The Sun.
London, England, 1833-05-30 00:00:00

6, REPUBLIC OF PERU.

"MINISTRY OF STATF. IN THE DEPARTMENT OE FINANCES
" House ot Government, L ma, Drc. 4, 1832

" Sir,---On the 11th of September tact, on sending to
the Congress various remonstrances of the Peruvian
Bondholde s in London, this Ministry r presented the
urgent nature of the subject; tor. besides a compromise
of the national honour, the Rec•ublic would he loaded, it
no measures were adopted, with an amount of responsi-
bility exceeding her resources. The Ministry showed at
the same time that the inter at already due upon the
9.000,000 of do:lars borrowed in Lnniton amounted to
42 pi r cent., and that the Government thought that halt
a million of dollars annually would be sufficient to extri
ite the nation grai.t•tally from this serious embarravnent.
Unfortunately, the Government has not yet received any
resolution of the Chambers on this most important and
pressing affair.

" The prorogation of the Chambers being near at hand,
the Ministry of Foreign Relations has sent to the Govern-
tn,nt the transiatinn of a no e from the Chairman of the
Committee of Peruvian bondholders in London, in which
he complains of tlie Republic not having any efficient
measures to satisfy her engagements; and, after suppiirt
ing it by powerful reasons, he demands that the Republic
should duly attend to the justice of his elaitns.
" As the Congress has already a knowledge of this
business through the demands and remonstrances hereto-
fore seat to it, the Government has determined that the
last-mentioned communication be also transinitti d, again
pointing out to the Congress the neces-ity of immediately,
and in preference to other matters, resolving on this affait,
lest it continue in the state of suspense and paralysation,
at the recess of the Legislature.—l am, Sir, ficc.

•
(Signed) JOAQUISi ARRERA.
" To the Secretary of the Chamber of Deputies."

IRELAND.

COURT OF XING'S BENCH, MAY 27.

This morning Mr. John Walsh (convicted of having
spoken a seditious speech at the Trades' Alum), was
called up for judemtat. The Attorney- General applied
for the sentencr of the Court, and Mr. Walsh was heart
in mitigation. He produced a joint affidavit of himself
and Mr. Slevin (Chairman of the meeting of the Trades
on the night in question), disclaiming the language im-
puted to him by the witness Cassidy. Two other affi-
davits were produced from individuals present at the same
time. The Attorney•G-neral replied for the prosecution,
after which Chief Justice Bustle sentenced Mr. Walsh to
six months' imprisonment in Newgate, to pay a fine of
201., and to give securities to keep the peace, himself in
2001., and two sureties in 1001. each.

Mr. Bulger, the proprietor of the Carlow Morning
Post, was also brought up for judgment :—To three
months' imprisonment in the gaol of Kilmainham, and to
pay a fine of 201., and to enter into securities to keep the
peace, himself in 5001., and two securities in 250/. each.
—rimes Correspondent.

The late violent hail-stoon proved very de.
structive in various parts of the country. About 9,000
.quares of glass were demolished in the hothouse, conser-
vatories, &c., belonging to the Earl of Powls, at Walcot,
near Bishop's Castle.

PURITY of FLOUR.—FIour will generally
he a halfpenny per pound more than bread. If you sus-
pect it to he adulterated with stone dust or piaster cf Pails,
drop the juice of lemon upon it, and if pure it will re-
main at rest, hut it adulterated an immediate corn-
motion takes place. If you suspect whiting to be
mixed vritls it, seize a handful briskly, and squeeze it ba!t
A minute ; if pure, it will preserve the form of the cavil)
of the hand, although rudely set down on the table.—
New Book of Economy.

That, in obedience to his Majery's commands, we hum
lily beg leave to submit the re-ult of our i' quiries.
Our attention has been, in the first instance, directed to
he question •o what extent the exis,tine courts are ade.
quite to the due administi anion of justice in respect of
ehims of small amount ; and finding th it they are in some
essential tesperts inadequate to that purpos., we have, in
the next place, proceeded to inquire in what manner the
inconvenience which at present exists may best be reint died.
In considering whether the present establi hmenta are
ad• quite to the exigences of justice in cases of sm .11
,mount, it seems proper first to advert t..t the id: nor courts.
It appe.irs hat the present interior courts are more 0t
less open to some or all of the followin.! objections
. . .

That their jurisd.ction is in general too limited in point
1)1 amount and local extent.

That frequently, suits are rernoveable into the higher
court.) without securi y

T!“- want of coim vent j.idge+ and juries. •
Ti'e want of efficient inferior ministers to serve and exe-
cute pi oce,s.

The want of sufficient and simple pioce,s to compel an
appearato e.

The use of complicated and expensive pleadings.
The di,tance of the place of trial flora ti,e residences of
the parties and wi'nes,.eP.

