The consolidation of the Industrial Schools' Acts, and the changes required in them are now to be considered.

The first of these Acts was passed three years after that of the Reformatory Schools, in 1857; it is founded on the principle, "That it is better to arrest incipient crime than to punish; that it s better to rescue from bad influences and proclivity to evil, boys who are without due parental controul, before they have received the prison brand upon them."

In this preventive character they differ from Reformatories, a sentence to which necessarily includes also a sentence to prison. The intention of this Act was to check habitual vagrancy, and to save young boys from the contamination of a prison on the commission of petty offences.

As the object of the schools is not eleemosynary, and is not intended for such children as would properly be provided for in the workhouse, as also it was distinctly intended to preserve young children from incurring the stigma of the prison, these schools were at first treated as educational establishments, and placed under the management of the Committee of Council on Education.

But as the Parliamentary Educational Grant is not intended to be a maintenance fund, this was seen to be an error, and a short Act was passed in 1860, transferring these schools, like the reformatories, to the Home Office, since they also are intended to check juvenile delinquency. In 1861, an Act was passed for the consolidation of the previous Acts, remedying various inconveniences which had been experienced in the working of a new system. The children contemplated for these schools, are thus enumerated in the following clauses of the last Industrial Schools' Act :

I. "Any child apparently under the age of fourteen years found begging or receiving alms, or being in any street or public place for the purpose of begging or receiving alms."

II. "Any child apparently under the age of fourteen years that is found wandering, and not having any home or settled place of abode, or any visible means of subsistence, or frequents the company of reputed thieves."

III. "Any child apparently under the age of twelve years who, having committed an offence punishable by imprisonment or some less punishment, ought, nevertheless, in the opinion of the justices, regard being had to his age and to the circumstances of the case, to be sent to an Industrial School."

IV. "Any child under the age of fourteen years whose parent represents that he is unable to control him, and that he desires such child to be sent to an Industrial School, in pursuance of this Act; and who at the same time gives such undertaking or other security as may be approved of by the justices before whom he is brought, in pursuance of this Act, to pay all expenses incurred for the maintenance of such child at school."

The first three of these clauses may be regarded as embracing

generally all the children intended by the Act, if worked in the spirit evidently contemplated; they have already had the effect of rescuing numbers of young persons who would certainly otherwise have perished through neglect, or soon received the prison brand. These clauses do not appear to require any alteration. The fourth clause involves a principle somewhat new in our country, though it has long been established in the United States, especially in New England. It does not usually affect the lowest class of the population, because such children when not under parental control are almost certain to commit some offence which would bring them under the action of the first three clauses. But it has proved of very great value in many cases, not less important, where a young person in a somewhat higher class of society has required stronger and more steady control than could be given in the Home, and is therefore on the brink of moral destruction, though his position saves him from committing acts which would subject him to the grasp of the law. Such cases cannot be dealt with by mere voluntary agency; the magisterial sentence is needed to preserve due control, and with this many youths have been restored to a respectable way of life. This clause has not, however, been much used, in consequence of two points in which alteration is required. First After the word "parent," should be inserted, guardian." Young persons who are orphans, and left under the care of relatives or friends, especially require this control, but they are excluded from it by the wording of the clause.

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Secondly The portion of the clause respecting payment should be omitted, and the order of payment from parents made to the Government, as in the other clauses; or, if it is thought necessary as a check on an abuse of the clause, that some definite payment from the parent should be stipulated; this should be paid, as in other cases of ordinary parental payment, to the treasury. The present system of leaving the managers to collect the payments for children sent under this clause, is very injurious, and introduces an unpleasant feeling between the manager and the parent, highly detrimental to the moral influence which it is desirable to establish. This difficulty has prevented the proper use of a very important portion of the Act, and it hoped will be removed.

In other respects this Act appears to work well. It requires the insertion of a licensing clause similar to that in the Reformatory Act. This is an important addition, and will we trust be supplied shortly. It would be desirable also to give the same permission for aid from county and borough rates as in the Reformatory Schools.

This Act had, at first, to struggle with great difficulties, not only in consequence of the defects in it, which experience has now enabled the Legislature to remedy, but because the limited period fixed for the operation of this Act, gave a feeling of uncertainty as to its permanency, which prevented many from incurring cost for what might prove only a temporary undertaking. But the value of

!

the principle has now been acknowledged, both by magistrates and by the public, in districts where these Schools have been well worked. It only remains, then, for the Government to give the same permanency to this as to the Reformatory Act, and a sufficient number of schools will doubtless be established to supply the requirements of the country.

That the system of Reformatory and Industrial Schools has produced a great effect on the juvenile crime of the country is no longer a matter of doubt or speculation. The same degree of juvenile crime does not now exist as was common in England before their establishment, when many boys and girls were sent repeatedly to prison. It is unnecessary here to demonstrate this. But it is very satisfactory to learn from the "Report of Convict Prisons," just issued, what has been their effect in lessening, and indeed almost eradicating the more serious crimes of young persons which were formerly punished in Government prisons. The directors say, "Under the influence of the Reformatory Act, the number of juvenile convicts has greatly. decreased. There were on the 31st of December last, only 68 in the hands of Government, whilst at the corresponding period in 1854, there were no less than 536. Only 15 juvenile convicts fit for the juvenile class were received last year, and it seems probable that as those now under sentence are released, their places will not be filled, and that youths of a tender age will not for the future be sent to Government prisons. The success of the Reformatory system," Colonel Henderson continues, "has been such, that it will be a matter of congratulation when such children are not sent to a penal servitude prison, for, whatever pains we may take, it is to be feared that familiarity at that early age, with the final resource of punishment, must have a lasting and an evil effect."

