obviated. This Society had borrowed | high; but the average profits of their 7201., partly from the county Galway trade are not so great as might be intrustees, which sum had been disposed ferred from a hasty glance at the preamong 400 borrowers, and no loss had ceding tables, which nevertheless fully occurred during the two years in which prove that having recourse to pawnthe Society had been in operation, chiefly brokers is an improvident mode of raising in consequence of the attention of the money. It is, however, a great conveRev. H. Hunt, the treasurer. In the nience to many persons who could not evidence taken at an examination by the raise money for temporary purposes in Commissioners of Inquiry in the county any other way. Those pawnbrokers who Leitrim (p. 93) it was stated that there take out a licence to receive pledges in were no pawnbrokers in the barony; but gold and silver do a considerable amount a class of men called usurers are to be of business in that way, and of course met with in every direction, "and they not with the poorest classes. In 1838 a bind both borrowers and sureties by so- company was formed in London, called lemn oaths to punctual repayment of the the British Pledge Society,' which proprincipal, and of the interest, which is posed lending money at one-half the exorbitant in proportion to the smallness rate of interest allowed by the 39 & 40 of the sum lent." The witness, who was George III. c. 99, and without making a magistrate, further stated, that a case any charge for duplicates. This society had recently come before Lord Clements also pledged itself to make good losses in and himself, in which a man had bound case of fire, for which casualty pawnhimself to pay 12s. a year in quarterly brokers are not liable. The bill of ininstalments for the use of 15s. principal. corporation, after being read a first time Such facts show the expediency of afford- in the House of Commons, was abaning every encouragement to establish- doned. ments conducted under the immediate control of the law. In some instances in Ireland pawnbrokers keep spirit-shops under the same roof or in an adjoining house. The Report just quoted states that people were beginning to lose their reluctance to wear the forfeited property of their neighbours; and most of the poor persons examined stated that a few years ago they were ashamed to go to the pawnbrokers, but this feeling appeared then to have been much weakened. The scarcity of capital in Ireland occasions many individuals to have recourse to pawnbrokers for purposes unknown in England, such as obtaining the means of purchasing a pig or buying seed. The Mont de Piété is an institution of Italian origin. [MONT DE PIETE.] In 1661 a project existed for establishing Monts de Piété in England. It is extremely doubtful whether a public institution for lending money on pledges would answer in London. Many branch establishments would be necessary, and they would scarcely be so economically conducted as the establishments belonging to private individuals. The rates of interest charged by pawnbrokers are There is a Mont de Piété at Moscow on a very extensive scale, the profits of which support a foundling hospital. They are numerous in Belgium. From a paper read by Rawson W. Rawson before the London Statistical Society in 1837, the following appear to be the terms of the Mont de Piété of Paris:"Loans are made upon the deposit of such goods as can be preserved to the amount of two-thirds of their estimated value; but on gold and silver, four-fifths of their value is advanced. The present rate of interest is 1 per cent. per month, or 12 per cent. per annum. The Paris establishment has generally from 600,000 to 650,000 articles in its possession, and the capital constantly outstanding may be estimated at about 500,000l. The expense of management amounts to between 60 c. and 65 c. on each article, and the profits are wholly derived from loans of 5 francs and upwards. Articles not redeemed within the year are soid, subject however, as in England, to a claim for restoration of the surplus, if made within three years." The statistical tables published by the French minister of commerce show the operations of the Mont de Piété of Paris and those of the large towns in France during the year 1883. The number of articles pledged in Paris in 1833 was 1,064,008; average sum advanced on each, 14s. 11d. The number of articles redeemed was 844,861 on 178,913 articles the interest was paid and the duplicate renewed; 50,656 articles, on which the sum of 36,3914. had been advanced, were forfeited, being one-twentieth in number, but less than one-twentieth in value. PECULIARS, COURT OF. [ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS, p. 803.] PEDLAR. This word is said by Dr. Johnson to be a contraction from petty dealer, formed into a new term by long and familiar