No. 293. LONDON, AUGUST 20, 1842. PRICE 18. ** The following are the Names of the Gentlemen who favour THE JURIST with Reports of Cases argued and decided in the several Courts of Law and Equity:JE. T. HOOD, Esq. of the Inner Temple, Barrister at Law. House of Lords Privy Council {TENISONT Emple, at Law. Inner Temple, Barrister at Law. House of Commons Elec-JA. V. KIRWAN, Esq. of Gray's tion Committees.... The Lord Chancellor's Court.... Master of the Rolls Court { Inn, Barrister at Law. E. T. HOOD, Esq. of the Inner G. Y ROBSON, Esq. of the Inner Vice-Chancellor of Eng- [TENISON EDWARDS, Esq. of the LONDON, AUGUST 20, 1842. ANOTHER session of Parliament has passed by, and whatever may have been the value of its labours in a political point of view, a question with which, as conductors of this Journal, we have no concern, it will be admitted, we think, by all concerned and interested in the administration of justice, that it has been marked by a very fair share of attention to the improvement of the Laws. Of those that have passed through the Legislature, the two most important are undoubtedly the Bankruptcy Act, and the Act for amending the Practice in Lunacy. Of the latter we have already expressed an opinion more than once, and will only now add, that it appears calculated so to simplify and expedite the administration of the protection of Chancery, as to offer its benefits to a class of persons hitherto most generally compelled to dispense with any, beyond the frequently unwilling, and sometimes not very safe protection of relatives or friends. From the establishment of permanent Commissioners, remunerated by fixed salaries paid by the State-standing before the public as acknowledged judicial functionaries, and having both the station and responsibilities annexed to such a position, none we apprehend can anticipate, so far as regards the duty of taking inquisitions in lunacy, anything but an improved and more satisfactory administration of the law. anticipate the slightest difficulty in the transaction before them of the business arising out of such references as are now usually sent to a Master in Chancery. What is there indeed in the constitution of such a Court as that of the Lunacy Commissioners, to make them unfit for hearing evidence, and reporting to the Lord Chancellor on such matters as the propriety of granting leases, of repairing houses, of appointing particular persons to be committees, and other business of that class? Assisted, as their inquiries will doubt Nor do we VOL. VI. FF E. KEMPSON, Esq. of the Middle Court of Queen's Bench G. J. P. SMITH, Esq. of the Inner Temple; and Queen's Bench Bail Court Temple, Barristers at Law. A. V. KIRWAN, Esq. of Gray's Court of Common Pleas J. R. MARSHMAN, Esq. of Lin coln's Inn, Barrister at Law. W. M. BEST, Esq. of Gray's Inn, Ecclesiastical and Admi- f ROBERT PHILLIMORE, Advocate ralty Courts in Doctors' Commons. F. FISHER, Esq. of Lincoln's {Inn, Barrister at Law. less be, by the reception of vivâ voce evidence, we anticipate, that, so far from there being anything either unsafe or otherwise prejudicial to the interests of lunatics in the contemplated transfer of the business of inquiries, from the Master's Office to the Commissioners' Courts, such inquiries will be conducted with much greater dispatch, and with perhaps a more searching and complete discovery of truth. With regard to the Bankruptcy Act, on the provisionsof which we shall probably in a future number of the Jurist comment more in detail, we shall only now observe generally, that the alteration which it effects in the administration of the law in working out country fiats, promises to be extensively beneficial. It proceeds, like the Lunacy Act, on the broad principle of introducing fixedness and greater responsibility in the judicial body; a principle which scarcely ought to require the proof afforded by experiment to demonstrate its. value, but which, so far as the administration in bankruptcy is concerned, is fully justified by the results of a long-continued practice. Of the details of this Act,, so far as they are new, it may be difficult to pronounce yet any confident opinion, but its general character of improvement is clear. The question of Local Courts has also received consideration, and though the mode in which the bill for establishing them has been dealt with cannot be classed among the legislative improvements of the Session, yet we think most of our readers will agree that it must be considered as one of the beneficial omissions of the Legislature. To suppose that the bill had been brought in with the intention of laying it on the shelf after a decent appearance of pushing it on, would be indeed inconsistent with the respect due to the sincerity of the Legislature generally, and the promoters of the Bill individually. Yet, on the other hand, to suppose that such a Bill was supported and intended to be urged Review Remarks on the Laws relating to Attempts against the forward in earnest, by the wise and learned persons who apparently were its promoters, would be still more inconsistent with one's faith in their acknowledged ability and wisdom. The suspended bill had all the vices of all its predecessors in the same line; the same unseemly and impolitic mixture of different professional ranks in the county clerks who were to be the judges of the subordinate local courts; the same defect of those infe-remarks, that they had been written, together with We gather from the introductory portion of these much more, in consequence of the late attempts against the sovereign, and before the 5 & 6 Vict. c. 