Tx Ques ov Just portant book, and one. which de-this andoubiediy "very etves careful consideration not only by all members of the legal profession, but by everyone who is interested in the problems of general welfare, Our. administration Justice is the pride of most English-en, and justly so, but that is not to say that the edifice, li fabric of a cathedral, wuling and rets eficlency.
"There have been few alterations of auch importance in the constitu Bion anid methods of our Courts (if Jo, sept, the institution of the Court of Criminal Appeal in 1907) "uring the lifetime of the present eration, with the result that the idous extent of the changes introduced by the Judicature Act of
ekequer Chamber into the High 3 "Bench, Common Pleas, and (which merged. the Courts of Court of Justice, founded the Court of Appeal, united the systems of Jaw and equity, and much more besides) have begun to be forgotten, ud there is a fecliag that as things fre 0. they must. continue. The time is ripe for considerable alterations in our machinery of dis; sing Justice, but which are nevertheless Thuch easier te effect than those of 80 yours Mr, Mullins, a practising barrister of much experience, carefully considers the whole field of litigation, and com to the conclusion (similar in many respects to that of Economic 'Mission which recent. Jy visited China) that we provide a very of Tustice, but that it is too expensive for many of those, who would like to make use of it, to be able to afford todo aer his ly to the ad of baither the. public nor' foasion. The buvinessma faced with a bill of urns for an action which occupied days in Cou, may think his lawyer is grossly overt but this Tot for Many factors, which neither the solicitor nor counsel can, control, go to swell the costs. Wit-Reasts, including expensive. experts, have to be kept days, and some ti, Weeks, waiting about for the trial. many documents have to be printed, Which might just as well be typed: Sur lave of evidence fs cumbrody, a relic largely from the days when
Mhnd to be kept from the Jury. The earthing ta the nature of hearsay rear Mr, Justice Hawicins (dose ¢ribed by Punch as Baron Hawkins of Tryham Fareleigh and Sentensham) once said "Why not make all evidence on oath admissible? The Wwalue of it, when given, is another "thing." The use of juries in civil notions is rapidly diminishing (and Was practically abolished during the (war) and there is no reason why Judges should not be given a wide Furthermore, a soli routine work of writing letters and copying documents, which is genily done by his clerk, but for the inciple service which he renders is client, namely thinking about how to serve his interests, he cannot charge at all under the present scale.
An interesting example of the aceidents by which the English constitution is moulded is provided by the case of Baron Parke, In 1856 "he was nominated by Lord Palmerston as a life peer, to improve the tate of the judicial work of the 'House of Lords, but was unable to take his seat immediately owing to fan attack of gout. In the interval an objection to the appointment was Yprought before the Committee of es, who finally decided that the right' of the Crown to screa Jie peerages had been lost throu, disuse, (Since then statutory power has been given to appoint a Lords of Appeal in Ordinary). A Umited number of life peerages a {full peerage was conferred on Baron 'Parke as Lord Wensleydale, but had ft not been for that attack' of gout, We might not now be worried by the Mificult question of the reform of the House of Lords. As things are, membership of the Upper House practically restricted to those who are either men of such wealth as to be in a position to enable their ascendants to keep up the title, or Jong f0 the country, RIY est Mz. Mullins does not-merely em-Dhasize the Goficiencies fen aystem, but "He, proposes Proposes number of practical renedigs, some of which would. requite statutory Amencments, and others of which lean be introduced quite simply. Chief among the former, he ad-Vocates the abolition of the House of Lords as a civil court of appeal (this was actually enacted in the Judicature Act of 1873 but was re-Pealed before the Act came into operation). At. present, la. nearly' every case' which comes before the Gourt of Appeal, either party. entitled as of right to go on to the House of Lords, a course which, involves great additional expense. The fongest purse has an unfair advantlage in such circumstances, "and many judges have commented upon the tendency of the Crown to carry fall cases which, they lose (par ticularly in taxation matters) to the ultimate court.
In place their judicial of functions, Mr." Mullins proposes that the' legal peers should act, partly as an advisory committee for drafting legislation, and Dartly as fan authority for declaring the law fon dificult or disputed points. Our resent judicial machinery has horror of deciding. hypothetical eases, so much s0 that while a defession of a higher court as to the law on certain facts is binding upon inferior courts, any remarks by the Judge which." are not absolutely Iecessary to decide the questions in issue are called "chita dicta" and are not binding on the lower courts. Ifa point of diftculty raises in the application of a statute there is at resent no means of obtaining an fRuthoritative ruling upon the. law, except by waiting for a concrete ease to arise, and. then fighting it great expense to one jor other of the litigants) up to the House of Lords, Sr, Mullins gives Instances in which Divisional Courts have given cent ing decisions on very similar facts arising under the Rent Restriction Acts, with the practical result that, until some fitigane risks the expense of obtaining a ruling of the Court of Appeal, the County Court judge by whom such actions are generally heard free to follow whichever of the decisions he agrees with. Tt is not right that the law should be one thing in Manchester and the op-Posite in Newcastle.
number of practical reforms are suggested in procedure which will be appreciated best by lawyers. In particular, dates for trials bbe arranged with greater consideration for the parties. At present, the judge's is" compiled by junior officials, who regard a waste fof half an hour of the judge's time as a terrible calamity; this results in more cases being set down than Jean possibly be heard, necessitating parties, counsel and witnesses (not to speak of jurors) having to spend hours and sometimes days, waiting, jabour for their case to come on, increasing costs to nobody's advant-'Reform here is not dificult. in person he should be allowed to state his case at an early stage of the proceedings, and the judge would then put such questions as may be necessary on his behalf to the witnesses. As things are, the defendant is almost Jalways unable to distinguish between asking questions and stating facts, and is often reduced to a Jeonfused. silence. When the time loomes for him. this case, the opportunity for appropriate eross-examination is gone, and he may be ruled out for not having [put the matters which he alleges to the opposing side's witnesses.
is, impossible to refer, even briefly, to all the matters dealt with in this book. Magistrates' courts, juries, county courts, arbitrations, Poor persons, bureaucratic justice. professional etiquette, fusion of the {two branches of the legal profession, jo. ministry of justice, and many other. subjects "of interest to both lawyers and layman are discussed unbiassed and practical manner, with two main objects in view, simplification and reduction in expense—the letter usually involving the former.
Although, as the author says, it is primarily the business of the legal profession to put its own house in Jorder, a just appreciation of the problems involved, by a well informed public opinion, is essential for the successful carrying through of reforms. Two chapters are devoted to. the discussions of particular eases, but there is nothing technical in the book, and it is far ier to follow the reasoning than
newspaper. Tu ie reviewer ordinary count of a coe, in a Telleves that this is' book which terests are. not to fiction, will]! find both interesting and attractive, although as it is avowedly devoted
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.