296 



NATURE 



[J 



ULV 



= 0> 



1S95 



task of passing Statutes to enable people to do what they 

 had already the •' legal right " of doing. 



If this is Sir John Lubbock's view of a Statutor)' 

 Commission, it was not the view taken by the late Royal 

 Commission, to whose Report he indeed refers, but w hose 

 Report, we are compelled to believe, he has never read. 

 For, in words too clear for misunderstanding, they have 

 expressly recommended that the proposed change should 

 be effected, " not by CliarUr, but by legislative authority." ' 

 Is it possible to suppose that in the discussions which have 

 taken place in the Senate on the subject of the Report, 

 the distinction so clearly pointed out has never been 

 noticed or commented on in that august assembly, 

 though presided over by the highest legal authority in the 

 realm ? Or if (as we must needs assume) the distinction 

 did not pass unnoticed, was Sir John slumbering in his 

 chair ; and when he concurred in voting the resolution, 

 by which the Senate accepted generally the recommend- 

 ations of the Commissioners, including this vital one, was 

 he not aware of the meaning of his act ? Every assump- 

 tion we make seems incredible ; yet it looks as if, 

 notwithstanding, some or one of them must be triie. 



The authors of the protest addressed to Sir John 

 Lubbock say truly that it would be " without precedent " 

 to confer on Convocation the right to '' supenise the 

 Acts of a Commission entrusted with the reorganisation 

 of the University of which Convocation itself is a part." 

 But when we ask ourselves how this right is to be ex- 

 ercised, the matter becomes not only unprecedented, but 

 almost inconceivable. Is the ratification or veto of Con- 

 vocation to be exercised directly on the .Acts of the 

 Statutory Commission, so as to be interposed between 

 such Acts and the "approval of Parliament ni the usual 

 way," and so as to exclude Tarliament from the power 

 of considering any proposals of its own Commissioners 

 not so ratified ? Or is it to stand in lieu of the ratification 

 of Tarliament, so as to transfer the power of Parliament 

 to the individual graduates ? Or is the ratification of I 

 Parliament to be given only subject to the power of the 

 graduates to disallow the Act of the Legislature ? Or is, I 

 perhaps, the ratification and veto to be exercised by the 

 more compendious method of entrusting the Member for 

 the University with a power to overrule the decision of 

 Parliament and its Commissioners ? We shall look with 

 interest at the particular form given to the clause which 

 Sir John Lubbock proposes to introduce into the Bill. 



But yet, for one so careful of the " legal right," one or 

 two strange things are to be observed as to his proposal. 

 Convocation, as we all know, has already, like the Senate, 

 accepted the recommendations of the Commission, and, 

 like the Senate, claims to represent its views before the 

 Statutory Commission, when appointed. Convocation 

 has passed this resolution in the exercise of its "legal 

 right," and in the legal mode, that is, in the mode pre- 

 scribed by the Charter on which alone its rights depend.' 



* "In view of the failure of previous .attempts 10 .settle this iiucslion, and of 

 (h* Hifli'-iiltv and <\Aw whtrh must inpvit.ihly .ittend .in .^iteration of the 



■ - ■"-' ' , .1 - -> .1, -inn of the University itself, wc 



■ ■ rdents fulluwcd in other clscs 



mend sluiuld lie ctTcctetl not by 



■\. .if]iii.\ rhcnppointnictil of .iClijmmission 



. in the first instance, arrangements and 



■s- with ih'* recommendations which we are 



'■ • I' xii ) 



iidcs'*That the Convocation 



'L'(»ha( i»t'ls.^y) :— The power 



, , f' (f ill the manner 



i^ocatinn, as pro. 



if it sh.ill think 



' < >minations 



'-c sii^ned, 



-uch rcKU* 



I i[ti< I ■ ririir ileterniine, 



t disciissiiin any matter 



■It; ih.- ■.piiii-.n 'if fr)n- 



■I'W or sup. 