51, had held up the prospect of flagellation as the reward of those whose thirst for distinction shall in future lead them to seek it by discharging at their sovereign rusty buttons out of still rustier pocket pistols. The author of that measure has, according to the statement of Mr. Rickards," at once rendered superfluous and inapplicable a great part of that which he had written, and which had been intended to evince the necessity of some alteration in the previously existing law, and to advo'cate the adoption of some provisions very nearly simi'lar to those introduced by the Government." Having however come to the conclusion, our author continues: "After much consideration of the subject, that there are yet points in which the law requires amendment, and which the late measure has left untouched, and that something is still wanting to invest the sovereign with that full protection against attempts of a treasonable nature, which is so essential both to her own personal safety, and to the public welfare, he conceives, that it may even now be not useless to point out that infirm 'been effected, to adhere to the laws applicable to the rior Judges being alone permitted to be Judges and practising lawyers; the same affectation of committing the trial of facts to a jury, with the same absence of any thing having the reality of a jury, or any of its integral qualities, except that of the members of it being sworn; the same indirect exclusion of professional agents of any learning, and the same tendency to throw the management of suits into the hands of ignorant and unprincipled men. The bill is to be before the public during the recess of Parliament, and we trust, that, in that interval, some pen of more power than ours will be devoted to the task of dispelling, if possible, that vague affection which the public appear to entertain for the idea of Courts without pleadings and without lawyers, regardless of any consideration whether in the present complex state of property, even among the lowest classes who possess any, it is possible to obtain a due administration of justice, without the intervention of settledity which appears to him, notwithstanding what has forms, and of men not only of legal learning but of ge-offences in question." nerally educated minds. The object of the pamphlet before us appears to be principally to urge, that we are not to fall into the error of permitting ourselves to be drawn, by the im provement effected in the law against wanton and apthe sovereign, into inattention to the defects of the law parently motiveless attempts to terrify, if not to injure against actual bonâ fide treason; or into the supposition, that the whole law regarding attempts against the person of the sovereign has received its utmost finish. "The prevailing tendency of the public mind, (he says, p. 14), which the warm feeling of loyal affection that animates it, has doubtless also contributed to produce, being thus, as the writer conceives, to discredit the 'existence of really treasonable attempts against the The substitution for the present countless Revision Crown, to extenuate such as have occurred, and to see Judges of a small number of Revising Barristers, each no danger to Royalty beyond that of annoyance from embracing in his jurisdiction a large circle, and of terrors of a sound flogging may keep in check, it the brutal pranks of despicable vagabonds, whom the course being required to devote to it a larger share of will doubtless be disposed to receive with perfect sa time and attention, will be of itself no slight improve-tisfaction, and without demanding any ulterior change, ment. The value of a Court of Appeal will depend on its special construction. If it be exclusively devoted to It is to be regretted, that, among the completed labours of Parliament, nothing should be found touching the improvement of the Registration Courts; but to that subject the Legislature has not been wholly inattentive. The bill brought in by Sir James Graham, which at a future opportunity we propose to discuss with some detail, appears, so far as its principal provisions were stated to the House, to contain features of great improvement on the present system; of that the errors have now become, by the experience of many years, fully demonstrated. the consideration of questions arising upon claims to vote, its permanent utility has always appeared, and still appears to us most questionable; but undoubtedly some appeal from the Revision Courts is requisite. We have not here noticed several other Acts affecting the state of the law, such as the Factors' Act, the Copyright Act, and others, which, although perhaps of less importance, are yet considerable additions to the improvement of the law; and, on the whole, we think we shall not err in saying, that those whose interests are affected by the state of the laws, and the structure of judicial institutions, have no reason to be dissatisfied with the portion of attention which Parliament has devoted during the past session to those objects. a statute so well calculated for the repression of this class of offenders, as that which has just passed." lately passed may have improved the law regarding Mr. Rickards thinks, that, however much the act those mock attempts against the life of the Sovereign, which in fact are more in terrorem persona than in per sonam, the law of treason generally, and particularly that rule of evidence which, in a case where fire-arms have been discharged at the royal person, throws on the loaded with deadly materials, are not sufficiently strin prosecutor the onus of proving that the fire-arms were gent to protect the royal person against substantive treasonable attempts. And, accordingly, he proposes an alteration of the rules of evidence as a simple and effi cacious remedy. 