The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-28 00:00:00

SOCIAL SCIENCE CONGRESS.

GLASGOW, SEPT. 25.
THE LORD-ADVOCATE ON JURISPRUDENCE.
The LORD ADVOCATE, who was received with cordial
cheers, rose and said,—Ladies and gentlemen—After the
very comprehensive view of the duties and objects of this
associationwhich was delivered last night by your noble pre-
sident, I shall proceed to fulfil the duty imposed upon me by
the kindness of the committee in asking me to preside over
the section devoted to jurisprudence by a few introductory

remarks, confined entirely to the proper business of that
section, and devoted to elucidating shortly, and as clearly as
I can, the principles upon which we should seek for the

reformation and improvement of the law in respect of its re•
lation to social science, and some of the more salient and im•

portant topics which may probably fall under our attention

in the course of our deliberations. We are to consider in
this section law as a branch of social science—that is, in its
immediate practical relation to common life. In one sense it
is nothing but a department, or rather the embodiment of
social science, inasmuch as it is the mainspring of all social
movements and relations. But the science of jurisprudence,

in its more specific acceptation, is apart from its social results.
It deals with what is, not with what ought to be, and the ten-
dency of the study is rather to shut out than to enlarge the
contemplation of its practical effects. It is, indeed, a science
of the highest order, tasking the intellectual powers by
demands on them for all the qualities combined which the
exact and the more general sciences require—the grasp of
generalization, which is essential to mental philosophy,
with the careful analysis or induction characteristic of

