141 



LAW MERCHANT. 



LAYERING. 



142 



This summons must be served by a constable, peace officer, or other 

 person to whom it is delivered, on the person to whom it is directed, 

 either personally, or by leaving the same at his last or usual place of 

 abode. 



If the person so summoned does not appear after having been served 

 a reasonable time, the justices, upon proof to their satisfaction, sub- 

 stantiating the matter of the information or complaint, may issue a 

 warrant to apprehend the accused, or may proceed ex-parte. 



In the case of an information^ being laid, and satisfactorily sub- 

 stantiated by oath or affirmation, a warrant may be issued in the first 

 instance ; but the usual course is, in the first instance, to proceed by 

 summons. The warrant in either case must be under the hand and 

 seal of the justice or justices, and be directed to the constable. It 

 must state shortly the matter of the information or complaint on 

 which it is founded, and it remains in force until executed. 



Summonses (followed by warrants if necessary), may be issued to 

 compel the attendance of witnesses for cither party. 



The information or complaint is to be heard and determined by 

 such number of justices as the particular act of parliament on which 

 it is founded may provide, or when there is no such direction, before 

 any one justice. 



The room or place in which the proceeding takes place is to be 

 deemed an open court, to which the public are to have free access ; and 

 the defendant may make his full answer and defence, and have the 

 witnesses examined and cross-examined by his counsel or attorney. 



When the justices have heard what each party has to say, and the 

 <en, they consider the whole matter and proceed to convict, or 

 make an order on the defendant, or to dismiss the information or com- 

 plaint ; every conviction or order being drawn up in a prescribed form, 

 and lodged with the clerk of the peace, and a certificate of every order 

 of dismissal being also given to the defendant. 



It is competent to the court to award costs, either against the 

 defendant or against the complainant, as the case may be ; and for the 

 amount of such costs, or of any pecuniary penalty, to issue a distress 

 warrant. When there is no distress to be found, or when the statute 

 simply.directs imprisonment, a warrant of commitment issues. If the 

 parties are satisfied that a warrant of distress would be ruinous to the 

 defendant, or that he has no goods, the court is authorised to issue a 

 warrant of commitment in the first instance. 



It must be observed that the statute 11 4 12 Viet. c. 43, does not 

 extend to informations, complaints, or proceedings relating to the 

 excise or customs, stamps, taxes, or post-office, nor to the removal of 

 paupers, nor to complaints or orders with respect to lunatics or 

 bastards, nor to proceedings relating to the labour of children in 

 mills or factories. 



For the method of proceeding with respect to such offences, re- 

 ference must be made to the statutes on the subject. 



The principal authorities besides the statutes of the re:ilm which 



have been consulted in the preparation of this article, are Hawkins'^ 



<>f the Crown ;' Blackstone's ' Commentaries,' by Kerr ; Russell, 



' On Crimes and Misdemeanors ; ' Chitty's ' Criminal Law ; ' Starkie's 



Treatises 'On the Law of Evidence and On Criminal Pleading;' 



Dickenson's ' Guide to the Quarter-Sessions,' by Talfourd ; the various 



Reports of the Criminal Law Commissioners ; and Paley ' On Con- 



,' by Mncnamnra. 



LAW 1LERCHAHT. [L: x MrncATOiuus.] 



LAWN, a sp.icn of ground covered with grass, kept short by mowing 

 and generally situated in front of a house or mansion, or within the 

 view from mieh. The number of evergreen exotics which survive our 

 winters, and the verdure of the grass in summer, are peculiar features 

 of England in comparison with continental Europe, where in general 

 the grass is either burned up in summer, or the exotics are destroyed 

 l>y the severity of winter. The management of a lawn is with us 

 fore a subject of interest to every possessor of a garden. 



Previous to living down, the ground intended for a lawn should be 



i !y trcncht d and drained, in order that such trees and shrubs as 



may afterwards be planted upon it should succeed well. The direction 



of the trenches should be towards a drain, to which, if possible, their 



us should form a regularly inclined plane, for the pur] 



:ng the means of escape for the water, which, in retentive soils 



ily, would otherwiiie stagnate. Although trees and shrubs 



arc absolutely necessary for giving due effect to the scenery of a lawn, 



yet in the latter, <ine i,pen extensive space, lying in the full view from 



-i of the house, must be preserved. For this portion, 



digging instead of trenching may be found sufficient; but the openings, 



which ought to command views from this principal area, should be 



d, as well as for the shrubs and trees; for if the operation were 



only performed with r< 'f.'ird to the latter, the water would not find 



such fi. ;<>m the bottom as would be the case if the mode of 



' 1 as is above recommended. 