'ier of this 



' !•■«!, iiever- 



Is it not a little strange, then, that this new power of rati- 

 fication or veto, which is not an "existing legal right" at 

 all, is to be exercised, not in the manner in which the 

 acceptance of a new Charter is by the express language of 

 the existing Charter to be exercised, but in a mode in 

 which that very right, on the analogy of which the claim 

 is based, cannot be exercised. But truly the argument is 

 all of a piece : and the result is, that the inilividual 

 graduate is to have a larger, and a more irresponsible, 

 power in controlling the .-\cts of the Legislature, than he 

 has in controlling the .Acts of the Crown alone, acting on 

 the instance of the Senate. 



For, and this is the other strange thing, what in the 

 view of this champion of " legal rights " is to become of 

 the legal rights of the .Senate ? The .Senate is the sole 

 administrative governing body of the University. It is 

 the Senate which must necessarily have the most intimate 

 knowledge of the working of the system which it ad- 

 ministers, and of the needs of the University ft^' the con- 

 duct and reputation of which it is responsible. It is the 

 .Senate which would alone apply to the Crown for that 

 new Charter which Convocation has the power of 

 accepting or rejecting, and without whose application no 

 such Charter would ever come under discussion. Surely 

 it would be logical, or at least consistent in its illogicality, 

 to require that the acts of the Statutory Commission 

 should also be submitted to the approval of the Senate, 

 and (let it be added) that the individual members of the 

 -Senate should record their opinion by means of voting 

 papers. Or is it indeed only the "legal rights" of "con- 

 stituents " that are to be, not indeed preserved, but 

 extended by the creation of a new and exorbitant 

 precedent ? 



NO. 1343, VOL. 52] 



POST-GRADUATE STUDY AND RESEARCH 

 A T CAMBRIDGE. 



THE Senate of the University of Cambridge have now 

 approved new statutes for submission to Her 

 Majesty in Council, conferring on the University the 

 power of admitting to the degree of Bachelor of .-Vrts, or 

 liachelor of Law, "advanced students" who have resided 

 six terms, and have fulfilled certain retiuircmenls to be 

 prescribed by ordinance from time to time. 



The regulations which will become ordinances when 

 the statutes are confirmed have been i)ublislied, and run 

 as follows .-X few notes are added in si|uare brackets by 

 way of cxplan.ation. 



Rf.cU'I.AT10.NS 1-OR COI'RSKS OV ADVANCKD SrlDV .\M) 



Research. 



(.•\) Admission as Adi'aiiccd Stiideiils of Persons who arc not 

 already Members of the University. 



(1) .Applications for .•nlmissii)ii as advanced studi;nts sliiill he 

 niailif to tht.- Rfgislrary. 



No jicrson shall be admitted as an atlvaiiccd stinleiil who has 

 not attained ihe age iif twenty-one years. 



(2) Kach application shall be accomiwnietl by ■ 

 (i. ) a liiplonia or other cerlificatc of graduation at a L'nivcrsityf 



[British or foreign] ; , 



(ii.) a sttitcincnt a.s to the course or courses of (o) advanced^ 



study iir (/') research which Ihe applicant desires to pursue, ' 



gether will) such evidence "f qualilicaliiin, attainments, 



previous study as he may be able ti> submit ; 



(iii.) a certificate or declaration thai Ihe applicanl has altained 



the age of twenty-one years. 



(3) In exceptional ca,ses persons who do not present a (h|ilimia 

 or certificate of griidualion [al anoiher University] may be .id- 

 initlcd ius .advanced sludenls, provided ihey give Muh evidence 

 of special <|iialiruation as may be a])|ir(iviil by ibe Degree Com- 

 mittee of Ihe Special Hoard of SHidies wilh wliicli Ihe iiroposed 

 course iif advanced sliidy i)r research is most nearly cunneded. 



(4) .\))plicalii)ns shall, in general, be submilled not later than 

 , ,„ I Ihe first day of October in the academic year in wliicli Ihe 



.) I applicant pr(>ix)ses to begin his course. But Ihe aulhorilics 



Ivancedi 

 sue, to-2 

 Is, andf 



