apprehended that in relation to India, Parliament will observe the principles long adopted towards the British self-governing colonies, and will contract its interference and control in direct proportion to the expansion of self-government. As this grows, the volume of business in which Parliament will interfere will steadily shrink, and the occasions will be rarer on which the Secretary of State will have to exercise control, and will need to be advised regarding its exercise. Again,

'While the growth of responsibility in India will lead to decreased intervention by the Secretary of State and Parliament in day-to-day administration, the fact that India's further political progress is to be determined by Parliament makes it imperative that Parliament should be better informed about and more keenly interested in Indian conditions. The decisions to be taken in the future must to some extent be controversial; different advice about them will be offered from different sources; and Parliament, which is the final arbiter of India's destiny, should be in a position to form a wise and independent judgment.'

The Committee appointed by the Attorney-General to consider the legal interpretation of the term "period of the war" for the purpose of the various Acts, Orders and Regulations, the duration of which depends directly or indirectly upon the date of the termination of the war, have issued their Reports. The Committee point out that they assume that the war will be ended by a treaty or treaties of peace, and that in order to arrive at the final conclusion of the treaty various stages will probably be required, such as agreements for armistice, cessation of hostilities thereunder, articles of peace, agreement of terms, signature of terms, ratification, exchange or deposit of ratification.

In our opinion,' say the Committee, speaking of the legislation generally, the war cannot be said to end until peace is finally and irrevocably obtained; and that point of time cannot be earlier than the date when the treaty of peace is finally binding on the respective belligerent parties, and that is the date when ratifications are exchanged.'

The Committee deal with the suggestion that the time arrives a little earlier, viz., when all the ratifying authorities have in fact ratified the treaty of peace,

though the exchange of ratifications has not taken place. On this point the Committee say:

In a matter of such vital importance to all parties concerned it seems to us that the view that is more correct and more in accordance with custom is that the contracting parties intend that ratifications should not be operative until they are communicated to the other parties in the customary manner by formal exchange or deposit. If the treaty provides for the date at which peace is to be deemed to begin, that date will be the end of the war, unless such date proves to be a date before the actual exchange or deposit of ratifications, in which case the date of exchange or deposit would probably still be the determining date. For, as until exchange or deposit, there would, in theory, be an opportunity for a belligerent to resile from the treaty, the possi bility of war being continued must be contemplated, and we do not think that the legislature can have intended the Government to lay down its war powers till the occasion for their exercise has irrevocably disappeared.'

The Committee state that they have considered and rejected the suggestion that for the purposes of the various Emergency Acts nothing but a Royal Proclamation can authoritatively declare when war ceases and peace begins—

'We do not think that if peace had been duly secured, by an exchange of ratifications, the country would be held to be at war by reason of a delay in issuing a Royal Proclamation; or that if a Royal Proclamation of peace were prematurely issued the power given by the emergency legislation would be held to have ceased. It is nevertheless recommended that there should be some such method of declaring authoritatively the exact date at which the country ceases to be at war. The operation of the emergency statutes and orders is so far-reaching, the powers given are so vast, the responsibility of those exercising them so serious, that it would be a calamity if there were any real doubt as to when the respective rights and duties came to an end.'

The Committee, therefore, declare that it is highly desirable to obtain statutory power to enable the Government by Order-in-Council or otherwise to declare authoritatively the date at which the war ends and peace begins, whether generally, or in the event of a separate peace, as regards individual belligerents, and that the same power should be given to declare the same date for contracts and other instruments, subject in this case to the terms of the contract, etc.

W. E. WILKINSON.

CANADIAN BAR ASSOCIATION.

The following is the substituted Report on Legal Education agreed to by the Committee of the Association on Legal Education and Ethics, and submitted to the Association at its recent meeting in Montreal, with the amendments made in the course of debate. The whole subject is postponed to next year. The Canadian Law Times in the meanwhile would gladly welcome correspondence on this important subject.

LEGAL EDUCATION.

