law,

The first of these is, that the present Government has consented to grant a Commission of Inquiry,-which is to consider and report on the Law of Partnership, and more especially of Limited Liabilities, and also on the assimilation of the Commercial Law of the three countries. The exact terms of the Commission, we believe, are not yet settled, but it will consist of members as well of the legal as of the commercial classes, and the interests of London and the provinces and of the three kingdoms will be represented. It is of great importance that all opinions should have their respective champions, and we need hardly say that if there is any timidity or bias shown in the constitution of the Commission, it will not satisfy the public feeling which has called it into existence.

That this is strong and increasing is shown by the second step that has been taken in this matter. The Chamber of Commerce of the town of Liverpool has convened a Conference, "to consider the state of Mercantile Law, and the Judicial System of the United Kingdom," which will have been held before this Number is published. We insert the programme of this Conference, which is as follows: