The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-10-28 00:00:00

THE AO,MINISTRATION OF JUSTICE days assigned foe the *ash's at each place; what lime at
York, and ao on ?—Elie last 'stunner at York the commis.
UPON THE NORTHERN ClRO.lll'. I
lion day was ow Ow Srtnritey, and at Denham the Slooday
-.arm.— . fortnight after ; toy that means a compl, to fortnight of
The Select Committee appointed to amender whether ant, working was allowed ; it is snout silt slays tome, r thus
and what steps may be neeeesary no be taken, In give to formerly.
the Counties of Westmorland, Cumberland, Northam- i la it the same time in the spring as it is in autninnt--No,
berlanot, and Durham, and Town and County of Neweas. ' it is rattle, ',Wilmot io apt itoz: it lite Consist thee pleases I
tle.•pon-Tyne, the same ailwasitagee of Assizes twice isi will take the summer first At Doi loin, I think I may say
eachyear,
year, as are now loosened by all the other Comities ihnt the average number of coml. la loon about forty tu
fit England and Wales, and to report their observations 45, sometimi• more mitt etimea lees ; la*t year there
iliereopon to the How.. ; and to whom the Petition or were shout fitly five; but Inv motions is, 11,41 noon an see.
the Mayor, Shiciffe, Citizens, and COMIIIMOSIty of the rage. from l'ot ty to fort y.fiee. Th. to, as to the time, accord-
ed)? of Norwich; soil also the Heinen* of the Calendars ing to the last assiz a, which I think will be the time in
of the Prisoners, and of the Lists of Causes tried at the future, the commis, illy mac lia a Monday, soul lite
Asses for the Counties before meotioned, were referred; stay there was till the S;doirday following. At Newcastle.
—Have, IslirruAnt 10 the Order of the House, considered the oitioher of esoara, melei• i those of the ellailly of
thy same accordingly ; "ad have agreed to the following Nerthondorland as sell the man, I should think are,
P. EPORT : I upon an O,-, from thirty to 'billy-live. fuse last
Your Committee, on ref, ering to the different Papers laid summer, • whole week. the, iv, from Saturday to Saturday,
before them by order of the House, find, that for several was taken for Near:4ole rectory. it Islay :Wear odd Ii
years past, persona charged in the forte Northern Comities I the Committee. without further 4,1E1,1.'11510n, that more time
with offences, out ordinarily falling under the jurisdici should be taken fur Newcastle 111411 for Durham ; but the
of the General Quarter Sessions, have continued in prison i causes +hien tire tried at Ni.l.CilSili• arc of none ianpin tenet
previous to their trial fur ',evens eight, and Moe months, and than those which ate tried at Durham, and therefore more
in many inidauces fur a hosier period of time ; and they time is taken for the trying of a lest ounilwe of causes at the
ta ...... I butt direct the immediate attention of the House to one place than at the oilier I thick,, at Carlisle the moodierr is
so great a failure is the administration of criminal joaliee. shunt fifty, although a ..... e)4 s have to
. ~ tn-
The return of causes of the respective counties, with the tarty on some ocens. , when 'lu(e wes e a great number
exeepti .... Of that or Westmorland, mark • large and pro. of enclosures; the ISSSilte Si that Ware stow take an entire
gr .e increase of civil business. In the Marshal'. Pare" week, from SAturolay so Saturday. lam taking the corn-
et Csolasie, for the year 1614, nu less than SO records were mit.' days f the lasi ciocuit, which I think will be
delivered,of which kur only appear to have been withdrawn; I guntinued. The call ws at 1 eh
anotroint to about eight
in the year 1815, 61 causes were entered ; and the two enc• Si tem sod he the lone is fount S ism day (the commission
resSive years averaged not less than 50. At Durham, in the i day) till Wedoesslay ; the bugs s. is generally dime its one
year 1814, they amounted to 51; and in 1817, to 51. North- I day, or a day sod a hadir. A
il t Lit some sometimes lakes the cominisi
hut-
atin
umbrrland (including the jurisdiction of the town and day last year was tin Wenesav; a
goody of Newcastle-oopon.Tyste) furnished, in 1916, 42 night to pi thiooeli the business three, and 00, ..... limes it
causes; Co: five of these tames special juries had been exceeds that Issue; the number of causes oho or is very snitch
summoned, three of them were made "'mimeos, and Confer- I Opt same as at You k, that is, from one houtleed and seventy
Totally weal over for twelve months; in the following year I is two hundred.
