The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-29 00:00:00

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Mr. HOLLAND, of Liverpool, thought that the great object
of the conference should be to endeavour to bring before the
Government those proposals for improvement which were
most prominent, and on which there was the greatest amount
of agreement. lie should therefore move that a deputation
should be appointed to wait on the head of her Majesty's Go-
vernment, and call his attention to the defects in the admi-
, nistration of the bankruptcy law, more especially with a view
of diminishing the expense of the proceedings, and to throw
the cost of compensation on the Consolidated Fund.
Mr. A. PELLATT spoke in favour of the total abolition of
imprisonment for debt.
Several other gentlemen having similarly expressed them-
selves,
Mr. HBADLAM seconded the motion of Mr. Holland, which
was, after some further conversation, adopted by the
meeting.

Mr. CRAUFIIRD then laid before the conference his proposed
Judgments Execution Bill, which met with the approval of
the delegates present.
Mr. RANKIN then brought up the report of the committee
appointed on the previous evening to consider the question of
the principle of summary diligence, reporting completely in
its favour.
The proceedings of the morning's sittings then terminated.

EVENING SITTING.
The conference last night held its evening sitting at the
rooms of the Law Amendment Society, on which occasion
Lord Brougham again presided.
Mr. Mamma! Ross, of Manchester, having called the atten-
tion of the society to the present anomalous state of the taw
relating to principal and agent,
Mr. CUAELES HOLLAND, of Liverpool, introduced the sub-
ject of tribunals of commerce, by stating with what satisfac-
tion he had hoard the handsome manner in which the exer-
tions of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce to establish
such tribunals had been alluded to in the report. At the
conference held in 1852, the Liverpool Chamber had brought
forward the same question for discussion, stating that their
object was to secure for the decision of mercantile cases a
tribunal at once simple, cheap, and efficacious. Their views
on that occasion met with the general support of the Law
Amendment Society, the only point of difference between
them being that while the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce
held that in the constitution of such courts the mercantile
element should predominate, it was the opinion of the society
that the legal element should have that advantage.
Mr. HEATH then read the scheme drawn up by the Liver-
pool merchants, which, after giving a brief history of their
endeavours to have tribunals of commerce established in
every part of the United Kingdom, and the mercantile law
of England Scotland, and Ireland assimiliated, went on to
describe the successful action of similar courts in France,
and other continental countries, detailing the system of the r
organisation, their procedure, and the vast amount of litiga-
tion which, by their agency, was satisfactorily determined.
It next maintained that men of business in this country were
not inferior in ability, education, or clearness of intellect, to
the corresponding class of men in any other country, and
that if such tribunals had existed, many of those cases con-
nected with mercantile transactions which had lately so much
alarmed the trading community, such as the questions relat-
ing to crossed cheques, dock warrants, and bills of lading,
would have been settled with ease and cheapness. Having
referred to the circumstance that the working of the Code
Napoleon was greatly overrated--that in consequence of the
number of new classes of cases springing out of a new state
of things, to meet which it was impossible to bend the pro-
visions of that dig st, it had become clogged and encumbered
with an nc3umulation of judge-made law, Mr. Heath con-
chided by recommending that the courts in question should
be legally established, and that two or more merchants, with
a lawyer as their assessor, should bo in each port the judges
of all mercantile disputes.
On the conclusion of the reading of the paper, a long dis-
cussion ensued with respect to the question which it advo-
cated. The necessity for the establishment of such tribunals
was generally admitted. It was, however, observed that the
demand for them proceeded on the supposition that the law
did not at present recognise the principle of arbitration or
reference. With regard, however, to the peculiar shape in
which the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce desired to see
them modelled, there was a considerable difference of opinion;
some of the members of the conference held that the mer-
chants of the United Kingdom were not, however respectable
their position and their attainments, men with minds trained
to clear logical deduction, the great desideratum in a judge,
and that, as in the case of the committees of the House of
Commons appointed to decide on the merits of election peii-
tions, it would be found that there would be no uniformity
in their decisions, but that one custom would bo found to
prevail at Liverpool and another at Newcastle. It was
further alleged that the existing courts of the country were
sufficient for all purposes if the law were only simplified, and
the courts of assize more frequently held. In support of the
plan, it was contended that it was the general opinion of
mercantile men that merchants were the best qualified per-_
sous to form an opinion with respect to mercantile matters;
that the lay element already prevailed in the administra-
tion of justice by county magistrates and the landed aris-
tocracy, with whom, as was shown by their skill as jury.
men, the merchants of the kingdom, as a class, did not
yield in intellectual calibre and acumen, having among them-
selves an aristocracy of talent, honour, and probity. Arbi-
tration, it was maintained, was an objectionable mode of
procedure, insomuch as it placed the referee in an uncomfort-
able position, and gave the immoral man all the advantages
of secrecy, his unfair dealing escaping that exposure which it
would be sure to receive in an open court.
In the course of these proceedings, Lord Brougham men-
tioned that when he went the Northern Circuit it was the
common saying, both of the bench and of the bar, that the
common law juries in Liverpool were equal to the special
juries to be got anywhere else.
A letter was also read from Mr. F. Lyne, strongly advo-
cating the establishment of such tribunals. The matter was
finally referred to the committee, and the proceedings ter-
minated.

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and be could say the first thing creditomenUm
arrest was the placing the estate in bankruptcy..
Mr. HEAT'', of Liverpool, complained that theuprocitetlings:-.."
in bankruptcy were not kept perfectlg secret, as it was
rather hard upon the creditor that he should not only have
to sustain the loss of his debt, but should have his credit
injured by that loss being made public.
Lord BROUGHAM said that the remarks of the last speaker
were opposed to the demand for judicial statistics.
Mr. RANKIN would do away with the official assignee,
and get tradesmen to administer the estate of the bankrupt.
Lord BROUGIIAM mentioned that Mr. Smith, M.P. a mem-
ber of the banking house of Smith, Payne, and Co., hai in the
House of Commons stated that he was opposed to theappoint-
meut of trade assignees, although by the substitution of offi-
cial assignees for them his own establishment would lose
then proposed a resolution to the effect that
it was the opinion of the meeting that the bankruptcy laws
abmourt. 7R,02411 per annum.
had proved ineffie ent for the purpose for which they had
been enacted, that the costs were excessive Sand that it was
desirable that the creditors should have the control over the
administration of the estate.

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