only as advocates but as critics, and-to use the epigrammatic words of Lord Halsbury-Criticism is the salt of the administration of justice.' 20 Two suggestions are offered by the Council in their Report-first, that at least six Courts sitting continuously in London throughout the legal year for the trial of actions in the Queen's Bench Division' are 'imperatively necessary'; and secondly, that an addition to the number of Judges of the Queen's Bench Division' is 'imperatively required.' But will more sails bring more wind to fill them? Will it do merely to crowd on more canvas and then whistle for a breeze? The necessity for more Judge-power suggested by the Report of the Bar Council is hardly borne out by the published statistics, which show that the business of the Queen's Bench Division was less in volume in the year 1895 than the average of the preceding five years. Here are the figures: Number of writs &c., Queen's Bench Division Number of actions for trial in the Queen's Bench Division . 67,900 72,167 5,098 It is said that there are, nevertheless, heavy arrears in the Queen's Bench Division, caused, in the opinion of the Bar Council, by the absence of thirteen of Her Majesty's Judges on circuit, an absence averaging annually some seventy days per Judge, 'part of that time being spent in Assize towns at which there is generally-almost invariably no business either civil or criminal.' The assize towns will, however, if threatened, have a voice in the question of what they would probably deem their own degradation. In addition to being assize towns, they are Parliamentary constituencies; they have been accustomed to their assizes ever since the reign of Henry the Second, or thereabouts. They look forward with something more than pride to the periodical appearance in their midst of the ermined Judge with his retinue, the High Sheriff with his chaplain and his trumpeters, the Grand Jury, the petty jurors, and, now and then, the public executioner, as well as the crowd of thirsty yokels who on these occasions flock into their streets. If the Bar looks to the abandonment of the present assize system as a remedy, it may have long to wait. The assize towns will die a natural death if it must be so, but they will not willingly perform the happy despatch. A Correspondent' of the Times," criticising in a Special Article the Report of the Bar Council, writes: 'Popular feeling on the subject in the opinion of experienced persons of sound judgment '-a delightful synonym for the party whips- makes the maintenance of the system inevitable. "They've 20 Speech of the Lord Chancellor at Derby on the 9th of April, 1897, on the occasion of the opening of the new County Court buildings for that town, reported in the Times of the 10th of April. 21 Aug. 26, 1897. taken away our gaol, my Lord, and if they take away our assizes, the Government that does it will never get another vote out of Presteign," said a leading solicitor of that pleasant village to a reforming Judge anxious to study local opinion; and though most Governments might not feel that particular threat contain any serious terror, the feeling which prompted it is too widespread to be neglected.' > 22 Whatever the true explanation may be, the fact remains that at least two-thirds of the minor business of the Queen's Bench Division has drifted to the County Courts, whither the Bar, as a body, have not followed it. Apart from the ordinary business which the County Courts were established to deal with, over and above the claims not exceeding 50l. which form the bulk of the normal business of the County Courts, there were, in 1895: Actions entered in the County Courts, by agreement between 1,262 Actions begun by writ in the High Court, but remitted to the 1,510 to say nothing of the work under the Bankruptcy and other supplemental jurisdictions. Is it really probable that the public who have enjoyed the experience of having cases of this kind tried swiftly and cheaply on the spot will, under any practicable reform of the centralised procedure of the Queen's Bench Division, consent to be led back to its fold? Nay, is it in the public interest expedient that they should do so? And, if not, is there not another remedy for the evils complained of in the interest of the Bar? If the mountain will not come to Mahomet, why should not Mahomet go to the mountain?' If it be said that this litigation is carried on in remote localities, where it would be impracticable, if not impossible, for the central Bar to follow it, surely that difficulty might easily be met. The very machinery is at hand. In the year 1876 District Registries of the High Court of Justice were established in 86 populous centres throughout England and Wales, and were annexed to the County Courts in those places by the appointment of the County Court Registrar to the office of District Registrar of the High Court, ex 22 It is only fair to add the following remark of the same acute observer, which puts the argument upon somewhat higher ground: 'It is a commonplace observation that the administration of justice must not only be sound, but ought to be popular, and, letting alone the visits of Judges to such centres as Manchester, Birmingham, and Cardiff, there can be no doubt that the general confidence which Her Majesty's Judges happily enjoy is largely increased by their occasional presence at such places as Aylesbury, Oakham, and Beaumaris.' The Return of Civil Actions entered for trial at these three assize towns during the four assizes of 1895 is interesting. It is as follows: officio. Does not this point to a solution? Let the 500 County Courts, with their original jurisdiction, their original and ancient designation, their officers and their Judges, remain exactly as they are. Let the litigation in respect of all claims not exceeding, say, 301. be carried on locally and swiftly in those Courts, as at present. Give to them such increase of jurisdiction as may be deemed expedient-if, indeed, it is not large enough in all