The Sun.
London, England, 1840-07-11 00:00:00

E VEN lN G I.IDIIII ON.

tinge of the Scotch Judges, which was greatly in
favour of the former—they bad scarcely any vacation, and
had (Ally 2,300!. per annum, while the Scotch Judges j
had seven months' vacation, and were paid trmn '
5,000/. to 3,0043/. a. fear. The Jud;es, too, had
grosaly neglected their duty in making Act; of Sederunt,
as they were called, which were rules fur the guidance of
the r ~oceedings of their Courts ; they hal not been re-
visec daring the last hundred years. It was is evidence be-
fore
the. Committee that it was now impossible for any one
t) say what were new in use, or what bad fallen into dis-
use. The Judges bad allowed their Coerta to get into such
state of confusion as to give great di satisfaction is
Seotland. To show what a state the Courts were
ho bilged to state that he held in his hand
a return of the number of appeals to the
Home of Lords from March, 12.3, to June, 1536,
from which it appeared that the whole number of appeals
n,s il3 ; and that, out of that number, 593 were appeals
Irr.ls Scotland. Would any man credit that the
Juslges of Scotland, were in such disrepute with his coun-
trymen, that appeals were made in every case in which
_money could be found, to the House of Lords. His mo-
tion related not only to the duties of the Court of Session,
blt also to the office of his Right Hon. and Learied Friend
the Lord Advocate. It was all very well, in times of
ANtoietness, to have an office filled as it was at present,
in
tYll1:11 great danger was to be apprehended from confiding
the ;i.,pointment to a political character. It appeared to
hlnt that the Lord Advocate was the representative of all
Scotland, for nobody else could represent it without his
and concurrence. He was al.o commander-in-chief
of all the Parliamentary business of that country, and no
independent Member could move a pen, or get a Bill fur-
warti a single stage, without his consent. hhe Noble and
Learned Lord was also the keeper of the conscience of
the genera'. Assembly. A great deal had been said "with
I.:i-ard to the criminal duties of the Queen's Judges, but
t!-:e tact was, that the matter was now a mere farce. If

any ens went into the Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh,
had been so much lauded, they would fii.d three
ju,l:Tes sitting there—namely, the Lord-Advocate, the
S3lienor-General, and one or two deputies, trying
~.wo er three children, ten or twelve years old.—( Hear.)
He had endeavoured to narrow the subject as much as
pussible, considering its importance; and he had re-
ceived a salutary hint from his Friend opposite, that it
was dangerous to interfere with the learned persons called
Judges in Scotland. Under these circumstances, and not
being encouraged by the Noble Lord opposite to expect
that 'he Crown would command the Scotch Judges, in ac-
e.,H.rice with the Act of Parliament, to continue their
pion two months longer, he would not take apon him-
set the responsibility of taking the opinion of the I-louse
upen the motion, but he would leave it to the Noble
Lord, and those whom be consulted, to let them take the
cons?-pence. He therefore begged to withdraw—that
,:as 7.) say, not to move the motion, of which he bad given
notice.

The LORD ADVOCATE, although the Hon.
Member had concluded without making the motion, felt
hound to say a few words in answer to what he must call
the :.,:ross (he was sure, unintentional) miz-statements of
the Honourable Member.—( Hear, hear, hear.) That
_Honourable Member had fallen into errors so gt ievous,
that had he not known the great attention ho had paid to
ex subject, he should certainly have thought that he had
teken up the subject without knowing anything about it.
—(klear, hear.) It was true, as had been stated by the
Hun. and Learned Member, that at a certain period of
the year the Courts rose, but there was always one Judge
in town to attend to any urgent business. Alter great de-
lbc.-ation on the subject, he was convinced that the number
of Judges in icotland could not be diminished without
prcju,lice to the administration of justice in that country.
With respect to the statements of the Hon. Member as to
the extraordinary powers of the Lord Advocate, he, for
one, was not aware that any extraordinary powers existed
at .the present day, whatever might be the case in
former limes. On the whole, he thought that nothing
hid been shown by the Hon. Member which called upon
the House for its interference.
After a few words from Mr. GOUL BURN, the subject
dropped.