We rejoice to learn from this important quarter that it is recog nised and understood that familiarity with the final resource of punishment is most injurious to children of tender age.

Now that the Industrial Schools' Act provides that for any punishable offence children under twelve may be sent to the school, why are any still sent to prison, and thus familiarised with the ultimate resource of punishment? Why are they not handed over to parental correction, if such be possible, and if it be not, why are they not placed under such controul as to prevent them from continuing to annoy the public?

Past experience shows that without an Act to prevent the imprisonment of children under twelve or fourteen years of age, except as a preliminary to a Reformatory, the benefit to be derived from these two important Acts will be only partial and irregular, and the anticipated benefit to the rising generation greatly neutralised.

The importance of rescuing the young from the prison brand cannot be too highly estimated, and is fully understood by those especially who are concerned with the administration of justice.

The Government having now made a sufficient provision for the proper training of juvenile offenders, let them complete their work

by providing, either by a short separate Act, or by an addition to the present Acts, that no child under twelve, or, still better, fourteen years of age shall be sent to gaol, and that henceforth our prisons shall not be made receptacles for children of tender years, destined by the Creator for very different training and education!

JURISPRUDENCE AND THE AMENDMENT OF THE LAW.

President.

SIR R. J. PHILLIMORE, D.C.L., Her Majesty's Advocate-General.

In this Department are discussed the Science of Jurisprudence and the Amend. ment of the Law; including the Principles of Law and Legislation, Comparative Jurisprudence, International Law, Municipal Civil Law, and Criminal Law, together with the treatment of Criminals.

SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS.

THE following special questions were discussed in this Depart

ment:

SECTION A.-INTERNATIONAL LAW.

Is it desirable to establish a uniform international law of Freight; and if so, on what principles?

1.

SECTION B.-MUNICIPAL LAW.

Upon what principle should the Bankrupt Law of England be amended?

2. Is it expedient to remove any and what of the remaining Restrictions on the Admissibility of Evidence in Civil and Criminal Cases ?

3.-Upon what principle should Local Courts be constituted with reference to Extent of Jurisdiction and System of Procedure?

SECTION C.-REPRESSION OF CRIME.

1. Is it desirable to establish Reformatories for Adult Criminals? 2.-Does the present Administration of the Poor Law create any obstacles to the Reform of Criminals and the Repression of Crime. And if so, how could such obstacles be removed?

3. What means is it desirable to adopt to prevent the passing of Sentences inadequate to the proper Repression of Crime?

In addition to the papers printed in the foregoing pages, the following were read in the Department:

"Bankrupt Law Amendment." By W. Notley. "Excluded Evidence." By G. J. Holyoake.

"Tribunals of Commerce." By W. J. Leppoc. "Reformatories for Adult Criminals." By T. B. L. Baker. "Can any Alteration be made in the working of the Poor Law which may tend to decrease Crime?" By T. B. L. Baker. "On the Sentences passed upon Criminals." By J. H. Murray Brown.

"Necessity for the inviolate preservation of Trial by Jury in all questions of fact involving the status of the subject." By Miss Shedden.

"On the Affiliation of Illegitimate Children." By John Guest. "Plurality of Votes." By R. A. Macfie.

'Long restrictions on the use of Inventions incompatible with free and fair trade" By R. A. Macfie.

"On the Palace of Justice: its site and approaches, and the arrangements of the Courts and Offices of Judicature." By Thomas Webster, Q.C., F.R.S.

"The public advantages of the grant of Assizes to Sheffield." By R. J. Gainsford.

"Reformatory Schools, especially in connection with the Girls' Reformatory at Howard Hill." By R. J. Gainsford.

THE BANKRUPT LAW.*

Upon what Principle should the Bankrupt Law of England be amended?

The paper on this question, by Mr. Moffat, M.P., will be found at p. 115. DISCUSSION.

Mr. HADFIELD, M.P.: There is one remedy in the hands of creditors which must never be forgotten, and that is the power which all persons engaged in trade have of giving or withholding credit-a power on the discreet exercise of which very much will always depend. If persons speculate upon the chances of getting paid by others whose circumstances are suspicious and doubtful, the risk is in a considerable degree their own, and no provision of the law can possibly secure them against losses when they make mistakes. I am perfectly convinced that, of all the errors that have been made in connection with this question of bankruptcy law amendment, the most serious was the omission from the Act of 1861 of the clause providing for a chief judge. My reason for wishing the appointment of a chief judge in bankruptcy was that a man of skill and intelligence, taking the whole subject into his consideration, would surely be able to devise some method by which justice should be done at all times. In the fleeting affairs of mankind

*For references to this subject in the earlier volumes of Transactions, see footnote at p. 115.

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