The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-28 00:00:00

We have lately thought it our duty to call the public
attention to the constitution of the Royal Court of
Guernsey, the extraordinary and varied powers assumed
by that Court, and the mal-administration of the law,
occasioned by clothing with the judicial authority men
who arc wholly unqualified by station, education, or
legal acquirements, for so high a trust.
This evil is greatly increased by the fact, that the
jurat as such, derives no income to render him indepen-
dent of his ordinary trade or calling. He may descend
from the bench, on which he has been acting, in a
legislative, an executive, or a judicial capacity, and re-
turn to his counter, to vend, perchance, a gallon of
spirits or a yard of broad cloth. There is not, there-
fore, that pecuniary independence which has ever been
considered indispensible to the purity and integrity of
the judicial bench. When the " res angusta domi" pre-
vail it is scarcely possible for the man even of the most
exalted mind, to free himself wholly from surrounding
influences, to assume that calm disinterestedness so ne
cessary to the fit and proper discharge of the
important duties entrusted to his care. Can he weigh
the balance with an even hand, when he must
be well aware that by a slight inclination or leaning to
one side he may be enabled to oblige a valued customer,
a useful associate, or one who has it in his power to be
of much service to him in his trade or business ? Be-
:ides, how can a person who is obliged to earn his daily
bread, by the exertion of his industry, devote a sufficient
time to the acquisition of such legal knowledge, as may
be sufficient to qualify him to become the expounder,
the interpreter of various and complicated codes, re-
quiring a large amount of labour, an almost unbounded
devotion of time and industry, to not merely the ori-
ginal attainment, but even the proper keeping up of the
skill and learning already acquired. The man who
would desire to discharge such functions with pro-
priety, should devote a considerable sum of money to
the purchase, and much of his time to the study, et
those works in which the decisions and judg-
ments of our higher courts are chronicled and
reported. Without such a devotion he is
unfit for the situation he aspires -to fill, no
matter how great his natural endowments may be.
The law is a jealous mistress, requiring an exclusive at-
tentitn, an ardent, a zealous pursuit on the part of
its professors ; nay, in our own country it has been con-
sidered as indispensible to subdivide its branches. We
have, therefore, the equity and the common law barrister,
the equity draftsman, the special pleader, and the
conveyancer, each of whom finds full and sufficient
occupation in the cultivation and practice of that parti-
cular portion thereof to which he has applied his talents
and industry, and devoted his time. A gratuitous legal
opinion, even when given by a man of high professional
attainments in constant practice has ever been con-
sidered as worth the sum it actually costs—viz., nothing.
ft is still worse, when the exposition of the law is a
gratuitous one, more particularly when there is no suffi-
cient controlling power to revise and correct the judg-
ments of such a tribunal, if erroneous.
The evils of the system, which we have already pointed
out in our former articles are, therefore, fearfully in-
creased by the want of that sound judgment and legal
knowledge, which would point out the danger and warn of
the consequences which might result from some illegal or
unjust decision. It has been said that
" Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

Quacks will venture on experiments at which the highly
educated and talented physician would shudder; the man
with a slight sprinkling of some few legal principles,
picked up perhaps merely by an attendance at some
petty court, will arrogate to himself a degree of know.
ledge, and utter his dicta with a confidence which the
most talented and able lawyer would not venture to
assume. Propose to such a man the most difficult
and doubtful point, some vexata questio which has
exercised the ingenuity of lawyers, and puzzled, per-
haps divided, the Bench itself, and, without hesita•
tion, without taking a moment's time to consider, he will
pronounce an absolute and unqualified opinion, assuring
you that there is; not the slightest difficulty in the case.
Such a person, if invested with any authority, will extend
it far bryond the limits of moderation, and will dare or do
anything for the furtherance of that fancied authority, or
the support or extension of some favourite theory. We
recollect the case of a magistrate, the brother of a
former Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer,
in Ireland, who had committed and detained for
some hours in custody a barrister, who had appeared
before him in some case, and who had pressed his argu-
ments, as the magistrate thought, too far, the Learned,
Chief Baron, addressing him, said, " Brother, brother
you have the greatest courage of any man in the world.
I often wished that I could have ventured on such a
step when annoyed and tormented by some of them, but
I dared not. You little know the nest of hornets you
have brought about your ears." And so it turned out.
Bar meetings were held, the profession throughout the
country took to itself the insult offered to one of it:,
members, proceedings were instituted, and large damages
were given against the man, who, in his ignorance, had

exceeded his authority. In our columns will be found

an extract from an able and talented contemporary, con-
taining its own comments upon the conduct of one of
the Jurats who chose to avail himself of the
position he occupied, to inflict a most unwarrantable
indignity on gentlemen holding commissions in her

