Star. — London, England, 1810-08-09 00:00:00

SALEABLE OFFICES. ON SALBABLZ OFFICES IN TAE COURTS OF LAW. The Report of the Commissioners relative to this subject, which we alluded to yesterday, states, that there is not any Office in the Courts of Chancery and Eichequer which can be considered as saleable. In the Court of King's Bench, it appears that the follow ing persons hold offices or appointments which are saleable,and that the right of nomination of such offices or appointments is as follows, viz. Appointed by The Chief Clerk . . . . . The The Clerk of the Treasury and Custos Brevium Lord Chief The Filaeer Exigenter and Clerk of the Outlawries Justice. The Clerk of the Rules on the Plea side . . The Clerk of the Papers on the same side . . The The Cikrk of the Declarations . • . • Chief Clerk The Clerk of the Common Bails, Estreats & Posteas The Clerk of the Dockets • . • • The Clerks of the Inner and Outer Treasury • The Clerks of Nisi Prius • • • • The Custos Brevium. The Bagbearer on the Plea side • • $ The net annual Receipts of these Offices upon an average of three years, ending at the period when the Accounts were last made up, respectively, were as follow—subject to the deduction of the Property Tax, and to the allowances made to the several Deputies, by whom the duties of some of the Offices were dis charged, viz. OFFICES EXECUTED BY DEPUTY. RECEIPT. The Chief Clerk £6280 18 6 Paid the Deputy (200 0 0 The Deputies are The Custos Bre• paid by Fees as ylum . . . 2019 7 4 signed to them. The Filacer genter & Clerk of the Outlaw• ties . . . . 5104 16 9 Pald Deputies . The Clerk of the 567 5 0 Declarations The Clerk of the Common Bails, Entreats, and Posteas . . The Clerk of the Dockets . . The Clerk of Nisi Prius for the Western& Ox ford Circuits itEPORT OT THE' The Clerk of the King's Silver The Clerk of the Junta, on an average of two years . . . The Clerk of the Essaigns . . The Clerk of the Warrants, ln• 106,10 140 0 0 12 12 0 70 0 0 relments, and Estreats . . The Clerk of the Juries . . . The Clerk of the Errors in the 683 16 0 72 13 11 221 IS 3 12 12 • Exchequer Chamber . . . The Filacer for Surrey, Sussex, and Kern, Hants, and Wilts, Ditto, for Norfolk and Norwich Stafford, Northampton, Salop, Rutkuid and Monmouth,Lan caster, Chester, and Durham Ditto, for Derby, Leicester, Notts, and Warwick . . . Ditto, for Cambridge and Hunt ingdon, Suffolk, and Lincoln Ditto, for Essex and Herts . 2,633 16 7 171 4 0 125 0 0 45 4 0 6 5 00 11 5 0 90 0 0 6 0 0 Si S 0 42 10 0 54,40610 6 6 S 0 11 10 0 2739 0 1 OFFICES EXECUTED IN PERSON. X 4,406 10 5 Three Prothonotaries, each 21 . ,647 13. 4d. in- eluding £225 each, deducted in their return, for Premiums on Life Insurance . . . . The Register and Clerk of the Supersedcas • . The Filacer for London and Middlesex, Bed ford, Berks, Bucks, Oxford, Cornwall, Glou cester, Hereford, and Worcester, including £e429 ss. deducted in his return for Premium on Insurance, and interest of purchase money Ditto, for Sonsersetshire, Bristol, Dorset, Poole, De. for Devon and Exeter, Cumberland, West moreland, Northumberland, and Newcastle upon-Tyne, Yorkshire, City of York, and Kingston•upon-Hull . . . ..... Three Secondaries, including £l2O each, deduc ted in their Return for Interest of Purchase Money and Premiums of Insurance . . . 1,410 0 0 sele,lo2 4 4,883 0 0 7 3 4 1,29! 5 0 31 14 11 64 10 1 And it further appears to your Majesty's Commis sioners, that the present charge upon the public re- Venue, for the payment of the salaries of the Lord Chief Justice, and the other Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, may be considerably lessened (such regard being had as aforesaid) if the number of Pro thonotaries and Secondaries were reduced to two Prothonotaries and two Secondaries, who would be fully sufficient to transact the business of that Court, now performed by three Prothonotaries and three Se condaries, inasmuch as the business of similar o ffi ces in the C ourt of King's Bench, the business of which Court is much greater than that of the Court of Com mon Pleas, is transacted by four officers ; and if the number oeProthonotaries and Secondaries should be so reduced, as no consideration will be paid for these offices after the sale of them shall be abolished, the two Prothonotaries and two Secondaries would, as it is apprehended, be sufficiently remunerated