JUDICATURE ACTS. The English acts under which the present system of courts was organized and is continued.
The statutes of 36 & 37 Viet. c. 66, and 38 & 39 Vict. c. 77, which went into force Nov. 1, 1875, with amendments in 1877, 40 & 41 Vict. c. 9, 1879, 42 & 43 Vict. c. 78, and 1881, 44 & 45 Vict. c. 68, made most important changes in the organization of, and meth ods of procedure in, the superior courts of England. See COURTS OF ENGLAND.
These acts provide for a concurrent administra tion of legal and equitable remedies, according to seven rules, which substantially provide :that any one of the courts, included in the acts shall give the same equitable relief to any plaintiff or defend ant claiming it as would formerly have been granted by chancery ; equitable relief will be' granted against third persons, not parties, who shall be brought in by notice ; all equitable estates, titles, rights, duties, and liabilities will be taken notice of as in chancery ; no proceeding shall be restrained by injunction, but every matter of equity on which an injunction might formerly have been obtained may be 'relied on by way of defence, and the courts may in any cause direct a stay .of. proceedings. Subject to these and certain other provisions of the act, effect shall be given to all legal claims and de and all estates, titles,' rights; duties, obliga tions, and liabilities, existing by the common law, custom, or statute, as before the acts ; the new courts shall grant, either absolutely or on terms, all such legal or equitable remedies as the parties may appear entitled to ; so that all matters may be com pletely and finally determined, and multiplicity of legal proceedings avoided.
Eleven new rules of law are established, which will be found in the act of 1873, c. 66, § 25, amended by the act of 1875, c. 77, § 10, of the following na ture ; 1. In the administration of insolvent estates, the same rules shall prevail as may be in force un der the law of 2. No claim of a cestui que trust against his trustee, for property held on an express trust, shall be barred by any statute of limitations ; 3. A tenant for life shall have no right to commit equitable waste, unless such right is ex pressly conferred by the instrument creating the estate; 4. There shall be no merger by operation of law only, of any estate, the beneficial interest in which would not be deemed merged in equity ; 5. A mortgigor entitled for the time being to the posses sion of the profits of land, as to which the mort gagee shall have given no notice of his intention to take possession, may sue for such possession, or for the recovery of such profits, or 'to prevent or re cover damages in respect of any trespass, or other wrong relative thereto, in his own name only, unless the cause of action arises upon a lease or other con tract made jointly with any other person ; 6. Any absolute assignment of a chose in action, of which express notice in writing shall have been given to the debtor, shall pass the legal right thereto from the date of notice, and all remedies for the same, and the pow'er to give a good discharge: provided, that,if the debtor, etc., shall have had notice of any
conflicting claims to such debt, he shall be entitled to call upon such claimants to. interplead ; 7. Stipu lations as to time or otherwise, which would not have been deemed of the essence of the contract in equity, shall receive the same construction as for merly id ; 8. A mandamus or an injunction may be granted, or a receiver appointed by an in terlocutory order, which may be made either un conditionally or on terms ; and an injunction may be granted to prevent threatened waste or trespass, whether the estates be legal or equitable, or whether the person against whom the injunction is sought is or is not in possession under any claim of title, or does or does not claim a right to do the act sought to be restrained under color of title ; 9. In proceedings arising from collisions at sea, where both ships are in fault, the rules hitherto in force in the court of admiralty shall prevail ; 10. In questions relating to the custody of infants, the rules of equity shall prevail ; 11. Generally, in all matters in which there is any conflict between the rules of common law and the rules of equity, the latter shall prevail.
By the act of 1891, c. 53, to settle doubts said to exist on the subject, it was enacted that the high court should be a prize court within the meaning of the Naval Prize Act of 1864, and the jurisdiction was assigned to the probate, divorce, and admiralty division of the court. An appeal was given only to the queen in council. By the same act the house of lords was authorized to call in the aid of as sessors in admiralty cases.
The act of 1894, c. 16, was directed mainly to the restricting the right of appeal.
The divisibn of the legal year into terms is abol ished, so far as relates to the administration of jus tice, but where they are used as a measure for de termining the time at or within which any act is required to be done, they may continue to be re ferred to. Numerous other' regulations are estab lished for the arrangement of business and course of procedure under the new system for which refer ence must be had to the acts. We will merely note that nothing is to affect the law relating to jury trials, and the existing forms of procedure are to be used as far as consistent with these acts. It was provided that nothing should affect the practice or procedure in-1. Criminal proceedings ; 2. Pro ceedings on the crown side of the queen's bench division ; 3. Proceedings on the revenue side of the exchequer division ; 4. Proceedings for divorce and matrimonial causes. The Chancery Procedure Acts and the Common Law Procedure Acts remain in full force, except so far as impliedly or expressly repealed by the Judicature Acts. Many sections of the former Acts are repealed by subsequent legisla tion, all which may he found in Chitty's English Statutes, where the acts are published together as amended See COURTS OF ENGLAND.