The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-04-25 00:00:00

LEG IS LATIO4V.

The House of Commons was oticupled on' Wednesday
night.in discussing certain resolutions intended to prevent
the manifest inconveniences attending the present practice
of palish'', private Bills through the two Houses of Parlia-
ment. It is not intended in this place to enter intd any
_ .

comparison of the merits of the new over the old practice
in this respect, but the opportunity will be taken to say a
few words on the subject of Legislation in general, and
. .

which would appear to stnnd as much in need of sown&
ment as the manner of procuring private Acts of Par-

[lament.

The statutes of the Kingdom of England, and of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, are com-
prised in forty-five volumes octavo, and to them must be
added the Acts of the Irish and Scotch Parliaments, the
whole forming a most formidable phalanx of books ;
sufficient, indeed, to repress the ardour of the most re-
doubtable lawyer that ever drew quikand to quench the al-
most inextinguishable industry of the most confirmed hook-
worm. Of these forty-five volumes, eleven contain the
Acts passed in the period between the obtaining of Magna
Charta and the last year of the reign of George I 1., and all
the rest are totally devoted to the Statutes passed in the
reigns of Kings George 111. and IV. From this fact alone
it will be seen that the love of legislation is comparatively
of modern date, and that the accumulation of laws is owing,
not so much to any defect in the system, as to an abuse of
the power entrusted to every number of the Legislature of
originating such enactments as he may deem calculated to
promote the public goad, or forward the best interests of the
nation. There are, indeed, those who consider that the
task of legislation is easily accomplished, when the prin-
ciple on which the proposed law is to be framed has been
conceded. Those who entertain this opinion we would
recommend calmly to sit down anti try their hands ■t the
draft of a Bill em'aelying the principle of any proposed law,
and we think we need have little hesitation in declaring that
they would speedily throw away the pen, and abandon the
point as perfectly impracticable, and beyond the reach of
human ingenuity. Let it he remembered, that a principle
once given brings with it a certain set of consequences,
and all these consequences newt ►e considered by the
drawer of the Bill, and properly met by distinct enact-
ments, operating either in the shape of Dew rights, by the
words " it shall be lawful," or as provisoes, restraining or ex-
tending the operation of a clauselt hat precedes it ; in abrogat-
ing existingiprivilegee,qualifying others, and, in short,adapt-
ing the old law, as near as may be, to the state, things will
acquire when submitted to the action of the proposed
Bill. Independently of this consideration, it must not be
forgotten, that in order to ensure a uniformity in the mean-
ing of words, the Judges are compelled to hold the Legisla-
ture to the strict literal interpretation of the words employed,
taken in the first place individually,and afterwards as distinct
members of a string of sentences, whose apparent objoct is to
attain to such and such a purpose. This close interpreta-
tion has thrown a great deal of unmerited obloquy on the law.
It has been dignified by the appellation ofquibbling.whilst the
objections taken by the acute,advocate have been with no less
justice called quirks. "Why not," say these superficial ob-
servers, " interpret these things according to the spirit, rather
than the letter, of the words? Why give rise to this absurd
quibbling in the meaning of words, when the sense is ob-
vious, and the intention of the Legislature known, although
not clearly expressed ?" In reply, it may be observed, that
if this rule of construction were admitted, the same set of
words would allow of a variety of meanings ; and instead,
therefore, of having a general rule for the construction of
all Acts of Parliament, there must be a particular rule fur
every distinct Act; and thus the decisions of the Judges would
become rather judicial illustrations of the times when, and
the facts on which, a particular Act was/passed, rather than
the grave and solemn deductions of reason, proceeding on
acknowledged principles, and built upon foundations ad-
mitted as correct on all bands. It does sometimes so hap-
pen that the spirit of a clause must be considered, in order
to give it any construction at all ; and the Act for
the protection of the copyrights of sculptors and statuaries
may be quoted as an instance of this kind. There, indeed,
the words employed are beyond comprehension ; and the late
Lord Ellenborough observed that. that Act looked as if it
had been hewn out by the men whose property it was in-
tended to protect. therefore, recourse had not been had
to the spirit and intention of the clause, so far as it could
he discovered by the words, the Act must have become a
dead letter, because it could not receive any construction at
all. Whilst, however, we are fully aware of the extreme
difficulty of framing an Act of Parliament, and therefore
are little disposed to enter into the objections now urged
against the statutes of the realm, we feel that the subject
is worthy of some deep consideration ; because, although
the present plan of passing a Bill into law is decidedly
good, yet, at the same time, the commitment of the Bill,
after the second reading, is hardly a sufficient check upon the
power every one has of originating laws, and hence gives rise
to the introduction of unintelligible clauses, and the grant-
ing of powers, at once adverse to the principles of the Con-
stitution and opposed to the intentions of the Legislature,
upon whose authority it became law. The Bill, to be
sure, is gone through, clause by clause, in the committee;
hut, in the rapid manner in which this part of the business
is performed, sufficient time is not allowed to consider
the operation of a particular clause, or even indeed
to select the particular part which ought to be omitted, in
order to avoid any objectionable power which the clause
on the whole might appear to warrant. There ought to be
some public oflice, to which all Bills, both public and pri-
vate, should, after the attend reading, be referred, which
should be authorised to report upon each clause to the
House. In this manner, the great accumulation of law
would be avoided, and the necessity of recourse to the
dangerous experiment of sweeping repeals or long con-
solidations totally removed ; and, moreover, no objec-
tionable power could be granted, but with the full con-
sent and knowledge of the Legislature, after it had been
clearly pointed out to them. Besides these advantages,
many a clause would be at once struck out as not required,
a similar power having been given in some prior Act; and
time would bs allowed to consider the operation of the
words employed, to bend them to the old existing law, or
the old existing law to the new provisions ; and thus pre-
vent that confusion, and those numberless incongruities,
that the Statute Book at present exhibits, to the great dis-
paragement of our legal system, and the no small loss and
discomfiture of those who are compelled to resort to the
laws of their country for redress of wrongs.

