certificate, entertained a different opinion and allowed the exception.1

The solicitor of the person enrolling the decree draws up the form of the decree for enrolment,2 and in the preparation of this form regard must now be had to the 1st Order of the 17th of March, 1843, which directs, "That for the purpose of diminishing expense in the enrolment of decrees and orders, no part of the statements or allegations contained in any bill, answer, petition, affidavit or report shall be recited or stated in any such enrolment, but that it shall be sufficient to state in such enrolment the filing of the bill or petition, or service of the notice of motion, the names of the parties thereto, together with the prayer of the bill or petition, or notice of motion, the filing of the several answers and other pleadings or proceedings and reports, whether confirmed or not, and the short purport or effect of any decree or order made, had, put in or taken before the date of the decree or order enrolled and leading thereto."

The decree so drawn up is called the Docket of Enrolment, and after it has been prepared by the solicitor, a certificate that it is correct must be obtained from the Clerk of Records and Writs; for the 2d Order of the 17th of March, 1843, directs "That no decree or order shall be enrolled until the Clerk of Records and Writs, in whose division the cause may be, shall have inspected the docket of such enrolment, and shall have certified thereon that the statement of the pleadings, orders, reports and proceedings therein contained is correct, and that for such inspection and certificate the Clerk of Records and Writs shall be entitled to receive the sum of three pounds, to be by him paid into the suitors' fee fund."

After this certificate has been obtained, the next process is to present the docket for signature.5 If the decree was pronounced 1 Slabordo v. Duchess of Buckingham, Amb. 586.

* In Mississippi, according to the practice in Equity, a decree is usually drawn out by counsel, and submitted to the Chancellor for his signature. When it is signed and placed upon the records of the Court, it is then to be considered as enrolled. Sagory v. Bayless, 13 S. & M. 153.

See ante, p. 1031.

Schedule to Orders of 25th October, 1852.

"There is no proceeding, under our practice, such as the signing and enrolling of a decree in the English Court of Chancery." Thomas J., in Clapp v. Thaxter, 7 Gray, 386. See Sagory v. Bayless, 13 S. & M. 153, cited in note 2,

by the Lord Chancellor, or one of the Vice-Chancellors, it may be presented to the Chancellor at once; but if by the Master of the Rolls, his signature must be procured before it is presented to the Lord Chancellor.

The docket, thus authenticated by the proper officer, is left, if the cause has been heard by the Lord Chancellor himself or by a Vice-Chancellor, with the Clerk of Record and Writs,2 which officer will procure the Lord Chancellor's signature to it. If the cause has been heard by the Master of the Rolls, the docket is first left with the Secretary of the Master of the Rolls for the signature of the Master of the Rolls, after which it is taken to the Lord Chancellor for his Lordship's signature. And it is to be observed, that, whether the cause was heard before the Lord Chancellor, or by the Master of the Rolls, or a Vice-Chancellor, it is the Lord Chancellor's decree, and must be signed by him before it is enrolled.5

The docket having been signed by the Lord Chancellor, the day and year when it was signed must be written at the foot of the docket, near the signature of the Lord Chancellor, after which the Record and Writ Clerk enrolling the decree engrosses an exact copy thereof upon parchment rolls, and carefully examines it with the docket, which, together with the parchment rolls, is carried into the record room of the Record and Writ Clerks' Office, and deposited with the Record Keeper for safe custody. The enrolment is then complete, and a decree thus enrolled is pleadable, and

1 M'Dermott v. Kealey, 1 Ph. 267.

The office of Secretary of Decrees was abolished by 15 & 16 Vict. c. 87, § 23, and the duties transferred to the Record and Writ Clerks' Office.

$ 3 Geo. II. c. 30.

* 53 Geo. III. c. 24.

5

* In Texas it is not necessary that a decree of the District Court should have the signature of the presiding Judge. Cannon v. Hemphill, 7 Texas, 184.

• The docket of enrolment is dated at the foot by the Record and Writ Clerk before the signature of the Lord Chancellor is attached. When the docket is signed it is returned to the solicitor for the party enrolling, and by him engrossed, omitting the date and signature of the Lord Chancellor and the certificate of the Clerk of Records and Writs. It is then deposited with the parchment rolls at the Rolls Yard.

In Massachusetts, every order and decree shall bear date as of the day when the same is actually entered by the Clerk, and the date be noted upon the order or decree and upon the docket by the Clerk at the time of entering the same. Genl. Sts. c. 113, § 16.

cannot be reversed but by appeal to the House of Lords, or by bill of review.1

As the effect of enrolling a decree is to render it final, and to deprive the party against whom it is pronounced of all opportunity of having it corrected by a rehearing in the Court itself, such party, if he is dissatisfied with the decision and wishes to have it reheard, either before the Judge who pronounced it or before the Lord Chancellor, by way of appeal, must take the proper precautions to prevent the enrolment. One course by which the enrolment may be prevented, is by the opposite party taking the necessary steps for a rehearing; for if previously to the enrolment being completed, service of an order, setting down an appeal, be served upon the party proceeding to enroll, then an enrolment subsequent to such service will be irregular; 2 but neither the mere presentation of a petition of appeal, nor notice of the order having been made, nor even obtaining the order to set it down, will be suf ficient, unless service of the order be effected upon the other side.3

To prevent, therefore, the danger of the enrolment being completed before service of an order of appeal can be effected, it is permitted to a party objecting to a decision, and desirous of having it reheard, to enter a caveat against the enrolment with the proper officer.4

1 Hind. 444; Clapp v. Thaxter, 7 Gray, 385, 386. See per Thomas J., in Clapp v. Thaxter, 7 Gray, 386; Bigelow C. J., in Thompson v. Goulding, 5 Allen, 82; Simms v. Thompson, 1 Dev. Ch. 197.

