in this department than any other. Let perquisites of every sort and kind be a strict prohibition. In a well-managed family all can be made use of that generally goes for perquisites, especially if there is any regard for the poor. The pig-tub system is a great evil. It would be well if the authorities would put it down; but every family who may choose can interdict it. There is no need for such a thing; the only possible excuse for it (viz., to get rid of the refuse from cooking) is a small advantage compared with the many evils it induces; with good management it is not needed; and the opportunities it gives for iniquitous extravagance and waste cannot be guessed at by the majority of housekeepers. The large sums these pig-tub owners award to cooks and kitchen-maids in many families sufficiently tells a tale.

"I would strictly interdict servants, men and women, going out without leave on any pretence: but in consideration of their obedience on this point, I would allow them, in addition to the stated holidays, the privilege of going out for an hour or two "to shop" or see their friends, whenever they asked to do so in reason and at convenient times. This is a relaxation and a reward a dutiful, faithful servant deserves.

"Paying bills is a privilege that it would be better not to allow to servants, if any member of the family could do it instead.

"Christmas presents from tradesmen is a bad system. Why should they be out of pocket to gratify our servants' avarice? Can this question be satisfactorily answered?"

The definite suggestions put forth by the writer are as under:"That a clerk, or other such person, be appointed in every borough or market town, and a day in the week fixed for hearing disputes or complaints on the part of servants and employers. The said clerk to have the power of settling any minor disputes, and judgment to be entered accordingly in the office of the clerk, and attendance of either party on court day will be unnecessary. More important cases to be referred to the town court, but a private hearing to be granted under all circumstances when so desired, whether the parties requesting it be in the position of complainant or defendant."

RULES.

"1.-Certificates to be issued at the office of the clerk, stating name, age, and parish of the servant who applies; the name and place of residence of last employer; length of service; date of and reason for leaving.

"2.-Any servant obtaining a situation, and any person engaging or hiring a servant, without the production of such certificate, to be liable to a fine; the amount of which fine to be decided on by the authorities.

"3.-The present common custom of requiring a month's warning, or a month's wages' (as it now stands) to be done away with. A proper notice will be required on both sides, the particulars of which will be regulated according to circumstances stated in the sixth rule.

"4.-No servant can be entitled to a recommendation to another situation under twelve months' good service, unless sufficient reason can be shown as to the cause of leaving: such as mutual agreement on account of inadequacy for the duties from ill health, or any other cause, to be clearly so stated in the certificate.

"5.-The amount of wages to be decided on between the parties; but with this agreement, that there shall be an increase of a sixth-part of the first named sum for the second year, and a similar addition for the third year; then we may suppose after three years good service there will be such an amicable understanding between the parties, that no further disputes will arise.

"6. After the first year's service it will merely be necessary for either servant or employer (wishing to make a change) to give proper notice, an intimation of which to be sent to the nearest office. The time of leaving to be regulated according to the convenience of the parties concerned. The servant never to leave under a month, unless the place they are about to vacate be filled, and the wages always to be paid up to the time of leaving.

"7.-Certificates to be applied for at the nearest office to the parish where the servant last lived.

"N.B.—It is here earnestly requested that a true statement be made concerning servants leaving their situation, to avoid imposition, and to insure a successful working of the plan."

may

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ART. X.-CONSOLIDATION OF THE LAW AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE.

1. Draft of a Bill for Consolidating the Statute Law of England relating to Indictable Offences against the Person.

2. Draft of a Bill for Consolidating the Statute Law of England relating to Indictable Offences against Property by Larceny, and other Offences connected therewith.

3. Draft of a Bill for Consolidating the Statute Law of England relating to Indictable Offences against Property by Malicious Injuries.

4. Draft of a Bill for Consolidating the Statute Law of England relating to Indictable Offences by Forgery.

5. Draft of a Bill for Consolidating the Statute Law of England relating to Indictable Offences against Her Majesty the Queen and her Government.

