top much of a legal Bogie. Every time it has been
tried it has been found to succeed. It has been
done in the various states of America; in India,
where, perhaps, it is not much known that the
late Lord Macaulay laboured at the task; in
France, and in other countries. In these places
the citizen can place the laws of his country
among his books, and read them with profit
and instruction, as he would history or memoirs;
for, strange to say, legal refinements and
distinctions can be expressed in tolerably
intelligible language without danger to the state.
The principle was happily recognised in the new
law of pleading, introduced here in 1850, and
which set out with the novel declaration that the
defence is " to be stated in ordinary language,
without repetition, and as concisely as is
consistent with clearness." Nay, in the Indian
code, short definitions are given—popular
glosses and comments— to help the
unprofessional mind.

But, after getting our old houses into order,
and decent repair, the next stage is to see after
what pattern we shall build our new houses.
When the wooden town of Hamburg was burnt
to the ground, it was wisely provided that
all new tenements should be constructed of
uninflammable material. We, too, must build
no more wooden houses. But if the old
legislative tinkering of laws by six hundred and odd
parliamentary tinkers— and these, too, tinkers
not even skilled in tinkering—be tolerated,
the old nuisances will grow up around us again;
the old process will make the old acts over
again. The remedy has been frequently
insisted on, specially by Mr. Napier, who used
to move annually for the appointment of a
minister of justice. Here is the true remedy.
A controlling official power, whether it take
the shape of a minister or ministry, an office, a
committee, a board, or even the awful machinery
of a Department— a somebody or something,
that when a measure is about to be introduced
would see that it is legally " ship-shape,"
inconsistent with nothing that has gone before; a
somebody or something to watch over it, supervise
the parliamentary " tinkering," and report
of its fitness in spirit and form to be added to
the existing laws.

THE MURDER OF FUALDÈS.

AT daybreak, on the 20th March, 1817, a
woman, following a path on the banks of the
river Aveyron (department of La Gironde), very
near Rodez, saw, revolving in the eddy caused
by a mill, some dark object, which a closer inspection
proved to be the body of a man. Having got
assistance from the mill, the body was dragged out,
and was at once recognised as that of M. Fualdès,
a retired magistrate. Information was immediately
given, and the authorities of Rodez, accompanied
by two medical men, proceeded to make an
examination of the body. On removing the cravat,
the throat was found to be fearfully cut, and
further examination showed that strangulation had
not preceded the infliction of the wound; no other
wounds were found on the body. The absence
of all signs of a struggle, and the nature of the
wound inflicted, pointed to more than one
murderer. Who could the assassins be? Although
M. Fualdès had filled the office of public accuser,
no incidents in his judicial career were known that
could have given rise to an act of vengeance so
deadly. Moreover, he had retired into private
life since the Restoration. It was therefore to
the circumstances of his private life that attention
was directed. It was found that on the
previous evening, March 19th, at eight o'clock, he
had left home, alleging an appointment, and,
taking with him a parcel believed to contain
bills for a considerable amount, representing in
part the value of some land he had lately sold.
Judging from what he himself had stated in
the course of the day, the object of his appointment
was supposed to be the negotiation of these
bills. All this pointed to a planned robbery.
Other facts threw light on the locality of the
crime. A walking-stick, identified as the property
of Fualdès, had been picked up on the evening of
the 19th at the corner of the Rue des Hebdomadiers.
A handkerchief, twisted as if it had been
used as a gag, had also been found in the same
street. Several persons had been observed on the
look-out in and about this street; two players
on the hurdy-gurdy had been noticed playing
persistently from eight to nine o'clock; whistles,
cries, signals, had been heard. The noise of a
struggle and stifled groans were also spoken to.

The Rue des Hebdomadiers once indicated,
suspicion immediately fell upon the Bancals, the
principal lodgers in a house having the worst
reputation. An examination showed blood-stains
on several objects, and traces of recent washing
in the rooms on the ground floor occupied by
these people. The family consisted of father,
mother, Marianne, a girl of eighteen, and three
young children. The parents, their eldest
daughter, and Colard, living on the second floor
with Anne Benoit, were arrested. Although
there was every reason to believe that all these
persons had been concerned in the murder, yet
it was evident that they could not have originated
it. In whose interest could the murder have
been done? Rumour pointed to Bastide-Grammont,
a merchant of Rodez, and a distant relation
and godson of the murdered man. This Bastide
was a man of very unusual height. Several
witnesses deposed to meeting, on the night of
the 19th, a group of men carrying, on a sort of
stretcher, some heavy object. Some persons,
who had shown curiosity about the object of
this procession, had been knocked down by a
giant marching at its head. Bastide was known,
by his previous admissions, to have been in
debt to Fualdès to the extent of about ten
thousand francs, and he had been heard, on
the 19th, speaking to Fualdès of a rendezvous for
the evening, promising, in words which had now
a terrible meaning, to settle his account. The
discovery of a visit paid by Bastide to the house