6 "The alteration" (he says, p. 26) "in the law of trea son which the writer would suggest, as immediately and in the first place required, in order to render its administration free, vigorous, and effective, is no sweeping extension of its penalties, nor any revival of 'those exploded doctrines and obsolete constructions, which formerly placed the lives and liberties of the 'subject at the mercy of the crown. It is simple, easy, and definite; neither repugnant to the analogy of the English law, nor at variance with the essential principles of equity and reason; and it is justified, if there be any force in the preceding remarks, by reasons of the highest public necessity. It is nothing more than 'a modification of the rules of evidence, a shifting of 'the burden of proof from that party who can rarely possess the means of affording it, to that party with whom a knowledge of the truth must always reside, and who, by the commission of an act unquestionably illegal in the first instance, has already, in the eye of reason, placed himself under the cloud of an adverse presumption." PUBLIC GENERAL STATUTES. CAP. LIV. An Act to amend the Acts for the Commutation of Tithes in England and Wales, and to continue the Officers appointed under the said Acts for a Time to be limited. [30th July, 1842.] tuled "An Act for the Commutation of Tithes in England and Whereas by an act passed in the 6 & 7 Will. 4, [c. 71], intiWales," it was among other things enacted, that no commissioner or assistant commissioner, secretary, assistant secretary, or other officer or person appointed under the said act, should hold his office for a longer period than five years next after the The author then proposes, that, as in the case of day of the passing of the said act, and thenceforth until the end homicide, the law presumes malice, where the act is of the then next session of parliament; and that after the expiraproved, and throws it on the homicide to negative that tion of the said period of five years and of the then next session presumption by evidence; so in the case of a personal of parliament so much of the said act as authorizes any such apattempt against the sovereign, of the nature, for in-pointment should cease; And whereas by an act passed in the stance, of a discharge of fire-arms, the law shall presume last session of parliament (5 Vict. c. 7) it was among other things the fact of loading with deadly materials, and throw on provided, that so much of the last-recited act as is herein before the prisoner the proof of matter to rebut such presump-ant commissioner, secretary, assistant secretary, or other officer recited should be repealed, and that no commissioner or assisttion. The arguments of the learned author in support or person so to be appointed, should hold his office for a longer of his view are put with considerable force, and his ob- period than until the 31st day of July, 1842; and that after servations generally on the state of the law of treason the said 31st day of July so much of the last-recited act as auare not undeserving of attention, notwithstanding the thorizes any such appointment should cease: And whereas it recent improvement of the particular branch to which is expedient that the said commission be further continued; be the 5 & 6 Vict. c. 51 applies. it enacted, That so much of the last-recited act as is hereinbeWe are not, however, ourselves disposed wholly to fore recited shall be repealed, except so far as it repeals any coincide in the propriety of the learned writer's pro- part of the first-recited act; and that no commissioner or asposition. It goes to a considerable extent to throw sistant commissioner, secretary, assistant secretary, or other on the prisoner the proof of a negative. If, for in-officer or person so appointed or to be appointed, shall hold his stance, the attempt of the prisoner is by firing off a office for a longer period than the 31st day of July, 1847, and pistol, the question whether loaded or not is a questo the end of the then next session of parliament. tion of fact; and of a fact which requires an almost and owners and tithe owners of any parish to make and exe2. And whereas by the first-recited act power is given to the imperceptible time for its transaction. There might cute an agreement for the commutation of the tithes of that be a hundred witnesses to prove that a pistol was not parish as therein specified; and power is also given to the said loaded up to a certain period; but unless that period commissioners, after the 1st day of October, 1838, to make was the period instantly preceding its discharge, the compulsory awards for the commutation of tithes in any parish evidence would be valueless to prove the nonloading. in which no such agreement shall have been made as aforesaid, In regard to homicide, the point is very different. and confirmed by the said commissioners: And whereas doubts There, the act of homicide is held to afford a presump-have been entertained whether, pending the proceedings totion of malice; now malice is not a mere instantaneous wards a compulsory award, the land owners and tithe owners act, but a continuation of mental impulses, almost of can make and execute a voluntary agreement which, if connecessity the result of many circumstances. Hence firmed by the said commissioners, shall be valid, and it is exevidence of a variety of antecedent and collateral facts, pedient