The National Register. — London, England, 1821-03-04 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN LAIV SOCIETY. A numerous meeting of the members of the Me. • tropolitan Law Society was held at the Globe tavern, in Fleet-street, on Friday evening, for the purpose of taking into consideration the Bill recently intro .duced into the House of Commons. entitled, " An Act for the more convenient recovergaf moll debts .iu England and Wales." _Mr. Goatee having been called to the chair, Mr. W RIIIUT proceeded to address the meeting. .He said he rose with diffidence, but that diffidence merged into the anxiety which he felt for the com mon interest of the profession. The Bin was not .the production of one individual, but emanated from s committee of the Lords, by whom it had been altered and amended to its present shape. In every view he considered it enjust, absurd, inapracticable, and impolitic. It was unjust, because it went to .dep::ve cumin ildividuals of their freehold as well .as hereditary .1:glue; he alluded to the Duke of ,Grafton, who held his office in the Sad Office, by .bareditary sight,.granted under a charter of Charles and. the clerks of the tales and common papers, .who purchased. their situations, and who had by law .the same right to dispose of them as if they were .their freehold estates. It was impolitic too, because .the wsits issued for sums under 151. constituted at Ilesuat.wo-thirds of those which were actually issued; and the loss to the revenue, by the r•rungements of the new Bill, would not be less then thirty thousand pounds per annum. It was absurd l'om a variety • of reasons, but principally because it would operate al an encouragement to litigation. There were other points not less open to reprehension—among • these ,mere the mode in which Jo •es were to be •aeleeted. .Although by the ordinary rules of law, a freeholder of 40s. a yetir um considered sufficient to .decide a question in which the title to a whole county raightle involved; yet by this Act, it was necessary to decide a debt of 151. that a Juryman should be possessed of a freehold of 51. per annum. The Judge must, under this Act, be a sort of ambulatory being, for his fees would be utterly inadequate to enable him to ride, and would scarce even afford him the means of procuring good shoes to walk— for in order to obtain 1501. he must try 1500 causes ! He would give a specimen of his fees -- for every plaint of 40s. his fee w a s b e ad.—about 40s. and not exceeding 51. it was to be 4d. and above 31. ! For a judgment lie was also to receive the enormous sum of twopence! (Laughter.) slut what appei.red still more singular, was, that the bailiff was, in point of payment, better oil than the Judge, for he was to be allowed a whole shil ling for executing a tapirs. This, however, was yeriemly consistent with the opinions of Black stone, " that execution was the highest department of the law.' If the framers of this Bill merely wanted to attain celerity and dispatch in litigation, .be could have recommended a Court quite suited to .their purpose—he meant the Pied l'oudee Court ; and as this was generally held at fairs and markets the Judges .might have gone round with the shew. men , and, by way of =aunty, have been accom modated with half the bed of the baboon, while the Axial, and other officers of this Court, in their leiture hours, might assitt in taking care of the lions, Men, and other animals belonging to the person ,who . bad :contacted for their removal rnarn plaits to plaee. , (Laughter.) Mr Wright then proceeded to rent out other absurdities in the Act, among which he classed the following fees to be paid to *Wales :-- TWee a,Plaint and Copy, without notice of gie particulars of the demand Font pence. For a Plaint cod Copy, with notice of the pat ti.:ulars of the demand Sixpence. Ear a.P.lza and Copy iota Plea with Se? off mud Copy racattc.....lng the Heating of a Cause, One Shilling. Fut Cali , at Sitranoons to each Witness, Twopence. For hes-elec. of eauh Witness Foe attcading a Motion in Court For these pitiful sums it would be impossible to obtain ..t le Attendance of any respectable Solicitor upon theCuitrts in question, and thus the object at which they had been so long aiming, the exclusion of persons of an opposite character from their holy, would be frost:std. (Hear.) Having enumerated some abut .objectionable parts of the Bill, he con eluded t 9 moving the following Resolution, which Wr s mined unanimously : " That the bill now in progress in the house of commons, entitled,' A 811/1 for the more convenient Recovery of Small Debts to England and Wales; is, in the judgment of Ibis eaestiag, uiljuot, absurd, impolitic, and linings. nimble. con trary to the principle s of our laws, and all sound legislation ; ad, if pawed lira a law, will create much more siischiet than it is kneaded to prevent." The following Resolution was also carried una nimously : " That this Bill is at valiance with the principles of English law , sal of sound legislaison. Because it substitutes the oath of a party f.r•• that of a i toebbes. la 21.1106111 g damages against an absent defendant ; and