The Sun.
London, England, 1830-05-27 00:00:00

Now he was of opinion, that according to the pre-
sent constitution of the Court of Chancery, even if
the changes to which he alluded were not carried
into effect, an additional Judge in the Court of.
Chancery would not be necessary; but that if they
were carried into effect, and there were four Puisne
Barons in the Court of the Exchequer, that then
an additional Judge in the Court of Chancery would
be absolutely necessary. Having been nearly five
and twenty years at the head of the Court of Chan-
cery, he had some experience, and might, perhaps,
he excused for offer;ng his opinion on the subject.
When he had first the honour of a seat on the wool-
sack, appeals were made to the Court of Chancery
on writs of error from Courts of Common Law,
and the Chancellor had the benefit of the advice of
the Judges. Before the union with Ireland, the only
appeal to the Court of Chancery fi•om Courts of
Equity were from Courts of Equity in England. But
the union brought to the Court of Chancery all ap-
peals from Courts of Equity in Ireland. Those appeals
came also in a shape which rendered it difficult for an
English Chancellor to hear them unless he had had
some previous experience on the subject. In addition
to this, there was a great accumulation of appeals to
the House of Lords. In the year 1807 or 1808 a
change was made in the jurisdiction of §cotiand.
The Court of Session was divided ; which added to
the business of the Court of Chancery, as there were
then appeals from two Courts of Session instead of
from one, Yow this might be a good provision for
the lieges of Scotland, bt;t it was the cause of much
delay and inconvenience to the s4itor9 in the English
Court of Chancery. For some years after the ep.l
pointment of a Vice-Chancellor, the appeals from his
Court added considerably to the business of the
Court of Chancery. lherp seemed to be a general
indisposition at that time to be satisfied with the
decisions of the Vice-Chancellor; and yet there was
no man more eminent for legal knowledge than Sir
Thomas Plomer. He was happy to beer, however,
that was not the case at present ; and that the in:
disposition to be satisfied: with the decisions of the
Vice-Chancellor had greatly abated. What was the
judicial constitution of the Court of Chancery at the
present moment ? The Master of the Rolls now
sat five mornings in the week—an arrangement
highly advantageous. The Vice-Chancellor, he was
told, used great despatch in the business of his
Court. The Lord Chancellor had the power to
avail himself of a Commission of Assistants, com-
posed of two Masters in Chancery, and a Puisne
Baron of the Exchequer. Lord Thurlow had palled
in the aid of such a Commission. Although the
Masters in
,Chancery were not treated as high
judicial characters, yet it was well known they dis-

posed of more important questions in the course of
the year than any of the Puisne Barons. In his opi•
nion, therefore, and with reference to all these con•

siderations, the business of the Court of Chancery
might go on very well without an additional Judge.
In his humble opinion also, if a fourth Puisne Judge

were appointed in the Court of Exchequer, he ought
to be a man fonversant not merely with common
law, but with equity ; in order that be might de-
cide in what was called the outer Court, in cases not
between King and subject, but between subject and
subject. The history of the Court of Exchequer
proved the advantages which would result from such
a measure ; and it would tender still less necessary
the appointment of an additional Judge in the Court
of Chancery. He would not now say that he finally
objected to that appointment, but he thought the
appointment, when it was not yet decided whether
there should be nine or twelve Judges, premature ;
and for that reason he would move, as an amend
ment, that the Bill be read a third time on that
day fortnight.

The LORD CHANCELLOR observed, that
his Noble and Learned Friend had allowed the Bil

to go through all its previous stages without remark,
but that now, in its last stage, he rose to oppose it.
The delay in his Noble and Learned Friend's oppo-
sition was attended with this inconvenience. On

the introduction of the Bill, he (the Lord Chancel-
lor) had detailed the grounds on which it rested.
The postponement of his Noble and Learned Friend's
opposition until the present stage of the Bill ren-
dered it necessary that he (the Lord Chancellor)
should trouble their Lordships with a re-statement
of those grounds. The great delay of the Court of
Chancery had always been the subject of blame.
The fault was not in his Noble and Learned Friend,
but in the system; and he (the Chancellor) had
therefore felt it his duty to propose a remedy. He
would relate one instance of this delay. While he
was sitting in their Lordships' House the other day,
he received a letter from a young man on the banks
of the Mississippi, which stated that 33 years ago
the writer's father came over to this country to re-
cover a legacy to which he was indisputably en-
titled. The executor for his own protection applied
to the Court of Chancery ; an amicable suit (as it
was called) was instituted, and at the end of seven
years the father quitted this country, the suit hay,
ing then had no result. On his return to America
he married; the writer of the letter was born, the
father died, and the son wrote to know whether he

had now any chance of getting the money to which
he was indisputably entitled.—(Hear, hear, hear.)-,,
His Noble Friend had recommended a Commission
of Assistance for the Chancellor; but as that Com-
mission must be composed of a Common Law
Judge and two Masters in Chancery, the
Court of Common Law would suffer from the
loss of his services, and the Senior Judge of
the Court of King's Bench had this day told him
(the Chancellor) that that Court had no hope of
getting through its business, The Common Pleas
could not do more than it now did, and the only
hope was in new modifying the Exchequer, by corn-
pleting it as a Court of Common Law, and sepa-
rating Equity business from it. The addition of
another Judge to the Court of Equity, the measure
he now proposed with regard to the Master's Office,
and the new regulations regarding the Registrars,
were the only things he at present saw capable of
relieving the country from the evils of the existing
system. He had proposed them in accordance with
the Commissioners' report, and he trusted the House
would adopt them.
'the Earl of ELDON explained, and added, that
he understood the opinion of the Vice-Chancellor to
be that no new Judge was necessary in Equity.

The LORD CHANCELLOR said that it was
very strange that the Vice-Chancellor should have
expressed such an opinion without intimating it to
him. When the Vice• Chancellor was before the
Commissioners, he was asked whether three Judges
were sufficient for performing the business of the
Court of Equity ? His answer, now existing in
his own hand-writing, was, "Not three angels."

The Earl of ELDON was understood to answer

that he had received a letter from the Master of the
Rolls, stating that lie and the Vice-Chancellor
thought a new Judge in Equity was not necessary.
Their Lordships then divided on the third read-
ing of the Bill:
Contents ll

Non-contents..

•••• 4

Majority against Lord Eldon's amendment.: --7
Adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS—(LAST NIGHT.)
The House went into a Committee on Shaker-
ley's Divorce Bill.

Counsel were called in, and Mr. Adam was
heard on behalf of the petitioners for the Bill.
Witmesses were examined in proof of the preamble.
took occasion to ask when the Hon. Civilian in-
Sir W. GUISE, on the House bring resumed,
tended to bring on the general subject of the Law
of Divorce, in order that it might be amended ?
Dr. PHILLIMORE replied that he hoped to be
able to introduce the question on Thursday.
LEAD.

Lord W. PAWLETT presented a petition from
certain miners and owners of lead mines in the
county of Durham, praying protection against the
importation of foreign lead.
After a few words from Sir H. PARNELL,
Sir J. GRAHAA 1 said that while a duty was im-
posed upon corn,it was but just that protection