made out and certified to the Judges, the defaulting reporter should be removed or suspended, and succeeded by the Gentleman next in seniority.

A sufficient staff of competent reporters being appointed by each Court, and the speedy publication of the Reports in an authentic form being secured at a small cost, your Committee believe that each decision would be authentically reported as soon as it was necessary to quote it; but your Committee suggest that where the decision required to be referred to should be so recent as to render it impracticable to publish it, a certified note of it from the authorised reporter should be required by the Judges, and given by the Board for a reasonable fee.

ART. VI.—THE REFORM OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS.

It is of much importance that the delay that has taken place in the Reform of the Ecclesiastical Courts should be turned to the best account, and that the settlement of this question, which must be made next Session, should be entirely satisfactory; and we are, therefore, desirous of placing before our readers all the materials for coming to the right conclusion respecting it. We trust that, for this purpose the labours of the Committee of the Law Amendment Society on this subject will now be found of use.

The different plans which were discussed in that Committee and by the whole Society are referred to in the proceedings of the Meeting of January 10th last, and these we shall now transcribe:

"The original Resolutions on the Ecclesiastical Courts and the Amendments thereto were taken into consideration:

"I. That the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical and Peculiar Courts in matters relating to the Grant of Probate and of Letters of Administration be transferred to the Court of

"II. That in transferring this jurisdiction to the Court of Chancery, it is proposed to give that Court the additional power necessary to enable it to adjudicate upon wills both of real and personal Estate, with or without the aid of a jury, as the case may require, such Court to be clothed with all the power and jurisdiction which the Ecclesiastical and Peculiar Courts at present have.

"III. That in connection with the administration of the Central Court subsidiary jurisdiction should be given to the County Courts.'

:

"To which the following Amendments were proposed : "The following Amendment was moved by Dr. Waddilove, LL.D., and seconded by Mr. W. D. Lewis: "That it is desirable that one Testamentary Jurisdiction should be formed in lieu of the various Ecclesiastical and Peculiar Courts at present exercising jurisdiction throughout England and Wales, and that for such purpose a tribunal be established, which shall have legal and equitable jurisdiction in all matters relating to Wills and Intestacies, whether of real or personal estate, which Court shall be styled 'Her Majesty's Court of Probate and Succession for England and Wales.""

"A further Amendment was then moved by Mr. Collier, M.P., and seconded by Mr. Massey, M.P. :—

"That the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Courts to grant Probate of Wills and Letters of Administration should be transferred to the County Courts, provided that in all cases of disputed Probate where the property exceeds a certain amount, either party shall be at liberty to remove the Will into one of the Superior Courts of Common Law.' "A further Amendment was then moved by Mr. James Stewart, and seconded by Mr. Le Breton :

"That the present jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Courts, so far as testamentary matters are concerned, is universally admitted to be unsatisfactory, and requires extensive reform. "That this reform should consist of a transfer of their present jurisdiction in testamentary matters to another Court clothed with jurisdiction as well over wills of real as of personal

estate.

"That to create a new Court for the purpose would be unadvisable, if any existing Court can be found to which such enlarged jurisdiction may be properly intrusted, and to which complete powers can be given.

"That the existing Courts of Common Law and County Courts have no equitable jurisdiction or power of dealing with trustees, or with equitable matters arising on the construction of wills.

"That the existing Courts of Equity have no power of empannelling a jury or of conclusively deciding issues of fact. "That in order to do complete justice in testamentary matters it is necessary that the Court to which they are intrusted should possess the full and conjoined powers of a Court of Law and of a Court of Equity.

"That no thorough or satisfactory settlement of the questions pending with respect to the testamentary jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Courts can be come to except by the establishment of a Court of conjoined Law and Equity, having jurisdiction over wills of real and personal estate.

"That it is the bounden duty of the Government of this country to provide such a Court for the proper adjudication of all testamentary matters, and of this Society to promote its establishment by every means in its power. "That the most desirable means of effecting this appears to be the union of the present Law and Equity Commissions, and inviting their immediate attention to this important subject.""