32 actions were entered, one only of which was withdrawn. Can you state at all, from von recollection, what has
As the returns themselves are in their nature WO salami- been the iner,a4e of ...mats during the time poi have been
nuns for publication, a short but accurate abstract is given wpm. the Chinn, At thigh tin, Neseastle, Carlisle, and Ap-
ia the Appendix .1s pleby ?-11 fiend:, when I first went the circuit, thine were at
Such being the actual slate of business is these three ' Durham from thirty to thirty five; they have !welt peewees-
letililliiirs, without a well grounded prospect of diminution, ; sleety increasing; at Newcastle, though on one oreaSitin I
your Cumroittee cannot form to themselves airy satisfactory I recollect there was a . 'Ty small rills y, hilt ohms I first went
reason why the trial of civil causes should he thus deferred ; that circuit, I think the average was about tweidy. At Car.
within three districts, and the cost of bolding only one I lisle, the first few %ears Iwo cat there, the average WAS about
Assize in the year continued, subjecting the suitors to se- ! 30 or 35• At Appleby, there is little or no alteration. 1
nous inconvenience, aud in some cans to ruinous expense. 1 base now mentioned Ike slimmer circuit. In the spring
The practice of bringing actions in other counties, now often circuit, couch the /W number of days is occupied at Vora
I ISP!
resorted to, whet(' they are transitory, compels the attend- and Ism-aster; in the arrangement of last *moonier there
emcee witnesses carried from a considerable distance, kept I was a oley more taken at York then iti the spring; but
at the cost of the respective parties, and probably at last do- I though this time is taken at York, it very often happens
missed without a hearing. 1 that there are remanets.
It is clear, hum the evidence beard before your Committee I Dies the witness speak to the entry of causes, or closes
as to sloe prettrure of civil hnsiness at York, that it is now actually trued?—Of entered causes.
wills diffiCillty guise through, though • greater Humber of I What propornim of those came., are tried?—That IMI
day, is allotted in the summer, than was usual in preceding . hardly say ; in my ale erromged and seoliei, and others are
rats; and that of late two Judges have presided in the ! refer,. d ; indeed it would he very difficult to ascertain due
Spring Circuit ;it wilt be found, stoat at the close of the last i fart, . van through the medium of the off-if-re who takes the
Commission at that place, six Special and three Common I verdicts ; many of them bring verdicts taken by consent,
Jury cairn's were made reminirtc, yet the Court was occupied mid others taken upon a refentiee; fil that you can seldom
ti ii, twelve, or fourteen Moos during Me day. get the smasher of 1.31111P4 *hid' are teary tried.
At Lancaster, to • most heavy calendar, are added is Awe ii happen at York end Lancaster,llWillf to the short-
general, net less than 18n causes, involving in them, as nosy nes. of the time, that malty causes ate referred
natisral!y be imagined from the site soil population of die I I am or opinion it is so; but Lancaster, being the last place
Palatinate, questions of the highest iniportance, as well as
I see go ter, it dons not.
commercial as on other points. , Does it totems at Newcastle or Carlisle'-1 think it hap-
Lookiug, therefore. to all the circumstances which accom- ! prim at Newcastle, or else they are made rein:metro and
pasty this view of the subject, sad considering it just, that • , tri Y 'o, us, r till :mother year • bust the last year we took ;other
those comities should mit 1w deprived of those advantages i morimelie
at ~,,,a,caa if •
. Ile ; •hich„ c (41, will, I thotik,
which are possessed by al! the c.iontiee within the Coiled • iii ...lor' d lie sufficient for die causes there; hot before
Empire, your Committee hag leave to recommend, that ! that rind, it very often happened that CAUSCS stood over
sisich meitaisres should be tattoo a. would divide the prebend i sill mist, sues)i ...in,
Northern Ci, co it into two sepias'. Circnits, the one compel.-
Dui you think a (realer proportion of those causes are re-
bending the counties of Westenorlatid, Laiwastes. and Cum. I
(erred, iI, in wools! be if there were sufficient time given to
berland; sod the other isteloiliog those of Yook, Norilliou-
try thi In ?—I think there still would he a great number re.
lorland, and Durham. No ohji ction could arise under this
entichwn„, liar. leered ; Intl I thotk. more are referred than there would be,
arratigement, as to the attembiner of an
for with the proposed alteration, there would still remain to , if a In"^" rterthth of lime was 41°1" to try them.
