The Sun.
London, England, 1837-06-28 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, .115: u.
COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH—JOHN GZ)BE JONES v.
WILLIAM LENNQX CUNNING:O.M AND OTHERS.—This
insporto.ut trial catne on last *Friday, before Mr. Justice
Craaipton and tispeeial jury, and had not terminated at
three o'clock to=day. It will be recollected that it is An
a:tion in a eaie for libel, which it was alleged VS'A4 contained
in a requisition addressed by the defendants to Lord Gar-
vagh, Lord Lieutenant of the county of Londonderry—aod
iu certain resolutions entered into by the defendants, Ye-
:fleeting on the character of Mr. Jones. Damages were laid
at 2,0001. The defendants put in ten pleas-Ist, The
leneral issue ; 2dly, A pin of justification, on the Rtvokitni
that the plaintiff's ev;:lence before the. Committee of the
douse of Commons was false. The other pleaS were mostly
lens of justification.

The Pilot, in alluding to the trial, says—" How the
crdict ought to be, if decided by its merits, we have our
pinion ; how public opinion anticipates it will-be, is vvi-
lent from this, that from the morcent the jury was declared
—without knowing the case, and before the trial was pro-
eeded in—bets of four and five to one were offered that
be defendants would have the verdict. We trust, and zre
;till bound to, believe, the jury will not justify the bad opi-
;ion of the public.
ATTEMPT TO REPEAL THE REFORM BILL.—Tim extra
ndicii opinien—fir it is no decision—said to have been
•iven by a numcrical—but not prepouderating—majority
,f the judges—that the Reform Bill should be repealed,
las been a subject of astonishment to all the lawyers, and
•eqnires the stimulated activity of the people to counter-
•ct the malignant influence it would have in virtually re-
,ealing the Reform B;11, and rendering Irish judges the real
aw makers, beeause the arbitrary and far-fetched interprc-
ers of law. The attempt to cause the oath of qualification
or an elector to be put according to the Act of 10th George
'he IV., thereby repealing the Reform Act, passed in the
veign of William, calls for a more than ordinary de-
mand of the country to cause the Government to
nake the Reform Bill, as passed by the Legislature, and
:on the principles solemnly recognised by those who
trained it—the law of the land, and not have the rights
of the people, and the privileges of the Legislature super-
aeded by a few very fallible old Irish Judges, some of
whom may never have known law, and others have so long
been out of practice that they may have forgotten what-
•ver they did know. We call it an "attempt" to re-
leal the Reform Bill, for such declaration is very far
ndeed from effecting the purpose. Before this question
ow all others sink into insignificance. It is the question
,f whether we hare a Reform Bill er not? Whether the
,eople hare privileges or not ? Whether judges can su-
mrsede the Legislature ? We can happily arraign the
tonstruction of law the more freely and consistently with
our respect for the station of those eminent personages, be-
!ause the decision was extra-judicial, and therefore more
,pen to be questioned, and less necessary to be implicitly
'beved, The assistant-barristers will of course be as free
70 exercise their legal discretion in administering the oath
:s they were before. They may respect 'the authority
,f men in the high station of judge, but it is not despotic
,ver their own opinions. A judge may be fallible, but an
assistant-barrister may be fully as competent to form an opi-
lion as a judge. Let us suppose a case. Jackson was an
assistant-barrister—it was considered a very large reward
'or his very small abilities. He has since lied by the yard or
for the Tories, and of course, should they come to power
',which they won't), he has qualified himself to be a Tory
judge. Well, we bring this forward as an illustration, that
the same man, with the same mind and knowledge, may fill
both offices. As a judge, he will be equally fallible as when
t chairman ; but as the latter he would not be therefore
less fallible. But even if the authority of the judges ought
to guide implicitly barristers of Sessions, they have it. The
balance of authority, net numerical indeed, bet " learned
in the law," is with the construction which would preserve
the integrity of the Reform Bill. The Mail said, that
3f course, the two judges who ruled with the Reform
Bill were Messrs. Richards and Perrin. We should
have-been much surprised, from the high character of these
functionaries, if they did not. But there were five who
;o ruled, and we have the pleasure of doing honour to the
4ueen's Bench by stating that the whole of that Bench
orms a portion of that five, ar.d is with the Constitution as
'ramed by the Reform Bill. We shall now put our own
avourites out of the question ; but let the Tories put, if
(hey can, any of their pet judges on this occasion in com-
retion with the Chief Justice and Judge Burton. The opi-
lions of these men, who cannot, too, have partialities for
:he Reform Bill, are worth a score of men who never had
:nown law, or have forgotten what they had. The Com-
non Pleas has been a long time a sinecure, and the hands
If those learned functionaries may well be out of practice.
On the whole, we think the assistant-barristers will be in-
dined to decide the law still in conformity with the opinion
if the Legislature, and not that of a portion of the Bench
rho—unintentionally, of course—would supersede its acts.
—Pilot.