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Nothing in the mode of conducting the business in a store-such as the name over the door and on the window-shades, newspaper advertisements, &c.—can operate as an estoppel, in respect to the ownership of the business and goods, as between a person claiming to be the owner and the plaintiff in a judgment recovered against a third person before the commencement of the business in such store, or the sheriff acting as the agent of such plaintiff, under an execution. The mode of carrying on a subsequent business cannot have influenced the giving of a previous credit: Id.

EVIDENCE.

Inspection by Judge.-When the signature of an instrument is to be proved to render the instrument competent evidence for the jury, if the presiding judge is acquainted with the handwriting of the signer, and is satisfied, upon inspection, that the signature in question is genuine, that is sufficient prima facie, without other proof of the genuineness of the signature: Brown v. Lincoln, S. C. N. H.

EXECUTION. See Criminal Law.

HIGHWAY.

Action for Defect in-Pleading.-In a suit against a town for damages alleged to have been caused by a defect in a highway therein, and verdiet for plaintiff, judgment will not be arrested because in the plaintiff's declaration it is alleged that the "Inhabitants of said town" were bound to keep said highway in repair, instead of alleging that "the town" was thus bound: Flanders v. Stewartstown, S. C. N. H.

Quare. Whether the statement in the declaration that there was in, &c., on, &c., "a public highway," is not sufficient, and whether it would not follow, as a necessary legal sequence, that the town in which it was located was bound to keep it in repair? Id.

INTEREST. See Bills and Notes.

LANDLORD AND TENANT.

Shares in Crops.-Ordinarily when land is leased for one crop for one year or for several years, and the owner of the land is to receive a part of the produce of the land instead of rent, the contract operates and takes effect by way of reservation, and the lessor and lessee become tenants in common of the crops, though the lessee may be entitled to the possession of the land: Brown v. Lincoln, S. C. N. ÎI.

LEGAL-TENDER NOTES.

Trover for Money paid into Court-In an action of ejectment for specific performance, the plaintiff had a verdict and paid the purchase-money in gold into court, to be taken out by the defendant on his filing a deed. The prothonotary deposited the money with reliable bankers to his own credit. They employed the money as other deposits, without profit as coin; it was always subject to the prothonotary's draft. The defendant filed his deed after the passage of the Legal-Tender Law, and the prothonotary offered to pay him the money in court in legal tenders, which he refused, and brought trover for the gold. Held, that he could not recover: Aurentz v. Porter, 56 Penna.

LICENSE.

Revocability. In a written agreement, not under seal, between P. and A., the former agreed that A. should have leave to cut timber and wood on his land, and the latter agreed that P. should have leave to flow his lands by a dam, to a certain extent. Held, that though the licenses in this case may have been mutual, so far as that one may have been given in consideration of the other, yet that they were independent, and that either party may revoke his license so far as it remains unexecuted, at his option, whether the other party revokes his or not: Dodge v. McClintock S. C. N. H.

MORTGAGE.

See Bills and Notes; Wild Land.

NATIONAL BANK.

Debts of State Bank becoming National Bank.-A national banking association organized from a state bank, and receiving its assets, is liable for its debts: Thorp v. Wegefarth, 56 Penna.

Where one was a debtor to a state bank, and also its creditor by holding its notes, the mutual obligation continued, and the national association was bound to receive the notes in payment of the debt, whether insolvent or not: Id.

Judgment was recovered against one for a debt to a national association; he procured notes of the original state bank. Held, that he had no right of set-off against the judgment: Id.

A debt not in judgment cannot be set off to a judgment: Id.

After a national association had become insolvent, its debtor could not purchase notes for which it was liable to set-off against his debt: Id.

There is no right to tender a chose in action against the creditor in payment of a judgment or execution: Id.

NEGLIGENCE.

County Bridge.-It is the duty of county commissioners, being informed that a county bridge was unsafe, to examine it thoroughly, and repair it so as to render it perfectly safe, or to close it up so as to prevent the public from using it: Humphreys v. The County of Armstrong, 56 Penna.

A bridge fell as a resident in the neighborhood was passing over, and injured him. In an action by him against the county, the court charged that if the plaintiff knew the condition of the bridge, notice or warning to him would not be necessary. Held to be error: Id.

The passing of the plaintiff over the bridge with knowledge of its unsafe condition, but without distinct notice to him or the public not to use it, was not contributory negligence on his part: Id.

QUO WARRANTO.

Elections. Quo warranto is not a writ of right: Commonwealth ex rel. McLaughlin v. Cluley, 56 Penna.

Statute 9 Anne, ch. 20, was not at first adopted in this state, but its provisions were incorporated into our revised code: Id.

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The enactment that writs of quo warranto may be issued on the gestion of any person desiring to prosecute the same, means any person having an interest to be affected: Id.

Where at an election for sheriff a majority of the votes are cast for a disqualified person, the next in vote is not to be returned as elected: Id.

The suggestion alleged that at an election for sheriff the person returned was disqualified. The candidate next in vote had no such interest as entitled him to be heard in a quo warranto. The question was exclusively a public one, and could be raised only by the attorney-general: Id.

RAILROAD.

