The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-16 00:00:00

THE COURT OF CHANCERY.

The Court of Chancery is said to be a Court of
Equity, that is, a tribunal intended to provide law-
remedies in all such new kinds of cases as have not
previously been provided for, by either the Legislature
or the Courts of Common Law. Judging by the prin-
ciples of right, it ought to secure justice, expedition,
cheapness, certainty, and finality.
It is notorious from the very constitution and prac-
tice of the Court, that justice can no more be ensured
there than could the finding of a stone again that has
been cast into the sea.
It is notorious that expedition is there looked
upon as a mere farce. Bentham asks, " Why
is it that in a Court, called a Court of Equity, they
keep a man his whole life in hot water,
while they are stripping him of his fortune ?
Ten appointments have I known for so many distant
days before a Judge they call a Master, before one of
them has been kept. Three is the common course ;
and, as soon as everybody is there, the hour is at an
end, and away they go again. Why ?—Because for
every appointment the Master has his fee."
It is notorious that cheapness would be the death of
nine-tenths of the harpies of the Court, the proceedings
often costing more than the value of the property in liti-
gation. " Many," says Mr. Parkes, " silently bear
wrong from the want of power to pursue their right;
that is to say, who prefer the evils of enduring injustice
to the aggravated evils of seeking redress!"
It is notorious that certainty is never known there ;
for, though a cause be gained, even with trial by jury,
means are taken to obtain (by quibble and quirk),
through the Chancellor, a new trial ; so that causes are
bandied backwards and forwards between the Court of
Chancery and the Courts of Common Law, like foot-
balls, alternately making the defendant plaintiff, and the
plaintiff defendant ; and as often transferring the pro-
perty in dispute from the hands of one to those of the
other, and back again. Meanwhile, the spirits of this
Pandemonium are pocketing fees and gratuities in con-
sequence of all this, so as to keep folly in countenance,
by associating it with law-sanctioned robbery.
It is notorious that finality of decision is not to be
obtained from even this, the highest court in the king-
dom :—a court of equity, not bound by rule and writ-
ten law, but which, professing to judge according to
common sense and natural right, ought emphatically to
decide beyond the possibility of all after-quibble and
frivolous or vindictive litigation renewed.
It is notorious that many, " worn out by long pro-
tracted suits, arc induced, by the present state of Chan-
cery procedure, to compromise : which, being inter-
preted, means a submission to a denial of justice. By
the terrors of Remanetcy (the postponement of a cause)
the plaintiff consents to accept a part of what is his due,
giving up the rest : by consent the traveller gives up to
the unlicensed plunderer what money he has about him,
in order to save his life."
It is notorious that custom, without law, " compels
suitors in this Court to pay for office copies which they
do not want or require." Thus adding direct fraud to
all the other legalised modes of scraping suitors to the
bone. •

is notorious that, " for want of the means of con-
:ending against an unjust but rich adversary, or from
ignorance of the established forms, many a poor man
has been incarcerated for years, for contempt of Court."
It is notorious that the most lying and nonsensical
formalities are prescribed, disgraceful to common-sense,
and ludicrously inefficient for their ostensible purpose ;
though well adapted to that more valuable end, the
multiplying of fees. "If you are a defendant and tell
lies, you are punished for it ; if you are a plaintiff and
will not tell lies, you lose your cause."
It is notorious that a suitor must in some cases either
tell a lie or act illegally. " They won't so much as send
a question to be tried by a jury, till they have made
you say you have laid a wager about it ; though wagers,
they tell you, are illegal."
It is notorious that the harpies who people this
Court get a great deal more by its corruptions and
delays than by anything else,. Hence it offers direct
rewards for doing wrong. The men who receive re-
peatedly, and much more frequently, the same fees for
doing nothing as they would for :Tulin a cause, have
an immediate interest in prolonging the period of delay
to its utmost possible limits.
It is notorious that the patronage in the Court is in-
famous. " Some of these law places are too good to be
left to the gift even of Judges ; of these, which bring in
thousands upon thousands a year, the plunder goes to
Dukes, and Earls, and Viscounts, whose only trouble is
to receive it."
It is notorious (such is the infamy of the practice of
this Court) that causes have been compelled to a set-
tlement at a specified time on the part of the suitor, by
threats to the Chancellor of public exposure, in default
of such settlement being made !!
It is notorious, lastly, that Equity (of which the
above affords a fine specimen) " is a distinction as un•
heard of out of England, as it is useless here to every
purpose but that of delaying justice, and plundering
those who sue for it."—lVooha ek.

