The Sun.
London, England, 1852-05-28 00:00:00

TTIE

mode of preying his case. The Hor. Member teemed
to thfiik it hard !hits t,;'. land nod Ireran 1 shrull he de-
privee of. the privilege of settling tete. owneperrele in
their own e .urts. New if this were soe-if there
were a pretence for saying that anything of
the sort was interele,d—he (Ur. Henley) would
readily agree with him. But the • main p7icciple of
the Bill—and he was sure the House would agree eieh.
him that it watt a sounl one--WS3. that Eegiand. Scot-
land, and I-sland being a united kingdom, if thete were
a patent la win exiettnee, it eught to operate thieugh-
out . the- kingdsm.—(dear, hear.) That was a main
principle of the Bill;' but whether the' machinery for
carrying it out was the best and simplest that could be
devised, and not espable of impsov ecaent, be should be very
sorry to say. If improvements were requisite' the Com-
mittee would be at liberty to make them. With regard
to the Commissioners—it being conceded that it was de-
sirable to have one patent law fur the whole of the
United Kingdom—of coarse a machinery must, be set up
which would be common to the three, countries.
There, then, was the necessity for the Commission,
which would be composed of the Maettr: of the. Rolls,
one of her Majesty's judges, .and the. law officers .of.
the Crown in England, in Scotland, and in Ireland.
And as to the reference to be made to the Commis-
eioners, it a Scofeliman wanted a patent in Scotland, he
would refer to the Commissioners in that part of, the
Ueited Kingdom; end so with an.lrishman, he would
refer to the Commissioners in Ireland. On the
other hand, if either thought proper, he could take
out a patent in London. Another point, which might
be open to consideration, and in respect of which the
Bill might perhaps be amended in Committee, concerned
the extension of the patent law to the colonies; and if
in Committee it should be considered that the preroga-
tive of the Crown was not sufficiently saved by the Bill
as it stood, he was inclined to think. it might be amended
by introducing a- clause for that express purpose.--
(Hear.) Most persons desired that the measure should
be made as simple as possible, and that was his (Mr.
Henley's) . desire, and the desire of her Majesty's Go-
vernment. It was their great object to simplify the law,
to save expense, and 'if possible also to save parties from
future litigation. With regard to the difference said to
exist between patent right and copyright, he confessed
he saw but little. He believed a man could only sus-
tain the latter by proving his works to he original, and
could only sustain the former by proving them to be a
novelty; so that in these particulars he thought they
wore very nearly analogous. Oh, bet it was
sometimes said, you give a man a copyright,
and he sets his views forth for the advantage
of the world. True, he did set them forth fur
the advantage sof the world, and then he set his own
price upon _them at the same time.—(ilear, hear.) And
it was just the same thing with patent right. He could
not, therefore, see much distinction between the two.—•
(Hear, lean) Yet many persons of . great practical
knowledge had contended that there was a distinction,
and that the system of patents ought to be done away
with altbgethet. He was not of that opinion, and he
hoped, therefore, the House would agree to the second
reading of the Bill.—(Hear, hear.) One word with re-
gard to the expense, which was, after all, a most, ma-,
serial question. He befievSd that a patent for the three
kingdoms could not at present be taken out for a less
sum in fees and stamps—independently of ;the expense
of employing a patent agent—than 2501. or 2601. ' By
the Bill before the House it was proposed that it should
be obtained ata cost of 251, and that of itself was an
enormous 'boon. Then if, at the expiraeion. of three
yearadoshould be found that the invention was so useful
as to make it desirable to extend. the, period of the pa-
tent, it could be resiewed upon a ferthertayesment being
made: He feared that by the reduction of the patent fees
to so low a point h. considerable loss might, he did .not
say would, accrue to. the Treasury. [Mr. ATAKLEY—It
will be a gain to the public ] But o' course if parties
were to nave a privilege they ought toe pay.. or
(Hear, hear.) . Still he did nut say it was certain the
loss would arise. Teat depended entirely upon the cir-
cumstance whether or not the' number of patents in-
creased in consequence, of the comparative cheapness of
obtaining them. As to the question put to him by the
Hon. Member for Edinburgh, he had throughout ex-
pressed his readiness and his wish to send the Bill 'to a
Select Committee, and he hoped the House wauld con-
sent tp its second reeding, in order that in a Select Com-
mittee those amendments might be introduced which
were found to be necessary.