conscience as it is-but let the trial and disposal of all the heavier claims, of all the more important remitted actions, and of all matters under, say, the Employers' Liability Act, 1880, the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1897, and the like, take place before the County Court Judge (unless the Judge shall otherwise direct) at Special Sessions to be held periodically at one or other of the larger and more accessible Court towns of each County Court Circuit, say at the Central Courts to which District Registries of the High Court are at present annexed. If the Common Law Bar should still scruple to attend such Courts as its members attend the Quarter Sessions of the Peace, that reluctance might possibly be overcome by changing the designation of the special courts from County Courts to County Civil Courts,' and by connecting them with the institution. of 'County Criminal Courts' on the lines suggested by Sir Harry Poland, a measure already approved and recommended as 'desirable' by the General Council of the Bar. Such an arrangement, especially if it were accompanied by the right of exclusive audience enjoyed by the Bar at Quarter Sessions, would not only put an end to many anomalies, but would secure for the Judges of the local Courts the benefit of that continuous professional criticism which is sometimes so sorely needed. As the Lord Chancellor truly and wisely remarked in his recent address at Derby: The smaller the Courts, the less open they are to the light of public criticism, the more important it is they should be kept closely in touch with those persons who can take care that right is done, and the more important that the Judge, no less than the Judge of the High Court and the Lord Chancellor, should be constantly under the pressure of public criticism.' 23 I have endeavoured in these few pages to show how for half a century the English County Courts have grown and prospered. As an institution absolutely demanded by the requirements of the people, and justified to the full by the test of time; as an instrument for extending civil justice throughout the land and placing millions under the protection of the law, from which they would otherwise be excluded, the modern County Court system must be deemed a legis 23 Speech of Lord Halsbury at Derby, ubi supra. See also the Times leading article of the 19th of February, 1879: It is found that a good Judge is much im. proved by a good Bar. He profits by sharp critics and learned counsellors, and this whetstone many a County Court Judge lacks. If he is left to himself, or if his equals do not practise before him, he too often is apt to become arbitrary or slovenly.' lative triumph and a lasting memorial of the genius and foresight of its founder. I may therefore be forgiven if I quote once more from Brougham's great speech of 1828, although the rhetoric of that day has gone rather out of fashion, and the style is hardly suited to this less imaginative age: 'It was the boast of Augustus that he found Rome of brick and left it of marble. . . . How much nobler will be our Sovereign's boast when he shall have it to say he found Law dear and left it cheap; found it a sealed book, left it an open letter; found it the patrimony of the rich, left it the inheritance of the poor!' Without presuming to restrict Brougham's brilliant eulogium to the branch of Law Reform of which alone this article pretends to treat, it may fairly and in soberness be claimed that the ancient County Courts of England have, in their modern development, kept pace and touch with the progress of the Victorian period, while, within the limits of their jurisdiction and to an extent not always fully recognised, they have met the demands and supplied the needs of an orderly and busy people. T. W. SNAGGE. CONSUMPTION IN CATTLE CONVEY ABLE TO MAN IT is not generally understood that the cattle disease known as tuberculosis is identical with consumption in man. To the million the importance of this fact will not appeal, but the thinking members of the community cannot dismiss it without considering its great significance. It is estimated by those whose position best enables them to judge some of the leading veterinarians of the world—that twenty per cent. of our cattle are affected with the disease, milking cows which are housed, and especially those in thickly populated places, showing a much higher proportion. Consumption is a specific disease which has unhappily made its mark in almost every family in the land. It is caused by the organism known as Koch's bacillus, and is communicable through the medium of this organism from animal to animal and from animal to man. Further than this, it may be acquired by man by the consumption of meat-especially beef and milk, the produce of affected beasts. It may now be asked whether the consumer is content to run the undoubted risk to which he is exposed, or whether he is content to eat the meat of tuberculous cattle or drink the milk of consumptive cows without himself taking any precautions or requiring the Government to do so. When the bacilli establish themselves in the animal-as they do in the cow, the horse, and the pig in particular-the formation of nodular growths or tubercle follows. The danger to life chiefly depends, however, upon whether a vital organ is affected, or whether the bacillus confines itself to the muscular tissue; but it also depends upon the relative susceptibility of the animal, its condition, and its environment. A badly affected beast speedily loses flesh, but while an animal intended for the butcher is, when the disease is suspected, pushed on by richer feeding and slaughtered early, a cow is usually milked as long as milk can be extracted from her. Those who are acquainted with the terrible nature of consumption-and who is not ?-will naturally shrink from the prospect of consuming the produce of consumptive cattle; yet it is fair to remark that although a beast may be diseased, the affected parts may VOL. XLII-No. 248 581 RR |