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 The English Bencli and Bar of To-day. thing that smacks of pedantry with his whole heart; he very seldom lets fall any obiter dicta, and his decisions are never unduly expanded by any historical retrospects or philosophical discussions. This witt be evi dent to any one who compares his judgment

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in Finlay i1. Chirney (20 Q. B. D. 494) with that of Lord Justice Bowen in the same case. The Master of the Rolls is, by virtue of these idiosyncrasies, a pillar of strength to the High Court of Justice, and an ornament to the House of Peers.

LORD JUSTICE BOWEN.

Sir Charles Synge Chris topher Bowen is the eldest son of the Rev. Christopher Bowen of Win chester, Hants. He was born in 1835, was educated at Rugby, and at Balliol Col lege, Oxford, where he car LORD JUSTICE BOWEN. ried off the Hertford Scholarship, the Ireland Scholar ship, and the Arnold Prize Essay, and was admitted to the Bar of Lincoln's Inn on Jan. 26, 1861. In 1870 he was appointed Junior Truck Commissioner. From 1871 to 1879 he held the office of Recorder of Penzance, and also the more lucrative post of Treasury Common Law " devil." He was Junior to Hawkins in the Tichborne prose cution, but speedily surpassed his leader in the race for promotion. From 1879 to 1882 he was a Justice of the Queen's Bench

Division. In May, 1882, he was made a Lord Justice of the Court of Appeal. His health is somewhat precarious, and it is pos sible that he may never accept the prefer ment which would be so readily accorded to him, and of which he is so eminently worthy. Every educated Englishman is proud of the name of Lord Justice Bowen; and the legal profession glory in his comparative youthfulness, his splendid culture, his courtesy, his dignity, and his perfect mastery of the his tory, the theory, and the practice of the law. Sometimes, when the puisne judges are away on circuit, he returns to his old seat in the Queen's Bench Division and hears com mon law actions once again. How the cause list melts in his experienced hands! Speculative actions are dismissed; family quarrels are compromised; questions of account are promptly sent to the Official Referee. Lord Justice Bowen must be studied in the Law Reports. His judgments are a veritable Field of the Cloth of Gold. He has written a brochure on the Alabama case, a translation of Virgil into English verse, and an admirable chapter on the progress of the law in " The Victorian Era."