The Sun.
London, England, 1840-07-13 00:00:00

EVENIISG EDITION•

thought the Hon. Member 'note in order in adopting
it.—( Hears beae.)
The following is a full report of Mr. Wallace's 1 Mr. WALLACE—Sir, if the rule had been other-
speech on this subject in the House of Commons on Fri- ! wise, where, I would ask, is a Member of Conitleitted
day night, which want of space compelled us to Ito seek for justice ? I come here for jeistite. I say a
abridge : \ stain has been put upon my Perliamentary character, by
Mr. WALLACE then rose to bring forward the ' expunging a question which I put, and I am determined
traotion of which he had given notice, viz.—" To call that no stain shall remain upon that character, so long as I
the attention of the House to the Report of the Select I can prevent it. I will not only show that it is a proper
Committee appointed to inquire into the Administration • question, but, if necessary, I will go into a scene not at all
i
of the 'Law in the Supreme Court of Scotland ; and to creditable to those engaged in it ; and I ask my Friends
move, that an humble address be presented to her Ma- ! opposite, whether they had not an interest in choking
jesty, praying that in virtue of the provision in the Act this question?—(Hear, hear.) Now, I will proceed
'2 and 3 Vie; c. 36, and in consequence of the facts with the question—this is where I stopped :—" The
which have been disclosed in the evidence taken before Lord President and Lord Gitlin., and also by yourself,
the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the Ad- to retain his situation, and withhold his resignation till
ministration of the Law in the Supreme Court of Scot- after the Summer Session, those two periods of absence
land, that her Majesty will be graciously pleased to being equal, together, to about two-thirds of the judi-
command the thirteen Judges of the said Court to ex- cial year. Can you inform this Committee if this ad-
tend the period of their sitting in Court by two calen- vice was offered in the conviction that Lord Core-
der menthe in each year ; and that this shall be effected house's services could be dispersed with, and that three
by extending the current summer Session by one Judges had been sufficient and would be found sufficient
month. Also, to call the attention of the House to the in his absence, to carry on the business of the Court
nature and extent of the duties appertaining to the office during the long period specified ?" Now, I submit that
of Lord Advocate of Scotland, with a view to their this was a most proper question, because it goes to
being defined and better regulated." Availing myself prove that the Court had been thoroughly well con-
of the Constitutional practice of this House, I rise for ducted. and justice duly admit istered without any fault
the purpose of bringing forward a case which I consider being found by suitors, the profession, or Judges, dur-
to be one of grievance to the public, and wish, in the ing two-thirds of a year. in the absence of that very
first place, to call the attention of the House to a re- Learned Judge. That, therefore, is sufficient to show
port which has been lately made to this House on the that one of the Judges might be dispensed with. I
conduct of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Scot- will not enter further into this master, because I con-
land. At this late period of the Session, I shall en- ceive I have vindicated my position in this respect ;
deavoer to be as brief as the nature of the case will but it will further appear, upon the proceedings, a
admit, while I shall, to the best of my ability, bring the strong feeling existed to exclude unpalatable evidence,
question before the House in such a shape as to make and that certain questions put to a witness by me were
it fully understood. The Report to which I allude is also expunged, and, lam sorry to say, it was upon the
now in the hands of Hon. Members, and, in my humble motion of a Learned Doctor, not now present, that
judgment, is not a Report, properly so called, but a this also took pace—l allude eo the Learned Judge,the
l
running commentary, and there is no one instance in Member for the Tower Hamlets. Now, what was
which the Chairman who prepared the R port, the occasion of this? A Bill had been introduced in
has ventured to make reference to the particu- 1785, by the Lord Advocate of that day, when
lar parts of the evidence on which that Report the business of the Scotch Courts was double
is founded. Sir, in the course of the statement what it is now. the object of which was to reduce
which I purpose to make to this House, I shall not the number of Judges ; and it was to get rid of the
only allude to this report. but to the effect which the collateral evidence in that respect that the motion for
office of Lord Advocate has had as regards the expunging was made. Now, there is another thine
judicial business performed in the Courts of Scot- that I have to complain of, an:l that is, that the Ch lir-
land, and also as regards the manner in which the husie man placed my name in a division, instead of that of the
ness of Scotland generally is conducted in this House. Hon. Baronet, the Member for Bute, who stood alone
Sir, I beg to assure the House and my Hon. Fricod in a division respecting the Chairman's Report, and my
the Lord Advocate, that, whatever I may say respect- name is placed as the only objeceng Member to a
ing his office, I shall endeavour, to the beat of my measure which I supported as one of the majority.