The want of sufficient means to corn lie' the attendance
of witnesses.

The facility of evading execution.
The abuses occasioned by intrusting the execution of
process to imploper agtnt., fur whose misconduct no su-
perior is responsible.

The want of appeal.
The expense of the proceedings as compared with the
am,,unt of the demand.

Inferior Court consist principally of
County Courts.
The Hundred or Wapentake Courts.
Courts Biron.

Peculiar Local Courts of limited jurisdiction, which
exist by prescription or grant, such as the Palace Court.
The Courts of particular boroughs.
Courts established by many modern Acts of Parliament,
compriing Courts of Requests.
The County Court, once an efficient and important
Court for the administration of justice, has now fallen into
a state of comparative inutility.
As early at least as the reign of King Edward 1., its
general jurisdiction was confined to cruises of action below
405., a limitation which, combined with the changes and
deterioration which have taken pl ice in the value of money,
has reduced one of the most ancient Courts to a state of
desuetude. It posses.es, indeed, a more extensive juris-
diction in replevin suits, and in suits ccmmenced by the
special writ of justicies, but the ordinary practice of re-
moving replevin suits into the superior courts, and the
power which, with some exceptions, a defendant pos-
sesses of removing a suit from the County Ctait t without
giving security, even where the suit is commenced by
justicies, have rendered this additional jurisdiction (with
toe exception to which we shall presently advert) little
more than nominal.

The jurisdiction which was formerly exercised in the
trying of reil actions in suits removed from the Court
Baton, although not taken away by any statute, may be
considered as obsolete.

The limitation of jurisdiction in point of amount, the
annual change of the officers who preside in these courts,
the want of competent juries, the lengthened pleadings,
heavy costs, unnecessary delay, and a vicious system of
practice, attended with enormous abuses and oppression
committed by bailiff, in the execution of process by im-
proper agents, render these courts inefficient f,r the admi-
nistration of justice, and the subject of general complaint.
Another inconvenience in the present constitution of
this court consists in the distance to which parties and
witnesses are Irequently obliged to travel where the county
is laree and the c, urt is held at one place for the whole
county. In orile, to illustrate the mischiefs arising from
this defect, we cannot do better than refer to an instance
stated by Mr. Gehl, Clerk of the Peace for the county of
Sussex, of a prison residing at a di-tauce of 50 miles from
Cnichester (tie place of holding the county court), who
be rig summoned to that place or un unjust debt of Si.,
p ,iti the debt aid costs Faller than incur the trou'de and
expense of resiqiiig the acti:.n He further states that
the inhabitants of the populous to n of Blightheltoston
are often summoned to Chichest r, a distance of 40 miles,
instead of to Leues, which is only 8.
Many of those gentlemen who fill the office of under •
sheiiff are undoubtedly competent in point of I.gal know-
ledge anti exper trace to preside in the Soeriff's Court, but
each of them usually remains in office but for a short
apace, and doting that period his attentio • must n. cessartly
be engaged by many other important official avocations.
It appears to us that the appointment of a person wlu
should permanently ditch rg.- these judicial duties would
be a very important and beneficial ch mgr.
The evidence shows that many local courts, possessing
jurisdiction to an unlimited amount, have fallen into utter
decay iu consequence of the want of cotnpetent judges. It
appears, on the other hand, that where persons of compe-
tent skill have presided as judges the jurisdiction has been
hly beneficial to toe public.
It is a so a subj,-ct of complaint that suits in the county
court are iittr-nded with unnecessary delay and expense. In
a.,me counties the average length of time which inter-
venes between the fist process and final judgment is
abut five months, and the average esp. rise of recovering
a debt to the amount of 40s. is 6/. on each side ; and the
costs of a trial by justices amount to '7l. or hi. on each
sitte, exclusive of tie costs ut witnesses.

•
The Hundred Courts and Courts Baron are, like the
County Curt, limited in personal suits to causes of ac-
tion und r 40s.

All these labour under the sante or even greater defects
tha❑ the County Court, especiaily such as arise from a
narrow extent of jut i•dietion.

Incompetent juries, an ill.regulated course of pleading,
and the practice of allowing costs wholly disproportiontd
to the cause of action, and which frequently amount to
71. or 81. on each side, though no greater sum than 40s.
can be recov, red, render these courts inoperative for any
useful purpose ; and it is observable that in some of this
class of courts the same objectionable system of attach-
ment of goods obtains.

We may further ob.erve, that the jurisdiction of some
of the ancient Hundred, Wapentake, and Manor Courts,
has been increased by the Legislature with very little ad-
vantage to the public.
The Court Baron of the honour of Pontefract embraces
a district 30 miles in length and 20 in breadth, and in-
cludes upwards of 350 townships. The jurisdiction of
the court was some years ago extended by Act of Parlia-
ment from 40s. to 5/,

The court is held but twice in every year for the trial
of causes at Bradford, Leeds, and Huddersfield ; the con-
sequence of which th it suits are frequently protracted
tor a period of eight or nine months.
The average expenses of a plaintiff are from 91. to 18/.,
of a defendant from 6/. to 12/., so that the average costs
of the plaintiff amount to nearly three times the highest
sum that can be recovered.

