Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 19.pdf/575

 The

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Published Monthly at I4.00 per Annum. Single Numbers 50 Cents. Communications in regard to the contents of the Magazine should be addressed to the Editor, S. R. Wrightington, 31 State Street, Boston, Mass. The Editor will be glad to receive contributions of articles of moderate length upon subjects of interest to the profession; also anything in the way of legal antiquities, facetim, and anecdotes. ENGLISH JUDICIAL STATISTICS The English custom of compiling and pub lishing the statistics of litigation make it easier to study the development of their practice than that of our own, though it is to be regretted that their publication is so much delayed. The latest British civil judicial statistics, those for 1905, have just been issued. They show the first decrease since 1899 in legal proceedings, the decline being from 1,518,527 cases in 1904 to 1,473,919. Among the most interesting features of the report is the section dealing with matrimonial suits, of which there were 921. There were 752 petitions for divorce, which, although thirtytwo more than in 1904, were considerably fewer than in the preceding years. Hus bands' petitions reached a total of 429 and wives 323. Of the marriages dissolved 23.23 per cent had lasted from five to ten years, 39.43 per cent had lasted from ten to twenty years, while 10.89 Per cent nad existed for at least twenty years. Another feature of the statistics is the steady growth of imprison ment for debt, 11,427 debtors having been committed, the highest number for ten years.

WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION The workmen's compensation act, enacted by the British Parliament in 1897 and amended in 1900, received important extensions in the re-enactment which took effect July 1st the scope of which has caused some alarm to English employers. The most important change consists in a widening of the defini tion of workmen within the meaning of the act. Subject to the exception of: (1) any person employed otherwise than by way of

manual labor, whose remuneration exceeds 250 pounds a year; (2) any person whose employment is of a causal nature and who is employed otherwise than for the purpose of the employer's .trade or business; (3) policemen; (4) out workers; (5) resident members of the employer's family, workman means any person who has entered into or works under a contract of service or appren ticeship, and it is not necessary that his work be manual. Difficulties, however, will doubtless still arise in determining who are entitled to the benefits of the act, since the definition implies that an independent con tractor is not entitled thereto, and the ques tion, " What is employment of a casual nature? " has already given rise to some discussion. As applied to seamen, there are many new provisions, all in the direction of extending the liabilities of the employer, and one section has extended the right of compensation to workmen suffering from certain industrial diseases. A far reaching change made by the act is that it will no longer be able to set up the serious and wilful misconduct of the work men in answer to the claim, when the injury has resulted in death or serious and perma nent disablement. Another change is that whereas formerly compensation was never payable until the first fortnight after the workman's incapacity, in future the only limitation will be that if the incapacity lasts less than two weeks compensation cannot be recovered for the first week. The scale of compensation has been altered in the case of a workman under twenty-one years of age. If his average weekly earnings are less than 20 shillings, the weekly payment is fixed at the full amount of his average weekly earnings, instead of 50 per cent. He is