The Sun.
London, England, 1806-04-19 00:00:00

EX PARTt CRIMtNAL.P.ROe,g;T:DILVC;'&'

,
Sedeagt 114 ST rose, agreeably' to iiotice; to
move for leave-tf bring in a hitl for .preventing ail
interlocutors or ex, parte, procedings'.
Matters, from-being published in the neWspapers.----
• Nonni), he declared, had a greziter diSposaion to
support the liberty of they press than he had-none.
could more auxionAly. wish that that liberty shoUld
be extended to•its utmost limits. NO man, how-
ever, who was a friendi to the press,
.on rational and
liberal, principles, but would with to see it. kept
within some fair_ and sati4a6torz bounds. It was.
well known that not 4 case oceurred in :which the
evidence, supposing it to he ei-en "of the Most un-'
satisfadory and doubtful nature, did- not find its
Way into the Newspapers, thereby prejudging the
public mind,. arid there -was. too much reason 'to
suppoSe, often even that of the Jury, who, it was
to be feared, could not always divest themselveS.of
the prejudices they' had imbibed' in corisequenc-
of those partial statements. The praaice alluded
to was .acknowledged by Most_ Of his I Orrthren.
at the bar to lie improper and illegal ; and, in evi-,
dence 'that it was esteemed to he. such; two Editors
of Papers in the County-of Susseti had lately Ween
snbjeaed_to•six months imprisonment forasimilar
'offence. It might 'be' asked, why, in such -circum-
- stances, bringin oiis Bill? answer was--Hile-
• cause the law was not: sOfficicntly knoWn. It had
been his misfortune to be Counsel in two•cases hi
which complaints
.of this nature Lad.been made to
and felt by hittl. ` The case ofColotiei I)espard„ and
the more-remit one of Patch. In both these cases
it ‘Nra' stibmitted:to hini, in what way redress eetild
be procured' .for the. injury under Which the party
was supposed to labour. His ailiiwer was, as it
. would unquestionably be in 'any other case iof the,
kind-,--It Wts impossible that any redress could
bp • procured 'without • inCreash.g. the odium and,
suspicion which formerly existed:' against them,
The Attorney Gen'eral, as the case nbw stOod,•cenld''
not properly complain, the laW on this point hot
being sufficiently-explicit. :Neither he, nor the party
likely to heeome the viCtirn of this Suspicion, being--
in a capacity to-complain, the question was, Who'
could ? The "learned -Seeleatirs' objeet was, to give
a p4palty of WI.. to any person who Would prose-
cute in such a case; and, as he knew the Public to
be so desirous Of hearing statements of this kind, and
Proprietor of 'NewspaperS inc-lined to stand at no
expence ox trouble •which could gratify he
Curiosity, he proposed conferring a power of -punish-
ing t violation Of the' AEI. by ialpris6pment. Not
only were proceedings,hefore-Magisittates, in cases
of felony, iMproper SUbjeols, 'prematurely to meet
'the public-eye, but there were'alsO'caSes which oc-
curred in the Cqurts in. -Westrninster Hall, to which
it was his meaning that the-present. Bill should et(.
tend, and 'lVhich he -conceh,ed-jto be eqtvi'y im-
proper as ex parte staternentSl-,-.4hese were Motions
ti): Criminal Informations.' Stich applications pro-
ceeded 'merely on. Affidavits on one side; and':
the facts, as, appearing an the face of . them, very.
frequentiy,„ on `steeling. to trials turned *nit Tine
otherwise. It was, in such cases, highly improper
that the observations of the Judges on those ea; parte
and flifaCious statiments should be •read by persons
called on, probably afterwards, to decide on the rile.;-
rits of the ease,. and who thereby ran every risk of
having their sentiments on the snbje&'perverted. His
thereThre, went to sebtiall pubh.ining in
Newspapers, not only of cases of Felony before Ma-,
gistrates, but Of Criminal intbrinatons moved for in
Westminster Hall, thereby preventing the statement
of the one party from meeting the public eye till the
Case should fairly come beforeia Judge and Jury.—
He accordingly conchided by moving for leave to
bring in a Bill to prevent the publishing in News-
papurs all ex. parte- and interlocutory Criminal Pro-
ceedings.
This. Motion was seconded by Mr. a ERSPIIE
(son of the Lord Chancellor), and leave was given
accordingly. '
A Gentiernan from the -,lrish Treasury presented
an Accounts of the Sums paid from the Civil List, in
Ireland, for tile last year, in consequenceof Addresses
from the House of Commons.'