The Hon. J. D. Hazen, Chief Justice of New Brunswick, has been appointed local Judge in Admiralty of the Exchange Court in and for the admiralty district. of New Brunswick.

P. B. Mignault, K.C., has been appointed VicePresident of the Canadian Bar Association for the Province of Quebec.

Pte. V. R. Wickett, formerly law student with McMeans, Thompson, and McMeans, Winnipeg, is reported wounded.

Miss Isabel Maclean, LL.D., of Winnipeg, is the fourth woman who has been called to the Bar in Manitoba. She proposes specializing as counsel for women.

There are no less than fifteen lawyers in the new Dominion Union Cabinet.

We regret to see the following deaths reported since our last issue:1

His Honour County Court Judge Morrison, of Picton, Ont. Found drowned in the Bay of Quinte on Nov. 16th last.

Wm. B. A. Ritchie, K.C., of Vancouver, B.C., formerly of Halifax, N.S., at Vancouver, on 25th ult.

Stephen F. Griffiths, of London, Ont., at London, Ont., on 21st ult.

Henry Greenless, of London, Ont., at London, Ont., on 23rd ult.

Notary P. C. Lacasse, of Montreal, at Montreal, on Nov. 26th last.

Augustus H. Hanington, K.C., of St. John, N.B., at St. John, on Nov. 22nd last.

Frederick J. Tremaine, K.C., of Halifax, N.S., at Halifax, on Oct. 30th last.

W. H. Clipsham, of Toronto, Ont., at Toronto, on Nov. 23rd last, by fatal gun accident.

Thos. Jaffray Robertson, of Newmarket, Ont., on Nov. 15th last, at Newmarket.

It is almost impossible to prevent occasional inaccuracies in the obituary column of the C. L. T. Corrections will be always gratefully received and duly recorded in our next issue.-Ed. C. L. T.

We have much pleasure in publishing in this issue the first of a very able series of articles on The Need of Law Reform by Mr. E. C. Mayers of Victoria, B.C. Mr. Mayers comments severely on the uncertainty of the law as illustrated by the reported cases. He deplores the tendency to depart from the strict rules of the common law, and from "form," and to leave everything to the "discretion" of the judge, and each case to be decided on its own peculiar circumstances. "Form," says he, quoting Ihering, if our memory serves us rightly, "is the twin sister of freedom, discretion is the procreator of tyranny." In the present article he takes cases on contracts, and contends that they show a growing laxity in holding people to their

bargains;

and a tendency to indulge in implications,

and supposed intentions of the parties. We think Mr. Mayers will be found to prove his case; and we only hope that we shall not be driven to the conclusion that the only remedy is that which he himself reluctantly suggests, namely, codification.

*

The Law Notes (N.Y.) for January calls special attention to a recent decision of the United States Supreme Court (evidently Eagle Glass and Manufac turing Co. v. Rowe), which it rightly calls "a decision of great importance, its effect being that the attempt to form a labour union may under some circumstances be unlawful." It was held that an employer was

VOL. XXXVIII. C.L.T.-5

entitled to restrain by injunction the officers and members of a labour union from conspiring to induce his employees to violate their contract with him that, during the continuance of their employment, they would not join a labour union; and this although the employees were, under the terms of their agreement, at liberty to quit the employment at pleasure.

Mr. Holford Knight, of London, England, has a most suggestive article, entitled The Lawyer and the New World, in the Fortnightly Review for January. After suggesting that the day may come when by means of some plan of co-operation, the lawyers of the world will join in assisting the nations to fashion new laws to maintain and improve the fresh relations of a better time, he adds:

'But while this view of an international union of the Bar may be a projection through many years, the formation of an Imperial Bar Congress for Great Britain and the Dominions is well within the reach of practical measures. There appears to be a growing prospect of the advent of a scheme of Imperial Federation in not distant days after the war. The relations of the Mother Country to her daughter States cannot remain on the old footing. The Dominions will claim, and are bound to receive a definite part in the supervision of an Imperial system which, at the cost of unparalleled sacrifices, they have assisted to preserve. The discussion that must precede the establishment of the machinery of Imperial Federation might well be participated in by a congress of British lawyers drawn from every territory in His Majesty's Dominions. . . No greater and more splendid opportunity has ever been presented to the Bar of England and their colleagues across the seas than that of assisting the Parliaments to lay the foundations broad and wide, of the coming British Commonwealth of nations.

We are sure that readers of the Canadian Law Times will be glad to know that Mr. Holford Knight has most kindly offered to send us an article further unfolding his scheme,-an offer which we have accepted with alacrity.

We notice in the Montreal Herald for the 23rd ult., that Mr. H. S. Ross, K.C., of that city, is associated with a group who are proposing a new form of

municipal government for Montreal. There are many features of interest in the scheme. One is the adoption of the Hare system of proportional representation. Writing to the Herald, Mr. Ross says:—

'We suggest a council of twenty-four elected by the Hare System of proportional representation-six councillors to be elected from each of four districts-North, East, South and West. In each . district, each group of one more than one-seventh of the voters (about 47,000) would be sure of a representative. This truly representative body (one of whom is to act as mayor) would select the chief administrator, and any other chief officials desired, such officials to serve indefinitely if satisfactory to the representative body. We also recommend those ultimate safeguards of popular control, the initiative and referendum and recall.'

It seems that Calgary, Nelson, and New Westminster have already adopted a similar scheme; and that Ottawa has voted in favour of it.

New Zealand, also, the city council is elected by proportional representation.

Mr. Ross and his colleagues also propose to intro

endum, and recall. St. John, N.B., Regina, and Lethbridge have already adopted such measures of direct legislation; and they are to be found in many States of the Union. We certainly think that it is a wise policy to try out these methods of government in municipalities, before adopting them in the country at large. In his Law of the Constitution Mr. Dicey expresses approval most instructive Introduction to the last edition of his of the Referendum at all events for Great Britain. Proportional Representation he opposes, but some of his objections are applicable to the government of the nation, but not to that of municipalities. So far as they rest, however, on the increased facility which he considers the system affords to log-rolling and wirepulling, Mr. Ross and his friends would do well to weigh them very carefully, if they have not already

done so.

'Guess! We

This is Law Notes (N.Y.), not us. notice in the Harvard Law Review for December the

card of a woman who styles herself "A. Darling," and advertises herself as a stenographer, with an office at Harvard Square, Cambridge. Three guesses as to who does the stenographic work for the Review!'

ARTICLES AWAITING PUBLICATION.

Options of Purchase, and London and South-Western Railway v. Gomm, by Walter S. Scott, Calgary, Alta.

The Provincial Judiciary: Federal Legislation, by Albert Dubuc, Winnipeg, Man.

The Basis of Law and Obedience, by J. E. G. de Montmorency of London, England.

The Statute of Frauds in the Province of Quebec, by A. Rives Hall, K.C., Montreal, Que.

The Judicature Act in New Brunswick, by M. L. Hayward, B.C.L., of Hartland, N.B.

The Effect of the Repeal of Dominion Acts on PreConfederation Legislation, by Charles Wilson, K.C., Vancouver, B.C.

The Dominion Insurance Act, 1917, and Provincial Rights, by H. G. Garrett, Victoria, B.C.

Mens Rea, by Silas Alward, K.C., St. John, N.B.