The Sun.
London, England, 1806-02-28 00:00:00

APIs should'not beconudered by that House as an an-
swer that it was proper to admit. Had not the cod-
sideration of the Bill pressed upon the House in point
-of time, he should have thought it his duty, under
'the circumstances of this case, to move for -a Corti-
mittee to, search .for precedents respe6tiegsquestiOns
referred to ,the Judgeg, and the answers, in order
that the pra&ice of Parliament in this respeat might
be 'fully ascertained.
EarI:STAIVH6PE said his koble Friend had
mistaken 'the pratlice, of Parliament, with respea to
- the questions referred to the Judges. If his noble
Friend had, -.like himself, endured the misery of at-
teriding for 'six years, .gluring the trial of Warren
Hastings, he wiiuld have known ftliat it had been
constantly the' pra&ice to refer que'stions _to the
Judges, upon specific points, and individual cases.
He-could,npt, at the same time, agree with his No-
ble Friend,. as to the ~general propriety of requiring
an answer frOar the Learned. Judges to a question
respeaing an abstract-t point of law. Such a. question
night involve both negative and. positive relations,
and how was it pesSible for the Learned Judges :to
Ova. a general answer of yes, or no, to a question
which tiii.;:v-conld net, indeed,-;answer, without mak-
" ing a thOusarid,-c,i perhaps ten thousand, exceptions,
to the general rule laid,doWn. With respea to the
till' itself, he was of opinion that there,shotild not
be a different laW for A. to what there was for B.
and he had an idea, if it was not carried into effeet
by, any of her, person,'PE proposing a general law
r,pon the subjed,,, contained in a. short Bill, accord-
ing to which, the evidence given by any person re=
spewing any matter in issue, should net be-after-
wards made use of in•any way against him. - -
The LORD CHANCELLOR, after briefly stating
the circumstances which leave rise, on,a former occa-•
sion,tO putting these qustions to the Judges,observed,
that it was clear, from the statement of the Learned
Chief Justice, that the Learned Judges had not redlly
declined to answer the question; on account of its
being of too general a nature, but that they had dif-
tem! in opinion with respe6.l to the subject matter
wlriclr that question involved, and, therefore, they
could not return a general answer, eitbei-, One Way or
the other. He looked up with reverence and re-
spe& to the opinion of the Judges ; he wished to
have their opinion upon such a question; the House
had a right to call for their opinion. The'vmiance
.h weep the verbal, stafement.of the ;,earned Chief
Justice, and the answer_ delivered in at the Table, was
cbvious.to the House; it -was also clear that the dif-,
fei-,!nce of npinion' among the Learned Judges was,
not as to thesform of the question put to
,them, but
Upon the merits of the question itself. Under these

CirLurnstances, therefore, he thought that the House
entitled to call for an opinion, froM the Judges,
and,•as they could not agree; that they should de-
-1114 o•-)in;ons seriatim... He, at the same time,.
-vished to pay the highest 'deference to the opinion
upon this Sul-,:jea,,of his Noble and Learned_ Friend
' . (Lord, Eldon).
Lord. EATIL E perfedly concurred in what
" had fallen from the Noble and Learned Lord on the
Woelsacl:;. He wished to pay every resped to The
• Learned Judges, but their'Lordships were entitled
to an opinion upon the questions referred to that
, ,r.th,ful or unpleasant
task, they must do their duty.—He concurred in
;ropriCty of hearing the Judges seriatim. ,
Imrd HA WKESL'EIR YalSo agreed that the fudges
Should be heard seriatim ; the only question appear--
ed to.hhn'to }e as to the mode of getting rid of the'
answer to the twci questions which had been de-
livere.3 at tharP.lble. It occurred to him.that.thebest
Mode of doing this; would be to:consider that
i:s not having been delivered,' and that it should
he understood that the Learned Judges Were to'cle-
. livcr their opinion upon the question, as if no such
answer had been given. With respea to'what had
fallen from his' Noble Friend (Lord HOLLAND), as
to the proceedings of the House 'being controuledb.r
the opinion of the Jtviges upon speCific paints, that
• , opinion ~k-a; not santionel by precedents, one of
-which.dccUrred. to him a! the moment—the case of
Dr: SicheVerell, in
,which the House 'A6,ted in. direr}
opnosli ion to the unanimous opinion of the-Judges.
A 3 TO the idea started by the Noble Earl (STANnoPk.),,
of a general law . prevent.. lhe evidence of wit--
nesses frgm. being used againgt .themselyes,
t..lcught it would not have the ea& which the
~;NJhle Earl proposed, as if the witnesses were corn= .
I:elle:1 to disclose fads, that disclosure might afford
a clue for proving those fads against them.
Lord AUCKLAND withdrew his motion.'
The Earl of 11kn NOR thought the Judges ought to
be called upon to deliver their opinions seriatim.
Lord. ELDoIV said, he felt it incumbent upon
him. to state, that he have too positive .an opinion
upon the point inVolved in the Bill. He had said,
tkit -there was no doubt that a witness had no right
to demur to a question, the answer to which might
involve him in a civil snit; that opinion he must now
retract, as he found there' were .doubts upon the
i:i.:bje4 amongst persons of high- legal authority. He
coneorredM opinion that the Judges should be heard I

seriatim, and therefore moved that the Judges, hav-
ing given a decided opinion in the negative as to the
third question referred to them, and it having been
sate that they diff-cred'in opinion as to ,the other
tw9 questions, that they should be heard seriatim

upon those ,questiorp; and that they should attend'
to-morrow for the purpose of delivering 'their cpi-

pions.

This- Motion was agreed to "; and on the Motion
of Lord Holland the further consideration of the Bill
Was peitponed till Tuesday, for which day the Lirds
were or(-,:n•ed to be summoned.

,The Archbishop of CANTERBURY moved, that the
:rilianks of the House-be given to the Bishop of
firistol, for ,his Sermon preached yesterday, at the
Collegiate Church of Westminster, and that he be
required to print and publish the same.—Ordered,
Earl SPENCER presented a Petition trotn Brigadier-
Crtneral Kerr, claiming the ,title of Duke of Rox-
'our rh ; which was .referred to the Cornt4ittee, of
Pri vileo-cs.%—.4dj ou rn ed. .

HO USE
,OF COMMONS.

THURSDAY, FEB'.

A 7\lessag-,e was brought from the. Lords, stating,
that their Lordships iiad agreed to.the Five
,Millions
Exlehelrluer Bills Bill Wi,thoilt any Amendinent.
Bu:GENI,Nt brought in' the Irish Fit Fruits
Bill ; was read a first time,.and ordered to E.:2
read a. second time on Monday.
On the mption of Mr. FOSTER; the Thanks of the
I--Luse were voted.to the very Rev, the Dean of itA7