In connection with this important subject your Committee has taken into consideration the existing law and practice in the several provinces and submits a scheme which it trusts may be found suitable for general adoption. Its features are:

1. To adhere in the main to the existing sytem which is essentially the same throughout Canada;

2. To remove unessential differences;

3. To leave to the several provinces a wide discretion in mat

ters of detail.

The subject is dealt with under the four heads of:

(1) Admission to Study;

(2) Period and Course of Study.

(3) Transfer of Students;

(4) Admission to Practice.

(1) ADMISSION TO STUDY.

Your Committee recommends that every candidate for admission to study be required to have passed at least a matriculation examination of an approved University, or an equivalent examination prescribed or allowed by the authority of the province in which he seeks to be admitted. to study.

No student to be admitted to study who has not attained the full age of 18 years.

(2) PERIOD AND COURSE OF STUDY.

Your Committee recommends that the course of study shall consist in attendance for at least three sessions, one in each academic year, at an approved law school, followed by service in the office of a practising barrister or solicitor for at least two years, provided that service for one year shall be sufficient in the case of

VOL. XXXVIII. C.L.T.-37

students who at the time of their admission to study are graduates of an approved University.

An approved University and an approved Law School mean respectively a University and a Law School, or the Law Faculty in a University, approved for this purpose by Council.

(3) TRANSFER OF STUDENTS.

In order to provide for the case of students who may desire to continue or to complete their course of study in a province other than that in which they have been admitted to study, your Com mittee recommends that any student who has duly completed one year or two years of study in an approved Law School shall, subject to any necessary readjustment of curriculum, be qualified for ad mission to equivalent standing in any other approved Law School, and that in any province in which no approved Law School exists the period of study required of any student before admission to practice be reduced by the time, not exceeding three years, during which such student shall have duly followed a course of study in any approved Law School or Law Schools.

(4) ADMISSION TO PRACTICE.

Your Committee recommends that the examinations to be passed by students before admission to practice remain as heretofore under the direction and control of the constituted authority in each province. It is suggested, however, that the provincial authorities be invited to co-operate with this Association with a view to securing a reasonable degree of uniformity and effecting other improvements in the examinations, and in the prescribed courses of study.

THE STATUTE OF FRAUDS IN THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC.

(I.)

THE STATUTE OF FRAUDS:

Section 4. No action shall be brought whereby to charge any executor or administrator upon any special promise to answer damages out of his own estate; or any person upon any special promise to answer for the debt, default, or miscarriage of another; or upon any agreement that is not to be performed within one year from the making thereof; unless the agreement upon which such action shall be brought, or some memorandum or note thereof, shall be in writing and signed by the party to be charged therewith, or some other person thereunto by him lawfully authorized.

Section 17. No contract for the sale of goods, wares, merchandise, for the price of ten pounds or upwards, shall be good unless the buyer shall accept part of the goods, and actually receive the same, or give something in earnest to bind the bargain, or in part payment; or unless some note or memorandum in writing of the said bargain be made and signed by the parties to be charged by such contract or their agents thereunto by them lawfully authorized.

LORD TENTERDEN'S ACT:

Section 1. In actions of debt, or upon the case, grounded upon any simple contract, no acknowledgment or promise by words only shall be deemed sufficient evidence of a new or continuing contract, whereby to take any case out of the enactments contained in the statute of limitations, or to deprive any party of the benefit thereof, unless such acknowledgment or promise shall be made or contained by or in some writing, to be signed by the party chargeable thereby.

Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall alter, or take away, or lessen the effect of any payment of any principal or interest made by any person whatsoever.

Section 5. No action shall be maintained whereby to charge any person upon any promise made after full age to pay any debt contracted during infancy, or upon any ratification after full age of any promise or simple contract made during infancy, unless such promise or ratification shall be made by some writing signed by the party to be charged therewith.

Section 6. No action shall be brought whereby to charge any person upon, or by reason of, any representation or assurance