1

JAMES SUTCLIFFE, JOHN SUTCLIFFE, and WIL-
LIAM BERRY, Birstall, Yorkshire, cotton spinners,
dealers and chapmen, Sept. 1 and 22 at 11, District Court
of Bankruptcy, Leeds: Off. Ass. Hope; Sols. Wavell,
Halifax; Courtenay, Leeds; Gregory & Co., Bedford-row.
-Fiat dated Aug. 18.
RICHARD HENRY HARTLEY, Halifax, Yorkshire, stock
and share broker, accountant, and general agent, Sept. 1 and
24 at 11, District Court of Bankruptcy, Leeds: Öff. Ass.
Young; Sols. Mitchell, Halifax; Courtenay, Leeds; Jacques
& Co., Ely-place, London.-Fiat dated Aug. 18.
CHARLES THOMAS WOOD, Liverpool, corn factor and
share broker, Aug. 29 and Oct. 1 at 11, District Court of
Bankruptcy, Liverpool: Off. Ass. Cazenove; Sols. Robin-
son, Liverpool; Vincent & Sherwood, Temple, London.-
Fiat dated Aug. 14.
EDWARD MUNDY, Liverpool, house, land, and commission
agent, dealer and chapman, Sept. 2 and Oct. 1 at 11, District
Court of Bankruptcy, Liverpool: Off. Ass. Morgan; Sols.
Davies, Liverpool; Rogerson, Lincoln's-inn-fields, London.
-Fiat dated Aug. 12.
HENRY TATE and ROBERT LUCAS NASH, Bristol,
stock and share brokers, dealers and chapmen, Sept. 4 at
12, and Oct. 15 at 11, District Court of Bankruptcy, Bris-
tol: Off. Ass. Acraman; Sol. Fox, Bristol.-Fiat dated
Aug. 11.

MEETINGS.

Within, London, hatter, Sept. 14 at 12, Court of Bankruptcy,
London.-Joseph H. Nail, John-street, Tottenham-court-rd.,
Middlesex, builder, Sept. 17 at half-past 1, Court of Bank-
ruptcy, London.-C. G. M. J. Hopkins, Portman-st., Port-
man-square, Middlesex, tailor, Sept. 11 at 11, Court of Bank-
ruptcy, London.-A. Reed and S. J. Powell, Tottenham-court-
road, Middlesex, ironmongers, Sept. 11 at 12, Court of Bank-
ruptcy, London.-J. Valle, Manchester, and Arnfield Mottram,
Cheshire, commission agent, Sept. 12 at 11, Court of Bank-
ruptcy, London.—Rob. Hearn, Doddington-grove, Kenning-
ton, Surrey, and Wood-st., Cheapside, London, commission
agent, Sept. 17 at 11, Court of Bankruptcy, London.-John
Jos. Taylor, Tooley-street, Southwark, Surrey, tobacconist,
Sept. 17 at 2, Court of Bankruptcy, London.-Wm. Henry
Hounsfield, Cardiff, Glamorganshire, draper, Sept. 14 at 11,
District Court of Bankruptcy, Bristol.-Griffith J. Hughes,
Liverpool, commission merchant, Sept. 15 at 11, District
Court of Bankruptcy, Liverpool.-Edward S. Harley, Bir-
mingham, grocer, Sept. 29 at 10, District Court of Bank-
ruptcy, Birmingham.-Samuel Hall, Manchester, commission
agent, Sept. 15 at 1, District Court of Bankruptcy, Manches-
ter.-J. Scholes, Blackley, Manchester, dealer and chapman,
Sept. 15 at 12, District Court of Bankruptcy, Manchester.-
Horatio Rains, Newton-wood, Newton, Cheshire, boiler maker,
Sept. 14 at 12, District Court of Bankruptcy, Manchester.
To be allowed by the Court of Review in Bankruptcy, unless
Cause be shewn to the contrary on or before Sept. 11.
Sam. A. Bull, Frome Selwood, Somersetshire, dyer.-R.
Mills and Geo. Puckle, Southwark, and Corn Exchange, Mark-
lane, London, hop factors.-Jas. Baines, Manchester, grocer.
John Burgh Crampern, Wharf-road, City-basin, City-road,
Middlesex, coal merchant.-Hen. Harris, Leman-st., Good-
man's-fields, Middlesex, teacher at the Jews' Orphan Asylum.
Edw. Smyrk, Hill-st., Windmill-st., Finsbury, Middlesex,
upholsterers' fringe manufacturer.-Chas. Wadhams, Char-
lotte-st., Portland-place, New-road, Middlesex, carpenter.—
Wm. Baldock, Nottingham, grocer.

