The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-28 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

THE PRACTICE of the COUNTY COURTS,
under the 9 and 10 Victoria, chap. 95. Third Edition.
By John Jagoe, Esq., Barrister-at-Law.
There is, perhaps, no subject on which sound and
accurate information is more urgently required by the
public, than that relating to the operation and mode
of working of the new Act for the Recovery of Small
Debts throughout the kingdom. A most important
alteration has been effected in the law. New tribunals
have been constituted, to which questions respecting
almost every cause of action not exceeding 20/. in
amount must be submitted. A new code has been
established, by which the great majority of the affairs
of daily life will be affected ; proceedings will, of
course, become more frequent in proportion to the fa-
cilities afforded. Legal practitioners cannot be con-
sulted without a heavy fee, for which, in many in-
stances, no allowance can be made. It, therefore,
becomes a matter of general importance, and of deep
interest, that some competent person should interpret
the new provisions of the law—should simplify and
free them from legal technicalities—and should present
them in such a shape that they may be intelligible to
the many, and enable even those most ignorant of
law to acquire a knowledge sufficient for their guid-
ance, to learn what is required of them, by what
means they can enforce payment of their just de-
mands, and how they may be enabled to resist un-
founded claims. Mr. Jagoe, who has already attained
a high character as a legal writer, has accomplished
this task; but he has done something more. He has
produced a work which will be equally acceptable to
the legal practitioner, and to the public in general ;
to the professional, and to the unlearned reader,
while its great accuracy and perspicuity, its admirable
arrangement, and collection of cases on analogous
statutes, which may form precedents for, and guide
the decisions of, the new courts, its copious index,
affording the greatest facilities for reference, will re-
commend it to the former; its great simplicity and
clearness will make it most useful to the latter. The
appendix contains the Act itself, the rules of practice
for the courts, framed by the Lord Chief Baron and
his judicial brethren, and the several districts into
which the country has been divided, while the trea-
tise itself contains the law of contract, tort, and evi-
dence, as applicable to actions in those courts, em-
bracing all the subjects within their jurisdiction.
"Each chapter," as the author correctly states
in his preface, "is in itself a separate
treatise, giving the proceedings and proof for plain-
tiff and defendant, from the entry of the plaint to the
iudgment." In selecting the cases cited, Mr. Jagoe
has not restricted himself to those reported in this
country ; he was aware that a code, in many respects ,
similar to that recently introduced, has existed in
Ireland for many years ; that the Civil Bill-law, as
it is termed, has been administered by men of standing
and ability ; and that the more important topics have
been dicided by the highest legal authorities
appeals, on certain conditions, existing in every case,
to the going judge of assize, by whom, if there is
any serious difficulty, it is reserved for the
consideration of his judicial brethren. Mr.
Jagoe appears to have studied those decisions with
assiduity and effect, and to have culled from amongst
them such as appeared to have reference to the queS-
tions likely to be mooted before the new tribunals.
The important and much disputed point of the
right of a creditor to bring several actions against
his debtor at the same time is discussed, and the
decision of the Bristol judge, Mr. A. Palmer, in that
respect, would appear to be justified upon the authori-
ties produced, whatever may have been the intention
of the Legislature in framing the law—whatever
may be the sound policy that should prevail—
the judges have only to interpret the law
as it exists on the face of the statute, and to bring to
their aid the lights which are afforded by the recorded
opinions of eminent men, who have brought their
learning and experience to bear on a similar question.
" Splitting demands" was prohibited by the Irish
statutes in nearly the same language as in the present
Act ; and the decision of the Lord Chief Justice of
the Queen's Bench in that country (Bushe), was in
accordance with that of the English Chief Justice
(Lord Tenterden), who in the " King v. the Sheriff
of Hertfordshire," reported in 1 Barnewall and Adol-
phus, p. 672, decided " that the two items formed per-
fectly distinct debts, that when the defendant incurred
the debt stated in the first item the plaintiff might
have sued for it in the County Court, and his having
incurred another and distinct debt with the plaintiff
afterwards, should not have the effect of depriving
plaintiff of his remedy in the County Court for the
first debt, and if he might still have the remedy for
the first debt, he has it of course for the second also."
From the above and the other cases cited, Mr. Jagoe
comes to the following conclusion :
" The principle deducible from these cases is, when
the division is the result of mutual stipulation it is valid;
but if the division be ex parte and arbitrary, the plaintiff
shall not be permitted to split the demand to bring it
within the jurisdiction of the court. If the considera-
tion for the action be single and entire, it cannot be
divided ; but if separate and distinct, several actions are
maintainable."

