The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-16 00:00:00

PERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.—(YESTERDAY.)
The LORD CILA.NCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
lit five o'clock.

CHURCH RATES.

Petitions against the abolition of Church-rates were pre,
vented by Lord Colville and Lord St. Leonardo.
MONACO.
In reply to Lord TRURO,
Lord WODEHOUSE said it wa.3 quite true that the
Emperor of the French had given '£'26,000 to the Prince of
Monaco for a part of his territe;ry, but the noble lord was
in error in speaking of alinv.ation of Monaco. The villages
of Mentore and Roqueb.'- one had been assigned to France
in the manner deatr;', this course being a matter of dis-
cussion
for a, r'P'at length of time.
THE ITALIAN QUESTION.
The. Marquis of NORMANBY gave notice that on Fri-
da',/, the Ist of March, he intended to call the attention of
:their lordships to the correspondence that had lately been
laid before their lordships by command of her Majesty.
THE NEW COURTS OF LAW.
Lord ST. LEONARDS, pursuant to notice, drew the
attention of the house to the report of the commissioners
of inquiry as to the expediency of building new law courts
on the same spot, and where the money is to come from,
with a view of preserving the funds arising
from the in-
vestments of moneys belonging
to taissuners of the Court of
Chancery for their benefit and better security, for which
Purpose the moneys were laid out, subject to certain
charges, and for reducing the fees payable to the court by
such suitors, for which object the funds stand appropriated.
The question was one of very great importance; for the
adoption of the report would involve an expenditure of not
lees than £1,400,000. When he held the office of Lord
Chancellor he had to provide accommodation for the Lord
Chancellor and the Lords Justices, and those courts had
answered their purpose very well. The Master of the
Rolls, whose court possessed every possible accommodation,
had a house adjoining his court, and near it was a magni-
ficent building for the deposit of the rolls, of which he was,
as his name denoted, the keeper. The Master of the Rolls,
when before the Commission, had expressed his utter dis-
inclination to be removed from his present court and reel •
deuce. It would be very inconvenient and improper that
the Master of the Rolls should not be near the place where
the rolls, of which he had the custody, were deposited. He
said he had every convenience that could be given to him
for the discharge of his official duties, and he objected to
being removed from his present locality. The Vice-Chan-
cellors were now three in number. The Vice-Chancellor
of England had a court built for him some time ago, which
had answered and still answered the purpose that was re-
quired for the administration of justice. He himself prac-
tised there a long time, and was able to say that it was well
adapted for the purpose for which it was built. There was,
therefore, no want of accommodation for the Vice-Chan-
cellor of England. The Lords Justices were also provided
for; they had very good chambers, but they ought to be in
contiguity to their court. There were two other vice-
chancellors, and they were provided for as badly as pos-
sible. Two courts were built for them by the Society
of Lincoln's-inn at their own cost; but they were cramped
for size, and there certainly was a need of courts for those
two equity judges. Last session a bill was introduced to
provide a site, and the Society of Lincoln's-inn were willing
to advance the money to build the courts. They proposed
to lay out £lOO,OOO of their own money; and it was pro.
posed that out of the income of the suitors' fund, or the ge-
neral fund belonging to the suitors of the Court of Chancery,
there should be paid an annual rent to the society, which it
was estimated would amount to about £4,000, that fund
being already burdened with a yearly expenditure of £2,000
for Chambers. The plans might be carried into execution
in a twelvemonth ; and this was all that was required for
the proper administration of justice. The commissioners to
whom the subject had been referred had recommended that
a large site of land between Carey-street and the Strand
should be purchased as a site for the new law offices. The
locality contained 370 houses ; it was densely populated ;
and it was usual, when Parliament took such a site, to pro-
vide for the displaced population. This, however, the com-
missioners had not provided for. The amount of £675,000
would be required to pay for the old buildings, and exactly
the same sum to erect the new ones. He believed the Cen-
tral Criminal Court was intended to remain where it was,
because the practitioners there objected to its removal. The
Insolvent Court also was to remain, so that the impression
must not go abroad that there was to be a perfect concentra-
tion. There was, however, another court, that of the Com-
missioners in Lunacy, which he hoped would not be re-
moved. It was frequented by many suitors whose mental
and physical condition deserved the greatest consideration,
and he trusted their interests would be duly studied. Then
as to the financial part of the scheme, it was proposed that
£1,400,000 should be raised by a seven years' charge
upon the suitors' fee fund. But seven years seemed an
unreasonable time to wait for the raising of a sum
of £1,400,000, when another scheme which had been
proposed might be accomplished in one year. Supposing
new courts t) be provided for the suitors in equity in Lin- 1
olzt's-inn, a few steps across Carey-street would be all that
Was necessary to communicate with the new law courts ;
thus also all exposure to the noise and turmoil of the Strand
would be avoided. He did not find fault with any general
scheme for the concentration of the courts ; but into the
general question he would not now enter. All he would say
wan, that those persons who believed that concentration
would be all gain were mistaken. There was a debtor side
of the account, and in some respects a great loss would be
incurred by bringing all the courts together. Great stress
was laid upon the argument that if the courts were concen-
trated judges would be able frequently to communicate with
each other. But in the coarse of the five years during
which he presided as Chancellor in Ireland, where the
courts were all assembled together, and there was but one
legal society, he never remembered to have had the slightest
communication with any other court, nor did any other
judge consult with him. With regard to the evidence in
favour of the scheme, he believed that its principal pro-
mr)ters were the Incorporated Society of Solicitors, in Chan-
cery-lane, and he believed it was a matter of the greatest
importance to them, being as they were great houses of
agency for country solicitors. It was proposed, however,
that £1,400,000 should be taken from the suitors' fee fund.
He thou ght he should be able to show their lordships that
withor.t doubt the fund in question belonged wholly to the
suite rs in the Court of Chancery. He could also show to
their lordships that it had always been dealt with as a fund
which belonged to them, and that the proceeds of the whole
Tund had, with a small exception, been already appropriated
by Parliament. The income of the fund was barely more
than enough to answer the charges that had been fixed
upon it by Parliament. Now the promoters did not ven-
ture to ask for this large stun by direct taxation ; so they
proposed to take it front the suitors' fee fund, and if any
loss was incurred, to throw such loss upon the consoli-
dfated fund. So that indirectly a system of public taxa-
tion was adopted, They proposed first of all to take the
money from a particular 'source, and then to apply to the
consolidated fund for its recoupment. With regard
to the suitors' foe fund, he must beg to remind their lord-
ships tb at the origin of this fund dated from the year 1726.
Before; that time the funds of the Court cf Chancery had
beer paid to the masters of the court, and it was found that
this° officers, having been entrusted with the money of
tethers, had misappropriated and wasted the funds of the
suitors. Lord Macclesfield, as their lordships would retnem-
ler, was fined £30,000. This sum, with accumulations of
Interest, reached £51,000 ; and that sum, together with
duties itaileesed by Parliament, made up the deficiency.
r,nbgequeutly an officer was appointed in lieu of the masters,
maned the Accountant-Generalof the Court of Chancery, and
all moneys paid in by the suitors were directed to be placed
to his account. It seemed the gentlemen who advocated this
change were scarcely aware of the extreme complication of
thPA account. At the Bank also there was a very complex
e,ystem of accounts, where the funds of all the suitors were
entered. If that account were disturbed, one of the best sys-
tems ever constructed for the benefit of the suitor would be
destroyed. At that moment the funds in the Court of Chan-
cery amounted to 40 millions of money. He recollected
upon one occasion, when he was first in the House of Com-
mons, hearing a very amiable and animated conversation be-
tween the then Chancellor of the Exchequer and Kr. Bar.
ing, in which it was proposed to take these 40 millions of

