"(1). All causes and matters, civil and criminal, pending in the Court of Queen's Bench at the commencement of this Act:

"(2). All causes and matters, civil and criminal, which would have been within the exclusive cognizance of the Court of Queen's Bench in the exercise of its original jurisdiction, if this Act has not passed."

"There shall be assigned (subject as aforesaid) to the Common Pleas Division of the said Court:

"(1). All causes and matters pending in the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, the Court of Common Pleas, at Lancaster, and the Court of Pleas at Durham, respectively, at the commencement of this Act:

"(2). All causes and matters which would have been within the exclusive cognizance of the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, if this Act had not passed.

"There shall be assigned (subject as aforesaid) to the Exchequer Division of the said Court:

"(1). All causes and matters pending in the Court of Exchequer at the commencement of this Act:

"(2). All causes and matters which would have been within the exclusive cognizance of the Court of Exchequer, either as a Court of Revenue or a Common Law Court, if this Act had not passed:

"There shall be assigned (subject as aforesaid) to the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the said High Court:

"(1). All causes and matters pending in the Court of Probate, or in the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, or in the High Court of Admiralty, at the commencement of this Act:

"(2). All causes and matters which would have been within the exclusive cognizance of the Court of Probate or the Court for Divorce

and Matrimonial Causes, or of the High Court of Admiralty, if this Act had not passed." (Yearly Practice of Supreme Court (England) for 1912; Judicature Act, 1873, § 34, p. 1290.)

"Any cause or matter may at any time, and at any stage thereof, and either with or without application from any of the parties thereto, be transferred by such authority and in such manner as Rules of Court may direct, from one division or Judge of the High Court to any other division or Judge thereof, or may by the like authority be retained in the division in which the same was commenced, although such may not be the proper division to which the same cause or matter ought, in the first instance, to have been assigned." (Id., Judicature Act, 1873, § 36, p. 1295.)

66

Subject to the power of transfer, every person by whom any cause or matter may be commenced in the High Court of Justice, which would have been within the nonexclusive cognizance of the High Court of Admiralty if the Principal Act had not passed, shall assign such cause or matter to any one of the Divisions of the said High Court, including the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division, as he may think fit, by marking the document by which the same is commenced with the name of the Division, and giving notice thereof to the proper officer of the Court." (Id., Order 5, Rule 5, p. 27.)

66

Subject to the power of transfer, and to the special provision contained in sub-section (e) of this Rule, and subject also to the power of the Lord Chancellor by order from time to time otherwise to direct, every cause or matter which shall hereafter be commenced in the Chancery Division shall be assigned to and marked with the name of one of the

Judges thereof

(Yearly Practice of Supreme Court (England), for 1912, Order 5, Rule 9, p. 28.)

With reference to the practice in England of assigning cases to divisions and judges, Indermaur says, in his Manual of the Practice of the Supreme Court of Judicature:

66 The writ of summons must be marked with the name of one of the Judges of the Division to whom for the time being Chambers are attached, and it is then treated as assigned to that Judge. The plaintiff has not the right of selecting his Judge, but it is the duty of the officer issuing the writ to mark the same with the name of one of such Judges, to be ascertained by rota. After assignment in this way every subsequent writ, summons, or proceeding relating to the administration of the same trust, or the winding up of the same company, or so connected therewith as to be conveniently dealt with by the same Judge, must whenever practicable be marked by the proper officer with the name of such Judge. It is provided that the party or solicitor issuing or presenting such writ, summons, or petition, shall, if there be to his knowledge such relation or connection, so certify, and such certificate shall be countersigned by the Master to whom according to the distribution of business such cause or matter belongs. The Lord Chancellor has full power to transfer actions from one Judge to another generally, or for the purposes of hearing or trial only, or for the disposal of any particular application; and any other Division may at the request or with the consent of any other Judge of this Division before whom a matter or cause is pending, hear such cause

matter or any application therein without any transfer or consent of the parties." (Indermaur's Manual of Practice, pp. 190, 191.)

Specification d

Logical Classification of Practice

The practice provisions should be arranged according to a logical classification following the steps in the progress of an action and so that the provisions upon the same subject may be found together.

The necessity for resort to an extensive index of the practice act and rules could be obviated to a large extent by a logical classification of the provisions relating to practice.

The provisions on the same subject should all be found together and in the same relation to other provisions.

With the same logical classification strictly adhered to in the practice act and rules, the profession would be able to find provisions without the aid of an extensive index.

That such a classification is possible and practical is shown by the rearrangement of the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure made by the board of statutory consolidation in 1906, and published in its report to the legislature.

ITEM (2)

COMMENCEMENT OF THE ACTION

There should be but one form of action and there should be a complete disposition of the entire controversy, by the joinder of all parties, whether jointly, severally or in the alternative, and a simple statement of all differences between them subject to a separate trial of any issue upon order of the court.

Specification a

One Form of Action

The work begun in this state by the Field code of 1848 of establishing one form of action would be completed by throwing the civil proceedings now in the code, so far as practicable, into the form of an action.

The transformation of special proceedings into the form of an action would be along the historical lines of development of a simplified practice and would greatly reduce the number of provisions in the new practice.

In the reform of procedure from the commonlaw practice one of the first steps has always been the abolition of the different forms of actions and the establishment of one form of action.

The simplification in the forms of actions was one of the radical changes introduced in the practice of this state by the Code of Procedure of 1848, which provided:

"The distinction between actions at law and suits in equity, and the forms of all such actions and suits heretofore existing, are abolished; and, there shall be in this state, hereafter, but one form of action, for the enforcement or protection of private rights and the redress or prevention of private wrongs, which shall be denominated a civil action." (L. 1848, ch. 379, part 2, tit. 1, § 62.)

Another change in the same direction accomplished by the code of 1848 was the transformation of civil proceedings into actions.