of the Royal Courts of Justice in the presence of a large gathering of English judges and lawyers, including the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls, Lord Justices Bankes, Warrington, Scrutton, Atkin and Sargant of the Court of Appeal, and Justices Eve, Horridge, Russell, Bailhache, Sankey, Romer and Tomlin, representing the several divisions. Sir Patrick Hastings, K.C., Attorney-General and Sir H. H. Slesser, K.C., SolicitorGeneral, were also present. Many Canadian and American judges and lawyers were in the assemblage. The presentation was made by the Honourable George W. Wickersham, vice-chairman of the American Memorial Committee. Mr. Wickersham's speech was both eloquent and interesting. He informed his hearers that Blackstone was selected for this purpose not merely because in the whole literature of the English law no other name is so well-known and so highly respected in the United States, but because, as Lord Bryce once felicitously said, his Commentaries of the Laws of England form one of the links which best bind the United States to England.

The Lord Chancellor said that he accepted the gift on behalf of the English Bar with affection and gratitude. He observed that such occasions as this "did more than any written word to cement the close brotherhood between England, America and Canada." The Attorney-General joined with the Lord Chancellor in thanking the American Bar Association for the gift. This statue, he said, would remain here as a cherished memory. He trusted that his American friends "would take back with them the remembrance of a very pleasant visit, marked by the genuine affection of everybody who had the privilege of meeting them." At the same meeting the Honourable Edward R. Finch, President of the School of Law of Columbia University, presented to the Council of Legal Education a portrait of Chancellor Kent, Lord Justice Atkin, as Chairman of the Council, accepted the gift.

In the afternoon there were garden-parties at Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn, at which fine programmes of music were rendered by the bands of the Scots Guards and the Royal Artillery.

As would be expected, the pièce de résistance of the whole week's programme on the purely social side was the Guildhall banquet tendered by the Lord Mayor (Sir Louis Newton) and the Corporation of London to the members of the American and Canadian Bar Associations on the evening of Wednesday. The Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice and other mentbers of the English Bench were invited to meet the guests from overseas. Many of the distinguished guests were formally presented to the Lord Mayor before the banquet. As robes and decorations were worn, the brilliancy of the scene in

the splendid hall can be better imagined than described. When the majority of the guests had taken their places at the tables-there were some 850 present-the Lord Mayor led a procession which marched round the assembled company, and so to the principal table. In this procession the American Ambassador and the Honourable Mr. Hughes, Secretary of State for the United States, preceded the Lord Chancellor, who was followed by the Lord Chief Justice and all the other judges present. In the Lord Mayor's retinue was the City Marshal and the bearers of the civic sword and mace, while the Lord Chancellor was attended by his tipstaff, and the bearers of the mace and the purse of the Great Seal of England. At the principal table the Honourable Mr. Kellogg and the Honourable Mr. Hughes were seated on the right of the Lord Mayor, the Lord Chancellor and Sir James Aikins- being seated on his left. At the conclusion of the banquet the guests from overseas were initiated into the ceremony of the "loving cup," and then the Lord Mayor offered them the warmest and most cordial welcome to this historic hall." The toasts of "The King" and "the President of the United States of America" were drunk respectively to the music of the National Anthem and the Star-Spangled Banner. The Lord Chancellor proposed the toast of "The American Bench and Bar," and in his remarks he emphasised the point that Canada is a real and abiding link between Great Britain and the United States. Judge Sanford and the Honourable Mr. Hughes responded to the toast in felicitous terms. The Lord Chief Justice proposed the health of "The Canadian Bench and Bar," which was responded to by the Right Honourable Mr. Justice Duff and Sir James Aikins. The former observed that "the manifestations of friendship and sympathy they had recently witnessed had a broader and deeper significance than thát limited by a mere profession. The springs of amity had been multiplied a hundred fold by such great gatherings as that. All over the English-speaking world the forces that made for international justice and good feeling had been stimulated and strengthened."

Sir James Aikins said "it warmed Canadian hearts to be thus recognised by the profession in England as fellow citizens with them and of the British household. He did not wish it to be inferred that there was a profound difference between the American and the Canadian lawyers, for they studied and practised and administered, for the most part, the same English common law and equity jurisprudence adapted to their newer conditions. The relation between the United States and Canada was that of neighbour and friend. Canadians were of America, but were not Americans. Between the two was the impassable boundary of sovereign statehood, guarded not by

entrenched soldiers or forts or battleships, but by the profound reverence, the good faith, and respect for each other's rights of both nations."

The American Ambassador, in proposing the health of "The Lord Mayor and Corporation of the City of London," said that the Americans had "invaded" London, but it was to "lay siege to the citadel of the hearts of the people, and they expected to take home with them the fruits of their conquest." Everything contributed to make the official welcome of the citizens of London an unforgettable event in the lives of the visitors.

On Wednesday evening two other events on the programme were also worthy of note, a reception by the Mayor and Mayoress of the City of Westminster at the Caxton Hall, and one by the Vice-Chancellor and Senate of the University of London, at the Imperial Institute, South Kensington.

