of fees paid than in any previous year in the history of the Judicial Committee since 1875. The interlocutory motions were also more numerous. Notwithstanding occasional fluctuations, the business of the Judicial Committee tends to increase slightly, while that of the House of Lords remains almost stationary, with a slight tendency to decrease. It is noteworthy that in no fewer than 54 out of 139 appeals no costs were given. Master Macdonell is unable to give us any exact information about the financial position of the Judicial Committee, as no return is made of the total expenditure; but it is believed that the fees defray all salaries, &c., three years out of the four.

Master Macdonell here makes a comparison of the civil business of the Cour de Cassation in France and the Courts of Appeal in Italy, although he is careful to point out that these comparisons are apt to be fallacious as the jurisdictions of the tribunals compared differ greatly, but they are alike in being the ultimate Courts of Appeal. Making due allowance, however, for difference in procedure, it is remarkable that the annual appeals to the final Court of appeal in England and Wales are not 7:03 per cent. of those which came to the corresponding Court in France, and only 2'18 per cent. of those that reach the final Courts in Italy. Of the legal system of most countries on the Continent it may be said that there is less centralisation, and that there are far more appeals than in England. The results of the appeals finally adjudicated by the House of Lords were 68.5 per cent. affirmed, 31.5 per cent. varied and reversed. The reversals in Scotch cases have been, as is sometimes the case, about twice as great as in English appeals, which leads to the reference, perhaps, that the Scotch judges are very weak, or the Lords are unable to comprehend Scotch law. A notable feature of the returns for 1898 is the marked increase in the business of the Court of Appeal, and the returns for 1899 shows a still larger figure chiefly

owing to the number of appeals under the Workmen's Compensation Act.

A statement of the business in the Chancery Division shows on the whole that it is about stationary, with a tendency to decrease in some heads. The large number of witness actions-571 out of a total of 624—is a noteworthy feature of the statement. The compulsory summons for directions has not, it would seem, greatly reduced the number of applications in Chambers. Though fewer writs were issued in 1898 than in 1897, the number of summonses for directions, including notices under such summonses, is much the same as in some years before the summons for direction was made compulsory. This appears to justify the dictum of Mr. Francis A. Stringer that Order XXX. is a qualified success and a qualified failure. It is a qualified success, says Mr. Stringer, because it has prevented unnecessary delay and expense in a limited number of Queen's Bench actions of minor importance. To this restricted extent it has diminished the cost and expedited the course of legal proceedings. It is a qualified failure because its restricted success, as above defined, has been purchased at the cost of increased expense, without any material counterbalancing advantage, in all Probate actions, in nearly all Chancery actions, and in the majority cf Queen's Bench actions which go to trial; and at the further cost of the creation of causes of friction in all actions to which it applies, due to the absence of any comprehensive re-adjustment of existing procedure rules for the purpose of making them harmonize with its compulsory and overriding provisions. Order XXX., moreover, has not had the desired effect of materially diminishing the number of interlocutory applications.

An examination of the figures relating to costs shows that the total amount of costs taxed fell from £998,680 in 1897 to £942,650 in 1898, but the slight variations from

year to year in the percentages taxed off bills of costs is noteworthy, the lowest being 15:54 in 1895, and the highest 17.27 in 1897.

From Table XVIII. we gather that there is practically no Equity business in the Courts in the neighbourhood of London, Reading being the only District Registry within a radius of 50 miles from London with such business. In only 58 of the 85 District Registries were Equity proceedings begun during the last four years. In fact the statistics prove that there has been no very great increase in the Equity proceedings in the District Registries.

The originating proceedings under the various Companies Acts increased from 389 in 1897 to 448 in 1898, and there was a slight increase in the number of winding-up orders. Orders made by the Judge or Registrar increased in the same periods from 944 to 1,448; but, on the other hand, in the receipts and disbursements in Receivers' accounts, there was a decline of 2019 and 2167 per cent. respectively.

