Willis : Anglo-American Law 131 
mon law and equity, but leaving all details to rules of court. 
Since the Judicature Acts, while there has been an assignment 
of subjects to the different divisions of the High Court of 
Justice, all matters are cognizable by any division of the 
court. This has resulted in the abolition of multiplicity of 
suits. In the matter of preparation of cases for trial, a plain- 
tiff can in the same action claim both legal and equitable 
remedies, and can ask for the redress of all his grievances 
against the defendant ; the defendant may counterclaim in the 
same suit any substantive cause of action which he has against 
the plaintiff; no injunction can be issued from one division to 
restrain proceedings in another ; forms of action are 
abolished; technicalities of pleading have been abolished and 
in most commercial causes they are altogether dispensed with ; 
and chancery proceedings have been shortened by the originat- 
ing summons. In this way, not only are all differences be- 
tween the parties settled, but they are frequently settled in 
a summary way without going to court ; and even if they are 
taken to court the state/instead of private attorneys, exer- 
cises supervision over the way the case shall be presented. 
In the matter of the trial of cases, modern English legal pro- 
cedure is characterized by nonpartisan control over all the 
proceedings by the judge. The state impanels the jury. The 
judge determines the issues, examines witnesses, sums up the 
case before the jury, and requires special verdicts. The ac- 
cused, or husband or wife of accused, may testify. Parties 
may be witnesses. Oral evidence is preferred to affidavits. 
The defense is entitled to counsel. As a result there little 
bickering over the rules of evidence. In the matter of review, 
appeals are conducted as rehearings, and the appellate court 
practically always renders final judgment. This has done 
away with new trials and reversals for technicalities. There 
was no appeal in criminal cases until 1907, when the Court 
of Criminal Appeal was established, but it grants no new 
trials. Perhaps the most admirable of all the reforms in- 
troduced into English legal procedure is the making the rules 
for the most part rules of court. The consequence of this is 
that the rules are directory, not mandatory, and if any one 
of them is violated it is not reversible error. This more than 
anything else has helped to stop the practice, which still pre- 
vails in the United States, of litigating legal procedure. 
