The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-22 00:00:00

The CHAIRMAN said the calling of the present
meeting was an invitation to the profession to meet
and . discuss their present position in the county
courts, and to determine on the course they should
pursue in the circumstances in which they were
placed. Great complaints had been made, but no
one seemed disposed to act, and hence the necessity
that had now arisen of seriously considering how to
remedy the evil. Had they acted as they ought to
have done, they would not now be placed in their pre-
sent degraded position. It was well known to them all
the great change that had taken place in the jurispru-
dence of this country. He remembered when the change
was first proposed, that the large houses throughout
the metropolis laughed at the idea of the county courts,
and said they were confident they would never be-
come the law of the land. The result, however, had
been that these courts were established, and many of
the houses he alluded to, and in which formerly ten
or twelve clerks were employed,,now employed only
two or three. It was known to the gentlemen present
that in the last session of Parliament the attorneys
had been charged by no less a personage than the
Attorney-General of having combined together to
oust the barristers from the practice of the county
courts. Now they all knew that this was an
entirely unfounded statement, and that no such orga-
nization existed.—(Hear, hear) Let them show the
bar that no unfriendly feeling exietedvand in any
arrangement which they might determine to propose
to the bar, let them make this condition, that the
bar should meet them fairly in the position in which
they were placed, and if they did not do so, the bar-
risters might depend upon it that they would eventually
be ousted from the county courts. If the 9th and 10th
sections of the Act were repealed, which enacted
that no barrister could act without being instructed
by an attorney, it would lead to a system of touting
which would be disgraceful to the, profession. It.was
to consider of a remedy for the present state of things
that the meeting had been called that night. The
functions of an attorney and of a barrister were quite
different, and had hitherto been kept quite distinct
in this country ; but now in the county courts they
had combined the duties of attorney and advocate,
and hence the feeling that prevailed that the
attorneys wished to make a monopoly of the
county courts. Such being the case, he thought it
would be advisable that some arrangement should be
made, and he would suggest that in actions above 201.
they should propose that counsel should be instructed,
and that in actions under 20/. that banisters should
not appear. He thought that such an arrangement
would be a good one.—(No, no.) At all events be
thought it was a subject for their consideration. He
believed the most formidable opposition they had to
contend with was on the ground that the suitor had
to fee both barrister and attorney. On the Northern
Circuit an arrangement had been come to, under
which the barristers had agreed to take a brief of one
guinea. In the superior courts, as they were aware,
the junior barristers made half-guinea motions, and
there was no reason, therefore, why it might not
be arranged that fees of one guinea should be given,
and that the barristers should agree to divide,
where in cases of a guinea fee. As to the powers
possessed by the judges of the county courts, he
would observe that these judges were armed with a
power which the judicial bench had not possessed
since the time of William Rufus. Talk about arrest
upon mesne process! Why, the gaols throughout the
country were filled with prisoners from the county
courts, and some of these prisoners were imprisoned
for the non-payment of a few shillings.—(Hear.) As
an instance of the arbitrary conduct of some of the
county court judges, he knew the case of a man who,
happening to put his hat on his head on the threshold
of the court on leaving, he was recalled by the
judge, and although he protested he intended no in-
sult to the court, be was, nevertheless, ordered
into custody till the rising of the court. In
another case in which he himself had pleaded a
set-off in an action before another county court
judge, the latter peremptorily refused to allow
him to prove his plea—told him he might bring a
cross action, and threatened him with the conse-
quences if he persisted.—(Hear.) Now the advantage
of having a bar in the county courts, he thought
would be that the judge would not dare to pursue such
nolidafet t a -mein-bat bf the' bai; find 1.2 (tom ehatr:tr'
man) was of opinion that the firmness and independ-
ence of the bar had proved to be the bulwark of their
liberties. Even the judges of the superior courts feared
the independence of the bar, and he believed the
judges of the county courts would pay more attention
to what fell from a gentleman of their own profession,
and who might be of higher standing in the profes-
sion than the judge himself, than they would pay to
attorneys. He thought therefore an arrangement
with the bar would be an advantge to them, and that
by having an occasional bar, they would have better
law and a better chance of justice to the suitor,
taking care that under any arrangement that might
be made the public would not be made to suffer.
