Equities of redemption by party, not connected with the transaction, five

years.

Sureties on official and replevin bonds, four years.

Open accounts, three years.

Assault and battery, false imprisonment, seduction, crim. con., slander, libel, attachment to steam-boat, one year.

In actions of slander, we notice the just and liberal plea of disavowal. This plea, or exception, existed among the Romans. It allowed the defendant to plead an apology in very quaint terms.* It has also been adopted in England, under Victoria.

We repeat our congratulations to the Public and the Bar, at this excellent Code of Laws.

JOURNAL OF MERCANTILE LAW.

B. F. P.

BILL IN EQUITY TO SETTLE CONFLICTING CLAIMS ARISING UNDER A WILL. In the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. March Term, 1852. Robert Hooper, Executor, rs. Henry Hooper, et al.

This was a bill in equity, in the nature of a bill of interpleader, to settle conflicting claims arising under the will of Robert Hooper, Esq., which contained the following clauses:

1st. I give to my beloved wife Mary, during her life, the use and occupancy of my dwelling-house, with all the buildings and land attached to the same, together with all the plate and furniture, and all other materials in and about the house, out-buildings, yards, and garden, of every name and nature.

2d. I give to my said wife an annual income during her life, of $2,000, and my executor, to be hereafter named, is hereby enjoined to invest in some certain and productive stock or stocks, from my personal estate, a sum sufficient for that purpose, the amount so invested to be not less than $40,000, the whole income of which to be paid her, should it exceed the said annual income of $2,000.

3d. I give to my two grandsons, children of my late son William, deceased, each $1,000, to be paid them by my executor, when they shall be of the age of twenty-one years, should they live to that age, or either of them, but if they or either of them should not live so long, the said bequest or bequests shall belong to my children.

4th. I give to my sons, Robert, John, and Henry, each one-ninth part of of my estate, real and personal, after providing for the bequest to my wife, and to my two grandsons before named, the children of my late son William, deceased.

5th. I give to my three daughters. &c., (naming them,) each one-ninth part of my estate, both real and personal, after providing for the bequest to my said wife and two grandsons, before named, &c. This bequest to each of my three daughters, to be held in trust by my executor and his successor or successors in office, and the amount of their one-ninth part each to be invested in the Massachusetts General Hospital Life Insurance Company, in Boston, the income of which to be paid to them, my said daughters, severally on their order during their lifetime, and to their heirs after their decease.

6th. I give to my sons, N., S., and B. F., each one-ninth part of my estate, both real and personal, after providing for the bequest to my wife, and two grandsons, &c. This bequest to my said three sons, N., S., and B. F., to be held in trust by my executor, &c., and the amount of their one-ninth part each, to be placed by him, my executor, in the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company, in Boston, during the life of each of them, the income of which to be paid

*Vide Heineccius Elementa Juris Civilis, and Mecson and Welsby's Reports, vol. xv. Index, Slander.

to them on their order, provided, however, if their said ninth part shall exceed $10,000 each, the amount over that sum may be paid to them in money, if requested.

7th. After the decease of my said wife, M., the said sum, before mentioned, of not less than $40,000, or whatever amount may be invested by my executor in trust to produce the annual income of $2,000, for the support of my said wife, the said sum so invested shall remain during thirty years from her decease, the income of which shall be equally divided by my executor, &c., on receipt thereof, among my before named nine children, or their heirs.

8th. My executor is hereby authorized to sell all my real estate, including the dwelling-house given my wife, after her decease, when he may think best to do so, giving the preference in the sale thereof, to either of my children, should they incline to purchase the same.

The testator died on or about June 2, 1843; leaving his widow and five sons, R., J., S., H., and N., and three daughters, M., S., H., and two grandsons, F. H., and W. R., the sons of the testator's son William, deceased; and said sons and daughters of the testator, with said W. R. and F. H., where his only heirs at law. Said F. H., afterwards deceased, intestate, and April 14, 1850, the window, also, deceased; B. F., one of the sons, died during the testator's life time; S., another son, died after the testator's decease, both intestate, and without issue. After the decease of the widow, the executor sold the dwelling-house with the appurtenances given to her, and the plate and furniture of the testator.

It was contended that the limitation in the 7th clause was void; that, and the property given for the annuity to the testator's wife, being no longer needed for that purpose, ought to be distributed among the heirs at law of the testator, as undevised estate; or to and among his said legatees, and their representatives, under the several bequests in his will. And William R. claimed a full and equal share of the whole of said property, as the sole representative of his father. The bill was taken pro confesso as to all but Wm. R., but no controvery was made as to the facts.

C. P. Curtis, for the plaintiff's; R. Choate and J. M. Bell, for the defendants. The opinion of the Court was delivered by Shaw, C. J. He said:-The will was to be read as if the provision in the seventh clause, controlling the disposition of the property there mentioned for thirty years, was struck out, since that was void, as tending to create a perpetuity. The mansion house, &c., being given, with power to sell, the proceeds, when sold, were held by the executor on the same trusts as the real estate would have been under the will, if the reversion passed by it; if not, then it or the proceeds vested in the heirs at law of the testator, his sons and daughters, and the two grandsons, who were entitled, as representing their father, to one-ninth of the intestate estate.