FIATS ANNulled.

Jos. L. Butler, Liverpool, coal merchant.-Wm. Curtis, Croydon, Surrey, builder.

PARTNERSHIP DISSOLVED. Robert Russell and Geo. Mackenzie, Martin's-lane, Cannon-st., London, attornies and solicitors.

SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS.

Lawrence Kennedy, Rochester-terrace, Stoke Newington, Middlesex, pawnbroker, Sept. 16 at 1, Court of Bankruptcy, London, last ex.-Thomas Moger, Holborn-hill, London, and Coventry-street, Haymarket, Middlesex, poulterer, Sept. 16 at half-past 12, Court of Bankruptcy, London, last ex.-George Prince, Romsey, Hants, wine merchant, Sept. 16 at 12, Court of Bankruptcy, London, last ex.-George Baxter, Church-st., St. George's, Southwark, Surrey, currier, Sept. 1 at 11, Court of Bankruptcy, London, last ex.-Richard Knight and Alfred Knight the younger, Budge-row, London, wholesale stationers, Sept. 17 at 2, Court of Bankruptcy, London, aud. ac.— Ch. M'Kinnell, Fenchurch-street, London, wine merchant, Sept. 16 at 2, Court of Bankruptcy, London, aud. ac.-E. Buonaparte Smithis and J. Alexander T. Mathews, Great Doverroad, Newington, Surrey, glass merchants, Sept. 17 at 1, Court of Bankruptcy, London, aud. ac.-Wm. Marshall Smithson, Canterbury, printer, Sept. 17 at half-past 2, Court of Bankruptcy, London. aud. ac.-G. B. Wadsworth, Broad-street, Golden-sq., Westminster, Middlesex, apothecary, Sept. 17 at Wm. Stott, dec., Edinburgh, painter.-Jas. Rankine, Fal12, Court of Bankruptcy, London, aud. ac.-James Bird, kirk, Stirlingshire, distiller.-Wm. Shand & Co., Glasgow, Club-row, Bethnal-green, Middlesex, timber merchant, Sept. merchants.-John Clark, Campbelltown, Ardersier, Inverness16 at half-past 2, Court of Bankruptcy, London, aud. ac.-shire, flesher.-Wm. Thom, Langloan, flesher.--Dav. SimpRichard Mills and George Puckle, Southwark, and Corn Exchange, Mark-lane, London, hop factors, Sept. 12 at 11, Court of Bankruptcy, London, aud. ac.-Arthur Burton, Ranelaghwharf, Pimlico, Middlesex, coal merchant, Sept. 15 at 11, Court of Bankruptcy, London, aud. ac.-Edw. Beedel and Charles Reffold, Reading, Berkshire, builders, Sept. 15 at 1, Court of Bankruptcy, London, aud. ac.-J. Collins Staines, Oundle, Northamptonshire, tailor, Sept. 12 at half-past 11, Court of Bankruptcy, London, aud. ac.-Wm. Locks, Leonard-street, Shoreditch, Middlesex, timber merchant, Sept. 12 at 12, Court of Bankruptcy, London, aud. ac.-Jas. Perry, Harlow, Essex, grocer, Sept. 15 at 11, Court of Bankruptcy, London, aud. ac.-Mark Cooke, Denton, Manchester, joiner, Sept. 15 at 12, District Court of Bankruptcy, Manchester, aud. ac.-John Nield, Manchester, and Bank-mill, near Lees, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, also of Saddleworth, Yorkshire, woollen manufacturer, Sept. 15 at 12, District Court of Bankruptcy, Manchester, aud. ac.-Wm. Richardson, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, glass manufacturer, Sept. 10 at half-past 10, District Court of Bankruptcy, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, aud. c.-Mark Barnes, Woodbridge, Suffolk, chymist, Sept. 12 at 11, Court of Bankruptcy, London, div.-J. Godfrey Wilson, Standard Factory, Wenlock-basin, Wharf-road, City-road, Middlesex, engineer, Sept. 12 at 11, Court of Bankruptcy, London, div.-Joseph Salmon, Beaumont, Essex, carpenter, Sept. 12 at 2, Court of Bankruptcy, London, div.

son and Quintin Dick, Glasgow, writers.-Wm. Greig and Wm. J. Carswell, Glasgow, stockbrokers.

