The usual course is, for the Master to take the opinion of some conveyancing counsel upon the draft conveyance and objections, as in the case of an abstract (k).

If an appeal is pending, the Master must nevertheless proceed to settle the conveyance, and only its execution will be stayed (l).

The draft, when settled by the Master, is engrossed in his office, and, according to the books of practice, "he signifies his allowance of it by signing his name in the first and last skins, in the following form, in the margin of the indenture; A. v. B. I approve of and allow this Indenture, being the same mentioned in my report dated the day of . He then signs a report or certificate of his having approved and allowed the engrossment, which must be filed in the usual way (m):" but upon this, as on other points, the practice of the several Masters is believed not to be uniform.

Course of proceeding in Master's office.

Draft laid before counsel.

Effect of appeal.

Engrossment of draft, and allowance thereof by Master.

(i) See Edwards' Orders, 27, and Daniel's Ch. Prac. by H. 1191.

(k) Supra, p. 523; Dan. Ch. Prac. by H, 1191; see Loyd v. Griffith, 3

Atk. 264, 266.

(l) Gwynn v. Lethbridge, 14 Ves. 585.

Exceptions lie to the Master's certificate (n); but if no exceptions are filed the conveyance must be executed by the parties (o).

In various cases of necessary parties being under disabilities, a conveyance might, until recently, have been procured under the 1 Will. IV. c. 60, and 4 & 5 Will. IV. c. 23 (p); and may now be procured under the 13 & 14 Vict. c. 60, the principal provisions of which (q) we have already noticed (r).

And by the 1 Will. IV. c. 65 (s), when any person having contracted to sell any land becomes lunatic, and a specific performance of the contract, either wholly or as the same remains to be performed, has been decreed either before or after the lunacy, the committee of the estate of the lunatic, may, in his place, by direction of the Lord Chancellor, signified by an order to be made on the petition of the plaintiff or any of the plaintiffs in the suit, convey the land in pursuance of the decree, to such person and in such manner as the Chancellor shall direct; and the purchase-money, or so much thereof as remains unpaid, is to be paid to the Committee (t).

Two modes of proceeding might, until recently, have been adopted when a party refused upon order to execute the necessary assurance: the first under the 1 Will. IV. c. 36 (u) which authorized the Court to appoint one of the Masters to execute the conveyance; but only when the recusant party had been in prison for two months (w); or, secondly, the party ordered to convey might, upon his refusal or default for twenty-eight days after tender of the conveyance, be treated as a trustee, and a conveyance might be obtained under the 1 Will. IV. c. 60, s. 8 (x): the new Trustee Act, repealing the 1 Will. IV. c. 60, contains, as we have seen, an express provision authorizing the Court to declare that any of the parties to a suit for specific performance are trustees within the meaning of the Act, and to make a similar declaration as respects unborn persons in certain cases (y); and will probably, in cases coming within its provisions, supersede, although it does not repeal, the 1 Will. IV. c. 36.

Exceptions to Master's certificate.

Conveyance under the Trustee Act, 1850.

Conveyance under 1 Will. 4, c. 65,in case of lunatic vendor.

Conveyance how to be obtained when party

(m) Dan. Ch. Prac. by H. 1192, citing 1 Turn. & V. 422.

(n) Wakeman v. Duchess of Rut -land, 3 Ves. 504.

(o) 1 Dan. Ch. Prac. by H. 1192.

(p) See In re Lowe's estate, 2 Ph. 690; and on the Acts generally, see refuses to convey.

Hill on Trustees, 275, et seq.

(q) See, in particular, sect. 30, supra, 280.

(r) Supra, 277, et seq.

(s) Which is not repealed by the 13 & 14 Vict. c. 60.

(t) Sect. 27.

We may here remark that where money has been paid under a decree or order, which is reversed on appeal, interest will not be allowed except by special direction (z).

Where the vendor's bill is dismissed for want of title, the Court will direct him, if he has received the deposit, to repay it with interest (a): or, if in the hands of the auctioneer, would probably direct the vendor to concur with the purchaser in an order for its payment (b): but, in a recent case, where the vendor's bill was dismissed on the ground of laches, and without any decision on the question of title, Sir J. Wigram, V. C, refused to order the return of the deposit; and intimated that such an order should only be made in cases where the decree dismissing the bill would entitle the purchaser to an injunction if the vendor attempted to enforce his legal remedies upon the contract (c): the return of the deposit cannot (d) he ordered when the purchaser's bill is dismissed; but, in a recent case, V. C. K. Bruce, in adhering to the rule, refused the vendor costs, on his declining to return the deposit (e).

Interest on money refunded on appeal, not generally allowed.

Decree dismissing vendor's bill - return of deposit when ordered.

(u) See sect. 15, rule 15.

(w) See 9 Beav. 275.

(x) See Warburton v. Vaughan, 4 Y. & C, Ex. 247; Thomas v. Gwynne, 9 Beav. 275.

(y) 13 & 14 Vict. c. 60, s. 30.

(z) Parker v. Morrell, 2 Ph. 4C9; and see 3 Y. & C. 131. '

(a) Hayes v. Bailey, cited Sug. 814; Lord Anson v. Hodges, 5 Sim. 227.

(b) Bryant v. Busk, 4 Russ., see p. 6.

If a bill is dismissed on grounds which would not in themselves be a defence to an action at Law, it does not appear to be necessary to express in the decree that the dismissal is without prejudice to the legal remedy (f).