Mr. CARTER took objections to certain portions of
the Bill. and observed, that whatever might be the loss
it would entail upon the Exchequer, he die no; believe it
would be so great as- the Right.. lion. Gentleman appre-
hended; fur, according to the schedule of fees, the total
amount of the cost for the first . period of the patent
would amount to 149/. lle., a sum which, in his opinion,
was immensely: too high.
Mr. MUNTZ denied that this Bill was the same as the
measure of last year, and he considered it was as bad a'
Bill as could possibly he constructed. If ho consented
to its second reading, it should be upon tho assurance
that the examiner should not have power to decide upon
the value and utility of an invention. Frequently seven
years elapsed before the utility of a pattern was ascer-
tained; in his own case, it took that period to convince
the public that his invention was a good one. Where,
then' was the use of the examiner? A more important
point even than that was the clause which rendered every
pattern invalid which had been used abroad. Why, no
patent could be maintained under such a clause as that;
for they. had only to bring over a vagabond from the
other side of the water, who would swear to anything, to
swear to that. With respect to the fees for patents, the
Government had power to reduce them without legisla-
tion, and he would advise them to do so, and let the Bill
stand over for future consideration.
After a few words from Mr. GREENE and Mr.
WILLIAMS, _ _ _

Mr. R. PALMER questioned the propriety of their
pressing
time
its stage at the present moment, when
little time remained for a full discussion of the subject,
a measure which introduced new machinery and new
principles into the patent law of the kingdom. It com-
prised two distinct classes of clauses,, to the immediate
passing of one of which into law, if embodied in a mea-
sure by themselves, he had no objection. This class of
clauses referred to the reduction .of fees and the im-
provement of legal proceedings relative to patents; But
the other clauses of thinßill ought not to be proceeded
with now; or at least they ought to know whether the
.Government on their own responsibility gave their ap-
proval to the measure. It was prepared by a. Noble
Lord in another place, who declared himself unfavour-
able to the maintenance of the patent laws,' and hoped
for their ultimate abolition, and ho (Mr. Re Palmer)
could trace the tendency of that Noble Loid's mind in
that respect in the Bill. They ought to know, then,
whether the Government on their responsibility gave
their assent to a measure of that kind, the effect of
which would be to undermine the
.. patent laws of
the ' kingdom. There were two principles in-
volved in the Bill which. would have this effect—
one was that - which did away with the power of
the Citown in the colonies to grant patents there; the
other related to foreign.patents and to,English,patents in
toreign countries. One of the clauses embodying' this
latter. principle declared that the use of a patent abroad
would be as tatal to a patent here as. ii it had b ,en used
iu,this country. Under that cleu:o it would be impossi-
ble f,r a 'patentee to catublish his right in a court of
justic,, such would be 'the dif6cul:ies of obtaining the
requisite evidence from all countries of the world. A
second clause, that when a foreign patent relating to the
same invention as an English patent shall have expired,
the English Sh‘ll expire at the slake time; add a thiid
clause pruvidd that patented articles which might not
be used in English ships, might be made'in 'foreign ships
in British waters; thus giving sin •undue advantage to
foreign over British shipping. Besides, the preliminary
investigation proposed by the Bill, before granting a
patent, would require a large staff. of officers, and expose
the patentee to two suits to establish his right, one before
the examiner, the other before the Attorney-General,
and then the decision would not be final. He objected
also to the provisions relating to the publication of plans,
specifications, and drawings, as being inefficient. En-
tertainieg these objections to the measure, ho should, if
there were a division, vote against its second reading.
Mr. WALPOLE said; if his Hon. and Learned Friend
bad been present when his Right Hon. Friend the
President of the Board of Trade had explained the object
°fele Bill, he would have found that it did not interfere
the principles of flee patent; but maietained.that it
was a wholesome stimutous to invention. The lion. and
Learned Gentleinan especially objected to the clause re-
lating() to foreign ships, and to inventions the use of
which was known in foreign countries or the colonies.
With regard to the first, the object was to anticipate
f law in reference to foreign ships carrying those
o differences which arise and become matters
Trade had stated it
na-
tionality with them, whi h Id be ' Alto articles
used on heird
ship, wou eaten . their
the Bill was not owever, that the Ileuree in, paean
110 President of the. Board of
to boundtheuseofi,to adopt that provision. With
respect
cr abroad, he agreed *Rivthenottti4:3lll)aotne.natnedd iLeetarheneedeloGnetne-e
r•icnatflu9l cotnseid3eirlel
citlusmireedn
gthroaattthaendp
provisions were quite independentitfi°ittinhiethmßaatuitnrtehoghbajsreedettrwei
inventor and' 2601, to.
