The Sun.
London, England, 1837-07-21 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

beg to point out for correction an erratum in your
paper of the 18th inst. A quotation from " Lockhart's Life
of Sir Walter Scott," headed " Scott and the Princess Char-
lotte of Wales," refers to an anecdote related of Caroline
Princess of Wales.
20th July. A CONSTANT READER.

THE LORDS JUSTICES.

Rejection of motion for placing the Duke of Susstx among'
the Lords Justices, and leaving out the Lord Chief Justice of
the Queen's Bench.
Dissentient,
First, Because the greatest recommendation of the mo-
narchical form of government is the certainty which it
of undisputed succession, and, therefore, everything is most
carefully to be avoided which tends, however remotely, to
break in upon this governing principle of the regal part of
the defect in the royal authority occa-
sionedment for supplying
the Constitution. When provision was making by Perlis
-
the Royaly:
'lover or other next branch of Family, on the
by the absence from the realm of the King of Ha-
demise of the Crown, the right of succession in the Duke of
then
settled
eadl I
abroad, the
and
n d branches
most
of of
them the
Sussex, or other next branch not assent from the realm,
ought to have been recognised by naming that branch
among the Lords Justices. This could not be done in
excluded
17u d(e6d from the succession. But in 1751 (24 Geo. 11.,
Royal FaAmnilnye' C.
Isere 7), because
c. 24, and 1765, 5 Geo. 11
c. 27), the sound principle
was acted upon, and the Princes next in succession were
placed in the Council of Regency then formed by the Legis-
lature. The appointment of Lords Justices by the Sovereign
in contemplation of his temporary absence, has no bearing'
upon the question, both because that is an arrangement of an
entirely different nature, and because it is not effected by the
authority of Parliament.
Secondly, Because the aointment of the Lord Chief
pp
Justice of England, the first Criminal Judge of the realm, to
be a political functionary of the highest order, exercising the
powers of sovereignty, is contrary to every principle of sound
policy. It is likewise repugnant to the whole spirit of our
judicial system, though sanctioned by precedents in times
when the pure administration of justice was far less an object
of care than it happily has at this day become; precedents
which are in truth the relics of a much more remote and even
a barbarous age. It is the more to be lamented that Parlia-
ment should now be called upon to sanction such a proceeding,
because in 1806, in defending the more reprehensible measure
of placing the Lord Chief Justice in the Cabinet, reliance
was placed upon the Acts of 1707, 1751, and 176 b, as afford-
ing legislative authority for uniting in the same person the in'
compatible functions of Minister of State and Criminal Judge.
Nor can it now be contended that we are bound by those pre-
cedcnts, for they have in the present measure been departed
from in other important particulars ; and, if they had not,
departure should at any rate have been made in this particular,
since the example of 1806 has shown the evil consequences
of Parliamentary sanction being given to so exceptionable an
appointment. BROUG HAM.

The people of Jersey are bestirring themselves to
obtain ameliorated institutions.