6. Draft of a Bill for Consolidating the Statute Law of England relating to Indictable Offences of a Public Nature.

7. Draft of a Bill for Consolidating the Statute Law of England relating to Accessories to, and Abettors of Indictable Offences. 8. Draft of a Bill for Consolidating the Statute Law of England relating to Criminal Procedure by Indictment.

THE

HE proceedings of the approaching session of Parliament will probably be marked by discussions upon one of the most important and lasting matters of policy which Great Britain has ever had to entertain. During the last quarter of a century almost every part of the institutions of this country have undergone some change of principle, some change of form; but from the casual and fragmentary manner in which such reforms have been effected, a new necessity has arisen—that of consolidation, which is the vocation of the time. Not merely verbal and mechanical consolidation, but real consolidation-the consolidation of the principles and substance of things; not simply a consolidation of the law (according to the narrow limits in which the notion of law is accepted in this country), but a con

solidation of the state, and of all the aggregations of persons constituting the state-a consolidation of our public knowledge, of the rationale, history, and state of the different branches of public business-a consolidation of our finances and special affairs-a consolidation of our official organizations and official transactions; in fact, the bringing into connected and combined state and action the dispersed fragments of our public literature and public law.

As usual, the discussion of the whole principle will take place upon a part-upon the administration of our criminal law in the detection of offenders, in the prosecution of offenders, in the administration of punishments, also upon the above-mentioned consolidations (so called) of our criminal law, which have been prepared by the statute law commissioners, and possibly upon the consolidation of our civil service, which is necessarily involved in the consideration of the grand scheme of concentrating the principal offices of state on one spot near to her Majesty's palace at Westminster.

We will confine our attention at present to one part of the great question which falls more immediately within the scope of this publication-viz., the question of consolidation, as presented by the bills which we have cited at the head of this article, and which were laid on the table of the House of Lords at the close of the last session.

We must not suffer ourselves to be carried away from the purpose of this effort by erroneous names.

Are these bills of consolidation? Do they answer to the idea of consolidation? Do they serve the purposes of consolidation? Are they the models by which future Acts of consolidation are to be framed ?

Are these the bills that are to be passed by Parliament, as their authors propose, without discussion and without alteration? Do they bear on the face of them the characters of consistency and completeness which would justify such treatment?

Sensible of the difficulties of the consolidation of our law, and of its desirableness, we would gladly acquiesce in Parliament delegating to a more competent body the task of executing that work; but when the results are produced we should have very

distinct and formal assurance that they are truly the work of the body so intrusted, and that each individual member of the body pledges himself for it, as having passed under his own cognizance. If the work be not the work of the whole body, the assurance should come from those members whose work it is: then if there be nothing on the face to condemn the work, Parliament in reliance on the good faith and painstaking of the commissioners, and their superior fitness for the task, might properly forego its right to re-open the subject.

But we should hesitate to admit the propriety of such a course with the bills before us, since they do not, as we conceive, fulfil the purpose.

They are fragmentary, and form no part of a design to which future additions may be appended: nor are they in any sense consolidations. They do not comprehend the whole subject, nor the whole of any part of the subject, and they are not of a nature to form the basis or the sample for future operations.

In consolidating, we should have the whole matter before us; that matter should be ordered in a logical and connected manner, each part aiding each other part by the proper sequence and coherence of the several parts; the structure should not only be orderly but systematic, developing a design, and serving by its method to aid the embodiment of the parts, and, at the same time, to give the means and opportunity of incorporating, without dislocation of the existing fabric, any additions or alterations which may be necessary in the passage of the bill through Parliament, or in subsequent sessions; and, finally, the typography of the bills should aid these purposes, and the total result should be a state of simplicity and clearness, enabling persons of ordinary intelligence, giving to the subject a fair degree of attention, to understand the scope and bearing of the subjects of the bill, and its relation to the whole law, and readily to find any part, as they require it..

Judging of these bills according to the average nature of such things, we do not find fault; we are trying them by the rules by which consolidated bills, to form part of the permanent laws of the country, and to be the basis of future efforts of the same kind, ought to be tried.