After trenching, the soil should be allowed to subside, and the 



t care should be taken to make the surface perfectly even, 



.ise % great expense will be afterwards incurred by the loss of 



tii IK in mowing, which can neither be so quickly nor so well performed 



irfnce is uin 



If turf ran bu readily procured, a lawn is at once produced; ami 



ns a more uniform distribution of gross may be obtained 



>y any other means. The surface of a well-fed meadow, or of an 



old common, closely cropped by sheep and geese, affords the best kind 

 of turf ; and if any tall or coarse grasses should be mixed with it, no 

 inconvenience will arise, for everything of this sort will eventually 

 disappear under close mowing ; and such only as are dwarf and suited 

 to the soil will ultimately remain. Where a turf is to be produced by 

 sowing, the seeds of such species as are indigenous to the locality, and 

 possess at the same time the property of being dwarf and fine, are to 

 be preferred ; but in the event of this method of forming a lawn being 

 adopted, it is always desirable that a narrow slip of good turf should 

 be carried all round the circumference. The following species may be 

 mentioned as proper for a lawn in average situations : Lolium perenne, 

 or rye-grass; Pua tririalis, or pratensis ; Anthoxantlmm odoratum, or 

 sweet vernal ; Cynosurus cristatus, or crested dogstail, with a consider- 

 able quantity of Afedicayo lupulina, or black nonsuch, and Trifolium 

 repens, or Dutch white clover. If the situation is particularly dry, 

 Festuca ortno, or sheep's fescue, should be substituted for Lolium 

 perenne; if very low and wet, then the place of the latter may be 

 filled with A lopecurits pratensis, or meadow foxtail. All these grasses 

 may be procured of dealers in agricultural seeds ; it is however better 

 for persons in the country to collect for themselves such as can be 

 found in their neighbourhood, for then they can depend upon their 

 being genuine. The utmost care should be taken to avoid the intro- 

 duction of Dactt/l'a i/lomerala, or cocksfoot grass, and Holms lanatm, or 

 mollii, for these hard, harsh, stubborn grasses resist the effects of 

 mowing for a long time, The great plague of lawns is the dandelion 

 (Leontodon taraxacum), which should be carefully rooted out as soon 

 as seen, though there is no guarding against seeds. 



The process called inoculating, or of making lawn by sowing the 

 ground with fragments of turf, and rolling them in, cannot be recom- 

 mended when a lawn is required to look particularly well, for it is a 

 long while before the surface of the ground becomes uniform under 

 such circumstances. 



Lawns, when once established, require only to be kept neat by the 

 ordinary routine of rolling, mowing, and sweeping, except keeping the 

 surface perfectly even, by making up Email hollows, with screened 

 mould, early in spring. When lawns become worn out, a top-dressing 

 of any finely-divided manure will refresh them : malt-dust applied in 

 October is excellent for this purpose ; and at the same time an addi- 

 tional quantity of grass-seed may be sown. Where the walks are 

 straight, the edges of the lawn adjoining them should be perfectly 

 straight also, and care should be taken that the grass-edging is kept 

 rolled down and pared, so as never to exceed an inch and a half above 

 the level of the walk. 



The lawn, however, in the case of mansions of any architectural 

 pretensions, should not be brought up close to the building'; but there 

 should be intervening terraces with flower beds. Where the mansion 

 is dropped, as it were, upon the lawn, it takes an air of incompleteness 

 as well as coldness. The domains of art and nature should bo har- 

 moniously united, and not brought into abrupt contrast. This plan 

 is now almost uniformly adopted alike by eminent architects and 

 decorative gardeners. 



(Lindley, Theory and Practice of Horticulture ; Mclntosh, The /.'>,: 

 of the d'arden.) 



LAY-BROTHERS, pious but usually illiterate persons, who il. 

 themselves in some convent to the service of the religious. They were 

 usually employed as agriculturists at the grange or farm, or as artisans 

 in the house ; and were not admitted under 24 years of age, or above 

 43. A lower class of these were Oblati, who devoted themselves to 

 more menial servitude. There were also Fratrcs ad siiccurrendum, 

 assistant brothers, who wore only a short scapulary, while the professed 

 lay-brother had the habit of the order, but wore their beards while the 

 monks shaved. The institution of lay-brothers of the professed kind 

 began in the 11th century. The Jesuits termed their lay-brethren 

 mudjutores. There were lay-sisters also in the nunneries, whose duties 

 consisted in washing, cooking, weaving, attending on the professed 

 nuns, and other menial offices. They were not admitted under 20 

 yiars of age. (Fosbrooke's British Munaclilsm.) 



LAYERING is an operation by which the propagation of plants is 

 effected by laying down or bending the shoots, so that a portion of 

 them can be covered with earth. A shoot so operated on is called a 

 layer, and the point which furnishes the layers bears the name of 

 ttool. Some plants are so much disposed to emit roots that if their 

 branches happen to come in contact with the earth they immediately 

 begin to strike. But although it may be easily imagined that tho 

 observation of this common circumstance has led to the artificial 

 practice, yet some additional operations besides that of merely 

 bringing a shoot in contact with the earth are found necessary for 

 many plants on which this mode of propagation is practised. The 

 principle by which the operation is rendered effectual for the object in 

 view is the following : When the shoot of a species-not freely disposed 

 to send forth roots has merely its bent part inserted in the earth, the 

 woody matter organised by the leaves passes down to the roots uearly 

 as usual; but if the communication along the alburnum is interrupted 

 by an acute bend, twist, or incision, a callus will be formed, from 

 which by degrees spongiolcs are emitted, and thus roots ultimately 

 produced. A common error is to bury the layer too deep in tho 

 earth; for trees and shrubs, tho depth should be from three to six 

 inches, and the shoots of the previous season are the best Cited for the 