The jurisdiction of the court of the manor of Wake-
field has also been increased to the same extent. but its
proceedings are dilatory and expensive. The court sits
but four times in a yeAr, and the costs, which are regu-
lated by the steward, are represented 48 exorbitant.
• • • • •

The Palace Court has long been found to be a very use-
ful and effectual court for the trial of causes below the
amount of 201.: its jurisdiction it unlimited in amount ;
yet, as the cause, when the damages are laid to the amount
of 201., may be removed into tie superior courts at West-
minster, without giving security for the costs, causes are
usually removed in such cases into a superior court.
The average number of causes brought in this court is
about 6,000 early.
The average annual number tried is about 180.
The amount of the plaintiff's costs, independently of
witnesses where the cause is tried, is from 81. to 101 ; of
the defendant's from 61. to 81.
The whole of such costs is allowed to the plaintiff ou
taxation, BO that when he succeeds, he receives the net
amount of ►he debt or damages, without any deduction for
extra costs.

The Court is held in general once a week throughout
the year.

'The Average length of time intervening between the

The jurlcte who presides is aopointed by the Crown. an.
•••r man% years a bards, r has officiated an deport in ge.
The PitqC ings ,re such am are in use in the sop tin
c ii e, but sp• vial pleas are not cornm•in, and demurrer
ire seldom if ever tiled • xcept for the purpose of delay.
An ....thin rte rnav be fo to d of the advantages which ar
f•-•It to he derived from this court from the number Of suit
• rought there. notwilistanding the fariii.y which V
inetroprdis affords for the trial of c,u.es in the superi
curia at Westminster. This may he confirm,' from ii
fact, that plaintiff., whose cause of actin exceeds 201
,equenily relinquish not only the right of suin, in tr
superior courts, but also the right of arrest, for the sake
•,f string and ret .ining their C 4115,14 in this court, :Ind fop
this purpose sacrifice a part of their demand, laying their
damages at a sum hss than 20/. We have no hesitation in
saying the are induced to .ke these sacrifices in consi
deration principally of the great advanrag s which thei.
&rive from the facility with which judgments and execu
tines are obtained.

The jori,dietii,n of this ,•tiurt, however, is limited to
the disiance of 12 miles, and no execution can I.e had
against the person or property of a debtor beyond that limit.

It is repreoented to ua that the Lord Alayor's Ciurt and
Sheriff,' Court, in the city of London, ate le.s useful than
tt'ey otherwise would be in consequence of the practice
being confined to a few privileged attorneys.
It is a frequent sill ject of complaint that the costs of
borough courts are excessive, the plaintiff's oists not un.
frequently amounting to from 101. to 14/. In the borough
court of Newark the usual costs on a judgment by default
are near 101 , and in a suit to recover a debt to the amount
of 21 I Is. the plaintiff's tor d cots in that court have
amounted to the sum of 13/. 16.+. 6d.

Courts of Requests or Courts of Conscience have from
time to time yielded to the importunities of different
classes of persons in populous districts.
AU these have arisen from a necessity for a more cheep
and speedy method of enforcine small claims.

The suspicion entertained, however, by Sir William
Blackstone, as to the policy of erecting courts, " with
methods of proceeding entirely in derogation of the coin
mon law, and whose large discretionary powers make a
petty tyranny in a set of standing commissioners," have
not been,retnoved by later experience.
It is a matter of sound moral, as well as just legal, po-
licy, that no debtor shall be exempted from the legal
obligation to pay a just debt, however small ; such an ex-
emption would not only be unjust in reference to the
poorer classes of society, to whom small sums may be of
great importance, but objectionable in its tendency to
weaken the sense of moral obligation.
On the other hand, the due administration of justice in
the case of very minute claims is subject to inconvenience.
The labour and difficulty of investigation do not depend
on the magnitude of the cause of action, and it is pos-
sible that twelve jurors may be occupied for a whole day
in deciding upon the justice of a claim of 12d., and at
a far ereater expense and inconvenience to each of them
than 10 times :he whole amount of the debt and costs.

If justice in such carve is to be administered according
to the ordinary rules of evidence, in a court regulated by
eel tarn rules of practice, the proceeding ceases to be reme-
dial Ia its effect. on the other hand, all such restraints
be dispensed with, the tribunal becomes arbitrary, and its
decisions too vague and uncertain to be satisfactory.

