"I think this payment was not voluntary, because the defendant" [the parish clerk] "told the plaintiff, that if he did not pay him for certificates, in all cases in which he wanted to make extracts, he should not make a search at all. _I think the plaintiff had at all events a right to make a search, and during that time make himself master, as he best might, of the contents of the book, and could not be prevented from so doing by the clerk_ in whose custody they were; who in the present case insisted that if he wanted copies he must have certificates with the signature of the incumbent. For the 1s. he paid, the applicant had a right to look at all the names in one year. He had no right to remain an unreasonable time looking at the book; nor perhaps, strictly speaking, was the parish clerk bound to put it into his hands at all: for the clerk has a right to superintend everything done, and might fairly say to a man, 'Your hands are dirty: keep them in your pockets.' The applicant could therefore only exercise his right of search during a reasonable time, and make extracts that way. _If a man insists on taking himself a copy of anything in the books, that case is not provided for by the statute_: but if he requires a copy certified by the clergyman, then he must pay an additional fee for it. "It was consequently _an illegal act_ in the defendant to insist that the plaintiff should pay 2s. 6d. for each entry in the book, of which he might choose to make an extract," &c. Mr. Baron Martin says: "With respect to the statute, counsel (Mr. Robinson) says, because taking extracts is not mentioned in the statute, it is competent for a parish clerk to take an extra payment for allowing them to be made. Where a man is allowed by statute to receive money, it is, as it were, by virtue of a contract that the statute makes for him, and he cannot make a contract for a different sum. The defendant here is bound by the entirety of the statute; _he may be paid for a search_, OR _for a certified copy_, BUT THERE IS NO INTERMEDIATE COURSE." This decision will, I hope, have the effect of removing the difficulties so often experienced in making searches for genealogical purposes. At all events, the person making such search can now _safely_ make his own notes, none daring _lawfully_ to make him afraid. I have to apologise for the length of this letter. G. BRINDLEY ACWORTH. 12. King's Bench Walk, Temple. * * * * * THE HONOURABLE MISS E. ST. LEGER, A FREEMASON. (Vol. iv., p. 234.)