CAPE "BOARDS OF EXECUTORS," ETC.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I quite agree with your correspondent, "E. J. E.," in the Spectator of December 15th, that there is some danger that in a Colony like that of the Cape, these Boards and Com- panies may become too strong for the safety of the public ; and I am aware that, as he says, "absolute confidence is not always felt" as to the impartiality of high officials in dealing with questions affecting them, for the reasons he mentions ; nor was I ignorant of the existence of the cases of " Letterstedt v. Broers " (that celebrated Colonial " Jarndyce v. Jarndyce ") and " Hiddingh v. Denyssen." Nevertheless, I do not believe that the "want of absolute confidence" is greater than is un- avoidable from the tendency in human nature to believe that a person must be prejudiced in matters in which he is interested even indirectly. I am quite sure that the vast majority of the legal profession at the Cape have the firmest belief in the honour and intention to be impartial of every member of the Bench. A Judge may, of course, be mistaken, and may be influenced unconsciously; and the latter error is more difficult to avoid in a small community, where "everyone knows every- one," than in a large one. Even supposing the system not alto- gether satisfactory under such circumstances, it might still be so in a country like this. My chief object in my first letter was to call attention to the provision that all executors, &c., should be entitled by law to "reasonable compensation," and com- pelled by law to submit their accounts to official inspection. At the Cape they are entitled to such compensation by S. 37 of Ordinance 104, and there is no reason why the scale should not also be fixed by law. In my statement that this scale was
well settled," I was referring to the ordinary every-day cases, and not to those of such large and complicated estates as were involved in the cases mentioned by "E. J. E.," and I should have made this plainer but for my desire to be brief on so dry a subject.
I would add that your correspondent seems to be mistaken as to the extent to which these Boards are specially assisted by the Colonial law. They are simply incorporated by special Acts of the Legislature. As to "undertaking the duties of executors and trustees for reward," they were just as com- petent, under the Ordinance quoted above, to do so in the name of their secretaries, as any. unincorporated Company (limited or unlimited) authorised to do so by its articles of association, or any private individual.—I am, Sir, &c.,
ANGLO-CAPE LAWYER.
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