The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-05-30 00:00:00

PUBLIC ;PROSECUTORS

On Saturday, the report of the select committee,
appointed by the House of Commons to enquire into the
question of public prosecutors, was issued amongst other
Parliamentary papers. It appears that two draft
reports, one proposed by Mr. J. G. Phillimore, the
chairman, the other by Lord Stanley, were submitted to
the committee, and the latter was, with some amend-
ments, finally adopted. The first portion of the report
consists of a summary of the evidence, setting forth the
evils of the present mode of conducting criminal prose-
cutions, and embracing the mass of testimony taken by
the committee during its sittings of last year, when it was
first appointed. Lords Brougham and Campbell, the
Attorney General, and a number of witnesses, of the
highest eminence in the legal profession, have
concurred in the expediency of appointing a public
prosecutor. as the only means of preventing the
evils arising from the escape of criminals through
partiality or want of means to prosecute, the
loose manner in which prosecutions are conducted in
some parts of the kingdom, the frequent bribery of the
police by law attorneys, and the mismanagement of
cases conducted by policemen. Mr. Trafford, the stipen-
diary magistrate of Salford, states that when he entered
upon the duties of his office he found great irregularities
prevailing, and frequent failures of justice, owing to
the want of a public prosecutor ; lie found the attorney
to whom many prosecutions were entrusted a man of
had character, who, in one case, hal actually embezzled
the amount allowed as costs to the witnesses. The
state of things described in the evidence is very defec-
tive, and calls urgently for amendment. Some
effort has been made to check the evils arising from
it ; in Liverpool, for instance, by selecting a gentleman,.
legally qualified, and paid by a fixed salary, to perform
the office of district agent in all prosecutions. The
committee recommend that such agents shall be
appointed througout the country to prepare and conduct-
proseeutions through the stage preliminary to trial.
When it comes to their knowledge that a crime has
been committed, and that no steps have been taken to
bring the culprit to justice, it will be their duty to take
the necessary measures for apprehending him ; or, in
the case of a person already in custody, if the case
is one of more than ordinary difficulty or import-
ance, to take upon themselves the further manage-
ment of the prosecution. It will be their business to
collect and prepare the evidence, to see that the
indictment is properly drawn up, and brought before the
grand jury ; and to prepare the brief and instruct coun-
sel at the time of trial. The committee does nut go so
far as to advise that Individnals instituting prosecutions
should be prohibited from employing their own attorneys
and counsel, and be compelled to resort exclusively to
the public prosecutor. They propose to leave it open
to the private prosecutor to pursue the ordinary course,
as at present; but with a view to prevent the compro-
mises which are sometimes resorted to from private
motives, and to ensure the effective administration of
justice, they suggest that it should be compulsory
on an attorney employed to conduct a prosecution,
to give notice to the district agent of his intention to
prefer- an indictment, and that the agent should have
authority to intervene, and, if necessary to apply to the
court for leave to take up the prosecution, and conduct
it to its close. The committee state, in conclusion, that
an efficient system of' public prosecutions may be
established, and would be the means of placing the
administration of criminal justice on a footing more con-
sistent than at present with the requirements of an
enlightened age.