Counsel who pleaded, in any particular case. The name of the chief Judge of a Court ap pears in the heading of the Plea Roll of that Court, but not the names of his associates, Vn& puisne judges. As, however, the Judges were appointed by Patent, their appointments may be found on the Rolls of Letters Pat ent, and their patents are sometimes, but not always, transcribed also on the rolls of the particular Courts in which they were to act. So far as the Court of Common Pleas is con cerned, too, the names can always be checked by the " Feet of Fines," in which fines of lands are represented as having been levied before all the Justices of the Court.
When the names of all the Judges are known, it is a fair inference that the other persons named as speaking in Court are Counsel. This inference again is susceptible of verification, so far as the Common Bench is concerned, because, although the names of Counsel appearing in any particular action are not stated, the names of the " narratores" or countors who received chirographs of fines on behalf of their clients appear at long in tervals on the Plea Rolls. With these the names of the persons who were not Judges can almost always be identified, and thus not only the names but the usual way or rather ways of spelling them can be ascertained.
LONDON LEGAL LETTER. LONDON, August, 1900.
THE most notable event of the past month in English legal circles, so far at least as American lawyers are concerned, was the dinner of the Bench and Bar of Eng land to the Bench and Bar of America. It came about through the desire of a number of English judges and lawyers who have vis ited the United Scales within the past few years, to return the hospitality that had been so generously extended to them, chiefly by the members of the American Bar Associa tion. It was naturally thought that on ac count of the special attraction of the Paris Exhibition an unusual number of American judges and lawyers would visit England this year and that this would therefore be an exceptional occasion for such an entertainment. In ordinary years there are hundreds of the legal fraternity of the United States in Lon don during July, August and. September. Again and again it has happened that the leaders of the Bar of a score of States might have argued cases, here in England, not merely before judges of their own courts but before Federal judges and judges of the
Supreme Court of the United States. But this year notable judges and lawyers, those of national reputation in America, have been conspicuous by their absence, and it seemed at one time that the English hosts would have to reckon without their guests. How ever, over forty American judges and lawyers, several of them of eminence, were present, and they will convey home with them a last ing impression of English good-will and friendship. They will also consider that in sitting at the hospitable board of their Eng lish brethren they were acting as represen tatives of the Bar of America generally, for whom this expression of courtesy was in tended. The banquet was exceptional in many re spects. In the first place it was held in the old historical hall of the Middle Temple in which Shakespeare personally " presented as Mr. Frohman would phrase it, two of his plays, and in which Queen Elizabeth deigned to dance; whose walls almost up to the vaulted ceiling are lined with tablets and screened windows bearing the names and arms of the foremost lawyers of the Eng
