The Sun.
London, England, 1832-09-29 00:00:00

COURT OF CHANCERY.

It will be remembered that at the close of the last session
the Lord Chancellor brought forward a motion, and suLse-
quently presented a bill, " for the improvement of the ad-
ministration of jus-ice in the High Court of Chancery in
England." That motion.was made for the purpose of sub-
mitting the bill,—of having it printed,—and of then al-
lowing it to lie over to the approaching Session of Parlia-
ment, in order that in the interim the principles and de-
._

tails of his measure might be duly considered by the pro-
fession and the country• The following are the leading
features of the bill :

The preamble sets forth that—Whereas it is expedient
that the costs and expenses of proceedings in the High
Court of Chancery should be.diminished, and that increased

facilities should be afforded for the despatch of business in
the said court : and whereas ley an act made and passed in
the 58th George 111., entitled "An act to provide addi-
tional salaries to the present clerks in the Report-office of
the High Court of Chancery, and to provide additional
clerks for the said office, and for snaking further provision
for the clerks in the said office," and of the several acts
therein mentioned or referred to, divers sums of money
have been, by virtue of several orders of the said Court of
Chancery, from time to time taken out of the common and
general cash belonging to the suitors of the High Court of
Chances y, which lay dead and unemployed in the Bank of
England, and have been placed out in the name of the ac-
countant-general of the said Court on government or par-
liamentary securities, and such government or parliamentary
securities have been, in pursuance of the said acts, carried to
an account, entitled " Account of monies placed out for the
benefit and better security of the suitors of the High Court of
Chancery ;" and out of the dividends and interests of the
securities purchased in pursuance of the said several acts
of Parliament, several sums and salaries to the master of
the Report-office, and to the registrars and entering regis-
trars, and to their clerks, and several other payments
thereby directed to be made, have been from time to time
made, and the surplus interest and annual produce arising
from the said securities beyond what was sufficient to an-
swer the several payments thereby and by the several other
act!, therein mentioned or referred to directed to be made,
and also the interest produced from the securities purchased
with such surplus interest and annual produce, have been
from time to time, in pursuance of the said last-mentioned
act, laid out in the purchase of government or parliamen-
tary securities in the name of the accountant-general of
the said court, and placed to the credit of an account, en-
titled " Account of securities purchased with surplus inte-
rest arising from securities carried to an account of monies
placed out for the benefit and better security of the suitors
of the High Court of Chancery :" and whereas by the 49th
of George 111., entit'ed " An act for making provision for.
such of the sub-registrars or deputy registrars of the High
Court of Chancery as from age or infirmity shall be afflicted
with permanent disability, and he incapacitated for the
sine execution of their office; and for making further pro-
vision for the two seniors of the said registrars, for the
clerks in the Registrar's-office, for the master of the Report.
office, and for providing additions! clerks in the Report-
office of the said court; and for making payments and regu-
lations in respect of the said offices," it was amongst other
things enacted, that out of the interest and dividends of the
government or patliamentary securities aforesaid carried to
the said two several accounts herein-before mentioned, and
out of the interest and dividends of any government or par-
liamentary securities thereaf er to be purchased and placed
to the last-mentioned accounts, there should be pail the
several yearly sums therein mentioned to the two senior
the said sub or deputy-registrars, to the several clerks
in the said Registrar's• office, and to four additional
c'erks to be employed in the said Report-office, to the
tiler and keeper of the said reports and certificates, and
keeper of the said books and entries, and also to each of
the four sub or deputy-registrars of the said Court, as
a compensation to them respectively for providing books
and other articles for their said offices, and in paying any
person or persona necessarily attending therein to take
care of the same : and whereas it is expedient that the
duties of the master of the Report- office should be per-
formed by the senior registrar of the said Court, and that
the offices of entering registrars and of the clerk of the ex
ceptions should be abolished, and that the sub or deputy
registrars should be constituted the registrars of the said
Court, and that the number of such registrars should be
ins reared, and that the fees and emoluments to be received
by the said registrars, and by the clerks in the office of
the said registrars, should be regulated, and that the busi
ness of the suitors of the Court in the office of the resis-
t ars should be facilitated and expedited.