i Lbws not the witooes• thioik that the standing over of
each of these divisions as moth, if not • larger exitut of
I MISS, is a great injury to the parties?—lt always is an in-
business, than is generally transacted opus every other Cir.
snit in England. I jury, both its conseritseine of stir increase of expenee, and
I from the delay in tin decision; butt I think that many uf
To carry this plan into its foil execortion, and to give it
I the canw• which tilts,' over, are those which are the least
that weight mid authority which interests of such moment
i incoonrcoursot to the parties interested; we generally can
dernaud, your Committee are of opinion. that the doilies
which belong ttt it should wily be intrusted to establishes' find ~ less daYe Iwt."" the et"' a '4? ' Il.l'ie.v which causes
me the most important to be tried, nod which, wills the
Judges of the land: whether the present limited monlier ef
least inconeenience, may stand ewer till the following wi-
thal highly respected body will remit OM N an addition of
sties; idat tisidsisslsledly the standAst over of Cause, is
labou r, most be left to the further deliberation of the Noun; !
that head of amination not (Allison, as 'roar Comm l
Committee op- always an 11"unarIlletlee; the 10nt1.,,t rattles are gener-
rnally si bete,' so .1.11111 over; it is °hymns, if three days be-
prchendeol, within the preciseLouisof' their instructions*, 1
foie the coil of tow assiz,,, it is found there are forty causes IJ
they did not proceed to any regular course of inquiry whirls i
that it is much better, by selecting the abort ones,
might embrace it, but in looking to the state of the new trials I to try'
and leave five or six remanets,
w 'rote the Court of King's Bench, as connected wills the i I" try the"! "1 thill)•fiae.
el not escape their observatim„ tils". by "0" the thug noes, e.' to le-I" "lir". or thinly-five.
Northern Counties, it co„l l l'lirre is another thing to he mentioned, neon the subject of
Thal those who saw adoriuister she jaggier of the euumiry
time taken upon the cocisit ; it generally happen that the
have difficulties iospoartl upon IM m, whirls, with all thew I
Criminal business en en pi. a a less !notion of time than
zeal and activity, they are in name instances unable to sue. .
'I
the Civil, except that at Lionster it has sometimes ex•
mount. "card ; die consequence of which is, that the Judge
Your Committee, in adverting to the substance of the Pe• i
i who tries the criminals is at liberty to take tome
ration front Slit oily of orwich, which was Wen. dto I Mein
of the Civil causes ; tbere however °foe is a greet diffi.
by order of the House. air tallest moon 10 01Pwrve, that the •
rutty in geiliag Clafirl Stilt over so the other lodge.
inconvenience there sustained from the delay of the trial of I
poisoners, appears to have Intro so pest, that it would be I belies?, if it were not Ilie that smistauce, it would he Ili,.
cessary to take several days more at York; the now circuits.
highly expedient, for the sake of public justice, that SOME
slaver exists is a certain decree at Dsorliain, at Nein:title,
remedy should he applied to the evil; and that if it is the
and at Cathode ; at Appleby there is hut little to do; at
plrasure of the House to recommend it way they
shall think brat. an Racnrn,a,jan In the present number of, . Lancaster the lime it not su material, the Judge *lan tries
the Civil uses has ing roily to stop a little longer, there.
Judges, such additional Judges might fror most usefully and I ca
fuse, if the criminal Judge dors not take them, it is nut or
bear ficially employ din the ream elite COUSIS in Weedmins. I
That Cons, quener ; they are generally the shortest causes
ter Hall, and in the regular trilmosals of the country.; by I
nitwit go before the other Judge in that way, and the junior
this means an opprrionity would be •fforilerl of supply. ! runnel usually go with them.
lug the defect so fondly complained of situ the Norfolk and
Midland Circuits, viz. of having truly owe Judge on she • Are you aware, with • view to the administration of tied
i ustice, whether there are tiny evils existing, which require
Spring Circuit to preside on she Civil and Criminal Trials. j
she extensive of the spring circuit In the foie IlUilliern
18th April, 11118.