that such doubts be removed; be it declared and enmay afford inferences rebutting the presumption of such acted, That a parochial agreement for the payment of a renta continued state of mind in the prisoner. We cannot charge instead of tithes, as provided by the said act, may be but think also that our author has allowed his imagina-confirmation of any award for the commutation of the tithes of made in the manner therein specified, at any time before the tion to be a little too much affected with alarm at the the same parish; and such agreement may contain provisions dangerous consequences of the present state of the law, for declaring how the expenses of the parties, or any of them, and that the general tone of his observations tends someshall be defrayed, which shall have been incurred in contesting what too much to the formation of an over-stringent law. the award; and every such agreement, whether made before or The subject is however important, and Mr. Rickards after the passing of this act, if confirmed by the commissioners, has undertaken a beneficial task in endeavouring to call shall be as valid as if made and executed before any proceedings had been taken toward making a compulsory award, and shall have the effect of making null and void all the proceedings toward such compulsory award, or incident thereunto, except so far as the same shall be adopted in such agreement. attention to it. COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.-The Lord Chancellor has issued the following Order, which was posted in the hall of the Court in Basinghall-street, on Wednesday last: "In Bankruptcy.—I do hereby order, that the books of the Accountant in Bankruptcy be closed from the 20th of August, inst., to the 4th day of October next, and that during that time no draught for any effects shall be signed and delivered out, nor any purchase, sale, or transfer of any stocks, securities, or effects to be made by the said Accountant in Bankruptcy, for or on account of any bankrupt's estate; provided that the said Accountant be at liberty to sign orders or cheques for dividends in such cases as may appear urgent. "LYNDHURST, Chancellor." 3. That in all cases where no time is fixed by any award or agreement commuting the tithes of a parish for the commence ment of the rent-charge or rent-charges therein awarded or agreed upon, it shall be lawful, notwithstanding that the apportionment of the said rent-charge or rent-charges may have been confirmed, for the land owners and tithe owners, having such an interest in the land and tithes of the parish as is required for making a parochial agreement, to enter into a supplemental agreement for fixing the period at which the rent charge or rent-charges to be paid under such award or agreement shall commence: Provided always, that such supplemental agreement shall be of no force or effect unless the same shall be confirmed by the said commissioners under their hands and seal; and a copy of every such supplemental agreement shall be deposited with the registrar of the diocese, and in the pa rish, in like manner as instruments of apportionment are deposited under the said first-recited act. 4. And whereas by the first-recited act power is given to the said commissioners to make awards in cases reserved for special adjudication, having regard to the average rate which shall be awarded in respect of lands of the like description and similarly situated in the neighbouring parishes: And whereas it sometimes happens that voluntary agreements for the commutation of tithes have been made in the greater part of such neighbouring parishes; be it enacted, That, in awarding the rent-charge in any case so reserved, the commissioners shall be empowered to have regard to the average rate of commutation in respect of lands of the like description and similarly situated, not only in the neighbouring parishes in which there has been an award by the commissioners, but also in those in which there has been a parochial agreement for the commutation of tithes. ap 5. And whereas it will be beneficial to both tithe owners and land owners if the tithe commissioners are empowered to define the glebe lands in those cases in which the quantity of glebe is known, but cannot be identified, and also to exchange the glebe lands or part thereof for other land; be it enacted, That for the purpose of defining and settling the glebe lands of any benefice, on the application of the spiritual person to whom the same belongs in right of such benefice, and with the consent of the land owner or land owners having or claiming title to the land so defined as glebe, and being in possession thereof, the tithe commissioners shall, during the continuance of the commission, as well before as after the completion of any com. mutation, have the same powers which they have for ascertaining, drawing, and defining the boundaries of the lands of any land owners on their application; and also upon the like plication of any spiritual person, the said commissioners shall have power to exchange the glebe lands, or any part thereof, for other land within the same or any adjoining parish, or otherwise conveniently situated, with the consent of the ordinary and patron of the benefice and of the land owner or land owners having or claiming title to the land so to be given in exchange for the glebe lands, and being in actual possession thereof as aforesaid, such consent to be testified as their consent under the first-recited act is testified to anything for which their consent is therein required; and in every such case the tithe commissioners shall make an