The Press.
London, England, 1856-10-11 00:00:00

THE IRISH COURT OF APPEAL.

BY an act of the last session of Parliament
a Court of Appeal in Chancery in Ireland is
to be constituted, and to come into operation
on the first of January next. It is to consist
of the Chancellor and a Judge of Appeal, who
are at liberty to call to their assistance a com-
mon-law judge, the decision of the majority
to be binding, subject to an ultimate appeal to
the House of Lords.

The Judge of Appeal is to he appointed by
her Majesty by letters patent, and to hold
office during good behaviour; and he must
have exercised the office of High Chancellor
of Ireland, or have practised at the Bar for not
less tlian fifteen years. If an ex-Chancellor,
he is to rank next after the Chancellor ; other-
wise he is to rank next after the Chief Baron.
And this court is to hear appeals from orders
and decrees of the Chancellor, the Master of
the Rolls, and of the Commissioners of the
Encumbered Estates Court.

SATURDAY,

The salary, in ease the person to be ap.
pointed shall bo in receipt of any salary or
pension as exercising or having exercised a
judicial office in tiny Pf the superior courts of
law, equity, or the Oourt of Prerogative, is
limitcl to 1,000/. a year, in addition to such
salary or pension i otherwise the salary is
fixeil at four thousamd poem's a year.
The in to the administration ofjus-
tico of selecting for this highly responsible and
permanent office the best man whose services
can be obtained is apparent ; and during the
progress of the bill through Parliament it
was conceded on all hands, and generally
understood, that the Right Honourable
FRANCIS BLACKBUBNE was the man beyond all
question the most competent and highly
qualified to fill it. Upon this there could be
no possible difference of opinion, and the
reference to an ex-chancellor in the act im-
plies a preference. If he should accept the
office, as an ex-chancellor the appointment
would entail an additional expense on the
country of only 1,0001. a year.
_ .

It is now mare than ten months since this
act became law, and yet no appointment has
taken place. Before the newly constituted
court can hear appeals a code of general
orders must be framed, which will require
time and care, and which ought to be done
before the Court of Chancery resumes its
sittings. Whence this delay?
We are assured that in accordance with the
system that we have already condemned, of
establishing Roman Catholic ascendancy,
especially with reference to the Judicial
Bench in Ireland, the most unremitting exer-
tions are being made to prevail on her
Majesty's Government to disregard the im-
plied pledge on the faith of which this act was
suffered to pass, and to ignore the paramount
advantages to be obtained by the public of se-
curing at a trifling expense the most valuable
services of the able gentleman we have named,
and to substitute for him a Roman Catholic
judge who has presided in a common-law
court for nearly twenty years, during which
long period it may be fairly supposed that
whatever measure of equity knowledge he mey
have possessed when at the Bar must have
nearly evaporated, without reference to the
great intervening alterations, of which he
cannot be expected to be informed. By this
move, if successful, a double job would be
achieved—a salary of 4,0001. a year imposed on
the country, besides an additional retiring
pension, which in the case of Mr. BLACK-
BIIRNE'S appointment would not result, as he
could retire on his existing pension. We have
said a double job, because the vacancy to bo
created on the Common-Law Bench would, as
a matter of course, be also filled up by a
Roman Catholic gentleman, merely because he
is such.
We cannot believe that Lord PALMERSTON
will lend himself to such a scheme, to such a
flagrant violation of an implied pledge, and to
what would be felt as a scandal to the admi-
nistration of justice. It is obviously of deep
interest in furtherance of the objects of the
Papacy to occupy the judgment seats by its
minions; and the importance of having "a
friend in court" where so many questions involv-
ing pious frauds arise, cannot be undervalued.
We therefore look with some anxiety to the
filling up of this office, involving as it does
principles which vitally interest every right-
thinking Englishman. It is not, as it would.
seem, a mere local matter, but the working of
a deep-laid conspiracy against Protestantism.