for their additional. trouble, if they should respectively retain not more than two-thirds of the fees of all those offi ces, and be accountable for the remainder. And it further appears to your said Commissioners, that the offices of Filacers for the several counties may be well executed by one person ; and that he would be sufficiently remunerated for executing the same, by retaining a proportion of the fees of those offices, not exceeding one-half of them ; and that he should be accountable for the remainder. And it farther appears to your said Commissioners, that the several offices of Clerk of the Essoigns, Clerk of the King's Silver, Clerk of the Warrants, Inrol ments and Estreats, Clerk of the Juries, Clerk of the Jurata (whose o ffi ce corresponds with that of Clerk of Nisi Prins in the King's Bench), and the Clerk of the Errors in the Exchequer Chamber, should be execu ted by the officers themselves, of which more than one may be executed by one person - ; and that they should only receive a certain proportion of the fees of those offices, and be accountable for the residue. According to the information your Majesty's Com missioners have received from the examination of the different officers of the Court of Common Pleas above mentioned, including principals and deputies, the whole amount of the fees annually received, on an average of three years, ending at the period when the accounts were last made up, was £12,102 4s. 2d. fans which, by de4ucdng the fees receive{ 10, one Prothonotary, being - £1,637 13 4 By one Secondary, being • 470 0 0 Half the fees received by all the Muer* 4 913 724 , Tha fees received by the Clerk of the King's Silver, after payment of his Deputy - $2l 16 6 By the Clerk of the Jurata, after a like pay went 1931; 7 discharging the functions of them beyond the Mount By assns of which dedo.cdons, after allowing such ' 1 of the fees and salaries which hitherto have either alms as may be proper to be added to what the de been paid or received by their deputies, or for which pnties now receive, in order that a proper remunera .the said o ffi ces might have been executed by deputy, don may be made to the principals who shall execute there probably would remain a sum of from 12 to , the functions of these offices after the sale of them £15,000, or upwards, which might be annually ap- I shall be abolished, there will remain probably a sum plied, in addition to the sums which are now account- i of not less than between iB5OOO and se6ooo per an ed for by various officers to the Lord Chief Justice num, applicable to the payment of the salaries of the and other Judges of the Court of King's Bench, and Lord Chief Justice and the other Judges of the Court in diminution of the charge upon the Public Reve- of Common Pleas; subject, however, to increase or nue, for the payment of salaries of the Chief Justice diminution, as the business of the Court may vary. and Judges of the said Court, subject, however, to in- It further appears to your Majesty's Commissioners; crease and diminution, as the business of the Court that the remuneration to be made to the officers, both may vary. of the Court of King's Bench and Common Pleas, who In the Court of Common Pleas, it appears to your shall be accountableforany part of theirfees,should not Majesty's Commissioners that the following persons be a fixed stipulated sum, but a certain proportion of hold offices or appointments which have been consi- the gross amount of the fees they shall receive (after' , dered as saleable, and that the right of nomination to r deducting such sums as are payable thereout to the such offices or appointments is as follows : Judges and other officers of the said Courts, and the APPOINTED RV THE LORD UMW JUSTICE. Stamp duties), in order to insure a proper attention The first and third Frothonotaries. to the discharge of their duties and the receipt of the The Clerk of the King's Silver. fees, out of which proportion there should be dis- The Clerk of the Jurata. The Clerk of the Essoigns. charged and paid the salaries of clerks, and other The Clerk of the Warrants, Enrolment., and Estreats. necessary expences of the said respective offices. The Exigenter. As in putting the examples of the proportions of The Clerk of the Supersedeas. the fees which certain officers might be allowed to re- The Filacers. The Clerk of the Errors in the