Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 08.pdf/412

 The English Law Courts. of the larger courts — which ought then to be made a possible avenue of promotion to the Bench of the High Court. There is a very great deal to be said for this proposal and its adoption may be, not improbably, the solution of the demand which is strongly urged by Liverpool and Manchester at present for the permanent localization of branches of the High Court in the larger provincial centers. The City of London Court was originally expressly exempted from the provisions of the County Courts Act. It nearly corres ponded to the old County Courts existing, in other places, except that its jurisdiction in contentious matters was limited to real and mixed actions. It was practically converted into the County Court of Lon don by the County Courts Act, 1867. The judge of the City of London Court is elected by the City of London. He has a consider ably larger salary than that of an ordinary County Court judge. The present judge is Mr. Commissioner Kerr, of whom more anon. There is also a deputy judge, Mr. Julian Robbins. The practical work of a County Court judge is multifarious and heavy. One main part of it consists in judgment, summonses under the Debtor's Act, 1869, in which a judgment creditor applies for an order com mitting a defaulting debtor to prison unless he pays his debt on such terms and within such times as the judge prescribes. The procedure in these cases is extremely in formal. The creditor or his agent is sworn. The judge then questions him as to the debtor's means, whether he is married or single, and in the former case as to the number or ages of his children if (any). Very often the debtor does not appear. Sometimes he does, or his wife or daugh ters appear for him, and, a few questions of a similar character enables the judge to make his order — for so many days' im prisonment unless the debt is paid within a certain period or in certain installments.

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Very few of these debtors go to prison, and it is not an infrequent occurrence for the bailiff, when he comes to effect an arrest, to be met by the query, " Ow much?" fol lowed by a prompt settlement of the debt. After judgment summonses come the or dinary common law actions — breach of warranty, goods sold and delivered, running down cases, and so on. Occasionally really difficult points of law arise, in which the judge either gives at once, or reserves, his decision as he thinks fit. Barristers prac tice regularly in the County Courts. So licitors also have a right of audience, and very frequently conduct their own cases. HIS HONOR JUDGE'

BACON.

His Honor Judge Bacon, the County Court judge, of Bloomsbury, is one of the ablest and most popular of his colleagues. The son of the last of the Vice-Chancellors, Sir James Bacon, who died in 1895, he was born in 1632, and after a successful career at Oxford (he graduated as M.A. at Balliol College), he was admitted to the Society of Lincoln's Inn. Bacon was called to the Bar in 1856, and joined the Eastern circuit, where he practiced principally as a draughts man and conveyancer. In 1868 he became private secretary to Lord Gifford. Two years later he assumed a similar office in relation to his father Sir James Bacon — then raised to the Vice-Chancellorship. In 1878 he was made a County Court judge. Judge Bacon is an admirable lawyer, a keen analyst of character, a patient, though not too patient, listener, and a charming host and friend in private life. HIS

HONOR EX-JUDGE HOLROYD.

Henry Holroyd, late judge of the Southwark and Wandsworth County Courts, was called to the Bar of the Middle Temple in 1 By a royal warrant dated 8th August, 1884, a County Court judge is entitled to be described as "His Honor Judge "and to take rank and precedence next after knights bachelor.