The Sun.
London, England, 1830-06-07 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, .111 N It: 5.
WRIGHT V. HANSARD.
Mr. BARNEWELL opened the pleadings. The decla-
ration was for work and labour, to which the de-
fendant had pleaded the general issue.
Mr. BROUGHAM said that the plaintiff, Mr. John
Wright, was probably known to many of the Jury,
as he had long been an inhabitant of Westminster.
He had been engaged in preparing for publication
two well-known works—the " State Trials" and
" Hansard's Parliamentary Debates"—particularly
the latter. He had been the editor of that voluminous
and valuable work for upwards of a quarter of a cen-
tury. The property had changed hands of late years,
and had come into the possession of the defendant,
Mr. Thomas Curson Hansard, the son of a gentle-
man who was well known as the printer to the House
of Commons, and he believed to the other House of
Parliament. The plaintiff, Mr. Wright, had been
employed by the defendant, who succeeded to his
father's share in the " Parliamentary Debates," to
superintend the publication of that work; and in
February, 1820, a contract was entered into, by
which the plaintiff undertook to edite and prepare
for publication the Debates of both Houses of Par-
liament for the Session of 1826—a Session of un-
exampled length and importance, and of course re-
quiring a proportionate degree of labour on the part of
the person who undertook to prepare the work in ques-
tion for the press. That work was to consist of two
volumes, and the plaintiff for superintending them
was to receive 2401. in two sums of 1201. each, 1201.
being allowed for each volume. The plaintiff, Mr.W.,
did the work. He carried it through in a most satisfac-
tory manner, and it was admitted on all hands that for
fulness and accuracy the Parliamentary debates had
never been equalled. Mr. Wright was peculiarly
qualified for the undertaking from his talents, expe-
rience, and personal knowledge of most of the Mem-
bers of Parliament, and from the confidence that
was generally reposed in him. Many of the Mem-
bers, it was well known, had personal intercourse
with him, and were in the habit of correcting their
own speeches before they went to press; and they
were, ,no doubt, the more anxious to do so from
their knowledge of Mr. Wright, and the reputation
of the Debates which lie had so long edited. It
was very seldom that those who took the most pro-
minent part in Parliamentary discussion had leisure
to revise their own speeches- He (Mr. Brougham)
and his Learned Friend (the Attol:iey-General) had
not time to do so; but it very often happened, that
those who at the time were not considered as the
most distinguished shareholders in the debates, bad
time to put their speeches in the best possible shape
for publication, and there could be no doubt that
many of them would go down to posterity in Mr.
Hansard's work, as the speeches of persons who had
borne a very conspicuous part in Parliamentary dis-
cussions.—(Laughter.)—Their speeches appeared
in this work with greater grammatical accuracy and
more fulness, and in short they appeared to be
much more excellent and valuable speeches, than
those of other Honourable Members who had
not the opportunity of revising and correcting
what they delivered in Parliament. Mr. Wright
when he had completed his work, drew two bills on
Mr. Hansard, at three months each, according to the
written contract; but Mr. Hansard refused to accept
them, or to pay for the work done; and the reason
of his refusal was, that, the volumes had not been
brought out to the day, according to the precise
terms of the contract. The contract certainly con-
tained a stipulation, that in case the copy was not
supplied by Mr. Wright at the appointed time, a
deduction of 50s. a day, for each whole day's debate,
should be made from his allowance, and that deduc-
tion was now, it seemed, to be set up as a counter-
claim against the present demand ; but he (Mr.
Brougham) could hardly think that such a defence
would be seriously made.
The written contract was then put in and read,
after which,
Lord TENTERDEN suggested that the matter would
be better settled out of Court.
Mr. BROUGHAM had no objection.
Mr. GURNEY said, that Mr. Hansard would yield
to his Lordship's suggestion of a reference; but he
was anxious that it should not be supposed that he
was seeking to take any money out of Mr. Wright's
pocket. He felt that he had suffered a very serious
loss by Mr. Wright's delays, which had given rise, in
some degree, to the prosperity of a rival publication.
Lord TENTERDEN thought Mr. Hansard had acted
properly, and even liberally, in yielding to his sug-
gestion; and he hoped that no reporter present would
be so inaccurate as to represent that there was any
imputation on Mr. Hansard from any thing that had
taken place to-day.
Mr. BROUGIIASI disclaimed all imputation of im-
proper motives to Mr. Hansard.
Mr. GURNEY—And I do not mean to impute
to Mr. Wright that he ever invented any of the
speeches.—(Laughter.)
Lord TENTERDEN—Oh no.
A verdict was then entered for the plaintiff, sub-
ject to a reference to Mr. Selwyn.
Lord TENTERDEN—The work is still going on, I
suppose?
Mr. BROUGHAM—Yes, my Lord ; but the volume
will not be so large this year.—(Laughter.)
Lord TENTERDEN—There has been as much said
this year : I don't know whether there bus been so
much done.