consequently they are actually compelled to abandon their claims. Those creditors who neglect to attend and answer to their names, are represented by the Deputy Viscount, who renounces the estate on their behalf. The Greffier proceeds down the schedule striking off the names of the creditors as they respectively renounce to their claims, after which each has to pay the Tenant 7s. 6d. for his summons. When he has

The

reached nearly the bottom of the list, and the estate has be come disencumbered, a mortgage or judgment creditor, accepts the option, or demands a delay of not exceding three weeks to consider the then state of the Bankrupt's affairs and what he is likely to pocket by the process. When a creditor accepts the option, he forecloses his mortgage on the Bankrupt's property, and takes every stiver he has in the world. Greffier thereupon certifies the record and returns it into Court, where the adjudication is confirmed. This creditor is called the Tenant, and the tenure upon which the property is decreed to him, is, that he shall pay the expenses of work ing the decret, and those claims of a prior date which may be inserted in the schedule. From this it will be seen that all creditors whose claims are of a subsequent date, though in. scribed in the schedule as well as all those that are not inscribed are excluded from any participation in the Bankrupt's estate. Consequently, if the Bankrupt had been a tradesman largely indebted to merchants & manufactures in England and elsewere, say to the amount of £10,000, for which judgments had neither been confessed nor recorded in Jersey, being the latest debts contracted, and for the recovery of which no steps had been taken; all the merchandize, stock in Trade, and other effects which had actually been supplied by the english merchants and manufacturers would go to the exclusive benefit of the Jersey creditors, however few in number, or small in amount they may be! Not that the proceeds of the Bankrupt's estate would be divided rateably among them, but that the Tenant would have the whole estate, subject to his being liable to pay the expences of working the decret, and the prior claimants thus supposing he were to pay those encumbrances he would be entitled to all the surplus. In such case the Tenant or Mortgagee who is put in possession, may realize, not only twenty shillings in the pound, but forty, sixty, eighty, and even a hundred! In fact, some have realized a bonus of £4 or £5000 to the prejudice and actual loss of English creditors. Indeed so rich is the harvest reaped on those occasions, that it often happens, that the attorney who conducts the decret or some other ecrivain speculates on the profit, by purchasing the

interest of such creditor, as may be in a good position to declare himself Tenant, and thus substitute him for his own ad vantage! Many large fortunes have been made by this manoeuvre. Thus much for the bright view of the picture, now left us look at the dark side of it.

Sometimes a creditor will enter an action against his debtor for payment of a trifling claim, recover a judgment, and then (if not paid) let it stand over, without suing out execution to enforce satisfaction of the same, or getting it registered against the debtor's real estate, supposing he had any, and especially if he calculates on the debtors' becoming embarrassed at no distant period; for it must be observed that if the claim be registered any when within ten years the judgment will be good, and if within ten clear days before a desastre or an Act of Renunciation be declared, it will generally be the last debt registered, and inscribed on the roll: and consequently will be the first to have the option to take the Bankrupt's estate or abandon his claim. Under such circumstances if there are but few registered debts and heavy amount of unregistered debts and assets, the creditor makes a handsome bonus, and instances are known by which this end has been accomplished for the mutual benefit of a creditor and the Bankrupt, by an understanding between them: for though the debt should have been discharged, the judgment may nevertheless be revived and registered; when it will carry all advantages incidental to it, just the same as if it were a bona fide debt, as long as there is no act of the Court to show that it has been satisfied. But even if there should be no bonus apparent on the estate, but rather a defficiency, a creditor whose judg ment has been registered, has it in his power, however small his claim may be, to make himself Tenant to the estate, if it should come to his turn to have the option, and this although it were notorious that he was himself insolvent at the time! He might be supposed to give security for the proper administration of the property, and to act merely as a Trustee for the body of creditors whom the law has allowed to share in the estate; but no such thing: he gives no security and is to all intents and purposes, the absolute owner, for his proceedings cannot be checked or controuled, nor can his accounts be subjected to any examination or revision whatever. And he is merely liable for the prior incumbrances before mentioned. See then what a field this offers for fraud, chicanery and swindling? A creditor may make himself Tenant; become ipso facto, the owner of the Bankrupt's real and personal property; his houses, lands, and rents, or claims by way of mort

gage, and arrears of interest thereon; his shipping, merchandize, stock in trade, funded property, book debts, household furniture, and all other effects; worth perhaps from 5 to £10,000 though his own claim should amount only to the paltry sum of £5 or less. He has the faculty of disposing of the whole of the property, without restraint. It is true, that those who purchase the real estate do it at their own risk, if the creditor be insolvent; but not so with regard to the personal. He may and can without any difficulty find a market for this, and can convert it into money, without paying a single shilling to the prior claimants. He can ship and tranship the moveables to any part of the world; he may sell them either by private contract or public auction, here or there, for little or much; he may convert them into money, invest it in foreign securities, or appropriate it in any manner to his own private use and advantage: and the only remedy the prior claimants have is to enter an action at law against him to recover their dues; which, he may, by a very little expence contest, and delay from time to time, for though he was not previously possessed of any tangible property, yet as Tenant to the Bankrupt's estate, he becomes proprietor of Rente foncière, and consequently his person and property are exempt from arrest and every process out of term time.-After litigating the claim, supposing a judgment be recovered against him, he can stay execution thereon. He has only to draw up a statement of his affairs, showing an apparent balance in his favor, and to move the Court for leave to place his property in the hands of Justice, to obtain a respite for a year and a day to arrange with his creditors, and as a matter of course it is granted! Before the expiration of that period, he may leave the Island, and take refuge in another country, where perhaps, he had placed the property beyond the jurisdiction of the Jersey Court. Then another Bankruptcy takes place, and his estate is declared in Décret, or rather so much thereof, as shall remain within the reach of the law. This is adjudicated in the like manner and entails the like consequences. Thus the whole of the property may be expended in re-mounting of Décrets for the benefit of the lawyers, without any one creditor touching a single shilling of the estate ! ! !

