question of "Succession Duty," which is now payable on all large estates. The proportion of this tax, to which your estate will be liable, depends very largely upon the manner in which you may dispose of your property.

I have made a most careful study of our Provincial Acts relating to this tax, and am the author of the only Canadian text book on the subject. I am prepared to advise, as a specialist, on all questions relating to Succession Duty.

estate.

An expert opinion may result in a large saving to your Your own solicitor can't afford the time to analyze the Acts and amendments enforcing this tax as I have done, and I claim, therefore, to be better able to give you sound advice on this one subject.

Let me make suggestions to him before he prepares your

will.

Yours truly."

The letter was received by laymen who handed it to their own solicitors, and in consequence two complaints against the writer of the letter were laid before the governing body of the Law Society of Upper Canada. The proceedings upon these complaints are printed as a supplement to Part 4 of Volume 5 of the Ontario Law Reports, and make very interesting reading. The gentleman whose conduct was in question, in answer to the complaints, stated inter alia:"I compiled a list of all the persons in Ontario whose estates might be liable to taxation, and I sent to a number of these persons in Ottawa, Peterborough, and elsewhere, the letter complained of, enclosing in each the professional card of my firm, my object still being to advertise my book and to increase my consulting practice."

the gentleman has been guilty of professional misconduct, The Discipline Committee of Convocation have found that and he has sent an apology to the chairman of the committee. The report is to be taken into consideration by Convocation on the 17th September next.

Annual Meeting of Ontario Law Associations.

also from counties not having associations, will meet at OsDelegates from the County Law Library Associations, goode Hall, Toronto, 3rd September, 1903, at 11 o'clock a.m.

All members of the legal profession of the Province requested to attend.

The following, among other subjects, will be up for dis

cussion:

1. Extension of the power of the local Judges of the High Court of Justice.

2. Increase of Judges' salaries and their exclusion from participating in work outside the regular duties of the office. 3. Bankruptcy legislation.

4. Divorce Court.

5. Municipal assessment.

6. Codification of the municipal law.

7. Dominion assistance to the county libraries.

8. Simplification of the Surrogate forms.

9. Surrogate Court costs.

10. Reduction of disbursements in High and County Court proceedings.

11. Better system of promulgating Rules of Practice.

Lord Justice Bowen and Equity.

Lord Alverstone's reference to the late Lord Justice Bowen as the only Judge who could properly assess the damages in the intricate Ogden case, recalls to memory, says the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, the possessor of the acutest intellect on the Bench during the long Victorian period. It is said of Lord Justice Bowen that he shared with Lord Milner the repute of being one of the two most brilliant men that Oxford turned out in the latter half of the nineteenth century. His mental refinements were, in fact, almost too subtle for the average mind. His Lordship, however, could never really grasp the principles of equity, and one of the best mots of this vivacious Judge was his extra judicial obiter dictum," seeking for equity is like a blind man searching in a dark room for a black cat which has no existence."

Judges and Extra-Judicial Work.

The fact that Sir Francis Jeune, as Judge-Advocate-General is, according to Mr. Broderick's statement in the House of Commons, responsible for the form of the charge on which the officers were tried by court-martial with reference to the "ragging" incident at Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town, and that the form and limitations of that charge may be subject

of further criticism, will recall the words of the late Lord. Esher at the Mansion House banquet on the 9th November, 1892, when responding to the health of the Judges, and emphasize their wisdom more than a decade after their utterance. Lord Esher, in referring to the independence and impartiality which characterized the action of the Judges, said: "Their education and training made them impartial and determined to do what was right in any question that came before them. This, indeed, was so well known and recognized that when the Judges of England acted within the scope of their ordinary duties nobody ever attempted to suggest that they were not impartial. At the present time, however, they knew that one of the Judges had been asked to go beyond the scope of his ordinary duty, and he, for one, was surprised and sorry that the Judge in question had consented to do so. The result was inevitable. That Judge had been fiercely accused already of partiality or of want of desire to do justice.”—The Law Times.

The Marriage Law in Victoria.

