The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-22 00:00:00

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THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 22, 1869.

ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, Regetife-park, OPEN daily (es-
cort Sundays). Admission, is.; en Wendays, Gd. Children
under twelve, Pl.

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the Courts of Chancery, Queen's Bench, Cc mmon
Pleas, and Exchequer will give their names to these
chambers, whilst the Courts of Admiralty, Prctate,
and Divorce will form one division. But though
the old names will be retained, the special func-
tions of these tribunals will disappear. Every
division of the Supreme Court will form a complete
tribunal of justice. Any suit may be commenced
in one of these divisions and completed there, whe-
ther the trial be based on law or equity. In short,
all the powers of the Supreme Court will be united
in each of its divisions, all of which will be on the
same footing. The present judges, too, both of the
law and equity courts, will be competent to sit in
any chamber.

By the trenchant scheme of which this igwthe main
feature the Commissioners propose the greatest
change e-..er made in English judicature. But Lord

CAIRNS, Lord HATHERLEY, Sir ROUNDELL PALSIED,
and the ablest of their colleagues, were not likely to
take the initiative in such a revolution unless there
was much to be gained by it. All readers of news-
papers, even those who have never had the mis-
fortune to appear in a superior court, must
know ho-.v great are the inconveniences arising from
a divided jurisdiction. It not unfrequently happens
that a plaintiff with a good . case loses his suit be-
cause, by a mistake of his lawyers on some point of
jurisdiction, it has been begun in the wrong court,
and the whole proceeding must be commenced afresh.
Under the new system, the chambers of the Supreme
Court will have jurisdiction in all branches of law,
and no annoyance of this kind will be possible. If
one legal procedure will not suffice to deter-
mine a case, another may be applied by the
same tribunal. Again, at present the Court
of Admiralty may decide a claim for damage to
cargo, but a Common Law Court is required to hear
a counter claim of the shipowner for freight. Tie
Supreme Court would set these two claims one
against the other, and decide upon both at
once. Still more injurious anomalies have
recently arisen out of joint-stock company legisla-
tion. The report of the Commission notices the
extraordinary complication which arose out of the
legal proceedings between the sellers and jobbers of
railway shares. One plaintiff commenced a suit at
common law, and another opened litigation
in equity against the same defendants. Both courts
gave a similar judgment. The defendants appealed
from one decision to the Exchequer Chamber, and
from another to the Chancery Court of Appeal.
Each of these courts, without means of communica-
tion, reversed the decision which was sub-
mitted to it. Thus there were two suits and two
appeals with precisely similar results. Under the
consolidated system of judicature half this expense
and trouble might have been saved. In fact, the
powers and procedures of our courts bye by the
process of natural development merged in complete
chaos. The ever-increasing legal trail%actions
of modern life demand that this crfus;on
should be reduced to order.
This fundamental change by no means exhausts
the reforms suggested by the commission. Not only
is the jurisdiction of the tribunals divided and
confused, but almost every step in the hearing of
a cause at equity differs from corresponding
procedures at common law. Forms of trial, the mode
of pleading, and of ta.kincr evidence are all dis-
similar. The complexity is merely the result of
custom, and the Commissioners see no diffi-
culty in making great changes. The forms of
procedure are to be much simplified, and to be made
as uniform as the variety of cases will adtnit.
The multifarious ceremonials now necessary at the
commencement of suits will be materially cut down.
In the systems of pleading the Commission has
found much to reform. Equity pleadings are
neellessly prolix; those at common law mix
up law and fact, often raising useless issues
and obscuring details of moment. The com-
parative brevity of common law pleadings will
be combined with the pure statement of-. facts
customary in equity. As to the mode of trial, the
Supreme Court will have great discretion : a ques-
tion may be tried in any chamber by judge, jury, or
The courts are to have power to sit at all
timis, and lio distinction is to b 3 made
between business in term and out of term.

The division or the country for legal busi-
ness is no longer to be by county, but
several counties are to be united in convenient
districts. Lastly, instead of the Exchequer Chamber
and the Court of Appeal in Chancery, ono Court of
Appeal, ruled by the LORD CHANCELLOR, will
form part of the Supreme Court, the House
of Lords being in no wise interfered with. Changes
so important and so complicated must, of course; be
made with every care that the transition be not too
violent. But the advantages of the new judicature,
when once in working order, are self evident.
Instead of the semi-barbarous complications which
now hamper the business of the country, the suitor
will have a comparatively simple, cheap, and, above
all, direct remedy at law.

LATEST INTELL IGEN CE

(REIrElt'S TELEGRAMS.)

AUSTRIA.

VIENNA, April 22.
The official Vienna Gazette of this morning pub-
lishes the law, which has received the sanction of
the Emperor, for the organisation of a Supreme
Court of Justice for the Empire.

The Presse publishes a telegram asserting that the
English Government has recently offered its media-
tion in the Franco-Belgian question.