ability, not to forget that position which he holds, and Igo into there matters for the purpose of showing that
deservedly holds, in the estimation of the country, as a there were some Members who were anxious to limit
distinguished officer of the Crown, as well as a distin- the evidence. Now, in passing, I may just say that
guished member of the College of Justice in Scotland. the evidence which was tendered by the Professor of
Sir, I shall endeavour, in the first place, to show that Scotch Law was of a nature highly creditable to that
if 103 days and two hours daily are sufficient for the gentleman's head and heart, and would convince any
Courts of Justice to sit, there must be too many set of men who look to the subject dispassionately,
Judges. It appears to me a clear case, that 103 days that the Courts of Scotland now require, and have long
and two hours a day in one set of Courts, and four been in need of, a great deal of amendment. That
hours in the other, is altogether incompatible with the learned individual, be it remarked, is a disinterested
nature of the duties of a Judge. I beg the House person ;he was not looking for office ;he Lad no ex-
to recollect, that, about this time twelvemonths, the pectetions of being raised to the Bench ; he is a dis-
salaries of the Judges of the Court of Session were tinguished member of the Bar ; and the evidence is of
raised, in order to place them in a situation be- great importance, as it goes to show that the whole
yond all anxiety as to pecuniary considerations, and in system of our jurisprudence is extremely defective. The
return, they should give the whole of their time, as well Report of the Scotch Law Commission in 1834, is to
as their minds, to the business of their Courts. I shall the same effect, and the same thing will be found upon
further endeavour to show, that, by an Act passed last looking to the volume of the Edinburgh Review, re-
year, as well as by others, it has been attempted, and sue- (erred to in the evidence which was expunged, the
cesefully, to lead the public and this House to believe author of the article being none other than the present
that thirteen Judges are really required. I shall Lord Jeffrey : and if Hen. Members are anxious to
also endeavour to show that were the sessions cx- pursue the matter further, and will look further into
tended and the vacations diminished, the delusion would I tho ninth volume of the Edinburgh Review, a work
vanish, and Nine Judges be found quite enough. I so obnoxious to some Honourable Members of
shall further endeavour to show that the administra- the late Committee when expressing opinions con-
tion and patronage of the office of Lord Advocate trary to their views for the moment, they will there
tends to keep up this delusion with regard to the fled, even at that distant time, the Court was in the
business of these Courts ; thnat that office has same disrepute as it is none and in which it will most
been in all by-past times the Inedium of dispens- assuredly remain if the Jurgs are allowed in future to
ing patronage to an enormous extent in Scotland, jo on as they do at present, which it is understood is
which patronage, if not altogether confined to the the Lord Advocate's proposal and advice to the Govern-
legel profession, is chiefly so, and therefore that ment. On the part of the people of Scotland I insi:t
no person holding such a situation with a seat in this that the course pursued by the Scotch Judges ought to
House can hold that perfeetly upright ani unbiassed be altered and their number decreased. The present
position which he otherwise should do as public prose. , number of the Judges in Scotland is thirteen, and it is
e.utor. I shall show that the numerous and continued ! the general opinion of all but Edinburgh lawyers that
appeals to the House of Lords is one of the nine would be quite sufficient. Sir Islay Campbell,
most n-onstrous evils of the system—that the that highly distinguished Judge, and many sears Pre-
thirteen Judges of the Supreme Court have not sident of the Court of Session, was of opinion
the confidence of the people of Scotland, and that in 1785 that ten Judges would be quite
Scotchmen look to the decisions of the Lord I sufficient, at which time the business was
Chateellor of England (who in point of fact far greater than it is at the present moment. 'rho
performs the duties incumbent on our own Court business of the Court has been regularly decreasing for
of Appeal), rather than to those of their own Judges. forty years ; it has decreased in series of years, and con-
I shall endeavour to show fromthe evidence tinues to necrease year by year ; and yet in-the lace of this
taken before this Committee that nine Judges would there is a determination on the part of the Ministers
be amply suseient, would give much more satisfaction, and the Lord Advocate to maintain the patronage of
and greater uniformity of decisions. Sir, I shall first thirteen Judges. It has been made plain that twelve
advert to the nature of the Committee that was ap- Judges, in the absence of Lord Corehouse, did the du-
po.inted. Many of those who belonged to that Corn- ties last year by sitting 113 days, and two or three
!natee are of the legal profession, and lam bound in hours daily ; and yet it would seem that thirteen Judges
justice to say that those who really did attend gave the must be continued. The returns to this House and the
most patient and Zealous attention to the els:- evidence in this respect will show the enormous arrear
dente. The people of Scotland are much indebted of business in the Courts of the Lords Ordinary ; but
to the members of the English and Irish bar this exists in three Courts only out of five, for 1 am
who attended, and it will be seen that they at credibly informed, and shall endeavour to prove it by a
any rate fully appreciated the real objects of the return, that two out of the five Lords Ordinary are not
Committee, which were, to ascertain ,shether, by entrusted with a single ease for debate, but merely with
improving the system, and increasing the sessions and matters of routine, quite unfit to occupy any other but
diminishing the vacations, the number of Judges might Scotch Judges. Thus three Lords Ordinary, sitting
not be diminished. In the first place, in the Report 103 days only in the year, perform the whole judicial
from the Chairman, or, more properly speaking, from business of these Courts, to which five Judges are ap-
the Lord Advocate, upon which lam now commenting, pointed. It is thus plain that while twelve did the du.