Now therefore be it enacted, &c.-1. That the office o'
place of master of the Report office, and the offices of en-
-see;asaadr,f-es.er ass.a.-ies 1\ -rt-e-exEept run A;
to the senior deputy registrar of the said Court, shah
e abolished ; and that there shall hereafter be six
registrars of the said Court; and that each of such
registrars shall have the same authority, powers,
rights, and privileges, anti the same duties to perform
and execute, and give the same personal attendance
in all respects, as have heretofore been vested in, done,
and executed, and given by the four sub or deputy regis
tiara, a xcepting as the same shall be altered or varied as
herein-after is mentioned ; and that Thomas A'exander
Raynsford, Francis Benjamin Bedwell, James Christmas
Fry, anti Edu and Dod Colville, Esqrs., the present four
sub or deputy registrars, and Joseph Collis and John
Francis Le Write, E qta., the two present entering clerks
or registrars, shall be such six registrars of the said Court ;
and on the de ails, resi,nation, or removal of any of them
the said Thomas Ali xander Raynsford, Francis Benjamin
Bedwell. James Christmas Fry, Edward Dud Colvin-,
Joseph Collis, and John Francis Le Cointe, the vacancy
there' y occasioned shall, unless cause to the satisfaction of
the Lord Chancellor shall be shown to the contrary, be
filled up by the senior clerk in the said office fur the time
being ; and that each of such persons so appointed to be
registrars, and all and every persons and person here-
after to be appointed to be such registrars, shall be
and are hereby authorized and empowered and requit-
ed personahy to do and perform all such matte's
and things necessary and proper in the due execution
of their said offices as belong or appertain thereto, and
as have been heretofore done and performed by the sub
or deputy registrars of the said Court, excepting so fat
as the same shall be altered or varied by this Act, or by
any rules or orders to be made and issued by the Lord
Chancellor for the time being relative thereto.
2. A clause enacting that the registrars attend the courts
according to seniority.
3, This clause regards the appointment of clerks to the
registrars.
4. This clause directs the appointment of sixth clerk to
registrars, and defines the duties of the six clerks; pio-
triding that nothing herein contained shall prevent the
number of the clerks in the said last-mentioned office
being reduced to any number below six, in case the Lord
Chancellor shall think fit so to direct.
5. This clause enacts, that the several annual sums, or
yearly payments, provided for and directed to be paid (lay
recited act of 49 George III.) to the sub or deputy regis-
trars and entering registrars of the High Court of Chan •
eery for the time being, and the clerks in the said Office,
ad to the master of the Report-office, by any act or acts
of parliament whatsoever, shall cease.
fie This clause sets forth, that by an act passed in the
ateth of George 1., entitled " An act for the better se-
curing the money and effects of the suitors of the High
Court of Chancery, and to prevent the counterfeiting of
Est India bonds and endorsements thereon, as likewise
,endorsements on South Sea bonds," and by divers orde rs
of the said court, certain duties have been imposed on
the deck or master of the Report-office, and on the de-
puty registrars of the said court respectively, in regard to
the effects of the suitors of the said court, and it is expe-
dient that such duties should continue to be performed in
the manner heretofore accustomed, excepting as herein-
after :a mentioned ; and enacts that the " senior" of the
registrars of the said court for the time being shall
act as the " Master of the Report office," and shall,'
in addition to the duties of registrar, perform all such
and the same duties as have heretofore been per formed
by the Master of the R port-office; provided that the
duties imposed upon the deputy registrars of the said
court by the said last-recited act, as to checking and sign-
ing the notes of the accountant-eeneral for the payment
of money, and the granting certificates for the sale e r
transfer of Bank annuities, or other stocks or funds, or
for the delivery of Exchequer orders, India bonds, and
other securities, shall no longer be performed by such
senior registrar, but the same shall be performed by the
five other registrars of the said court.
7. That the duties of the office of clerk of exceptions
shall be performed by the second senior registrar.
S. Enacts that there shall he a court, to be called " The
Court of the Masters of the High Court of Chancery ;"
and that the Lord Chancellor shall annually nominate four
of the Masters in Ordinary of the High Court of Chancery
to be Judges of tl e said court for one year; and that three
of such Masters shall form the court, and shall sit once a
week, or oftener, as the Lord Chancellor shall direct, in
open court, to hear and determine all such matters, in te-
spect of which jurisdiction is hereby given to the said
Court, as shall be brought before them ; and that the Lord
Chancellor shall, from time to time, appoint s` me others
tr other of the said Masters in Oidinaiy to be{ judges in
the said Court of Aisle's, as and when occasiot eeay et-

