The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-26 00:00:00

LEEDS, MAY 21.

STOOK EXCHANGE. —The sales this morning were at
the following rates : -- North Ea4ternt Leeds, Quarters,
24 prom.—North Western, 64—Lancashire and Yorkshire,'
904—Dovers, 211.

INTERESTING FACTS.--Extract from tll5 Glasgowercur of the
yearl796 Glasgow, April 6th.
We learn from Hamilton that Thomas Young., merchant
in that town, died on the 21st ult., aged 96 ; and on
the 28th died Mary Cannel, his spouse, only six woeks
younger than her husband. They lived man and wife
73 Yelrs, and retained the use of their reason and senses
to the last. It is remarkable that Mr. Young got a
new set of teeth several years before his death."
How TO BUY A HousE.—Mathews was thrown by a
atartlish horse. A few days after Incledon met him
mounted on a fresh purchase. " Hallo, Charley ?"
cried be, "are you sure that new Bucephalus of yours
is safe ?" "Oh, certain," replied Mathews ;"I took
good care to'aseertaic that before I bought him." "How
did you manage that ?" "By sawing him well under
the tail with the bridle," answered Mathews,—Bentley's

THE APPELLATE JURISDICTION OF
THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

The following is the report of the Select Com-
mittee appointed to inquire whether it is expedient
to make any, and, if so, what provision for more
effec'ually securing the efficient exercise of the
functions of the House of Lords as a Court of
Appellate Jurisdiction ; and further, how any such
provision would affect the general character of the
House ; and to report their opinion thereupon :
"Teat the committee have met, and, in pursuing the
important inquiry intrusted to them, have examined
several of the leading counsel employed in• the business
of appeal at your lordships' bar, and subsequently the
Lord Justice-Clerk, the Lard Justice-General of Scot-
land, the Master of the Rolls, Vice-Chancellor Stuart,
and Lord St. Leonard's.
" Among these witnesses there appears to be a very
general agreement as to the expediency of retaining the
appellatejurisdiction of the House, and in this view the
committee entirely concur.
" Although some of the witnesses have stated that the
corking of the present tribunal is perfectly efficient and
satisfactory, and testimony has been generally borne to
the wisdom and impartiality with which the law has
been administered by it, yet there is a great preponder-
ance of opinion in favour of some change in the manner
in which the appellate business of the House of Lords is
at present conducted.
" The principal objections raised by the witnesses
against the present constitution and practice of this ulti-
mate Court of Appeal are as follow : --
" 1. That none of the Law Lords, except the Lord
Chancellor, being bound to attend, there is an uncer-
tainty as to the number of those peers who may assist at
the hearing of any case ; and that the attendance of
peers who, from want of professional knowledge and ex-
perience, decline to interfere in the proceedings, takes
away from the solemnity of the tribunal, and leads to
misconception on the part of the public, when their pre-
sence is only required in order to make a house.
" 2. That delay, sometimes inconvenient to the suit-
ors, and prejudicial to the regular administration of jus-
tice, is caused by the hpuse not being able to sit during
the whole of that portien of the year during which the
inferior courts are open.
"3. That the administration of Scotch law has been
at all times unsatisfactory from the want of familiarity
with the Scotch law, consequent upon the law lords
being exclusively English judges.
" 4. That there is an unnecessary expense attending
some of the forms of proceeding.
" 5. That the mode of delivering judgment, and the
absence of official dress, deprive the house of the so-
lemnity which attends ordinary judicial proceedings.
" The committee have carefully considered these ob-
jections raised by the witnesses, and also the various sug-
gestions that have been made with a view of meeting
them ; and they have to submit the following as the con-
clusion to which they have coma :
" 1. It appears from the evidence, that for the last 10
or 15 years the appeals have been heard sometimes by
as many as four law lords, sometimes by three or two,
and instances have been adduced where appeals have
been heard and decided in this house, with advantage to
the law and satisfaction to the public, by the Lord
Chancellor or one law lord alone. The committee are,
however, of opinion that, considering the importance of
the causes brought to this ultimate Court of Appeal, the
house should, as a general rule, be able to reckon on the
attendance of not less than three law lords to assist in
the hearing of all appeals ; but in making this recom-
mendation, the committee by no means wish to discou
rage the attendance of other members of the house.
" Although during certain psriods the number of law
lards in regular attendance on the appellate business has
been adequate to meet the requirements of the public
and the profession, experience has proved that such at-
tendance cannot always be relied on. Hitherto, those by
whom this duty has been discharged have been for the
most part ex-Chancellors. The committee are of opinion
that the attendance of others equally qualified to sit
with those peers in judgment on the decision of the in-
ferior courts would be best secured by the creation of
other legal offices, in connexion with the House of
Lords, with such salaries as would insure their ac-
ceptance by the most eminent judges. The committee
are, therefore, of opinion that it is desirable that two
offices should be created, to be held by two law lords,
who-ie duty it should be to assist the house in the per-
formance of its judicial duties ; and they accordingly re
commend that her Majesty should be empowered to ap-
point two lords to be deputy-speakers of the House of
Lords, with salaries attached to their offices. The com-
mittee do not propose that these appointments should
interfere with her Majesty's power to appoint unpaid
deputy-spealsers of the house.
" As the lords holding the proposed offices would be
intrusted with judicial duties of the highest importance,
and as the oomnaittee believe experience to afford the
only sure test-of the fitness of even eminent lawyers for
such duties, they would further recommend that persons
who have held some high judicial office in the United
Kingdom for not less than five years should alone be
eligible for these appointments.
"They recommend that the office of a paid deputy-
speaker of the house should be held by the same tenure
as the office of a judge, and that every such person shall
receive, out of the consolidated fund, a yearly salary of
6,000/., or such yearly sum as, with any pension to
which he may be entitled for past services, will make up
a yearly income of 6,0001., So long as he shall hold the
said office.
"2. With respect to the delay which now occurs in
hearing appeals, from the sittings of the house not being
co-extensive with the sittings of the inferior courts, the
committee advise that the house should be enabled to
authorise its sittings to be resumed or continued for the
hearing of appeals only at such times as may be deemed
expedient for the exercise of the appellate jurisdiction,
notwithstanding the prorogation of Parliament.
"3. The committee have paid great attention to the
important evidence which they have heard on the subject
of Scotch appeals. Nearly all the witnesses who spoke to
this part of the subject admit that very material advan •
tages have been derived by Scotland in the course of the
administration of the law by the Hoeuse of Lords, and
some of them are of opinion that it is still advisable to
keep the appellate jurisdiction entirely distinct from the
?Scotch bench and bar ; but on the other hand, arguments
were urged, with considerable force, against the anomaly
of the final court of appeal from Scotland being so con-
stituted as never to comprehend a Scotch judge, or any
person necessarily acquainted with Scotch law. It ap-
pears that the majority of the bar, and the Writers of
the Signet in Edinburgh, are in favour of one of the
members of this Appellate Court being a Scotch lawyer.
It is not proved that this is the opinion either of the mer-
cantile classes or of the community at large in Scotland.
The committee are of opinion that no fixed and invari-
able rule should be adopted on this subject.
"4. The committee recommend to the attention of
the house the complaints which they have quoted above
as to the unnecessary expense of some of the proceedings
of the house, particularly in respect to the printing of
the cases. They are of opinion that this, together with
other suggestions for the prevention of delay, are ques-
tions which will be best dealt with by the Lord Chancel-
lor and the lords who assist him is hearing appeals.
"5. The committee have heard much conflicting evi-
dence as to the best mode of delivering judgments. It
is argued, on the one hand, that the great principles of
law are best elucidated by separate judgments, when
the judges in the Court of Appeal differ in opinion, and
that the separate declaration of opinion is satisfactory to
the suitors, as proving that great attention has been paid
to the cause. On the other hand it is urged, that such
divisions diminish the authority of the tribunal of ulti-
mate resort, and tend to produce uncertainty in the law,
without any countervailing advantage ; and the example
of the Judicial Committee, where differences of opinion
are not expressed, has been quoted as favourable to the
deliberation being in private, and the opinion of the ma-
jority given as the collective judgment of the tribunal.
The committee are of opinion that this is a matter of dis-
cretion, which must be left to be arranged among those
who hear and decide the appeals ; but they recommend
that those who hear the appeals should have leave to sit
at the table, and deliver their opinions sitting.
"The attention of the committee has been drawn to
the difficulty which may, in some cases, be felthereafter,
of appointing the most fit persons to judical offices con-
nected with the House of Lords if it- cannot be dose
without conferring on them hereditary peerages ; and it
appears to the committee advisable,-that any person ap-
pointed to such an office should be enabled, by autho-
rity of Parliament, to sit and vote in the house, and
enjoy all the rights and privileges of a peer of Parliament,
under a patent conferring a peerage for life only, if the
Crown may have granted, or aball grant, the same to
such persons in preference to an hereditary peerage ; pro-
vided always, that not more than four persons shall have
seats in the house at one time as peers for life.