mathematical inquiry. We are to try this great science
by its existing results, as compared with existing
necessities, to see how far this great machine corresponds
in its effects with the great object for which alone it was
created. Lord Bacon says, in his essay on the advance-
ment of science: —" All those who have written of laws
have written either as philosophers or as lawgivers,
none as statesmen. As for the philosophers, they
make imaginary laws for imaginary commonwealths,
and their discourses are as the stars, which give little
light, because they are so high. For the lawyers they
write, according to the States where they live, what is re-
ceived as law, and not what ought to be law; for the wisdom
of a lawmaker is one, and of a lawyer is another." Jeremy
Bentham, in his Treatise on Legislation, treats the lawyers
with still more suspicion; he says,—" When a religion falls,
its ministers fall with it. Everything which diminishes re-
spect for the idol enfeebles that felt for the sacrifice to it.
So the voice of all jurists is raised in concert to celebrate an
established system, and the people, misled by their unani-
mity, do not stop to discover the self- interest which produces
it." It is impossible to deny the justice of this sentiment.
The juristsleals with men as with the pieces on the chessboard,
the debtor and the creditor, the man with security and the
man without, the grasping landlord or the refractory tenant
are so many dramatis persolue, who are to play their parts-
and be removed, according to the most approved rules of the
art. But in the intellectual absorption of the struggle, the
flesh and blood of the matter is necessarily forgotten. Such
is the inevitable tendency of the exclusive pursuit of any
science ; but in the study of the law, and the practice of
it, which entails such stern demands on a life's erection,
it is inevitable. Of course, this criticism, or rather con-
fession, of the necessary tendency of legal training is
only comparative. I need not, in this presence, tell you
that a great lawyer may rise above the trammels of his art
and combine the grasp of the philosopher with the know-
ledge of the jurist, and superadd to both the practical
sagacity of the statesman. Still less am I disposed to en-
courage sciolist or empirical innovation, springing gene-
rally out of specific cases, and propounded in ignorance of the
system to which it is proposed to apply them. If high scien-
tific acquirements in jurisprudence have a tendency to pro-
duce too extensive devotion to things as they are, it does not
by any means follow,that enlarged views and wholesome
change are only to be looked for as the companions of igno-
rance. Still, in prosecution of the objects of the department
over which you have asked me to preside, we must be content
to throw behind us the professional fetters of our training. I
therefore come to consider in what spirit and on what prin-
ciples the social results of our system of law are to be can-
vassed and reformed. I shall start with a caution on the
other side. If the jurist be too apt to hug the chains of his
science, and magnify the importance of time-honoured
forms and axioms, the unskilled reformer has also perils of
his own, and among the chief is the danger of unsettling
much in order to rectify a little. The legal system of a
country like ours, in which the laws have not been dictated
by a Justinian or a Napoleon, but have been made by the
people for their own use, is a plant of slow and gradual
growth, spreading its tendrils widely, and striking its
roots deeply around and throughout the whole social
economy of the community ; just as our system of civil
liberty and Parliamentary Government subsists and
flourishes by a secret spell, the fruit of gradual accommoda-
tion to the habits and associations of the people, notwith••
standing many anomalies and theoretical contradictions, so
it is with our laws. -xli. :
theory may be most useful in practice, or may, through
length of time or repeated judicial consideration, have be-
come, while retaining its outward form, animated by a
spirit never contemplated by its authors. Wo shall be
merely shallow innovators if we neglect this unseen, but
potent element—that which in truth is the very life-blood
of a nation's prosperity. It might, I believe, be said of
our law, as was said of our political constitution that if the
whole fabric were swept away at once, and the greatest
which the land could furnish were to devise a new system,
they would not produce anything which would be compar-
able to that which they had destroyed. I may here remark,
that the element to which I speak is one of which the legal
reformer cannot avail himself. What he dons in:the way
of change must be done by specific enactments. He can-
not provide for the effect which his new law may have
when a century of application and decision has passed over
