Another step needed to aid Law Reform would be the appointment of a Minister of Justice, whose business it would be to consider proposed reforms, to see that they were put into proper shape and to assist in getting them passed. The same Minister might have the duty of attending to arrangements for the convenient and prompt administration of justice, but should have no judicial functions of any kind and should not interfere in any way with the action of the Courts. It is impossible to guard too jealously against substituting decisions of any department of Government for the law of the land as declared and administered by the regular Courts of Justice. Mr. Samuel Garrett, the President of the Law Society, dealt with the question very fully in January, 1918, in an address which has since been published. We may view the establishment of another new Ministry with something like horror, but a strong case is made out for it here. Definite functions are suggested for such a Ministry, and it is probable that it might in the long run save expense as well as promote efficiency. Mr. Garrett very forcibly says: "Law Reform hangs fire for want of an officer of State armed with the power of conducting the necessary inquiries and investigations, and supplying the necessary driving force to initiate and prepare the requisite legislative measures and to pass them through Parliament, and with strength to overcome the _vis inertiae_ of a preoccupied and ill-informed public and the active opposition of vested interests. Without such an officer the cause of reform is hopeless." It is now and in the immediate future that such reform is, and will be, most pressing. A reformed is naturally also a reforming Parliament as it was after 1832. There are a large number of reforms in the law which ought to be taken in hand at once. The nature of the amendments needed is clear; all that is required is that they should be brought in proper form before Parliament, and that the Government should use its influence to get them passed. It would be difficult for the Lord Chancellor to see to this work efficiently and regularly along with his other duties, and it is certainly impossible for the Law Officers, whose duty it is to represent the Crown in the Courts and to advise the Government on questions of law, to undertake this duty. It could be done if a capable solicitor or barrister who had experience of cases relating to property, not just a successful advocate but a lawyer well acquainted with the practical difficulties which make amendment in the law desirable, were put in charge of the work.