MAJESTY'S service. The honour and integrity of

the British army has ever stood unimpeached, and un-

impeachable. It is that high and chivalrous feeling on
their part, the undying devotion, the esprit de corps,
which induces the British offi.:er to sacrifice even life

itself to the service of his country, to the maintainance
of the character and honour of the body to which he be-
longs. This feeling has been attested for centuries, has
been written in letters of blood on many a hardly-con-
tested and well fought field. In what age, nation or
climate, has it not been exemplified ? There is no part
of the civilised world, no quarter of the globe, where the
services of our gallant brethren have been required, that
the result has not been invariably the same. Their
valour in the field has been only equalled by their mo-
deration and humanity in the hour of victory, and by the
undeviating faith and integrity with which they have
observed all compacts and treaties into which they may
have entered. The honour of the British name has been
entrusted to their care, and has ever remained un-
tarnished in their hands; and every succeeding day but
adds new laurels to their unblemished reputation. But,
why seek to praise, to justify the honour of the British
army ? It is but an attempt
" To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
And add a perfume to the violet."
ft is written in characters which cannot be
sealr
impeached or gainsayed. 'Words are superfluous
in such a cause, but were there a necessity
gallantan and
any men
insultwb ot
oc
thean use
Britishtbe pen
Armya is
s well e
to
produce numerous and able defenders ft om amongst
i'...tilsilecorswewnaorrrande, ranks.

The learned Jurat may find, in the words of the
Chief Baron already mentioned, that he has indeed
brought a nest of hornets about his elms, and may Well
wish that he had nut ventured to assail that -which
stands on a pinnacle, towering far be) vncl the I:tach of
any shaft winged by his feeble hand.

From Brussels we learn that on T desday, the 26th,
the Minister of the Interior presented to the Chamber
a project of law authorising the free ireportatichl of corn

ture, should be attended with the happy results to which
we have alluded? We always believed the Irish to be a
people of high and generous impulses, easily won by
kindness, and ready to abandon all feelings of resent-
ment the moment the exciting cause was removed and
the hand of friendship extended towards them. They
have proved that we were correct in that opinion, that our
estimate of their character was correct. Sir R. PEEL
has shown that he can argue from analogy, that he is
not slow to avail himself of the signs of the times, and
that he is ever ready to extend a principle which has
been found to work well, so far as it has been adopted.
Nothing can possibly be more favourable than the fruits
which have hitherto sprung from conciliation. Follow
up the system—no longer evince suspicion and distrust
—let our Irish brethren receive the benefit of the im-
proved condition of their country. The Coercion Bill
could only be justified by the inevitable necessity that
existed of vindicating the law, and putting down with
the strong arm violence and bloodshed. That necessity
has now happily terminated—a milder treatment has been
found efficacious, a healthy action has been restored.
" Cessat ratio, cessat lex," is a universally ad
mitted axiom, the truth of which has never been
questioned or denied. The cause, which unhap-
pily evoked the necessity of such a restriction Of
the liberties of the subject has ceased. Even if the law
were now in actual operation, it should be forthwith
terminated. A graceful opportunity is afforded to the
Premier of acknowledging that he is no longer com-
pelled to press the Coercion Act rapidly through
' Parliament, and of adjourning, if not totally
abandoning, its further progress, unless the re-
newal of disturbance and outrage should impera-
tively demand the carrying out of its provisions in all
their stringency and severity. Such a course would in-
deed add many wreaths to the laurels he has already
gained for himself, and plant him firmly in the hearts
of the people as the Minister of their choice—then, in-
deed, might he bid defiance to the attempts of faction,
or of disappointed monopoly, to shake him from the
proud eminence on which he would be placed, and
from which he could not be removed so long as he should
be influenced by justice and moderation.