`'. ~.
~..
vJ J

~

quire, So that there may always be four Judges of the said

Court of Masters.
9. This clause points out'the powers and duties of the
Court of Masters, setting forth that the said Court of
Masters shall hear and determine all 'applications for time
to plead, answer, or (lemur, for leave to amend bills or
withdraw replications, for the production, deposit, and
inspection of books, papers, and writings, other than deeds
or other documents tending to prove title to any lands, te-
nements, or heleditantents, all questions of insufficiency,
scandal, or impertinence, and all such other matters as the

Lord Chancellor, Master of the Rolls, and Vice-Chancellor
shall, by any general order or orders, direct; and that no
such applications shall be beard or determined by the Lord
Chancellor, Master of the Rolls, or Vice-Chancellor, ex-
cept by the Vice-Chancellor on such cases of appeal to him
as are hereby pi ovided for ; and th it tl-e decision of the
said Court of Masters shall be final when the Masters of
the said Court shall all concur therein, excepting in such
cases, if any, as the Lord Chancellor, Master of the Rolls,
and Vice-Chancellor, in any general order or general or
dere, to be made by them, shall specially direct to be sub-
ject to appeal to the Court of the Vice• Chancellor ; and in
case the said M esters of the said Court should not all con-
cur in such decision, then any of the parties shall be at
liberty to appeal from the same to the Vice-Chancellor,
whose decision thereon, and also on the said matter spe-
cially directed to be subject to appeal to him, shall be final.
10. Enacts that the Lord Chancellor shall be autho -
rized, and is hereby required, to appoint some proper place
or places, in some one of the public buildings now appro-
priated to the uses of the Court of Chancery, in which the
said Court of Masters shall sit to hear and determine all
such matters as they shall be directed to hear.
11. Repeals the 13th Charles 11. for ascertaining and
establishing the fees of the Masters in Chancery in ordinary.
12. Recites the Acts 5 Geo. HI , c. 28, and 46 Geo.
111., c. 128 ; and enacts that the annual sums payable to
Masters under those acts shall cease.
13. Provides that no person shall be appointed to be
chief clerk of any Master in ordinary of the said Court,
unless he shall have been admitted on the roll of solicitors,
and practised as a solicitor of the said Court for not less
than five years, or shall have been a junior clerk in the
office of one of the said Masters for a like term of five years ;
and that the chief clerk of the Master shall not be removed
from his office unless for sufficient cause, to be approved by
the Lord Chancellor.
14. Enacts that no person shall be compelled to pay to
any Master for any copy of any paper or document being
before such Master, and that every person shall be at
liberty to take a copy of such part only of any paper or•
docutnent being before such Master as he may require :
provided always, that no clerk in court or solicitor shall
be allowed, in the taxation of costs as between party and
party, or as between solicitor and client, any charge fur any
copy of the whole or any part of any such paper or docu-
ment, unless such copy shall have been paid for to a Mas-
ter, save as to any such copy as shall have been made for
the use of any Master, or by the express desire or for the
use of his own client or clients.
15. This clause regards the sal airs and emoluments of
Masters in ordinary and their clerks; and provides that
certain specified fees shall he receivable, the said fees being
carried to the Master's fund account ; and that the Mas-
