MODERN ENGLISH PROCEDUREissued, or 3,931 to each 100,000 of the popu lation. These plaints were disposed of as follows : — Determined without hear ing, by default or con fession 349,204 On hearing by judge . . 45,542 By judge and jury . . . 1,084 By the Registrar (as as sistant judge) .... 377,111 423,737
Struck out .......
440,314
The large number of cases in which judg ment was obtained by default or confession and the still larger number which were "struck out," show plainly the utility of the court as a medium for debt collecting, the plaints being almost entirely for trades men's debts against those who were in ar rears with their tailors' and household bills and their rent. The "struck out" cases were doubtless those where the debtor effected some settlement which the plaintiff was induced to accede to and thus saved the cost of further proceedings. Most sig nificant of all is the fact that out of more than 46,000 cases disposed of in the County Courts by a judge, or a judge and jury, there were only 140 appeals in 1902. II. The High Court has, of course, juris diction and is the court of first instance in all cases, although in cases within the juris diction of the County Courts the plaintiff goes to the High Court at his own risk as to costs. Its work is divided into divisions as follows: Chancery, King's Bench (which in addition to all common-law matters in cludes bankruptcy and company winding-up) and Probate, Divorce and Admiralty. Over these courts the Lord Chief Justice and twenty-two other judges preside, all of whom are appointed by the Lord Chancellor, all receive £5,000 (or the equivalent of $25,000 a year, with the exception of the Lord Chief Justice who receives £8,000), all serve for life or until resignation, and all are entitled
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after fifteen years' service to retire on a pen sion of two-thirds their salary. The judges of the King's Bench division not only sit in London but travel on circuit over the whole of England, thus covering a wide area and losing much time from their judicial work in travel. Considering first the volume of business transacted in the High Court and next the celerity with which it is despatched, the following table will show the number of pro ceedings begun as the average of five years ending 1902; and in order that a comparison may be made with the business of a com mercial city in America of 100,000 popula tion, or any multiple of that number, the number of actions per 100,000 of the popula tion of England is given: — Annual Per ioo,"oo Average. Population.
Chancery Division . . . 7,674 King's Bench 73,332 Probate Actions .... 197 Divorce and Matrimonial 853 Admiralty Actions . . . 580
23. 218.65 .52 3.18 1.49
As to despatch, it may be stated, gen erally speaking, that in more than onefourth of these proceedings the plaintiff may obtain a summary and final judgment in thirty days; that the average time be tween the date of the issue of the writ and the trial by a jury, if the plaintiff vigorously presses, is about four months; that in the Chancery division a case is heard and judg ment rendered within a month after the action is set down by the plaintiff for trial, and that in the Divorce, Probate and Ad miralty division a case is finally determined in practically three months after issue is joined. While these may be considered the aver age times, it is only fair to the working of the procedure to mention that it is capable of much greater celerity. In one notable case in the court reserved for commercial cases a judgment was rendered in four days after writ issued. In this instance there was a dispute as to the construction of the