Exchequer Chamber. ta=n, the calculation has proceeded on a consideration RV THE LORD CHIEF JI.ISTPCI, ON THE NOMINATION or Tit of the net amount of the fees received by them, ac- CUSTOS lIREVIUM. cording to which only it was possible to form an opi- Tbe Second Prothonotary, and the Clerk of the Juries. . nion what sums of money might probably be applied BY THE RESPECTIVE PROTKONOTARIES. The three Secondaries. to lessen the charge on the public revenue, it may be The net annual receipts of these officers, upon an proper to notice, that the same proportions cannot be average of three years, ending at the periods when the observed in determining what part of the gross amount accounts were last made up respectively, were as fol- of the said fees ought to be retained by those officers, low • subject to the deduction of the property tax, and inasmuch as the amount of the salaries of clerks, and to the allowances made to the several deputies by other necessary expences to be paid by the officers, whom the duties of some of the offices were dis- when added to what may be a proper remuneration charged, viz. for their services, would not leave the same propor- OFFICES EXECUTED BY DEPUTY. tion of the gross amount of the fees to be retained Receipt. Paid Deputy. and accounted for as in the examples above mention /ROB 9 4 £216 12 10 ed ; and that in determining what may be a proper remuneration of the persons discharging the functions of those offices or appointments, care should be taken that the proportion of fees to be retained by them, on that account, should not in any case be so great as to enable them, by the assistance of others, to discharge those functions, without being themselves constantly and effectively attendant on their duties, otherwise their attendance may become little more than formal, and the charge on the Public Revenue will not be les sened in the degree in which it may be. At the same time, it appears to your Majesty's Commissioners, that the proportion of fees should be such as to induce men of character, education, and ability (respect be ing had to the rank of such several Officers in the said Courts, and to the nature of their duties) to undertake the discharge of them; and, with that view, it may be a matter proper to be considered, whether it may not he fit to provide, that no person shall be appointed to succeed on a vacancy, who shall not have been for a certain number of years, a practising Barrister, At torney, Solicitor, or Officer of one of the said Courts, or a Clerk to such Officer. But inasmuch as an in crease or diminution of business may hereafter cause such - proportion of fees to exceed or fall short of a proper remuneration to the said officers, it may he rightNthat power should be given t 6 the Chief Jus tices dnd Judges of the said Courts respectively, with the approbation of the Lord High Chancellor, or Keeper of the Great Seal, for the time being, to in crease or diminish such proportion ; and that the appointment or nomination to all such offices in the said Courts, as are by law now saleable, and to which the persons, having right of sale, have hitherto nomi nated or appointed, should, after the sale thereof shall be abolished, be made by the Chief Justices of the said Courts respectively, or the senior puisne Judge there of, during the vacancy of the said respective offices of Chief Justice ; and that all such officers should be obliged to keep books, and make in them regular and true entries of all the fees they may receive, co be ve rified on oath before, and examined, signed, and al lowed, by one or more of the Judges of the said re spective Courts, within a certain time after the end of every term, and to pay over the balances to such per sons as may be appointed to receive them. And it further appears to your Majesty's Commis sioners, that some persons who have purchased their offices in your Majesty's said Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas, have so done in the expectation of being afterwards allowed to resign them in favour of other persons, to be appointed in their places for pecuniary considerations, and were it not on account of such expectation, it is evident that after the avoid ance of their offices by death or otherwise, by the per. sons who may be interested in the right of sale, the charge upon the public revenue on account of the sa laries