Liability of members. —A club-book, kept regularly open in the club room, has been received as evidence of articles delivered to the members, though the servants who made the entries were not proved dead or their absence laccounted for. The members of a club, merely as such, are not liable for debt incurred by the committee for work done or goods supplied to the club, for the committee has no authority to pledge the personal credit of the members; nor would the committee have such au authority even where the rules expressly confer upon it the management and regulation of all the club's concerns. Nor would the committee itself be liable as a "hole unless the dealing on credit was in furtherance of the common object and purposes of the club, or except as to those members of the committee who were personally privy to the contract. It would be upon the creditor to affirma tively prove both or either, as the case might be, of these two latter excep tions. The creditor can always sue those who have personally given him orders, or contracted with him in respect of goods for a club, and he need not trouble to sue any other parties who might be liable. If any individual members of a club, with the consent and approval of the club generally, incur a liability for the benefit of the club, they are entitled to a lien on the club's property as security for repayment.
Expulsion of members.—The Court will only interfere in such a question in the case of a member's club, for its jurisdiction is based upon the aggrieved member's right of property, of which he has none in a proprietary club. The social character of a club is its most distinctive feature ; and if the requisite majority of its members, in the bondfide exercise of a discretion given to them by iteregulations, expels a member from the club, the Court will not consider whether that discretion was rightly or wrongly exercised, and will not go into the circumstances of the case further than is necessary to satisfy itself that there was not a merely capricious or an arbitrary exercise of the discretion. It will interfere where the rules are contrary to natural justice, or what has been done is contrary to the rules, or where there has been mak Jide8 or malice in arriving at the decision. That a decision is unreason able may be strong evidence of malice, but it is not conclusive, and may be rebutted by evidence of bona fides • and apparently even an erroneous but bond fide decision, in accordance with the rules of the club, will be conclusive. As to the registration of Clubs, see LICENSING.
COAL.—All coal must be sold by weight only, except where, by the written consent of the purchaser, it is sold by boat-load or by waggons or tubs delivered from the colliery into the purchaser's works. And there was good reason for the legislature enforcing the sale of coal by weight. Formerly it was sold by measure, the standard measure being a boll, and it is curious to observe the sort of abuse to which this practice gave rise. If one piece of coal, measuring exactly a cubic yard (nearly equal to 5 bolls), is broken into pieces of a moderate size, it will measure 7i bolls ; if broken very small it will measure 9 bolls. This shows that the proportion of the weight to the measure depends upon the size of the coals ; therefore, accounting by weight is the most rational method. The coaldealer accordingly bought only large
coal, but as he re-sold by measure, he was careful to break it into smaller pieces. In fact, the greater the number of dealers through whose hands the coal passed to the consumer, the more frequently was it broken up, the breakage alone often being the sole source of a dealer's profit.
Where any quantity of coal exceedingetwo hundredweight is delivered by vehicle to a purchaser, the seller must deliier with it, or by hand or by post before unloading any part thereof, a ticket according to the form set out below. The quantity delivered must not be less than that stated in the ticket. Where more than two hundredweight of coal is conveyed] for delivery or sale in a vehicle (not supplied by the purchaser) in bulk, the seller must first ascertain the weights of both vehicle and coal by a weighing machine stamped by the inspector of weights and measures. This must also be done with regard to the vehicle as often as the local authority may require. The ticket in such case should contain the correct weight of the vehicle as well as the coal, and of the animal drawing it, if it were weighed also. The person in charge of such a vehicle must not make any false statement as to the weight of the vehicle, or wilfully do any act by which either the seller or the purchaser of the coal may be defrauded. No seller of coal may deliver a less quantity of coal than is agreed to be sold.
Proper weighing-machines should be kept at the place where coal is sold by retail, and the coal weighed before sale or delivery. An inspector may at any time require coal exposed for sale on a vehicle or in a shop to be weighed with the machines there kept ; by this he will test the accuracy of the weights, and the truth of the representations implied by the parcels in which the coal is packed. The seller must not keep coal in parcels which do not contain the full amount of their represented weights.
Any seller, purchaser, person in charge of a vehicle for coal, or inspector, may require any coal or vehicle for the carriage of coal in bulk to•be weighed or re-weighed by any weighing-machine stamped by an inspector of weights and measures. But (a) no seller or person in charge of a vehicle is bound to carry coal for this purpose farther than half a mile; (b) where such coal or vehicle has been weighed or re-weighed at the instance of a purchaser, and the weights have been found to be correct, the purchaser must pay the reasonable costs actually incurred of and incidental to the weighing or re-weighing.
Only the provision that coal must be sold by weight applies in Scotland. In England, bye-laws may be made by local authorities respecting the local sale of coal, and these bye-laws may regulate the sale in quantities not exceeding two hundredweight ; decide upon the form of weighing-machine to be carried in vehicles ; prescribe the distance which coal may be carried for weighing or re-weighing ; and fix the fees of weighing and the penalties. These latter are incurred on the omission or neglect of any of the above requirements, and may amount, for each offence, to the sum of five pounds.