•
"The committee recommend that in all respects, ex-
cepting those where:charekbas been recommended in
this report, the functioris--Allt he Lord Chancellor and the
rights and privileges of the whole body of peers shall
remain unaffected.

"And the committee have directed the minutes of evi•
dence taken before them to be laid before your lordships,
"May 20."

RAILWAYS AND DOCKS.—The surveyor of the Liver-
pool Dock Trustees reported on Thursday that the con.
nexion between the lines of railway belonging to the
trustees, at the north end of the Sandon dock, and the
high lines of railway communicating with the Lancashire
and Yorkshire and London and North-Western Roil-
ways, are now completed, and that a circuit by rail is
now complete on the dock quays.
A SCOTCH LAWYER CAUGHT !—A. lawyer, says the
Berwick Advertiser, lately pleading in a sheriff's court,
in a case of right of way, thus addressed the bench :
" My lord, the road in question is of no use whatever ;
indeed, it is rather a nuisance, as it is only frequented
by blackguard boys and profligate young men and women.
I know the road." Sheriff—" You have walked the
road ?" Lawyer—" A hundred times." Skeriff—" You
give yourself a bad character." (Laughter.)
THE HOLY COAT.—The Messager de is Charite says :
—"lt is known that our Saviour wore, according to the
custom of the Jews, three garments—a tunic, a robe,
and a cloak. His cloak was divided on Golgotha, his
robe is at Treves, and his tunic, which the Virgin Mary
wove for him, is at Argenteuil, two leagues from Paris.
According to a firmly-established tradition, the holy
robe was brought from Constantinople to the west of
Europe, and it is to Charlemagne that this treasure is
due. St. Gregory, of Tours, in his Glory of the
Martyrs,' says;—‘ The tunic without a seam was brought
to France in the reign of Charlemagne, and placed in
the convent of Argenteuil, where his sister and daugh-
ter were nuns.' In all times the robe has been held in
great veneration.'" To the above story, repeated by the
Univers, the Debats objects that Saint Gregory, of
Tours, died 147 years before Charlemagne was born.