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PP .10117 4D. STIMPND.

,to dwell npen the signal benefits that have accrued
from the measures maturely digested and strenu-
oesly iiromoted which have obtained the sanction
first of the pUblic -assent-'--that iQ, the approval of
those who are capable and well-informed—and,
finally, the consent of • the legislature itself. To
give particular instances would Only weary those
who are familiar with the history of the society.
But I am bound to state that since its establishment
in 1844, most Of the bills which I hive brought for-
ward, and of which many have been passed, making
' a great change in our, jurisprudence, either origi-
nated in the inquiries, and reports f the society's ,
committees, or owed to the labours` and authority
of that bodytvaluable help towards, first, their pre-
-iteration' next, their adoption. The great measure
of local judic tture, and those which arose out of
the Common law and real' property commission!,
were no doubt adopted prior to the society's foun-
-dation., But many of the bills for extending and
improving these uses were materially indebted to its
corporation. One instance is. better than any gene-
ral description. Of the nine bills presented' by me
to the Horse of Lords in 1845, and six of which
are now the law of the land, two of the six were
suggested' by the • society, and another, the most
itnportant of the whole, and which has entirely
_changed 'the eourse of procedure, the act for the
examination of parties in all suits, I never should
*have succeeded in carrying 'but for 'the society's
correspondence with all the county court jadge4,
and their•direet unanimous testimony in favour of
the change.. Take- another instance. Of the legal!
impiOvements in the session that has just closed,
the•moet important are the-Divorce and the Frau-
dulent. Trustees Acts: The former was mainly fur-
thered by the inquiries of committees; by the public
meeting held on the'protectidn of married women,
under the presidency of Sir John Pakington, and.
by-the bills which the society prepared, and which
were presented the session before ; while the latter
(Fraudulent Trustees Act) originated in the inquiry
and report of a special committee of the society
upon-the subject. Nor should we
-pass over a very
important step takeri by 'the government in 'conse-
quence of-the society's urgent remonstrance against
the grievous defects in our. judicial statistics ; the
gab rate discussions in the committees, and the
conclusive reports, ailed by the indefatigable la-
bours of Professor Levy, have had the, effect of in-
troducing a material improvement in that depart-
inent, and yet, as the . imperfection still is so great
as to make the'returns not deserve the ni me of
judicial-statistics, we have now every ground for
hoping that, at length, the legislature will have the
meaus of ascertaining the effects of its acts, and no
longer continue to pass laWs in' the dark.' This sub-
ject will deserve the early attention of our first de-
partment ; nor is there any , other matter. that ap-
pears so much to,press for consideration, if it be not
the 'continued refusal of equitable jurisdiction to
our local acts—a. refusal not easy to be compre-
hended, when, several years ago, wo found some of
the first solicitors in London declaring, in a peti-
tion to Parliament, that they never should think of
recommending a client to sue for an equitable debt
of so little as 1.0001. The various efforts made to
obtain this measure of strict juitice have received
the hid of the society, and much important infor-
mation has been obtained, though, as yet all those
attempts have failed. But the society has also af-
forded ,proof of the valUable results obtained from
combined action in the two mercantile law confer.
mice& which it convened and conducted in 1852 and
1857.. Prior to the former year no systematic at-
tempt had been made to obtainthe opinion of mer-
cantile classes throughout the kingdom on the state
of our commercial law. Indeed, it is comparatively
of late yelra that the establishment of those-valua-
ble institutions,. chainbers of commerce, has af-
forded the means for selecting delegates from our
mercantile towns,. and when, in Nov., 1852, the
representatives of a number of chambers met, under
the, direction of the society, to discuss the assimila-
tion of the Mercantile law of England, Ireland and
Scotland, a new era certainly began in clur e )tn-
mercial legislation. The result of that confer-
ence, which was presided over by Myself on the
first daY., and by my noble friend Lord Harrow-
by on the second day, was .the.. appointment of
a royal commission to inquire into the subject which
had occupied the attention of the delegates. The
commissioners, all men of tried reputation and
ability, accumulated a great body of evidence, and
published the results of their labours in a valuable
report, which recommended an extensive assimila-
tion of the mereantiledaws of-the three portions of
the. Uni ed Kingdom. This report has not been
allowed to remain a dead letter - the two Mercan-
tile
.Law Ainendment Acts of the Session of 1856
ware founded upon its recommendations, and
though these measures undoubtedly fell short of
what might have been hoped for, and still leave
much to be done in the way of assimilation, they
must be regarded as very useful additions to the
statute-book, and are, in my ,trust, the precursors
of further improvement. The second Mercantile
Law Conference in January last is of too recent a
date to enable us to dwell upon its results ; there
cannot, however, be any doubt that they will be as
saisfactory as those of the former meeting. The
objects of this second conferenCe were more wide
and varied, and its discussion extended over a
longer period, and a proportionate time must be.
