The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-25 00:00:00

the bills laboriously and successfully till they came to the
definition of " murder." The definition of Sir Edward Coke
was found to be so imperfect that no one would adopt it.
Each of them then tried his own hand, but no one would
agree to any definition but his own ; and at last the noble
lord on the woolsack committed what he might almost call
murder on the committee 17 breaking it up, and announc-
ing the appointment of a committee in its room. He
(the noble lord) had congratulated himself upon what had
been done this year, but the noble lord only stood in the
same position as every one of his predecessors. The noble
lord had no doubt passed some important measures ; but
they were not measures for the amendment of the law. Of
the Divorce Court Bill he (Lord St. Leonards) entirely
disapproved. He thought it was a great mistake to break
up the great court which had been formed for the purpose
of dealing with matrimonial suits, and to hand over the
entire jurisdiction to the Judge Ordinary. He was at all
events perfectly sure that if a proposal had been made in
the first instance to have but a single judge, there was not
a single man in their lordships' house that would have
voted for the bill. In the original report his name stood
apart from all the rest with regard to the constitution of the
court, because he felt certain that the great judicial func-
tionaries of whom it was proposed to form the court would
never be able to attend. The event had proved thathe was
perfectly right, and a bill was brought in to enable the rest
of the judges to sit ; but there had been such complaints of
the pressure which had been put upon the common law
courts, that the present bill was the result. While he
maintained that not much had been done this year, he
thought that the circumstance was not much to be
lamented ; for nothing was more to be deprecated than
an excess of legislation, particularly in the shape of law
reform. Sound law reform was no doubt a thing of
much importance ; but it was very seldom that they
could get people to agree as to what was law reform.
To alter the law was very easy. It was easy enough to
create new courts, and to get Parliament to grant expen-
sive compensations ; but real reform—that was to say, the
alteration of the rules of judicial procedure with benefit to
suitors and to the interests of justice—was one of the scarcest
things and one of the most difficult things to achieve that
could be imagined. He made these remarks, not in any de-
preciation of what the noble and learned lord on the wool-
sack had done, but because he really thought that very
little had, after all, been accomplished. With regard to the
judicial business of the house, he had also to observe that

the noble lord could not fairly contrast what had been done
this year with what had been done in time past. The crea-
tion of the Lords Justices' Court, and the establishment of
the Master of the Rolls' Court as a separate one, had given
the Lord Chancellor far more time to devote to appeals
than he formerly possessed. The case he had cited—that
of the Westminster Palace Hotel—turned merely on the
construction of a word. It was no question of evidence or
administration; and 50 or 100 such cases were despatched
in the Court of Chancery every week, and at a very trifling
expense. The case was a very good example of the celerity
with which such matters could be disposed of, but it proved
no more. The Court of Chancery was no doubt now a very
good one; and he only hoped that it would not be spoiled
by the new mode of taking evidence.
Lord CRAN WORTH said the noble and learned lord
who had just sat down had placed himself in somewhat of
a dilemma ; for in the same breath he had complained that
nothing had been done for the Court of Chancery, and had
argued that nothing wanted doing. He 83 far agreed with
the noble lord, that he thought it would be very mis-
chievous for each Chancellor of the Exchequer to fancy
himself called upon to introduce bills merely for the pur-
pose of making alterations in the law ; but he could not
agree that nothing had been done this year for the Court of
Chancery. On the contrary, he believed that the introduc-
tion of oral evidence into Chancery would prove a most useful
reform ; nor did he think that the salaries of the two exa••
miners ought to stand in the way of so great an improve-
ment. He agreed with the noble lord that the•courts of
common law had no machinery for discharging the duties
of the Court of Chancery. If they gave them the same ma-
chinery it 'would be another matter; but at present he could
not agree to the proposal, though it was backed by so high
an authority as that of the noble lord on the woolsack, the
Lord Chief justice, and two other eminent judges. With
regard to the consolidation of the Statute-book, it appeared
to him that the best course would be first to pass all the
amendments they proposed to introduce, and then to conso-
lidate. That might appear rather technical ; but it did not
seem to him reasonable to expect that Parliament should
pass on trust seven bills containing, one 260 clauses, another
340, another 120, and so on, unless it was assured that those
bills did nothing but consolidate the law as it stood. He
thought, too, that it would not be advisable to include the
Irish law in the first instance. Such a plan only increased
the difficulty of passing the bills ; and the failure of the at-
tempt this session might possibly be attributable to that
cause. After the law of each country had been separately
consolidated, it might be found more easy to amalgamate
the whole, so as to have but one statute-book for the whole
United Kingdom. Though the statute-commission had
proved a failure, he believed their labours had in reality laid
the foundation of many important improvements. In the
ensuing session he should himself introduce several bills
which would be portions of a bit-by-bit law reform ; and he
believed the noble lord opposite (Lord Redesdale) would
propose a bill to consolidate the law respecting highways.
With regard to the judicial business of the house, he agreed
that it had never been carried on so successfully as during
the present session ; and it was but just to say that the noble
load on the woolsack had succeeded to rather more arrears
than usual. That fact was not to any fault of Lord Chelms
ford or of himself; but it was owing to eight or nine of
the best weeks in each of their terms of office having been
lost by the elections. As for the effect which the Lords
Justices' Court had upon the judicial business of the house,
he must remind their lordships that that court had existed
in exactly the same form as it did at present ever since the
time of Lord Truro ; and he believed it rather increased
than diminished the number of appeals, beeause it encou-
raged persons to come before the house by the facilities it
afforded them for having their business disposed of.

SALE OF GAS ACT AMENDMENT BILL.
On the motion of Lord REDESDALE, one of the Com-
mons' amendments to this bill was agreed to, and the other
disagreed to.

SAVINGS BANKS AND FRIENDLY SOCIETIES
INVESTMENTS BILL.
This bill passed through committee.

PEACE PRESERVATION (IRELAND) ACT (1856:
AMENDMENT BILL.
This bill passed through committee.

PARTY EMBLEMS (IRELAND) BILL.
The Commons' amendments to this bill were considered
and agreed to.

EAST INDIA LOAN BILL.
This bill passed through committee.