very large, 5s. being the average amount of costs in respect of each recovered, whilst the proportion of court fees is only Is. 6d. This is to be compared with 5s. 2d., the amount per £1 of court fees, and is. 10d. the amount of costs in County Courts. Of the courts other than the Mayor's Court, the Salford Hundred Court is the most important, its business being three times that of the other 14 courts. The limits of territorial jurisdiction of the Salford Court are those of the Hundred of Salford, excluding the Borough of Oldham; that of the Ramsey Court of Pleas, those of the liberty of Ramsey, viz.: four parishes in Hunts and part of three others. The limits of the territorial jurisdiction of the Derby Borough Court, the Kingston-upon-Hull Court of Record, the Northampton Court of Record, the Norwich Guildhall Court, the Preston Court of Pleas, the Scarborough Court of Pleas, the Great Yarmouth Court of Record, and the York Court of Record are those of the respective boroughs.

"Those of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Burgess and Non-burgess Courts extend over both the County Boroughs of Newcastle-uponTyne and Gateshead; that of the Bristol Tolzey Court extends over the City, and also over certain liberties and precincts along the margin of the River Avon; that of the Liverpool Court of Passage over the City and Port of Liverpool-it seems a little doubtful what is the extent of the Port for this purpose. The jurisdiction of the Exeter Provost Court extends over the whole County Borough, except the parish of Saint Leonard, whilst that of the Oxford Vice-Chancellor's Court depends upon one of the parties being a resident member of the University, and is, strictly speaking, not territorial. As appears from the subjoined table of populations, the majority of these Courts are held in, and have jurisdiction over, the area of county boroughs with large population; but are little used, apparently, either from intermediate. Courts of this character not being required or from the scale of costs being exorbitantly high.

"The procedure of four of these Courts, viz. :-The Bristol Tolzey Court, the Liverpool Court of Passage, the London Mayor's Court, and the Salford Hundred Court is wholly or in part that of the Judicature Acts.

"The Ramsey Court of Pleas possesses unlimited jurisdiction, and there appears to be no appeal of any sort or kind. The procedure is that of the Superior Courts of Common Law before the Passing of the Common Law Procedure Act, 1852. To the whole of the remaining Courts certain portions (which vary in

the case of nearly every Court) of the Common Law Procedure Acts have been applied. The Bills of Exchange Act, 1855, is also in force in the Derby, Exeter, Kingston-upon-Hull, Norwich, and York Courts. The effect of the Statute Law Revision and Civil Procedure Act, 1883, is that the Orders in Council by which the provisions of the Common Law Procedure Acts and Bills of Exchange Act were applied to the above Courts take effect as if they were contained in a special Act relating to such Courts; with this exception, none of the local Courts, to which this memorandum relates, are regulated by special Act, except the Liverpool, London (Mayor's), and Salford Hundred Courts."

In Bankruptcy, we find that the total receiving orders in 1898 were 4,292, being slightly greater than the number for the year before (4,074). The number of receiving orders per 100,000 of population has diminished from 15.89 in 1889, to 1366 in 1898. The greatest variation in the number of receiving orders, under the Bankruptcy Acts of 1883 and 1890, during the last ten years was 22 per cent. The greatest variations in the Liabilities and Assets in the same period were 584 per cent. and 54°3 respectively.

By the Deeds of Arrangement Act, 1887, the Bills of Sale Department of the Central Office was made the office for the registration of such deeds. Mr. Weller, of that Department, has prepared, for the quarter ending 30th April, 1898, an analysis of deeds of arrangement, similar to that mentioned above with respect to the Bills of Sale. The deeds filed include deeds of assignment, composition and inspectorship. One deed frequently embraces the first and second, but deeds of inspectorship invariably stand alone. The figures dealt with by these deeds are very large. During the quarter there were 899 deeds filed, and the averages in amount on these figures for the year, represent, in assets, nearly two millions, and in liabilities (secured and unsecured) more than four millions sterling. Those who avail themselves of the provisions of this Act are principally traders, amongst whom grocers

and cheesemongers are most numerous; then come boot and shoe manufacturers, followed by drapers. Only 120 professional men are to be found in the whole number, and of these 5 are medical men. It appears that on the whole, judging by the number or amount of liabilities, there has been a decline in insolvency.