award in like manner as awards are made under the first-recited act, setting forth the contents, description, and boundary of the glebe lands as finally settled by them, and of the lands awarded to the several parties to whom any lands theretofore part or reputed part of the glebe lands are to be awarded; and every such award shall have all the incidents of an agreement confirmed by the said commissioners for giving land instead of tithes, and in every case of exchange shall operate as a conveyance of the lands theretofore part or reputed part of the glebe lands to the several persons to whom the same shall be awarded, and to their heirs and successors, executors and administrators, as the case may be; and such lands shall thereupon be holden by the same tenure, and upon the like uses and trusts, and subject to the like incidents, as the land awarded as glebe in exchange for the same was formerly holden; and the expense of so defining, exchanging, and settling any glebe lands shall be borne in such manner as the tithe commissioners shall think just. the payment of any rent-charge in respect thereof; and every such agreement shall be carried into effect by means of an award or supplemental award, to be made by the said commis, sioners either before or after the confirmation of the apportionment, in like manner as awards or supplemental awards are made by them pursuant to the powers vested in them before the passing of this act. 7. That where any agreement shall have been made before the passing of the first-recited act for giving land or money, or both, instead of tithes or glebe or commonable or other rights or easements, which is not of legal validity, and such lands or money, or both, shall appear to the commissioners to be a fair equivalent for the said tithes or glebe, or rights or easements, they shall be empowered to confirm and render valid such agreement; and in case the same shall not appear to be a fair equivalent, the said commissioners shall nevertheless be em. powered to confirm such agreement, and also to make an award for such rent-charge, which with the said land or money, or both, will be a fair equivalent for the said tithes or glebe, or award, to extinguish the right of the tithe owners to the per rights or easements, and subject to such confirmation and ception of the said tithes, or his title to the said glebe rights or easements, or to the receipt of any rent-charge instead thereof, other than the rent-charge awarded over and above the lands or money, or both, so confirmed to them. 8. That in every case in which any spiritual person shall have died or vacated his benefice before exercising the powers vested in him of borrowing money for the purpose of defraying so much of the expenses of commutation as is to be defrayed by him, and of charging the rent-charge with the repayment of the money borrowed, it shall be lawful for the tithe commis sioners, with the consent of the ordinary, to borrow money for rent-charge, or so much thereof as they, with the like consent, that purpose, and to charge the repayment thereof upon the shall think just, with interest thereupon, and for that purpose to assign the rent-charge in like manner as such spiritual per. son, if living or in possession of his benefice, could himself have been made, and his assigns, shall have the like remedies for done; and the person in whose favour such charge shall have enforcing payment of the principal and interest of the money so borrowed, in case of any arrear in payment of the said charge, as if such charge had been made by the person so dying or vacating his benefice. 9. That in all cases, whether the tithes of any parish have been commuted or not, where any question as to the liability of any lands to the render of tithes, or as to the existence of any modus or composition real, or prescriptive or customary payment, or any claim of exemption from or non-liability to the payment of tithes in respect of any lands, shall have been heard and determined by the said commissioners, or by any assistant-commissioner under their direction, it shall be lawful for the said commissioners or any assistant commissioner, after the time for appeal to a court of law from the said determina. tion has elapsed, or in case there has been such appeal, after the judgment of the court on such appeal, to make an award, founded on the decision of the said commissioners or assistant commissioner, or the judgment of any court of law to which appeal shall have been made from the decision of the said com. missioners or assistant commissioner, for the determination of 6. And whereas the power of giving land instead of tithes all questions of arrears of tithes claimed in any suit which may has been found beneficial to both tithe owners and land owners, be pending in any court of equity for the purpose of trying, as but such power has been inoperative in a great degree by reato the same lands, such liability, or the legality of such claim, son that the land owners by giving land instead of vicarial modus, composition, or customary payment, and of the liatithe cannot free their lands from the liability to rectorial bility of any of the parties to payment of the costs of the protithe, and the converse; be it enacted, That it shall be lawful ceedings in such suit, for which purpose they respectively shall for any tithe owner, with the consent of the patron and ordi- have all the powers which under the said recited acts or any of nary in the case of spiritual tithes, to be testified as their conthem they have for ascertaining the value of the tithes of such sent under the first-recited