The chapter on arbitrations and the various forms in-
serted in reference to that mode of settling disputes will
be found most useful for those who are willing to
refer matters to the decisions of their neighbours and
friends. It contains, also, in addition to the forms
prepared by the Judges, no less than sixty new forms,
prepared with much care and accuracy for the use
of the officers and practitioners of the courts.
The general observations on the statute and prac-
tice of the court, at the end of the volume, refer
most ably to the policy of the law, and offer valuable
suggestions for its improvement. The recent case
of Thomas Kinning, who was discharged from cus-
tody by the Court of Common Pleas, in the beginning
of the present month, on the ground that a debtor
should have notice before he was committed, is given
at length, and its applicability to the present Act is
argued by Mr. Jagoe. He says—
" We shall consider how far the foregoing decision on
the repealed statute is applicable to this Act. Section
ninety-nine leaves the judge no discretion, and if it stood
alone he should either commit or discharge the defend-
ant ; but section 100 enacts, that the judge has power,
whether he shall have made an order for committal or
not, to rescind or alter any order previously made
(meaning the order of the court upon which the sum-
mons issued), and to make any further or other order
for the payment of the debt forthwith, or by instal-
ments, or in any other manner which he may think
reasonable and just ; but if an order was made for the ,
payment of a debt by instalments or otherwise, after an
order of commitment was made, the party could not be
committed without a new summons served on him, and
making the inquiries directed by section ninety-nine,
which is evidently what the Chief Justice of the Com-
mon Pleas meant by notice to the defendant ; there is
no power to make an order in the alternative, that if
the debt or instalments were not paid that the defendant
should be committed,' and no order can be made, altered,
or rescinded without sufficient notice to the defendant.
The decision in Kinning's case, and the able observa-
tions
of the Chief Justice, apply with equal, if not
greater force, to this than to the former statute."
'We are glad to find that the merits of Mr. Jagoe's
work are appreciated, as it has already attained a
third edition. We shall, however be surprised if it
does not run rapidly through many other editions,
and attain the extensive circulation and popularity
it so fully merits.

REMARKS ON EDUCATION IN 1847.
By the Hon. Amelia Murray.
Condensation is an art in literary composition which
is now-a-days—namely, when most required from
the extraordinary multiplicity of publications—very
little understood. Hence we may literally say of
this miniature treatise by the Hon. Amelia Murray—
duplex libelli dos est. It is useful as a brilliant ex-
ample of the advantages and beauties of condensation ;
it is useful as a token that the cause of education
among the poorer classes is a cause which finds sym-
pathy—and what is more, ardent co-operation—in
the highest circles of the community. The lady who
has written this practical plea for the poor is one who
has mingled in all the gaieties and magnificence of the
Court of Victoria ; her book is even, in a particular
manner, on the title-page, "dedicated, by permis-
sion, to the Queen and the Prince Consort ;" her book
bears about it the atmosphere of Pimlico ; her book
has received the distinguished approval of the most ac-
complished of foreign monarchs, King Louis Philippe.
And yet this little book, penned, as it were, under
the shadow of Buckingham Palace, associated with
the name of our Sovereign, and carrying with it
the prestige of a commendation from the Tuileries, is
one of the homeliest books we ever saw. Its argu-
ments are profound, but they are conveyed in the
language of the most singular simplicity. It speaks
the words of wisdom, but the wisdom is like the
lispings of a child. Since Mrs. Champone wrote her
incomparable letters, we do not remember a volume
of similar dimensions so filled with home truths. The
Hon. Amelia Murray has studied the exigencies of
education with an intense longing for the spread of
knowledge among the people. Government and po-
pular opinion are conspiring for the realisation of her
wishes, and the wishes of all similar philanthropists.
But while others have contented themselves with
wishing, like the married couple in the story book,
who longed for the black pudding, the Hon. Amelia
Murray has been acting for the promotion of her
favourite project. The appendices to the brief work
before us are, perhaps, its most valuable contents,
showing as they do the necessity of instruction as a
preventive to crime, and the blessings that are inse-
parable from secular and religious tuition. When we
see the highborn thus striving to promote the
welfare of the lowly, the noblesse struggling for the
amelioration of the tier etat, we are, indeed, justified
in being sanguine as to the future reserved for our-
selves and our posterity. Already we have had the
utterances of the Parliament, of the Cabinet, of the
Press, of the different religious bodies in the empire,
of private individuals, and of public assemblies—we
have now in these clever " Remarks on Education,"
by the Hon. Amelia Murray, the utterances, so to
speak, of the Palace : all are unanimous upon the ne-