chambers and
other administrative business and non-witness actions and motions. The
interruption of a witness action for two or three days, particularly in
a country case, occasioned great expense, and had other inconveniences.
It was a simple remedy to link the judges in pairs with one list of
causes and one set of chambers assigned to each pair. This reform was
effected by the alteration of a few words in certain rules of court.
There are therefore, only three sets of chambers, each containing four
chief clerks, or, as they are now styled, masters of the Supreme Court,
and one of the linked judges, by arrangement between themselves,
continuously tries the witness actions in their common list, while the
other attends in chambers, and also hears the motions, petitions,
adjourned summonses and non-witness cases.

Although styled masters it does not appear that the chief clerks have
any larger or different jurisdiction than they had before. They are
still the representatives of and responsible to the judges to whom the
chambers are attached. The judge may either hear an application in
chambers, or may direct any matter which he thinks of sufficient
importance to be argued before him in court, or a party may move in
court to discharge an order made in chambers with a view to an appeal,
but this is not required if the judge certifies that the matter was
sufficiently discussed before him in chambers.

Under the existing rules of court many orders can now be made on summons
in chambers which used formerly to require a suit or petition in court
(see Order LV. as to foreclosure, administration, payment out of money
in court and generally). The judge is also enabled to decide any
particular question arising in the administration of the estate of a
deceased person or execution of the trusts of a settlement without
directing administration of the whole estate or execution of the trusts
generally by the court (Order LV. rule 10), and where an application for
accounts is made by a dissatisfied beneficiary or creditor to order the
accounts to be delivered out of court, and the application to stand over
till it can be seen what questions (if any) arise upon the accounts
requiring the intervention of the court (Order LV. 2, 10a). Delay and
consequent worry and expense are thus saved to the parties, and, at the
same time, a great deal of routine administration is got rid of and a
larger portion of the judicial term can be devoted to he