extent founded on the register of British ships, has been adopted in many of our colonies. One law as to bills of exchange may be said to exist throughout the Colonial Empire. A similar statute is in force in India. Several of our colonies have adopted a bankruptcy law borrowed from the English statutes of 1861, 1869, and 1883.

"The open and avowed adoption of statutes gives no complete idea of the extent of assimilation. Underneath differences of phraseology will be found a tendency to approximation even in colonies and possessions where the English common law never prevailed. The Roman-Dutch law, for example, in both South Africa and Ceylon, has been modified by the introduction of elements borrowed from English statute and common law.

"Very often the local differences are unimportant and accidental. In the United States are some forty-seven different systems for conducting civil litigation. But for the most part they are based on the New York Code, the English Common Law Procedure Acts, and the Judicature Acts. 'While nearly every one of these divers systems is founded upon one or the other of two models, and conforms to its model in all substantial particulars, probably no two of them are alike in every respect.' In some colonial statutes relating to procedure it is stated that unless it is otherwise provided,' the procedure shall be regulated by the practice in the superior courts in England.

"English mercantile law is already to a large extent the law of all Englishspeaking countries. On this subject the same rules are acted upon, the same decisions and text books are cited with respect, in all courts of the British Empire and in the United States. The statutory modifications of the Lex mercatoria here and elsewhere are similar. The Indian Contract Act, embracing sale of goods, indemnity and guarantee, bailment, agency and partnership, is framed upon English decisions and statutes. Our colonies and several states of the American Union have passed similar statutes altering the common law to meet the necessities of modern commerce. The Factors and the Companies Acts are cases in point; they are reproduced, generally with slight modifications, in colonial legislation. In the Cape Colony, where Roman-Dutch law is the basis, the legislature has, by a single Act, incorporated a large part of the commercial law of England (Act 8, 1879). There is still, however, much diversity in the law. relating to bankruptcy. In some parts of the British Empire no bankruptcy law proper exists. In the interest of commerce few legal reforms could be more beneficial than the adjustment and determination of rights in bankruptcy and the administration of bankrupt estates throughout the Empire according to the same principles.

"There was a time when it seemed that Roman law might become the law of the world. In the early part of this century the tendency in countries engaged in codifying their law was to take the Code Civil of France as a model. This is no longer the case. In recent times the tendency, especially

as to commercial legislation, is to approximate to English law. It has spread almost as widely as the English language or literature.

"In accordance with a plan which has proved successful in the case of the American Bar Association and the Institut de Droit International, standing committees, entrusted with separate parts of the work of the Society, have been formed. The number and nature of the committees will depend upon the assistance which the Society receives. But the intention is to begin with only a few important subjects.

"One of the committees already formed is a Statute Law Committee. In furtherance of its work communications have been addressed to the governments of British colonies and dependencies, with a view to obtain information as to the existing condition of statute law, and in particular as to the following points :

I.

II

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

The form of statute and written law.

Modes of preparing and passing bills.

Revision and amendment of statutes.

Form and manner of publication and numbering of statutes.
Measures taken to secure uniformity of language.

Consolidation and codification.

VII. Indexing of statute law.

"One result of the labours of the Society may be, it is hoped, to bring about uniformity in regard to the form, numbering, and publication of statutes, as to which there is no great diversity. Efforts will be made to procure the preparation, on some uniform plan, of a satisfactory index of the statutes of each legislature; and perhaps it is not too much to hope that we may one day have a general index of the legislation of the British Empire. Mr. Stimson, in his Digest of the Laws of the States of the American Union, and the University of New York, in its Library Bulletin,' have shown what may be done within a moderate compass. Prepared not solely for the use of the lawyer, such an index as is here suggested might be of use to the statesman and student of sociology.

"It may be expedient in the first instance to deal chiefly with statute law. This will not, however, be the sole work of the Society. As the Lord Chief Justice (Lord Russell of Killowen) pointed out at the first conference, the statute law of a country cannot be understood without reference to the common law on which it is based, and which it was intended to correct.

"The services of those who are interested in different parts of comparative jurisprudence will be made use of. In India alone, which is at once, to cite Sir Henry Maine's language, the great repository of verifiable phenomena of ancient usage and ancient juridical thought,' and the scene of some of the most interesting modern experiments in legislation, is a limitless field for work such as the Society seeks to promote. There

ancient and modern codes coexist. In customs and usages still observed are legal conceptions of which in the Western world are only obscure traces; and the meeting of several diverse systems of law has given rise to problems akin to those which in the decline of the Roman Empire arose from the contact of its law with the customs and laws of other states.