of the Lord Chief Justices and the other Judges of the said Courts, would, upon the extinction from time to time, of the lives of the persons who should at the time f such avoidance be in possession of offi ces purchased by them, be lessened by the full amount of the several annual sums for which their successors may respectively be accountable; but unless the prac tice, which has in some instances obtained, of such officers resigning, in favour of their saccesson, for pecuniary considerations, be abolished within some certain time, it will be impossible to ascertain the pe riod at which the full amount of the several annual sums, for which all the said officers may be account able, can be applied to the lessening the charge on the public revenue, as while such practice shall re main, the offices may be contini.', for an indefinite time, to be exercised by persons who shall purchase them. But this inconvenience has occurred to your Ma jesty's Commissioners as being likely to arise from the abolishing the above practice, viz. that the said offi cers may continue to hold their offices after they shall from age, infirmity, or other causes, become unequal to the active discharge of their duties ; but while they may under such circumstances retire from their situa tions, receiving a pecuniary consideration for so do ing, younger and more active persons may be intro duced into their places, to the benefit of your Ma jesty's suitors, in the said Courts, as has happened on former occasions. This inconvenience, however, may be obviated by authorising the Chief Justices, and when those offices shall be vacant, the senior puisne Judges of the said Courts respectively, to appoint assistant officers to such persons as by the said Courts respectively shall be deemed unequal to the perfect discharge of their duties, and to appoipt 4 certain reasonable proportion of the fees to which olicers shall be entitled to be paid by the Principals to their assistant officers; and, to * 194 0 0 Paid Deputy . 120 0 0 229 3 10 Ditto . . . . 100 0 0 851 1 6 Ditto . . • • 290 7 2 343 11 4 Ditto . . . . 79 0 10 X. 15,022 19 $ se. 1,356 13 0 OFFICES EXECUTZD IN PERSON. •C. 15,022 19 S The Clerk of the Rules on the Pleas side . . 3,383 11 7 The Clerk of the Papers on ditto . . . . 1,580 011 The Ckrk of the Inner Treasury . . . . "2S IS 5 The Clerk of the Outer Treasury . . . . 158 19 6 ThiClerk of NW Prius for London and otherCitles 689 1 1 Dino for Northern and Norfolk Circuits . . 517 10 8 Ditto for Home and Midland Circuits . . . 200 12 8 The Bagbrarer . , C. 21,964 1 The Commissioners are of opinion, that when the Sale of Offices in the several Courts of Record at Westminster shall be entirely prohibited, provision may be made towards the payment of the Salaries to the Lord Chief Justice and the other Judges of the Court of King's Bench, and that the charge upon the revenue may be lessened, if the Offices above-men oneJ, executed by Deputy, as well as the Offices of Clerk of Nisi Prins for the Home and Midland, and for the Northern and Norfolk Circuits, and for Lon don and other cities, where Assizes are held, were executed in person, inasmuch as if that were done, all the fees now payable might be received by the principal Officers, who - may be authorized to retain such proportion of them as may be thought proper, regard being had tg the dignity of those Offices, and to a proper remuneration for discharging the func tions of them ; and they might be accountable for the residue of such fees. Also, if the Mice of Prothonotary or Chief Clerk of the Court of King's Bench were executed in per son, there might be no occasion for an Assistant to the Secondary, or Master on the Plea side of the Cotirt, according to the present establishment, and it the office of Custos Brevium were so executed, he might, with the assistance of Clerks to be paid by himkelf, discharge all the function of the Clerks of the Inner and Outer Treasury, and of the Clerks of Nisi Prius, which last mentioned Officers are entitled to very considerable fees for supposed transcripts of the Nisi Prius Records from the Plea Rolls, which transports are seldom, if ever made, the Nisi Prius Records being now always engrossed by the Clerks in Court, or Attornies for the parties, and the Clerks of Nisi Prius doing little more than matters of form. And with respect to the offices of