harvest his grain. He has only to hire the reapers at so much. the Scotch acre, and when payment is sought, toss the statute in their face, and laugh them to scorn, being under the protection of a Sheriff who holds that the contract being null under the statute, the labourer is not worthy of his hire.' Such a state of things. assuredly had the Apostle James in his far vision, when he exclaimed, 'Behold, the hire of the labourers which have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth.'

NOTES ON THE LEGISLATION OF THE YEAR.

THE past session of Parliament has been comparatively unfruitful, if the results of legislative action are to be measured by the additions made to the statute law of the country. Although the current annual volume of the statutes at large may not be of much smaller dimensions than its predecessor, it is to a large extent made up of the usual class of formal Acts which are renewed once a year, of revenue Acts, and of Acts of a quasi-local character, among which the English Local Government Supplemental Act, with others of a kindred nature, occupy no inconsiderable portion of the space. Of strictly Scotch Acts, the number is very limited. The most importat Scotch measure, the Court of Session Bill, was withdrawn at an early stage, in order to give time for consideration. Other Scotch Bills, of little general interest, have passed through their necessary stages, and have become law; and, in addition to these, we observe that several measures connected with finance, trade, navigation, and other interests not immediately connected with the practice of the law, have received the sanction of Parliament. To Some of these we propose to direct the attention of our readers in a cursory way.

I. Questions arising out of that branch of fiscal legislation which is concerned with the collection of the revenue of Customs, are not

of frequent occurrence. It is therefore unnecessary to refer to the

provisions of the Tobacco Duties Act, 26 Vict., c. 7, farther than to say that it was introduced for the twofold purpose, first, of admitting foreign tobacco at a rate of duty which, in comparison with the duties formerly levied, may be termed moderate; and, secondly, of enabling the British manufacturer to manufacture in bond without

paying duty on the raw material, and to use saccharine matter in the manufacture, with the view of placing the home and foreign manufacturers as far as possible on an equal footing as regards liability to duty, and the power of manufacturing in the most approved manner. This is probably the last of the extensive series of legislative changes consequent on the recognition of the policy of free trade, and having in view the removal of differential duties and the establishment of a system of unrestricted competition between the home and foreign manufacturers.

II. The Salmon Acts Amendment Act, 1863' (26 Vict., c. 10), is intended to give facilities for preventing the evasion of the various statutes regulating the periods within which salmon may be cap tured and exposed for sale in the United Kingdom. The existing laws are defective, in not prohibiting and punishing the exportation of unseasonable salmon, and of salmon caught in close time. The new Act imposes a penalty of five pounds for each fish exported, or entered for exportation, in such circumstances, and provides for the recovery of the penalties under the provisions of the Acts now in force for the respective divisions of the United Kingdom. The subject of salmon has also been dealt with in a subsequent Act (c. 50), which, however, only continues the power of the Commissioners appointed by the Act of last year.

III. By an Act, forming chapter 20 of the present year, the Speaker is authorized, on the occurrence of a vacancy in the House of Commons during the Parliamentary recess, to issue his warrant for the issue of a new writ, after giving six days' notice in the London Gazette. Under the existing law, fourteen days' notice is requisite. IV. One of the most important financial changes which have been effected for many years has taken its place in the statute-book, under the title of 'An Act to give greater Facilities to the holding of the Public Stocks' (26 Vict., c. 28). According to the usage which has hitherto obtained in the sale and transfer of the public funds, all transactions in stocks require to be made in the form of a transfer in the books of the Bank of England, without which formality the seller would not be divested of the property, or the purchaser put in a position to claim the payment of dividends. The necessity of carrying through purchases of stock by a transfer at the Bank has led to the employment of brokers in all transactions in the funds, although it is well known that, in at least one class of transactions,-the settlement of clearing-house balances,-brokerage might be dispensed with,

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as it is only necessary in such transactions for the company against whom the balance stands, to transfer stock to the other company or rompanies to the amount of the balance. The object of the new Act is to make stock transferable by tradition, in the same manner as bank notes. For this purpose stock certificates may be issued, in amounts varying from L.50 to L.1000 sterling, blank in the name of the holder, and with coupons attached for the dividends of the ensuing five years; at the expiration of which time, new coupons, or a new certificate with coupons attached, may be issued. So long as the certificate remains blank, it is to be transferable from hand to hand; but if at any time it is converted into a 'nominal' certificate, by filling up this blank with the name of the proprietor, it loses its transferable quality; and the Bank can then only pay the dividends to the party named, or to his or her legal representatives. The holder of a 'nominal' certificate may, however, exchange it for a blank certificate at any time, and which he may assign in the Lanner before explained. To obviate any danger to the security of Government Stock as a channel for the investment of trust money, it is provided that no trustees shall hold stock under the tenure of a certificate of title, unless authorized by the terms of the trust under which they act. Sufficient time has not yet elapsed to admit of this value of the measure being tested by practice; but we have little doubt that the general public, as well as banks and companies having large transactions to settle by transfer of stock, will freely avail themselves of its provisions.

