the court or judge. But if the defendant is under terms to take short notice of trial four days' notice is sufficient (Com. L. Pract., 153-154; Reg. Gen. H. T., 1853; 18 Jur., 177).

XI-Within what period must a defendant appear to a writ of ejectment in order to avoid a judgment by default?

ANS.-By the C. L. P. Act, 15 & 16 Vic., c. 76, s. 169, the writ of ejectment commands the persons to whom it is directed to appear within sixteen days after the service thereof, to defend the possession of the property sued for, or such part thereof as they may think fit. But by s. 217, where a landlord brings ejectment against a tenant for any lands or hereditaments not in London or Middlesex, when the tenancy expired or the right of entry into or upon such lands or hereditaments accrued to such landlord in or after Hilary or Trinity Terms respectively, the claimant, at any time within ten days after such tenancy expired or the right of entry accrued, may serve a writ in ejectment, commanding the persons to whom it is directed to appear within ten days after service thereof (Com. L. Pract., 259-261; F. Bk., 253-254).

XII. To what tribunal, and under what authority, may an action involving mere matters of account, which cannot conveniently be tried by a jury, be referred to a judge?

ANS. By the C. L. P. Act, 1854, s. 3, if it be made appear at any time after the issuing of the writ to the satisfaction of the court or a judge, upon the application of either party, that the matter in dispute consists wholly or in part of matters of mere account which cannot conveniently be tried in the ordinary way, such court or judge may decide such matter in a summary manner, or may order that such matter, either wholly or in part, be referred to an arbitrator appointed by the parties, or to an officer of the court, upon such terms as to costs and otherwise as such court or judge shall think reasonable and the decision or order of such court or judge, or the award or certificate of such referee, shall be enforceable by the same process as the finding of a jury upon the matter referred (5 L. C., 124; F. Bk., 237).

XIII. What is the meaning of an interpleader?

ANS.-There are two kinds of interpleader at law (besides that in equity), namely-1st, As between two private persons; and, 2nd, At the instance of a sheriff after seizure of goods under an execution. The first kind arises where a person is sued at law for the recovery of money or goods wherein he has no interest, and which are also claimed of him by some third person. In such a case, by the 1 & 2 Wm. IV., c. 58, the party sued in such a form as to be

in effect an action of assumpsit, debt, detinue, or trover, may, after declaration and before plea, apply to the court or judge on affidavit showing that he does not claim any interest in the subject matter of the suit, but that such right thereto is claimed or supposed to belong to some third party who has sued or is expected to sue for the same, and that the applicant does not in any manner collude with such third party, but is ready to bring into court or to pay or dispose of the subject matter of the action in such a manner as the court, or any judge thereof, may order or direct; thereupon, the court, or any judge thereof, may make rules and orders calling upon such third party to appear and to state the nature and particulars of his claim, and maintain or relinquish his claim, and upon such rule or order to hear the allegations as well of such third party as of the plaintiff, and in the meantime to stay the proceedings in such action, and finally to order such third party to make himself defendant in the same or some other action, or to proceed to trial on one or more feigned issue or issues, and also to direct which of the parties shall be plaintiff or defendant on such trial, or with the consent of the plaintiff and such third party, their counsel or attornies, to dispose of the merits of their claims and determine the same in a summary manner, and to make such other rules and orders therein as to costs and all other matters as may appear to be just and reasonable. The second kind of interpleader also arises under the above Act, and is given to the sheriff, on claim being made, to property seized in execution (see 2 L. C., N. S, 44-45). By the 23 & 24 Vic., c. 126, s. 12, an interpleader may be granted though the titles of the claimants have not a common origin, but are adverse to and independent of one another (2 L. C., N. S., 180). And where a third person claims goods seized in execution as security for a debt, the judge may order them to be sold, and direct the application of proceeds; and may decide summarily, at the request of either party where, from the smallness of the amount in dispute, or of the value of the goods seised, it appears desirable to do so (2 L. C., N. S., 180-181).

XIV. Within what respective periods after service of the writ may a plaintiff sign final judgment for want of appearance, and issue execution on a writ, specially endorsed under the Common Law Procedure Act, 1852

ANS.-By the C. L. P. Act, s. 27, if the defendant (residing within the jurisdiction) does not appear within eight days after service of a specially endorsed writ, plaintiff may sign final judgment for any sum not exceeding the sum endorsed on the writ, together with interest at the rate specified, if any, to the date of the judgment,

and certain costs, unless the plaintiff claim more than such fixed costs, in which case the costs shall be taxed in the ordinary way; and the plaintiff may, upon such judgment, issue execution after the expiration of eight days from the last day for appearance (R. G. H. T., 1853, pl. 1; Com. L. Pract., 76).

XV. What is the meaning and effect of demurring to an adversary's pleading?

ANS.-A demurrer is a written pleading, importing that the party on whose behalf it is put in denies the sufficiency of the opponent's pleading, and will wait the judgment of the court whether he is bound to answer. The matter is thus taken from the cognisance of a jury and left to the judges (3 Steph. Com., 570, 4th ed.; F. Bk. 270).

CONVEYANCING.

I.—To whom, in the absence of any special custom to the contrary, do the timber and minerals upon and under the waste land of manors belong, and to whom do the timber and minerals under copyhold land belong?

