The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-08 00:00:00

to be the governing code of the commercial community for
ages to come. (Cheers.)
Lord BROUGHAM did not intend to enter into the con-
sideration of the very important, difficult, and extensive
subject which his noble and learned friend had so ably
opened to their lordships. It was clear that they must wait
till they had enjoyed an opportunity of seeing the bill in
print before they could form any opinion upon the merits or
demerits of its provisions. Most of their lordships would re-
collect that last session he introduced a bill for the purpose
of amending the law of debtor and creditor, and that he
postponed it in order to allow the Government an opportu-
nity of bringing forward the measure which his noble and
learned friend had now submitted. He was glad to find that
some of 'the most important provisions of his bill had been
adopted by the Government, such, for example, as those for
abolishing the distinction between bankruptcy and insol-
vency for throwing all, as far as practicable, under the
same jurisdiction ; and for abrogating the distinction be-
tween traders and non-traders, subject, however, to certain
exceptions where it became quite impossible to say, how-
ever much we might desire to see it, that that distinction
ought entirely to cease. (Hear, hear.) In order to exem-
plify the difficulty of at present fully discussing the provi-
sions of the bill which had been introduced by the noble
and learned lord upon the woolsack, he called attention to
ono difficulty which there was in the way of entirely assimi-
lating the position of traders and non-traders as to the effect
of the certificate. If the future acquired property of a
trader was to be subject to his former debts, it would prac-
tically prevent his trading, because upon such terms he
could obtain neither credit, loans, nor goods ; while it would
be equally unfair that if a non-trader, after obtaining his
certificate, inherited an estate of ten thousand a-year, it
should not be charged with his previous debts. He drew
this distinction between the two classes, because in 99 cases
out of 100 if property was acquired subsequent
to his insolvency by a trader it was obtained by his con-
tinuous trading, while in an equal proportion of cases it
was to the non-trader the result, not of his own exertions,
but of inheritance, or accidental circumstances. With re-
gard to the classification of certificates he would remind
their lordships that that was no part of the original bank-
ruptcy law, but was only introduced in the Consolidation
Act of 1849, at the urgent request of the commercial in-
terest, particularly that of the city of London, represented
by his lamented friend the late Lord Wharncliffe. A noble
and learned friend of his opposite (Lord St. Leonards) had
always opposed the system; the practice of the several com-
missioners under it appeared to have greatly varied ; and,
although he was not disposed entirely to abolish it without
further inquiry, he must admit that his opinion tended
very strongly in that direction. His noble and learned
friend on the woolsack had justly observed that one of the
great difficulties of dealing with this question arose from
the difference of opinion which prevailed with regard to it.
A conference which was held in London in January, 1857,
and which was attended by deputations from all the
great mercantile towns and ports of the United King-
dom, showed how great was the discrepancy between
the views of these several bodies. Since that there
had been a greater concurrence of opinion among the
mercantile community, and a measure representing its
opinion was shortly to be introduced into the other house
of Parliament by a noble friend of his. That measure
differed in some important respects from the bill of his
noble and learned friend on the woolsack, but as to the
abolition of the distinction between bankrupcy and insol-
vency and between traders and non-traders the two mea-
sures were in harmony. One of the great objections to the
present system was its expense—an expense which was al-
most fatal in the case of small, but very light in the case of
large estates, and one which did not weigh in proportion
to the amount of the estate as it clearly ought to do. This
unfair pressure of expense had been found to exclude
from the Courts of Bankruptcy, and to drive to pri-
vate settlement many cases which, but for that con-
sideration, would have been dealt with, and dealt with much
more satisfactorily, by the public tribunals. One great
head of expense was the heavy amount of compensation
still paid to officers for the loss of their places under acts of
the Legislature. With respect to the payment of official
assignees, that one should receive £3,000 or £4,000 in one
year, and. £3OO or £4OO in another, was an unsatisfactory
and anomalous state of things, to which an end should be
put. He had not the shadow of a doubt that if the official
assignees were paid partly by salaries and partly by fees, to
which a maximum should be fixed, justice would be done
to those gentlemen and a proper stimulus kept up for the
due discharge of their duties. He concurred in some parts
of the proposition of his noble and learned friend, and not
in others, but he would reserve the further expression of his
opinions until the next stage of the bill, by which time he
would have given it a more deliberate consideration.
Lord CAMPBELL said he had listened with great plea-
sure to the exposition of the bill of his noble and learned
friend (the Lord Chancellor), because he concurred in much
that his noble and learned friend proposed to do. For
example, he had constantly urged the abolition of the dis-
tinction between traders and non-traders in bankruptcy and
insolvency, and he had always disapproved the enormous
amount of fees received in many instances by inferior offi-
cers of the courts by which the existing law was adminis-
tered. But he must acknowledge that he was greatly dis-
appointed and mortified when he heard his noble and
learned friend conclude his exposition by saying that his
bill was meant, not to consolidate, but to be a patch on the
existing system. His noble and learned friend looked forward
to a complete consolidation of the law at some future period;
but why was it to be deferred ? His noble and learned
friend had the opportunity now within his grasp, and not
to avail himself of it would cause great disappointment to
all persons who took an interest in the amendment of the
law. It would be easy to construct while improving the
law; and he hoped it was not too late for his noble and
learned friend to apply himself to the larger and more desi-
rable work. First thoughts were often the best, and he
thought the scheme proposed by his noble and learned friend
towards the conclusion of last session was, on the whole, a
better one than the present. The improvements his noble
and learned friend had suggested were certainly very con-
siderable, and seemed to deserve the approbation of their
lordships ; but still he thought, instead of amending the
existing system, they should have a new code by which they
might hope to place the law of debtor and creditor on some-
thing like a satisfactory footing.
Lord CRANWORT II said when theywere consolidating,
and there were no amendments except such as were merely
formal, the true principle was to introduce the amendments
and the consolidation together; but where there were very
extensive amendments it was btter to introduce the amend-
ments first, and the moment these had become law to frame
a consolidation bill, and pass it in the same session. That
was the course adopted in the case of the Merchant Seamens'
Act, and it appeared to him to be the proper one.
The bill was read a first time, and the second reading fixed
for Thursday week.
The house then adjourned, at 7 o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS—(YESTERDAY.
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
ANSWER TO THE ADDRESS.

Colonel FORESTER, Comptroller of the Royal House-
hold, brought up the answer of her Majesty to the Address
that had been voted by the house in reply to the Speech
from the Throne, which was as follows :—" I have received
with much satisfaction your loyal and dutiful address. I
rely with confidence on your careful consideration of the
measures which will be submitted to you, and I shall
be always ready to co-operate with you for the preservation
of the institutions of the country, and in promoting the in-
terests and prosperity of all classes of my subjects."