The whole subject of these Resolutions and Amendments stands adjourned to the next Session of the Society. But several valuable Papers were brought before the Committee, and ordered to be printed; and as they will assist the consideration of this question, we shall lay them all before our readers, in this and the next Number.

First, we shall give two valuable Papers submitted to the Society by Dr. Bayford.

DR. BAYFORD, ON BONA NOTABILIA.

WITH the County Courts before us, and the many encomiums which (justly or unjustly) are constantly passed upon them, any endeavour must obviously fail of success which proposes to forego a local jurisdiction in testamentary matters, particularly after that local jurisdiction has existed for so long a time. If the jurisdiction over wills is to remain attached to

testamentary law is a necessity inherent in the system. If, on the other hand, the testamentary law is to be administered in Queen's Courts, a local jurisdiction must be either secured or created, and the right to grant probates or administrations conceded to such Local Courts must necessarily be confined to some ascertained locality. The most obvious advantages which are to be derived from a local jurisdiction are, to facilitate and render less expensive the obtaining grants of probate or administration by persons living in places remote from the metropolis; but this facility will be dearly purchased, unless care be taken to enable relatives, or others interested in grants either of probate or administration, to know where they may effectually lodge their caveat against the issuing of such grants. For example, if local testamentary Courts were established all over the kingdom, without some limits being affixed to the exercise of their jurisdiction, a person appointed executor under a will which he could not, if opposed, support, might carry his will to any Local Court at a distance, and there obtain probate; in consequence of which he would be able to possess himself of part, or the whole, of the deceased's property, without its being in the power of those interested in opposing the grant to prevent his obtaining it. Therefore (in order to provide for the safety of such parties), grants made by Local Courts (of whatever nature they may be) must be held invalid whenever those Courts exceed their limits, otherwise it will only open the door to every species of fraud which interested persons may attempt to practise. This principle is, however, capable of being combined with protection to third parties in respect of acts done by executors or administrators under grants invalid for want of jurisdiction in the Courts which made them.

These general remarks are sufficient to show the importance belonging to the question of Bona Notabilia.

It is obvious that the present law of Bona Notabilia peculiarly harmonises with an ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The authority of each archdeacon, and therefore of every Archdeacon's Court, is necessarily limited to matters within his own archdeaconry. The bishop's authority, and therefore

the Bishop's Court, is equally limited to matters arising within his own diocese. If the subject matter affects two archdeaconries, according to circumstances it may devolve on the Bishop's Court, or, passing over the episcopal jurisdiction, come into the hands of the archbishop, whose authority extends throughout the whole province; and inasmuch as England itself is divided into two provinces, it is possible that two archiepiscopal jurisdictions may be involved in the decision of a testamentary matter. The present standard is that of property amounting to the value of five pounds. It is therefore obvious that with so low a property standard, and such numerous jurisdictions as now exist, viz.: provincial, diocesan, archidiaconal, and peculiar, many perplexing questions of jurisdiction must necessarily arise, and the only wonder is that they do not more frequently occur. They are, however, sufficiently numerous to have called forth, particularly from conveyancers, complaints against the present system to such an extent, that it seems almost hopeless to expect that any measure will be finally acquiesced in which founds a local jurisdiction upon the existence of Bona Notabilia.

Assuming local jurisdiction to be indispensable, there are only three criteria, which have hitherto been suggested upon which it can be founded. First, the locality of the property; Secondly, the domicile of the deceased; Thirdly, the locality of death.

The locality of the property has hitherto only been tried, and the difficulties attending it under a system which allows the existence of about four hundred Courts, many of them possessing an extremely minute jurisdiction, might easily be imagined, if it had not been sensibly felt. We must not, however, forget, that a reform of the Ecclesiastical Courts conducted upon any true ecclesiastical principle, would reduce these four hundred local jurisdictions to somewhere between thirty and forty; and that, therefore, the difficulties concerning which complaint has hitherto been made, would either altogether cease to exist, or exist in a very modified form. Supposing therefore, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction to be