On Thursday, the 24th, Their Majesties the King and Queen were graciously pleased to cause to be invited the members of the American and Canadian Bar Associations and the ladies accompanying them to a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. Many were presented to Their Majesties. The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Connaught and the Prince and Princess Arthur of Connaught were present. Tea was served in marquees on the lawn, and the Canadian lawyers had the pleasure of meeting there a number of their compatriots who were then present in London.

In the evening there were dinners at Gray's Inn and the Inner Temple and receptions by the Grocers' Company at Grocers' Hall (presided over by the Right Honourable Sir Ernest Pollock, Master of the Rolls, Worshipful Master of the Company) and by the City of London Solicitors' Company at Salters' Hall.

On Friday, the 26th, members of the American Bar Association paid a visit to Sulgrave Manor as the guests of Sir Charles Wakefield and the Sulgrave Institute of Great Britain. A garden-party was also given in the afternoon for members of the American and Canadian Bar Associations by Viscount and Viscountess Astor at Cliveden. In the evening a reception was held for the members of both Associations, and the ladies accompanying them, at the Palace of Westminster. The invitations were issued in the names of the Lord Chancellor and Miss Haldane, Lord and Lady Birkenhead, Lord and Lady Cave, Lord Finlay and Lord and Lady Buckmaster. The guests arrived at the Victoria Tower entrance, and in the Prince's Tower were received by their hosts. The Palace was open to the guests with the exception of the House of Commons. Refreshments were served in Westminster Hall, where the band of the Royal Air Force played

The

a programme of English, American and Canadian music. statuary and portraits adorning the Palace and its official furniture were viewed by the guests with great interest. The London programme was closed with this reception.

On Saturday, the 26th, many of the visitors visited the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Complimentary luncheons were given at some of the colleges, and in the gardens of Wadham College, Oxford, Sir John and Lady Simon held a reception for the visitors in the afternoon,

Too much praise cannot be awarded to the London committee and the ladies assisting them for the excellence of the arrangements for this most busy and enjoyable week. One had to be on the ground to understand the vast amount of work that it involved for all concerned. Their reward is that they provided the machinery by which a very interesting and, indeed, a very important event in the history of Great Britain's relations with the people of the United States and of the Dominion of Canada was operated with unqualified success.

We feel that we ought not to close this account of the proceedings without quoting at length a resolution passed by the members of the American Bar Association before leaving London:

"Whereas the members of the American Bar Association have been the recipients of the most constant and generous hospitality from their hosts, the Bar of England and the Canadian Bar Association, in which have graciously joined the Lord High Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice, and the other judges, the Attorney-General, the Solicitor-General, the Treasurer and Masters of the Bench of Gray's Inn, the Treasurer and Masters of the Bench of the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn; the Treasurer and Masters of the Bench of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple; the Treasurer and Masters of the Bench of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple; the Law Society; the Right Honourable Sir Louis Arthur Newton, Lord Mayor, and the Corporation of the City of London; and the Right Honourable the Mayor and Mayoress of the City of Westminster;

"And whereas the members of the American Bar Association have had thrown wide open to them all that has been to them most venerable in connection with the origin and development of that body of law and those principles of government which were the foundation and have been the inspiration of America's system of laws and of the great basic principles of civil liberty and self-government which we have established and cherish;

"And whereas this cordial reception and warm-hearted entertainment have come at a time when the hearts of those who have lavished

them upon us are yet within the depressing shadow and are burdened by the great sorrows that have come upon them from a contact in which trembled the fate of both of our nations fighting side by side in a common cause;

"Therefore be it resolved by the members of the American Bar Association here assembled by the special call of their President, that they cordially thank all who have done so much to make their visit to England not only memorable as a great historic occasion, but one crowned with most pleasing personal privileges and pleasure which they will always cherish with grateful hearts; and that they feel and confidently believe that their visit here, and the report they will carry to their brethren and others all over America, will certainly radiate an influence that will be beneficent to both of our nations and make yet stronger the ties of confidence and friendship that already bind our countries in common sympathies and purposes, and confirm for the future the conviction, that should civilisation and the basic principles of free institutions of, by, and for the people, be again threatened as they were in the Great War, if either of these nations should go down, the other cannot survive, and that in such a crisis, whether there be treaties or not, inexorable fate will from the very nature of the conditions bind us indissolubly in a common cause of self-defence.

"Be it further resolved that engraved copies of this preamble and resolution be sent to our respective hosts and that they be given to the public Press."

On the 27th June last the famous declaration of the Earls and Barons of England in the Statute of Merton, 20 Henry III. c. 9, that they would not accept the rule of the Canon Law which held that children born before wedlock were legitimated by the subsequent marriage of their parents was thrown into the discard by the passage of a Bill by the House of Commons to effect such legitimation. The Bill had already been accepted by the House of Lords. The vote in the Commons stood 177 for and 13 against. Thus a merciless doctrine of the Common Law which had its origin in the insularity of the mediæval English mind yielded to reform after prevailing for nearly seven centuries of time. A reference to the Statutes at Large1 will show that when the Bishops stated their willingness that such children should inherit "forsomuch as the Church accepted such as legitimate all the Earls and Barons "una voce responderunt, quod nolunt leges Anglie mutare, que usitate sunt, et approbate ".

'Roughead's edition, vol. 1, p. 19.

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