its head. Lord Bacon felt this so strongly that in a sketch
which he entitles " A Proposal for Amending the Laws of
England," he has hardly courage to propose proceeding by
Act of Parliament. He says :
" It is objected that labour were better bestowed in bring-
ing the common laws of England to text law, as the sta-
tutes are, and setting both of them down in method and by
titles."
To which he replies:—
"It is too long a business to debate whether lex scripta
ant non scripta, a text law or customs well registered, with
received and approved grounds and maxims, and acts and
resolutions judicial, from time to time duly entered and re-
ported, be the better form of declaring and authorisinglaws.
It was the principal reason or oracle of Lycurgus that none
of his laws should be written. Customs are laws written
in living tables, and some traditions the Church doth not
disauthorise. In all sciences they are the soundest that
keep close to particulars, and sure I am there are more
doubts that rise upon our statutes, which aro a text law,
than upon the common law, which is no text law. But,
howsoever that question be determined, I dare not advise
to cast the law into a new mould. the work which I pro-
pound tendeth to pruning and grafting the law, and not to
ploughing up and pruning it again ; for such a remove I
should hold indeed for a perilous innovation."
Yet, Lord Bacon on this, and some other of his fragments
on the same subject, shows himself to have had large and
enlightened views on the subject of legal reform, and was
not unprepared to have proceeded boldly enough in the
direction of repeal. Lord Stair, a name not unworthy to
be placed alongside of that of Bacon in respect of power and
learning, but who does not disclose the same tendencies in
favour of freedom, treats the same subject in strong and
serious language, but in sentences tinged with the predi..
lection for the arbitrary power of courts, which was cha-
racteristic of our Scottish system for many years after...*
wards. But iu both there is much truth; and herein lies
the great difficulty, in England especially, of dealing with
the great mass of the statute law. There would be no great
difficulty in expurgating thq statute book of laws wholly
repealed ; but the next step Is surrounded by difficulties.
The re-enactment of statutes partially repealed, and the
consolidation of laws relating to the same subject, bring the
legal reformer at once into contact with that unwritten law
which has sprung from the stem of the statute, and has
been engrafted in it by judicial decision. This difficulty
has always appeared to me so great that I am rather in-
clined to think that either more or less should be attempted,
and that if we are ambitious of more than publishing a
compendious edition of the statutes, embracing those in
ordinary use, it will be found impossible to effect any very
material improvement short of codification in some
branches of the law. (Applause.) It is worthy of considera-
tion whether in the more important branches of tho law codi-
fication should not supplement the attempt to consolidate.
It would be presumptuous in me to do more than offer a
suggestion on this important subject, in so far as it relates
to the sister kingdom. But,. looking at the enormous and
heterogeneous mass of statute law under which the juris-
prudence of England lies, and through which the precious
ears of grainare to be searched for,it would seem a task more
likely to succeed to sweep away much that exists,and supply
its place not by new words, professing to repeat old provi-
sions, but by clear and specific codification. With us the
case is different ; the statute law of England was the bulwark
and protection of her liberties. If,in Scotland's early history,
we could not boast of similar protection, on the other hand
our statute-book is not similarly encumbered ; unlike those
of England, a Scottish Act of Parliament is abrogated by
disease, and those that remain are short general enactments,
drawn to be the basis of future law, to be founded on them
by judicial interpretation; and so, as Lord Stair expresses
it, attain the maturity of a law. This, however, is a sub-
ject which the members of this section will bo better able to
discuss than I can pretend to be. The same general pt in-
ciple which makes it necessary for the legal reformer in the
changes he proposes to consider the effect of long-continued
discussions or indurated popular customs, applies with still
greater force to the introduction of the laws of other coun-
tries on the faith of their popularity or success where they
prevail. It were easy to furnish or imagine illustrations
of laws, admirable where they prevail, but entirely inappro-
priate to other conditions of society. (Applause.) To a
stranger or a philosopher it is apt to seem a trivial ano-
maly that in one island of no very great extent two
different systems of law should prevail ; and the anomaly

