About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

24 L.J. 369 (1889)
June 22, 1889

handle is hein.journals/lwjrnal24 and id is 565 raw text is: 

JUNE 22, 1889.1


THE LAW JOURNAL.


                                           Per Annum.
                                             A a. 4.
TE LAW JOURNAL REPORTS AND STATi'S      ..   3 4 0
THE LAW JOURNAL NEWSPAPER, NoTEs O COASES, &C.:-
   If taken without the LAW JOURNAL REPORTS, 64. a
     Number, or post free .. .. .. ..    ..  1 6 0
   If taken with the LAW JOURNAL REPORTS . . 1 0 0
   Supplied upon application to THE PUBLISHER, 5 Quality Court,
                  Chancery Lane, W.C.
         SCALE   FOR ADVERTISEMENTS, £ 8. 1.
  Four Lines, or 40 Words, in Column.. ...... 0 4 0
  Every Line additional, or 10 Words  ........ 0 0 6
  A Column, or Halt a Page across  ........  3 3 0
  A Page  ..  ..   ..   .. ..    ..  ..   .. 6 0 0
    Public Companies' Announcements, 8s. per inch in Column,
                   or 71. 4s. per Page.
               Auction Sales, 7d. per Line.
    ADVERTISEMENTS REcErVED UP TO NOON ON THURSDAYS.


                    CONTENTS.
                                              PAGE
  'OBITER DICTA' :-Birmingham's Civic Rank;
    Married Women and the Statute of Frauds;
    Special Litigation Courts; Yearly Tenants and
    Hailstorms; Cruelty to Children .        . 369
  LEADING   ARTICLES :-The Assizes Relief Bill;
    The Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1889 . 370
  REVIEWS:-Pitt-Lewis on the County Courts
    Act; Hunter's Railway and Canal Traffic Act,
    1888; Dicey on Domicil, by Stocquart, Part II. 372


UNREPORTED CASES :-County Courts;
BAR STUDENTS' EXAMINATIONS
THE BIRMINGHAM LAW COURTS
UNKNOWN AND FOREIGN HEIRS
SIDE ALTARS
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS .
CAUSE LISTS
COURT OF APPEAL REGISTER
NOTICES FOR THE WEEK .
BOOKS RECEIVED FOR REVIEW.
CALENDAR OF THE COUNTY COURTS
BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS .
  BANKRUPT LIST


Police


372
373
374
375
375
378
379
385
385.
385
386
386


213 TO 220


         SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 1889.

                'OBITER DICTA.'
WITHIN the last sixty years Birmingham has risen
in the civic ranks by leaps and bounds. It became a
Parliamentary borough in 1832; a municipal borough,
with sixteen wards and quarter sessions, in 1838.
Assizes were first held there on August 6, 1884, under
an Order in Council, and not in 1886 under a Royal
grant, as has been stated.   By Royal grant dated
June 14, 1889, it was ordained and declared that the
borough of Birmingham shall be a city, and shall be
called and styled the 'City of Birmingham.' Some
discussion has taken place on the question whether the
prerogative of the Crown extends to making a borough
which is not the see of a bishop into a city. Mr. Free-
man has published an opinion, written away from his
authorities, somewhat favourable to the legality of the
proceeding, and if Birmingham-which will appear as


a city in the circuit commissions for the first time
during the present circuit-manages to pass muster as
a city when the judges open the commission on
August 2, its title will be practically secured.


   THn decision of Mr. Justice Kekewich in Williams v.
Hudson on Tuesday should give warning to those advo-
cating the Progress of the rights of women that if
married women have rights of property apart from their
husbands, except in the ordinary cases of marriage set-
tlements, the relation must be turned more or less into
a business relation, unless the married woman is to lose
her rights .The married woman in question had
several hundred pounds which she claimed as her sepa-
rate property, and which she allowed her husband to
invest in land in his name. She received the rents, but
there was no writing by way of setlement or declara-
tion of trust, and when the husband died the land
descended, as Mr. Justice Kekewich held, to the hus-
band's heir-at-law. It is true that equity will some-
times follow a fund impressed with a trust into the
hands of a third person. Strong evidence of the trust
in the absence of writing would be required, and in the
case of land the Statute of Frauds steps in and forbids
such assignments unless in writing.


  THE popularity and success of the Chetwynd-Durham
arbitration, and the ability and grasp of the case dis-
played by the arbitrators, suggest the question, Why
not have a Court for the Consideration of Turf Cases
Reserved, with sittings regulated according to the
Racing Calendar, no sittings during the Derby week,
and Ascot and Goodwood Vacations?     The judges, in
whom the public hoped to find, at least, a amiliarity
with some of the more common terms of horse-racing,
have disappointed it. Their minds are in a perfect
judicial blank, in strong contrast with the alertness and
quick perception displayed by the Minos and Rhadaman-
thus of the Jockey Club sitting with their umpire in the
Royal Courts. A similar ignorance of matters theatrical
is generally affected by the judges, and such cases might
be referred to, say, Mr. Irving, Mr. Toole, and Mr.
Grossmith, sitting as the Court for the Consideration of
Stage Cases Reserved. These would be useful institu-
tions, relieving the judges of topics which they do not
or will not understand, and leaving them more time for
matters involving the graver business of life.


  THE question propounded by ' E. Y.' whether a yearly
tenant is bound to repair windows broken by hail de-
pends on the application of two legal principles-first,
that the tenant is bound to keep the premises wind and
water tight; and secondly, that no one is responsible
except by express contract for the consequences of an
act of nature which could not have been foreseen by a
prudent person or prevented by means which a prudent
person would use. Does a hailstorm, violent enough to
break windows, come within the latter principle ?
Lightning and storms have generally been so considered,
and no distinction can probably be drawn between the
percussion of hail and the concussion of wind. A
yearly tenant, if he takes a house with ordinary glass in
the windows, is not bound to insert plate-glass in order
to resist extraordinary hailstorms, Until plate-glass


369


I

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most