The Sun.
London, England, 1835-04-14 00:00:00

CRIMINAL. JURISDICTION.

88. The criminal 'jurisdiction of the municipal corpora-
tions is extremely defective. The extent of it is tot4lly dis-
proportioned to the importance cf the town, or to the. pro-
bable intelligence and respectability of its magistrates. In
Bath, with a population exceeding 50,000, in the city and
suburbs, no felonies can be tried, but all must be sent to a
distance, varying from 18 to 50 miles. In \Vinchelsea, with
a population of 772, and in Dunwich, with a population of
only 232, the jurisdiction extends to capital felonies. The
condition of concurrent or exclusive authority corresponds
as little as the extent of the jurisdiction itself with. the mo-
dern importance of the towns, or with the principles of ex-
pediency arising out of their situation, and their means of
communication with the seat of count.), jurisdiction. The
grant of exclusive power appears either to have depended
entirely on accident or caprice, or to have been determined
by circumstances which have long disappeared.
Many corporations have disused the jurisdiction conferred
by charter. This has generally arisen from an unwilling-
ness in the corporate magistrates to undertake the responsi-
bility attached to the exercise of such jurisdiction.
89. The party spirit which pervades the municipal coun-
cils extends itself to the magistracy, which is appointed by
those bodies, and from their members. The magistrates
are usually chosen from the aldermen, and the aldermen
are generally political partisans. Hence, even in those
cases in which injustice is not absolutely committed, -a strong
suspicion of it is excited, and the local tribunals cease to
inspire respect. The corporate magistrates, generally, speak-
ing, are not looked upon by the inhabitants with favour or
respect, and are often regarded with -positive distrust and
dislike.

90. The corporate magistrates are often selected from a
class incompetent to the discharge of judicial functions, and
the consequence has been, a great defect in the administra,
tion of justice. At Est Retford, a respectable witness,
who had been clerk to the magistrates, declared that One
of the magistrates was in the habit of conversing familiarly
with the culprits brought before him, and endeavoured to
impress them with the, dea that he was performing an un-
willing office. On one occasion he saw the magistrate
fighting with a prisoner, and struggling with him on the
floor. At Malmesbury the magistrate's are often unable to
write or •read. At Wenlock blank warrants have been
signed by the magistrates ; in one ease a blank warrant of
commitment was granted by mistake, instead of one of.ap-

prehension, and the constable bad it in his possession for
several weeks before he executed it. The jurisdiction of
the borough magistrates at Wei:lock is exclusive ; it. ex-
tends over seventeen parishes, and contains.a population ex-
ceeding 17,000 persons.
Even when the corporate magistrates belong to a su-
perior class; they are often selected from the senior alder-
men only, who, from age and infirmities, soon become in-
capable of performing the functions of their office, while a
mistaken notion of dignity keeps them from resigning it.
91. A circumstance much complained of in many places
is the non-residence of the magistrates, and this occurs

sometimes to an extent that mast be highly inconvenient,
without amounting to so great a mischief as would induce
Court- of King's Bench to interfere on application for
their removal. 'Besides, the expense and uncertainty of
such an application are sufficient to deter most persons from.
having recourse to it.
92. The evils resulting from the ignorance and in-
efficiency of the borough ,magistrates are heightened by
gross defects in other parts ofs' the judicial system. The
juries of the borough courts- are often exclusively taken
from the freemen; who, besides being composed of an
inferior class, are strongly tainted with party feel-
ings. Northampton furnishes a strong instance of this.
At Carmarthen, verdicts are frequently given against
justice, from party bias. - The population of that town
is 10,000, but the jurors are chosen from a small body of
173 burgesses. At the Spring Assizes of 1833, a true bill
was found by the grand jury of the borough for a capital
felony. The grand jury consisted of 20 burgesses ;
these, 17 belonged to the corporation party, and the fore-
man was the committing magistrate. The. panel of
the
petty jury contained 46 persons belonging to the corpora-
tion party, 12 of the defendants' party, and only txo neu-
trals. An application was made to the judge to order the
indictment to be tried in Carmarthenshire. The trial took
place there, and the defendants were acquitted. The only
answer to this statement was given by one of the sheriffs,

who said that there was not a-sufficietit number of respect-
able persons of the defendants' party to enable him to sum-
mon a grand jury equally from both sides, and that the

petty jury was summoned from those burgesses who bad not

attended the previous assizes. At Haverfordwest, where
none but burgesses can serve on the juries, there are only
141 burgesses, and not 50 who are fit to serve on them : the

juries there, have been openly reprimanded by judges and
magistrates for improper acquittals of burgesses upon cri-
ininal prosecutions ; the practice has not been checked by
such reprimands, and the general opinion is, that it is " im-
possible to convict a burgess."
93. The most incompatible offices are often united in the
person of the town-clerk. He very frequently acts as de-
puty-recorder; which practice, in our opinion, cannot be
too strongly condemned. He is often, practically, the prin-

