The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-06 00:00:00

TRIBUNAL OF COMMEBOR ASSOCIATION.

A public meeting convened by the association for the
establishment of tribunals of commerce was held on Satur-
day, at the London Tavern, for the purpose of receiving
from Mr. H. Dix Hutton a statement intended to have
been submitted to the congress for commercial reform,
/recently held at Brussels. Mr. F. LYNg took the chair,
and introduced Mr. Hutton, who, he said, had paid a great
deal of attention to this matter.
Mr. HUTTON said, having from his experience as an ad-
vocate become convinced of the radical insufficiency of the
ordinary tribunals to administer justice in commercial
affairs, and having resolved to spend a portion of his vaca-
tion in the study of those institutions which exist in France
under the denomination of Tribunals of Commerce, he con-
ferred with Mr. Lyne, who requested him to represent this
society at the Brussels Congress. Ho passed four weeks in
Paris, whore he had every facility for the study of the Tri-
bunals of Commerce, and he prepared a statement setting
forth the reasons why this society proposed the establish-
ment of tribunals of commerce in this country. That state-
ment was printed in French and English, and was now be-
fore them, but there was another which he proposed to
read to them, which he prepared for the purpose of bring-
lug before the congress, but time did not allow of its being
read in that assembly. It was, however, referred to a
committee, and by them referred to a sub-committee, who
reported that, considering that tribunals of commerce
could judge of commercial affairs with less expense, and
with more knowledge of commercial exigencies than the
ordinary tribunals, they were of opinion that the institu-
tion of tribunals of commerce !lonia spread throughout
Europe. Two questions were proposed by the congress to
the delegates from each country. First, what are the obsta-
cles in the country which you represent in the progress of
commerce ? Secondly, what remedies, if any, do you pro-
pose for their removal ? It was in answer to these ques-
tions that the statement which he would now read was
drawn up. The ion. gentleman then proceeded to read
the statement of which the following is an abstract :
" The subject on which I have the honour of addressing
you falls entirely within the programme which has been
traced for us by the committee of organisation, for among
the obstacles which impede the extension of our commer-
cial relations,' there are none whose existence is easier
proved, or whose results are more deplorable, than
those defects which unhappily prevail in the system of
administering justice iu Great Britain and Ireland. These
are, indeed, among the last, but they must also be reckoned
among the most serious of the obstacles which deprive us
of the full enjoyment of that commercial liberty for which
England has pre-eminently and nobly struggled. The as-
sociation which I have the honour of representing, gentle-
men, at your congress is composed of bankers, manufac-
turers, and merchants, who, convinced of the extent and
gravity of the evils which flow from such a state of things,
have united in order to discover and put in practice the
best mode of terminating this system, at once so disastrous
and so disgraceful. We believe that the sympathies which
such a task must elicit will be as extended as are our coins
mercial relations, as profound as your attachment to the
cause of free trade and yeur sentiments of duty; for to re,
form the administration of commercial justice means nothing
less than to introduce unity into the ideas, harmony into
the feelings, and union into the acts of the commercial
world. It is impossible to understand the faults of any
system unless we first form an exact idea of the qualities
which should belong to it in its normal state. As regards
the judicial system these concern—first, the law itself;
next, the organisation of the tribunal ; and lastly, the pro-
cedure. The true commercial law is made not only for,
but also by merchants. It is true, in fact, a social pro-
duct, the gradual result of commercial experience and com-
mercial thought, habitually working in the sphere of their
daily interests. The great jurists of former times were
intimately convinced of this truth, and if the names of
L'Hospital in France, or Mansfield in England, are destined
to remain for ever upon the roll of benefactors of humanity,
it is mainly because they deeply felt that the law and the
bench should be little else than the intelligent organs of
commercial thought. Besides, we must not forget that
the principal defeats of the legal system existed then, just
as now ; but their results were less serious at a time when
commerce was comparatively small, and their evils were
mitigated in practice by the great persoal eminence of the
legal chiefs who then presided. The legal element was
once progressive; now, unfortunately for society and
for itself, it is no longer so as a whole, but, on the con-
trary, increasingly becomes an obstacle to progress and
a fertile source of disorder in the mercantile world.