- I counties?—ln reply, our would say it flowers a sort of
pr/ian facie grievance upon the inhabitants of the four
tiOrtherie Catilliira, that they have nut the game facility of
trying rayon as is afforded in other comities; but practi-
cally speaking, I do not think that the inconvenience is so
very peat as al first sight appears; thereare • great many
causes which may be Irbil out of the county where they
arise, awl are frequently tried at York and Laucaster in the
spring ; at Uneasier, in the spring, some Caller, are bronght
from the counties of Cumberland and %Yesintorland ; I
should say there is a greater proportim. of these foreign
eallisen, if I may be allowed so to call them, tried at Lau-
rance than at Yolk ; I think there are more rattail Nought
foam those counties, Cumberland and Westutorland,to Lan-
caster, than from Dunham and Northumberland, to York;
it is also very cum to early uisoy of the canes from the
Northern Circuit to Loudon ; and this practice is 11111 con.
fined merely to the foot northern counties, hut also from
York mad Lancaster.
Den asp incunvesience arise to the parties in the removal
of' the causes to York or Uneasier, and also to Louitou ?
Surat incosvenience arises from the removal of causes to
littek and Lancaster; where the Anises are held twice in
the year, the principal inconveuiewee is, that of more expense.
Du you include thine also which are retuned to Londou
—That is the parties own choice; it is more particularly
from Lancashire that we bare these causes tried in Leedom;
it proceeds, I apprehend, from a wish rash. r to have a
Guildhall trial that: a county trial; and another reason is,
Ineasase they think they can g. • sorwelimea their jodgunots
004)114r; but still, at Ilse same time, there is one further its.
euswenierce which attaches t i die four Northern Counties
having their causes tried at Yolk and Lancaster in the
Y4lartoe, ?stitch is the great length of time the parties have to
stay at York and Lancaster, because they are obliged to wait
the time as the parties belonging to those comities; one
of the great Meinsveniencies 'miler which we I.llilltlf on the
Northers. Circuit, is the great length of lime we are obliged
to be at York and lonessler.
ales the witness then snisperse, that there would be any
inconvenience for the time to be extrndeil!—l think them
would. be peat practical inutivenienees arise in extending
the lime at York, roof from a politer length of time being
eworprd at Lancaster, more particularly in the spriaig,on sc-
aliest of net beiug Male to gel back to tows in time fur
Term ; and I son also of *piloting, that much ieseensiesce
would hollow stash an extensive el time al I hose places,

MINCTEs of EVIDENCE

TANYA SCUMS 111 C lIVLCCT CONNITTICE ON TOR •ONS-
!IMMOLATION N JCITICP. UPON INC NONTOCIIN CAA-
CUIT.

I.wite, 4 die Morrill, 1814.

MICHAEL ANUE4O TAYLOR; EN. in the Chair.

Joseph Little&le. Esq. collet in, and examined.
You area barrister, the Committee wnder►tasd, slid are in
the habit of going the Northern circuit ?.--1 am.
How long have you been in the habit of gulag that cir-
cuit I—Between nineteen mid twenty years.
Has the business increased, or not, since you went that cir-
cuit ?—Very considerably increased, and more particularly in
the two large counties uf York and Lancaster.
Tbe Committee will theist you to state, as well as your
memory serves, the-time that it takes to perform that buss.
semi and what is the quantity of business to do?—When 1
Lot west the 11111MrDel circuit It used to last about fiva.
wrecks from the time of the opening the commissiois at York
to the time of fiuishing at Lancaster ; it continued its that
state for some years, and afterwards it was found necessary
to take a longer time fo► Yolk WWI Carlisle, of course it
lengthened the circuit ; there was also in that time a further
increase of business at Lancaster, which was the list place us:
the circuit ; to that the Committee may nnderstand that the
time of our now nantinuiug that cinema is between 7 and 8
weeks in thesumnser circuit ; last slimmer, es well as I remem-
ber, it was between sewn/ mad sight seeks; is the spans.
when 1 first used to go. dine was only one j•dge almond that
circuit, sod the business took up very nearly as notch time
then as it dors maw with two judger; at present, the spring
circuit takes up 'Wow less slims a mouth. and sometimes •
day or two inert.
Dun the witness recollect what is the average of the
number of cusses at 1)V1411,1, NeWCAIIIIIN York, sod Car-
lisle ?-ILYpso the average, I should say, at York the spring
sad summer tisanes were much the same, from 170 to 400,
sometimes enceeding 1410, but nut often.
At each of the assizes'—Yes; 1 Ibisk 1 sever remember
more than 200 but nitre; at Took, die last year, then were
more than 800, slid • few years ago 1 recollect that them
were more flint 200, but sometimes A is as low as 160, but
in general, the average as from 170 to 200.
When the willow speaks to Ibe aum►er of nose*, t►e
Committee will thank has also to speak to the amber of