theof aßilpl'ateweihtich tolv uthfierst diminish the expense
enef:rpoaultent for 'the :I(i)iteheemslarlen-
next wtreldstablisbhe
rfoerveEnot a
dantiddion
divisions of the United Kingdom, so as to
patentee being oblige.d to take separate patents')
Eng-
land, Ireland, and Scotland. He could not help thinking-
that the effecting of these purposes would constitute thinking
that
great benefit to the public and the inventors; and for the
'
objection of the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Mentz) to the
examiner, the object of that officers functions was to
give to the law officers of the Crown an assurance
knoWledge, that the inventions pro:
based on scientific
posed to be patented were worthy of te patent. Bat if
there was an
. the ism,
insuperable objection to that provision it
could be altered in Committee. He, bpp
ttee after Which ihoy Could
Ceram'
.referred to a Select
d adopt the whole Bill or saps-
then, would allow the_Bill t.o be reed a second time and
see whether they would
d time, and ordered to
rote from it the two
The Bill was then read. a eecor.
be referred to a Select Committee. eele
was
read a
provistos io Which, he had adverted.
The Scotch Mills for Flax (Ireland) 15
second time. e‘aeseesitsen BIliL.
LAW 'OF WILLS AMEND' '1
t
The House having gone into CsoMini„tee on this Bill,
On the first clause f ,
Mr. -BETEIELL stated that the alms out Oo
the state of the law reliltive'to the 'signeture of woe- ran
dered some measure of this kind necessary. As the it"v
stood at present, no will was valid which , had not the
signature at the end er foot' thereof;'' but these words
bad led to as 17111C11 dift3llity and d.snbt as had tver Yel-
lowed the ambiguous phraseology, of at Act of
iiiierpretation of which these words were
susceptible made the law in this resp,:ct a delusion and
a snare. It had been held that if the signature to a call
was lint pieced et the cod of the last clause of i the in-
netrument teas invalid. The present Lard Chancellor,
iviolliug to remedy the evils of the present systea4.and

SUN;

pith that anxiatta desire to paoateie .tho duo 34-miraia•
rashes of tale I:cee tvbich he ever dittinguished the: most
lewreat i atieoe-tead- int:aide-60 flirt' `peeserat Bill, nail
a
more proper one, in its epee and_Object, eeuld net well be
conceived. mind yet, owing to the Meaner in Whielaa.per-
e ead to
trieomneovfeitthtevausoffieirmtileocla,4tvwsef,bnaltywans.t likely. acinalatetually
to Multiply and itugreent if. What was wanted was a.
for 'tae guidance of piein and,
Bethell) faared. the; •
orpl
tiarnyd orrirdeirils;a ryburtulet
(mr.
as portion of this Bill, it it now stood,..viould ouraplicete•
rather than simplify. !Instead of repealing tEae drightale
enactment, it was‘retaieed,, eccompagiel by a long seta .1
tion which partly. eilatanded `arid partly affected to bs'a
remedy for what was !admitted to be a vicious attite "of
the law. The Bill, as at present constructed, *provided
that whatever might be tho spoSition of the signature,
whether "at, or titer, or follOwlug, or under, or beside,
or at the end of the will," the instrument should be of
no effect Inlets tfie iitana.:,are weee. so pieced as that it
should be apparent the testator- meant to- give effect to
the writing. The attempt to explain and determine the
meaning of theprevious provision with respect to signing
was unsucceesfult and it Would be far better to lay
down one plain general rule. The best mode of alter-
ing the Bill, therefore, would be to extract the 'Words
in ,question. and to •sulastitute otfiers, not entirely new,
but in part adopted front the original clause. The Hon.
