The Irish Jurist

THE IRISH JURIST having completed the fifth year of its existence, this day celebrates the sixth anni- | versary of its birth into the wide world of letters. Hitherto, like all neophytes, it has had to encounter the infirmities of infancy. As, however, each returning birth day finds its once feeble subject progressively endued with vigour, until, having run through the stages of early life, he ripens into full grown maturity, so we sincerely and confidently trust that our periodical will be found to be steadily on its way toward that point of literary perfection, which may be compared to the condition of manhood.

We have hitherto endeavoured honestly, if not successfully, to redeem our pledge formerly given to the public, of supplying a great desideratum to professional men, namely, a cheap and early series of law reports, and an organ for the expression of the public opinion of the legal profession in this country. The necessity for the existence of such will, for the future, be vastly increased. The recent Common Law Procedure Act will very soon come into operation, and as the organic alterations in the law of civil procedure brought about by that important measure, will not only transfer to the arena of the public court a vast proportion of the business heretofore carried on in the lawyer's private chamber, but will also revolutionize the ex

isting common law practice, and require the gradual moulding of a new system, it follows that accurate reports, published at weekly intervals, of the current decisions relating to these questions, will be indispensable to both branches of the Profession. This has already been, in some degree, proved, in the case of the new practice recently introduced into Courts of Equity by the Chancery Regulation Act, 1850, and in courts of Common Law by the Process and Practice Act, (13 Vic. c. 18.) Such a fortiori will be the case when the recent levelling statute comes into play. We have not only infused new blood into the management of our Journal, but we have been fortunate in securing the services of an increased staff of reporters and contributors, by whose hearty co-operation we are confident of making THE IRISH JURIST a real boon to the practitioners of the law. We may call attention to the fact, that at the present time, in this land, no journal but our's represents the voice and sentiments either of the Bar or of the Attorneys and Solicitors. Our pages shall continue to be, as they have ever been, directed equally to the interests of either branch, and to the vindication of their respective rights. It is our conviction that no conflict of interest need ever arise between these two orders of the Profession, but should such conflict arise, they will each in their turn experience with us the strictest impartiality. We earnestly invite all alike to avail themselves of the medium

of our pages for the exposure of grievances, and ful, are limited to the sum of £10. For the purfor the offering of useful suggestions. pose of more effectually opposing all such claims for compensation damages, the Drainage Com

The reviewing of such of the legal publications missioners are empowered by the 22nd section to

of the day as shall be submitted to our criticism, will also continue to form a leading department of this journal.

We shall likewise endeavour to give early information of any intelligence generally interesting to or affecting the interests of the legal public, and shall give them timely notice of such new legislative measures as may regard the administration of the law. We shall be careful to publish the sundry rules and orders which may from time to time be promulgated by the courts, in the exercise of which latter function consists, as we venture to submit, not the least of our claims upon the country prac

titioners.

Lastly, we offer the use of our advertising columns on very advantageous terms, in which we are seconded by the recent Act, which has repealed the advertisement duty, and we suggest that legal men would consult their own interests by availing themselves of our services in this line. In a word, we would say to the public, that their cause is ours, and our cause is theirs. It is their, as it is our, interest that we should be as efficient as possible. This they can best secure, by giving us a liberal and a generous support. We trust that we shall be found, in all points, to improve upon acquaintance, and we hope to find not only our old and tried friends renewing old acquaintance with us for the coming year, but the ranks of these recruited with new conscripts, with whom we shall be happy to enrol in the ranks of our clients.

(Continued from Vol. V. page 280.) By the 11th and subsequent sections the Treasury are empowered to appoint two or more arbitrators, who are endowed with plenary powers (after the model of the arbitrators under the Railway Acts) to decide all questions of compensation and damages for lands taken or injuriously affected by the drainage works, and the 18th section prescribes the manner in which these arbitrators are severally to adjudicate upon the claims brought under their notice, and make their awards. To the award of the arbitrator the claimant, if dissatisfied, has an appeal to the next going judge of assize, or the next subsequent Term in Dublin, as the case may be, upon giving fifteen days' notice thereof, on the trial of which appeal the costs of the claimant, if success

convene a meeting of the proprietors, and elect a standing committee for organizing the defence, employing counsel, &c., and in their default the Commissioners are themselves, by the 23rd section, to appoint such committee, and if the committee so appointed neglect this unenviable duty the Commissioners are, by the 25th section, empowered to discharge it themselves, and all expenses incurred in such proceedings are, by the 27th section, made a part of the expenditure of the district and expressly imposed upon the landed proprietors. By the 29th section these provisions for compensation and damages are to include mills as well as land, and thus a machinery is provided by means of which private influence, as well as professional skill, is organized and directed by the Legislature against the claims of those who have no earthly interest in the objects of the drainage works, except that which flows from self-defence and a desire for the protection of their property.

No one can deny that the substitution of the ar bitrators unconnected with the Drainage Commissioners, was a consummation devoutly to be wished for; and such has been already strongly recommended by your correspondent. But the restraint imposed upon the efforts of an unfortunate claimant, the powerful influence of the interested landowners in the district thus directly brought to bear upon his endeavours to obtain justice and compensation for the injury done to him by the paid officers of the Commissioners, is as unwise as it is unjust; and such novel experiments of arraying class against class, are unworthy of a modern and enlightened system of legislation.

By the decision of the Court of Exchequer in Malley v. Hornsby, (reported at page 5 of the present number), the provisions of the Summary Proceedings Act, 9 Vic. c. 4, were considered inapplicable to the cases of mills. This decision is referred to in the leading article of the Jurist of the 16th of last July, and the necessity for an amendment is there pointed out, (p. 224.) That sugges tion has been adopted, and by the 32nd section of the present Act, these summary proceedings are to be deemed to have authorised interference with mills. But this ex post facto legislation will not do, notwithstanding the sweeping terms of the clause referred to. The 13th section of this very Act requires personal notice to be given to every indi vidual of the injury that may be done, or proposed to be done to his property. Under the 9th Vic. c. 4, such notice was unnecessary, and the Commis. sioners interfered with and injured mill property without taking any such precaution. It is, therefore, perfectly plain, that wherever the Commissioners injure property, without having given the owner the notice prescribed by the 13th section, they will have been guilty of an excess of jurisdiction, and on the authority of the decided cases will be liable to an action at law, notwithstanding the protection intended to be thrown around them by the 36th section, to which I shall presently allude.

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The Irish Jurist, Nide 6