The chairman concluded by suggesting a resolution
to the following effect, and which he hoped would
meet with their approbatibn
That a committee
be formed, consisting of twenty-four attorneys of the
metropolis (with power to add to their number), who
shall place themselves in communication with those
barristers who are desirous of forming a metropolitan
county court bar, in order to arrange a' scale of fees
and other preliminaries, upon which county-court bu-
siness may be conducted to the advantage of counsel
and attorneys, without affecting the suitor."
Mr. ELIOIART thought that the arrangement made
with the barristers would be on the understanding
that one attorney should not give a brief to another.
Mr. LEWIS, of Boswell-court, was of opinion that
any opprobrium that existed in the present case
should rest on the proper quarter, and be thought
that the present meeting, instead of being held
in Freemasons'-hall, should have been held in a
certain ball in Chancery-lane. Until the last mo-
ment the Law Institution had always been behind-
band in defending the legal profession.—(llear.)
He was of opinion that the evil complained of arose
not from the want of a bar, but from the ap-
pointment of incapable and intemperate men as
judges, except in a few cases, and he
thought they ought not to separate without ex-
pressing a hope that the Law Institution would
take up the subject. He concluded by, moving
a resolution as follows :—" That a requisition to
the council of the Law Institution, and to the ma-
naging committee of the Metropolitan and Provincial
Law Institution, be drawn up, and signed by mem-
bers of the profession, requesting the council to take
the necessary steps for promoting a proper under-
standing between the two branches of the profession
on the subject of county courts advocacy, and, for
that purpose, to call a general meeting of the profes-
s sion at large on the subject at an early day."
Mr. DEVONSHIRE seconded the resolution.
Mr. SHARK, as secretary to the Metropolitan and
Provisional Law Institution, felt certain that that
body would give every support to the object
of the meeting. He differed with Mr. Lewis as to
aopnpe.yealtotdoothgeooscluptoertihoer
Insti-
tution, as he (Mr. Sheen) couldh -
say, speaking from
that he thought
the opinion he had expressethdartespteacttiningstthiteuLtiaown
spent
some years' experience, m
county courts should be altered,
the law constituting
and that there should
apnroiresmsioenns.e
courts, by which means g
barristers,
ryitsetmerdecisions
would,f
and would
these
hwe courts.o
thought,
odu bg
greater justice would be
e
and
there would be a
Hdeealcoohfltdimnehbtaehnedalnp
saying
done between man and man,
greater
opposed to the resolution. To
Mr. POOLE was
f . He was, perhaps, the
attempt to alter t
be no great benefit to t
uniformity in
orneYS.
0 ession, and had practised in
oldest member in the pr
advocacy was open to solicitors as
the colonies, where
e a
well as to barristers.
great loss to the att
with the last speaker as to
Mr. HARRISON agreed
Dies, where advocacy was open
the practice of the colonies, presentin theh
profession, and he thought
to both branches of the
they were rapidly approaching that state of things in
this country. If the reforms in the law went on
both branches of the profession must be amalgamated.
ud not uhe
He thought the attorneys sho
ndl he ld wougive op t
pposep the
tion they had lately made, a
resolution.
having been permitted
Mr. SAUNDERS, barrister,
the meeting. He denied
to speak, shortly addressedthat there was any complaint among the barristers as
Let them all, he said,
come together, and if the attorneys invaded the
must
pro-
vince of the barristers, the latter invade the
province of the attorneys:—(Hear and laughter.)
After some further discussion, in which Mr. Fitch,
Mr. Parsons, and other gentlemen took part, the re-
solution of Mr. Lewis was put and agreed to.
Thanks were then given to the Chairman, and the
meeting separated.

THE STRIKE AT THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY
TERMlNUS.—Yesterday morning the workmen at the ter-
minus of the Great Northern Railway, at King's-cross, re-
sumed their labours, a settlement of the differences between
the men and the contractors having been made on Monday
afternoon.