The Sun.
London, England, 1815-02-14 00:00:00

JURY' TRIAL IN SCOTLAND.

Earl STAigHorE.—On the last day
.of. the last
Session, he had heard a most able and eloquent
-speech from the Noble and Learned Lord on the
. NVoolsack, on the subject of introducing Trial by
:Jury in civil cases into Scotland, and he (Stan-
, hope), then gave notice of his intentions to bring
in a sill this Session to that effect : but then came
is most extraordinary proceeding, for immediately
before- the hOlidays in the present Session, the
Noble and Learned • Lord brought in a Bill of
this sort' himself: To be sure it had not the
sanction of the Noble and Learned Lord's autho-
rity.. It had been sent up trom Scotland from
those who clearly sheaved that they did not un-
derstand this -subject. His first 'objection to it
was, that it was optional to have a Jury Trial
. or not ;.,and a second objection was, 'that the
Jury
.was confined to the faetS, instead of heing
, allowed to give a general verdict as they did in Eng-
land, unless they wished to relieve themselves
• from deeiding.on the law by giving a'Special ver-
dict ; and yet, though. the Jury was only to de-
, eide on the facts, there was a provision, that the
Judge should direct and instruct them as to the
, Jaw. kle agreed that this mode of trial should he
introduced*graattally ; and he meant by this, that
the Jory should give special verdicts, unless the
. parties, the Judge, and Jury were willing that the
, verdict should be general. It was an insult to
the people of Scotland to say that they Ivere not
as competent to decide in'thiS way as in England.
, The.people of Scotland were far more enlihtened
than the people of England, generally speaking;
and why should they not be competent to do that
v‘ bleb had been done England time out of
mind ? Ile wished now to l:ave his' Bill read a
first time, merely for the purpose of having it
priuted.

The Earl of LAUDERDM.E thought it irregular
to,bringln a new bin, when there was already
before the House a bill having the same object in
view.

Eat I STAN HOPE was sorry to find, the Noble.
Earl-hostile to the trial 6y jury, which he could
have • expected. The 'object -of the two
bills wgs completely diflient ; the one was to
introduce the trial .by jury in:6 Scotland; and the
other Was merely
.a proposition to try issues by a
• „ ,
jury.

The LORD CIIANc;ELLOR could have wished the
Noble, aadlle ttiiikla say the Leonia Lord to
po:',pone the intyoduetitin of his Bill. It cLatainly
ivouli: be, necessary to intrOduccsome alterations
in-. 0 the Bill, which lie (the Lord Cliakellor) bad
hod on the table before the recess. Ile would
Inalte those alterations himself, as it by no means
1,1,,p_4,41 him in its present shape. Let the Nohle
henr it with those amendinents, and then
there,ivould trobably he less dilliculty in attain-
ing one UU)n onject; than by having two I3ills
going throngii the House at the same time.
Larl, STAN Hopi.; consented to withdraw his

Lord GRF,NVILLE gave notice of a motion fot
Friday, fur infor'ination respecting the number Of
foreign trc,•cips in B"ritisli pay on the Continent..
Eari I'ITZWIII.IAIII postpon6d till Wednesday

Lis motion on the subject of disbanding the Mi
litia.—Adjourned.

Z~ OE3SE.OP COMMONS. ,
Mr. runtsT gave notice,
_,that lie shonld WORestifiT
m" n for 44" " brtni; a 13:111 .to extend the Salaries of the
Chaplains to the County Prisiiits.
Petitions' againct the Proper:y.Tax„wer'e presented front
New Sarurn,Blandford, Linflow,lps\vieli, the Cite of London.,
the Ward of Cernhill, King•ton, lllrtfwd, Keigate, Guild-
ford, the Nterehants and Trliders. of the City of Cdo-
cester, and the Tow,- of Forfar. •
Petitions in favour of an :dieration in the Corn Laws were
presented front the Landholders in the neighhourhood of
Croydon, County of Huntingdon, County of Bt rks,. and County
of liedford.

-A Copy was presenttd of an Orderin Council, antherlsing
the issue of Specie by the Bank of Englaii,l, up to the
amount specified; as also of au Order in Council declaring
the Port of Liverpool to be: a port for warehonsing goods
imported from India. • • •

Lord A. I lAMILTON poitponed, till Thursday, his notice
-which stood for Tuesday, for a Committee to -consider. the
Affairs of the [Sank.

'l•he Repertof the Committee on the Malta Trade was
brought up, and the Itesdihnions a.Treeil to.
SIR 3ANIES I*Yr.:
Mr. GOULBUltNutoved an Address to the Prinee
Regent for a .Copy atilt! Corresppnd het)veen
Sir James Duff and Lord Bathurst respecting Some
peiksohs arrested at Gibraltar.

Mr. ZVxt•rineAD sad, that the charge against
Sir James buff went n►nch farther than this. He
vas charged with having summoned 'the Captains
of British trading vessels at Cadiz, and made
them
,give an oath that they would not•take:any
Spanish snbjects in their vessels.:
Mr. Gounw RN thought that.the Hon. G?ntic-
man would find in the papers all the information
wh►ch lie wished for.

Mr. 117111TBREAD 9hSCl'Vea, that the "Hon.
Gentleman ' had been abzsent, on a bushicss
tvhich he congratulated hint on ending so tell
(the negoeiation at Gitent), ‘viien he'firSt men-
tioned this busi;ness in the House. His principal
charge against Sir J:iine's Duff was for endeavottr
iug to pi event the useopc of Spanish subjects from
the riwer of their most inquisitorial. and detest-
able Gorermucnt.

Mr. GObLUURN still thought` that the 119nour-
able Gentleman would - find all the information,
,that be wkhed for tit- the papers whieb had been
moved.,—The motion was then agreed to.'
The Annual inderninity Bill was read a firsttime,
and ordered to be refit! ht. second time to-mOrrOw.