Baptismal Registers.-A copy of a register of baptism in the island of Guernsey is not sufficient evidence in England of a party being of age. [Huet v. Le Mesurier, 1 Cox. 275.] An entry in the register of the christening of a child as to the time of its birth, is not of itself sufficient evidence of the age. [Wihen v. Law, 3 Stark. 63 - Bayley.] An entry of birth of a

dissenter's child in a register kept for the purpose at a public library, is not evidence. [Ex parte Taylor, 1, J. and W. 483.] Bastards.-The remedy to enforce maintenance of, is by an Ordre de Justice, claiming damages for the lying-in and a weekly allowance for the support of the child for a period of 7 years. Bastards, according to the customs of the Island, founded on those of ancient Normandy, become legitimate offsprings, if the parents afterwards intermarry and acknowledge them, provided they were unmarried at the birth of such child or children; but it is an undecided question, whether a son so previously produced would inherit, in preference to one born subsequently to the marriage. The recognition is publicly made before the altar at the solemnization of the bands of. matrimony, the children standing between the father and mother an act or certificate of the recognition is afterwards entered in the parish register, and subscribed by the parents, the minister, &c. Women Strangers pregnant of illegitimate children must give bail that their offspring shall not become chargeable to the Island.

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Benefit Societies.-The 10 George 4., c. 56, amended by 4 and 5 Wm. 4. c. 40, is extended to the Channel Islands by the 5 and 6 W. 4., c. 23, s. 10 :-" And be it further enacted, that the provisions of a certain Act made and passed in the tenth of his late Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled, An Act to consolidate and amend the Laws relating to Friendly Soeieties,' and of a certain other Act made and passed in the fourth and fifth year of his present Majesty, intituled, An Act to amend an Act of the tenth year of his late Majesty King George the Fourth, to consolidate and amend the Laws relating to Friendly Societies,' shall extend to the Islands of Guernsey and Jersey and Isle of Man, and that the rules and alterations of rules of any Society established or to be establish. ed in the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, and Isle of Man, under the said last mentioned Act or this Act, shall be submitted to the barrister at law for the time being appointed to certify the rules of savings' banks in England." The aboveActs were transmitted from the Council Office, with an Order dated Nov. 20, 1835, for them to be registered, and were registered on the pub lic rolls Nov. 28, 1835. The rules of several of the benefit societies in Jersey have been certified, and enrolled by depositing a copy with the Greffier of the Royal Court. The following are among the benefits derived from a Friendly Society being enrolled under the 10 Geo. 4 c. 56. as amended by the 4 and 5 Will. 4 c. 40. 1st.-The Rules are binding, and may be legally enforced. 2nd.-Protection is given to the Members, their wives

and children, &c. in enforcing their just claims, and against any fraudulent dissolution of the Society. 3rd.-The property is declared to be vested in the Trustee or Treasurer for the time being. 4th.--The Trustee or Treasurer may, with respect to property of Society, sue and be sued in his own name. 5th. -Fraud committed with respect to property of Society is punishable by Justices. 6th.-Court of Exchequer may compel transfer of Stock, &c., if officer of Society abscond or refuse to transfer, &c. 7th.-Application may be made to Court of Exchequer by petition, free from payment of Court or Counsel's Fees, &c. 8th.-Disputes settled by reference to Justices or Arbitrators: Order of Justices or Award of Arbitrators fiual. 9th.-Power to invest their Funds to any amount in Savings Banks. 10th.-Power to invest their Funds with Commissioners for the reduction of the National Debt,and to receive interest at the rate of £3,16s. d. p.c. 11th.-Priority of payment of debts, in case officer, &c. of Society become bankrupt, insolvent, has an execution, &c. against his property, or dies. 12th.-In case of death of Members, payment may be made of sum not exceeding £20, without the expense of obtaining Letters of Administration. 13th.-Members are allowed to be witnesses in all proceedings, criminal or civil, respecting property of Society. 14th.-Exemption of all documents, &c. from Stamp Duty. 15th. All correspondence, &c., with Barrister free from postage.

Bigamy.It is said that Bigamy is more prevalent in the islands of Jersey and Guernsey than in any other part of her Majesty's dominions, and it is accounted for by the fact, that the civil laws of the islands, derived from those of Normandy, take no cognizance of it, as a crime; much less when the second marriage has taken place in a foreign jurișdiction. Our Bigamists have sufficient precaution never to marry the second wife or husband in the same country as they married the first, and what is still more, they take care to domicile themselves in another: for instance, if the first wife was taken in England or France, they marry the second in Guernsey, and reside in Jersey, or vice versa. By this manoeuvre, assuming that the second marriage, during the life of their first partner, might be deemed criminal, yet as the facts would have occurred in a foreign jurisdiction, and as the laws of one island cannot take cognizance of a crime committed in the other, they find themselves beyond the reach of punishment, to the great injury of public morals! Nearly two hundred Bigamists are well known in Jersey alone, who revell in their iniquity with