use; and a pedlar is defined by him to be "one who travels the country with small commodities." The same writer defines a hawker to be "one who sells his wares by proclaiming them in the street." The legal sense of hawker is an itinerant trader, who goes about from place to place, carrying with him and selling goods; and a pedlar is only a hawker in small wares. In the various acts of parliament which impose duties upon them and regulate their dealings, they are always named in conjunction as hawkers and pedlars; and no distinction is made between them. It has been for more than a century the opinion in England that the conduct of trade by means of fixed establishments is more beneficial to the public than that of itinerant dealers; and it cannot be denied that the local trader being better known and more dependent upon his character than one who continually travels from place to place, there is a greater security for the respectability of his dealings. Accordingly statutes have been made from time to time, which require hawkers and pedlars to take out licences and to submit to specific regulations and restrictions, which are supposed to protect the resident trader as well as the public from unfair dealing. These reasons, however, have been given subsequently to justify the laws; for the statutes which originally required licences for hawkers and imposed these | duties appear to have merely contemplated a means of increasing the revenue; and that this was the object of the legis lature appears from the fact of pawnbrokers and others having been also required to take out licences. (8 & 9 Wm. III. c. 25; and 9 & 10 Wm. III. c. 27.) The provisions by which the licences to hawkers and pedlars are now regulated are contained in the statute 50 George III. c. 41. By that Act, the collection and management of the duties on hawkers and pedlars in England was given to the commissioners for licensing and regulating hackney coaches; but this duty has since been transferred to the commissioners of stamps by the 75th section of the statute 1 & 2 Wm. IV. c. 22. By the provisions of the latter statute, "all the powers, provisions, regulations, and directions contained in the statute 50 George III. c. 41, or any other act relating to the duties on hawkers and pedlars, are to be enforced by the commissioners of stamps; and all the powers, provisions, regulations, and directions, forfeitures, pains and penalties imposed by any acts relating to the management of duties on stamps, so far as the same are applicable to the duties on hawkers and pedlars, are declared to be in full force and effect, and are to be applied and put in execution for securing and collecting the last-mentioned duties, and for preventing, detecting, and punishing all frauds, forgeries, and other offences relating thereto, as fully as if they were repeated and specially enacted in the statute 1 & 2 Wm. IV. c. 22." The duty of granting licences to hawkers and pedlars and enforcing the law against such persons is now therefore intrusted to the commissioners of stamps; the particular conditions and regulations under which such licences are to be granted are contained in the above-mentioned statute 50 George III. c. 41. Before a licence is granted to a person desirous of trading and travelling as a hawker or pedlar, the applicant must produce to the commissioners of stamps a certificate, signed by the officiating clergyman and two householders within the parish in which he resides, attesting that he is of good character and a fit | pedlar shall offer for sale tea, brandy, person to be licensed. Upon this certi- rum, geneva, or other foreign spirits, toficate being given, the commissioners bacco, or snuff, he may be arrested by grant the licence, which is only in force any person to whom the same may be for one year, and the party who receives offered, and taken before a magistrate, it is subject to a duty of 41. per annum, who may hold him to bail to answer for and an additional duty of 41. per annum the offence under the Excise laws. for each beast if he travels with a "horse, ass, mule, or other beast bearing or drawing burthen" and these duties are to be paid at the time of receiving the licence. The duties have not been altered since 1789. All persons who act as hawkers or pedlars without such a licence are liable to a penalty of 50%. Among other regulations, the hawker or pedlar is required by the Act to "cause to be written in large legible Roman capitals, upon the most conspicuous part of every pack, box, bag, trunk, case, cart, or waggon, or other vehicle in which he carries his goods, and of every room and shop in which he trades, and likewise upon every handbill or advertisement given out by him, the words 'Licensed Hawker,' together with the number, name, or other mark of his licence;" and in case of his omission so to do, he is liable to a