The Sun.
London, England, 1823-06-18 00:00:00

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acted upon this principle, and in snaCting did that which was
not only illegal, but visa a hindrance to The suitors in his court.
But not merely did the Chief Baron charge the timeafor taking
this fee, he also continued the ordinary fee on the teauirtg of
decrees, and thus received twice as much as he et2s en-
- titled to. He contended, that by such conduct the llief
Baron had made himself liable to the various penalties winds*
were stated in the law authorities which lie had already
quoted; for he had clearly taken, by colour .of 'his
office, fees to which he was not by 141/7 entitled. lie could- riot
exactly ascertain the amount cif fees so taken, neither was be
very anxious to do so—as he did not care so much aboutaeshat
the loss was, as he did about the principle established. alandrst
this charge the friends of the Chief Baron set up two defences,
of which the first was, that the fee taken in the first instance_
that is, on the setting down the case for hearing—was a mere
deposit, and that it was to be returned on the issuing the decree.
Now it turned out upon inquiry, that the Chief Baron had never
given any order to the officer who collected these feesto treat them
as deposits, and that in point of fact none of them had ever been-
returned to the parties wino had paid them. This defence was,
therefore, a suggestion entirely unsupported by fact ; and'not
only unsupported by fact, but also directly negatived bya pilot
declaration of the Chief Baron himself. The Chief' Baron 'had
referred to a precedent where other Judges of,'lreland had ordered
certain fees to be taken as deposits ; but in the case to which the
Chief Baron referred, for a considerable length.of time the fee*
were treated as deposits, and when they ceased to be so treated,the
abuse was committed by the Officers of the Court end not by any
of the Judges. Another defence set up for the Chief' Baron was,
that the fee was due upon the exemplification, which was an en-
grossed copy ofthe Bill made out upon thedecree; but that defence
was not more valid than the preceding one, because the fee has
been levied in cases when, with one solitary exception, it ought
not to have been taken at all. He now came to the second bead
of charge—namely, the question of writs. Writs were of two
classes : on one• of them fees were due, on the other not. The
Chief Baron, however, immediately after his appointment to
office, ordered fees to be collected upon them all. On what
grounds ? He would shortly tell them. He believed that it was
generally known that the Chancellor of the Exchequer was an
officer of the Court of Exchequer, and had the custody of its
seal. The Chief Baron found out that the Chancellor of the
Exchequer was bound by his oath not to use that seal without
an order either from him or someother Baron. He said that
his order could only be communicated by his signature; that
his signature could only be communicated to the Chancellor
of the Exchequer by his authority, and that for commu-
nicating it, he ought to have a feee. This statement, how•
ever, extraordinary as it might appear, was not more ex-
traordinpry than the practice. Assuming that the signiture
of the Chief Baron was necessary for the affixing of the seal
by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was strange that the
fee should be taken and yet that the signature should not
be affixed to it. That no difficulty might occur regarding
these writs, he would state that they were writs of preliminary
process. The next head to which he should advert related
to the taxation of cosh. The late Chief Baron was entitled
to a fee on examining and signing bills of costs : but the pre.
sent Chief Baron, soon after his appointment, discontinued the
practice of signing bills of costs, and directed that the fete
should be collected for him upon another stage of the proceed-
ing—via. the writ; thus fees were taken as for bills of costs
where bills of costs were never paid, so that the fee was wholly
imaginary. There was but one more case to which it would be
his duty to draw the attention 'of 'the House : it regarded the
difference between English and Irislecurrency, amounting to
8 and 1.3 d per cent. When contracts were made in Ireland
without the currency being mentioned, it was always inferred to
be Irish. The Court of Exchequer of Ireland is divided into
three branches--the revenue side, the law tilde, and the equity
side : in the revenue and equity sides the fees were paid in Irish
currency, but in the law side some of the fees were paid in Eng.
lish currency to the officer receiving them, who accounted to the
Chief Baron in Irish currency, keeping the difference himself.
