Jackson, and Lincoln, have concurred in the selection of comparatively young men. No one of them had passed the meridian of a vigorous manhood at the date of appointment. The oldest, Roger B. Taney, was only 59 years old, Rutledge and Chase were 56, Marshall 46, and Jay and Ellsworth were but 44 each.

The Official Documents in Sheriff Glassford Bell's Case.-The following are the official letters. They appeared in the Glasgow Herald and Edinburgh Courant of Friday, January 9 :—

"212 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow, 20th December 1873.

"To the Right Honourable Robert Lowe, M.P., &c. &c.,

H.M. Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department.

"Sir, I beg respectfully to address this application to you under the following circumstances-I was appointed Sheriff-Substitute of the county of Lanark on the 1st July 1838, and performed the duties of that office until the 6th June 1867, when I received the appointment of Sheriff of the county. During the whole of this time I was never absent from duty owing to illhealth. The tenure of my office of Sheriff is regulated by the provisions of the Act 20 Geo. II. chap. 43, sec. 29. I continued to discharge regularly the whole judicial and other duties of my office until the 6th November 1873, when my medical attendants recommended that my right hand, which was affected with epithelioma, should suffer amputation. This operation was accordingly performed on the 8th November 1873. Since the date of the operation I have been unable to resume my official duties; but my medical attendants have now certified that, after an interval of from two to three months' rest, I shall be able efficiently to discharge the whole duties pertaining to the office of Sheriff of the county of Lanark. The duties of my office are very onerous, including that of reviewing the judgments of seven Sheriff-Substitutes, four of whom sit in Glasgow, the remaining three holding their Courts at Lanark, Hamilton, and Airdrie respectively. A large number of appeals have been presented against the judgments of my Substitutes since the 8th November 1873. Of these a considerable proportion can only be disposed of after hearing parties in open Court. With the view of facilitating the disposal of these appeals, and others which may yet be presented before I am able to resume my seat on the bench, I conceived it to be my duty to present a petition to the Court of Session (the Supreme Court of Scotland) for the interim appointment of a qualified person to exercise the office of Sheriff during such limited period as the Court might think proper, suitable provision being made by me for his remuneration. I accordingly presented a petition to the Court, a copy of which and of the medical certificates therewith produced, certified by the Clerk of Court, are sent herewith, and I specially and respectfully refer to these certificates for the present state of my health and the prospect of my being

able to resume my judicial work at an early date. No deliverance has been pronounced by the Court, consideration of the petition having been delayed at the request of the Lord Advocate, until the Court meets after the Christmas recess, which terminates on the 3d January 1874. I willingly, through my counsel, acceded to his Lordship's request for delay, my main object in presenting the petition having been the convenience of parties litigating in my Courts, which I humbly conceive will be best promoted by the interim appointment of a qualified person to exercise the office of Sheriff. It is my desire to continue to discharge my duties of Sheriff, and the medical certificates which accompany this, instruct that I am not disabled from the discharge of these duties by permanent infirmity, and, therefore, I am not in a position to resign my office altogether on a retiring allowance. I do not, however, desire to press for the interim appointment craved should such appointment be opposed by the officers of the Crown. I venture respectfully to ask you to take the facts now submitted into consideration, and on behalf of the Crown, to grant me leave of absence from the duties of my office for a period of three months from this date.-I have the honour to remain, Sir, your obedient, humble servant, HENRY GLASSFORD BELL.

Copy Medical Certificate produced in Petition of Sheriff Bell for Interim

Appointment.

"4 Athole Place, Glasgow, 17th December 1873. "We have great pleasure in certifying that since the date of our certificate, given on the 11th day of December 1873, Mr. Sheriff Bell has been steadily improving in every way, so that we are now in a position to declare that Mr. Bell's case is free from all danger, and that he only requires a period of rest, which we cannot estimate at less than from two to three months, to render him fully competent for the efficient discharge of his judicial and other public duties as Sheriff of Lanarkshire:-All which is certified upon soul and conANDREW BUCHANAN, M.D.,

science.

Prof. of Inst. of Med. Univ. of Glasgow.
GEORGE BUCHANAN, M.D.,
Surgeon, Glasgow.

"Whitehall, 6th January 1874.

"Sir, I am directed by the Secretary of State to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 20th ultimo, enclosing medical certificates, and applying for three months' leave of absence from your duties as Sheriff of Lanarkshire; and I am to transmit to you the enclosed copy of a memorandum on the subject by the Lord Advocate, and to say that Mr. Lowe fully appreciates the great value of your long service, and would have been most willing to have met your views by making an interim appointment as suggested, could such appointment have been legally and properly made; but, as the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor-General are both clearly of opinion that this cannot be done, excepting by Parliament, as in the case of Sir Walter Scott, referred to by the former, Mr. Lowe very much regrets being unable to make such an appointment; and having in view the difficulties likely to arise if the arrears of business pointed out by the Lord Advoeate are allowed further to accumulate, he is compelled to say that the interests of the public service require your immediate resignation of your appointment.-I am, Sir, your obedient servant, A. J. O. LIDDELL.