appears au the gieatet *hen the community of transactions
and of interests is considered. It would algd 'melt; in art
abstract consideration of the condition of the country, that
the laws which are good for 18,000,000 would also be good

for 3,000,000. The conclusion which a philosopher

would draw from this would be that the laws of the
two ends of the island should be assimilated by those

of the larger being imposed on the :Association. It
needs, however, but a moment's reflection to satisfy any-
one that such an attempt would be wholly impracticable,

simply because it would be made without any regard to the
associations and traditions of a people jealous of their na-
tional integrity, and without estimating the necessary al-

;hough tacit part which these bear in the operation of any

system of law. But, if convinced of the difficulty of the
task, our philosopher should abandon this:design, and pro-

pose to assimilate the laws of the countries bye considera-
tion of the abstract merits of each, the impediments which

beset this path are quite as great. He would find the ab-
stract advantage, for the most part, on the side of the mi-
nority—an advantage arising, in great measure, from the
fact that it is a minority. It is easier to produce results by

working on a model than on the large, and so it is easier
to produce a harmonious system of law in a small nation
than a large one. The law of Scotland has been the work
of jurists; that of England, of the people. With us, laws
have been framed to carry out legal principles ; with them,
to protect their freedom. While the law of Scotland, framed
on the feudal and civil systems, and borrowed from, and
illustrated and methodised by, the analogies of Continental
nations, presents on the whole a theoretical and philoso-
phical unity, the law of England is a work of gigantic
power, reared from materials of English growth, and piled
up from one century to another by the hands of great judges
who defied the powers of courts and of patriots jealous of
the liberties of the Commons, and forced into rugged but
magnificent administration by the wealth, the enterprise,
and the commerce of the people. (Applause.) Judged of by
its results, the world never saw a more beneficent or en-
lightened system ; but, taken in detail, few of its component
parts would stand the test of philosophical scrutiny. But
shall we therefore come to the conclusion that this work of
assimilation should be conducted on abstract merit only,
and propose to abrogate at once the great common law of
England, under the mighty shadow of which her vast
empire and human liberty has so long prospered and reposed?
We must content ourselves with humbler and more attain-
able improvements, and proceed in the great work of assi-
milation by such degrees as may seem practicable and safe.
But in this direction there is a great and important field
open to the legal reformer. Of late some important steps
have been taken in this direction, some by direct, and
others by indirect assimilation. A few years ago a com-
mission was appointed, consisting of eminent English and
Scottish lawyers, to consider to what extent the law mer-
chant of the two countries could be assimilated, and their
deliberations ultimately received the sanction of the Legis-
lature in an Act of Parliament. The subjects which were
dealt with by this statute were carefully selected, and, I
think, well and successfully disposed of. And, in regard
to the points to which legislation was applied, preference is
given to the English or Scotch law according as such might
seem to have the advantage. The changes introduced by
it were not very radical or extensive; but the proceeding
indicates the principle on which assimilation may be at-
tempted, and, I hope, is only the forerunner of reforms
equally well considered, and of more enlarged general
operations. Indeed, as regards the general system of mer-
cantile law, it is to the sister kingdom that we must look
for the soundest principles and the best administration of
them. It is not by any means a hopeless task—indeed, it is
one which I trust to see attempted—to place the mercantile
law on the same footing. This leads us naturally to say a
word on a subject which will engage our attention more at
large—l mean the law of bankruptcy. In common with
all who take an interest in legal progress, I lamented the fate
—the undeserved fate—of the bill of my friend, the Atter-.
ney-General, during the last session. The general features of
a useful system of bankrupt law may be very safely gathered
from what I may call the instinct of trade. When we find
traders flying from the laws made for their benefit, and re-
curring to private tribunals of their own construction, we
may conclude with absolute certainty, first, that there
must be some especial defect in the law as it exists ; and,
secondly, that the true remedy to be sought is in the direc-
tion to which, with all its difficulties and uncertainty, the
creditors of insolvent debtors have had recourse. In other
words, let the creditors, as tho Attorney-General proposed,
manage their own affairs when they propose to do so.
The true object of the law of bankruptcy should be the
rapid, thorough, and :economical application of the whole
available funds of the debtor to pay his creditors. (Ap-
plause.) That is the main and primary object of a system
of bankrupt administration. The discharge of an innocent,
the punishment of a fraudulent debtor, are subsidiary ob-
jects, important in themselves, but which should not be
allowed for a moment to interfere with the main object of
realising and distributing the debtors' estate with economy
certainty, and despatch. (Applause.) It should never be
forgotten that the end and aim of all proceedings in bank-
ruptcy is the benefit of the creditors ; and no element which
interferes with or retards the accomplishment of that object
ought to be admitted. (Applause.) Thus, it may be true
that settlements by composition have a tendency to pi event
investigation, and encourage the reckless trader. Still, if