The principal question in contest is with regard to the disposition of the sum invested for the widow's annuity after her decease.

After giving the house, &c., the legacies to his grandsons, and this annuity, the testator bequeaths one-ninth part of his real and personal estate to each of his three sons, R., J., and H., one-ninth to each of his three daughters, then one-ninth to each of his three sons, N., S., and B. F.; in each case "after providing for the bequest" to his wife and grandsons.

It appears the three sons first named are still living, also the three daughters. Of the three sons whose property was given in trust, B. F. died in the lifetime of his father. Now "after" means often subject to, after taking out, &c. Then the gift of his estate, after the bequest to his wife for her life, includes a gift of the reversion of the house, &c., and of the principal invested for the annuity. A reversion passes under the name and title of estate. Taking the 4th, 5th, and 6th clauses together, we think they constitute a gift of nine-ninths of the whole of his real and personal estate remaining after the previous bequests and devises. Giving it, subject to the prior gift, is giving the whole, subject to that deduction. The reversion constitutes part of, and passes as his estate. One son died intestate, and without issue, that is B. F., and his legacy therefore lapsed and fell into the estate; as then only eight-ninths was disposed of, one-ninth must be distributed as intestate estate, and in making this distribution, the two grandsons

are entitled to one-ninth thereof, of which William will take one-half in his own right, and the other half as the heir of F. H., subject to legal charges thereon. Taking the whole will together, it seems to us the executors' duty to distribute the whole fund in dispute as follows: one-ninth each to R., J., and H.; one-ninth to be held in trust for each of the three daughters; one-ninth for N.; one-ninth to the personal representatives of S., who survived his father, and is now dead; one-ninth as intestate estate of R. H., the testator, to his heirs at law. Decree accordingly.

COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW.

GENERAL REVIEW OF THE COURSE OF COMMERCIAL AFFAIRS FOR THE YEAR-PRICES OF COTTON, BREADSTUFFS, AND MANUFACTURED GOODS-REFLECTIONS UPON THE GENERAL PROSPERITY, WITH THE DANGER INCIDENT THERETO-INCREASE OF BANKS, IN ITS EFFECT UPON MONETARY AFFAIRS -INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF MERCANTILE HOUSES, WITH THE CORRESPONDING EVILS-RAPID EXTENSION OF WELL PROJECTED RAILROADS LESS AN EVIL THAN GENERALLY APPREHENDEDBASIS OF THE PRESENT COMMERCIAL EXPANSION-COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES, WITH A COMPARISON OF THE TOTAL IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF THE WHOLE COUNTRY FOR A SERIES OF YEARS BALANCE OF TRADE-REVENUE AND EXPENSES OF THE UNITED STATES-FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE COUNTRY IN THEIR EFFECT UPON COMMERCE-REVIEW OF THE ESTIMATED INCREASE OF OUR FOREIGN INDEBTEDNESS-STATE OF THE MONEY MARKET-DEPOSITS AND COINAGE AT THE PHILADELPHIA AND NEW ORLEANS MINTS FOR NOVEMBER-DITTO AT ALL THE MINTS FROM JAN. IST-IMPORTS OF FOREIGN MERCHANDISE AT NEW YORK FOR NOVEMBER AND FROM JAN. 1ST-NOTICE OF SOME ITEMS OF FREE GOODS-IMPORTS OF DRY GOODS WITH FULL PARTICULARS OF THE DESCRIPTION OF FABRICS-INCREASE IN THE PER-CENTAGE OF REVENUE, SHOWING A COMPARATIVE EXCESS IN THE RECEIPTS OF ARTICLES OF LUXURY-CASH DUTIES RECEIVED AT NEW YORK FOR NOVEMBER AND FROM JAN. 1ST-EXPORTS TO FOREIGN PORTS FOR NOVEMBER AND FROM JAN. 1ST-SHIPMENTS OF PRODUCE COMPARED FOR TWO YEARS-RUMORS OF IMPERIAL SPECULATIONS IN BREADSTUFFS.

THE year now drawing to a close, and which will be reckoned with the past when this reaches the eyes of our readers, has been one of signal commercial prosperity throughout the whole of the American Union. We have formerly had seasons of expansion, when nominal fortunes have been reckoned in a multitude of hands; but never before since the first colony was planted on our shores, has the country made such rapid strides in wealth, upon a substantial basis. We know that this has not been unattended with dangers, nor unaccompanied with great and sore evils. Genuine prosperity in its influence on the human heart is ever dangerous, and the stimulus which has produced such a sudden growth of wealth, like a rich compost upon a generous soil, must have given rankness also to the tares growing with the wheat. Nearly every State of the Union has at last felt the excitement. The great staple of the South, notwithstanding the large crop of the current year, is still in demand and at a comparatively high rate. Breadstuffs have reached a price which will liberally reward the labors of the husbandman. Manufactured articles are also realizing a profit to the producer. In cottons, this has been long enough continued to enable the proprietors of the best managed mills to declare handsome dividends. Woolens have been less favored owing to our dependence in part upon foreign raw material, which pays a high rate of duty, by which the manufacturers have been shorn of a portion of their profits. But these goods are now improving, and promising a surer reward to the producer. Our merchants have never enjoyed such uninterrupted prosperity. Breaches of mercantile faith, or failure to meet commercial engagements, have been almost unknown, and thus the profitand-loss account exhibits a range of entries all upon the credit side. "What next?" is the question asked, or anxiously considered on every side. Have we reached this hight of prosperity only to make our fall the more disastrous? Is the course of commercial affairs always like the segment of a circle described by a child's swing, and can there be no progress without a corresponding reac

tion? Has the world grown no wiser with age than thus to toil up the hill, with the certainty that the ground will all be lost again? These are thoughts which will come to many during the long evenings that close in upon the first days of the new year.