This difference between the state of the law and of judi-
cial administration, formerly and now, becomes apparent
when we contrast the ancient with the modern decisions,
in which lait we perceive an ever increasing tendency
to subordinate realities to fictions, and to place mere
metaphysical abstractions in the place of those princi-
ples which, in fact, guide the practice of the commer-
cial world. Such are the inevitable results of the unhappy
separation which now subsists between theory and prac-
tice. I will offer to your consideration one example
(chosen among a thousand others like it), :as a practise'
illustration of what I mean. We all know that agree-
ments relating to the manufacture and sale of the most im-
portant articles, on an extensive scale, are commonly re-
duced to writing, and we also know that it very frequently
happens that in the course of carrying out the business it
becomes necessary to vary the contract, sometimes in
important particulars. Now, as the law stands, there is
tbhoneagfirde:tieustteuptoisusuibolef
tdifficulty
si
egnenfocrrcan
ilnlYg jinudsincniahllynatshese
and compelling the performance of the real contract be-
tween the parties, when one of then, is disposed to evade
its obligations. This difficulty arises, in a great measure,
from the technical rules of construction, and the equally
technical rules of evidence, which the law sanctions; but
it is also important to observe that it is especially in such
instances that the practised intelligence of the manufac-
turer and the merchant is most needed, because it is best
able to discriminate between cases of mere misapprehension
and those of nsala fides. The law, as it now stands, in such
cases, not, I fear, of unfrequent occurrence, enables the
fraudulent contractor to evade the consequences of his own
deliberate acts. Such are the effects of British injustice,
checking manufactures, obstructing trade, and, lastly, de-
grading British character. There is but one remedy for
theSe evils, and that consists in promptly establishing the
normal state, confiding the charge of judging commercial
affairs to those who have the dailysmanagement of there,
that is to say, to the commercial world itself, represented by
its raost;estimable, most intelligent, and most devoted mem-
bers. In every system, be it good or bad, a certain relation
always subsists between the organisation and the func-
tions ; and thus, I am sorry to be obliged to tell you, that
there is a perfect harmony between the legal spirit which
has dominion over commerce, and the judicial organisation
destined to apply it. With us cases of bankruptcy—espe-
cially as regards partnerships and joint stock companies-e-
-are conducted most unsatisfactorily, so much so that 3
believe merchants generally consider a very indifferent ar-
rangement preferable to the best result which could be ex-
pected from legal proceedings in the Bankrupt Court, or
I under the Winding-up Acts. In these cases we continu-
ally perceive that the bankrupt law for the administration
of assets, though ostensibly made for commerce, assuredly
I was not made by commercial men, or for their use. For
example, the case of the Tipperary Bank, now dragging
its slow length along in the Irish Court of Chancery, were
cotnmenced by a series of legal arguments based upon fifty
distinct affidavits, made by as many English shareholders,
represented by a numerous and distinguished bar. These
discussions have already occupied at least 10 days in open
court, before two different judges, and they may, and pro-
bably will, bEr continued before another judge of appeal,
terminating only with the House of Lords. I must add,
that these legal discussions form but an episode in this great
-law-suit; that all the cases of these:so shareholders were,
woirtthhato thesingle exception, essentially the same; and, finally,
that all this is going on in the 19th century, and under a
mul tiny
freformed system-, for as such the winding-up acts were held
'public. If time permitted, it would be easy
re m 0 examples of judicial administration, with
sPer.l to the salvage claims, patents, and indeed every
species of industrial transactions. Let us now pass to the
procedure.
bismekr u thpte
courts,rev
er Wleat are the qualities which characterise a
good system of procedureIt should be simple, rapid,
cheap, and certain.ly That of the British tribunals is pre-
ooffoualrlatdhmisi.ralTtyheooaudrtme,intihe administration
anbosfuonueer
of any tribunal competent to judge disputes relating to pa-
tents—the absurdities of our jury system even as regards
ordinary civil transactions. and much more with respect to
long
the system
e results
remains
commercial iiffairs—all these offer examples of those vices
ofo nho organisation
of which we shall deplore so
g a
unchanged. But if the law
cishastnitllwwhoorisse.seeCkoionagpiluicsatitceed, ,
and ote wh subjectse,r
ees
ahxs
apo
penene
tsohhi
flvyee
costs,
eoeuws
fnteesPcne, e,
dor
ahtf
nateeittnn,
n,
in
nt, places almost insuperable obstacles
itself is absurd, and the organisation bad, the
procedure
in the way of the suer
aodndlyitttoonthtpo phaaymavyenptanoafttwiehaattn
an amount far greater than the original demand. We
t have now to consider what remedy we should apply, It
aiffhaoirse,ap7todi representing,
consists, I think, in committing the judgment of mercan-
thhoeurhliyghadesint idnei:rtneer,ththesee
mercan-
tile affairs to men chosen from the classes which daily and
tYandtheeianl
halfao lfl ytl has, ,ebi
century,tl3e. e
pxlrplenvrPeil,ds' int Yet e:d
oionnsozo. ngdiegndho nl
ini:ofinne morenn
principlet hn
worth,s n m e
g
an
ss
the
thus stated, and the practical advantages which commerce
and industry in all its branches derive from the
creation of tribunals of commerce. Belgium, also
PPssesses these invaluable courts • but, their
ogo cou , as rgani-, •
is eseteitielly oihillar to that of the French trihttutas,