The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—We presume our readers have not for-
gotten Lord Lyndhurst's triumph over Lord Campbell
in the House of Lords, on the occasion of the latter
Nobleman's proposing a measure for shortening con-
veyances of land. On Lord Campbell's exhibiting a
form of conveyance on the palm of his hand, to show
what he could do under his Act, Lord Lyndhurst im-
mediately thrust forward another specimen, to show
what he could do without any Act at all ! To be sure,
by Lord Lyndhurst's plan the purchaser was to be con-
tent to take his land without the usual accompani-
ments of light and right of way, and such little conveni-
ences which are—mistakenly, of course, but still com-
monly—supposed to help somewhat towards the com-
fortable enjoyment of the property; while by Lord
Campbell's draft, all these, with lio greater
length, were carefully, and even strictly,
preserved. And if we remember rightly, there
was one other difference ; so trifling as, perhaps,
to be scarcely worth recalling; namely, that under
Lord Campbell's plan, if the purchaser did chance to
find himself in a hobble, he was not under the neces-
sity of lodging the property in Chancery, with, the
hope that in about half a dozen years' time it might,
perhaps, be restored to him. Under Lord Camp-
bell's plan this was not necessary. The purchaser
was to have a complete chain of covenants
for title secured to him by Act of Parliament;
and if any of them were infringed, he had a
cheap and speedy remedy by the old common law
of the realm. But Lord Lyndhurst interposed ; and
the House of Peers threw out Lord Campbell's mea-
sure. The public had been taught latterly to expect
something in the way of cheap and concise convey-
ancing; and we grumbled a little at being disap-
pointed, without any apparent cause. But still the
thing seemed inevitable ; and we resigned our-
selves to it, with the best good temper we could
summon up at so short a notice. But just as
we had fairly given up all hopes of seeing
our title-deeds reduced to a reasonable length, such as
we might con over of an evening for an hour's
amusement, Lord Lyndhurst hurls an Act at us,
without note or comment; and tells us we may go and
simplify our conveyances and make the best of it !.
The boon was unexpected ; and, as we were half
asleep when it came, we were almost inclined to grum-
ble at its arrival. But still, there it was. So we deter-
mined to do as we were bid, and make the most of it.
It is not exactly what Lord Campbell proposed. Those
long " general words," and the long covenants for
title, are just as necessary as ever. But we are
bound in common honesty to admit that it confers
benefits which we really believe Lord Campbell did
not think of. In the first place—we love to begin
at the beginning. Most of our readers, we hope,
are the owners of title-deeds ; and most of them,
we dare say, have had occasion, at one
time or other, to look at their contents.
They most probably observed the waving boundary-
line, which the professors of our jurisprudence—
keenly alive, no doubt, to the delicire of Hogarth's
line of beauty, which it so closely resembles ; and
ever solicitous, it must be admitted, to blend the utile
cum dulci—have placed at the head of most of our
parchments. Perhaps they wondered what it was
for. Perhaps they did not think at all about it.
At all events, they have Lord Lyndhurst's free per-
mission to snip it away, at once and for ever. We
now proceed to unfold higher mysteries ; which none
but the initiated, we fear, will be able fully to
understand. Such of our readers, however, as have
attained to years of discretion may remember that,
in what Cleopatra calls their " salad days," they
were sorely puzzled to know why two deeds should
be necessary to convey one property. They were,
perhaps, told that, owing to certain technical reasons,
which they could not understand at all, the
purchaser was obliged to take a lease of
the land for one year before he could ac-
quire it out and out. lie was further informed,
probably, that the method was invented by a great
lawyer, and not in other respects unknown to fame—
by no less a man, to wit, than Sir Orlando 13ridge-
m In. And, what is more probable than all the rest
is, that when he was told all this, he knew nearly
as mirih about the matter as he did before. Three
years ago, however, a learned conveyancer, anxious
to simplify the transfer of property to common under
standing—he could have no other possible motive for
what he did—drew an Act, and after some little
trouble passed it through both Houses of Parliament,
to make one deed sufficient for all time to come for
one property. To conciliate the " Stamps and Taxes,"
he enacted that the one deed should pay duty for
two ; and, to gratify a very pardonable vanity, con-
sidering the consideration he had evinced for the
wishes and feelings of the public, he enacted that a
clause should be inserted in future conveyances, stat-
ing that they were made in pursuance of Ste wart's Act!
'this clause, gentle reader, has Lord Lyndhurst—
contriving, we fear, and unlawfully, wickedly, and
maliciously intending to injure and prejudice the said
J. S., and to deprive him of his good name, fame,
credit, and reputation —enacted shall be used no more.
We come to the end. If any of our readers ever
happened to read through to the end of one of their
deeds, they noticed a clause of two lines and a half
(neither more nor less), providing that the trustees
should have power to give valid discharges for such
moneys as might come to their hands. This clause will
henceforth have to be expunged. Of course, we can
have no manner of doubt that Lord Lyndhurst's Act
will do just as good service as that clause; but we
must own we are surprised that the three estates of
the realm—who, to be sure, make Acts of Parliament
now-a-days, like Mr. `Valley's poetry, by the mile—
should have given their solemn sanction to an Act
which, by way of simplifying the transfer of pro-
perty, cuts off a crooked line from the top of a deed,
three more straight lines out of the middle, and two
and a half at the end I