V. Another statute has been added this year to the series of enactments by which the Legislature has, from time to time, sought to regulate and restrict the labours of women and young persons employed in manufactures. By this statute (26 & 27 Vict., c. 38), the Act 23 & 24 Vict., c. 78, placing bleaching works and dyeing Forks under the regulations of the Factories Acts, is extended so as to comprehend premises used in the occupation of calendering or finishing yarn or cloth of any description, or any process incident thereto, in which steam or other mechanical motive power is employed. The business of baking has also been taken under the paternal care of the Government, and subjected to inspection. Those provisions of the statute (26 & 27 Vict., c. 40) which are intended to give powers for the enforcement of cleanliness, and regulating the accommodations of work-people in bakehouses, belong properly to the department of police, and may be defended on the

same grounds as measures prohibiting and punishing the adulterations of alimentary substances. The regulations of the hours of labour of young persons in such establishments, is obviously an extension of the scope of the Factories Acts to a new and dissimilar class of employments.

We are not prepared to dissent from the extension of the principle in question. It is a difficult problem, how far the Legislature is entitled to interfere between employer and employed in the direction of restraining the industrial energies of the population, and limiting production. But if the principle be conceded,—and it is difficult to refuse assent to it, when directed to the protection of those who, from their dependent position, are not free to contract, -ought it not to be extended to all employments? Are the overwrought milliner's apprentices, whose wrongs a few months ago were the theme of newspaper commiseration, less entitled to the protection of the Legislature than factory operatives, or work-people employed in bleaching and calendering? We think not, and would desire to see the present partial and class legislation on this subject replaced by a general measure, applicable to all descriptions of employments. There are many employments, doubtless, as to which there is no reason to believe that such regulations are requisite. If so, the prohibition of work at unusual hours, or for an excessive number of hours, could do no harm; while in other cases, in which legislative interference is requisite, the statutory remedy might be enforced without distinction as to the character of the employment.

VI. The statute 26 & 27 Vict., c. 41, introduces us to a very different department of law, the responsibility of innkeepers for goods and property placed in their possession. The principle of the Edict, Nauta, caupones, stabularii, has already been subjected to considerable modifications in its application to the arrangements of modern society. Shipmasters are only responsible for culpable damage, the owner of the goods being bound, if he wishes for indemnity, to defray the expense of insuring his property. The liability of carriers was, by a well-known Act of William IV., limited to a fixed sum, as regards packages containing jewellery, silks, and other articles of considerable value in proportion to their weight, unless insurance rates of carriage were paid on them. By the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, the liability of railway and canal companies for horses lost or injured on the journey, limited to L.40, and proportionally in the case of live stock, unless

was

where the value of the animal had been previously declared, and insurance rates of carriage paid accordingly. The extension of the principle of a maximum measure of liability to the case of inneepers, appears to be reasonable in itself, and an act of justice to that useful class whose services have been so largely brought into requisition by the travelling customs of our time. The Act, in substance, limits the liability of the innkeeper to each guest for property other than horses or live animals) brought into his house, to the sum of L.30, except in case of actual fault or negligence on the part of the innkeeper or his servants. Or where the property has teen expressly deposited for safe custody, the innkeeper is to be bound to preserve all property so deposited, and may require the quest to seal or otherwise secure it.

VII. The Church Courts Act, 26 & 27 Vict., c. 47, is similar, in its leading provisions, to the Bill which was last year unsuccessfully introduced into Parliament, but shorn of its obnoxious features, among which we include, of course, the power of compelling the attendance of witnesses for the purpose of being examined upon oath. As the Act stands, it consists of four provisions, none of which appears to be open to objections. (1.) When a libel has been found relevant by the Presbytery, or other Church Court, against a minister, the Court may require and enjoin him to abstain from the discharge of his ministerial functions until the libel shall have been fully inestigated and finally disposed of. (2.) In case of a minister being disabled from the discharge of his duties by insanity,—of which the Sheriff's certificate shall be evidence, the Presbytery is authorized to appoint an assistant, and to set apart a portion of the stipend for his maintenance. (3.) The like power is given where a minister sincapacitated by a sentence of suspension pronounced by the Church Court. Power is given to the Church Courts to appoint a legal practitioner to dictate to the clerk of Court the evidence given on any trial before them; or, in the option of the Court, the evidence may be taken in short-hand, and certified by the moderator and clerk of Court.

VIII. By the 26 & 27 Vict., c. 51, a variety of amendments are made upon the provisions of the 'Passengers' Act, 1855.' This statute, while adding another chapter to the voluminous legislation on the subject of maritime and mercantile law, does not contain in its clauses anything of sufficient importance to call for detailed

notice.