CERTIFICATES.

To be allowed, unless Cause be shewn to the contrary on or before the Day of Meeting.

Wm. Joy, Tonbridge, Kent, plumber, Sept. 11 at 2, Court of Bankruptcy, London.-James Weston, Bishopsgate-street

INSOLVENT DEBTORS

Who have filed their Petitions in the Court of Bankruptcy, and have obtained an Interim Order for Protection from Process.

Wm. H. Green, Bedford, dyer, Sept. 17 at 11, Court of Bankruptcy, London.-Isaac Morley, Penistone, Yorkshire, butcher, Sept. 1 at 11, District Court of Bankruptcy, Leeds. Dan. Stead, Daw-green, Dewsbury, Yorkshire, weaver, Sept. 1 at 11, District Court of Bankruptcy, Leeds.-John Greenwood, Bradford, Yorkshire, cordwainer, Sept. 1 at 11, District Court of Bankruptcy, Leeds.-John Gilling, Rotherham, Yorkshire, tailor, Aug. 28 at 11, Town-hall, Sheffield. Wm. Broadhead, Leeds, Yorkshire, cloth drawer, Aug. 25 at 11, District Court of Bankruptcy, Leeds.-John Crookes, Thornset, Bradford, Ecclesfield, Yorkshire, quarryman, Aug. 28 at 11, Town-hall, Sheffield.-Thos. Norris, Sneinton, Nottinghamshire, accountant, Sept. 8 at 12, District Court of Bankruptcy, Birmingham.

Orders have been made, vesting in the Provisional Assignee
Wednesday, Aug. 19.
the Estates and Effects of the following Persons:-
(On their own Petitions).

Henry Herbert Player, Maddox-st., Regent-st., Middlesex, gentleman: in the Debtors Prison for London and Middlesex.-Jos. Ansell, Lucas-st., Commercial-road, Middlesex, licensed hawker: in the Debtors Prison for London and Middlesex.-Jas. Lathbury, Aldgate High-st., Whitechapel, London, meat salesman: in the Debtors Prison for London

the Debtors Prison for London and Middlesex.-J. Girling, PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS and FORMS for PRO

Great Cambridge-st., Hackney-road, Middlesex, builder: in the Debtors Prison for London and Middlesex.

Sam. Vickers, Hulme, Manchester, ale and porter dealer : in Lancaster Castle.-Rich. Ellis, Teddingham, near Malton, THE LEARNED BLACKSMITH'S (ELIHU BURYorkshire, clerk: in York Castle.

|

THE EQUITABLE JURISDICTION of the COURT Portugal Street), 26 and 39, BELL-YARD, will insure its punctual de

of CHANCERY; comprising its Rise, Progress, and final Establishment; to which is prefixed, with a view to the Elucidation of the main Subject, a Concise Account of the Leading Doctrines of the Common Law, and of the Course of Procedure in the Courts of Common Law in regard to Civil Rights, with an attempt to trace them to their sources; and in which the various Alterations made by the Legislature down to the present day are noticed. By GEORGE SPENCE, Esq., one of her Majesty's Counsel.

Stevens & Norton, 26 and 39, Bell-yard, Lincoln's Inn.

No. 503-VOL. X.

AUGUST 29, 1846.

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:

A. GORDON; Fig. of the Inner Vice-Chancellor Wigram's [F. Fi, Barrister at Law Lincoln's

LONDON, AUGUST 29, 1846.

THE bill now before the House of Commons for constituting Commissioners of Railways, may be considered the germ of most important measures. It is conceived in language so large, on some points, as to permit the experiment of the Legislature referring to a permanent body, the consideration of many matters which are now inquired into by the committees of the two Houses; and it may, 'and probably will, pave the way to the establishment of what has been so often advocated in these pages, viz. a tribunal in the nature of a judicial committee, to consider and report to the two Houses, upon the business relating to the establishment by proposed railway companies, of their claims to the sanction of the Legislature.

Court

....

Court of Queen's Bench

Inn,

[G. J. P. SMITH, Esq. of the Inner Temple, Barrister at Law.

{A. of Gray's

Queen's Bench Bail Court

Court of Common Pleas,

including

Inn, Barrister at Law.

D. POWER, Esq. of Lincoln's
Inn; and

Appeals under Registra- (W. PATERSON, Esq. of Gray's
Inn, Barristers at Law.

tion of Voters Act....

