being one of the first cases in which aeroplanes have been mentioned in the reports. In this case an enemy warship was destroyed by two of His Majesty's monitors with the assistance of two aeroplanes, the pilots and observers of which were specially attached to the monitors for the purpose of the attack. It was held by Sir Samuel Evans that the pilots and observers formed part of the crews of the monitors within the meaning of s. 42 of the Naval Prize Act, 1864, and therefore were entitled to share in the prize bounty distributable in accordance with the provisions of that section.

Sir John Simon, K.C., has relinquished his practice at the Bar for the present, having taken a commission in the army. Sir John's rise at the Bar has been very rapid. Called in 1899 and taking silk in 1908, he held in succession the offices of Solicitor-General, AttorneyGeneral, and Home Secretary in Mr. Asquith's Government. Since his retirement from office early in 1916, Sir John Simon has been in great demand, and has appeared in most of the important cases.

Mr. Augustine Birrell, K.C., formerly Chief Secretary for Ireland, has announced his intention to retire. from the House of Commons.

W. E. WILKINSON.

THE FIRST SUPREME COURT OF NEW

BRUNSWICK.'

Young gentlemen and members of the student body:

It has been the custom that at the opening of the school some observations should be made to direct the minds of the students to a consideration of the life and work of the men who have moulded and fashioned the judicial affairs of our country. My distinguished friend, Dr. Alward, has thus from time to time addressed you, taking for his subject the leaders in the development of English law. I have not had an opportunity to give sufficient thought to this subject so as to bring to you anything of that kind which I would deem worthy of acceptance, but I have thought it might be well for you to acquire some insight into the circumstances which called into existence the Supreme Court of New Brunswick and its early history. Therefore I will take occasion to speak to you now upon the inception of our Supreme Court, who com posed its original membership, where these men came from, what was their record, and where they lived and died.

As you are aware, New Brunswick was separated from Nova Scotia and was erected into an independent province at the close of the revolutionary war. On August 16th, 1784, the King gave to Thomas Carleton, then a resident of London, a Royal Commission authorizing him to set off the province of New Brunswick distinct from Nova Scotia, and appointing him Governor thereof. An executive council was also named in the commission and the Governor was directed to take steps to summon a legislature and to erect and constitute courts of justice.

1 An address delivered by Chief Justice McKeown, of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick, at the opening of the Saint John Law School, November 14th, 1916.

In obedience to these instructions, Thomas Carleton, accompanied by certain members of his council, set sail from London and after a voyage of some fifty days landed at Halifax on October 24th, 1784. They travelled overland to Digby, and sailing thence arrived at St. John (then Parr Town) on November 21st, 1784. Their coming was anticipated, and, on arrival, the Governor and his party were saluted by guns from batteries stationed at York Point and Fort Howe. The limits of the town were then confined by the waters of Countenay Bay and the River St. John up to Union Point, and the present Union Street, running from water to water, was its northern boundary.

Along with other powers and instructions contained in the King's commission, there was given to the Governor of the new province-" full power and authority, with the advice and consent of his council, to erect, constitute and establish such and so many Courts of Judicature and Public Justice within the province as he and they should think fit and necessary for the hearing and determining of all causes, as well criminal as civil, according to law and equity, and for awarding execution thereon," etc.

The first meeting of Governor Carleton's Executive Council was held in St. John on November 22nd, 1784, and on the 27th day of that month, by order-incouncil the Supreme Court was established.

On February 1st, 1785, the opening session of the Court was held. Proclamation having been made, commissions under the great seal of the province were read appointing the Honourable George Duncan Ludlow Chief Justice, the Honourable James Putnam, senior puisne judge, and Colin Campbell, Esquire, Clerk of the Court. The two other puisne judges, the Honourable Isaac Allen and the Honourable Joshua Upham, were not present, although there is good authority for saying that to both these gentlemen commissions had already been issued appointing them members of the Court.

As above indicated, the first Chief Justice of New Brunswick was George D. Ludlow, who had returned to London from New York on the evacuation of that city by the British. Mr. Ludlow had been a judge of the Supreme Court there before the revolution, and fought during the whole revolutionary war as a colonel in the loyalist forces. He came to this province with Governor Carleton as a member of his executive council, as well as the head of the bench to be created. He was a descendant of General Ludlow, a trusted and able companion in arms of Oliver Cromwell and one of his most distinguished commanders. At the time of the American revolution a branch of the Ludlow family had resided in New York for about one hundred years, and after the unsuccessful attempt to hold that part of the country for the King, George D. Ludlow and his brother Gabriel accompanied the retiring Governor to England, and both being appointed executive councillors, they returned to America with Governor Thomas Carleton to assist him in his work of establishing and maintaining British institutions upon this continent.

No reports of the judgments of the Court are available until the year 1825-about forty years from its inception-consequently we have no record of the judgments or rulings of the first occupants of the Bench except in a few cases which, by reason of their importance or singularity, have escaped oblivion. But a perusal of the cases reported in the earliest volumes shows that the judges of those days were building on foundations well and truly laid by their unreported predecessors, and from these reports it is not difficult to estimate the character and quality of the work theretofore done.

I have mentioned that Chief Justice Ludlow had been a Supreme Court judge in New York. He was fifty-one years of age at the time of his appointment to the Chief Justiceship of this province and he pre

sided over the deliberations of the Court for twentyfour years. Until the capital of the province was located at Fredericton, he resided at West St. John. Thereafter he secured a large grant of land a few miles above the capital, and there he lived in considerable style and dignity during the remainder of his life.

The portraits of many of the successors of Chief Justice Ludlow are hung upon the walls of the Supreme Court room at Fredericton, but thus far none has been provided of him who first held this high office. I have had the opportunity of seeing a reproduction of a miniature painting which represents him as a man of slender build, of beardless face, with piercing black eyes, whose features are indicative of determination and power of will.

He died at his home on November 13th, 1808. After his death his widow resided in St. John with her daughter, the wife of Hon. John Robinson, who was for some years a member of the executive council of New Brunswick, as well as mayor of the city of St. John. An inscription on one of the grave stones in the burial ground opposite the Court House indicates that thereunder lies Frances, "relict of the Honourable George D. Ludlow, late Chief Justice of this province, who died on October 16th, 1825, in the 87th year of her age."

James Putnam, the senior puisne judge of the Court, and the last Attorney-General of Massachusetts Bay under the Crown, was born in Salem, Mass., in 1725. When the revolution broke out he was practising law in Boston, and was one of the most prominent citizens of that place, occupying a foremost posi-. tion not only at the bar but in the financial and social life of the city as well. A graduate of Harvard, connected in marriage with the powerful Chandler family, with a lucrative practice and large possessions, all

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