The following, says Mr. Forster, are some of the benefits resulting from the reform of the Ecclesiastical Courts:—
That reform has reduced the depositaries for wills in this country from nearly 400 to 40.
It has brought complicated testamentary proceedings into a system governed by one vigilant court.
It has relieved the public anxiety respecting "the doom of English wills" by placing them in the custody of responsible men.
It has thrown open the courts of law to the entire legal profession.
It has given the public the right to prove wills or obtain letters of administration without professional assistance.
It has given to literary men an interesting field for research.
It has provided that which ancient Rome is said to have possessed, but which London did not possess—viz., a place of deposit for the wills of living persons.
It has extended the English favourite mode of trial—viz., trial by jury—by admitting jurors to try the validity of wills and questions of divorce.
It has made divorce not a matter of wealth but of justice: the wealthy and the poor alike now only require a clear case and "no collusion."