The Sun.
London, England, 1830-11-11 00:00:00

LOCAL JURISINCTIoN BILL.

Mr. BROUGHAM, in moving for leave to bring in this
Bill, said, that having last Session so fully explained its
nature, object, end provisions, he did not furl be should
now be wanting in clue respect to the House, or liable to
the ehaige of indifference to the great cause of legal re-
form, if he abstained from entering on the subject gine-
reify, and avoided touching upon principles, reasons, and
details. Last Session the 11111 was allowed to he brought
in, read a first and second time and committed, upon the
understanding it was to proceed no farther that year.
Now, he wanted to be admitted to bring it through the
same stages in such a manner that it might be carried in
a reasonable time, and at such a period of the Session, that
it would not be iropoosible ' thr it to receive the sanction of
the other HOLM before the breaking up of Parliament.
There were so many matters of a nature more urgent, and
of at least equal importance before the Muse, that he
should not press for the second reading and committal of
the Bill before Chriettnas. He should, however, expect
that after tide period there would be no delay.

1111,EA,C3f OP VIIIVILEOM
The flaw.. Oann.aat.a.st said„ that bekre be sat down,
he kit cotnpelivi to Esdiert to another topic, which was,
however, connected with the mvasure.before the Uousa.—
He believed there wan 'rot a *inglo day during tho Session,
or during the Hoene, or during the long vacation
February, 1810—when ha first entered that Huse—in
which A breach of privilege bad not been committal to..
ward& tin ?croon vt iodiviiitul who then stldrowl

them. Never, however, was he induced to complain ex•
rept once—and that rather to oblige a Noble Person thei
in the other House, than from any feeling of his own. An
exceedingly offensive expression bad beer..fiilsely attri
buted to this individual by the Editor of a Newepapr,.con-
teary to the report in another Part tlf hie paper, ;and the
Noble Lord was anxious he (Mr. Broughton) Should itiv
him the opportunity of contradicting it, otherwise be
would suffer even that to pace unnotiOed but when then'
was an attempt made to deter a Member of Parliament
from doing his dotyt he considered himself bound to pro.
test against it.—(Hear, hear.) He trusted that it wouli•
not be necessary for hind to allude to the subject again ;
but that what he had now to say would operate as a
lessen and a warning, Ile believed they were led on
by a false feeling of Corporation-honour, and it wa,
well to advise them at once not "to lay the flattering
unction to their souls" that he would be prevented
by a combination of all the attorneys in Christendom,
or any apprehension of loss of practice, from en-
deavouring to make justice pure and cheap. Them,
gentlemen, when they attacked him, were much mis
taken if they thought he would die without defend-
ing himself.—(Cheers and laughter.)—lf the struggle
arose, the question would be whether barristers or attor-
neys should prevail; and he saw no reason why barristers
should not open their doors to clients without the inter-
vention of attorneys and their bills of costs.—(Loud
cheers.)—He would not be the first to do this; hut if hr
discovered that there was a combination against him, he
decidedly would throw himself upon his clients—upon the
country gentlemen, the merchants and manufacturers—
and if he did not, with the help of that House, beat thoee
leagued against him, he would be snore surprised at it
than at any misadventure of his life.—(Cheers and
laughter.)—He defended himself from the charge of hav-
ing attributed malpractices to the body of solicitors arid
attotnem in which he knew many highly honourable
men. The word presume' in his 11111, which gave so
much offence, was to be found as the term used in the
old Acts of Parliarritot. In saying, therefore, If any
attorney should presume,' he meant no offence, and would
have nu objection to change it. He felt that the fact of
the attorneys being against it would be a great help to his
measure.—(Cheers.)—As for any combination against
himself he cared not for it, but he trusted what he now
said would be sufficient. He had received a letter which
was not to be misunderstood by a lawyer, though the
words were rather vague. [An Hon, Member called on
him to read it'. He said he had rather not read it, be-
cause it was signed by an individual whose name he did
net think it necessary to mention. Suffice it to say that
he was told the attorneys would take every occasion in
their power of marking their sense (these words were un-
derlined) of such conduct.---(hear and laughter.)
Sir IL PEEL agreed to the Bill passing through the
same stages as last Session, reserving to himself the right
of opposing any part of it he thought exceptionable at a
future period. He cordially approved of the Bill so far as
it related to the facilitating the recovery of small debts;
and if, on account of objections to other parts of the
it was ultimately rejected, be would be happy to originate
o: support a measure which should have in view that ob-
ject of which he so highly approved.---(Hear.)
Mr. CAMPBELL also approved of the facilitating the
recovery of small debts; but he thought the Bill went too
far. lie observed, that the profound and tided learning
of the Hon. and Learned Gentleman, and his brilliant
eloquence, would enable him to defy any combination.
Mr.
_TENNANT declared he would oppose the Bill.
Mr. TENNYSON approved of the Bill.
Mr. O'CONNELL was the friend of cheap justice. He
wished Mr. Brougham had turned his powerful mind to
the general system, and ho repeated his opinions in favour
of codification.