money, invest in the funds, and give the suitors 3 per cent.
for their money. It would amouut to confiscation, and the

mnfidenco of every suitor in the court would be shakenat

-.mous
once. Since that time, though %, Chancellors of the
Exchequer had made inquiries about the fund, there had
been no attempt to interfere with it. The first time any por-
tion of the money had been appropriated was by an act of
the 12th of Geo. 11., when a portion of the fund investedwas
to pay the salary of the Accountant-General; but it was
stated in the very title of that act that the object of the step
Was for " the ease of the suitors." Tho same principle had
continued to be acted upon to the present time; and so far
from regarding the suitors' fund as applicable to any pur-
pose to which the Chanceller of the Exchequer might desire
to devote it, the salaries' of the Chancery judges had actually
been transferred from it to the Consolidated Fund, Power
was given to the Lord Chancellor by orders from time to
tim° t 0 abolish or reduce existing fees, and to substitute
others for them, and in 18.54 he (Lord St. Leonards) made
changes which would now be equivalent to reducing the
fees payable by the suitors by £40,000 a year—a relief
which, if.capitalised, would represent no less than £551,000,
At the present, time the fee fund had only a margin of £2,000
a year over the expenditure chargeable on it. The com-
mittee, in their report, said that in time past the suitors'
fee fund was exclusively applied for the benefit of the
suitors,
wbeut that new and varied exigencies had arisen.
What these new and varied exigencies ? Why, that
seven acres of compact buildings were be the space thrown open, andnow emulat to e
beected thereon.
er taken down,
The fund, however, belonged exclusively to the suitors, The
Lord Chancellor wasa great public officer, holding sacredly
these funds for the benefit of the suitors ; and:it would be
highly improper that they should be applied to any other
purpose. The noble and learned lord concluded by thank-
ing their lordships for the attention they had given to his
remarks.

The LORD CHANCELLOR said that the opinions of
hfn noble anal learned friend were entitled to the greatest
weight, but he thought he had made a mistake in bringing