We find presented in one table the total liabilities and assets of estates of companies wound up (compulsorily or under supervision), estates in bankruptcies and under deeds of arrangement. From this we gather that there is a marked decline in the liabilities-the difference between them in 1898 and 1894 is 3147 per cent.; that there is a decline also in assets. The small amount of the total liabilities as compared with the national income is also remarkable. On any reasonable computation of the latter the total amount of liabilities is a very small fraction. Of course, the figures given in the table above referred to give no correct idea of the total loss to shareholders and creditors in consequence of liquidations. An increasing number of companies are wound up voluntary, as to which information is altogether imperfect; many are wound up voluntarily for the purpose of reconstruction and amalgamation; and it is impossible to state what is the loss of capital. There is no marked movement of bankruptcy business from the High Court to the County Courts-abou five-sixths of the cases coming before the latter courts.

An attempt is made in one of the comparative tables to summarise the total expenditure and receipts for England and Wales since 1870, and to show, in detail, as far as possible the various heads. Care has been taken to make the table as complete as possible, and it is believed that for most purposes it will be found sufficiently accurate, but Master Macdonell warns us that it is impossible, in this connection at least, to give figures in all respects exact. Owing to differences of modes of keeping accounts, from

time to time, some errors may have crept in. A great defect in one point of view is the fact that the table gives no account of certain heads of expenditure, chiefly local, connected with the administration of justice, e.g., the costs of prosecutions do not appear. But the table deals only with the receipts and expenditure of the Courts-not with the costs incurred therein.

Touching the income, the facts chiefly to be gathered from the table are that more than a million steriing is annually received in fees. In other words, by law fees or taxes is raised an amount rather less than is obtained from the wine duty or house duty, or about two-fifths of the gross receipts from the Telegraph service. Of the total sum received in 1898, 42.85 per cent. is collected in the superior Courts, 14.60 per cent. is derived from Bankruptcy, and the residue is collected in the inferior Courts. A great increase in receipts took place in 1885. This was chiefly in respect of Bankruptcy business, the Bankruptcy Act of 1883 having come into operation on the 1st January, 1884. The largest annual income was raised in 1888, when it was £1,224,733.

As to the expenditure, the total in 1898 was £1,430,502, or equal to 120.68 per cent. of the receipts, or about a thirtieth of the total naval and military expenditure for 1898. While the military and naval expenditure was probably each about twelve shillings a head, the legal expenditure was in the same year about 11d. The gross cost was probably somewhat more than the cost of a first-class battleship. The net cost was about one-third that of a first-class cruiser. The proportion of salaries of judges and officers, as far as separable, was, in 1870-73, 38-40 per cent.; in 1894-98, 45-31 per cent. Taking the total annual property and profits in England and Wales assessed to income in 1898 as £628,802,067, the actual charge of the gross legal expenditure is o'23 per cent. of the whole; the

net o'04 per cent. Referring to the expenditure and receipts of individual Courts, it may be pointed out that the Supreme Court invariably shows, in the period comprised in the table, a considerable deficit. The Bankruptcy Court pays its way. It has had a balance in its favour every year since 1881, with the exception of 1890. The Mayor's Court shows a surplus and a deficit for periods alternately. On the whole, there has been a deficit of over £20,000. Since 1890 there has been an average yearly deficit of over £2,000.

Comparing the foregoing figures with those for Scotland, it appears that the expenditure (including departments of the General Register House) was 196,176, while the receipts were approximately £97,708. Comparing the Sheriff's Courts with the County Courts, it is found that the amount of receipts per case was 7s. 10d. in the former, as against 7s. 9d. in the latter.

Master Macdonell concludes his able and interesting introduction to the Statistics by a generous tribute to the very able assistance rendered by Mr. Farrant and Mr. Sudbury, of the Statistical Department of the Home Office, in the compilation of the work.

IV.--THE REPORTER AND THE LAW OF

A

COPYRIGHT.*

JUDICIAL decision upon an obscure section of an Act of Parliament of not very wide application, seldom excites much interest among the general public. Its soundness or unsoundness is usually, and I think on the whole wisely, left to the consideration of lawyers. But that was not the fate of the decision in the recent case of Walter v. Lane. No sooner had Mr. Justice North held

* A Paper read before the Institute of Journalists, at Lincoln's Inn Hall, 11th Sept., 1900. Revised by the Author.