imperfect state of language so to frame the position, as not, in a very short time, to give rise to cases which were not foreseen, and which, experience has shown, not all the combined knowledge and experience of the man is able to foresee. Angusta prudentia humana casus omnes quos tempus reperit non po'test capere.'-BACON.

But we think a remedy may be supplied, which, as far as we can foresee, touches on no general principle-one which, without giving rise to any new matter for the judgment of the courts, or the difficulties of counsel, in fact narrows the duties and the labours of both. The remedy is, that the law should supply that which the donor may have omitted to supply-namely, a TRUSTEE to preserve those remainders, where none is already appointed. We cannot see any possible objection to the passing an act, in which it should be provided that, in all cases, and in all instruments where contingent remainders were limited or arose, the person taking the preceding estate, by the destruction of which the remainders would be defeated, should be considered as having an ulterior estate vested in him, expressly for the purpose of supporting the remainders,-such estate to arise on any forfeiture or destruction of the preceding estate. That the wording of such a statute would require great care and consideration, we are of course aware; but that it is capable of being so framed as to hold out the prospect of avoiding the objections which usually arise from the destruction of contingent remainders, we are quite satisfied; and indeed this would only be doing what a court of equity does in a similar case, where the administration of the property happens to be under the jurisdiction of that court, by reason of its being what is technically termed a trust-estate; as there the party is prevented from availing himself of his own act in the destruction of contingent remainders.

We are tempted, at every fresh step we take, to apologize to our reader for the dryness of the subject, and to remind him of its importance. On looking back on what we have written on recoveries and contingent remainders, we believe that it is really intelligible to any one willing to give the subject common. and fair attention; and yet we are prepared for an almost absolute determination in many of our readers not to understand a subject so long left entirely to the considerations of professional men.

With regard to the proposed alterations regarding contingent remainders, we are not without support,--support which the strongest and most prejudiced opponents to alteration will admit. to be very powerful.

The late Lord Kenyon, we have been informed, had himself prepared a bill for the purpose of amending the laws of real property, and, amongst other things, of preventing the destruction of contingent remainders, whether in the manner we have proposed, or otherwise, we are ignorant; but, upon some preliminary objections being started, in a fit of vexation he is said hastily to have destroyed the bill. Now, we shall claim to ourselves all the benefit of his support, and shall allow nothing to the proposer having abandoned it, from the manner in which it is reported to have been done. The measure, it must fairly be sumed, was not adopted without mature deliberation: its abandonment appears to have arisen from an opposition which probably appeared vexatious or absurd.

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With respect to the character of Lord Kenyon, skilled in the most intricate branches of the laws of real property, and attached to the pursuit by habit, and with all the prejudice of professional education, the presumption is, that any innovations in the laws which he proposed to make, were at least fully warranted.

It is observed by Sir W. Blackstone, that, in all well governed nations, some notoriety of the fact of the conveyance has been held requisite; and this brings us to the long controverted point of a General Registry, the expediency of which is doubted by Sir W. Blackstone. To discuss the different arguments which have been used for and against a general registry, would occupy a space far greater than our limits afford. In favour of the regis try it should be observed, that two of the richest counties in England have one; and that the security arising from the certainty of title from registration is such, that it is currently believed the property in those counties is of greater relative value; and every one must have observed frequent advertisements from persons having money to lend, who require the security to be in a register county, (viz. Middlesex or Yorkshire). We may also venture to suggest, that a very considerable degree of the inconvenience of the present registry laws in England, arises from the construction which the Courts of Equity have put on these laws. Indeed, the doctrines introduced may be rather considered as an abrogation or repeal of them altogether; for, though the laws themselves are imperative, and say that a deed which is registered shall have the priority and precedence of that which is not registered; yet the Courts have decided, that, notwithstanding, if the person claiming under the registered deed had notice of the unregistered one, the first purchaser, although his deed is not registered, shall be preferred. With such principles of

decision as this, it is probable a registry act might, as Sir W. Blackstone has observed, lead to more disputes than it prevents. Amongst the benefits which would result from the adoption of a registry would be, the diminution of the risk of latent deeds and fraudulent charges, the facilities afforded in the preserv ation of evidence of title, and the decrease of the expense of transferring property; and from the certainty afforded by the means of searching the registry, sales and mortgages would be facilitated. At present, also, as the evidences of title are mostly private unregistered deeds, on the division of property, it becomes necessary that the deeds should be retained by one party, and the other must be content with an engagement to produce them, with copies of the originals; which, however, are heavily stamped, and procured at a vast expense, and are, in some cases, alone equal in amount to the whole value of the property. In answer to the objection arising from the publicity which would be given to the state of property, and the anxiety, and even the necessity, of mercantile persons and others keeping their con cerns secret, it may be remarked, that this is not felt in those counties where there are already registers; or that, if it be so, the objections are counterbalanced by the opposite conveniences. And it may be further observed, that, in cases where persons are willing to dispense with the advantages of the registry, this may be done without any inconvenience beyond that arising from such confidence being misplaced. In noticing this point, we must not be considered as having stated the whole arguments which, on both sides of a question of so much difficulty and importance, would require to be discussed. We are willing to admit, that it might, perhaps, after consideration, be found impossible to introduce a registry, without the chance of its being attended with greater evil than benefit; but the importance of the subject makes it an object of serious consideration.