ters shall receive salaries, b'anks being left in the bill for
the amount: all such salaries (continues the bill) to be
paid half-yearly out of the monies standing to such last-
mentioned account, and to be paid by the accountant-ge-
neral as the Lord Chancellor shall direct ; and that the
senior eleiks shall receive for their own use the fees spe-
cified in the _ schedule; and that the junior clerks
respectively shall be entitled to receive for all copies made
in the offices to which they belong the sum of one penny
per folio.
16. Enacts that specified fees only are to be received.
17. Fees of registrars and their clerks to be fixed
18. Provides that executors of an officer or clerk dying
or resigning, shall be entitled to a proportionate part of the
salary and fees.
19. Enacts that officers and clerks shall not take gra-
tuities; that clause adding that any such person so offend-
ing shall be removed from any office, situation, or employ-
ment he may hold in the said Court, and shall be incapable
for ever thereafter of holding any office, situation, or
employment in the said Court, or otherwise serving his
Majesty.
20. Provides that compensation shall be paid to officers
of the Court of Chancery whose offices may be abolished
or fees diminished ; adding, that where offices are aba-
tis! ed, or their emoluments tfivniniihed, officers shall be
reimbursed out of the Master's fund account.
21. This clause defines the power of the Lord Chan-
cellor to order the expences of the offices to be paid ; en-
acting that it shall be lawful for the Lord Chancellor, by
virtue of any order or orders of the said court to be made
be taken, and to order' paytrieifi or iffelaartgaVterl
fund account of all such sums as shall appear to the Lord
Chancellor to be reasonable and proper to be paid to any
of the before-mentioned officers in the said respective offices
or the clerks in the same offices respectively, to reimburse
them for any expences reasonably and necessarily expended
by them from and after and between the day on which
this act shall come into operation and the sth day of April
then next following, and after that time between the 6th
of April in every year And the sth day of April in the fol-
lowing year, both inclusive, either in paying fir books or
stationery, provided or supplied for carrying on the busi-
ness of the said respective offices, other than the paper
used for making office copies, or in providing coals and can-
dles awl other necessary articles for the said offices, and
each of thew, or in payment of taxes, rates, or other assess-
ments charged upon or payable for or in respect of the said
said offices, awl each or either or any of them, or to which
the said several officers of the said court, or any of them,
may be liable in respect thereof.
22. Enacts that any surplus monies in the name of the
accountant-general to the account of the said fund, to be
entitled " The Masters' Fund Account," after paying and
providing for the several charges thereon, shall from time
to time be placed out and invested by him, either in one
entire sum, or in parcels, in the name of the said Ac-
cuuntant- G• n ra', according to the general rules and orders
of the said Court, in Government or Parliamentary securi-
ties ; and such securities shall be carried over to the ac-
count of such fund.
23. Contains provisions regarding superannuation fur
registrars.
24. Provides that the deficiency of funds, if any, in the
funds created by this act, shall be made good out of the
" Dead Fund."
25. Gives power to change securities.
26. Emp.iwers his Majesty to establish a " Court of