There are, it is true, some signs of evil portent. We regard as the most dangerous, the rapid increase of new banks. The principal danger, from this source, is not in the fact that the expenses of legitimate banking will be greatly increased, while the profits will only be divided. Nor is it so much in the unhealthy expansion which will be created by the increased issue of paper money, although this is an evil of great magnitude. The great danger lies in the fact, that the control of the currency and the direction of monetary affairs will pass, in a great measure, from the hands of the judicious and experienced, into the hands of a new set of men, too little accustomed to such a charge. The new banks are managed in a great degree by new hands, undisciplined by former reverses, and unaccustomed to the dangers which are sure to be encountered. Like inexperienced mariners, they will carry too much sail in fair weather, and give way to too sudden a panic when the storm overtakes them. A large class of the new banks, too, are originated by borrowers instead of capitalists, and this will add neither to their caution or stability.

Another indication of evil, is the rapid formation of new houses by young and inexperienced clerks, who ought to be kept under the control of wiser heads until they are more fit to be trusted to their own strength. The requisites for the successful management of mercantile business are greatly underrated by a majority of the young men in this country; and the melancholy disasters with which our commercial history in the past is so thickly strewed, seem to have no influence in deterring the young and adventurous from embarking in the same desperate enterprise. And many even of those who have some reason in setting up for themselves, show but little judgment at the very outset of their career. They have no patience for the small beginnings, the slow but sure earnings, which have laid the foundation of all legitimate success in mercantile pursuits. They lay out their scheme on a scale of magnificence truly dazzling, and their expenses are generally in a ratio inverse to their profits. This multiplication of mercantile houses will be one of the most trying of all the assaults upon our prosperity for the coming year.

Many regard the unparalleled increase of railroads as another element of danger; and such it will no doubt be to a certain extent. But so far as these roads have been well projected, though they may prove a total loss to the original proprietors, they will steadily and surely add more than their cost to the public wealth, by developing new sources of prosperity. We do believe that if the present great channels of communication between the East and the West were to be doubled by new works to be immediately commenced, that there would be a link too many by the time they were completed.

We now stand on a far different basis from any we have ever before occupied. Very nearly ONE HUNDRED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in specie have been added to our stock of the precious metals, within the last three years. This is a fact not sufficiently considered in the general estimate of commercial causes, but it has been demonstrated by our statistics and cannot be disputed.

Since our last issue, the President's message, and several important public

documents, comprising the annual statements of the Commerce of the country, have been submitted to Congress, and will be found noticed at length under the appropriate heading in the present number. We recapitulate here some of the principal items, with a comparison for the previous two years:

IMPORTS INTO THE UNITED STATES-FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30.

Total exports... . . . . . .

$151,898,720 $218,388,011 $209,573,222

This shows, for the year ending with last June, a total of imports amounting to $212,502,744, against a total of exports amounting to $209,573,222, the two items thus very nearly balancing. The specie exported was, a great portion of it, just as truly an article of domestic produce, as the items already classed under that head, and its retention here would have had the same effect upon the relative value of the precious metals in the market, as the retention of an equal value of the grain or flour which has been exported, would have upon the value of those commodities. A much larger proportion of the imports than usual has consisted of free goods; of the dutiable, those articles of luxury are in excess which pay the highest rate of duty. The following is a comparison of the total revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30th, to which we have also appended a comparison of the expenses for the same time :—

REVENUE AND EXPENSES OF THE UNITED STATES.

$10,911,645 69

$14,632,136 39

Balance in United States Treasury, July 1..... Many are still turning their eyes toward the unsettled state of our foreign relations, looking for some threatening evil from that quarter; but we cannot believe that any thing, from the policy of the cutgoing and incoming administration, will result in a breach of commercial intercourse in any direction.

There has been much speculation in regard to the amount of American stocks and bonds, which have been sent abroad during the current year, and the total of new indebtedness thus created has been estimated in some quarters at more than $30,000,000. That no such amount of foreign capital has been added to our cash means during the year, is evident from the state of the exchange market, which could not have remained against the country, when the exports and imports were nearly equally divided, if the above amount had been received in cash from abroad. We have watched the investments made from time to time, as they were offered, and been satisfied that a great deal of the cry about the amount taken on foreign account, was like the story about foreign capital used in the election, manufactured for the sake of effect. Take the amount of capital, which has been thus credited to foreigners by popular rumor during the