The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-20 00:00:00

IRELAND.

Mr- WHITESIDE moved for leave to bring in a bill
to amend the procedure in the superior courts of com-
mon law in Ireland. The hon. member said the object
of the bill, as stated in the preamble, was to make the
practice and proceedings in the superior courts of com-
mon law less dilatory and expensive, to prevent substan-
tial justice from being defeated, and to enable common
law courts to give effect to certain rights without a re-
sort to the courts of equity. The necessity for such a
reformation was obvious and pressing. The house was
aware that in the county courts the question at issue be-
tween the parties was brought to a hearing upon a short
and simple claim. Far different was the course of pro-
ceeding in the superior courts. First, there was a writ,
which told the defendant nothing ; next, there was an
appearance by the defendant, which told the plaintiff no-
thing ; thirdly, there was a declaration, or exposition of
cause of action, which confused the case ; then there was
the plea, which in Ireland was generally as vague as the
declaration ; and amongst other subsequent proceedings
was the demurrer, which had the effect of "hanging up
the suit," as it was termed, for a twelvemonth. The
record, too, ran to a most inconvenient and expensive
length, and was scarcely ever referred except when
counsel wanted to trip up his opponent on some tech-
nical point. His object in introducing this measure was
to remove these abuses. With this view he proposed to
make the superior courts resemble as nearly as possible
the county courts, in giving justice cheaply and promptly
What he had founded the measure upon was the County
Court Act for England, the County Court Act for Ire-
land, the act for the regulation of civil procedure in Scot-
land, the report of the commissioners which led to the
recent improvements in England, the bill passed for
England in the last session, he was not afraid to add the
American code, and the report of the commissioners on
the best mode of reforming the practice of the courts of
law. The first great point of reform was to abolish all
distinctions in the form of actions. There were eight or
nine different forms, and this variety often prevented the
attainment of justice. The next proposal was to abolish
what was termed special pleading. He wished to have
both the ground of action and the ground of defence dis-
tinctly stated, so as to be intelligible to every man.
For this purpose there were given in the draft of the
bill forms of complaint and answer, and he was indebted
to the report of the commissioners for precedents as pre-
cise as the English language could make them.
The writ and the declaration, the appearance and the
defence, he proposed to consolidate into two forms, which
would be amply sufficient for the purpose. The learned
gentleman having quoted some American authorities in
confirmation of his views, proceeded to say that the ob-
ject of the bill was to simplify proceedings, and to sweep
away the technicalities of special pleading, by obliging
the suitor to verify his pleading by personal declaration.
Another object was to extend to the superior law courts
the power possessed by the equity and county courts, of
finding service of subpoena at domicile sufficient, instead
of requiring personal service, as at present. Another
attempt at simplification was contemplated with respect
to assignments of bonds, on which at present no action
for recovery could be taken, except in a Court of Equity.
It was proposed in this case to make them recoverable
by action at common law. Another case of hardship
was when a bill of exchange or bond was lost. Under
the present system there was no remedy except in equity;
but he proposed to give the courts of law all the powers
of courts of equity in deciding the amount of indemnity
to be given for lost instruments. Another case was
that of a man holding land by contract, but without
any legal title. Such cases were common in Ireland,
and the landlord might eject at common law, although
the tenant had a perfect and good defence in
equity, and could force his landlord to give him a
lease instead of an agreement. At present the county
courts in Ireland could protect the tenant in such cases,
and their decision would be confirmed on appeal to the
superior courts. He proposed to give the superior courts
the same power in the first instance, the power that they
now enjoyed on appeal. In other cases, where permission
was required from the Court of Equity to carry a case
into the Queen's Bench, he proposed to give the latter
vexatious liaiti7gateioon courts, Such
aspueerh-
court concurrent and common Jurisdiction. He also
proposed to extend the power possessed by equity courts
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were the principal provisions of the bill, which he was
happy to say had received the approval of the Lord
unmn
Chancellor of Ireland. The hon. and learned gentleman
nto froin
thecommon
concluded by moving for leave to bring in the bill.
Mr. HUME offered his thanks to the right hon. and
learned gentlemen for the onerous task he had under-
taken. The only surprise he felt was that such evils as
the right hon. and learned gentleman had detailed should
have been allowed to exist so long. Reform in the law
was equivalent to a reduction of taxation, for there was
nothing entailed so heavy a tax on the people as vexatious
litigation. (Hear, hear.) He wished the Government
every success in this direction, as he felt convinced that
law reforms would confer the most extended and lasting '
benefits on the country.—Leave given.
CALL OF THE HOUSE.

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important
upon all great occasions that such a step should, be re-
sorted to. If ever there was an occasion upon which
the house should express its solemn opinion, it was upon
the great question it would on Monday have brought
under its consideration. During the long period for
which he had been a member of the house, he had never
felt the importance of any subject more deeply than he
did, that of the final settlement of the great question of
the commercial and financial policy of the country. The
house was shortly to be called upon to decide questions
involving great interests, and upon which the Members
of the government were unable to form any opinion
themselves. (Cries of "No, no.") The question was
referred to most prominently in her Majesty's Speech,