The Sun.
London, England, 1831-01-27 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.-(THIS DAY.)

COURT OF CHANCERY.
THE JUNIOR V. THE SENIOR BARRISTERS.

The LORD CHANCELLOR (this being the seal day)
called on the SOLICITOR-GENERAL to move.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL rose, and while yet opening
his briefs—
Mr. COOPER (immediately behind the 'solicitor) said,--
My Lord, I am exceedingly sorry to have to interpose
between my Learned Friend the Solicitor-General,
and any motion he . may be about to address to
the Court, but my Lord, I hold in my hand the
brief in a motion, notice of which was given before the
Lord Chancellor so long ago as May, 1830, which I have
sever yet been able to obtain an opportunity of moving,
having no leading Counsel with me. My Lend, I mention
this not so much with a view of bringing forward the un-
fairness of the system to the junior members of your Lord-
ship's bar, as to bring under your notice the expense—the
great expense which suitors are put to in being obliged to
employ King's Counsel.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL—Why, I ti.ink we, within
the bar, ought to have had notice of this.
Mr. COOPER—No, I think not.
The Logo CHANCELLOR—IS this not more in the na-
ture of a legislative than judicial system ?
Mr. COOPER—If your Lordship should think that notice
should be given to the Solicitor-General, and to any other
gentlemen, 1 shall certainly give such notice.—(A pause.)
My Lord, I am not about to inform, but to remind your
Lordship of this very inconvenient rule having existed
in this Court now for a considerable time. When
the Commissioners were appointed to consider the
nature of the administration of justice in the Court of
Chancery, their attention was particularly called to this
rule. Those Commissioners advi ed his Majesty that the
rule should be changed ; and that not the rule of the Court
of King's Bench, but the rule of the Court of Exchequer
(which only permits Counsel to move two motions at
a time) should be adopted. Lord Lyndhurst (when At-
torney-General), in the House of Coalitions, stated that it
was the intention of Lord Eldon to alter the existing rale
in this Court (which he considered ought to be altered),
and to adept the recommendation of the Chancery Com-
missioners. Now, independent of my statement, your
Lordship may he aware of all this ; but you may not
know that the junior part of the Bar presented a petition
to Lord Eldon, and that he said he would consi-
der the subject of the. petition, but as was the case
with many other matters that were before that Learned
Judge, lie had not made up his mind upon it before be
gave tip the Great Seal. A similar petition was presented
to Lord Lyndhurst, whilst Chancellor; that petition was
signed by the greater part of the King's Counsel, and by
all the Junior Counsel—l won't say it was signed
by the liberal part of the King's Counsel, for I
ought not to call those persons who did not sign
it illiberal,—however many of them signed it,—
but on that occasion Lord Lyndhurst forgot what Sir
John Copley had before said. Now, without saying it is
an inconvenient or unfair rule towards the junior part of
the bar, I say it is a most expensive and dilatory rule, as
regards the suitor. By the existence of the rule your
Lordship must be aware that suitors (if they wish to have
their motions heard) have only two alternatives—either
to give a leading brief (the expense of which
you are very well acquainted with), as well as a
brief to the junior, or to omit employing the junior
at all, and give a brief to a King's Counsel only
Then what would he the effect of resorting to the latter ?
The junior Counsel has advised the motion—he is ac-
quainted with the entire nature of the case, and having
a very light brief (perhaps a single sheet) he may be able
to state the case to the Court ,•• whereas, if a King's
Counsel is to be employed, and the junior left out,
having known nothing of the case before, he must have a
heavy brief, in order to put him in possession of all the
facts and circumstances. Therefore the hardship on the
suitor must at once be seen to be very great; and it is on
that ground (having now in my band a brief upon a mo-
tion, which I have had ever since May last, without
having yet had an opportunity of moving), I make
this statement. And here I would call your Lordship's
attention to what Mr. Roepel (the senior of the juniors at
the bar) stated before the Commissioners. He stated,
that he bad attended year after year before Lord Eldon
without having had an opportunity of moving, and that
in the end, in cases that pressed, he had to advise his
clients to give leading briefs, and the motions were made
next day ! Under these circumstances it is, my Lord, that I
now ask you to adopt the rule of the Court of Exchequer,
or perhaps the more liberal rule still of the Court of
King's Bench. My Lord, this is nothing new, it is not
an inconvenience recently felt. It was experienced in the
time of Lord Bacon, and his Lordship gave the juniors
an opportunity of precedence once a week. It was be-
fore the Chancery Commissioners--it was before Lord
Eldon, before Lord Lyndhurst, and I have discharged my
duty to my client in this case, in now bringing the subject
before your Lordship.