In Maryland, a decree is to be taken and considered as enrolled, when it is signed by the Chancellor, and filed by the Register, and the term during which it was made has elapsed. Burch v. Scott, 1 Gill & John. 393; Pfeltz v. Pfeltz, 1 Maryland Ch. Dec. 455.

Where to prevent an appeal, a decree has been enrolled in bad faith, the enrolment will be set aside. Wickenden v. Rayson, 35 Eng. Law & Eq. 252. 3 Dearman v. Wych, 4 M. & C. 550; Groom v. Stinton, 2 Phil. 384.

* This difficulty is avoided in Massachusetts by the provisions of the statute, that, "From final decrees made by a single Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, any party aggrieved may, within thirty days after the entry thereof, claim an appeal, to be entered on the Clerk's docket; and thereupon all proceedings under such decree shall be stayed, and such appeal be thereupon pending before the full Court," &c. And "no process for the execution of a final decree, made by such single Justice, shall issue until after the lapse of thirty days from the date of the entry thereof, unless all parties, against whom such decree is made, waive an appeal by an entry on the Clerk's docket, or by a writing filed in the cause." Genl. Sts. c. 113, § 8, 17.

In New Jersey no final decree shall be enrolled by the Clerk, nor shall the

A caveat is entered at the Record and Writ Clerks' Office, or with the Master of the Rolls' Secretary, according as the decree is made by the Lord Chancellor, or a Vice-Chancellor, or by the Master of the Rolls, upon a note, in the following form, being left with him:

Decree made by his Lordship, [or by his Honor the Vice-Chancellor, or Master of the Rolls,] dated the 31st day of January, 1839.

Enter a Caveat against enrolling this Decree.

A. B., Clerk. 28th of September, 1839.”

The effect of this caveat is to prevent the signing of the decree previous to its enrolment for twenty-eight days, to be accounted from the time of the docket being left to be signed with the proper officer by the party entering the same; but if the caveat be not prosecuted with effect within that period, the docket may be signed as if no caveat had been entered.2 These twenty-eight days must be clear days; and it seems that service of notice, of the docket having been presented, on the solicitor, is good service. Notice of the presentation of the docket for signature should be given by the respective officer with whom it is left.5

No period appears to be limited by the practice of the Court

enrolment be signed by the Chancellor, nor any process be issued thereon, until the expiration of ten days after pronouncing the same, without the special order of the Court therefor. Chancery Rule, XVIII. If a petition for a rehearing shall be presented to the Chancellor within ten days after pronouncing any final decree, and a caveat against enrolling and signing the same shall be filed with the Clerk of the Court, such final decree shall not be enrolled and signed, nor any process issued thereon, until the application shall be finally disposed of. Chancery Rule (N. J.) XIX. § 3.

within which a caveat may be entered; but a party dissatisfied with the decision of the Court should lose no time, after the decree has been passed and entered, in entering his caveat to prevent the other party from enrolling the decree. The caveat, however, will be in time if entered at any time before the docket has been left at the Record and Writ Clerks' Office for the signature of the Lord Chancellor. It is to be observed, that it is the delivery of the docket which completes the enrolment; and that a caveat, entered after that has taken place, will be useless, even though the signature should not be actually affixed at the time of its entry. Thus, where the docket had been delivered by the Bag-bearer into the hands of the Lord Chancellor's Secretary of Decrees, for the purpose of being submitted to the Lord Chancellor for signature, and the Secretary had despatched it to Brighton, where his Lordship was residing, and, in the evening of the same day, and before the signature had been actually affixed, a caveat was tendered at the office, but refused, as coming too late; Lord Lyndhurst, upon a motion to vacate the enrolment, was of opinion that the caveat was not in time.1

If any irregularity has occurred in the enrolment of a decree or order, or in the proceedings to accomplish that object, the Court will, upon application by motion,2 order it to be vacated; thus, in the case last referred to, where the enrolment was completed after a caveat and the presentation of a petition of appeal, but before it was signed or the order for a rehearing made, the Court directed it to be vacated.

The enrolment was vacated when due notice of passing and entering the decree had not been given, under circumstances which amounted to surprise.3

It seems, also, that where the case has not been heard upon its merits, the Court will exercise a discretionary power of vacating an enrolment, and of giving the party an opportunity of having the merits of his case discussed; thus, where a decree of dismissal was made by default, owing to the neglect of the plaintiff's solicitor in providing counsel to attend at the hearing. So in Benson v. 1 Barnes v. Wilson, 1 R. & M. 486.

3

2 Or petition, see Pickett v. Loggon, 5 Ves. 702.

Hargrave v. Hargrave, 3 Mac. & G. 348; Stewart v. Beard, 3 Maryland Ch. Decis. 227; Barry v. Barry, 1 Maryland Ch. Decis. 20.

✦ Robson v. Cranwel, cited 1 Ves. 205. See Millspaugh v. McBride, 7 Paige,