• Mr. Cowen's County-Courts Bill came on for the second
read- ing on Wednesday, but was withdrawn, on the recommendation of the Attorney-General, pending the inquiries of a Select Com- mittee which is examining the subject of County-Court jurisdic- tion. The Bill as it stands deals almost entirely with the Northern half of England (the solitary exception being Bristol), and groups existing County-Court districts in manufacturing localities into provinces, with a kind of arch-Judge presiding in each, receiving a salary of 13,000 a year, and occupying a position between that of an ordinary County-Court Judge and a Judge of the High Court. Were the Bill to become law and to work well, it would produce -a great revolution in the legal profession, as it would break up the London Bar, and in the districts affected by it would give solicitors the right of audience in cases involving sums as large -as are dealt with in the majority of the cases now tried in the -superior Courts. It is true that the present limitation on -County-Court jurisdiction is arbitrary ; still, it roughly follows the distinction between a small sum and a big one ; Mr. 'Cowen's Bill crosses the line, and no doubt, if the system he -aims at were to succeed, all restrictions of amount would be re- moved, and the High Court would become a mere " Cour de 'Cessation," while the wholesome influence of a numerous Bar upon a collected Bench would be impaired. Whether the advantages of the localisation of the administration of justice more than counterbalance the obvious detriment which the existing position of the profession, and the benefit to the public 'which many identify with it, would suffer, is a question well worth discussion, but too important to be settled in a County- -Court Bill.
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