Charter by two States.-A charter granted by two states to a company to construct a railroad is not only a contract with the company, but a compact between the states. It is to be liberally construed with reference to its objects. Like a treaty, it is the law of the contracting states, not being subject to interpretation by the local usages of either. The same construction must be made in both: The Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad Co. v. Speer, 56 Penna.

SET-OFF. See National Bank.

SUBROGATION.

When it arises.-Subrogation is purely an equitable result, and depends on facts to develop its necesssity, that justice may be done: Mosier's Appeal, 56 Penna.

Privity of contract is not necessary. Subrogation exists on equity and benevolence, and will not arise in favor of a mere stranger, but only in favor of a party who on some sort of compulsion discharges a demand against a common debtor.

Subrogation is applicable wherever a payment is made under a legitimate and fair effort to protect the ascertained interests of the party paying, and where intervening rights are not legally jeopardized or defeated: Id.

Numerous judgments were entered against two debtors, some joint and some several, executions were issued, and land held jointly levied on. The court ordered the undivided interest of one of the debtors to be sold separately. A junior judgment-creditor, believing the land would be sacrificed, after the execution-plaintiffs had refused to assign their judg ments to him on payment, paid the executions to the sheriff, and satisfaction was entered. No other liens having intervened, he was subrogated to the rights of the execution-plaintiffs, and the satisfaction cancelled: Id.

TENANT IN COMMON. See Landlord and Tenant.

TOWN. See Highway.

WILD LANDS.

Entry on one of several Parcels.-When several detached lots of wild and unoccupied land in the same county are conveyed in mortgage by

one deed and upon one and the same condition, an entry by the mortgagee upon one such lot, in the name of the whole, would give him constructive legal possession of all the lots in the same county, as against the mortgagors and also as against any person afterwards entering without right upon any of said lots: Green v. Pettingill et al., S. C. N. H.

NEW LAW BOOKS RECEIVED BY THE PUBLISHERS OF THE AMERICAN LAW REGISTER.

GHOLSON.-Speeches of Hon. W. Y. Gholson, on the Payment of the Principal of the Public Debt of the United States, and on The Reconstruction of the Southern States. 8vo., pamph., pp. 32, 20. Cincinnati: R. Clarke & Co., 1868.

IOWA.-Reports of Cases in Law and Equity determined in the Supreme Court of Iowa. EDWARD H. STILES, Reporter. Vol. 2, being vol. 23 of the series. Svo., pp. 654. Ottumwa: published by the Reporter, 1868.

PAINE.-Resumption of Specie Payments. Enforced contraction of the currency will cause distress and panic; enhancement of its value followed by voluntary funding of the excess of currency thus created is the only safe plan. By ROBERT TREAT PAINE, JR. Pamph., 8vo., pp. 58. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1868.

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION.-Essays on Political Organization, selected from those submitted in competition for the prizes offered by the Union League of Philadelphia. 8vo., pamph., pp. 106. Philadelphia: printed for the Union League, 1868.

QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE AND MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE. Edited by William A. Hammond, M. D. Vol. 2, No. 4, October 1868. New York: D. Appleton & Co. $5 per annum.

UNITED STATES.-The Acts of Congress relating to Loans and the Currency, from the year 1847 to 1868, including those relating to the Bonds of the Pacific Railroad Companies, with a Synopsis of each Act, and a Comparative Table of the Public Debt in 1867 and 1868. 8vo., pp. 77. New York: Bankers' Magazine Office. Cl. $2.

VERMONT.-Reports of Cases in the Supreme Court of Vermont. By W. G. VEAZEY. Vol. 40. 8vo., pp. 726. Rutland: Tuttle & Co. Shp. $5. WASHBURN.-Law as an Element of Social Science. A paper read before the American Social Science Association, Oct. 14th 1868. By EMORY WASHBURN. 8vo., pamph., pp. 22. Boston: J. H. Eastburn, pr., 1868.

THE

AMERICAN LAW REGISTER.

FEBRUARY, 1869.

THE ENGLISH JUDICIAL SYSTEM.'

THE English judicial system comprises, among others, the following tribunals:-the Courts of Requests; the County Courts; the great courts of original common-law jurisdiction, such as the Common Pleas, King's or Queen's Bench, and Exchequer; the like courts of equity jurisdiction, such as that of the Vice-Chancellors, the Master of the Rolls, the Lords Justices and the Lord Chancellor; the Court of Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty; the Criminal Courts, such as the Petty Sessions, Quarter Sessions, the Oyer and Terminer, and the Central Criminal Court. Finally, there are the strictly appellate courts, such as the Court of Criminal Appeal, the Court of Exchequer Chamber, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and the House of Lords.

These various courts will be grouped together under the following arrangement:

1. The Courts of Requests and Councils of Conciliation.

II. The County Courts.

III. The Superior Courts of Common Law Jurisdiction.

IV. The Superior Courts of Equity Jurisdiction.

V. The Courts of Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty.
VI. The Criminal Courts.

VII. The Strictly Appellate Courts.

The object of this article is to give a general view of the English courts as at present constituted. It has been thought that the use of the new English Reports might thus be materially facilitated. Some comparison is instituted between these courts and those now subsisting in New York.

VOL. XVII.-5

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