The Lord Chancellor has appointed Mr. J. W. Chitty, Q.C.,
the Member for Oxford, to succeed Sir G. Jessel as a Judge of First Instance in the Chancery Division, the Master of the Rolls baying been permanently transferred by the legislation of last Session to the Court of Appeal. Mr. Chitty left Oxford thirty years ago, with the almost unique reputation of being a man of whom it could be said with equal truth that he was a good scholar, a good cricketer, and a good oarsman. He had not been long at the Bar before be showed that he was also a good lawyer, and during his short Parliamentary career he has proved himself to be a good Liberal. For some years past he has had the leading practice in the Rolls Court,—a fact which is in itself a speaking tribute both to his intellectual and his physical -endowments. His advocacy, insensibly adapted, like that of all the Chancery leaders, to the mind of the Judge to whom it was habitually addressed, was terse, lucid, and unadorned ; no good point in a case was lost sight of, and no bad point laboured. His long familiarity with his predecessor's methods of doing business, should enable him to maintain the tradition of swift and accurate justice for which the Rolls Court has during the last eight years gained an unrivalled reputation, and whether the Liberals will keep the seat vacated for Oxford is a minor point.
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