Court of Exchequer.... {W.M. BEST, Esq. of Gray's Inn,

Barrister at Law.

the powers now vested in the Board of Trade with re-
spect to railways and railway companies; and this
seems to be the immediate object of the bill. But the
preamble and the 10th clause shew that it is intended
to give the commissioners a much more extensive field
of operation. "Whereas," says the preamble, "by an
act passed in the fourth year of the reign of her Ma-
jesty, intitled, 'An Act for regulating Railways;' and
by another act passed in the sixth year of the reign of
her Majesty, intitled, 'An Act for the better Regulation
of Railways, and for the Conveyance of Troops;' and
by another act passed in the eighth year of the reign of
her Majesty, intitled, 'An Act to attach certain Con-
ditions to the Construction of future Railways, au-
thorised, or to be authorised, by any Act of the present
or succeeding Sessions of Parliament, and for other
Purposes relating to Railways;' and by two other acts
passed in the last session of Parliament for consolidating
in one act certain provisions usually inserted in acts
authorising the making of railways respectively, and
by sundry local acts of Parliament, certain powers with
respect to railways are vested in the Lords of the Com-
mittee of her Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council
for Trade and Foreign Plantations; but it is expedient
that a separate department be constituted for these pur-
poses and for other purposes relating to railways; be it
enacted," &c.

The ostensible and immediate object of the bill is to
constitute a separate board for the transaction of the
business at present entrusted, under several statutes,
to the Board of Trade; and it is proposed to be enacted
for that purpose, that the Queen shall appoint five
commissioners, removeable at her pleasure:-
-one of
them to be a paid president, who may be in Parliament;
two to be paid commissioners, incapable of sitting in
Parliament; and two to be unpaid, and capable of
sitting in Parliament. It is almost a waste of words to
observe, that the business and power of the board will
be, in all probability, after a very short time, concen-
trated in the president and the two paid commissioners;
and it is not easy to be understood why the two unpaid
commissioners, who are obviously intended to be Mem-
bers of Parliament, should be added to the machinery,
unless it be, in imitation of the committee-men of the
Commonwealth, to act as organs of Parliament, to watch
and see that the servants of Parliament do not become
its masters.
By the 2nd clause, the commissioners are to have all their duty to inquire and report,
GG

VOL. X.

And the 10th clause is in the following words:"Be it enacted, that it shall be the duty of the said commissioners to examine and report to her Majesty and both Houses of Parliament upon any subject relating to any railway, or proposed railway, which shall be referred to them for their opinion by her Majesty, or by either House of Parliament; and especially in the case of any application to Parliament for any act for making or maintaining any railway, it shall be

APER

"Firstly, Whether there are any lines or schemes quiescence. We allude to the opinions of scientific competing with the proposed railway: persons, resorted to as evidence of natural or mechani"Secondly, Whether by the bill for such act it is cal phenomena. In cases of alleged murder, where the proposed to take powers for uniting with such suspected cause of death is poison, and either the fact railway, or proposed railway, any other rail of poison having been administered, is denied; or, that way or canal, or to purchase or lease any rail-fact being admitted, the defence is, mistake in the seway, canal, dock, road, or other public work,lection between poison and medicaments; or where the undertaking, or easement: fact of murder by violence, or otherwise, is not. denied, Thirdly, Whether by such bill it is proposed to [but the defence is, the state of mind of the homicide: constitute any branch railway, or any other-in civil cases, also, turning upon patent rights, where work in connexion with the proposed railway: the fact of infringement of a patent depends frequently "Fourthly, Whether any plans and sections of any on the question, whether certain mechanical combinasuch proposed railway, which, pursuant to any tions are or are not discoveries, or whether they are order of either House of Parliament, shall have merely mechanical equivalents for other combinations, been deposited in their office, are correct, and, in cases turning upon many other rights of property, if not, in what particulars, and how far, they in which the mechanical effect of the natural powers, are incorrect, and whether or not, in the opin- such as the force exercised by bodies of water in motion ion of the commissioners, such errors as they under a given state of circumstances:—in all these, and shall find are material to the object for which many others, courts of justice are compelled to call in such plans and sections are required." to assist them, the testimony of persons expert, or reWe see, therefore, by the preamble, that the new puted to be expert, in the particular branch of knowboard is intended to be a department acting for the ledge affecting the contested facts, and, to a certain purposes for which, before, the Board of Trade acted; extent, to rely upon their opinions as evidence of the and for other purposes also, for which the Board of results that must necessarily follow certain assumed Trade had no power to act. And, by the 10th section, states of circumstances. But courts and juries are not we see that the new board is to examine and report bound, and ought not to do what they too frequently upon any subject relating to any railway, or proposed do, viz. assume that witnesses brought forward as scirailway, which shall be referred to it by the Queen, or entific men, and enjoying a high public reputation as by either House. Under this clause, it is manifest such, have exhausted the subject to which they have that a reference to the board might be directed to in- applied themselves, and have let nothing escape their quire and report to either House, whether a proposed notice which might tend to disturb the calculations on railway company could make a case for a bill; in other which they base their testimony. words, either House may, if it thinks fit, under this clause, refer to the railway commissioners precisely the business that it now transacts in its own committees. A board constructed under this bill will not, we conceive, be armed with powers and machinery sufficient to enable it to transact the whole business of a Parliamentary railway committee, nearly so well as such committee; and it is probably not intended by either House at present to part with its privilege of deciding on railway applications in its own committees. But we have no doubt, that, the board being there, and the power of referring matters to it being there, the honourable Houses will begin by referring to it from time to time such matters as they find troublesome, and will gradually slide into the habit of adopting the board, so far as its construction enables it to be useful, as a sort of judicial committee to advise them. If, therefore, this bill passes into law, the first step will have been taken towards the formation of a distinct tribunal for the dispatch of railway business; and we may, ere long, hope to see a regular fixed court established by Parliament, in which such business will be disposed of in a way much more complete, and less expensive, than has yet been known.