The LORD CHANCELLOR—It's very fit that one gen-
tleman should be allowed to state any grievance on behalf
of the bar.—At the same time, it should be confined to
that, because, if a gentleman was to rise up to state to me
there were several things in the law, or the Bankrupt
Office (for instance) that wanted remedying, I
should say this is not the place in which to make such
statement, but I take this to be an inconvenience of a very
extensive effect, and Mr. Cooper has stated a number of
things that have been such considered by others as well
as by myself. I regard it as the representation of the
gentlemen behind the bar.

( " No, no," from Mr. BIRCH and Mr. LYNCH, but
which " noes" were immediately buried by " Yes, yes,"
from almost every other gentleman behind the bar, the
rows being very full.)
The LORD CHANCELLOR—WeII, I take it at all events
to be the representation of some of the gentlemen behind
the bar, and it shall be attended to elsewhere.

The Court of King's Bench, anxious to preserve the
ancient rule of hearing the King's Counsel through all
their motions first, do call upon them first, nevertheless as
a compensation to the junior part of the bar at the latter
peario4 of the Term, instead of beginning with the Attor-
ney-General, they began to call upon the youngest gentle-
man in the back row to move first, and come op according to
seniority to theAttorney-General. Lord Mansfield altered the
practice in that Court, and it is now such that the junior
Counsel neither have cause to conirlain, nor do they com-
plain. In the Exchequer each Counsel has the opportu-
nity of making two motions. It is very easy in Courts
having four Judges to make rules affecting the practice_._
that facility does not exist in a Court having
only one Judge. Before I take upon myself
to alter an ancient practice, it must be well
considered, more particularly when the recommendation
coming' from so respectable a quarter as the Chancery
Commissioner was not attended to, I must conclude
there were good reasons for rejecting it. I shal consult
with the Vice-Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, and
also the Chancery Commissioners upon the subject—give
it all the consideration I can, and in the result do that
which I trust will be satisfactory.
The SOLICITOR GENERAL said that no man could
possibly be more anxious than he had always been to
afford every facility, as far as he was concerned,"
both to the public and the junior part of the bar. He
could, (turning round,) in the face of the junior members
of the bar, appeal to them to say whether one of them had
ever known a single instance in which he had not readily
yielded to any thing that had ever been stated to him as
calculated to afford convenience or facility to them at any
time ?

Mr. Cuitcc, and several other gentlemen, rose to bear
testimony to the Solicitor-General's readiness to accom-
modate, but, they added, that that did not remove their
ground of complaint, because that Learned Gentleman had
only been asked to give place to them in cases of great
urgency.

The LORD CIIANCELLOII.---Very wel!; I shall give it
due attention.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH.
At the sitting of the Court this morning, Lord TEN-
TERDEN delivered judgment in the case of
COLLINS V. GODEFROY.
This action it will be remembered was brought by the
plaintiff an attorney, residing in Spital.square, against
the defendant, who is also an attorney, to recover s'x
guineas which he claimed to be entitled to, as compensa-
tion" for loss of time ; he having been subpoenaed as a wit-
ness by the defendant in an action in the Court of Com-
mon Pleas, which Court he attended for six successive
days before the cause came on. Mr. Godefroy, however,
when the plaintiff made a charge of one guinea per day
for loss of time, refused to pay, and Mr. Collins brought
his action to recover. On the trial before Lord Tenter-
den, the Jury returned a verdict for the defendant.
In a subsequent term Mr. Collins obtained a rule
to show cause, why that verdict should not be
set aside and a new trial granted. In the pre-
sent term cause was shewn against the rule, when
from the importance of the subject the Court took time
to consider its judgment. This morning Lord Ten-
terden said that himself and learned brothers were of
opinion that the rule for a new trial most be discharged.
They had carefully considered the statute of Queen Eliza-
beth, which provided for the expences of witnesses, and