A novel point in the law of marriage arose in the Divorce Court at Melbourne, Victoria. The question was whether, a man having married his deceased wife's sister's daughter, the marriage was a legal one. Mr. Justice A'Beckett found that "if the respondent had been a sister of the deceased wife, instead of a niece, the marriage would have been valid under s. 18 of the Marriage Act of 1890 (which allows a marriage with the deceased wife's sister). This Act did not validate marriage with a deceased wife's niece, probably because the necessity of making such a provision did not occur to the framers of the Act. He had, therefore, to give effect to the law as it stood, and declare the marriage null and void, and he made the decree absolute." The case, says the London Law Times, may be taken as a lesson in Parliamentary draftsmanship.

Recent American Decisions.

Criminal Law.-A statute making the penalty for attempt one-half that prescribed for the commission of the offence is held, in People v. Burns (Cal.), 60 L. R. A. 270, to be void for uncertainty, in cases where the penalty for the offence is imprisonment for life.

Defamation. Words spoken by a witness in a judicial proceeding concerning a stranger to the suit, which are pertinent to the issues involved, and fairly responsive to questions propounded to him, are held, in Cooley v. Galyon (Tenn.), 60 L. R. A. 139, to be absolutely privileged notwithstanding actual malice.

Divorce.-A woman who consented to a decree of divorce against her to enable her husband to obtain a grant of property is held, in Karren v. Karren (Utah), 60 L. R. A. 294, to have no right, after her husband had married another woman, to have the decree annulled, although, in consideration of her consent, he promised to remarry her after the grant was procured, and the decree was obtained by suppression of facts, and false testimony. The right of a party obtaining or consenting to divorce to contest its validity is considered in a note to this case.

Evidence. Reading on a second trial of a criminal case testimony of a witness who died after the first trial, at which accused was present and represented by counsel, who was acorded the right of cross-examination, is held, in People v. Elliott (N.Y.), 60 L. R. A. 318, not to infringe the right of the accused to be confronted with the witnesses against him, in the presence of the Court.

Infant.-Services of an attorney in prosecuting for an infant an action to recover damages for an indecent assault upon her are held, in Crafts v. Carr (R. I.), 60 L. R. A. 128, to be necessaries.

Insolvent Bank.-A holder of stock in a national bank, who, without knoweldge or suspicion that the bank is insolvent or is likely to prove so, sells the stock, and who does everything reasonably possible to procure a transfer of the shares on the books of the bank, is held, in Earle v. Carson (C. C. App. 3rd C.), 60 L. R. A. 266, not to be liable as a stockholder, although the bank is declared insolvent before the transfer is effected, and both the bank and the purchaser were insolvent when the sale was made.

Landlord and Tenant.-A landlord is held, in Pittsfield Cottonwear Mfg. Co. v. Pittsfield Shoe Co. (N. H.), 60 L. R. A. 116, not to be relieved from liability for injury to ten

ants of a lower floor by the freezing and bursting of an automatic fire extinguisher in the portion of the building retained by him, by the fact that he has employed an independent contractor to keep the building heated.

Master and Servant.-A railway company is held, in Euting v. Chicago and N. W. R. Co. (Wis.), 60 L. R. A. 158, to be liable for the act of its engine-driver, in whose custody it has placed signal torpedoes, in placing one on the track in dangerous proximity to bystanders, and moving the engine over it for his own amusement, in consequence of which one of the bystanders is injured.

Negligence committed by a servant in the course of his employment, although he acts without the knowledge, or contrary to the known wishes of his master, is held in Weber v. Lockman (Neb.), 60 L. R. A. 313, to render the master liable.

Negligence. One participating in a charivari of a wedding party is held, in Gilmore v. Fuller (Ill.), 60 L. R. A. 286, to have no right to recover for injuries inflicted by the negligent discharge of a pistol by a co-participant, where the statute imposes a fine upon whoever disturbs the peace of a family or neighbourhood by loud and unusual noises, or disturbs any assembly of people met for a lawful purpose.

An occupier of land who undertakes to burn rubbish thereon is held, in Paolino v. McKendall (R. I.), 60 L. R. A. 133, to be under no obligation to guard children of tender years, who are in the habit of resorting there to play, from injury by approaching the fire.

Erecting in or beside a highway a crane for delivering mail to passing trains, which, when the mail bag is strung upon it, is calculated to frighten horses of ordinary gentleness, is held, in Cleghorn v. Western R. Co. of Alabama (Ala.), 60 L. R. A. 269, to be negligence which will render the railway company liable to one who is injured by the frightening of his horse thereby, athough the bag is actually placed in position by government employees.

Parent and Child.-A mother who owns the property, takes care of the family, and who, by express direction amounting

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