The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-28 00:00:00

TRANSFER OF LAND.

Since the society last met, the commissioners ap-
pointed some time since to consider registration of title
with reference to the sale and transfer of land are under-
stood to have finally agreed to their report. The subject
of their deliberations bas been frequently before the no-
tice of the society, and indeed it was a paper read by
Mr. Strickland Cookson at one of our general meetings
which first impressed on the public mind the expediency
of a registration of title as opposed to a registration of
assurances. It was chiefly in consequence of the notice
which that paper attracted, and the discussion which
ensued on it, that a select committee of the House of
Commons was appointed to investigate the subject, the
result of their investigation being a recommendation to
the Crown to issue the commission from which the recent
report has originated. As the commissioners comprised
among their number several influential members of the
society—the Attorney-General, the Right Hon. Mr.
Lowe, Mr. Headlam, M.P., and Mr. Cookson—it was
to be anticipated that the views which had been first
mooted at our meetings, and bad afterwards obtained so
mach approval, would meet with full cons aeration ; and
the council, still deeply impressed with the soundness
and practicability of those views, are happy to
find that the report of the commissioners seems to be in
a great measure in their favour. A system of registra-
tion of title is recommended for adoption by the Legis-
lature, and is elaborately worked out in its details ; and
whatsoever may be the opinion of individuals as to seme
of these details, it will he generally conceded that no
plan for the simplification of the transfer has been put
out to the public in so exact and tangible a form, or
which has furnished such solid ground for expecting a
great diminution in the cost of conveyances and the un-
certainty of titles. The council do not attempt to go at
the present moment irto the numerous and minute qw.s-
tions arising in the scheme of the commissioners ; this
task can be far better performed by a committee, and
they recommend that the principles and details of the
registration report should be at once referred to the real
property committee, who will of course be ready to re-
ceive any suggestions concerning it.

COMMERCIAL LAW.
The Mercantile Law Conference, held in January last,
under the direction of the society, has given a consider•
able impulse to the efforts for the improvement of our
commercial law. The detects existing in the administra-
tion of the bankruptcy law were brought prominently
forward at that meeting, and will be the subject of a bill
now in course of preparation by the committee appointed
at the conference. The statements made by Mr. Com-
missioner Ayrton, in bis able paper, as to the expense of
the court, have since been verified by a return to the
House of Commons obtained by Mr. Headlain ; and to
diminish the ruinous cost, amounting, on an average, to
about 45 per cent. on the assets, most be the first object
of any amending measure. It is proposed to effect this
by transferring the compensation payments new saddled
on the suitors to the consolidated fund, and by abolishing
the offices of broker, messenger, and accountant. Fur-
ther improvements are proposed in the system of appeal,
and the mode of remunerating the official assignee, and
the frequency of attendance by the commissioners ; also
by giving to the bankruptcy courts the jurisdiction
in insolvency, by improving the arrangement clauses
in the act of 1849 so as to make them operative, by
enacting that a deceased trader may be made bankrupt,
by confining imprisonment for debt on execution to
cases where the bankrupt's case has been heard and
decided on, and by vesting in the Court of Bank•
ruptcy the winding-up jurisdiction. This latter point
has been made the subject of a separate report, which
points at the best mode of effecting the object in view,
and which was lately adopted by the society. The con•
ference ako reported in favour of repealing the 17th sec-
tion of the Statute of Frauds, with exceptions as to ctr•
taro classes of contracts. A bill for this object will pro-
bably he introduced into the house soon after it assem-
bles.

The insufficiency of our present tribunals for adminis-
tering fulland speedy jip-tice in mercantile causes excites
the greatest attention among the classes pez.uharly af-
fected by it. The delegates at the conference stated that
in ❑early all the large towns of the kingdom an absolute
denial of jus,tice in cases above the value of 501. prevails
throughout the year, except during the two occasions
when her Majesty's judges sit for a few days in each
cult town ; that a greater frequency of circuits and a
large extension of the jurisdiction, both legal and equit-
able, of local courts, are measures imperatively de-
manded ; and that to these shoUld be added some means
of deciding commercial causes in a more satisfactory
way than the present machinery of our courts admits of.
The council must add that the bill of Lord Brougham, to
give the powers of courts of reconciliation to existing tri-
bunals, and to discourage frivolous actions and defences,
would aid greatly in remedying the evi.s complained of.
The council must not omit to add, that the Mercantile
Law Conference recommended the fadoption of the Scotch
system of summary diligence, and cbe enactment into law
of the Judgments Executions Bill.

JUDICIAL STATISTICS.
A bill to provide for the re; jular collection and publi-
cation of the statistics of all o'ir courts of justice was in-
troduced in the last session by the president of the
society, and will again be brought before Parliament.
The recognition of the need of such a system tins now
become universal, and its establishment would be one of
the first and moat import-a: it duties of a minister lof
jus-
tice.

DIVORCE AND TEST.tMENTART JURISDICTION.
The hill.; introduced b; r the Lord Chancellor to remedy
the evils complained of o n the subject of divorce and the
testamentary jurisdictiofs have filed to satisfy the public
expectation. It is to bo hopefl that the counsels of the
most ab:e and experienced members of the upper house,
backed as they are by public opinion, will at length be
allowed their due w, tight., and that the society will no
longer have to deplor e t'-ie introduction of measures sig-
nally ill-4uited to ace c tnplish the objects aimed at. On
the testamentary jurisdiction a special committee of the
society has recently reported, condemning the creation of
a new court, whicv would either supersede in a great
6of Chancery, or else be an expensive
tyhefoCroi/Ll,ls'ing
,
mmeaachsuinreer very little work, and proposing that
some of the
4;es of our existing superior courts of
common law 1-11., mid be employed to form a court of pro-
bate, with a sirnple procedure. This plan has received
the general au sent of the society.