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

LOCAL COURTS' BILL.

The LORD CHANCELLOR then said—in rising to
tall th-e attention of this House to a subject 4 the highest
importance, ,as it appears to me, to the welfare of this
country, as well as to the character of Nur laws, I feel that
I owe an apology to your Lordships, for having undertaken
to bring a aulject of such great and vital importance
un'er your notice, at a time when I have but barely,
througlr the gracious favour of the Crown, assumed a seat
in this House, In any ordinary circumstances, and on
any other uctiasion; the feelings which seem to me to
dictate that apology would prevent the possibility of my
continuing to trespass on your indulgence, but the circum-
stance I state—namely, the high and paramount import-
ance of the subject, together with another which I shall
shortly mention, and which forms at once the motive, and
will form the justification of my proceedingwill, in
all probability, when it is laid before you, induce you
to afford me that indulgence, al'hough it involves the
additional impropriety of calling your attention to a
matter merely ;seasonal with reference to this discussion.
On looking at the Journals of
,the other Home of Par-
liament, your Lordships will find that at. a very early
period in the present &Brim -of Parliament,--when I
enjoyed the high honour of a seat in the House of Coin-
mons,—l had obtained leave of that House to bring in a
Bill of the same nature—not precisely and in every fea-
ture, but essentially, of the same nature—with that for
which I have now to ask the permission of your Lord-
ships to bring into this House. Before there had oc-
curred to me the opportunity of availing Inself of this
permission of the other House, I had been 'Moved to a
seat in this House, and thus the progress of the Bill was
suspended. By a reference to the Journals of the other
House, your Lordships will see that in hi inging in the
Bill two coadjutors had been joined with me. One of
these (Mr. Denman) has now been raised to an important
office, of which the duties rendered it altogether unrea-
sonable to expect that he should encumber himself with
the labour of carrying this measure through the House of
Commons ; and my other coadjutor, that gentleman (Mr.
M. A. Taylor), however intelligent, and however willing
ta.utelertake tho task, was nevertheless not a professional
man.; and, besides the disinclination which I felt to ito•
pose upan toy friend, labours which, es I ought, so I
had always intended to hear myself—besides this distinc-
tion, I held it to be quite impossible that any gentleman
who had not practical experience of the proceedings in
our Courts of Justice could prosecute' with any thing like
a fair chance of success such a measure as that which
the House of Commute had given me leave to bring in.
For these reasons, therefore,—because it has become im-
possible for Ins to avail myself of the permission which
the other House had given me, and because it was hardly
passible that my cotuljuturs could avail themselves of that
permission for me—l have resolved to ask that of your
Lordships which the other House had not hesitated to
grant me, 411,1 to move foe'leave to bring in the 13111 heti.
The measure is, perhaps, one of such a nature, that it does
not belong More to the cognizance of the one House thin to
the cognizance of the other; or, if it did, probably it belongs
more especially to the cognizance of your Lordships.
Nay, if I were called on to say whither there is one brand'
of tho Legislature which caa be considered as the more
appropriate jurisdiction for the discussion' of such a ques-
tion as the present, I might be inclined to say that this
House, which combines in itself the highest legal func-
tions with the highest judicial functions, is, of the two,
that in which a proposition like the present could better
originate. In this Howie, too, I have what is invaluable
to any one who attempts to 'effect legal reforms, the Lenefit
of the assistance—aasistance which, I am persuaded,
will he cheerfulty contributed—of those Noble and Learned
policing who have the honour of sears here, st hose lives
have been passed in the study and in the administration of
the laws ' • many of whom, to their immortal honour, have
suggestedand carried into effectmost important and most be-
neficial legal improvements ; and who, to these advantages,
to this learning, to this experience, and to this Marti-
featatinn of a desire to effect improvlattentri where im-
provements can be effected, join what is equally favourable
to the end I have in view-a-full and ample leisure for de-
liberation. Encouraged by the hope, the confident hope,
of aid from those Noble and Learned Persons—encouraged
too, by my own strong persnasion of the paratnount im-
portance of the subject, and also by my persor4l profess
sional knowledge of the extent and the grievances of those
defects which I seek by this measure to remove—thus
encouraged; I throw 'myself upon the indulgence of your
Lordships, while I 'state, which I will do as shortly and
as distinctly as possible, the nature of the evils which have
induced me to bring forward this ineasure,'and the nature
of the remedies which I propose to apply to these evils.
Before proceediugfurther, I feel it but due to my Noble
Friend on the opposite bench (Lord Grey), that I should
add, that that which I am about to suggest comes from
Myself as an individual—al a Member of Parliament—.
and that I littie haul 'no opportunity of consulting my
Noble Friend with Whom I ant joined in tire' ties of place
—hut that this measure is proposed by site iti my indivis
dual capacity as a Member of this Hotta!, to Iris Peers in
this ]loose, and to the Legislature itself, but that it is not
amen:lett:au I:lo,uprtraerlin
ciovg from
rrtim er sa
etiii
winderrtiaoaneirtl, bay the
loGtoovyeorun;
Lordships. To them I anxiously id Iress myself, because
I fain would hope to persuade them to lend a favourable
ear to this proposal. Ido then look forward to their op-
;novel in their Corporate rapacity; :but till that approval
1411411 be given, I owe it to them and to your Lordships to
say that this proposition originates from myself alone, and
is brought forward under no sanction whatever given by
the lOovernment. I believe that those of your Lordships
, ,
wow nave been most convenient with the proceedings of
our Courts of Justice; whether professionally, or, as with
some of you, perhaps, in the less fortunate rapidity of
suitors, must have come to the knowledge of particulere,
which 1 shall beg you to bear in mind, as the fuundatien
of the proposition with whick I shall commence this dis-
cussion. That proposition is, that there are many things
in the laws of the country, ai regards the remedy for
wrongs, and the preaecetiOrt of rights ; many things, as
regards, in one word, the administration of justice, which
require—l will pottery, an alteration of a rude. and sweep.
ing kind—but an alteration well-considered, with a view
at attempting to create a cheaper, a shorter, an easier,
and in alt respects a more convenient and less vexatious
mode of remedy for wrongs, and aid in the prosecu-
tion of rights. I will nut detain your Lordships with
dilating on a subject hackneyed, indeed, but only hack-
neyed, because of its constant recurrence in pr.aarice—l
mean the expeneiveness: of the law, I will not detail to
you the able evils connected with that of cameo—.
namely, the delay and vexation now felt by the suitor
hut 'cooling from general to more particular facto, with
respect to the manner in which the business of the Courts
of Justice in this is cotulucted, I think I shall be
able to make out to your Lordships a case that will nut
only warrant me in saying theteperts of our judicial in-
stitutions riot only linty, but do e.ll for your rtivisiott. It
is an essential part of the ptevisioes of ' oirr laW, and, in
the main, a %glittery part 61. them, that all the cases be-
tween sehjeet end Object, except those of a very trifling
nature, should begin apd centre lo the Naas tf West-
miniter Hall. From that previsiort of our rim arise
many advantages both to the suitors and to the legal pro-
the:seiniCPettsib'ie overfroamll
itetiajo ioi.nro;
paraniti,paolinvreoo4ll l that
e,c
i !lit b rye t
Arias fon any great ntscrepancy to exist in any one
trabyrt,
a, •
heeause all -are; - in a great Minors., astimilated tOgeeh