expected to elapse before its proceedings will bear
all their legitimate fruit. The -present state of
the, law and administration of bankruptcy was very
fully dealt with, and we have already two tangible
result's from that debate : in the bill which I pre-
sented to the House of Lords for remedying tit*
evils in the .bankrupt law complained of by the
,commercial delegates at the conference ; and it is
very satisfactory to find that the Chamber of Com-
merce in this town has prepared another measure
having the same object, but more detailed in its
provisions., Thera c tn. be little doubt that the at-
tention drawn to the state of our bankruptcy courts
by the conference in January, perpetuated-" as it
will be by the discussions here during the next
three days, will finally result in a measure carrying
out. Still further those improvements which were
commenced in 1831 in this important branch of
our commercial jurisprudence, and were afterwards►
expanded ice the Consolidated Act of 1849. The
subject of btnkruptcy has been alluded to as the
most prominent of the topics which occupied the
attention of: the conference in January ; but it
seems certain that the effect of the great meeting
will bnfelt iu other matters—that the repeal of the
17th section of the Statute of Frauds, recommended
by the second conference as well as by the commis-
sioners who were appointed on the reprehentation
of the,first, and the extension of more frequent end
bettor means of local justice to provincial towns,
also strongly insisted on by the delegates, will re-
sult at an early date from its deliberations.
Out of the Law Amendment Society's proceed-
ings and in close connexion with it has arisen
the National Reformatory Union, which besides
its regular meetings in London, hell last sum-
mer its first provincial meeting at Bristol, under
the presidency of Lord Stanley, whose address, with
the papers read and discussed at the Mttings of the
departments, contained a body of Most valuable in
formation, and set forth doctrines of great import-
ance upon the repression and prevention of crimes,
more especially upon the great question relating to
reformatory measures. TO the labours of that
meeting,' and generally of the union; and to the
conferences held here, without the interposition of
any established association, we owe the great pro-
gress recently made in preventive and reformatory
policy. The instances which have hitherto been
referred to in illustrating the effects of joint and
united actions are those of permanent bodies. But
occasionally concert and union has taken place, and
always with beneficial results. In the town in
which we now are assembled two of these con-
ferences were held, in 1851 and 1853, on reforma-
tory plans—the Recorder presiding over the first,
Sir J. Pakington and Lord Shaftesbury over the
second. There were no papers read at these meet-
ings, and the great advantage was not obtained
which had attended the Bristol meeting from that
convenient and useful course being putsiied. But
the discussions were of great value, and the resolu-
tions which were, after the fullest consideration
adopted,' being made public, together with a full
powerful assistance to
the pro measures. It was
accountgorfetssheodfebraetfeosr,ingaatvoery
a.-
found here, as at Bristol, and as at the Mercantile
Law Conferences, that bestde the mass of infornl
tion which was thus collected from various quatters,
great benefit resulted from the discussions. Rich
individual in such debates is left to act for himself ;
but he is better able so to act than he was before,
the confidence
is associated b y
both by having had the advantage of hearing the
opinion
of others,
frherso,m
a n
feelingdwhich
actually season '
with a body .of persons engaged •
the same pur-
suit. The result of their joint proceedings both here
and at Bristol, has been not only the establish-
ment of many new reformatory institutions but
the obtaining from the 1 •
legislature the valuable im-
provements introduced by Mr.' Adderley's act of
1854 and Sir S. Northcote's of last year. These
acts were also extended to Scotland, and the want
of them in Ireland has been felt by many who
were well disposed to adopt the same plans.
Another occasional conference must not be for-