The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-10 00:00:00

Lord LYNDHURST explained. He was understood
to express his concurrence in the terms of approbation
in which the noble and learned lord on the woolsack
had spoken of Mr. Bellenden Ker's report. He also
said that he had not stated that the codification of the
common law had been attempted in the United States.
He had merely spoken of the codification of the statute
law.

The LORD CHANCELLOR said there might be
occasions in which it would be useful to introduce a
small portion of the common law into a consolidation
of the statute law. The rule should be to consoli-
date the statutes only ; but he thought it would be
sheer pedantry to say that, in order to make a matter
more clear, in no case would you insert anything
from the common law. That, however, should be done
rarely, and as the exception. As to enacting what statutes
were actually in force, that was found to he a thing
which was impossible without going through every
statute, and every clause of every statute, because there
were statutes in which particular clauses were repealed.
Therefore, to legislate on that subject had been found to
be impossible ; but the gentleman whose services he had
engaged had made a list of all the statutes which were
obsolete, or repealed, or had expired ; and that list
might be printed, although it would not, of course, have
the force of law. It would, however, give a pretty ac-
curate idea of what the existing statutes really were.
Lord CAMPBELL said that notwithstanding the
large number of volumes occupied by the statutes at
large, all the statutes to which a lawyer had commonly
to refer might be found in three octavo volumes, which
had been compiled by Mr. Wolsby. When he (Lord
Campbell) was xrpon the-bench he always-had this work
by him, and no statute was ever referred to by the bar
which he could not find in it.

The discussion was then concluded.
THE MODE OF ELECTING BOARDS OF GUAR•

DIANS.

LOrd MONTEAGLE moved for certain papers in re-
lation to the last election of members of the board of
guardians at Leeds, and an inquiry into the circum-
stances attending it, which had been held by an officer
of the Poor-law Board. His lordship stated that his
object in desiring the production of these papers was to
show the frauds which might be committed under the
present system of electinc, poor-law guardians—a system,
according to which it had been proposed, by an act in-
troduced into that house by his noble friend (Lord Saftes-
bury), towards the conclusion of the last session, that
the votes for members of Parliament should in future be
taken.

The motion was agreed to.
Their lordships then adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS—(YESTERDAY.)
The SPEAKER took the chair shortly before 4 o'clock
PETITIONS.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL presented a petition
from Southampton in favour of ocean penny postage.
Mr. BRIGHT presented a petition from Rochdale to
the same effect.
Mr. HUME presented a petition from a number of
medical men complaining of the footing upon which
naval medical officers were allowed to stand in regard to
rank, and praying that they might be treated in the
same manner as medical men in the army.
NOTICES OF MOTION.
Colonel BLAIR gave notice that on Tuesday 'next,
be should call the attention of the house to the subject
of the supply of guano to this country.
Mr. GROGAN gave notice that this day fortnight he
should call attention to the state of the Dublin Hospital.
Mr. DIGBY SEYMOURgavenotice that on an early
day he should call the attention of the house to the con-
ductOf the East India Company towards the Carnatic
Stipendiaries.
THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH FLEETS.
Mr. FRENCH gave notice that to-morrow he would
put a question to the noble lord the member for London,
as to tvhether the admirals commanding the English and
French fleets had returned to Constantinople, notwith-
standing the disapprobation of their taking such a course
being expressed by the ambassadors. (Hear.)
REPORT OF THE HULL COMMISSION.
Mr. W. PATTEN said. he wished to put a question
to the hon. gentleman (Mr. Wilson) as to the printing
of the report of the Hull Election Commission. The
printed report presented to the house weighed 11 tons
6 cwt. (Loud laughter.) It appeared also, that
2,000 questions had been put to the different wit-
nesses, and the cost of printing the report to this
house alone, and the other house of Parlia-
ment was 1,7501. (Loud cries of hear, hear.) He
ought to .say that in the examination of witnesses alone
57 days were occupied, besides a great number of days
that were nut mentioned, but referred to in the report.
He wished to ask whether any investigation had taken
place on this subject. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. WILSON said the question had been properly
put to 'him, because the investigation of this matter de-
volved upon the Treasury. He could only say that every
care had been taken to investigate this case, and every
means taken to mark their disapprobation of the
excessive expenses of this report. (Hear.) The act of
Parliament devolved upon the Treasury the remuneration
of the .cominissioners,l which was fixed at 5 guineas a
day with regard to the days employed ; but with regard
to the preparation of the report, the suns of 501. to
each member was always given. In this case that ruin W,15 not allowed, the Treasury thinking that the nuns-
her of clays was excessive. (Hear, hear.) He ought to mention that, in the course of the investigation of
?two of the commissioners—for it was signed only by two
the ?onisSioners-!--those two commissioners had exercised
whOte of their influence to bring te inquiry to an
earlier termination, and they were only frustrquiated in
that by the oppo.ition of the third commissioner. (Hear.)
Mr. 111311 E said had
for the report of he n been requested to move
the third commissioner, .as he under-
stood that he ai,e, had
He had desisted fro prepared a report. (Laughter.)
report, and be now onl \wish
to ask if anything was
m moving for the production of that
to be done with respect to ited
?
Mr. FITZROY said the report of one commissioner,
in his individual capacity, could not be received as a re-
port of the commission. (gear, near.)
SLAVE TRADP,
Mr. /RIME wished to ask Ler(lJ. Russell whether
these would be any objection to lay before the house the
correspondence that had taken place between 8 zip
countriese re-
Portugal, the United States,
specting the slave trade to and in Cuba
on Slave Trade Treaties was laid on the table of reportthe house ?