the creditors thereby receive their share of the debtor's
estate more rapidly and cheaply, these contracts ought to
tie eut,utt:aeue. (Applause.) We roust look to more general
and deeper sources for the repression of the gambling spirit
in commerce. A sounder and more healthy tone of mer-
cantile morality and the instinct of self-preservation are
the only real safeguards against it, while by endeavouring
to the prejudice of the creditors, to make our bankrupt
system one of rewards and punishments, we shall accom-
plish little in the way of improvement, and promote much
individual injustice. (Applause.) I cannot say that in
the recent discussion on Sir Richard Bethell's Bill I was
much impressed by the objections which were raised to the
extension of its provisions to non-traders. Indeed, I am
at a loss to understand what prejudice can possibly accrue
to non-traders by the extension of a system beneficial to
the mercantile community. (Applause.) The exclusion
of non-traders from the provisions of the bankrupt law is
not a privilege, but a penalty. The vicissitudes and un-
certainties of commerce were supposed to excuse the in-
solvency of those engaged in it, while on the part of the
community at large bankruptcy is regarded as an offence.
The law abated none of its rigour in regard to the
non-trading debtor, as the dismal walls of Whitecros s-
street and the Fleet can so well attest; but it withheld, as a
boon not deserved by him, the ready means of payment and
discharge which it provided for the unfortunate trader. In
all this, there is not favour but discouragement to the hon-
ourable trader ; it is exclusion from a privilege, not exemp-
tion from a penalty, which is the object of the law. (Ap-
plause.) There are many reasons which to my mind are con-
clusive for the abolition of this distinction. A non-trader
is as much bound as a trAder to pay his debts, and to pay them
according to the precise time and manner of his contract.
It is as desirable for the creditors of a non-trader as for
those of a trader that his available estate should be rapidly,
cheaply, and justly. iealised and divided. But there are two
special reasons for extending the operation of the bankrupt
law to non-traders—one in which the public has an inte-
rest, and the other important to the debtor. The first is the
equalising operation of bankruptcy. Of all the frauds to
which insolvency gives rise, collusion and secret prefer-
ences are the worst, and the greatest and most salutary
benefit of a correct system of bankrupt administration is the
even-handed justice it secures. There can be no reason why
the creditors of a non-trader should be deprived of this pro-
tection. (Applause.) The other is the power of discharge.
It has been said that the worse use you can put a man to is
to hang him; certainly it is little more profitable to shut
him up, or to leave him at large an encumbrance on society.
It may be true that it is a homage to the virtues of prudence
and forethought to nail unhappy debtors to our barn- doors,
and leave them there to the terror of the lieges ; but I doubt
if mankind ever learn the lessons which such discipline
teaches. The man may be useful if free—ho is worse than
useless if he is not—and at all events it is but reasonable to
give him the chance of freedom, if those who have suffered
through him be willing, and his own conduct has been honest.
(Applause.) The distinction between trader and non-trader
has become so shadowy that the filmy line of principle which
used te separate them is now utterly capricious in its operation.
I conclude, therefore, that the bankrupt law of both coun-
tries should extend to all, and should have for its object the
shortest and cheapest way of dividing the debtor's estate
rateably among his creditors, subject to judicial inspection,
but under the management of the creditors themselves.
(Cheers.) Turning from the department of mercantile law,
I glance for a moment at the great subject of our land
rights, nor is there any department of the law more conver-
sant with social science than this. The feudal system under
which the land of Scotland is held, combined with its sys-
tem of public registers, has given us a very logical and safe
series of titles to land. It is expensive, but it is sure. But
it is another question whether it does not admit of improve-
ment, by the adaptation of some English principles, and
whether our neighbours might not also beneficially learn
from us. But first I would suggest, as regards both sys-
tems, they are far too complex and far too dear. I should
gladly see all restraints on the transfer of land removed.
(Applause.) What a practical satire on the law of entail it is
that the proprietor of an enormous estate should not be able
to give a few square yards to build a school on, excepting
under the special and stringent provisions of an Act ofPar-
liareent 1 (Applause.) The change I would shadow out is
one too sweeping to be practicable in the present state of
public opinion ; but in principle the transfer of land should
bo free. (Applause.) Secondly, it should also be as cheap
as is consistent with security. (Applause.) thirdly, land
rights should be public. Land is so stable mid permanent
a source of income that its commercial value should be put
to the highest account. But this can never be done, unless
the public, who buy a land in the market have the means of
knowing the state of the incumbrances which affect it. It
seems, therefore, desirable that a system of public regis-
tration should prevail in both countries,:and that land rights
in England should be registered. (Applause.) The landec:
proprietors dread the publicity it implies ; the provinces
dread centralisation ; the profession in the metropolis do net
see their way to the change. Ido not venture to attempt a
solution of difficulties. I only suggest what seems asound
fundamental proposition. Fourthly, conveyances should
be simple ; and since I have suggested that our southern
neighbours should borrow our system of registration, I
may, on the other hand, express an opinion that the time