Appeal," enacting, that it shall and may be lawlul for his
Majesty, by his letters patent, to establish a " Court of
Appeal," con-isting of the Lord Chancellor, the Master
of the Rolls, the Vice-Chancellor, and the Lord Coief
Baron of the Exchequer, to hear and determine all appeals
made to such Court from the decrees or orders of the Lot d
Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, the Vice-Chancellor,
and the equity side of the Exchequer, such Court to b!
called " The Court of Appeal in Equity ;" and that such
Court shall have such and the like powers of regulating,
hearing, and deciding such appeals, and all matters rela-
ting thereto, as are now possessed by the Lord Chancellor
i❑ respect of any appeals to him from the decisions of the
Master of the Rolls and the Vice-Chancellor.
27. This clause provides that all appeals shall be made
by petition to the said Court in like manner as such ap-
peals as last aforesaid may now be made to the Lord Chan-
cellor, subject, nevertheless, to such regulations as may be
made in respect thereof by the said Court of Appeal Pro-
vided, neverthele-s, that the Judge from whose decision
any appeal shall be made shall not be one of the Judges to
hear and determine such appeal.
28. Enacts that every judgment of the said Court of
Appeal shall be signed by the Judges concurring in the
same, and enrolled in the same manner and form as the
judgments of the Lord Chancellor are now enrol ed.
29. Provides that where the three Judges of the said
Court shall concur in the dectee to be pronounced in any
appeal, then the judgment of such court shall be final ; but
where such three judges shall not so concur, then any of
the parties shall be at liberty to appeal to the House of
Lords in the same manner as is now done from the deci-
sions of the Lord Chancellor; and that every appeal to be
made to the House of Lords as aforesaid shall be lodged
within two years from the date cf the decree or order of
tae aforesaid Court of Appeal; provided always, that no-
thing herein contained shall prevent any appeal being
made as heretofore to the House of Lords from the deci-
sions of the Lord Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, the
Lord Chief Baran, and the Vice-Chancellor respectivel.i.
30. Enacts that it shall be lawful for the House of
Lords, from time to time, during the hearing of any appeal
from any judgment of any court of equity, to direct the
attendance of all or any of the judges constituting the
aforesaid court, in such manner as has been heretofot e done
with respect to the judges of the courts of common law.
31. That from and after the date of the letters patent
constituting the said court no appeal from any judgment
of the Master of the Rolls or the Vice-Chancellor shall be
made to the Lord Chancellor : provided always, that no-
thing herein contained shall prevent the Lord Chancellor from
hearing and determining any appeal which before the date
of such letters patent shall have been made to the said Lord
Chancellor; and that any further appeal from any judg-
ment of the said Lord Chancellor in any such appeal may
be made to the House of Lords as heretofore, and not to
the aforesaid Court of Appeal; provided also, that nothing

st.x,

~.~ ~'? ~

herein aslslaiiied shall authorise any appeal to the afore-
said Court of Appeal in any matter of bankruptcy or
lunacy, or in anywise to alter or impeach the authority
of the Lord Chancellor in any matter of bankruptcy or
lunacy.
32. This clause provides that a full and accurate
statement, made up to the 31st day of December, in each
year, of the sums then standing in the name of the Ac-
countant -general of the High Court of Chancery to the
credit of the before-mentioned accounts, entitled re-
spectively " Account of monies placed out for the benefit
and better security of the suitors of the High Court
of Chancery," and Account of s curities purchased
with surplus interest arising from securities carried to an
acc.,unt of monies placed out for the benefit and better
security of the suitors of the High Court of Chancery,"
and of the annual income arising from such funds respec-
tively, and of the several payments made tbereout in that
year, and a like statement of the total amount of the se-
veral public securities then standing in the name of the said
Accountant-general on the account of the several suitors
of the said court, and a like statement of the amount of
each standing in his name at the Bank of England at the
close of each month of the said year, shall annually be
laid before both Houses of Parliament by the said Ac-
countant•general within 10 days after such 31st day of
December, if Parliament be then sitting, or within 30
days after the first meeting of Parliament, subsequently to
such 31st of December.
33. That the powers and authorities given by this Act
to the Lord High Chancellor shall and may be exercised in
like manner, and are hereby given to the Lord Chancellor,
Lord Keeper, or Lords Commissioners for the custody of
the Great Seal res; ectively for the time being.
34. Saves the powers of 3 George IV., c. 69, to en-
able the Judges of the several Courts of Record at West-
minster to make regulations respecting the fees of the
officers, clerks, and ministers of the said courts, except-
ing as the previsions of the said recited Act are expressly
varied by this Act.
35. Provides that solicitors, appointed to any office under
this Act, shall he struck off the roll.
36. Provides that examiners shall be authorized to ad-
minister oaths to witnesses.
37. This clause is to name the time when this Act
shall come into operation ; at present there is a blank in
he bill for the date.

UNIVERSITY INTELLIGtNCE.