the object appears to he to- declare that great dissatis- ties last year, eleven are performing them at present.
faction prevails generally in Scotland oe to the adrninis- The suitors are now allowed to choo,c the Judges
trillion of justice, and so decidedly bas that feeling per. before whom their causes are to be heard. How long
vaded the mind of the framer of the Report, that the has that been the case? Why, Sir, only two years ; it
word dissatisfaction occurs not less than thirteen times is a late practice. I see my Learned Friend the
in the Report—there thus being one application of the Lord Advocate look with surprise, but I assure him and
term dissatisfaction for every Judge in our Court.— the House that my statement is true, and that the prac-
( Hear, bear, and a laugh.) Sir, the witnesses who tier is but a late one. And what is the effect of it ?
were brought before that C mmittee were, as I believe, Just this. There are two Judges who have not a single
of a very unusual kind. They were fourteen cause upon their Debate Roll, and there are several
in number, and in the I:st there is the pre- professional gentlemen now present in this House who are
sent Lord Advocate, the late Lord Advocate Sir conversant with the practice, and may corroborate or con-
William Rae, the late Solicitor-General,has
at Lord tradict my statement. I fully believe it myself, and
Ivory, Mr. Hope, the Dean of Faculty, who is that it will not be contradicted. Another effect
at the head of the Scotch bar, and sir. M'Neil, who been that, by way of occupying the short time they sit,
I may also say is at the head of the Scotch bar. Here and as an excuse for keeping up the full Court of thir-
are five witnesses who have been called to speak to teen Judges, who are said to be so dreadfully hard-
the propriety of diminishing the number of the Judges, worked by sittings of two hours a day, they are occu-
each of whom is an expectant he the event of a vacancy, pied in disposing o' mere motions of course, which is not,
according to the political party which happens to be ha as I have stated many times before in this House, proper
power at the time.—(Hear, hear.) Now, Sir, I say judicial business at all, being disrespectful to the judicial
that this is a most extraordinary selection, and one station, and ought never to come before them. One of the
which I must say, being made by my Right Hon. mostaccurateandintelligentof the witnesses who appeared
Friend the Lord Advocate, did surprise me, as if in before the Committee said, upon this point, and re-
order that I might handle it, as I purpose to do, both in specting the one or two causes allowed to be tried daily,
and out of this House. The next witnesses are two the Judges were glad to spread the business they had to
official gentlemen, namely, Clerks of Court, and a third transact over as large a space of time as possible, so
is a professional gentleman who filled the office of that they might have an excuse before vulgar and un-
Secretary to the Scotch Law Commission. Now, if professional eyes for keeping up their numbers. This
the position of these gentlemen be looked to, and if you evidently, and nothing else, was the meaning of the ex-
are to carry oet the principle that no one shall sit on pressions which felt from Mr. Hunter. Then they have
the bench who has any interest in the case to be tried, another way of passing their time. What do these hard-
I insist that the opinions of these gentlemen are not worked Judges do ? In place of the same set of men
entitled to the weight which they would otherwise have sitting in one Court, and adjudicating upon all cases that
bad. On the other hand I produced only five are brought before them, they have four different Courts
witnesses out of the fourteen. I thought it vain to run about to ; first, there is the Exchequer,
to seek for witnesses among the profession of then the First Division, then the Second Division of
advocates, but sought them in the profession known the Inner Court in another place, and the Court ofl
in this country by the title of solicitors, who Justiciary somewhere else, but all under the same roof
can have no interest in the situation of a Judge. One and adjoining each other, and all kept up for the mere sake
of these gentlemen admitted that if the business of the of appearing to have something to do ; they thus run
Court of Session was no better done than it is at present about from Court to Court, shifting their gowns ever
one Court of Review could be very easily dispensed lastingly, all to fill up time ; first, they put on a black
with. , The other four gentlemen, of high legal informs- gown for one Court, then a red one splashed with
tion•and constant practice in the Courts, and whose tes- white, and anon, a white one spotted with some-
timony could not be shaken or impugned, diatinctly,and thing else (Hear, hear, and a laugh) this is
in the strongest terms declared, that nine Judges would a positive fact, and is so well known that I did
