16 SEPTEMBER 1882, Page 13

MR. GREEN'S IMPRISONMENT.

[TO TEE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."]

Sin,—You have more than once assumed that Mr. Green's benefice will necessarily become void, at the end of three years from the monition. Allow me to point out (1) that, under the Act, the three years run "from the date of the issuing of the monition, or from the final determination of an appeal there- from, whichever shall last happen ;" and (2), that the promoters [of the proceedings] may reasonably desire a judicial declaration of the avoidance, before consenting to Mr. Green's release. I may illustrate the second point by the analogy of the ordinary foreclosure decree in Chancery, which declares that, in default of payment on a specified day, the defendant is thenceforth to stand absolutely foreclosed; but the foreclosure is, nevertheless, not absolute until another order has been obtained after the day has passed.

I do not approve of the proceedings, but I think that the pro- moters are, from their point of view, fully justified in endeavour- ing to make their success thorough and final.—I am, Sir, &c.,

Lincoln's Inn, September 11th. H. G.