The Sun.
London, England, 1822-05-06 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF CHANCERY, SATURDAY, MAY 4.
HEARING CASES IN. PRIVATE.
IN THE MATTER OF COMELY.

The LORD CHANCELLOR asked Mr. Heald this morning if
Mr. IVetherell had seen the original affidavits in the case which
'had been mentioned to him on Thursday morning ?
Mr. HEALD said he did not believe that he had.

The LORD CHAI.TCELLOTL—Then let him get them out of
my room. I have no wish to go into that room any more. I
was told in the House of Lords yesterday morning, that obser-
vations had been-made in one of the public papers upon my
hearing that petition of Comely's, which Mr. Ching stated af-•
fected the liberty of the subject, in my private room. I did
not do so of my own accord, although I have always considered
it right, when circumstances affecting female infants or luna-
tics came before the Court, to avoid giving them publicity.—
But upon the present occasion, I am sure it will be recollected.
hat when coming into Court, I was applied to by the Counsel
on both sides to hear the petition in private a and to such an
application I thought myself bound to attend. Those observa-
tions, therefore, had better been spared.
Mr. HEALD said, as his-Lordship had been pleased to men-
tion this matter in open Court, that he (Mr. Heald) had seen
the paper containing those observations ; in addition to which it
also contained a report of circumstances which had taken place
.in his Lordship's private room. Now, as the only persons pre-
-sent were the Counsel and Solicitors engaged, and his Lord-
ship's registaar, such circumstances could only have transpired
through sonic of them ; and he considered it completely at va-
riance with the confidence reposed in professional Gentlemen
thus to divulge what had taken place in private.
The' LORD• CHANCELLOR.—With respect to hearing the
case in private, I have nothing further to observe than that I
did so in consequence of the application of Counsel on both
sides. I will do the bar the justice to say, that whenever the
Court has been of opinion that a case should be heard in pri-
vate, they have always willingly. consented, to avoid adding
misfortune to misfortune, by giving it publicity. lam there-
fore convinced that when Counsel agree that a case ought not
to be made public, they would ne,..•er lend themselves to such
a purpose afterwards. Let me not, however, be ainderstood as
saying that, even though Counsel were to withhold their con-
sent, it might not sometimes be the duty of the Court to insist
upon preventing circumstances of this nature from being dis-
closed to the public. I• think a Chancellor is bound to see that
the affairs of a family, in which there may be infants or luna-
tics who are wards of Court, be not made more public than the
ends of justice require.
The petitioner's Solicitor then rose and stated, that what had
appeared in the newspaper had only been mentioned as a rm.
mour in Court. He had certainly been applied to, but had
stated nothing of what had occurred in the private room, more
than that the case had been adjourned until Saturday morn-
ing. The Solicitor on Mr. Heald's side lied also been present,
but he was sure the Learned Counsel's observations did not
apply to him.
The LORD CHANCELLOR was willing to give the gentle-
man full credit for what he had stated ; but still the circum-
stances could not have been heard through stone walls. Ile
therefore agreed with Mr. Heald, that there must have been a
breach of professional confidence someohere; and from his
knowledge of the bar, he was sure it was not with them. Such
a breach could not be tod much reprobated : giving publicity
to the ruin of an unfortunate infant.could not, .in his opinion,
give the public much satisfaction.
At a subsequent period of the day,
Mr. CHING came into Court, and said that he bad read the
affidavits which his Lordship had sent him ' • 'perhaps, there-
fore, his-Lordship would dispose of the case in the course of the
morning.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said he (Mr. Ching) might ob-
with serve that the facts contained in them were quite at variance
what was stated in his petition. He (the Lord Chancellor) felt
some difficulty in this case. He did not know whether he was
to hear it in private or not. Some observations had been made
upon hiS having done so on Thursday. Mr. Ching had not been
in Court when he mentioned it in the morning. It was all, the
same to him (the Lord Chancellor) to hear it in public, except
that he thought it was making a very unnecessary exposure.
Mr. HEALD said that Mr. Wetherell, who was-on the other'
side, had taken the same view of the matter as he (Mr. Heald)'
had.

The LORD CHANCELLOR' observed, th4t the affidavit stat.
ed circumstances of great aggravation in the conduct of the pe-
titioner.

Mr. CitiNG said, that originally he had been guilty of great
misconduct, but his long subsequent confinement had been
some atonement for it.

The LORD CHANCELLOR.—The best way is for you to at,
tend me at half past 9 o'clock on Tuesday morning ; and in
the mean time an affidavit ought to be made by the petitioner.
Air. ext-so•said that the expense of that would be an object
to him.

The LORD CHANCELLOR said he could not help that. He
also informed Mr. Ching that he had only attended to those
affidavits which he had sent to him. He certainly thought that
some affidavit ought to be made by the petitioner,, stating that
he had abandoned all idea of persevering in his former impro-
per resolutions.
After some further observations of no importance, it you or-
dered, upon the suggestion of Mr. Ching, in order to save the
expence of the Master's going to the prison, that the petitioner
should be brought up by the Wardenof the Fleet to the Master's-
office, without a writ of habeas carpus, for the purpose of
swearing the affidavit.
Mr. WETHERELL now came into Court, and observed that.
he had beard observations had been made upon his Lordship's
hearing this case in private. He begged to state that this was
the act of Counsel, and not of the Court.
The LORD CHANCELLOR---1t was certainly not the act of
the Court ; it therefore ought not to have been animadverted
upon. But, he repeated, thd Court has been always considered
to possess a parental discretiOn to do what it can for the purposes
of justice, without unnecessarily exposing infant females, who
are wards of the Court.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, MAY 4.
THE KING V. CLARKE.

The question submitted to the judgment of the Court in this
case was, whether the city of 'Bath is liable to be aseessed to
the county-rate for Somerset. It depended on the construction
of 55 George 111., c. 51 which exempts. from the liability to
contribute to the general county-rate all places having a sepa-
rate jurisdiction of their own by grant, charter, or statute. It
appeared that the city of Bath bald,. for some purposes, a sepa-
rate jurisdiction by charter, but that its magistrates had the
powerof committing to the county gaol.- persons charged with.
felonies within the city, and the expenses of prosectiting such
offenders would be paid out of the county fund.
The COURT, therefore, after hearing Mr. ADAM' for the
exemption, and Mr. GAZELEE for the liability of the city, de-
cided that Bath was liable to the rate. The city had, nodoubt,
for some purposes, a separate jurisdiction ; but those words in
the excepting provision of the act must be construed to mean a
separate jurisdiction for the purposes to which the county. rate
is applicable, and could never intend that where a city derived
benefit from the rate, it should be exefnpted from a liability to,
contribute to raise it. They therefore 'gave judgment for the
Crown.
The Court rose at two o'ClOck, as the Judges were summon-
ed to meet in the Exchequer Chamber, to confer on reserved
points of criminal law. • • •

The Mayor and Corporation of the town of
Nottingham have voted the freedom of their town to JOSEPH
Ifttstt-, Esq. MP.
BLA.SPIIEMotIS PUBLICATION.----Tittle Wad-
dington was on Saturday tight brought to Bow street Office
upon a charge of publishing at a shop in the Strand, a blas-
phemous work, entitled " Palmer's Principles of Nature," and
after his accustomed equivocations, was. committed to prison
until he 'procures-the necessary bail.' •
Miss M. M. DOWNES, of Fi: Court, in Mont-
gomerrhire,laaa=lately undergOne the operation of tapping' for
the dropsy the one hundredth and' seventh time, since' which sbe
has been in better health than for the last 20 years; - • -