Clerk of the rules and Clerk of the Papers on the Plea side of the said Court, both which offices are considered as being sale able, that after the sale of them shall be abolished, it may be expedient that those Officers should receive to their own use only a certain proportion of the fees I elonging to the said offices, and should be account- Ale for the residue, otherwise the abolition of the • • sale, instead of lessening the charge on the Revenue, mould operate to give these Officers as large a remu neration for their services only, as has hitherto been received by them for their services and purchase =- me)? together. They are also of opinion that the offices of Clerk of the Papers and Clerk of the Declarations may with advantage to the suitors be executed by the same per t( n ; and that the pleas of the general issue should be entered with him, instead of being entered with the Clerk of the Dockets ; and, by this arrangement, a Treater sum may be applied towards the payment of the salaries of the Lord Chief Justice and the other Jute' than could be done if all the officers now em ployed were lc be remunerated. Taking the Amount of Fees received in the Offices executed by Deputy at It appears that the net Fees received by those who executed tl.e Offices were somewhat less than one-eleventh part of them , being Leaving a Balance of Fees received by Officers not executitir any part of the duties, of To which, if there be added one-- kit ci for example, of the Profits of the Offices 6 Clerk Rules aC15,0211 19 4 1,156 13 0 13,660 1 3 of .. of the IL and Clerk of the By the Clerk of the Essoigns, after a U Parer:, being - And three•fourths, for example, of the By the Clerk of the Warrants, Inrohnests, bificts of the three other Clerk of Nisi and Entreats, after i like payment - Prins, being - --- - - T I PM 5 31 By the Clerk of the Juries, atter a like pay. meat . r I Tice Aqnsal Amount of these sums whllbe ' 516 9 575 5 4 1 B y the Clerk of the Errors in the Exchequer From which, after there shall have been deducted Chamber, after a like payment - such sums as, on account of the dignity of the offices, may be thought gt t 9 be allowed to the ptilSipall The meant of the deductions will make 11 nun of • . 46,327 10 10i • 70 0 0 461 If 0 .0 1 1 i 10 10 0 II 7 -w l ° induce persons properly cleaned to become sncl► assistant officers, they might be appointed to such offices, with a right of succeeding the principal offi cers on their respective deaths, with proper provisions for the avoiding their appointments, both as assistant s and principals, in case of their, or any pers on on their behalf, paying or agreeing to pay any pecuniary consideration whatsoever to any person, in order to their obtaining such appointments. In consequence of the requisitions made by your Majesty's Commissioners, as mentioned in the early part of this Report, the Master of the Rolls in Chan. cery, the Six Clerks, the sworn Registers, and the Usher of the same Court, your Majesty's Coroner ant! Attorney in the Court of King's Bench, and the Chief Cryer of that Court, and the Secondaries to et- Chirographers in the Court of Common Pleas, re. spectively, save to your Majesty's Commissioners the informat►on conta►ned in the Appendix, No. III.; but, upon adverting to the Statute passed in the fifth and sixth years of the reign of the late King Edward the Sixth, which prohibits the sale of any office which in anywise touches or concerns the administration of justice, with a proviso only that the said Statute shall not extend to offices held by estate of inheritance, or be prejudicial or hurtful to the Chief Justices of the King's Bench or Common Pleas, or the Justices of Ass►ze, your Commissioners did not think any of the offices or appointments in the disposal of the Officers last above enumerated, were saleable, and have on that account forborne to make any further report to your Majesty respecting them, FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. PARI6, AUGUST 1. The Queen of Bavaria was safely delivered of a Princess, in the night of the 21st ult. at the Castle of Nymphenberg. The City of Amsterdam has sent a Deputation to Paris, to present to his Imperial Majesty the homage of its inhabitants. Colonel Carrega, on the 12th ult. with a crew et seamen under his orders, went on board of the Admiral Zoutman, of 80 guns, at Me demblik, but