and Learned Member, after remarking on the imperfect
nature of the language too frequently made use of in the
law Bills which were introduced into that House, and
complimenting theeNobla Seal Learned Lord who framed
the Bill for his great learning, stated' that the first
clause, nevertheless, was a maze without a plan,
and. therefore proposed as an amendment to omit
in the preamble the words "as follows," •-and the
whole of the first section, and in- lieu thereef insert the
following as the first section of the Bilk-a" That so
mach of an Act passed in the first Year of the reign of
her Majesty Queen. ictoria. hatituleda' An Act for. the
Amendment of the Law with respebt to Wills,' as enacts
' That no will shall be ;valid unless it shall be in writing;
and executed in manner hereinafteitmentioned (that is
to say), it shall be signed at the foot,. or end thereof by
the testator, or by some other
.parson in his presence, and
by his directio,l3; and such signature shall betiade or
acknowledged by the testator in the presence of. two or
more witnesses present at the same time; and slialitait-
nessies shall attest and shall subscribe the will in the
presence of the testator; and no form of attestation
shall be necessary,' be, and the same Ls. hereby Tee
pealed: and in lieu thereof be itaand it is hereby enacted
that no will shall be valid unless it shall be in writing;
and executed in manner hereinafter mentioned (that is
to say), it shall be signed by the testator, or by -Berne
other person in his presence and by his direction, in such
manner as that it shall be apparent that the, testator intended to give effect bysuch signature to the' writing as
his will, and such signature shall be made or-aeknow-
lodged by the testator in the presence of two or more
witnesses present at the same time; and such witnesses
shall attest and shall subscribe the will in the' Preeence
of the testator, but, no form of attestation shall be ne-
cessary:'
Mr. BERNAL' -said the amendment was a perfeetly
new clause, and could not; therefore,. be put in. that
shape. Thg course was tcanegative the original clause,
and. then make the addition of a new .one.
The MASTER of the ROLLS concurred neither in
the clause nor the amendment. • It was most important
in the law as regarded wide to avoid technicalities and
to;enable persons who made them 'to carry riut'their
intentions. The existing law was -framed upon the
report of the Real ,Preperty Cdisamisaionera for thepur-
pose of avoiding te`choicalities;jind' yet it had areated
more than had previouslyaxisted. The Real Property
Commissioners had put an end ,to the holograPh wills,
'but he thought they Would' have_ amended the.law more
effectually it they had recitiired two witnesses to each.
There should not be one species of .rule for one instru-
ment and another for another instrument, as existed at
present. Sir H. Jenner Fust had stated to 'him that
baskets-full of bonel fide wills were every week, refused
-
probate at Dectors'-cOmmonss The evil was, therefore,
tvhnerylioee
great.e Bnt,nevertheless,- he doubted .wnether
Commons was in a position to amend
,h,, evil; and tie, submitted ' Whether a Select Com-
mitte would not ha the lest mode of dealing with
the subject.--c Hear,. hear.) The signature of a
be an expression
will was the attestation of
.the lame, and there
He
se tghs
gau
ntgbahrt
etu
rtal let
trahei
and
ds
hf
otnohutel;4, allat tetsht aa tt
os hb o
oufl dt
the:
could be no difficulty in arriving fit a 'conclusion in re-
same'by Witneatet. By the amendment a law suit might
sno cst
required.Nvtoii twe: as
0011141
-be attired eta every will upon the words " that it shall be
apparent that the testator intended to give effect by such
signatnre to dub writing," He was 'of opinion, there-
fore, that the attestation of a will by two witnesses was
till that should be necessary. The present forms led
directly to fraud. flo had considerable doubts whether
it wets requitite that the witnesses should sign in each
other's .iires'erico or in the presence of the testator, and
be quoted ti eise in which a will was held to be invalid
frem excess of caution.. He would venture to say that
neither of the law officers -of the Crown had-communi-
cated with a single lawyer conversant with wills in'
courts of justice who would tell them that the effect of
the Bill would be such as was anticipated by its pro-
moters. He believed that the only remedy for the evil
complained of would be a simple enactment requiring
every man able to make a will to sign such document in
the presence of two attesting witnesses. He was so de.
sirous of the Bill being referred to a Select Committee
that he was disposed to suggest that the chairman should
report progress in order to effect that result.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL could not concur in
the suggestion of the Right Hon. and Learned Gentle-
man to refer this-Bill .to a Select Committee, inasmuch
as tall a proceeding must necessarily be attended with
considerable delay, while numberless wills were being
executed every day, the validity of which it might be
hard to establish in the present uncertain state of the
law. An important amendment was introduced into the
law by Lord Liangdale's Bill, in 1837. Nothing could
be apparently more clear and simple than the conditions
required by. said Bill for legalising wills. The words
were that the will shall be signed at the foot thereof by
the testator, and that the signature shall be attested by.
two witnesses. Unfortunately,. however, these words
raised the greatest difficulties in the way, and many d
judges in respect of
them; the effect of which was geerally that .if, there
was an interval of space of an inch or thereabouts
between the 'foot of the will and the signature
the document was held to be invalid. The Lord
Chancellor, folly aware of the evils arising from thei
e
defectire state of the law in this respect, st no t
o a I
after his appointrisent to office in fine(vouring t pp y
he Solicitor Ge-
an effectual remedy to them.
neral) had heard with much surprise the :comments.of
the Hon. and Learned Member for Aylesbury upon
the structure of this Bill, which bad also received the
disapptobation 'of the Right Hen. Gentleman the Matter
of the Now, he could not but remind the Cora-
mitteed that the Noble and Learned Lord the author of
the Bill wan not only the greatest of living equity lawyers,
but that he. possessed the most .extensive experience
in the practice and aidosintstratien of ,*the law of any
man in ekittence. The Noble and Learned Lord' was,
also ititimately'acquainted with the subject, and was
the 'author Of sore of the most important and useful'
Acts to be found -in . the statute-book.--(Hear, hear.)
