The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-10 00:00:00

county courts, but he thought the House ought to prl),
teed to the consideration of this Bill with the greatev
possible caution. The exietiog Act, limiting p:aheel
those courts to 201., had been introduced to Itailiareq
by successive Governments, nod had undergone t'o
most careful revision, both by successive in Select Cety.o"
mit:a:es and the highest legal authorities. Ile he'll,
it was first brought forward by Lord :,Melbourne's /id
ministration, in 1841, but it did not then pmse,
a Bill was again iritroduccd, coritaining tb
same provisions, by the Government of the Right '4°.:4
Member for Tamworth. When that Gentleman rein.
from office the measure was taken up by the preset;
Administration, and eventually brearee law. He (5,
G. Grey) was not prepared to say that Parliament tc'j
precluded from considering whether an extension
the provisions of that Act might not be desirable. bat jv
thought they ought not hastily to pass the second readtw.
of a Bill which made so important a change in these courtJj,
to take away their character as tribunals for the set't
ment of small debts. The Bill proposed to extend td
jurisdiction from 201. to 50/., and in regard to cases
slander and libel from 5/. to 201., rind he presumes%
this principle were acceded to and worked well, v
Hon. Gentleman who had charge of the mini
would come forward next year, and move mini
the jurisdiction be extended indefinitely, accompat';
with what must necessarily follow, an increase of
salaries of the judges, as well as of the officers of :;
courts. Thus a heavy burden would be thrown onre
Consolidated Fund. The Bight Hon. Gentleman t_e
referred to the most objectionable parts of the Bill, Pi
moved us au amendment that the Bill be read a :(0°
time that day six months, intimating that if the 0,:
assented to the Bill, he should object to those provioio
which increased the salary of the judges and the clero
Mr. LAW seconded the amendment.
Mr. J. EVANS said, parties who bad now debt 11,
204 betore these small debts' courts were enableil4
recover those debts speedily and cheaply. The oil
question now before the House was, whether they eh'',
du what they had been called upon by the urninim7),
voice of the country to do, namely, to extend to sot vs
jurisdiction of the county courts. He would supci
this Bill, considering it was a judicious extensiePat
a system which had already been found to work
,WY
Under the new county court system they could'
what they could not do in a superior court of Pi
namely, recover a do lot without quibble and
vexation.—(Hear, hear.) Another advantage aria',""
from the Small Debts Act was, that it brought the ret
ties together personally, which facilitated the settletro
of their dispute, but which never happened in any 440
superior courts. A great deal of expense was also folei
by admitting the litigants to state their own ease 1,130
selves, and to give evidence in support of it. lie
vote for the proposed extension.
Mr. MARTIN considered the proposed extensiollo
a step towards doing away with trial by jury altogolo
He believed the best system of judicature was,u,
which had existed time oat of mind, tinP;ii
for juries to decide upon matters of factsDO
for judges to decide on matters f
lie did not believe that the expense of law ind
tf
country was so great as to justify any departure eeoi
the ancient practice of adjudication in this countryrsdie
of leaving the question of facts to be decided by ttilie
and the question of law by a learned judge. lie tycor'
be thought to be speaking for his own interest, but died
teary was the case, and he should be borne out in this ovi
sent by his Learned Friends in the House. He did e°/te,
that there were not many things in the practice of , y
superior courts which might be amended, but tittlis
thought that that ought to be leit in the hands °
Government—no private Member could carry it out'
'would just mention the anomaly of allowing judgee'Cbes
to receive feca on circuit and in the judges' chat); ill
but none during term; and also the payment o'ol
at trials at nisi pries, when none were 1311./
at sitting in bunco. if the House pa2sed a ine6
to abolish them, he believed that, with the except.iv:4'"
the expense of witnesses, which must ala ass be to
extent fluctuating, the administration of juetico
be as cheap in this country us in any other coultti'cri
Europe. fie thought that if the Aherne}-Gs` on
brOught in some measure of thins sort ho was sur°A
he would not only do much to retain the ancient
of trial by jury in this country, but also do more
he ever had done to the cheaper and more eirectise
ministration of justice,