has probably now come when our feudal fictions might /
cease and our tenures bo freed, as those in England so long
hare been, of the sub-infeudations and mid -superiorities
which so much complicate our conveyances. (Applause.) I
hope in the course of the discussions which we are promised
some useful practical hints on this subject may be thrown
out, and, in particular, that some viers raay bo suggested

as to the best mode of securing vested interests in the pro
secution of what otherwise would be a great public, benefit,
(Applause.) It has always occurred to me that the Ord•

nance survey, now nearly completed in Scotland, on a large

scale, might be made very available in the way of cheapen-
ing conveyancing. It is, tts you know, on a scale of an inch
to the acre. In a map of that scale there is scarcely any bit
of land that could not be clearly and accurately delineated,

and as a science has now given us the means of multiplying
these maps with great economy, it is obvious that in the
matter of boundary, instead of those extraordinary unintel-
ligible descriptions which every one of you who has the
smallest particle of land must have seen, it would be a very
simple thing to say that we sell such and such a bit of land

as marked on the map, to which we put our signatures.
I turn to another subject to which your noble president last
night invited our attention. I mean the subject of a Minis-
ter of Justice, or public prosecutor, in the criminal depart-
ment of the law. Now, this is a very large and very impel.•

tant matter, but more fitted to be dealt with by English
hands than by mine. As regards ourselves, I am hardly an
impartial witness as to the usefulness of a public prosecu-
tor. '(Laughter and applause.) At the same time I think I
am entitled to say—because I speak now from very consi-
derable experience of that office—that every year that I have
had the opportunity of seeing the working of the system has
increased my conviction that it would be very difficult in-
deed to devise a mode of prosecuting criminal business
which would accomplish the twofold object which the pro-
secutor ought to have before him—the detection of the
guilty and protection of the innocent. No eoubt a public
prosecutor in an arbitrary State is very dangerous to the
liberties of the people ; but a public prosecutor under the
influence of public opinion and Parliamentary responsibi-
lity is, in my opinion, as far as the practical working of it is
concerned the best mode in which the criminal affairs of a
country can be conducted. It is impossible to deny that as
crimes are crimes against the public, so the public should
be at the expense of prosecuting and punishing them.
(Hear.) And whatever may be the practical operation of
the system in England, of which I say nothing, because I
do not know much—whatever may be the practical opera-
tion of it, it has no right to leave upon a private prosecutor
—who may be supposed to prosecute only for the injury
done to himself—the vindication of the great public law,
the breach of which is truly at the groundwork of the pro-
ceedings. (Applause.) And, accordingly, it has been the
desire in England for many years to accomplish, if possi-
ble, this most desirable change. Again we are beset, how-
ever, with the same difficulties that I have alluded to in
speaking of other subjects. We work here upon a small
scale—we can keep everything within bounds—the public
prosecutor and his deputies are cognisant of every offence
that takes place in all parts of the land. He knows the
proceedings that have been going on, and therefore he can
judge personally for himself on his personal responsibility,
of the things that are done. Well, a great Minister of Jus-
tice in England would find it difficult to overtake the work
to this extent, and it is quite true that withou t direct per-
sonal responsibility the office is one unquestionably exposed
to danger and risk. Then, again, from the enormous mass
of the English population, it would be a very difficult thing
to keep within the Crown-office, as we do, the whole records
of crime—of such crime as requires public prosecution ?
Well, there is another question that has been raised. If we
are to give a public prosecutor to England, are we to take a
coroner's inquest and grand juries from England ? All I can
say is that if a coroner's inquest is intended for the protec-
tion of the subject—if it is intended for the purpose of taking
care that the cases shall be investigated and examined, I
think that object may be attained without the necessity of
importing so large and wide a system from England. But
I own I do not very well see how the administration of
criminal law can proceed much longer in England without
some institution like that of a Minister of Justice. The
next branch of inquiry to which I will allude, though
it is a very important one, is alluded to in the interesting
letter from Russia, read this morning. I mean the interna-
tional law ; and that not much between us and continental
nations as between ourselves and England—these two fo•
reign countries, as they are termed in the legal courts, an,
which sometimes seem to lie in wait for each other, in order
that they may enforce their jurisdiction, that foreign coun-
try which supposed to know nothing of the principles of
law and justice. (Laughter and cheers.) A great deal more
I think, can be done to bring the two countries out of that
relative position of foreign countries, the courts of which
consider themselves entitled to look at the decision of the
foreign court and confirm or disregard as they themselves
approve. There are many things in the judicial system of
England and Scotland that could bo put on a proper footing
