The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1806-04-18 00:00:00

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HOUSE OF COMMONS.
A new writ was ordered for the Borough of Kin.
sale, in Ireland, in the room of Samuel Campbell
Rowley. &sq• who has accepted the Chiltern
Hundreds.
NABOB OF ouors DEBTS.
Mr. FRANCIS, previomly to the second read-
ing
.of the Bill for extending the powers of the
Commissioners for liqnidating the debts of the
4rmeettif the Carnatic, wished to throw it out, in
••••kins wily of a suggestion, or a notice, that he thought
'At extremely-roper for she bielialsors ul that House,
who were nt ,he legal profession, to be prepared to
give an optrtion, whether, by the fair construaion of
the Aft of 1784, the Court of Direaors of the East
Company had a right, by law, to dtlegAte the
• powers wi•lt which they were invested by the Aft, to
Comm:: trters or any other persons ?
Mr Knowles, from the Navy Office, pre-
stinted. pursuant to an ord.r of the House, a list of
al Ships of the line and fritttec built by contraa,
inl the years 104-5, and the expence, per ton, ar
which the contrails were made—Ordered to lie on
the tacit..
On the motion of Sir J.NI7.WPORTtheId read-
ing of the Irish next;r packin 1311 WAS deferred till
the sr-,.. of May and t'.e Ed reading or the
I. •h Bent Note and Irish House Duty repeal
B.ils, deferral till to-morrow
Oa the motion of Sir P. STFPHENS, the House
v...oirred its-If into a Commi•tee on the Longitude
when the sum of 10,001. was sorted as a re.
ward to such person ur persnwt as may discover the
It-taude, or to such pets ins as sl.,•uld make such
clis,..velies as might tend to any improctments in
u .vigatinn•
Mr. VansittArtl.-.tight in the Appraisement
. Diuy. ::1•11; witich read a 6 st, and ortice.l to
be read.a second time to-morrow.
• Mr.. Alex.ander hr on up the report-110e Corn-
.
mince of Supply yesterday, on the Miscellaneous
Services, which was attreea tr.
Lori OzbULSTON acquainted the House

that Ills Majesty had been waited upon with theft
last Address, and had been pleased to give direc-
tions accordingly.
WITNIP.SsES' DECLARATORT
On The .motion of the ATTOR.NEYtPkit
NERAL, the House resolved itself into a Com-
mittee on this Rill ; Mr. Alexander in the Chair.
The MASTER of the ROI I.S said, that from
what had passed upon a former occasion, he had
reason to 'aped that such objeelions as he had stated
to it, would have been obviated ; and een though
he had found it to be sptended, v
he knew
that, having declared his opt that the Bill was
quite unnecessary, he was not bound to contri-
bute any thing towards the perfettion of it. How-
ever, finding also teat the House was called apon
to declare the provisions of this Bill, according to
the opinions of the twelve Judges, he thought it
right that the provisions should,he made as much as
possible to correspond with those opinions, as they
were delivered. The Judges by no means laid it
down as an. universal proposition, that witnesses
were bound to answer all questions, to criminate
themselves. They all admittecithat there were ex-
ceptions, and therefore he did not think the Legisla-
tote should intefere, so as to establish a rule, which
does away all exceptions. He did not know that
they had stated any particular cases of exception,
and he could only conceive them to have meant,
that a man was not bound, in courts of law, to
answer questions against which he would be pro-
teCted in a Court of Equity. What he wished,
therefore, was, to leave the discretion of the Judges
in a court of law, the same as it would be if no such
Bill existed, and authorize them to afford the satna
protection to witnesses, as would be allowed them
a Court of Equity. For this purpose he moved a
provisowecc That nothing in this Act contained
should preclude a witness from objecting to such
questions as he would not be called upon to answer
in a Court of Equity ; nor preclude the Judge from
deciding on the validity of such objections."