ON THE WEIGHT DUE TO SCIENTIFIC
EVIDENCE.

THERE is a species of evidence on which, ex necessitate rei, much reliance must be placed in a considerable class of cases, but which it has been the fashion of late years to receive with something too much of blind ac

We have seen on many recent occasions, that the testimony of medical men has been accepted as conclusive, with reference to the state of sanity of a person charged with crime, when a very little examination of their evidence would have shewn, that, however superior they may be, and naturally must be, to lawyers in their knowledge of the theory and indicia of mental disease, they are yet uninformed on so many points, that their reasonings are, upon the face of them, based on an incomplete state of facts, and, therefore, inconclusive.

On other occasions, our books contain many examples of faith being placed in the opinions of scientific persons, as evidence of facts in mechanical philosophy, which increased knowledge, and that at no very distant period, has shewn to be altogether unfounded assumptions instead of facts. We need only refer to the celebrated instance mentioned by the late Mr. Gres ley in his work on Evidence, (p. 360). "I may be permitted to observe," says that writer, " that witnesses of this description are apt to make themselves appear less trustworthy, by forgetting that their science has advanced them beyond the ideas of people in general, Mr. Brunel being asked, in cross-examination, before a committee a few years since, (we believe the period of this examination was somewhere about 1826), how fast steam-carriages might be expected to travel on railroads, which the counsel contemptuously told him to stand answered, 'Very possibly ten miles an hour;' upon down, for he should ask him no more questions; and the weight of his former evidence was very much impaired."

Now here Mr. Brunel was treated by counsel as a foolish witness, because such implicit faith was placed in the general opinion of scientific men, who then thought it perfectly absurd to anticipate a speed of more than five or six miles per hour as possible, that evidence so strongly at variance with that opinion would, it was felt, be considered by the court as evidence of the insanity of the witness, rather than of the fact to which he was testifying.

But it is particularly with reference to adopting the evidence of chemists, that the utmost caution ought to be exercised; because, on the subjects to which their studies and experiments apply, differences of procedure or manipulation, so slight as to elude the most vigilant, will sometimes produce the most striking differences in the results; so that inferences totally at variance with truth may be drawn, by adopting as evidence the opinions of even very skilful men. An example of this kind occurred on a very recent trial, shewing the extreme caution that is requisite in founding conclusions for or against a prisoner, upon the result of chemical experiments.

The trial was of a young woman on a charge of the murder of an infant, by administering vitriol to it. The prisoner's defence rested mainly upon this question: whether sulphuric acid, sugar, and water, mixed together in certain proportions, would, in point of colour, produce, a few minutes afterwards, a similar, or somewhat similar appearance, to a mixture of anniseed, sugar, and water mixed in the same proportions. The effect of the evidence generally was such, that upon the solution of this question depended the conclusion of guilty or not. If the same result as to appearances followed upon the mixing of both sets of ingedients, it established the prisoner's innocence. If a palpably different colour and appearance was the result, it went very far towards establishing the presumption of her guilt.

ances.

up

Correspondence.