by special legislation, defining the limits. Last year there
were a good many Englishmen came down to Scotland,
having a great admiration for our bankruptcy system par-
ticularly in the west, and living for 40 days at some agree-
able residence—Tobermory or elsewhere—and then claimed
the benefit of the bankruptcy law in this country.
(Laughter.) And a great deal was said in England as to
the barbarous state of the law which could permit such a
thing. I am happy to say that among the small number of
useful measures passed last session, we have put an end to
that, and have provided that in such a case the courts of
Scotland shall simply send the debtor back to England,
where he came from. But how is the law of England in this
matter ? I rather think that notwithstanding their suspi-
cion at the state of our law, if a Scotchman found himself
in England, and was clapped into Whitecross Prison, an
Insolvent Court will make no scruple of taking him up,
without oven the interval of 40 days. Now, I would sug-
gest that if we are to assimilate our bankruptcy laws, we
should have a clear line of distinction between the two courts
so that you will not have both judging the same matter.
There is another matter which has very lately arisen, and
which I shall only allude to, becauseit is a case which is still
going on—l mean as to the jurisdiction of the Court of
Chancery in one part of the land and in the other. There
was a case in which a pupil under trustees in Scotland was
seized by the Court of Chancery, and retained by them.
That court maintained that the pupil being in that part of
the kingdom they had jurisdiction, and were entitled to see
that the estate was properly administered. The trustees
consequently found themselves in the awkward position of
accepting a trust and having no ward in whose behalf to
administer the trust. (A laugh.) The other day a case of
the same kind occurred here. A pupil sunder the jurisdic-
tion of the Court of Chancery came down here; his guar-
dian followed him, and went to the Court of Session. But
they, mindful of the lesson read to them by the Court of
Chancery, did not at once deliver up the pupil, but said,
" This is a decree of a foreign court, we will look into the
matter and see what is to be done." Now, that is not a
state of things which should be allowed to go on between
England and Scotland. (Cheers.) There is no reason why
the one court and the other on either side of the border
should be watching for unwary pupils. (A laugh.) Tho
inconvenience is so great that it should be put an end to by
Act of Parliament. A still more serious matter is the sub-
ject of marriage. (A. laugh.) It is certainly very extra •
ordinary that a man should be married on one side of the
border and not on the other, and very awkward that one
man himself should not be able to say with certainty whe-
ther he was married or not. (Laughter.) A good many
years ago a decision was given in one of the English courts
that a divorce granted by a Scotch court was not one which
they could recognise, and the unfortunate man was actually
tried for bigamy because he had married again after being
divorced. I made an attempt to remedy that matter in a
bill introduced into Parliament this year, but there was a
difference of opinion as to whether the mode in which it
was proposed to regulate that matter was the best or not.
Many nations have good systems of laws, but there is a
stage and a progress in which we have now to a great
extent outstripped the rest of the world. There have
been many great and beneficent systems of law an-
nounced by despotic rulers—the next stage in a nation's
history is the potent, free, and independent administration
of them, and for this, more than anything else, have come
the bloody wars on which the freedom of nations has been
gradually built up, judges rising against the power of the
Crown if it required them to decide contrary to the spirit of
the constitution and the laws under which they lived. It
is to England that we owe it chiefly, and it is a great boon
for which we never can be sufficiently thankful, that even
in the very worst of times, and when political principles
were forgotten, the noble spirit of her judges stood upright
amid the crash of everything else that was noble and free in
that country—(applause)—and asserted there for, the first
time, I believe, in the history of the world, the majesty of
the law above every other power in the country. (Applause.)
But we are past that stage, the thing is done, we have vin-
dicated the power of administering the law, unawed by
terror from ony side; and now we stand in the position,
—and few countries can say the same—happy is the country
that can—that in perfect security, the law, be what it may,
will be administered with honesty and vigour. (Applause.)
We can call such an assembly as this of those who are
lawyers and those who are not—those who have transactions
and those who have to regulate the law by which they pro-
ceed—we call such a meeting as this to deliberate what the
law ought to be, in the perfect conviction that if, in the end,
public opinion shall come to think that there shall bo a
change, that change will bo effected by the most constitu-
tional means. (His Lordship sat down amid loud applause,
his address having occupied above an hour and a half in the
delivery.)
Mr. W. BUCHANAN, M.P., then rose and proposed a vote
of thanks to the Lord-Advocate for his able address, when
Lord BROUGHAM, with considerable emphasis, which
caused some laughter, informed the right hon. member
that the votes of thanks were left for the last day's pro
cee
various departments were then constituted, and the
Tdiiine g s.
-4 discussions proceeded with.
td.