allows ;natl.., generally, to be w i tnesses for themselves in their own causes—thus . . holding eat a strong indite emeut to perjury. because, by naltiog a Judge's remunerotron to depend mien the number of actions be tries, it becomes his inter, Ilmt cau4e..linuld be berried ever rather thaa tuveetiguted, and that plaiutll6 THE NATIONAL REGISTER iot geueral shonldsucceed,and he t►ereby encouraged to ►ring suits iota hit Court. Al the same lime that the remuneratioa provided for the Judge is not seffielenl to set him above these templatioes, nor ►ach as to make it worth the while of uuy person Inwood of competent talent to accept the office ; because the compensation to the attorney is 40 ludicrously inadequate, that, with full amployment, he could not tuns a decent subsistence, nod retain his rank io society, And the result must Is., either that the practice of th se Courts would be confined to At tornies of no repute or responsibility (such us it has berm the anxious endeavours of the legillature for a series of years to discourage told exclude), who would elude the law as to the prescribed fees, and dare its penalties; or that parties being disabled from purciouting legal advice nod insistence ut a fair sate, would have to manage their own causes, at great trouble, great risk of success, and at lunch unnecessary expetive to themselves r and because the bill seeks to establish One law for the rich and another fur the poor,---and would put snore cases which are most numerous, nod relate to the great bulk of the people, and wherein there is likely to he must knavery, ander the most imperfect and inequitable code." CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. Mr. Plunkett's motion upon this subject induces us to take a short review of the different divisions which have taken place upon it during the last ten years. In 1812 the bill for Catholic Emancipation was lost, alter several divisions in its favour, by the ce lebrated opposition of Mr. Abbot, the Speaker. A motion having been carried by that gentleman, that Catholics should not be allowed to sit in either House of Parliament, by a majority of 251 to 247, Mr. Ponsonby declared the bill with this clause to be nugatory, and gave it up. In 1816 Lord Castlereagh supported the bill brought in for the relief of the Catholics ; Mr. Peel the Secretary fiir Ireland, opposed it, and the qUestion in the Commons by 172 to 141 ; in the Lords by only 73 to 69. Mr. Grattan's motion the ensuing year, in the House of Commons, was negatived by a majority of 24; and that of Lord Donoughmore, in the Upper House, by 142 . to 90. On the'3d of May, 1819, the motion for a com mittee was negatived in the Commons by a majority of two; the numbers being 243 to 241: in the Lord► the numbers were 147 to 10(1. From this abstract of the several divisions, it ap pears that the fiiirest prospect of succeeding with the bill was in the year 1813, when, in fact, petitions were most numerous against it but when there wcre two or three divisions in its favour, and when it was read a first time, and second time, and com mitted- At present, we believe that even those of the ministers who arc most adverse to the measure, namely, Lord Liverpool and the Lord Chancellor, allow that the circumstances of an unpledged Par liament, and an unpledged Sovereign, are good omens. The King u.so is said to be about to visit Ireland. W'c know it is not constitutional to speak of the King's wishes respecting a pending bill ; the inclinations of his lute Majesty upon the subject were, however, well known ; and we should suspect that the inten royal excursion to Ireland will either be defer ~ or the pleasure of it considerably abated, if it should have been learned in the inter vening time that the King is hostile to what is termed Catholic Emancipation. ST. DA►IL'S DAY. Thursday last being the 107th anniversary fes tival of the most honourable and loyal society of Ancient Britons was celebrated with more than usual festive pomp and parade. The school was founded fur the benevolent purpose of clothing educating, and maintaining 127 boys and girls, the children of Welch parents, who have not gained a legal parochial settlement in London, or within ten miles of the Royal Exchange. At half-past eleven o'clock the children were called out to form into procession; the whole were neatly and cleanly dressed, and health, the 'conse quence of attention and good government, appeared in every face. The procession proceeded along Guildford-street, and to the parish church of St. George, Hanover-square, where the church service was read in the ancient British language, by the Rev. Thomas Alban, A. M. Vicar of Llandrillo, Denbighshire, and Chaplain to the Society. The church was extremely full, and the collection at the door was considerable. After divine service the procession took the same order as before, and proceeded down Bond-street and Pall Mall, to St. James's-square, where they halted at the front of the Duke of Norfolk's, and Sir W. W. Wynn's, giving three hurxa's at each ; and thence proceeding to Carlton-palace, they paid the like testimony of respect. Their next stage was