"H. Glassford Bell, Esq., Sheriff of Lanarkshire,
212 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow.

"Extract from Letter from Lord Advocate to Hon. A. F. O. Liddell.
"Edinburgh, 31st December 1873.

"Sir, I have to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 27th instant,

forwarding a letter from Sir T. E. Colebrooke, enclosing an application from Mr. Bell, Sheriff of Lanarkshire, for three months' leave of absence on account of ill-health, together with medical certificates in support of his application, and requesting that I would give my opinion thereon.

"It is not mentioned in Mr. Bell's letter, but I think it proper to state for Mr. Lowe's information, that Mr. Bell's request for leave of absence has been made in consequence of a suggestion by the Lord Justice-General, when the petition referred to in the letter was moved in Court on the 18th, to the effect that, assuming the competency of the Court to interpose as desired (as to which no opinion was indicated), leave of absence from the Secretary of State was, if not a necessary, at least a proper preliminary.

"In stating my opinion for Mr. Lowe's information, I desire to say in the outset that Mr. Bell has performed the duties of his office, whether as SheriffSubstitute or as Sheriff, during the long period mentioned in his letter, most efficiently, and with acceptability to the practitioners and suitors in his Court, and that I believe it will not be only distressing to himself personally, but matter of general regret in Glasgow, if no remedy, other than his immediate retirement, can be found for the great public inconvenience which has already arisen and is daily on the increase in consequence of the state of business in his Court, as set forth in his letter and petition.

"I have accordingly, in conference with the Solicitor-General, addressed myself very anxiously to the consideration of the subject, with a predisposition, arising from personal regard and esteem for Mr. Bell, and a desire to comply with his wishes, which I am persuaded the profession and public of Glasgow are also desirous of gratifying, to find some way of meeting the requirements of the public service compatibly with the retention of office.

"I am sorry, however, to have to say that the result of my consideration has been that I am unable to advise you that it is possible, legally and constitutionally, to make provision for overtaking the arrears of appeals which have already accumulated, and for performing the duties of Sheriff for a limited future time in the manner proposed by Mr. Bell, or in any other manner of the nature of a temporary expedient. On the contrary, I am under the necessity of stating to you, for Mr. Lowe's information, that in my opinion the course proposed is not legally competent, and that, if it were, it would not in the circumstances of the case be expedient to follow it.

"It is unnecessary to trouble you with the history of the office of Sheriff in Scotland. It is sufficient to say that the Sheriff of a county is not only a ministerial officer and magistrate, but also a civil and criminal judge of both original and appellate jurisdiction, appointed by the Crown from the Scotch bar.

"The primary jurisdiction of the Sheriff Court is exercised by SheriffSubstitutes, subject generally to review by appeal to the Sheriff. The Substitutes are appointed by the Sheriff, but paid by the Treasury.

"Prior to 31st December 1838, the commissions of Sheriff-Substitutes fell by the death or resignation of the Sheriff, to the effect of paralyzing the whole business of the Court, and leaving no provision even for the ministerial duties of the office, which are generally performed by the Substitutes. In these circumstances, when a vacancy occurred, and a new appointment happened to be delayed, there are instances of an interim nomination by the Court of Session in favour of a Substitute, substantially empowering him to act as if his commission had not fallen. By the Act of 1 & 2 Vict. cap. 119, sec. 4, a general remedy was provided by enacting that the Substitutes should continue to hold

1 This is an error. The Commissions were in the form of Acts of Sederunt (Anglicè, Rules of Court), appointing an advocate to act as Sheriff-Depute, with the power expressed or implied of renewing the commissions of the Sheriff-Substitutes, of executing the votes for elections, and all competent acts of jurisdiction. There is no instance, we believe, of the Court directly empowering a Sheriff-Substitute to act as if his commission had not fallen.-ED. J. J.

their offices, notwithstanding the death or resignation of the Sheriff. Since then there has been no occasion for the aid of the Court of Session, and no instance of the interference of that Court.

"There is no instance of an application to the Court of Session to appoint a person to discharge the duties of the Sheriff while there was no vacancy in the office, but the holder was incapable from illness, or other cause, of performing his duty. Whether or not the Court might be disposed to entertain such an application as a legitimate extension of the prerogative they have, upon considerations of general convenience, assumed of appointing a locum tenens during a vacancy, or in the case of a merely ministerial office-such as a clerk or officekeeper during the temporary incapacity or absence of the holder, I cannot with confidence predict. But it appears to the Solicitor-General and myself that such a prerogative, anomalously, although conveniently, assumed by a court of law, ought not to be extended beyond the limits hitherto observed, and we do not think it likely that the Court itself will be disposed to extend it in any case without the consent of the Crown judicially expressed in the individual case. There is in the Sheriff Court of Lanarkshire a greater amount of civil and criminal business than perhaps in any Court in Scotland. The Sheriff is practically the Appeal Judge of the Court, the judgments of his subordinates being generally subject to his review and appeal. The stoppage caused by Mr. Bell's illness is confined to his Court of Appeal, although there it is very serious. I think it is not legally competent for the Court of Session to appoint a person to act judicially instead of Mr. Bell in the Court of Appeal, and I have already observed there is no precedent and no authority for such an appointment. As to the constitutional aspect of the question, I forbear from offering any observation, as of that Mr. Lowe is a better judge than I am.