THE WEATHER AND THE HARVESTS .—Although
the wheat crop has now been fully secured in Norfolk and
Suffolk, a large quantity of barley is still in the fields, and
wet and unfavourable weather during the greater part of the
current week has rendered the chance of saving it rather
remote. The appearance of many fields, in which the sod-
don, discoloured crop is lying about, is truly distressing,
although a change which took place in the weather yester-
day rendered the aspect of affair, a little more cheering.

THE HOLYHEAD MAIL STEAMERS.

SOUTHAKPTON, Thursday.—The official trial of
the Connaught, Captain Williams, another of the
new Dublin arid Holyhead mail steamers, took
place to-day in Stokes Bay. Great interest was
taken in the result of this trial, as contrasted with
that of the Leinstef, which came off about nine

weeks ago. The latter vessel was built by Messrs.
Samuda, of London, and the former by Messrs.
Laird and Sons, of Birkenhead, both being engined
by Messrs. Ravenhill, S,Nlkeld, and Co., of London
the engines being identica..l. in every respect. The
Connaught ;left the docks at noon, with a large
party on board, including two of the directors of
the Dublin Steampacket Comi,Nany, the Admiralty
and Board of Trade surveyors, 0.1.;(1 several gentle-
men connected with the different steampacket
companies of this port. The four' runs at the
measured mile were as follow :—lst run, 3 min. 20
sec. or 18 knots per hour ; 2d run, 3' min. 18 sec.,
or 18.181 knots per hour ; 3d run, 3 win. 21 sec.,
or 17.910 knots per hour; 4th run, 3 16 sec.,
or 18.367 knots per hoar. Average of the .four runs,
18'079 knots, or 21 statute miles per hour. Revo-
lutions, 251; ; pressure of steam, 25th. ; vacuum., 26.1.
On the occasion of the Leinster's trial here, 'ie
weeks ago to-day, the result was as under :—Avo •
rage of four runs, 17.977 knots, or 20 statute
miles per hour ; revolutions, 26 ; pressure of
steam, 251 b. to the square inch (264-Ib. in the fourth
run) ; vacuum, 251. It will therefore be seen that,
comparing the two trials together, the palm must
be awarded to the Liverpool-built ship, she having
beaten her competitor by half a mile per hour, with
half a revolution less of the engines. The Con-
naught's extreme length is 350 ft.; breadth, 35ft. ;
2,000 tons burden ; engines, 700 nominal horse-
power. Her draught of water during the trial was
12 ft. 9 in. fore, and 13 ft. 2 in. aft. The rate of
speed attained to-day is the highest ever yet;
reached on the measured mile. The engines
worked up to about six times their nominal rate,
and the action of the machinerlf was beautifully
smooth and easy, scarcely any vibration being felt
in any part of the ship. After partaking of a
sumptuous dejeuner in the capacious saloon, over
which Mr. Ravenhill, sen., presided, the customary
loyal toasts were drunk, followed by " Success to
the Connaught and the hcaith of the Builders and
Engineers," " The Dublin Steampacket Com-
pany," " The Peninsular and Oriental and Royal
Mail Steam Navigation Companies,"
" Mr.Samuda,
the builder of the Leinster," &c. In the course of
his remarks Mr. Watson, the chairman of the
Dublin Company, stated that' the sei•Tioe under the
I new contract was fully to commence
0,71 Monday
next, two of their fast vessels—the LeinOter and
the Ulster—being already on the station ; the
Connaught would leave here to join them early
to-morrow (Friday) morning, and the Munsi.er
was rapidly approaching completion. He highly'
complimented the Messrs. Laird, Mr. Samuda,
and Messrs. Ravenhill and Co., on the success
fal and satisfactory manner in which they had
severally completed their contracts, and expressed
the perfect satisfaction felt by the directors with
the three ships which had been handed over to them.
In proof of the excellent qualities of the Leinster
he mentioned that the shortest time in which she
had made the run between Dublin and Holyhead
was three hours 21 minutes, which she had accom-
plished several times, whilst on one occasion she
made the passage in three hours 50 minutes against
a very severe gale, thus showing her great sea-
going qualities. le believed the Ulster had run
across in a little less time than the Leinster. From
these facts the public would see that vessels of a
first-rate character were now being placed on the
station, and all parties would have reason to be
proud of them, and the manner in which the wants
of the Government and the public were being pro-
vided for. The toasts of " The Ladies," and " The
Press" were also drunk, and the good ship Con-
naught returned into dock in time to allow of
London visitors returning by the 5 p.m. train.
The Connaught is to leave here at 6 a.m. on Friday
- for Dublin.
-

COUNTRY MARKETS.

BIRMINGHAM-SEPT. 27.

There was a fair attendance to-day, and a moderato
business done. Prime dry English wheat was at an ad-
vance of is to 2s per qr, and is on damp qualities. Barley
held for is advance. Oats firm, but no higher in price.
Beans unaltered. Peas 6d to is per qr dearer.

MANCHESTER—SEPT. 27.
A very fair business was done in wheat to-day, with a
short supply. English dry wheat has advanced is to 2s
per qr, and foreign is per qr over former prices. Fleur
held generally for is more money, but in limited request.
Indian corn is per qr higher. Beans were held for higher
rates. Oats steady, and maintained their value. Oatmeal
receded ls, with an inactive demand.