TO THE EDITOR OF "THE JURIST." Sir,-The passing of the acts of last session* "to facilitate the conveyance of real property," and "to facilitate the granting of certain leases," being followed by the introduction of another conveyancing bill in the present session, has necessarily directed much of the attention of the Legal Profession not merely to these acts and bill, but also to the general advisability of the mode of legislation adopted in them.

The proposed bill is too bulky to be treated of in so short a communication as I purpose troubling you with. On the acts of last session I beg to make two or three observations.

The covenants for title given in the second column of the Schedule to the Conveyance Act, and intended to be expressed shortly by the first column, have now become positive covenants, having, previously to 1844, been exceptive; and to that extent the change effected is advantageous, inasmuch as the covenants (that is, the old forms in column 2) now express what the parties intend-what the covenanting party is to answer for,-instead of being, as formerly, a clumsy way of expressing that the covenantor would not be answerable for the acts, &c. of any persons except those mentioned in the covenants. This change is not, however, produced by the Conveyance Act itself, but by the 4th section of the previous act of the same session †, "to amend the law of real property," which is a substitute for the 6th section of the act of 7 & 8 Vict. c. 76, " An Act to simplify the Transfer of Property." The general covenant for title legally implied by the word "give" or the word "grant," being taken away by the Real Property Act, renders the covenants in the Conveyance Act positive, as just mentioned ‡. On the covenant (No. 6) for production of deeds, it is to be observed, that it does not contain the usual, and it might be almost said universal, proviso for the case of the deeds being handed over to a purchaser, &c.

The question was put to a surgeon of extensive general practice, and his answer was, that the two mixtures would produce similar or nearly similar appearAfter he had given his evidence, and whilst the trial was proceeding, a doubt arising in his mind, he left the court, and, with an eminent chemist, also Passing by these matters as of little comparative ima witness at the trial, made the experiment. They portance, the great question presents itself, whether it is returned into court, and the surgeon requested the desirable to frame deeds by the aid of interpretation judge to allow him to correct his testimony, stating clauses, or rather interpretation acts,-a question of great that he found, upon trial, that the two mixtures importance to all having, or hoping to have, property, produced very different appearances, and he held and which, to some extent, has been, and to an almost in court two wine-glasses, one with the anniseed mix- endless extent will be, discussed by various writers in ture, which was of a yellow colour, the other with periodicals of all periods, and in pamphlets innumerable. the sulphuric acid mixture, which was perfectly black. I shall, therefore, remark only, that, if it be a good The counsel for the prisoner inquired in what order the way of shortening deeds, it might be carried to perfecwitness had mixed the ingredients producing the black tion by referring to the parts of the deeds by numbers; appearance, and, finding that it had been done in the for example: "This indenture, &c., between &c. Profollowing order, viz. the sulphuric acid first, then the perty settled, 30007. Consols. Settlement clauses, Nos. sugar, and then the water, he required that the experi-1, 2, 3, &c. In witness, &c.;" or the conclusion might ment should be repeated in court, putting first the sul- also be a number included in the " &c." phuric acid, then the water, and then the sugar. The result of this order of mixing was, that the compound solution was of a yellow colour, and as nearly as possible resembled the mixture of anniseed, sugar, and water. But for the information, possibly obtained by a mere chance experiment, which suggested to the advisers of the prisoner, how much depended upon the order in which the ingredients were mixed, it is obvious that in this case an innocent life might have been sacrificed to an error in a chemical experiment, resting upon a cause so trifling as to elude the observation of men of undoubted professional skill and knowledge.

* 8 & 9 Vict. cc. 119, 124.

+ 8 & 9 Vict. c. 106.

We think the expressions of our correspondent are not perfectly accurate upon this point, and may lead into error. The old covenants for title were not strictly either positive or

exceptive: they are qualified, as distinguished from absolute; but they were never exceptive, and are not rendered, by the effect of the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 106, and 8 & 9 Vict. c. 119, more positive than they were before. The ordinary covenants for title were, and will be still, under the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 119, simply covenants that the acts and omissions of certain specified persons have had, and still have, no effect in damaging the title and the enjoyment of the covenantee.