On this page

• Departments (1)
  • 
• Text (6)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    ttinnmt,

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    Celtics are not the legislators , but the judgea and pplice of literature . They do not make Iaw 3— they laterpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .

    Untitled Article

    The two Quarterly Volumes bound in paper , neutral-green-grey , or blue and yellow , which perpetuate the traditions of Tory and Whig principles , present this month a fair reflex of the state of public affairs and public opinion , not only in the contents of each , but in the relation that they have to each other . The Edinburgh Review is filled with glances at the collateral subjects of the day ; coming to no perfect conclusion , but enlightening the present by the past , by science , travels , or philosophy , and closing with one great practical confession . Yet someho ; v it commences with putting : itself in the wrong

    where Whigs always will be wrong—in the United States . It has a paper cm Slavery , endorsing Mrs . Habbiet Beecheb Stowe ! Whigs never treat the Union with politeness , and the Edinburgh , af ter the statesmanlike fashion of its party , rakes up the sore point of the Republic , whose weight loathe balance of power is so important just now ! The article , however , is interesting , because it brings out a fair account of the Fugitive Slave Law and its working . It is imperfect , because it totally omits the compensating measures that accompanied that ugly-looking statute . " Travels in Siberia " opens a glimpse into that desolate part of Russia—too waste and wild , cold a , nd dreary , to be the home even of a democracy for any purpose beyond its

    bounds . " English Surnames" are the subject of a very amusing paper , in which we-find some strange mistakes ; such as the adoption of a heavy joke , ¦ which derives " Bigod" from a habit of swearing , instead of its French -origin of Pigault or Pigot . " Holland" is allotted to the foreign country of that name , instead of the Lincolnshire district called " the parts of Holland , " so named from their topographicalresemblance . " The Correction of Juvenile Offenders , " " Hue ' s Travels in China , " " A Memoir of Pascal Paoli the Corsican Chief" " The Chemistry of Common Life , " " The Autocracy of the Czars , " from the Russian antiquities to Schnitzer , not forgetting the Secret Memoirs of Peter the Great , and ^' Lord Brougham on Criminal

    Procedure , " are subjects which speak for themselves . The confession is a grand review of the state of the army , which admits that , although reformers are frequently wrong in their proposals , reforms must come , if the army is to work . Bui when are the reforms coming- ? What number of the EdinhurgJi will-record them as facts ? The Quarterly begins with " The Crystal Palace , " and ends with " Public Affairs , " touching , by the way , upon divers " Venetian Despatches , " •* ' Madame de Maintenon , " " Food , and its Adulteration , " " The Emperor Nicholas , " " Forests and Trees , " and " Sir Richard Steele . " The last-named

    is a charming paper , carrying the reader back into the time when the Tatler and Spectator were written , and their writers lived . " Nicholas" is a personal memoir of that potentate , and his bodily constitution ; a branch of history too frequently neglected . Could we but get medical men to give us leading articled "deHved from might we trace political blunders to medical causes ! How often would , a Reform Bill be better applied in the shape of a prescription ! How often should we learn the . absolute necessity of stopping the reign of a race hopeless of regeneration . Why not have a medical commission of inquiry into the physiology of the Neapolitan Botjkbons ?

    " The Forester" is a hint to country gentlemen how to treat their timber , tenderly and wisely . " Madame de Maintenon "—a chapter , written with equal intelligence and sympathy , in the perpetual inquiry into that female problem , the wife and widow of the rheumatic Scabron , the governess and secret wife inthe family of Louis the Fourteenth . " The Crystal Palace' ' is an impartial review of that building , itsgigantic defects , splendid opportunities , and creditable efforts . The two articles in these two reviews on Chemistry and Food , are , particularly together , a memorandum of more than passing interest . A single

    point in the chemical paper , illustrating the universal addiction either to intoxicating or narcotic drugs , or to warm diluents , not only makes us ask whether the teetotallers are wiser than . the spirit-totallers , but calls up a fear that the diet of this country may bo amongst the causes slowly tending to undermine the physical constitution of the people . It would not be the only cause tending that way . When we look to the other Quarterly we are reminded that the poisons detected , even in deadly proportions , amongst our food , by the commissioner of the- Lancet , are still sold with our food by houses that were then exposed . Wo buy poison , and- we know it , and we go on buying poison I

    Jn . yenice they had a plan of making their Ambassadors give reports upon the condition of the countries they visited . The reports were not equal to our consular returns in statistics ; but they supplied tho place of travelling and of books of ravels , and threw great light upon the relations of the Republic with its allies or oceraies . Some of these reports have survived , and they remain as useful contemporary materials for history . The Quarterly brings a . few before us ; and in doing so tells us certain things which vre have forgotten . Such , for instance , as the fact—probable when told , though seldom remembered—that there was a time when Hbnrt iub Eighth

    was young , comely , and agreeable . A modern historian has assailed , him for having pretended to the German throne while he was a young man , because he was the confirmed , and bloated profligate of his older years I The paper on " Public Affairs , " however , is the gem of the Quarterl y ; and why ? Simply because in this Tory organ we find one of the most concise , intelligent , and impartial surveys of the politics for these last three months that it has been our fortune to read . While Whigs and newfangled Disraelites are competing with each other in intrigue and cant , simple truth appears really to have taken refuge in the Quarterly Review ' . This is one of the wonderful events of modern days .