Mr. CRIST6PHER thought that if any argora°4o"d
trey great weight had been used to convince the •
'le
of the necessity of acceding to the second readtvpit!
this Bill, they were those that had been used ttloill
Hon. and Learned Gentleman who had just sat
This Bill was one calculated to remove an abuse "0
was complained tf from one end of the country tOO
other. Ile should not now enter into the quest'hi
salaries, which was involved in this Bill, but coutio°,4
seif to the actual necessity of the Bill. He could Who
the slighte.;t necessity why debts of any amount syoe
not be made recoverable by these courts, go ep
many instances where tradesmen had teen indite I
relinquish a great part of their debtsoop
order to sue for 201. merely before the co
courts' as a •more expeditious mode of reco
He was surprised to hear from the Learned Gentili,
(Mr. Martin) that the county court system via!
to 3o away with the trial by jury. Dirl that J4e,
Gentleman forget that in the county courts 60
interested in a suit might impannel a jury to try itl
thought proper. He (Mr. Christopher) thougm
proposed extension would be most beneficial to
country, and he would give it his cordial support.
Colonel THOMPSON had heard an eminent it`
banker say that any man might sue him for 5001.
would make no resistance. There might be 01001,
of hyperbole in that declaration, but at all 003130 t
would only say the matter might be made bettev,
il
possibly very much worse, by the proposed exteng
(A laugh.) 6
04r, Or'
Mr. CLAY could not see, if this extension icee;
ceded, where the encroachments on the superior cod
were likely to atop. He should like t°
the reformation of the laws undertaken by thoscjef
best understood them—he meant the members of tbeell
profession, but those members seldom or neverniefi
forwurd and tendered their services to the Gofer;
with that view. He thought that in a very shcrtild,
the proceedings in the superior courts of law It pr,
so much simplified and improved as to render tP;oSF.,
posed extension of the county court system uallec"te4
Mr. B. DENISON had been a little surprised -40 i,;
the rapid progress which had been made of latet'll
in this new system of judicature ; and he could IlTioltr
urging the House to pause before they consented
proposed extension.

(LEFT SITTING.)

FIRES AND Loss OF LlFE.—Yesterday -jlO
the firemen were called to Ship-yard, Tem/310.1)0:4
they found that the wearing apparel of Mrs. RachaeLt
the occupier of No. 25, had become ignited, and
poor creature was burned in a most frightful manner'orj
was forthwith removed to the hospital, where death s°.,, V
an end to her sufferings.—Last evening. between 61'4
seven o'clock, the neighbourhood of Park-street, 135411°
Southwark, was thrown into alarm in consequence unee,
breaking out in the premises belonging to Mr. Celrg
shuate in Moss- alley. The firemen and inhabitant( #ll°,
much trouble succeeded in getting the flames subdtletne' et°,
a most pitiable scene presented itself, for Mrs. Citl.
the wife of the owner of the property, was found so dreg '
burnell that the flesh when touched peeled off her bol,
medical gentleman was instantly sent for, who 1)0°
life t tally extinct.
Veit
METROPOLITAN FREE lIOSPITAL.--ThiS e•-aCe,t
institution held its anniversary meeting last evennibcoo4.
4.
London Tavern. In the absence of Lord Dudley ,e,LL
Stuart, the duties of the chair were efficiently discherboV
John Gurney Hoare, Esq. In proposing the toast of
Patrons of the Charity," the Chairman adverted to the of
fits that had been conferred upon the institution
Royal Highnesses Prince Albert and the Duke of 00 Il
Mr. Nash read the report, from which it appeared Wed f
hospital, during its fourteen years' existence, had reliervi,
less than 120,000 persons, or about 10,000 an°,
(Cheers.) It was one of the peculiar features of Ili cl Ej!
pital, that it gave relief to every sick person that apP",e frit
it.—(Cheers.) It had been considered desirable to opelitil
premises in Devonshire-square; and if the society Vi,,ef!
income of only 6001. a year had been able to do se
go,qi, what might not be done when the institution a
pidly advancing in public favour? Every shinny; tha ist
subscribed to it contributed to the relief of some Poet SS
suffering fellow-creature. The claims of the hosPita•ebsl'
afterwards warmly advocated by the Chairman, nr• ,lijoreo
Wingfield, Mr. Rogers, and Mr. John Gurney Fry. 0 el,
salt of the festival was announced to be nearly 1,6001.,
which considerably exceeded the expectations of its4etver
ters. It included the following sums : —The St.
Danes, Holborn Charity, Garnet'' ; Mr. Samuel Gera
Baron Rothschild, 21!. ; Mr. Thomas Baring, 201.;,.
.c,..‘
ward Gurney, 21/. ; Lord Dudley Stuart, 211.;
.51:(tp
Evans, M.P., 10!. lOs. The musical arrangements
evening were under the direction of Mr. Ransf,rd, 35sa
by Miss Ransford, Miss Ellen Lyon, Mr. Holmes, 011 gilt;
W. E. Runstord. Messrs. Bathe and Breach catered 10.
their customary taste to the gratification of the guests'
Mr. Hicks was an efficient toast-master.
‘tereu

Her Majesty the Queen of the Belgians eii4llot
on her 39th year on Wednesday last. Her Majesty W
at Palermo on the 3d of April, 1812.
La Patric of Bruges announces that it is Pr°,,b
that Louis Philippe and his family will visit Bruges
month of May next.