Wherever, however, an objection was made, the officer took the
fee in Irish currency, thus eilmitting that the additional charge
was unsupported by usage or right. When the present Chief Baron
came into office, instead of ascertaining what was legal lie directed
that all the fees on the three sides should be paid In the English
currency, the officer having participation : thus a large
addition was made to his own emoluments. These were the
four team which he was prepared to support by evidence:
if he had omitted any thing favourable to the Chief Baron, he
hopedatiet the deficiency would be supplied i if he had over-
charged any part of his statement, he was willing to submit to
the censure of the House. The Honourable Gentleman then
proceeded to vindicate the authority of the reports of the Com-
missioners, alluding particularly to the Bills that had. been
founded upon them ; and in opposition to what had been ad-
vanced on a former occasion by the lion. Member for the city
of Oxford, cited two precedents in favour of the course he was
pursuing. The first of these was the case of Lord' Macclesfield,
where Sir Giles Oxenden moved an iMpeachment grounded
upon Reports of Commissioners. Sir W. Viryndharn and Itir.2
Pulteney denied that these Reports wereaufficient authority, but
the /louse of Commons supported the original motion. The
second precedent was of Lord Melville, which was also founded
solely upon the Reports of Com Missioners. Mr. Pitt had
argued, that it was a case for a Select Committee ; but
the House supported 31r. Whitbread. It had been suggested
by the Chief Berne, that the reports contained merely ex parte
statements : the same remark had been made upon the re.
ports against Lord Melville, but Mr. Whitbread had success-
fully contended thata Parliamentary Commisationers were en-
titled to all respect for impartiality and general integrity. It
was true that at present a law existed abolishing fees in Ire-
land, but he (Mr. Rice) was satisfied that if the House did not
now interpose, and show that it was no respecter oh' persons,
fees would continue to he taken anti the law to be violat-
ed. The Court of Exchequer had itself admitted that the
reports formed a sufficient ground for the diemissal of an offi-
cer for improper oonduct ; for it had dismissed Mr. Pollock,
first Deputy Clerk of the Pleas, upon no other evidence. It was
a little too much, therefore, for the Chief Baron now to turn
round and say, that the Reports of the Commissioners were not
sufficient authority in his own vase. Another precedent' to the
same effect was the proceeding of the House with regard to thn'i
Chief Commissioner of site Insolvent Court. It might be said..
as in the case of Lund Corningebv and Sir U. Porter, in tie.
time of William 111., that one rule of action was applicable to
England, and another to Ireland ; but hi' did not think that.
such language would be used at the present day. After leer-
ing dwelt upan this point for some time, the Hon, Gentle-
man thanked the noose for the indulgence it hied sheivri lint:,
Ile had broug►ht the matter fairly to an issue as an net of nes-
tiee to the (Thief Huron and to the country. Either the Chief
Baron ought to be delivered from the charge, or he might to
be removed from his btatitill ; and it was a matter of Mix ore,
interest to Ireland, and of paramount duty on the part of En
land, that the administration of the law ehould not only be
placed above reproach, but beyond suspicion. The Ifinnotir,
able Member concluded by reading a string of resolutions em.
bodying the four charges to which he had adverted in the eeursr
of his speech.
The question having been put by the Chairman,
Colonel O'GRADY said, that he need not assure the }loose
that lie rose under great embarrassment, which was ctinsider-
ably increased by a knowledge that the last time he had ad-
dressed the House on this subject, being unused to public
speaking and unacquainted with the usages of Cairns of Justice,
he gave offence by what he was reported toshave said to tho
late (Thief Justice of the King's Bench. He now took the ear.
Hest opportunity of saying that nothing could be further frera
his intention than to give the slightest umbrage An a man of
such well-merited distinction and of such undoubted ability.--
When he was quoting the authority, and, as it were:icon/sting
the protection of that high authority, it Could 'nit: of etiolate be
his wish to impugn the Noble Lord's practice, or to cast imPu-
tations upon his conduct. It was not his intention to cast a slur
u Chief
ptanoronnacnoyulnitibiseictituyntrteail lwreiltirloptietd
ithrce tlye,faisanpeethoufddriti;
stand
forward on this occasion, because he felt conscious that he
could vindicete the injured without the /necessity of offending
disrtt siaii with the
painfill it ought be to him, he
aggilarni:esau.
rttmeditilinsit.tli—ndes:vlajrnanolta:er,oeicl!--ttYthn':witei!liulaiYealvidieraearbrstlainnietgeaCfr°t;Te7t.
truths and
ay
iatexertitolltswt:ol
itstlollilie:tlihlyidnentrnrivi:ldemsio.nitzltin:autaf.tilelcirliaCiiithlt;tiest watts
e;hefet;lrliitthet
ot;:yit,
Iliboured and
the general geestiont as to the, charges brou_glifesitinst the Chia -
Baron, and- the
_eriotinality that under all, the circumstances
ingeniotts ettaek. lie would confine himself to
triattlujitledwiinws attachanrel
at
asfoto
it was nviel'oir)reossttlifiebtlwsfuaorsreiti alica4:wstlea,l4dit,,
opinion—feelings must arise in his breast to obstruct the exer-
cise of an imparCal joegment. llc -ru to 1 ti at those,fielingis