owing to the neap-tides, it is impassible before the 20th to get her raised upon the camels, on which she is to be conveyed to the Vlieter ; whence she will proceed to join the squadron under Rear-Ad. miral Lemmere, at the Texel. On the 26th ult. a most destructive hurricane was felt at Chatillon. In less than a quarter of an hour a number of houses were unroofed, and the steeple of St. John's church, and seven' stacks of ehimnies, blown down. The Cours-Vert, and the banks of the Douir, resemble a forest that had been just cut down; and in the gardens and orchards, all the trees ate either broken, torn up by the roots, or completely stripped of their fruit. Acousr 2.—On Monday evening his Majesty held a Council of Commerce at St. Cloud, By an Edict of the King of Saxony, the Jews are exempted from the tax which they formerly paid upon attending the fairs of teipsick and Naurnberg, A Russian landholder in the Government of Wilna, has, by his last will, emancipated all his peasants, to the number of 7000. The Emperor Alexander has co nfirmed this act of beneficence. The Grand Duke of Frankfort has abolished the immunities formerly enjoyed by the merchants and cloth and linen manufacturers of the Imperial Frei Cities, on taking up their residence there, or attend, ing the fair. On the 18th, the env:rons of Augsburg were tug vaged by a severe hail-storm. The hailstones fell, in some parts, as large as nuts ; and such was the vio., lence of the wind, that several houses were blown down, and the largest trees were torn up by the roots At Kutzenhansen only a few houses are left standing, The castle of Wollenberg suffered-considerably, and the steeple of the chapel of Radegonde was blown down. VIENNA, JULY 18, Yesterday, his Majesty the Emperor returned front Baden to this capital, to give the usual audiences, and hold a Council of State extraordinary, The result has been a great change in our ministry. Count Ugarte, hitherto Chancellor of Bohemia and Austria * hasresigned all his appointments, and retires with the title and salary of Minister of Conferences. Count Wallis, governor of Bohemia, is to be at the head of the home department. Count Zichy resumes his for mer situation of President of the Chamber of Finance. with more extensive powers than he had before the death of Count O'Donnel. He will have the title and authority of Minister of Finance, without any de, pendancy upon the Council of State, and subject only to the instructions he may receive at his private con ferences with his Majesty the Emperor. It is said that all -these changes have been effected by M. de Balduca, who, in concert with Count Zichy, possesses his Majesty's entire confidence. The Court Gasidte of this day contains the follow. in article ; The Pacha of Widdin, at different times, in the months of January and February, took from the post, dispitched by the Austrian post office at constanu nople, a quantity of pearls, belonging to a mercantile house at Vienna, and detained them, under pretence of their being a lawful seizure, under the Custom• house regulations. According to advises from Con• stantinople, of the 9th June, Chevalier Von Stunner, his Majesty's Minister Plenipotentiary at the Porte, has, at length, by his zeal and powerful interpositions succeeded in procuring restitution of the pearls, and thus has the course of post, between Vienna and Con stantinople, been again placed on a secure footing." PRIVATE LIfTER.F. HADACSURGH, IVLY ". The Senate of the Manse Towns has lately been summoned together for the purpose of deliberating on the affairs of commerce. and it is rumoured, that new restrictive reguiations are to be imposed, but as their sitting has not yet concluded, the precise nature of titese discussions remnins a secret. Letters froth Ps* hint a: a want of harmony between the Uteri/ married couple, but we do not know how much credit is to be given to the story. ! Here it is not belived that the Empress is pregnant. and it is supposed that the former report MI S merely • a squib. • L Our garrison has undergone several alterations, sometimes being larger and sometimes smaller. It has been increased by the Westphalian and HdiflOTC• I rian levies ' • a part of the division of Count Moli tor left us two days since. A corps of troops for the go• mon of the city is forming here, but the bitch will not leave the place to them alone.