The Sun.
London, England, 1838-02-12 00:00:00

SCOTS LAW COURTS.

With reference to the Lord Advocate's Bill for Reforming
the Practice in the Provincial Law, or Sheriff Courts of
Scotland, we may mention, for the information of our English
and Iriz,h readers, that every county in Scotland enjoys a
separate independent Court for the trial of causes arising
within their several jurisdictions, civil as well as criminal, on
the beautiful but theoretical principle of bringing justice home
to every man's door. In the civil department their jurisdiction
is perfectly unlimited, excepting in certain questions of land
rights, and the criminal jurisdiction of these Courts extends to
all offences except the four pleas of the Crown, viz., treason,
rape, murder, and fire-raising. These are reserved for higher
tribunals. In this way there is a resident stipendiary Judge
in every county in Scotland, called a Sheriff Substitute, paid
by the Government ; and upwards of 30 Principal Sheriffs,
all Barrister;, appointed and paid also by Government, and
all resident in the city (yr Edinburgh, while we think five or six
quite sufficient to do all the judicial business which they have
occasion to perform. These principal Sheriffs, however, ap-
point their own Substitutes, but the country has to pay their
salaries, and also the expence of their resident judicial estab-
lishments. We have therefore often wondered that such
glaring absurdities should have been tolerated and maintained
at the public expence, for nearly a century, in a country other-
wise distinguished for intelligence and the excellence of its
institutions, as the existence of Law Courts having power to de-
termine civil causes of any pecuniary amount (it may be for a
million of money) not only without the aid of a Jury, but ac-
tually with the principal Judges non-resident, and, Prodigious
with, tongue-tied lawyers ! Yet, strange as it may appear,
such is the true and undeniable state of the facts on which
the Bill in question is founded. Hitherto, in these subordi-
nate Courts, the pleadings have been conducted wholly in
writing, at a great expense to the country, and without pub-
lication, or the slightest intelligible knowledge given to the
public of their proceedings, and the principal Judges, with a
single exception or two, have been non-resident ! Thus, as
Bentham would have said, the sinister is substituted for the
natural mode of procedure in Scotland, and the most vexatious
causes may be quietly prosecuted by suitors, and the most op-
pressive conduct quietly exercised on the part of the Judges
and lawyers, without the slightest spark of that wholesome
control which public opinion generally exercises, and ought to
exercise, over all the deliberations in the Courts of Law of
every other civilized country.
The principal aim of the present Bill appears to be the cor-
rection, in some degree, of these anomalies and flagrant
abuses. Her Majesty's Advocate and the Attorney-General
deserve great' praise for having introduced such a Bill to the
notice of Parliament ; we hope it will pass this session into a
law. The only thing we are disappointed at is, that it
does not contain any adequate provision against the non-resi-
idnencciev
lof
causes,tl 'e u es
sns
ionrg aimh
eaiti
theye nh tarvced uncltw: °any
sof e
n.. Ti uo ;iced,
in these Courts for the trial of criminal causes, in order to re-
lieve the Judges of the unnatural and conflicting duties of de-
termining the facts, as well as the law, in favour of one or
other of the parties. But we have no doubt this must, and
will, speedily follow, and that the present Bill is merely a pre-
paratory measure to lead to that effect.
As a matter of course the Provincial Bar of Scotland, or as
the members of that Bar at present may more properly be
termed the Dumb Lawyers in these Provincial Courts, are all
up in arms (particularly in the North) against the measure, as
an innovation o,tni
their
Ephesus,P,rveetat Pretty
wealth
in
ntchl much
danger;"
gceoe anrns;
el
neverthe-
less e‘v:.
ten ;nth::
eni
they have " the. fear of change" before their eyes ; or, per-
r
hey have
iciraapfst,bliykewit'l:cehand trust the Learned Lord will persevere in
111,oispeBill with celerity for the public benefit, and the
pleassssi%rnvge
respectable portion of the profession will very soon perceive
the practical working of the Bill to be as much in their favour,
as it undoubtedly will be in favour of the publire;e.soid:ccitnhceiesiroanfsaitalhilyne
sophism,obj principalec iol
which strikes Sheriffs,
iakv which
dl
equallyoonuegl namely,
atatmo the proceedings cptorhrorecee'cle°t denid-n gs in the Court
of Session, where the debates are conducted chiefly viva voce,
and cannot, therefore, be exactly the same in causes which arc
carried from thence for review to the House of Peers.