cipal attorney for the prosecution of offenders tried a the
borough sessions, whose commitment he had previously ad-
vised in his character of clerk to the magistrates. Even
when his name does not appear to the prosecution, the same

evil often ensues from its being in the hands of his partner.
In York and Hull great complaints have been made of the
conduct of prosecutions by the town-clerk's partner, and in
the latter place of the advantages which the rules of prac-
tice give him over other attorneys. In Preston, the town-
clerk is a member of the council, and his partner is the
senior alderman, a magistrate, and a coroner. A strange
incongruity sometimes appears in the election of the town-
clerk to the office of mayor ; in some places where this has
occurred an attempt has been made to gloss over the irre-
gularity, by appointing another town-clerk during the year
of his mayoralty. Whilst the same officer thus unites the
characters of judge and prosecutor, the selection of the
juries is often entirely committed to his discretion, and it
cannot be a matter of surprise that suspicions of unfairness
and partiality should be excited.
CIVIL JURISDICTION.

94. The defects which prevail in the administration of
civil justice in corporate towns are of the same kind as those
to which we have adverted under the head of criminal ju-
risdiction. The same union of incompatible functions is
found in these courts.
If the recorder does not attend, the town-clerk becomes
the real judge of the court, from the incompetence of the
other magistrates to perform their duty.
At Reading, the town-clerk, during his mayoralty, tried
and taxed the costs of a cause in which his partner was one
of the attornies. In many towns, although he does not
practice in the court of record as an attorney in his own
name, he is the real attorney in the cause. At Kendal, the
town-clerk's partner, who is an alderman, practices in the
civil court. The same thing occurs at Scarborough, where
the town-clerk acts as assessor in the civil court, and also
taxes the costs.
This union of conflicting duties is very adverse to the
proper administration of justice : it is a frequent cause of
suspicion and jealousy amongst the inhabitants, even where
the character of the officer is a security against improper
conduct. It is justly made the subject of complaint that
the town-clerk should act as an atterney of the court, either
in his own name, or in that of his partner or agent, as in
fact it places the whole power over the proceedings of the
suit in the hands of the attorney of one of the parties.
95. The town-clerk often selects the juries in these as

ell as in the criminal courts, and they are often chosen
from the same objectional class. At Portsmouth, the ju-
ries are selected by one of the sergeants-at-mace, who is
chosen out of two by the plaintiff's attorney. At Chiches-
ter, they are summoned by an officer who is one of the four
nominal attornies in court, the real attorney in the cause
having the power oftelecting the nominal attorney.
96. The sergeant's-at-mace and other ministerial officers
of the court who are placed in the situation of sheriffs, are
often persons whose pecuniary responsibility is insufficient
to afford any security to the suitors.
97. The costs of a suit in these courts are in general
very considerable, taking into account the fact that the ex-
pence of witnesses, which elsewhere is one of the heaviest
charges in a suit, is here invariably light. The costs of a
plaintiff often vary from 15/. to 20/. ; of a defendant, from-
-81. to 121. The whole system of fees and costs in these
courts is objectionable. There is, generally, no authorised
table of them, and frequently no well-defined practice on
the subject. They are mostly in the discretion of the
town-clerk, though they are in some places taxed by the
mayor. They bear little relation to the services in respect
of which they are paid, and bear no reasonable proportion
to the average value of the matter in question. Even un-
der the present mode of proceeding a reduced scale of fees
and costs might be introduced ; but with an improved
practice their amount might be materially lessened.
98. Among other causes which have led to the disuse of
these courts may be accounted the want of professional skill
in the judges. Nor can it be doubted that the intimacy
which must necessarily exist between the judge and the
parties who appear before him has been one source of the
disinclination to resort to these tribunals. A few minutes
convert the tradesman and the customer into the judge and
the Suitor. Another prominent cause of the desertion of
these courts has been the facility of removing the causes,
and the general inclination, on the part of legal practitioners,
to sue in the superior courts. The plaintiff, on procuring
execution, can avail himself of it only within the limits of
the local jurisdiction. His process, therefore, is frequently
fruitless, the defendant removing himself and his goods be-
yond the limits of the court. This was a very common
subject of complaint. These courts possess• an unlimited
power of imprisonment, which in some cases is made the
means of great oppression.
99. Notwithstanding their defects, a very general desire
was expressed on the part of the inhabitants of those bo-
roughs where the civil courts had fallen into disuse for
their revival ; and any system which would have the effect
of distributing justice where the parties interested reside
would be regarded as one of the greatest boons which the
Legislature could confer.

100. Many of the evils we have enumerated as prevailing
in the administration of criminal and civil justice result
from the continuance of jurisdiction after the decay of the
borough. The limited population of many boroughs pre-
cludes the possibility of finding within them competent per-
sons to discharge the duties of magistrates, even in petty
sessions, although a sufficient number might be found capa-
ble of superintending the police, and the paving, lighting,
&c. of the town. Even in the • more important boroughs,
great injustice results from intrusting the.powers of sitting
as magistrates in quarter sessions, and as judges of civil
procedure, to persons not having professional knowledge and
experience.