not only do the whole duties of the Court of Session, not think it worth while to bring it out in evi-
hut would do it in a much more satisfactory man- dente before the Committee, or that it is alleged, they
tier than thirteen. This evidence should have the are obliged to dress in those various costumes, in order
greatest credit attached to it, because these gentle- that they themselves may know whether they are ad-
men have no personal interest in the matter, wise- judicating in Equity or Law. In short, the whole sys-
thee there be thirteen or thirty judges, while it signi- tern is a disgrace to Scotland. I may be laughed at
fled very much to the first five witnesses, if not to because 1, the unprofessional intermedler, as they call
more of them, who, at some future period, would me, meddle with a professional subject, but I have not
certainly be considered eligible candidates for any va- spent the last twenty years et my life with my eyes cr
cancies that might occur. I would now call the atten- ears closed. Those professional men who are present
tion of the Under Secretary of State, as Chairman of the will understand when I tell the House, it was made quite
Committee, but regret that he is not in his place ; I will plain to the Committee, that in making up what is
beg the House to look to the proceedings of this. Corn- called the Record, there is often a certain pro-
naittee, and they will there find a circumstance which to i cess gone through for the mere purpose of getting
me appears quite unprecedented, "mein, that a ques- .an excuse for forcing the Judges to listen to
tion put by a Member of the Committee has been the long speeches of Counsel, so much admired
expunged by an unanimous vote of that Committee, by the Learned Lord Advocate. The regular
the Member excepted, who had put .the question, decrease of business has been shown by innumerable
Now, Sir, I must here read to the House the question returns. Some attempt was made in the Coln-
so expunged. The question was this, and put by my_ rnittee to throw doubts upon the accuracy of these,
ma—. It appears, among other correspondence in what but it was totally unsuccessful. Then with regard to
is commonly called the Corehouse Papers, that Lord vacations, and the former hackneyed excuse that the
Corehouse, having been struck with a permanent infir- Judges had a great quantity of printed papers to read ;
mar, was not inCourt after the 26th of January last year, there is now no such thing, and it is the
from which date nearly one half of the actual judicial earnest desire of all parties, both in and out
sittings of the long Winter Session was unexpired ; and of
Court, that there should net be. Now there
that he was advised by two
of ltis brethren on the can be no judicial pretence for such long idle-
Betch, the Lord President and Lord Gilles"— resss. The Learned Lord Advocate led a vast
Mr. Sergeant JACKSON--Sir, I rise to order. I deal of evidence, showing his anxiotte wish to make
certainly am an inexperienced Member of this House, it appear that the Judges should sit to hear counsel
but I would submit to you whether it is competent for debate matters with which they were themselves suffi-
an Hon. Member to read and discuss in the House a elently acquainted and prepared to decide on. Now
question which was considered irrelet ant by the Coin- this is only one other lame excuse for keeping up the
mittee, and was expunged by them. irreversible number of thirteen Judges to crawl on hear-
Mr. HUME submitted that Isis Hon, Friend was in ing one case, or, probably, one and a quarter, as is she
perfect order in making use of any information in the I practice of the two Courts of Review, in a day. Sit,
way of appeal to this House, because, if it was not 1 since this matter was last before the House I deemed
correct, it might be rebutted by any Hon. Member. it my duty to go to Edinburgh and make personal in.
Mr. F. MAULE agreed with the Hon. Member for quiry into the subject, and found that the public were
Bandon 03 the irregularity of the proceeding, but would much dissatisfied with the whole working of the sys-
leave it with the Chair to decide whether, in the course tern. I would ask where is the necessity for Judges sit-
he was adopting, the Hon. Member for Greenock was tang as a Court of Appeal, hearing at greater length than
in order or not. to satisfy their own minds, the arguments of counsel
The SPEAKER said, if ho understood the question against the deliberate decision of one of their own
rightly, it wag whether the Hon. Member could read number ? Considering the previous ample discusssion
that part of . tbe.enarninetion token before the Comma- which cases receive before the Lords Ordinary, and the
tee which" was expunged,' and therefore did not form i printed papers which the Judges think necessary to
part of the-Renort- That course might certainly be an ! order in a case before them, surely it must be wholly
neoavenieati one, but be was bound to say that he 1 unnecessary, and a mere waste of time, to listen to ,

COURTS OF LAW IN SCOTLAND.