"Here it may be pointed out that in no modern book is there an adequate treatment of the systems of law in force in the British Empire. The first and only edition of Burge's Commentaries on Colonial and Foreign Laws is dated 1838.

"Little can be done without co-operation in all parts of the Empire. It is intended to establish branches in the different colonies and possessions. From these branches valuable suggestions may be expected. With them, in great measure, must rest the success of the undertaking. It is desired to enlist the aid in particular of the Governors, Chief Justices, and Judges of our colonies, of Chambers of Commerce throughout the Empire, of the Inns of Court and Incorporated Law Societies, of the Universities, of the Diplomatic and Consular Services, and of the Bar Associations and Statute Revision Commissions in the United States.

"Probably the work of the Society would be advanced by holding from time to time conferences. In Germany, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland. representative meetings of lawyers and jurists annually take place. At these meetings are discussed questions of interest to the legal profession and the public. It is no disrespect to existing associations to say that hitherto no meetings, with the objects here indicated, have taken place in England or in any part of the British Empire; and it is believed that the utility of the new Society would be recognised, its objects would be shown to be not merely academic but practical, if conferences were periodically held for discussion of legal matters affecting the whole Empire."

Since the above statement was published the need of such a Society and of a Journal recording its transactions has become more than ever manifest. The activity of the many legislatures above referred to has grown in a striking manner, and has extended itself to new fields.

No less striking is what may be called the synchronism of legislation. throughout the Empire and in most foreign countries. The parliaments of the world are considering the same questions; measures with like objects are being introduced into all the chief legislative bodies; and each statute or ordinance is instructive to all countries about to make similar experiments.

With such a wide field before it, the work of the Society cannot be properly carried on without assistance from many countries, and corresponding members are invited to co-operate with suggestions or contributions.

The Journal of the Society, it should be understood, is not intended. to enter in any way into rivalry with existing legal periodicals; its province is distinct; and their assistance is confidently relied upon.

The annual subscription to the Society is £1 15., payable to the Society's Bankers, Messrs. Child & Co., 1, Fleet Street, E.C., or to the Honorary Secretary. A donation of £10 10s. entitles a subscriber to the privileges of life membership.

LONDON, December 1898.

All communications relating to the Society, or the Journal thereof, should be addressed to the Honorary Secretary,

EDWARD MANSON, ESQ.,

8, Old Square, Lincoln's Inn, London, W.C.

INTRODUCTION

TO THE

REVIEW OF THE LEGISLATION OF THE EMPIRE.

BY SIR COURTENAY ILBERT, K.C.S.I.

THE Legislation of the Empire for 1897 shows no signs of diminution either in quantity or in variety. The rapid development of social and industrial life in British Columbia has produced a correspondingly rapid outburst of administrative legislation to meet the various and growing needs of the community. And there is evidence in other parts of the Empire that activity in legislation may be, and frequently is, a symptom of vitality, and not, as the pessimist historian maintained, of decay. At the same time our colonial legislatures have not forgotten that, unless additions to the Statute Book are accompanied by pruning and rearrangement of the existing statute law, the result is bewildering chaos. British Columbia has made provision for the revision and consolidation of the law of the province, including the statute law of England locally in force. Ontario has brought into operation a set of Revised Statutes. And important Consolidation Acts figure on the record of this year's legislation in a large number of the colonies. Some of the colonies have gone further, and have attempted the more ambitious task of codification. Thus the little island of Grenada may congratulate herself on having passed in a single session an Evidence Code, with illustrations after the Anglo-Indian fashion, a Criminal Code, and a Code of Criminal Procedure. This care for the form, as distinguished from the substance, of the law supplies a lesson which might well be taken to heart by the Parliament at Westminster, where codification has long been treated as an idle dream, and where the more modest, but more urgent, task of consolidation has during the last few years been laid aside.

Constitutional and Fiscal Legislation.-The constitutional legislation of 1897 presents no features of special interest. Australasian federation made no progress. Indeed, New South Wales took a step backwards by increasing the number of votes required for adhesion to the Federal Constitution.

Nor is there much to notice in fiscal legislation. As an exception from the normal jealousy of foreign products may be noted the Ceylon Ordinance for encouraging the importation of frozen meat.