The Noble and Learned Lord in the present. Bill applied
himself solely to the.grievance that was to be remedied
in respect to the position' of the, signature of the tes-
tator., add' therefore .provided that it. the. signature be
placed at or after, following, or beside the will—that no
matter Where theVgnattire of the, testator be placed, the
document shall be valid if it shall be apparaut on the face
et the will that the testator wished to give effect to it.
If the clause was enacted in the way Hon. and Learned
Gentlemen proposed it should be enacted, it would come
under, the consideration of the Prerogative Court, and
then ail the objections would be taken which the Hon.
and Learned Gentlemen contended would be overruled
by his alteration. He apprehended that the whole of
the clatiselastx it steed in the Bill, from the beginning to
the end; was necessary in order to apply a -remedy to
those eCiltaennuterated; and whatever might be' the form
of words used, he was satisfied without this specific
enactment, those words would be entirely insufficient.
By the language used in the clause a remedy for certain
evils was -uppliedc 'He did not say all the evils of the
Act of 1835 would be remedied, but certainly much of the
admitted evil would be -,diminished. Ile would add ono
more woad-on another point which had been referred to.
The Right liondufable and Learned end Ho-
nourable alid Learned Gentlemen opposite seemed
to think. that the 'statute of 1835 relative to the
execution of wills was intended as a guide to persons as
to the way they should make,their wills. The great mass
of makeis of wills, he would beg to, remind thoso Hon.
and Learned Gentlemen; seldom looked to an Act of
Parliament in order to- learn the way ao make a' will.
Men of education and -property usually took legal opi-
nion, and the parties tbeyconsulted would no doubt take
care that the wills were niadein-a proper forma But he
contended that it yeas not:the province of an Act of Par-
liameat to-teach peOple hew to make a will, but to 'tell
courts of justice how to pronounce on 'the execution of
wills which.' came under their consideration. The great
questiOn was this, thitallaws were not to. guide ordinary
men in- the way they should make their wills. That
was not -the question or. the .object of Acts of Parlia-
ment. But the question was, would these Acts of Par•
liament enable courts of justice who had to pronounce on
wills, to di:dui:dice and to carry out correctly the inten-
tion of the testator, if these intentions appeared to be
dubious? His opinion was, the more simple the language
of an Act of Parliament, the better Would be obtained the
great object of framing an Act of Parliament-enamely,
to guide courts of justice to the intentions of testators.
No frivolous orteelinical 'objection ought to be allowed to
set nside wills. The clause as it was now framed offered
a complete remedy to evils under the Act of 1837, and
theif clause of th
and LearnedM he on. ens er for Ayles-
bury were substituted, the effect
evils untouched., would be to leave these
lice, as now, to It would leave open to courts of just-,
we trusted the Committee various constructions
,on the Act.
without alteration,
would agree to the clause
Sir W. P. WOOD said he concurred in expressing
gratitude towards the Noble
a n and Learned Lord for at-
temptingbeenprolisi to remedyngonahrgo
,portiongrievaorticoen tohfat for a long time had
h
it was qaite another question whether the community. Bat
present imperfect form, should lie placed
Bill in its
dhe
nn the ,
book. With, reaped to the objection of d
statute-
ire-
book..'- that. the Bat had not'een referreiel Rolay,m he
e days
sato to the Beleat Committee; for if this coprse had been
taken the. House would have been better prepared to le
gtet ate upon the subject. It was not too late to do this;
lOrthe Benkruracy, Bill, a much . longer Bill, had been
referred- te a,,Select Committee, and had twee reported,
upon in a few.heuas., The present would be pia_
rerly doalt with by a Select Committee in afiow tWo
(-1,-te. It had been ritseeted that this Bill Was a perfect
8;1i;
`but ha must 'take an exception to that description
Of 'ae, Bill. No laws, in'. his opinion, reqiured to
be :more iimPle Itud definite than laws by which 'per-