been speaking During his speech many members entered and lefi the house, so that the division if called for again could not have been taken A division was taken then as at the present time, by all the voters retiring and coming back through two doors — and not by ayes and nays, as in American assemblies The bill as thus passed by the lords was hurried down to the house of commons, for agreement to the amendments. The conlerence between the houses was managed with so much address by Shaltesbury, that all objections to the amendments were waived by the commons, and the bill reported back to the lords as perfected. ' Soon after the king came in, taking his seat on the throne, and, the bill being read by its title as having passed both houses, he assented to it, and it became an enduring charter for the relief of prisoners and captives."
FUTURES, — We have never entertained a friendly feeling for contracts for the purchase and sale of -futures;" hut Justice Blandford, of Georgia, paints them in vivid terms of reprobation. He says of them that " this ferocious beast has been allowed to stalk about in open mid-day, with gilded signs and flaming advertisements, to lure unhappy victims to its em brace of death and destruction." This is indeed a terrible picture of an advertising animal.
SPURS FOR JUDGES. — One of our London legal exchanges remarks : — ' What allegory is contained in the presentation by the tradesmen of Walsall to Baron Pollock and Mr. Justice Hawkins of a pair of silver spurs apiece? — sterling silver, bearing the names of the learned judges? Spurs indicate an unwilling horse, and the necessity for more speed. But how can that apply to her Majesty's judges? We fail to appreciate the humor of the incident"
We have no information as to Baron Pollock, but the gift was certainly appropriate as to Mr. Justice Hawkins, for he is well known to be a lover of horseracing Perhaps there was a hint in the gifts that the donees ought to ride their circuits more.
READING OPINIONS FROM THE BENCH. — The practice of reading opinions from the bench still ob tains in New Jersey. So do some other foolish things, such as having an ultimate court of fourteen, ,md of having four of these persons who do not know any law. The " New Jersey Law Journal," while regarding the practice as '• somewhat of a bore," seems to regard " reading day " as a convenient op portunity for the lawyers to assemble and have a good time. In commenting on this the " New York Law Journal" asserts that the practice "still survives in the Supreme Court of the United States." Unless we have been misinformed, it was discontinued there several years ago, save in cases of exceptional im
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portance. The New Yorker however very aptlv suggests : — "If a regard for tradition and precedent must still be humored, we would suggest that there be procured for every court where this usage still obtains a composition portrait of eminent members of the bar, which, after busi ness hours or on holidays, might be adjusted for pano ramic view from the bench. Then, if the artist of the Eden Musee would prepare lifelike images of the judges to sit in the accustomed seats of their originals, and a ventrilo quist were engaged to make each judge's opinion seem to issue from his own mouth, sentiment could be conserved by machinery, and much valuable time saved. ' Rcading Day' is a lingering institution of a time when ceremony was made much more of than at present, and when the volume of legal business was comparatively small. The universal complaint from all courts of importance to-day is that the calendar is over-crowded, and that the judges are pressed for time to dispose of their work. What a. vicious squandering of the public time it therefore seems to devote a substantial portion of a day each week to the oral delivery of opinions, which are immediately placed on file and made accessible to the parties principally inter ested, as well as the bar in general! Chief Judge Sanford E, Church, whose sterling common-sense made him a valuable — almost a great — judicial officer, is said to have once remarked to a lawyer, who was reading his printed points, in lieu of an oral argument, to the Court of Appeals, that all the members of the court could read, and that if the gentleman had nothing to say, outside of what he had already printed, he had better submit the con troversy forthwith A substantially similar remark might, with great point, be addressed from the bar to the bench of a court that persists in orally reading opinions, for no better reason than that such has always been the rule."
We flatter ourselves that for once we can improve on the New Yorker's suggestion. Let each judge, instead of writing, spout his opinions into a phono graph, and let them be ground out to those who de sire to listen, thus saving the judges a day in which to do some sensible work.
CATS IN LAW. -— " Our Animal Friends " is a monthly publication at Boston in the interest of dumb animals. Its matter is usually judicious as well as humane, but occasionally, it seems to us, it overdoes the sentimental. For example, from the last number we extract the following: — "' A cat has fallen down a chimney from the roof to the first story of a tenement house on East 20th Street, and the housekeeper refuses to let any one get it out,' said;i little girl to President Haines, just as he was leaving head quarters for the night. ' We 'll sec about that at once,' replied the President Officer Lambert was instructed to go and have the imprisoned animal ' released immediately,' and to arrest the housekeeper or any one else who might obstruct or interfere with him. The plaintive mewing of
