The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-17 00:00:00

LAW REFORM.

The LORD CHANCELLOR rose for the purpose of
stating to their Lordships what steps hact been taken since
they last met, in order to carry into execution the bills
that were passed in the last Session in regard to the
Court of Chancery, and other matters connected with
that Court, and also to state what were the further mea-
sures which the Government proposed to lay before their
Lordships and the other [louse of Parliament, for carry-'
ing out the objects which the Legislature had in view on
the important subject of Law Reform. The Bills, which
were passed, as their Lordships were aware, were three
in number as regarded the proceedings in the Court of
Chancery. One Bill was for the abolishing of the office
of Master in Chancery, and introducing a new system,
called a chamber system, with regard to those matters
which up to that time had been prosecuted by the Masters
in their own chambers. The next Bill was for " the im-
provement of the jurisdiction of equity ; " and the third
Bill was the " Suitors in Equity Relief Act," which
certainly had afforded great relief in the reduction of
salaries and the abolition of what appeared to be useless
and unnecessary offices. It had been much the practice
of Parliament, and it certainly was an easy mode of
getting through the business of legislation, not to fill up
the outline of such Bills, but to leave almost everything
to be carried into execution by orders to be made by the
Court after the Bills had passed. He could assure their
Lordships, therefore, that the whole of his vacation and
recess had been principally occupied by a species of legis-
lation, sometimes with and sometimes without the assist-
ance of his learned colleagues, in order to supply what
had been rendered necessary to give full effect to those
Acts of Parliament. They were now in full opera-
tion, and he could assure their Lordships from what he
had already seen, he thought they would fully effect
everything which the country and Parliament had in
view ; and he thought he might venture to assert that
the celerity with which matters would be decided in
Chancery, would be such as to make the old proverb to
be entirely forgotten, and lead to the introduction of a
new one. He believed that there was no court in this
country in which questions of property could be decided
so rapidly—he did not mean with undue haste, which
above all things was to be deprecated in the administra-
tion of justice; but by "haste" he meant "good speed"
—speed so far as was consistent with the most mature
deliberation. That speed could now be given to matters
arising in the Court of Chancery, and he hoped to show
their Lordships, before he sat down, that the expense
would be greatly diminished, so as to render that court,
and every portion of it, at once rapid in its operations,
and cheap to the suitor. (Hear, hear.) There was a
crying evil, which had been remedied by some of the
orders which had been issued by himself ; it was an ob-
ject which he had always had much at heart, and had
endeavoured to carry into execution in Ireland ; it was
this—that there should be a statute of limitation, as it
were, within the court as well as without the court.
(Hear, hear.) The legislature had passed Acts of Par-
liament to prevent parties from bringing forward stale
claims, but in the court itself they were allowed to be
brought forward at a period highly inconvenient and
unjust. Their Lordships had an order, as to appeals,
to this effect : that no appeal from a decree or order
of the Court of Chancery should be made after
five years from the enrolment of such decree or
order. By the early orders of the Court of Chan-
cery the enrolment was to take place at once ; the
intention, therefore, was to compel a party to come to
that House for relief within five years after obtaining
his decree. But parties had constantly been allowed in
the Court of Chancery at any period to come for an
order of enrolment, nuns pro tune, which tiley obtained
as a matter of course ; and thus it often happened that
16 or 17 years after the decree in the Court of Chancery
parties came and appealed to their Lordships' House.
This was an evil of all others most to be avoided. No
hasty decision, no hurry took away a man's right of
appeal, but no door should be left open to constant,
irritating and long-neglected litigation of this kind.
This defect had now been cured by the general orders
for the benefit of the public at large. In the first place,
nobody is to have the right of appeal in the Court of
Chancery after five years ; and, in the next place,
every party was to enrol his decree or order within six
months ; and after five years had elapsed he was not
at liberty to enrol at all, except by the special order
of the Lord Chancellor, so that in a case of great neces-
sity a party might be permitted to do so, but generally
all parties would be kept within the time limited. There-
fore, by this means, there would be a statute of limita-
tion within the court, as well as without the court.
Now, as to the Bill for the relief of suitors in Chancery,
the orders under that measure had all been settled, and
the great object had been greatly to reduce them in
number, and very considerably to simplify them. And
with regard to fees, they were not only fewer but less in
amount, and the whole system was greatly simplified.
Now, he must explain the nature of the funds in the Court
of. Chancery. He wished to call their Lordships' atten-
tion, and that of every one in the country, to the state
and nature of those funds out of which the costs of the
administration of justice were paid, and the means by
which he proposed still further to reduce those costs.
Notwithstanding the saving which had been effected,
9,000/. a-year additional had been thrown on the funds
in question by the late improvements, because Parlia-
ment had given such large compensation, and at the
same time had created new offices ; and although the
fees had been reduced, yet the expense had been con-
siderably increased ; the saving to the suitor between
the fees imposed last year and the fees which would now
be imposed under the scale just issued, would not be
less than 30,0001. a year. That was to be accounted
for, in some measure, by a large sum, probably 26,0001.
a year, having been transferred to the Consolidated Fund,
on the ground that the judges ought to be paid, not by
the suitors, and so, as, in point of fact, the administra-
tion of justice ought to be paid for by the public and not
by the suitor, the cost of the administration of the pro-
perty in the court ought not to be paid by the country,
but by the suitor. Parties ought to have a right to go
to a court of justice, and to have the opinion of a judge
free of expense ; but if accounts were to be taken, and
estates to be guarded and kept in order, they could no
more object to the expenditure for that administration
in Court than if the same operation had taken place out
of Court, and therefore the country could not be re-
quired to pay them. There was, therefore, a very
obvious distinction in these two descriptions of expen-
diture. He must now draw their Lordships' attention
to the state of the two funds in the Court of Chancery.
There were two funds upon which the Court drew—one
is called "the suitors' fund," and the other "the suitors' fee
fund." The suitors' fund arose in this way : vast sums of
money were in the Court, and those sums which were not
required to be invested by the parties the court had been
in the habit of investing from time to time, viz., that
portion of unemployed cash which the suitor had not re-
quired to be invested. The suitor was not liable to any
fluctuation in the funds, but could demand the amount
of his cash at any time. There was now a sum of
2,200,0001. which had been invested in this way, and
that constituted the suitors' fund. That fund had been
appropriated by Parliament to the payment of salaries,
compensation, and expenses, and it was now producing
111,0001. and a fraction, which was appropriated to the
payment of the expenses of the court in the administra-
tion of justice. The sums thrown upon this fund by
Parliament amounted to 43,320/., leaving a surplus of
63,5231., which was directed by the Suitors' in Chancery
Relief Act of last session to be carried to the suitors' fee
fund. The suitors' fee fund was a Emil derived from
duties imposed, fees payable by the suitors, and fines
incurred by the authority of Parliament. The balance
of 63,5231. came in aid of that fund, and the sum this
year to be provided for as charges on the fee-fund, would
be 157,450/., which would leave an amount of 93,9271.
to be levied this year by fees on suitors generally—the
whole amount to be levied for the year esuing on all
the suitors. Although that was a large sum, yet it was
small in compaaison with the actual amount of business
done. The amount of fees last year was 133,842/.' and
the estimated amount this year would be 93,927/. Then
there was to be added a sum of 3,832/. of fees received
by officers, which would make an amount. of 44,4391.,
which would be the saving effected in the year. But then
the-officers of the Court used to furnish copies of instru-
ments, and chargt a certain amount per folio which pro-
, duced a sum of 10,0001. a year. The solicitors com-
plained of this, as taking, away their own proper. business;