"There is, however, a view connected with the legal aspect of the question which I deem it my duty to notice as an important one in the SolicitorGeneral's opinion and my own. An appointment by the Court on Mr. Bell's petition would afford no guarantee to the lieges of the jurisdiction of the appointee, which must necessarily be left open to be judicially contested and litigated (even to the House of Lords) by any disappointed suitor before him. My own opinion is that the appointment would be inept to confer jurisdiction, and that all judgments pronounced by the appointee would therefore be bad for want of authority. This opinion might of course prove to be erroneous, but it is a question for grave consideration whether the numerous suitors in the Sheriff Court of Lanarkshire ought to be exposed to even a serious doubt as to the jurisdiction of the person assigned as Judge to decide their cases.

"I ought to mention that the only instance, so far as I know, in which it has ever hitherto been found necessary to make provision for the temporary absence of a Sheriff from ill-health, occurred in the case of Sir Walter Scott, who, as you are probably aware, held the office of Sheriff of Selkirkshire. When he went abroad (in the last year of his life) for the benefit of his health, Parliament made provision for the discharge of his duties as Sheriff during his absence by empowering the King to make an interim appointment. (See the Act of 2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 101.)1

"I have to explain that the case was fully considered by the SolicitorGeneral and myself before the receipt of your letter, Messrs. Tods, Murray, & Jamieson, agents for Mr. Bell, having been good enough, on the 25th instant, to send me a copy of his letter to the Secretary of State. I have also to state that the Solicitor and I concur in the opinion and views which I have expressed in this letter. G. YOUNG."

It has been shown that there is here an error in point of fact, the Act of Parliament having been passed after Sir Walter's return from abroad, and simply in consequence of his incapacity, and of his Substitute being a layman. It must be remembered that in those days the position of a Sheriff-Substitute was materially dif ferent from what it is now.-ED. J. J.

"The Legal Offices Commission has for some time been sitting three days a week, and examining witnesses on the subject of the Chancery offices, but without much avail. With their minds an utter blank on the matters committed to them, they have had to receive instruction from those who have come before them, and to learn step by step what they require to know. This process has proved to be too slow and too inefficient for the purpose, and it appears the Commissioners become more confused, and, to their own thinking, further than ever from their object the more they advance in their inquiry. No witnesses can be found to state that a radical fault exists in the organisation of the offices under review. Suggestions of all sorts, relating to idleness, incompetency, and even to corruption in the officials of the Court, have failed to produce the desired evidence. In this dilemma the Commissioners have resorted to one of the most reasonable methods of action; they have asked the Lord Chancellor to appoint a committee of officers of his Court who shall report as to the best mode of reorganising and amalgamating offices with a view to the provisions of the Judicature Act and the contemplated 'fusion' of law and equity. This is an acknowledgment of weakness, but we congratulate the Commissioners on having arrived at a full knowledge of their ignorance-the first step towards the success of their labours."—Globe.

Strong Language on the Bench.-Mr. Hayward, Q.C., in his "Biographical and Critical Essays" says (p. 140), " During the first quarter of the century the best bred people swore. Mr. Justice Best (the first Lord Wynford) during the trial of Carlisle for blasphemy, audibly exclaimed to a brother Judge, 'I'll be d-d to h-1 if I sit here to hear the Christian religion abused.' Lord Eldon was in the habit of revising drafts of bills during prayers in the House of Lords. He had just risen from his knees when, in reply to an ironical comment of Lord Grey, he said, 'D-n it, my lord, you'd do the same if you were as hard worked as I am."" Swift's line is adopted by us in its integrity :-" We never mention Hell to ears polite."

Appointments.-WILLIAM GILLESPIE DICKSON, Esq., Advocate (1847), has been appointed Sheriff of Lanarkshire in room of Henry Glassford Bell, Esq., Advocate, deceased. Mr. Dickson's appointment has given unmingled satisfaction in the county over which he has been appointed to preside; the most important part of which has witnessed his conduct for six years in the office of SheriffSubstitute. Mr. Dickson's reputation as an able lawyer was first established by his treatise on the Law of Evidence in Scotland, which has been the standard work on that subject since its publication in 1855. And his experience in the high office of Procureur-General of the Mauritius, during the years from 1859 to 1867, affords an additional guarantee for his fitness for an office which demands not only legal but administrative ability.

WILLIAM GUTHRIE, Esq., Advocate (1861), has been appointed one of the Sheriff-Substitutes of Lanarkshire at Glasgow, in consequence of the vacancy caused by Mr. Gillespie Dickson's appointment as Sheriff of the county.

Professor LORIMER has been unanimously elected a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Jurisprudence of Madrid.