These considerations tend to point out the main objec-
tion to which a Court of Requests is, in its nature, sub-
ject. So much is lift to the discretion of those who de-
cide the cause, that they ought to he p‘trsrms of conside-
rable ability and learning to perform their fonctions with
propriety; but they consist, in genera!, of commissioners
whose pursuits in life can give no assurance of their pos-
sessing these qualities.
TLere is a suspicion, too (whether well or ill founded
it is difficult to d,tertnine), that their decisions are often
wanting impartiality.

We rn-iy observe that the facility of obtaining execution
against the goods, and even the person of a debtor, in
Courts of Request, has been reprevented to us as injurious,
by encouraging the giving of credit, and the incurring of
debts to a mischievous extent., and that whil►t the labourer
is obtaining credit for necessaries at an enhanced price, he
iv enabled to waste his te•rdy morey in procuring indul-
geec•es which he cannot obtain on credit.

We have also to &met ve that the power given to those
courts of imprisoning debt Id for Hindi sums is productive
of v. ry i•tressiat; ,nd injurious consequence*. Instances
have oc-•urted i.t ti e iu pro.onment of defendants tor several
weeks in rasp, et of debt* to ti:e amount of 18d. or 2e. ;
and the Certain rff et of the practice of imprisonment in
such eases is trr• parable injury to the habit*, feelings, and
unto ais of the lower class,* of society.
Hiving thus noticed the principal defects incident to
several classes of inlet ior and local courts, we have further
to observe that, regarded eIS a system, they exhibi, great
i,,cunaistenciea and discrepancies. Should it be deemed
advt. ehle, in order to meet the exigencies of jus•ice, to
increase the jurisdiction of the present courts in point of
amount, we think that it would b• highly desirable that
they should be reconstructed upon a simple and uniform
model.

We think that the existence of so many dill rent courts
of concui rent jurisdiction. founded on principles and
adopting modes of procedure so widely different, is an evil
wi ich ti quires a remedy. The diff rence in the modes
of price iure is so tot iking as to under it impossible that
all •houtd be consistent with sound policy, and cunducite
to justice.

The course of our remarks now leads us to advert to the
~upelfor Courts,

It is well known, as a matter of history, that previous
to the Dior ro4n conquest e administration of justice was
characteristically local. The Court of the Tithing, de-
vised for the ,ecision of petty suits h.tween neighbours,
th- Hundred or W,4pentake Court-, the Courts of the whole
County, and the King's Court, succeeded e.ch other in
regular giadation, free from the inconvenience of confused
and chshing jurisdictions, according to the nature and
quality of the sulject in dispute, and the circumstances of
the litigant parties.

The destruction of this ancient system (a favourite ob-
ject of Norman policy) was, to a great extent, effected by
a law which deprived the principal local courts of their
former splendour and power, and at the same time greatly
enlarged the jurisdiction of the sup. rior courts. By this
expedient the ancient local courts were brought into com-
p:u•attve disuse, the law and practice of the Normans were
int I otru..ed into the superior courts, whilst cognizance of
cruses there was made a matter not of right, but of favour.
S t great, however, were the mischief and inconvenience
which resulted from diminishing the efficacy of the infe-
rior courts, that in the reign of King Henry I. provision
was made for the restoration of the ancient local courts,
though nut to their former state.
These provisions were not sufficient to supply the de-
fect ; in tie reign of King Henry 11. it was deemed ne-
cessary to establish Justices in Eyre, with au►hority to
visit each of the six cit cults into which England was then
divided for the aduatristration of justice ; of these IS were
at first appoitited, three for the travelling each circuit;
the practice constituted au important article of the great
charter, aria with some variation as to the title of the jus-
tices, their number, and the number of their circuits and
visi:ations, has ever since been continued.

• • • 4,
Ihe change in the value of money, and the gradual de-
preciation of the coin through many centuries, have tended
still farther to abridge the ancient local jurisdictions. At
the time when 40s. u as made the limit to the jurisdiction
of the ancient local courts, that sum was probably fixed
upon from the proportion which it bore to the expense of
a suit in the superior courts, and would amount to at least
251. of present money- From these causes the juris-
diction of the local courts has been gradually reduced from
above 251. to 40s. in present money; and to the same
extent has the jurisdiction of the superior courts, in point
of amount, been extended.
The inconvenience resulting from the want of inferior
courts, with competent powers to administer justice in the
case of small claims, hes long been felt. Sir Matthew
Hale bestowed great attention on the subject, and the re-
sult of his consideration was, that the limit to the juris-
diction of the inferior courts should be extended to 101.
This conclusion of Sir M. Hale was founded, we may
here observe, .n the principle, which we think a safe one
to adopt, of restoring the local jurisdiction to the ancient
limit, regard being had to the change which has taken
place in the value of money since the time when 40s. was
fixed as the proper limit,
• • •
•
The superior courts are inadeinate to the effectual ad-