Mr. BROUGHAM disclaimed any intention of pulling
sitarn the. udicial establialmsents of the country. On the
contrary, lie wished much of them to be preserved ; and
all he desired was to reform those abuses which, whether
introduced by the change of circumstances, or by defects
in the original formation oftliese establishments, were now
found united with them. He contended that his plan was
not expensive except at first starting, but that after it had
been once established, the fees would more than pay the ex-
pences. The small Courts in Scotland showed the correct-
ness of this assertion. Now he was upon this subject, be
wished to make one observation on an essay published con-
cerning him and his plans, written in a dialect of our lan-
guage, which left no man at liberty to mistake the author--
a most esteemed and valued and venerable friend of his—
and in which he was accused, iu direct and unmeasured
termse -in terms of vituperation and abuse—that he cer-
tainly never expected froth such an excellent and vene-
rable person, and that went to charge him with being not
.only a mock reformer of the laws, but an opponent.of all
reforms ;—a person influenced by corrupt motives, and a
dangerous enemy to the good of the State. The proof of
this charge was this, and a most curious proof it was:—
that although the reforms he proposed might effect a pre-
sent reduction of the expellees of litigation, yet that in a
few years the amount of litigation would be so much in- '
creased, that the profits of the lawyers would be pro-
portionably augmented. Now with respect to that ar-
gument, be would merely say, that whereas in the Circuit
which he had now the honour to attend, there bad been at
the last Assizes ninety-seven causes in a particular county,
eighty-six of which would certainly have been cut off by
his plan ; he was an touch influenced by corrupt motives,
that he wished his plan to be adopted, though it would
certainly cut off eight-ninths of his business. The other
party, however, admitted that consequence to be true, but
said that he expected a mill greater increase ut the expira-
tion of a few years. He would only answer this by eb-
serving, that lawyers were not generally (especially those
lawyers who, like him, were approaching the close of their
career) men wilt), with the simplicity of the dog in the
fable, in order to grasp at a shadow that seemed larger,
quitted their hold of the substance they poevessad.—
' (Hear, and a laugh.)—He made these remarks not in
linger (for he esteemed and valuei the author of the essay
too much, and held the charge itself too lightly to be
angty), but with a view to show how little foundation
there was for it. He cli l not think that any answer what-
ever had been made to the plan he proposed.
Mr. BRUCE said that three new Judges were about to
be appointed, but if die plan of his Hon. and Learned
Friend was adopted, a great part of the business of the
Ceuta would apparently be taken away, and then, be
wished to know, where would be the necessity for their
appointment ? _ _

Mr. BROUGHAM anawered, that two or three years
at least mu,t intervene before the change be proposed could
produce all the dream he wished ; and when it did, the
only thing necesenry for the Miniatera was to leave the
vacancies an the Bench unfilled. He wished to take this
opportunity of asking the Right Hon. Secretary for the
Home Department why one appointment had been made
in the Exchequer, at the expence of depriving the Court
of King's Bench afa most amiable and excellent man, and
a most learned and admirable Judge?
Sir lt. PEEL sail that a put of the plan of the Law
Reforms was to equalize the fees of Courta, and thus, as
Air as possible, to equalize the bulginess of the Exchequer
with that of the other Courts.

Mr. nnouotiAm replied that the equalization of fees
never could produce such an effect. Under present cir-
cumstances, to which he need do no more than barely
allude, business would not ho driven into the Exchequer.
—The motion was agreed to.
CHANCERY.

Mr. M. A. TAYLOR moved for an account of the
number of cases, exception., further directions, pleas, and
demon-ern entered for argument before the Vice-Chancellor
and Master of the Rolls, on the first day of each Mi..
chselmas Term in 1827-28-29 and SO ; and also the
number of cases, &v. remaining on each of those days
before the same Judges. He took that opportunity of
declaring that under no circumstances whatever would he
defer the discussion of his motion relative to the proposing
of the alterations in the Court of Chancery.—The Re-
turns were ordered.