We have now brought our observations to a close. As to the alterations which we have suggested, we have only selected a few of the most important, and those which are most obvious, and which have already, in some degree, the sanction of authority. If our principle of reform is once admitted, the state of the laws of real property affords many other cases which equally demand consideration. It will be remembered, that we have not proposed any direct alteration in the law; it is only, we conceive, by simplifying the present mode by which the different processes in the transfer of property are carried on, that any beneficial result can be expected: and this, we think, may be done with safety. The subject is also of further importance,

inasmuch as it tends to increase the value of property; for, by decreasing the expense of its transfer, by adding facilities to the mode of disposing of it, and certainty to the rules by which it is held, the intrinsic value of the property itself must be increased. We have no room for any detailed remarks on Mr Sugden's work, noticed at the head of this article. It purports to be a series of letters to a gentleman of landed property, who is made to lament to the author, that he was constantly compelled to ' exercise his own judgment on legal points, as he could not always have his Solicitor at his elbow; and yet often found, that a contract for the sale, purchase, or lease of an estate, or 'perhaps a child's marriage articles, were to be entered into 'off-hand;' of course we can have no means of ascertaining the extent of the benefits which may have resulted to Mr Sugden's correspondent, from the instructions thus conveyed to him, or whether his subsequent purchases, &c. which he may have entered into off-hand, have been more fortunate. For our own part, we are convinced it is impossible that half a dozen letters, containing a few accounts of supposed cases of sales, &c. with technical directions how the correspondent in such and such cases is to act, can afford to any person useful or safe information, or tend to save him from the numerous toils which the law spreads for the unwary. Information to be relied upon in practice, relating to the laws concerning the sale and transfer of property, is not capable of being compressed into an hundred pages of Conveyancing made Easy. With all the perspicuity which we willingly acknowledge Mr Sugden's treatise to possess, it does not go any way, in our minds, to falsify the maxim, that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing;' and we apprehend, that the gentleman of landed property, who should take in hand even Mr Sugden's more extensive treatise on Venders and Purchasers,' unless he brought to the reading of it much previous knowledge, would still not be well advised to exercise, with this assistance, his own judgment on legal points. We feel no inclination to subject Mr Sugden's performance to a critical examination as to its literary merits, a point in which the author had doubtless no thought of its being regarded. If, however, the gentleman of landed property, to whom it is written, should happen to be of a fastidious taste, the story of the Blanket (p. 89.) might possibly offend it.

ART. XII. 1. An Appeal to the Legislature and the Public; more especially to Dissenters from the Established Church, of every Denomination, on the Tendency of Mr Brougham's Bill for the Education of the Poor ;-to augment the Poor's-rateto interfere with the Rights of Conscience, and infringe on the Spirit of the Toleration Acts: With some Remarks on its probable Effects in injuring Sunday Schools. By JAMES BALDWIN BROWN, Esq. LL. D. of the Inner-Temple, Barrister-at-Law, and one of the Committee of the Protestant Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty. London. Wortley, 1821. 2. Observations on Mr Brougham's Bill; showing its Inadequacy to the End proposed, and the Danger which will arise from it to the Cause of Religious Liberty. London. Baldwin, 1821. 3. Inquiry into the Operation of Mr Brougham's Education Bill, as far as regards the Protestant Dissenters. By a NONCONFORMIST. London. Sherwood, 1821.

To these we might add several other publications from the same quarter, and one or two from the pens of Highchurchmen, still more alarmed than the Dissenters, at what they term a plan for paganizing the education of youth, by excluding from schools the Liturgy and the Catechism of the Church. It is, however, somewhat remarkable, that although these High-Church zealots began the attack, in which one of them indeed scrupled not to represent the measure as proceeding from the immediate agency of the devil, as soon as they perceived that the Dissenters had taken it up, they drew back, and either insidiously encouraged their arguments, by pointing out in what particulars the Bill was unfavourable to sectaries, or remained quiet, in the hope that the brunt of the battle would be borne by the latter. Thus, the adversaries of all education hoped at once to see the defeat of the measure, and to shift the odium of opposing it upon their old enemies, the Dissenters.

A plan which carefully steered clear of the prejudices of both extremes, and professed to hold the scales as even between the Church and the Sects as might be possible, consistently with the existence of an Establishment, was sure to encounter pretty violent opposition from the less considerate on each side. Hitherto, however, the most formidable attack has been made by the Dissenters; and, although there may be some exceptions, yet the bulk of that most respectable and worthy body have stated their objections with perfect fairness; and shown no want