act is testified to anything for which lands; and such award shall have the effect of the verdict of a their consent is therein required, and subject in that case to the jury, on an issue directed by the Court of Chancery satisfaclimitation of quantity of land provided by the first-recited act, tory to the judge or court directing the same, and shall be reand subject to the approval of the tithe commissioners, to agree ceived by the Court of Chancery as conclusive evidence of the for the assignment to any other owner of tithes issuing out of liability or non-liability of such lands, and of the amount of the same lands of so much of his tithes arising within the same such arrears, and of the liability of the several parties to the parish or of the rent-charge agreed or awarded to be paid in-payment of costs in such suit; and any order of the Court of stead of such tithes as shall be an equivalent for the tithes be- Chancery made thereon shall be binding on all parties, and no longing to such other tithe owner issuing out of the same lands, appeal to any other judge or court shall be brought against such or for the rent-charge agreed or awarded to be paid instead thereof, for the purpose of enabling any land owner who shall be desirous of giving land instead of tithes to free his lands, or any part thereof, from both rectorial and vicarial tithes, and from order. 10. That where any question is or shall be brought for the decision of the tithe commissioners or any assistant commis. sioner, relative to any of the matters mentioned in an act passed in the 2 & 3 Will. 4, [c. 100,] intituled "An Act for shorten-vested in the commissioners of land-tax, and that without any ing the Time required in Claims of Modus Decimandi, or Ex-such consent of two justices of the peace; provided, that no emption from or Discharge of Tithes," as to which any such alteration of any apportionment shall be made under the firstsuit shall have been commenced and shall be pending as would recited act or this act whereby any rent-charge shall be subdihave prevented the operation of the said recited act, such re-vided, so that any subdivision thereof shall be less than 58. cited act shall not have any operation as to any award or decision respecting such question to be made by the said tithe commissioners or any assistant commissioner. 11. That in any parish where any rent-charge has been agreed or awarded to be paid instead of tithes, and security has been given for payment of such rent-charge, and the lands in such parish have been discharged from payment or render of tithes or composition, or rent in the nature thereof, instead of tithes, before the apportionment of such rent-charge, it shall be lawful for the tithe commissioners, by a declaration in writing under the hands of any two of them, and their seal of office, to fix the same half-yearly days of payment of the whole rentcharge, after apportionment thereof; and in consideration that the payment of some sums will be thereby accelerated, and the payment of other sums will be thereby deferred and retarded, to make such alterations and allowances in the payments to be made in the first year after the apportionment, both by way of interest for every sum of which payment will be thereby deferred, and by way of discount to be allowed for every sum of which payment will be thereby accelerated, as to the commissioners shall seem just. 12. That it shall be lawful for any owner of rent-charge, having taken possession of any land for nonpayment of the rent-charge under the provisions of the first-recited act, from time to time during the continuance of such possession to let such land, or any part thereof, for any period not exceeding one year in possession, at such rent as can be reasonably obtained for the same; and the restitution of such land, on payment or satisfaction of the rent-charge, costs, and expenses, shall be subject and without prejudice to any such tenancy. 13. That it shall be lawful for any board of guardians of any parish or union, with the consent of the poor-law commissioners, and subject to such conditions as the said poor-law commissioners may prescribe, to pay out of the rates of any parish any portion of the cost of making or providing any map or plan which shall have been confirmed under the hands and seal of the tithe commissioners, or any other sum of money by way of consideration for the use of the said map or plan, for the purpose of estimating the net annual value of property in respect of which rates may be assessed for the relief of the poor; and after the tithe commissioners shall have certified in writing that such money has been paid, the overseers of the parish, or any person authorized by them in writing, or any officer of the said board of guardians, or any person authorized by them in writing, shall at all reasonable times have access to the copy of the said map or plan deposited with the incumbent and church or chapel wardens of the parish, or other persons approved by the said tithe commissioners, and may inspect and make copies or extracts from the said copy, without paying anything for such access or inspection, or for making such copies or extracts. 