Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 12.djvu/171

HARVARD LAW REVIEW. VOL. XII. OCTOBER 25, I898. NO. 3 DISCOVERY UNDER THE JUDICATURE ACTS, 1873, 1875. Part III.i BEFORE leaving the subject of discovery in the Court of Chancery, it is proper to call attention to certain changes in the procedure of that court introduced by the statute of 15 and 16 Vict., c. 86. That statute, which came into operation Nov. 2, 1852, was passed in consequence of, and pursuant to, the recom- mendations of a Royal Commission, appointed Dec. 11, 1850, to inquire into and report upon the process, practice, and system of pleading /'n the Court of Chancery, with a view to ascertaining whether any and what alterations and amendments could be made therein which would be conducive to the better administration of justice. Equity Pleading was, therefore, one of the three subjects with which the commissioners were called upon to deal, and it presented a more inviting field for the exercise of their talents than either of the others ; for alterations and amendments in the other two were called for chiefly with a view to making the administration of jus- tice cheaper and more speedy, while they were called for in the system of pleading for the purpose of making it better. Nor could the commissioners have been in doubt as to the nature and extent of the alterations and amendments needed in the system of ^ Continued from page 219 of vol. xi, 20