Lord J. RUSSELL said her Majesty had
he-
eetnneernai
strated against the conduct of the late Governor-General
of Cuba, and a new Governor-General had been
ap
pointed, with instructions to reverse the policy of t
previous Governor. Now it would he inexpedient to
produce the correspondence until it had been seen
Whether these instructions would be strictly carried out
or not.

PROTESTANT BURIALS IN SPAIN.
Mr. M. MILNES begged to ask Lord J. Rusell
whetlitr he had any objection to lay on the table of the
house the correspondence between the British Govern-
ment and that of the Queen of Spain on the subject of a
..t- tentant burial-ground at Madrid ?
„ 14C1.44d BELL said the Spanish Minister had
p.A.
eic-ancruid"
..
suocrdten4e.72...thiutnberurasial crou-ndatllafaodvreirdnmtoenbet
,filAild thiwix. . ike_e_,,.. , the British
' - . .. Yrumgly a plan was prepared by
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future years, because, no doubt, it would go on with
accelerated rapidity when trial had been ma le of the
mode which should be adopted. If his expectations
were -fulfilled, he would then endeavour to obtain the
services of very eminent gentlemen at the bar to form a
perfectly unpaid commission to effect the gradual con-
solidation of all the statutes, or such of them as it would
be practically useful to consolidate, and to group them
together as they appeared in the report on their lord-
Ships' table. He could assure his noble and learned
friend that he had not slept at his post; he had no
such inclination ; and never a week passed without his
being in communication with Mr. Ker. If, however,
very little was shown in the shape of produce in the
first year, he thought the nature of the case would
account for it. Those who took the trouble of
reading the report would see that the subject had
been thoroughly sifted and put into the only practical
shape in which any beneficial result could be arrived at,
that being the very thing which his noble and learned
friend had suggested—viz., the classification of such of
the statutes as it might be useful to bring into one view-,
so as to avoid the necessity of looking through twenty
statutes on any subject where one would be sufficielt.
To suppose that the whole of the law should ever be
brought into such a state that any man not a lawyer
would have no difficulty in understanding it, was alto-
gether chimerical—the complicated relations of society
and of property ix such a country as this, rendered that
almost hopeless ; but they might, nevertheless, put the
law into a more concentrated and accessible form, which
was a measure not only expedient but eminently prac-
tical and practicable. He had given notice that to-
morrow night he would introduce a measure relating to
testamentary jurisdiction ; but as, in consequence of an
accident, his noble and learned friend (Lord Brougham),
by whom the measure was originally framed, was pre-
vented from being in his place, he would defer the in-
troduction of the bill till Monday.
Lord CAMPBELL was convinced, after what had
been said that night, that all that was practicable would
be accomplished on this important subject. He was
much pleased to hear from his noble and learned friend
on the woolsack that he did not contemplate the codifi-
cation of the whole of the common and statute law of
England. In no country which ever existed had there
been a codification of the whole of the law. He exceed-
ingly admired the Code Napoleon, but that code did not
contain one-twentieth part of the whole law of France ;
and, in addition to that, France had its law libraries,
which were quite as voluminous as ours, and it had re-
ports which might be referred to, which were quite as
good a reason for calling for a codification of the law
of France as there existed for calling for such a codifica-
tion in England. We had most excellent treatises
on the whole of the law of real and personal property,
and they answered all the purposes of a code. Among
those treatises were the works of the noble and learned
lord (Lord St. Leonards) not then in his place.
He was glad that the noble and learned lord (the Lord
Chancellor)only intended to consolidate the statute law
under particular heads. They could not cast the
whole of the constitutional statutes of this country into
the crucible, and then recast them. Would they, for
instance, recast Magna Charta, of which the nation was
so justly proud, into modern language, and make it
coalesce with some enactments passed in the last session
of Parliament ? Again, if they were to attempt to re-
cast the statutes relating to religion, and respecting the
election and confirmation of bishops, the whole would be
involved in confusion. At the same time, there were
some particular branches of the law which were capable
of consolidation, and among them were the laws relating
to the relief of the poor, or the laws relating to high-
ways, for instance.