    Untitled Article

    . M . Thteks , we learn , has completed his History of the Consulate and of the Empire , which will close with the fifteenth volume . The twelfth volume will appear about the end of June . We shall be interested to know how the historian ' s enthusiasm has been affected by the French history of the last four years .

    Untitled Article

    LAW REPORTS . The Common Lato and Equity Reports in all the Courts . Koyal 8 vo . Benning . There are few of our readers who have not a friend " at the Bar , " and have not heard of " the Reports , " of their number , their cost , and their lamentable arrear . The subject has been , discussed until it has become of general interest , and the more it has been canvassed the more clearly has it appeared that it affects us all . A proper system of reporting the decisions of the Courts upon all cases adjudicated by the Judges is essential to the administration of justice . Without such a system there would be an absence of uniformity and certainty in tlieir proceedings , which would cause much unnecessary litigation , with all its train of troubles , heartburnings , and jealousies . Like other British Institutions , however , the existing system of Reporting has grown

    spontaneously from the necessity of the case . There are no official Reporters , whose duty it is to publish , for the guidance of the Courts and profession , accurate summaries of the judgments pronounced upon novel combinations of facts , or upon the interpretations to be put upon the ambiguous and sometimes inconsistent language of the new Acts of Parliament , although these judgments have the force of law upon inferior tribunals , and the force of opinion upon those of equal rank . The necessity for regular reports of all the Courts once having become evident , they were soon provided by the energy of individual Barristersr and so well and so accurately has the _ work been done , that , although without official sanction , their Reports of Cases have been accepted by the judges as accurate and binding . While we have suffered from the system , as affected by-modern changes , we must acknowledge that the staff of Reporters did good service and did it well . ' ' ~

    As years have rolled on , however , and the transactions of society nave become more extensive , the Courts more numerous , and their decisions obtained with less delay , the demand upon the system which had grown , it must be remembered , from small beginnings , has become too much for it . An outlay of 30 / . a year hardly suffices to supply the current volumes , while the acquisition of the accumulated series is almost hopeless . Add to this objection that the decisions of one year are hardly available until the expiration of another , and it has occurred that the delay in their publication has been of a more extended character . The only consolation for these serious evils has been that there must be a change . Partial remedies have been from time to time attempted by the publication , of Reports in the legal periodicals , but with only partial success , for notwithstanding " therexcelTahce of many of the Reports , there were objections which were incident to the periodical character , and which could not bo

    overcome . The volumes , whose general title is printed at the head of this notice , are tho results of an attempt to establish a new system of reporting , and to realise those improvements which " our friends at the Bar" have been so long anticipating . The projectors of The Common Law and Equity Rejmrts havo abandoned the plan of a sepai-ate series of Reports for each Court . Instead of this , while in each they have a Reporter , and in some two , all of them members of the Bar , whose names and Inns are published , they class all the Reports under four heads : Common Law , Equity , Bankruptcy and Insolvency , and Ecclesiastical and Admiralty . They are paged to correspond . with thesu four divisions , and are issued from time to time , and as early as possible after tho coses are determined , in parts ; of course , at tho end of the year , they can be bound in volumes .

    Wo need not point out to our readers how superior in every respect is this plan , which admits ,. for instance , of the immediate issue of an Equity " Part , " containing the latest decisions before till the six distinct Equity Tribunals , to waiting , term after term , until there huvo been ^ oases enough before an individual Vice-Chanccllor to make up . 1 " part ot n separate series of Reports devoted to this Court alono . As an illustration ol tho improvement thoy can and do effect , the proprietors state , that witlim three months after the commencement of tho series in April , 1850 , lloporw of no leas than 249 coses , each , it must bo observed , involving some point necessary to bo known , were in the hands of the subscribers . JNotwitnbestowed if

    standing this rapidity , every care seems to have been upon preparation of the cases , which , though concisely , are clearly and sulUciont ) reported . Tho success which has rewarded the projectors of the ciueiprise is the surest testimony of tho excellence of the work , and tins s" ^ ' "" has induced them to add to the yearly issue ., a volume of Reports 01 ^ asi » determined at Quarter Sessions and before tho County Courts , and it" ! important and more useful volume , which is to contain the statutes 01 uu Session , those required by the profession being printed in full . , The continuance , in a style , of equal excellence , of the Common La « < »« Equity Reports will bo of great service to all concerned or inturesiui administration of justice . Their plan is judiciously conceived i"d " J executed , and , if persevered in , it will command success . ninnies Injustice to tho gentlemen whose labours arc contained m t »» o voiuu before us , we must not close our notice without stating that mr .

    Ttinnmt,

    ItatetL

    Untitled Article

    3 # g THE XiEADEB . [ 3 atub 3 > at , I

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 21, 1855, page 378, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2087/page/18/