The Sun.
London, England, 1830-12-03 00:00:00

ING, DECEMBER 3, 1830.

the general controul of the superintending Courts—bute
together with this advantage, which I shall endeavour to
show may he better maintained and secured thin it
is at present, there arise from the same source many
evils of a most serious description. As all at:
tient in all the counties of the kingdom are begun
and continued by records from the King's supe-
rior Courts in Westminster-Hall, they are all tried
in the Aseize towns at the time of the circuit,—
and the contegeence of this is, , that in whatever part
the country the suits may havearisene—st. whatever dis-
tance crow the Assize town—and, at whatever period dor-
ing the six months, at the end of which the Judges came
—all must resort to the Assize town, and to no other
place, for there' only do the Judges sit, and they sit
there only at stated, intervals—namely, from six months
to six mouths. It might happen diet the cases are of
great tuiportattcei. involving vast interests, and ;the suitors
might be persons of extensive means. In such cases delay
and distance might be of little moment; the distance to
be travelled would be nothing to such, parties, anti the (le-
, lay that intervened leetweett the time at which the cause
was ripe for heariug, and the time at which it would be
heard, would not be considered when the stake was large.
In such cases, therefore, the delay and the distance might
be passed over as geantitiee too insignificant to be taken
into the calculation, because, they are nothing in come
parison to the result, and because they bear so small o
proportion to the interest at stake. But it is far
otherwiet where the interest at stake is smell. To per-
sons in the middling and humble classes of life, who have
no large interest at stake out of which to defray the
charges of the suit—who have no time to spare from the
occupations by which they earn their livelihood, and
Whose omits are not of such a nature us to require a
long period in which to prepare them for trial—to such
persona a delay of six months in the adjudication of their
cause, and the consequent 'spews of this delay, as well
as the costs of trial, at a distance from their homes,
are matters of the most serious—l had almost said,
of ruinous consequences; nor is there, nor can
there be any reason for such delay and expense, except
that the law, as it now stands, makes it necessary that
the cause should be tried at the Assisi* and not
before, and at the Assize town, anti nowhere else.
Before calling your attention to the sort of proportion
which these small and great cases bear to each other (a
circumstance I shall presently notice), I shall stop one
moment to remind some of your Lordships, and perhaps
for the first time to inform others, of the kind of costs
which the distance of the journey and the delay impote,
upon the party. I shall pus over the delay itself--I shall
pass over the loss which the party must suffer in conse-
sequence of it; !shall say nothing of the loss of comfort—
of the wounded feelings, hi cases of wrongs committed,
and in cases of the demand of rights (tithe possible ruin to
a party by the withholding of even a moderate sum from
him during a period of five or six months. All those eons
siderations must he obvious to the man who at ail devotes
his attention to the subject ; but besides these, you have
those expenses which press moat heavily when a man has
to take up his ab ide at an assiae town at a considerable
dietinee from hie own residence, and, when he has to.
incur, not only the expense of his own journey, but of
the journey and the maintenance of his witnesses, at a
distance front their own homes. Notwithstanding all the
experience which the Judges have . of these matters, and
notwithstanding their efforts to diminish the expellee, they
have found it utterly impossible so to arrange the causes as
to prevent the suitors and witnesses. from remaining many
days at the assize town at an enormous expense. I have
known the assizes for the county, of York to list a kit-
n;glit. Tha cases from the whole of the three Ridings are
tried in the eity of
,York4.4nd I .have also known it foliate
nearly three weeks. Some excellent regulations were made,
by Mr. Justice I3ayley, by which the causes front each of
the three Ridings were taken .in their turn. This was
done to obviate the expence of parties front one Riding re-
maining in town while the causes of another Riding were
in the course of trial ; but nothing can obviate the evil of
parties whose causes are nut entered at the beginttiug of
the list remaining in the *Wee town from nearly the be•
ginning to the end of the Assizes. Suffer me to remind
your Lordships of the sixpences of the delay. The party
has himself to snaintsin, and such, .portions of his family
us accompany him. That I mention pot—but he has his
attorney there—that attorney, perhaps, has no other cause
to attend to at those Assizes. If so, he is allowed, I be-
lieve, by the Master, on taxation, two guineas a day. If
he has more causes to attend at the Name Assizes, the
allowed charge on taxation is somewhat less—it is, I be-
lieve, one guinea a day. That is the sum wilitth lie has
the right to recover from the opposite party, in the event
of his client being eticeeesful in the cause; but in all pro-
bability he will recover snore from his own client, as the
charge for that demurrage of it may so be called. 'rho,
then, so many days are spent, and consequently so many
guineas to he claitned by the professional man. But then
'there are witnesses who naturally, altruist iuevitably, come
from the a me quarter of the country wife the party him-
self; they toe likely to he his neighbours, because in com-
mon carts his neighbours are the person,' limit likely to
know the grounds of his claim of a right, or the true
Inundation of Isis demand of redress for a wrong. They
must be taken by him, and at his expellee, to time Assize
town, and must remain there till the cause is decided.
Well, then cornet the question how much into be al owed
to these witnesses? The regulations of the Masterly office,
in the taxation of, these costs, have been stated by the Com;
tuiselonere, to whose report a Noble and Learned Lord in
his speech the other night, on proposing some amend-
ments in time law, referred for authority, and they have
divided these witnesses into three classes. The first class
comprises physicians, surgeons, and surveyors ; the second,
master workmen, as master masons and others; and
the third, journeymen. To the first class is allowed
the sum of two guinees a slay ; to the second, I by. ; end
to the third as touch as bs. a day. Now, that it what the
Master's office ullowslo each of these three classes; hut I
speak only that which is consietent with my own expe-
rience, when I say
.that the clients feel the necessity of
keeping their witnesses in good humour, not much less
than of obtaining the favourable ear of the Court. They
feel this necessity, especially when these witnesses conic to
smear not to a fact, but to an eiriniate or to an opinion,
when the clients never fail to make them a more ample
allowance than that which the practice of the office autho-
rises, So that if a man has two or three profeseional
men as witnesses in his cause—and I know full well that
if We have to contest a matter of opinion he must have
t least as ineny,*whetlier the matter relate to the °pillion
of, physicians, surveyors, artists, 'valuers, or even of tnea•
eurers—be will have to pay heavily for the benefit of their
opinioine I have seen so much difference in these caws of
contested opinions, where three or four professional wit-
nesses have been ranged on each, side, that no skilful ad-
vocate, no cautious or prudent man, would advise his
client to go into Court without listing, if not a cloud,
at least a numerous train of these witnesses to 'support
his right. To every One of these mileage is allowed* I
believe to the amount of 64. per mile for their journey,
and then en their arrival there is the expetict of their
dienorrage, varying, I think I may safely say, from
thee* giiineee to one guinea a day each. Your Lord-
ships will at once perceive that of neeessity it newt hap.
pen, if the suitor awl hi* witnesses remain eight or ten
were Slits expense int:erred
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WtttiPtltlit 1.4 Loupe
, 44 40140 your. Lordshi ni that if time
pattrfeeorers in the action, lie nn ti intl et all
the large expenses lie has thus incurred. "By the theory
of tow,' Party who folly makes opt hi*,
might, al.
to °IMO verdict egg 4uiftsaeees re this favour, is entitled
to recover ftotp the eppitsite party the costs to which he
has been put in the ainiertiou of that right ; but, as op
posed toChris theory, the teelenclioly feet ice protioe is
(and it is not fitly fault of the law chap-itis ad) that he
cannot repoyer ull time mita 04 of pocket, but only those
taxes) mote which the Master may aalloweaud that, After be
t!aii obtoinod :there coats,
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