penalty of 10l.; and every unlicensed person who places these words upon his goods is liable to a penalty to the like amount. A hawker and pedlar travelling without a licence, or travelling and trading contrary to or otherwise than is allowed by the terms of his licence, or refusing to produce his licence when required to do so by inspectors appointed by the commissioners, or by any magistrate or peace-officer, or by any person to whom he shall offer goods for sale, is liable in each case to a penalty of 101. A person having a licence, and hiring or lending it to another person for the purpose of trading with it, and also the person who so trades with another's licence, are each liable to a penalty of 401. A hawker or pedlar dealing in or selling any smuggled goods, or knowingly dealing in or selling any goods fraudulently or dishonestly procured, forfeits his licence, and is for ever afterwards incapacitated from obtaining or holding a new licence. By the stat. 48 Geo. III. c. 84, s. 7, if any hawker or By the provisions of the statutes 29 Geo. III. c. 26, § 6, and also of 50 Geo. III. c. 41, § 7, no person coming within the description of a hawker or pedlar can lawfully, either by opening a shop and exposing goods to sale by retail in any place in which he is not a householder or resident, or by any other means, sell goods either by himself or any other person by outcry or auction, under a penalty of 501. Hawkers were not allowed formerly to sell goods in markettowns, except on a fair or market day; but this restriction was done away with by 35 Geo. III. c. 91. It is further provided by the 18th section of the 50 Geo. III. c. 41, that if any person shall forge or counterfeit any hawker's or pedlar's licence, or travel with, or produce, or show any such forged or counterfeited licence, he shall forfeit the sum of 3001. Persons who hawk fish, fruit, victuals, or goods, wares, or manufactures made or manufactured by such hawkers, or by their children, are not required to take out a licence; nor are tinkers, coopers, glaziers, plumbers, harness-menders, or other persons usually trading in mending kettles, tubs, household goods, or harness of any kind. (Chitty's Commercial Law, vol. ii. p. 163; Burn's Justice, tit. 'Hawkers.') The amount raised by these licences is too insignificant as an object of revenue. They are in fact a tax on the consumers, like all other licences. The true policy is to let a person sell his goods where and how he can. Competition will ensure the consumer here, as in other cases, the best and cheapest article. The pedlar carries his wares into districts where the people have not access to the best markets, and thus he tends to correct the dealings of the settled trader. He also carries his wares to people who would often not know of the existence them. The hawker is now one of the active instruments in diffusing cheap books among the population, and a large part of the sale of the cheap periodicals is in his hands, particularly in the north of England and in Scotland. Thirty years ago, Francis Horner, writing to Dugald Bannatyne, of Glasgow, speaks of "that very remarkable traffic in books round Glasgow by itinerant retailers." The hawker is therefore employed in the diffusion of knowledge, and is a great benefactor to society, and as such should be free from all taxes that are imposed on him in addition to those which he and other dealers pay. the House of Lords till he is twenty-one.. Women may also be peeresses of the realm in their own right, as by creation, or as inheritors of baronies which descend to. heirs general, but they have no seat ar vote in the house of lords. The wives of peers are peeresses. On the remote origin of this order, and of the privileges belonging to it, especially that form of a house, in which, in concurrence with the spi-. ritual lords, they consider every proposal for any change in the laws of the realm, and have an affirmative or a negative voice respecting it, and of being Amount of Revenue from Hawkers' also the supreme court of judicatureLicences: England. before whom appeal may be made from. the judgment of nearly all inferior courts, great obscurity rests. The re-. ports of the committee of the house of peers, which sat during several parliaments about the years 1817, 1818, and 1819, on the dignity of a peer of the realm, contain a great amount of information on these topics, but leave undecided some of the greater and more important questions connected with it. Every peer of the realm, being of full age and of sound mind, is entitled to take his seat in the house of peers, and to share in all the deliberations and determinations of that assembly. He has privilege (perhaps not very distinctly defined) of access to the person of the king or queen regnant to advise concerning any matter touching the affairs of the realm. If peers of the realm are charged with any treason, felony, misprision, or as accessories, they are not subject to the ordinary tribunals, but the truth of the charge is examined by the peers themselves; they cannot be arrested in civil cases; they give their affirmation on honour when they sit in judgment, and answer bills in chancery upon honour; but when examined as witnesses they must be sworn. 