Business in the Queen's Bench, it is known, has on the whole been stationary for some time past, but in 1898 the figures show a distinct increase, and noticeable too is the increase in summonses under Order XIV., which were no fewer than 15,445. These last now amount to 3611 per cent. of the total number of Masters' and District Registrars' Summonses. Again, it is apparent here, as in the Chancery Division, that the compulsory summons for directions has not diminished very much the number of applications at Chambers; in fact, a comparison with the figures for the previous year shows only a decline of 7:49 per cent. A slight decline is shown in the number of actions entered, whilst there is a distinct increase in actions. tried. Out of 2,055 defended cases tried in London and Middlesex, 44°53 per cent. were tried before a jury. On the other hand, the cases so tried on circuit amounts to no

less than 66 per cent.

The amount recovered by trials in

Court was £694,963 6s. 10d.

Of the 5,366 actions for trial, over 7 per cent. were for libel and slander. Of these, no fewer than 70 25 per cent. Iwere in London and Middlesex; while the remainder29.75 per cent.-of such actions were entered for trial on circuit.

Master Macdonell draws attention to the remarkable growth of the number of actions entered in the Order XIV list for the speedy trial of actions, the percentage of cases thus tried showing a distinct increase, notwithstanding the objection of the Judges to try in this manner cases of a complex character.

The information afforded regarding circuit business provides a strong argument for a revision of the system. On the whole, there has been an increase of business, but in no less than thirty-three assize towns, only five, or fewer, actions were tried or otherwise disposed of, and in five towns no actions were entered or tried in 1898. Three towns indeed-Bury-St.-Edmunds, Aylesbury, and Oakham-have the distinction of having had no actions tried in them since 1896.

The efficacy of the procedure under Order XIV is specially noticeable by an inspection of the figures relating to the number of Judgments. These amount in all to 31,946, being a large increase on the previous year. No fewer than 7,511 were Summary Judgments obtained under Order XIV. In other words, nearly 25 per cent. of the Judgments obtained for Plaintiff were obtained in this manner, and out of a total of £6,157,935 for which judg ment was entered for Plaintiffs no less than £2,168,353, or 35 21 per cent. was recovered under Judgments signed under Order XIV., that is, nearly twelve times as much was recovered in this manner as by the verdict of juries. The total amount for which judgment was signed

(£6,568,427) was nearly four times as much as that for which judgment was entered in the County Courts (£1,786,317.)

It is noteworthy that of the total number of actions in which judgment was signed for money claims, nearly onehalf (13,681) was for sums from £20 to £50, i.e., presumably almost all cases within the jurisdiction of County Courts. Master Macdonell shows how largely the work of the Courts is automatic by pointing out the fact that out of 30,514 judgments for plaintiff 20,936 were for default of appearance, or other modes of default. The total sum in respect of such judgments was £3,484,353, or an average of £163 1s. 8d. in each action.

Some interesting information is given as to the parties concerned in litigation. It appears that in a very large proportion of cases public companies were either plaintiffs or defendants. Thus in 1897 out of 400 actions in the Queen's Bench Division, 89 or 22 per cent. were actions by limited companies, while 41 or 10 per cent. were actions. against such companies. An analysis of the figures for 1898 shows a somewhat similar result and confirms the impression as to the extent to which litigation is conducted by such companies. On the other hand an inspection of the figures as to the actions to which women were parties shows that the proportion of such cases to the whole body of litigation is very small.

Much interesting information as to the duration of actions tried in the Queen's Bench has been worked up by Mr. Joseph Davies of the Associates' Department. Taking 108 cases (none of which it should be understood were cases entered in the Order XIV. list, which came on for trial much more rapidly than actions entered in the other lists) details are given as to the average time which elapses between the issue of writ, the date of entry for trial, and the date of trial. Of the total number of actions (108) the average time was between date of writ and date of entry