14. And whereas by the first-recited act power is given for altering apportionments of rent-charge by the commissioners of land-tax, on the application of the owner of the lands charged therewith, and it is expedient that the power thereby given should be extended, and also that during the continuance of the tithe commission the like power should be vested in the tithe commissioners; be it enacted, That if at any time after the confirmation of any instrument of apportionment it shall appear that the lands charged with one entire rent-charge belong to or have become vested in several owners, and that any of the owners of such lands shall be desirous that the apportionment thereof should be altered, it shall be lawful for the commissioners of land-tax for the county or place where the said lands are situated, or any three of them, to appoint, by notice under their hands, a time and place for hearing the parties to such application, and all other parties interested therein; and upon satisfactory proof of such notice having been served on all parties interested full twenty-one days before the day of hearing, to proceed to alter the apportionment in such manner and in such proportion amongst the said lands as to them shall seem just, subject nevertheless to the consent of two justices of the peace, as in the said first-recited act provided; and further, that upon such application being made to the said tithe commissioners, they shall have the same power of making such alteration as by the said first-recited act and by this act is 15. And whereas it is expedient to make further provision for recording all such alterations of apportionment; be it enacted, That the registrar of every diocese, as soon as conveniently may be after the passing of this act, shall cause to be made and sent to the office of the tithe commissioners a copy, certified under his hand, of every instrument of altered apportionment in his custody which was made before the passing of this act, the reasonable cost of making and sending which copy shall be defrayed by the tithe commissioners as part of the expense of putting in execution the acts for the commutation of tithes; and after the passing of this act three counterparts shall be made of every instrument of altered apportionment at the expense of the land owner desiring the alteration, and two of the said counterparts shall be sent as provided by the firstrecited act, and the third shall be sent to or deposited in the office of the tithe commissioners, or, after the expiration of the tithe commission, shall be sent to and kept by the person having custody of the records and papers of the said commission, and shall be annexed to the instrument of apportionment in the custody of the said commissioners, or the person having the custody of their records and papers. 16. That in case any land charged with one amount of rentcharge shall belong to two or more land owners in several portions, and the owner of any one of such portions, or his tenant, shall have paid the whole of such rent-charge, or any portion thereof greater than shall appear to him to be his just proportion, and contribution thereto shall have been refused or neglected to be made by any other of the said land owners, or his tenant, after a demand in writing made on them, or either of them, for that purpose, it shall be lawful for any justice of the peace acting for the county or other jurisdiction in which the land is situated, upon the complaint of any such land owner, or his tenant or agent, to summon the owner so refusing or neglecting to make such contribution, or his tenant, to appear before any two or more such justices of the peace, who, upon proof of the demand and of service of the summons, as hereinafter provided, whether or not the party summoned shall appear, shall examine into the merits of the complaint, and determine the just proportion of the rent-charge so paid as aforesaid which ought to be contributed by the land owner of such other portion of the said land, and by order under their hands and seals shall direct the payment by him of what shall in their judgment be due and payable in respect of such liability to contribution, with the reasonable costs and charges of such proceedings, to be ascertained by such justices; and thereupon it shall be lawful for the complainant to take the like proceedings for enforcing payment of the said amount of contribution and costs, and with the like restriction as to the arrears recoverable, as are given to the owner of the rent charge by the said first-mentioned act or this act for enforcing payment of the rent-charge. 17. That service of the said demand in writing, and summons, or of any notice to distrain, or copy of writ to assess the arrears of rent-charge, or notice of the execution thereof under the said first-recited act, or the several acts to amend the same, or this act, upon any person occupying or residing on the land chargeable with the rent-charge, or in case no person shall be found thereon, then affixing the same in some conspicuous place on the land, shall be deemed good service of any such summons, notice, writ, or other proceeding. 18. That it shall be lawful for all defendants in replevin, brought on any distress for rent-charge payable under the said first-recited act, or the several acts to amend the same, or this act, to avow or make cognizance generally that the lands and tenements whereon such distress was made were chargeable with or liable to the payment of a certain yearly amount of rent-charge under the provisions of the statutes for the commutation of tithes in England and Wales, which rent-charge, or some part thereof, was in arrear and unpaid for the space twenty-one days next after some half-yearly day of payment thereof, and after ten days' notice in writing, as required by the said acts, and that a certain amount of such rent-charge, according to the prices of corn, as directed by the said acts, was at the time of the said distress due to the person entitled to the rent-charge. of |