'Words, says Blackstone, (Book iii. c. 8) 'spoken in derogation of a peer, a judge, or other great officer of the realm, which are called scandalum magnatum, are held to be still more heinous; and though they be such as would not be actionable in the case of a private person, yet when spoken in disgrace of such high and respectable 2 K characters, they amount to an atrocious injury, which is redressed by an action on the case founded on many ancient statutes; as well on behalf of the crown, to inflict the punishment of imprisonment on the slanderer, as on behalf of the party, to recover damages for the injury sustained.' Peers are tried for misdemeanors in the same way as other people. The lords spiritual are also, in all cases, tried by the ordinary courts. Peeresses have the same privileges as peers, whether they are peeresses by birth, creation, or marriage; but if a peeress by marriage marry a commoner, she loses her privileges. The crown may at its pleasure create a peer, that is, advance any person to any one of the five classes; which is now done either by writ or patent. [BARON; LETTERS PATENT; NOBILITY.] A peer cannot be deprived of the dignity or any of the privileges connected with it, except on forfeiture of the dignity by being attainted for treason or felony; and the dignity must descend, on his death, to others (as long as there are persons within the limitation of the grant), with all the privileges appurtenant to it, usually to the eldest son, and the eldest son of that eldest son in perpetual succession, and so on, keeping to the eldest male representative of the original grantee. Some deviation from this rule of descent, however, has occasionally occurred, special clauses having been introduced into the patent, which limit the descent of the dignity in a particular way, as in the case of the creation of Edward Seymour to the dukedom of Somerset, in the reign of Edward VI., when it was declared that the issue of the second marriage of the duke should succeed to the dignity in preference to the son of a former marriage. But generally, and perhaps universally for the two last centuries, the descent of a dignity (cases of baronies in fee, as they are called, being now for a moment excluded) has been to the next male heir of the blood of the person originally ennobled ; sometimes with remainders to the next male heir of his father or grandfather. The crown has sometimes granted the dignity of the peerage to a person, with remainder to the female issue or to the female kindred of the grantee and their heirs, as in the case of the Nelson peerage. In these cases it has generally happened either that the party had no male issue to inherit, and that the other males of the family were also without male issue, or that there was already a dignity inheritable by the male heir of the party on whom a new dignity was conferred to descend to his female issue. A pension has also sometimes been settled by Parliament on a person, at the time when he has been made a peer; the pension is granted by the Parliament on the recommendation of the crown. The peers who possess what are called baronies in fee, are the descendants and representatives of certain old families, for the most part long ago extinct in the male line, but which had in their day summons to parliament as peers, and whose dignity it has been assumed descended like a tenement to a daughter, if only one daughter and heir, or to a number of daughters as coheirs, when there was no son. If A. die seised of a barony in fee, leaving B. a daughter and only child, and M. a brother, the dignity shall inhere in B. in preference to M., and shall descend on the death of B. to her eldest son. In case A., instead of leaving B. his only daughter, leave several daughters, B., C., D., &c. and no son, the dignity shall not go to M., but among the daughters; and since it is imparticipable, it is in a manner lost, as long as those daughters, or issue from more than one of them, exist. But should those daughters die with only one of them having left issue, and that issue a son, he shall inherit on the death of his aunts. This is what is meant by the dignity of a peer of the realm being in abeyance: it is divided among several persons, not one of whom possessing it wholly, none of them can therefore enjoy it. [ABEYANCE.] But the crown has the power of determining the abeyance; that is, it may declare its pleasure that some one of the daughters, or the eldest male representative of some one |