1-150-412 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'A Voice from the Spirit-Woolsack', 1865. Two men riding on a flying banjo. Flying with them is a violin, a tambourine, accordion, a bell, and trumpet. A hand appears holding the letter A. This cartoon illustrates the views of the disgruntled and departed occupants of the Woolsack at a measure that was seen to lower Equity 'to a vulgar level'. Spiritualism was an increasingly popular pastime in the mid Victorian period, and here Punch manages to combine two very topical issues. The County Courts Equitable Jurisdiction Bill had recently transferred much of the authority of the Chancery Court to the County Court. The County Court now had jurisdiction in nearly all suits of Equity in which the value of the estate or fund did not exceed £500. From Punch, or the London Charivari, September 30, 1865.