to the Freemasons' Tavern, in Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn-fields, where, about six o'clock nearly six hundred persons sot down to dinner. Ills Royal Highness Prince Lcupohl took the chair, in which he was supported by Sir Watkin Wynn and Sir Charles Morgan. Af er the cloth was removed Alm Vutir Duovne was ad mitably sung by Messrs. John Smith, Master Smith, George Smith, and Mr. John Parry. The Royal President then gave " The King, the patron of the institution," with three times threep which was followed by reiterated bursts of applause. Song—" God save the King." The next toast was—" The Duke of York and the rest of the Royal Family." ." The Principality of Wales," and several other standing toasts were given, all of which were drank with enthusiasm. The Royal Chairman stood up, and made a very neat but short speech, in which he stated that that was the first public meeting at which he ever pre. sided in his life, and not being very fluent in the English language, he hoped they would excuse his not giving them his sentiments as he felt them, and as he could wish. The conclusion was received with thunders of applause. The children were then introduced by the Stew. ards; they were led round the room in procession, expressing by their looks and deportment the warm est gratitude to their benefactors. The healths of several of the persons of distinction, the Vice-Presidents. Stewards, &c. were drunk with enthusiasm. From the Secretary's account it appears, that 1281 boys, and 250 girls have ,been entered upon the foundation, and wholly maintained in the house ; of the former 7(31 have been apprenticed with a foe; 175 had gone to sea, and 255 gone into service, and 90 remain on the establishment. Of the latter 162 are gone to service, 51 put out apprentices, and ST are on the present establishment. The subscriptions received during the day were very liberal, considerably exceeding one thousand pounds. The King gives 100 guineas annually.—. One hundred guineas were subscribed by his Royal Highness the Chairman. The company continued to a late hour, and the utmost conviviality and good humour prevailed. On Monday evening, at about half-paast five o'clock, a most furious fire broke out at the shop of Mr. Butler, chemist, in Gutter-lane, a few doors from Cheapside, on the left hand side The fire, we were informed, was occasioned by an highly inflammable chemical prepr"ation taking tire. The combustible was so violent, that in a few minutes the whole of the house was in flames, and the two adjoining houses belonging to a gentleman named Langston, and that belonging to Messrs. Thompson and Jackson, the engravers, also caught tire, but not before a considerable portion of the furniture had been rescuttl ....era the flames: they were, how.. ever, hi a short time totally consumed. 'the tiro threatened incalculable destruction all around, not withstanding the immediate exertions of a number of tire engines, seconded by most a plentiful supply of water. The flames raged in a direction towards Foster-lane, and did considerabla injury to the boa part of Sealers' Hall and severs' of the adjoining houses. The whole neighbourhood was in the greatest alarm and contusion until about nine o'clock, when the flames were in some measure got under. The City Police were prompt in their at tendance, and by their judicious at eangements much depredation, by the thieves who mustered in great numbers, on the property removed for safety was prevented. From the great bustle and confusion going forward, we were unable to collect any eel.. fair account of the damage done, but we understand that a considerable portion of the property destroyed is insured. Two officers belonging to the Rottingdoan Prc ventive Guard, boarded a French smuggling lugger with contraband spirits on Wednesday night near Brighton. The crew consisting of six Frenchmen and one English sailor, refused to surrender, and stood out to sea. When 20 miles ftom the coest, the smugglers compelled the officers to get into the large tub-boat of the lugger, anti to return to the shore. At three o'clock the following mottling, about 120 tubs (supposed to have been part of the cargo of the above lugger) were landed opposite Regency Square; 46 of which were seised by the Brighton officers, and deposited in the store in Black Lion-street. RECORDER6WIP 0/ LONDON.-1t is said that Sir J. Sylvester, in consequence of his age and ilicreas. inp infirmities not permitting him to discharge the du .ies of his important situation, without consider. able assistance, had procured the coasent of a ser jeant of well-known legal acquirements, in West minster Hall, to act as his deputy, but that this arrangement has been frustrated, on the ground of its intertbring injuriously with the claims of others on the Corporation. Insolvent Drblurs.—lt was ruled last week, in the Court of King's Bench, that the release of a debtor under the Insolvent Act dues not disqualify any creditors inserted in his schedule from proca.i& ing against him under a commission of bankruptcy, for rmovery of property 11.1 may have emit: led or subsequently become entitled to.