The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-06-27
Civil Litigation In England.

ble paper on the statistics of civil Iitl.
 gat!on, read before the Royal statlsti.
 cal society yesterday. He may almost
 be said to have created new depart
 ment of statistics, for as he shows. our
 official entries supply most imperfect
 information in regard to the civil
 branch of legal business. But the pub
 lie and the profession apparently are
 far more concerned with the statistics of crime. Litigation. however, Is a com
 prehensive term, for It includes every
 step In procedure from the writ to the
 trial of the action. About three per
 cent. of the cases come to adjudication
 by judge or jury. There has been a
 great decrease since 1859 In the num-
 Der of wrlts issued, and even In the
 number of Judgements, though the
 writs now far more often signify an
 intention to carry the case to the end
 than they did thirty years ago. At that
 period, apparently; writs were used in legal warfare as the Chinese use masks
 in warfare of another kind-simply to
 terrify the enemy, without any inten- tion of doing him serious harm. From various causes, very many actions are mere still births. In our time, q very large and increasing number of act ions on contracts and claims for liqui- dated amounts are disposed of without trial, and by summary judgment For one judgment given by the plaintiff on verdict in open court about four or five are given in chambers on affidavits. There remains the fact as Mir. Macdon- aid says, that while the population has increased fifty per cent.,the number of cases entered is less than it was in 1S67-70, when the population of England and Wales was about nine millions less than it Is now. The increase in the per centage of real actions, as distinguished from mere terrorizing writs, shows that nowadays litigation has more to do with substantial disputes, and that cases are sifted more carefully in the early stages than they once were. Then. costs count for more and more in litiga- tion. Many actions are fought out to the end by reason of the large amount of costs at stake. The parties, in fact, fight to get out of the mess into which they have got by the attempt to obtain legal redress.
 In litigation, as in warfare, the vic tory is to attacking party In every sys- tenn of procedure and in every country, the plaintiff, as a rule, succeeds, and the defendant, as rule, is beaten. MT. Macdonald remarks 'the growing dis trust of the true Court of Equity, as I Io+ Epa aI tria1 h1y jury"
 He goes so far as to say that the in- stitution of the jury is falling into dis use. It is often found to be terribly ex- pensive. A jury may,and often does dis agree; single judge must be unani- muos, and his decision is not followed by the waste which is the consequence of an abortive trial. The decisions of juries are difficult to forsee, and MT. Macdonell's experience, which in his official position is extensive, leads him to think that this mode of trial is pre- ferred chiefly by those who do not wish a decision on it's merits. As to the kind of suits tried, there is an increase in cases of malicious prosecution, li- bellous and personal injuries. The num- Der Of actions for breach of promise of marriage is in ludicrous disproportion to the fuss made about them in the newspapers. The annual total number for more than thirty years has varied only from eight to sixteen. In country districts there is preference for slan- der cases. But the country districts are losing much of their. legal business There, has been 8 remarkable increase in the actions transferred to London, partly owing to the facilities for con- ducting the proceedings in London. It is comforting to know that while the volume of business may have declined, in proportion to the increase of wealth and population there has been steady increase in the fees. The day is long since passed when Sir James Scarlett argued a motion for three guineas. In a hundred cases taken at random, in the Queens bench division, the total amount recovered was in round figures but 2S,00O pounds, and the total taxed costs were about 9,690 pounds, or some 34 per cent. Perhaps this may account for the fact that the Pondo chief, in his terms of submission, has stipulated that no lawyers shall be allowed to en- ter his territory. This man, however, is only heathen. and conversion may bring him to better frame of mind. This ,disproportion between the bread and the sack. the oyster and the shell is still more glaring in cases affecting smaller claims. In thirty-four cases in which the total amount recovered was but 1,22S pounds, the taxed costs on one side were 2,975 pounds ..
 The costs in time are almost just as heavy In a number of cases which MT. Macdonell has. examined, the interval between the, issue, of writ and the trial has been from six to seven months. The suitors themselves are not seldom to, blame for it.If 2 defendant Is ingenious and wealthy. he may be able to pro- tract proceedings fora long time.
 On the question of the circuit, one of the oldest parts. of oyr. legal. system, MT. Macdonell has much to say that is He describes the circuits as lone of the most picturesque and distinctive features of English national life. Nowhere else, except. perhaps in the United States, is any institution corresponding to them.
 For judges and barrigters they have social charms. There friendships are formed; the mess. with It's high jinks, 1. Babelasian songs, and good fellowship, is something by itself a club b,and more than a club;f and not for much would : men barter their f11efY1ories of circuit { life when they; were young. Powerful interests are arrayed in maintaining the Assizes." At the same time they are not, and never can be- what they were. 5ss .si.s sS94ss ssss " sf