A. BREAKFAST IN BRITTAN

We entered the only cabaret in the place, which
had the smallest external promise of being anything
better than a cider-shop. * On the fire, which
blazed and crackled on the capacious hearth, was an
enormous brazen cauldron, containing, I should think,
about four gallons of liquid grease, which was simmer-
ing, bubbling, and hissing, in the most cheerful and
agreeable manner possible. Seated on the benches,
within the jambs on either side, were two old crones—
inimitable personifications of Macbeth's witches—who
were, with double toil and trouble, stirring up the mighty
pool from its lowest depths, collecting the gross scum
which rose to the surface. and fllnging it over the brim on
to the hissing fire, which, shooting up in bright jets of
flame to lick the edge of the cauldron, seemed waiting
with eagerness to lap up its share of the unclean nutri-
ment. The old hags engaged in this pleasing office,
with their long, shrivelled arms, and sharp, grinning
jaws, shown to the most, witchlike advantage in the dark
ingle-nook, by the red light of the fire, seemed to snuff
up, with measureless content,' the savoury odour which
their occupation excited. Thane whole of e r
thom was
crowded with women, young d old, engaged in o
various
preparatory cares, all tending to the same great object.
Some were twisting the cotton wicks, some splitting
rushes, and some arranging various vessels in readiness
to receive their portions of the contents of the cauldron,
so that the process of dipping might proceed in sundry
parts of the room at the same time. I felt inclined to
give up all purpose of breakfast in such a place, and at
such a time, as neither desirable nor possible. Contrary
to my expectations, however, the hostess made no dif-
ficulties when we said that we were in search of breakfast,
but, on the contrary, remarked that we were in good
time, for the pot was ready to come off the fire
directly, and that then she would get us some break-
fast forthwith. So saying, she opened the door at the
foot of the staircase, and motioned us to mount to the
room above. I felt some curiosity to stay and see the
great moment—the taking off the cauldron from the
fire—for it rather puzzled me to conceive how the
women would be able to manage it. But the odour
of the boiling rancid fat was so thick and heavy
throughout the room, as to be, without exaggeration,
insupportable even to the blunted olfactory sensi-
bilities of an old traveller. The vapour seemed to
be almost palpable. I felt greasy all over ; and had
a sensation in the mouth and throat which felt as
if it could only have been produced by swallowing
tallow till I was full to the gorge. I bolted up the
open staircase, therefore, with very little inclination,
as it may be easily conceived, for the promised break-
fast, yet, thinking that a cup of coffee, however bad,
might serve to wash the tallow from my throat. Up
stairs we found a large room with a bed in each cor-
ner, and a very heterogeneous and extensive assortment
of attire, male and female, occupying every chair,
table, and peg, and most part of the floor. Some,
also, hung trom the ceiling. We both rushed to
the one window, and there,-, with our beads stretched
out as far into the open air as the smallness of the
aperture would permit, we awaited the arrival of
breakfast. That this was to be prepared in that
apartment from which we had just escaped was a
painful consideration upon which I resolved not to
permit my mind to dwell: They could not have
dipped candles in their coffee-pot ; and I permitted
myself rather to enjoy the anticipation of that part
of the breakfast. I will leave it to the reader to con-
ceive what, under these circumstances, my feelings
must have been when the door opened, and I saw on
turning round, as the sole preparation of the promised
repast, an enormous deep dish of fried sausages. The
family stores had been robbed of at least two pounds
of dips, to supply the ocean of grease in which the sa-
turated sops of sausage floated. A hunch of sandy
bread and a jug of abominable cider were the only other
constituent parts of this breakfast.' Carefully turn-
ing our backs upon the hateful sausages, and resolutely
endeavouring not to smell them, we swallowed hastily a
portion of the bread, washed it down with a draught of
cider, whose vinegar-like properties acted at least as a
corrective to the oilyness of every thing around us, and
prepared to leave the house without delay. But for
this purpose it was necessary once again to traverse the
intolerable atmosphere of the room below. We passed
with a rapid step, and without drawing breath. But
things had decidedly become worse ; for instead of the
one great reservoir on the fire, a hasty glance showed a
dozen different vessels of different descriptions, distri-
buted in every possible corner of the space, from which
every member of the family, and the neighbours who
apparently had come in to help and enjoy the fun,
were engaged hot, fast, and furious in dipping, soma
two, some three, some four, wicks at a time, and with-
drawing the embryo candles reeking from each dip with
a fresh streaming supply of the odious material."—.
Trollope's Brittany.

A reprieve nas been reeetvea at Newgate on be-
half of the convict Samuel Bayley, echo waq respited about
fortnight since.
Robot lioiges Evrc, EsT, tic pleat :of
the' Tories of the county Cork; die )rcsterday week at :A.tacroule