ANS-A copyholder, though in fee, has no right, except by special custom, to cut down timber, unless botes or estovers, or to dig for minerals; but though the lord possesses a right to all mines and minerals under the lands, and also to all timber growing on the surface, even if planted by the tenant, yet these rights are somewhat interfered with by the rights which custom has given to the copyhold tenants; for the lord cannot come upon the lands to open his mines or to cut his timber without the copyholder's leave. But the timber and minerals upon and under the waste land of the manor the lord can take when he pleases (2 Steph. Com., 625-626, 4th ed. ; 2 L. C. 10).

II.-A. dies seised of real estate and intestate, leaving a father and sister of the whole blood, and a brother of the half-blood. Upon whom would the estate have descended previously to the operation of the Act 3 & 4 Wm. 4, c 106, and upon whom would it descend subsequently to that Act?

ANS.-Previously to the 3 & 4 Wm. 4, c. 106, the sister of the whole blood would have inherited in exclusion of the father of the whole blood and brother of the half-blood, neither of whom could have taken the inheritance under the old law. But by the 3 & 4 Wm. 4, c. 106, s. 6, the estate will go to the father in preference

to the brother and sister (2 Steph. Com., 413-415; F. Bk., 157— 160).

III.-Where money is settled upon trust to be invested in real estate, and to which A. (a married woman) is entitled for life, and B. (a tenant in tail) is entitled in remainder, in what way should a transfer of their interests in the money be effected?

ANS. By s. 71 of 3 & 4 Wm. 4, c. 74, money to be invested in land to be settled, so that any person would have an estate tail therein shall, for the purposes of the Act, be treated as the land to be purchased, and every estate tail in it may be barred by deed of assignment, enrolled in Chancery within six months after the execution thereof. A transfer of the interests of A. & B. in the money, therefore, can be effected by an assignment executed by A). with the consent of her husband, and duly acknowledged), and also by B., and enrolled in Chancery within six months after, A., with her husband, consenting to the assignment as protector to the settle

ment.

IV. What alteration in the law has been made by the Act to amend the law of property, and to relieve trustees, 22 & 23 Vic., c. 35, as regards the effect of a release of part of the land subject to a rent-charge or to a judgment?

ANS. By s. 10 of 22 & 23 Vic., c. 35, it is enacted that the release from a rent-charge of part of the lands charged therewith shall not extinguish the whole rent-charge, but shall operate only to bar the right to recover any part of the rent-charge out of the lands released, but without prejudice to the rights of all persons interested in the lands remaining unreleased, and not concurring in or confirming the release. And by s. 11, a similar provision is made with regard to judgments.

V.-State the interest of a husband over property of his wife of the following descriptions, as well in possession as in reversion-real, copyhold, and leasehold estates, choses in action, and other personal property. Also state whether any alterations have been made by a recent statute in the power of a husband over a wife's reversionary property, and if so, the statute and the nature of the alteration?

ANS.-As to the wife's real estate the husband is entitled to the whole of the rents and profits of his wife's lands, and acquires a freehold estate therein during the continuance of the coverture. If the husband survive the wife he will, in case he has had issue by

her that may by possibility inherit the estate as heir, become entitled to an estate for his life in such real estate of his wife as she was solely seised of in fee simple or fee tail in possession. The husband is entitled during coverture to the rents and profits of the copyholds of the wife, but a special custom is necessary to entitle him to courtesy. The 19 & 20 Vic., c. 120, s. 32, enables a husband to make leases of his wife's lands for twenty-one years. The husband is entitled to the rent and profits, and can dispose of the wife's leaseholds, whether in possession or reversion, absolutely during the coverture, but not by his will. If not disposed of during the coverture they vest absolutely in the survivor. The wife's choses in action do not become the husband's until he reduces them into possession, and if he dies before this is done they belong to the wife; so if she dies before he has reduced them into possession they form part of her estate to which the husband is entitled to administer, and so become entitled thereto. The husband and wife, by an acknowledged deed, can convey her reversionary interest in real property, and the husband may, without his wife's consent, assign her legal reversionary leaseholds, but as to her equitable leaseholds, the wife should join. Formerly the wife could not dispose of her reversionary interest in personal chattels so as to exclude her right of survivorship or equity to a settlement. But by the 20 & 21 Vic., c. 57, the husband is enabled to do this provided the wife join in the deed, and the same is acknowledged, provided it be an interest (which she is not restrained from alienating or affecting), taken under an instrument made after the 31st December, 1857, other than a marriage settlement (4 L. C. 156; 5 Id., 147).

VI.-A. having contracted to sell an estate to B., becomes bankrupt previously to the completion of the sale. In what way does the bankruptcy affect the contract, and in what way would the contract have been affected if B. had been the party be coming bankrupt?

ANS.-A contract to sell an estate, when once entered into, will not be avoided by the mere bankruptcy of either party, though prior to the time fixed for completion. There is, however, a distinction to be made between the case of a vendor and of a purchaser, for whereas the bankruptcy of the vendor does not affect the contract in any way, upon the bankruptcy of a purchaser, the vendor may require the assignees to elect whether they will abandon or perform the contract; and if they fail to declare their election, he may apply for delivery up of the agreement, and for possession of the premises; and if in any case the assignees allow a reasonable time to elapse without requiring the contract to be performed, they