A fire broke out this morning, between one anti two '
o'clock, at a broker's shop in Vere-street, Clare-market, in
consequence of which, we understand, a man and two
children were suffocated by the smoke before any assist-
ance could be rendered to them. We also learn that
another child, by being thrown from a window to avoid
the flames, had both its thighs broken, and was otherwise
so much injured as to render it necessary to convey it to the
hospital, without, however, any hope of its recovery.
We find, upon inquiry, that we have been grossly de-
ceived as to a report that one of the most respectable
firms in the bookselling business, in Paternoster-row,
failed on Saturday." The whole is entirely without foun-
dation.
Monday last a meeting of the freemen of Chippenham,
in the interest of Mr. F. Gye, was held in that borough, at
which his agent announced the detennin'ation of Mr.G., in
the event of an election, to proceed to a poll.—Bath Herald.
A French swindler lately sold to an amateur florist, in
Durham, a plant, 'which he warranted to produceloo
flowers. On arriving at maturity it certainly produced
produeeil
more than the number, but proved to be only a white cur-
rant bush. The price paid was 335.
A new mail is expected to start from Barnstaple about
the end of this month, through Ilminster, to arrive in
Exeter about half-past three, and Plymouth at nine o'clock
in the evening. As soot' as the new Wiveliscombe turn-
pike-road is fit to travel on, which will be about the end of
July or August next, a branch mail from the above will
leave Ilminster, through Taunton, Milverton, Wivelis-
combe, and Bampton, for South Mutton, Barnstaple, and
Ilfracombe, preparatory to the latter place being tilde the
station for the steam boats to pass to Cork. Government
having had the roads in Wales last year surveyed by Mr.
Telford, whose report is not very favourable, as a large
sum tnust be expended to improve them, by adopting the
road making through Wiveliscombe they will save some
thousands, and expedite the delivery of letters in Cork,
at last 30 hours up and down.—Eseter Paper.