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL (Mr. Romilly),
said, that he had so high a respeCt fur the opinion
of his Right Hon. Friend, that it was with great eh-
•villingness he felt himself obliged to disstint from
iiim on the present occasion. The great objeeion
he had to this proviso was, his conviCtion, that the
rules of evidence at common law could not be re-
versed, or remedied, by the authority of any Coutt
of Equity, neither were they, in fa& determined
even by the statutes. No Judge, in a Court of
Common Law, would allow a witness to state, as an
objeaion to a question. that he would not be com-
pellable to answer it in a Court of Equity. He saw
not the least necessity whatever for this proviso,
which might occasion the Bill to be thrown out in
another House. 'This Bill would not oblige a J udge
to compel a plaintiff to prove that the debt he sued
tot etas an unjust one, nor would a Court of Equity
compel a Man to disclose a forfeiture of his estate
by breach of contra& ; hut the same rules were not
applicable to Courts so Jistinet. At Nisi Priem, the
Judge must, of necessity, take upon him to decide
on a sudden, what, in a Court of Equity, might
turn out to be a matter of great nicety, and re-
quiring mature deliberation. Upon these, and va-
rious other grounds, he opposed the proviso, as be.
ing totally unnecessary.
The AT I'ORNEY-GENERAL said, he gave
his Hon. Friend, who spoke last, full credit for hav-
ing the very best intentions ; but, though the Bill
originated in another House, which was itself the
supreme Court of Judicature in the kingdom, and,
of course, attrafted the attention of the highest and
most distinguished law authorities in the country,
he could not help feeling, that it was capable of be-
ing predicated of the Bill, that, in its present,shape,
it did not declare what was, in fact, the opinion of
the Twelve Judges, who all admitted that there
were exceptions to the general rule. lie was, there-
fore, in favour of the proviso ; for, as the law
would stand according to the present Bill, the
Judge would have no discretion, but be obliged
to compel a witness to disclose every thing.—
A man, for instance, may hold an estate by a de-
tractive title, of which he had no notice when he gave
a valuable consideration for it, but by this Nil, the
Judge could leave him no alternative, but compel
him to disclose, upon oath, that defed,which would,
at once, reduce himself and his family, perhaps,
from afilaence to a workhouse. The laws of evi-
dence, in Courts of Justice, were not the same now
as at the time of the Crusades to the Holy Laud.
from which period, he believed, they took their.dates
for, during the space of 3.) years, that a celebrated
and Learned N :tdeman (Lord Mansfield) presided
in the Court of King's Beach, he established a va-
riety of rules which were not is use before, and sub-
sequent Chief Justices had followed the same pre-
cedent. Upon full consideration, he was satisfied,
that if the Bill were not qualified in the manner
now proposed, the Judge could do nothing in such
cases ; and bound, by a declaratory law, could not
even listen to any just objettions relatiag to the ef-
ts& which evidence may have in any civil snits to
lit afterwards instituted.
The MASTER of the ROLLS hoped that on
this occasion he might be indulged in °Crating some
reply to the arguments urged against the proviso he
submitted. His Learned Friend (Mr. {timidly)
certainly possessed, in a very eminent degree, the
faculty of expressing himself with great accuracy,
as well as fluency ; but notwithstanding these ad-
vantages, he most confess, that with all the atten-
tion in hi, power to give to his observations, he
could not comprahend whether he gave it as his opi-
nion, that after this roll should pass into a 'law, the
Judge would have the same discretionary power in
these cases. as lie possessed at present. It that were
the true coastration of the Bill, lie should not per-
sist a anoinent longer, nor have any obleCtion to
withdraw his motion, which would be rendered un-
necessary, it the Judge were not bound to de-
cide according to this law. If the House
dmuld think praiser to do so, he should f. el no
reluthusce to referring this b.ll in its present
form, to the 12 Judges, and call upon them to
Ay, whether it were declaratory of their opinions
For his own part, he could not find the rule so much
insisted on, in any of the books of law, except io
casu where it had a selereuce to the proceedings of
a Court of Equity ; neither did he know of any
authority on whith the Judges could have been in.
du :ed, to ground their exception, except that of a
case. to be found iu the Reports of my Lord
Chief Justice Parker. The case he alluded to was