The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-28 00:00:00

THE LORD CHANCELLOR

things which creates a new Lord Chancellor every
change of Ministers is not inevitable, and may excuse
some impatience in persons who have seen perhaps
more than one Lord Chancellor in court since the
commencement of their suits.

The remedy is obvious, and has great names
to recommend it, though there may be some ques-
tion as to the details. A Lord Chancellor
with no other duties than those of his own
Court, irremovable like the rest of the judges,
and with 8,000/. or 9,000/. per annum, would be in
a most honourable and enviable position, and cer-
tainly with less anxiety than the holder of the office
in its present multifarious form. On the other hand,
a judicial Speaker of the House of Lords, authorised,
with assistance, to hear appeals from the Lord Chan-
cellor, a Cabinet Minister, and therefore sharing
political vicissitudes, with' 5,000/. or 6,000/. per
annum, and with the immense patronage of the office,
would be also an office of great importance and honour.
Whether with such an arrangement it would be ne-
ce-sary to have three Vice-Chancellors would be a
matter for discussion, but the appeals from the judg-
ment of these functionaries are so frequent as to justify
the belief that much labour is lost under the present
arrangement. Whatever the necessity of a change,
or the merits of this or that plan, nowt t
all events,
is the time for thinking about it.—Times.

CORONERS' INQUESTS.
Love AND SUICIDE.—On Saturday evening, at
six o'clock, Mr. William Carter, the coroner for
Surrey, opened a long inquiry at the Old ALtre
Tavern, Broad-wall, Blackfriars-road, respecting the
death of Thomas Hunt Cooper, aged 29 years, lately
residing at No. 5, Knight Ryder-court, Doctors'-
commons, who committed the following dreadful act
of self-destruction under the circumstances briefly
detailed in the subjoined evidence of the principal
witness :
Elizabeth Straker, of No. 1, Thomas-place, Gravel-
lane, Blackfriars-road, stated that she had known the
deceased for many years. Witness had been fre-
quently annoyed by the deceased, who followed her
_
about daily from place to place, more particularly
during the last 14 weeks, and occasionally he would
threaten to take her life. Witness at one time went
in bodily fear, and told him if he persisted in
continuing his annoyance she would seek assist-
ance by application to a magistrate. The deceased
for a short time desisted, but again resumed his
"visits, when she was about to go to a police-court,
when the deceased begged so earnestly that she
would not, that she again declined, on his promising
not to annoy her again. The deceased still continued to follow her, and on Thursday morning last witness
hearda knock at the street door, and upon opening it
witness saw the deceased, who exclaimed in a loud
voice, "I will blow your brains out ;" at the satins
moment deceased presented a pistol towards witnes§, who called for the landlord in the front parlour, who
came out and stepped between them. The deceased
rust'
o -.9t4rs„ and the next moment the report of a
r NvaK d \fin when the witness and the land-
-1 re'rea\ch'e4 tier cond-floor back room, they dis-
Aoyeiedltie'decekts lying a corpse on the floor, with
thp upper-portiol of, his head blown to pieces. De-
, cepfa ieemectlfar!ss, and by his side lay a pistol.
tgo
,
' • 4

V:‘;

After a prolonged contest with an enfeebling disease
and increasing years, Lord Cottenham, it is positively
stated, is about to follow the example of Lord pen-
man, and resign an office the high responsibilities of
which he can no longer discharge. The resignation
of a judge is a rare event, and the resignation of a
Lord Chancellor is a very great event, for, in nine
cases out of ten, a political reverse anticipates both
death and decay. The disease most fatal to a Lord
Chancellor is an adverse majority in the Commons;
and the same calamity that suddenly extinguishes the
highest officer of the State in the full vigour of his
faculties, and in the very midst of his duties, invari-
ably finds another man ready for the place, and in a
condition to demand it from the chief of his party.
Hence there is no opportunity or interval for any
other purpose than to fill up the vacancy. The case
is now altogether different. Lord Cottenham has
gradually found himself unequal to the overpowering
responsibilities of his office, and although there are
men not unworthy to succeed him, there is neither
so remarkable a pre-eminence of talent ner so deep a
political obligation to any one man as to compel a
certain choice. An opportunity, therefore, presents
itself which has long been wished for in vain,—an
opportunity for considering, not the successor, but the
office itself. It is not very long since that office was
put in commission, when the object was to get over
some political and personal difficulties. Should any
change in its constitution be contemplated, a com-
mission would give time for the necessary discussion
of so important a measure.
The idea which has floated in the mind of succes-
sive law reformers has been a separation of the Lord
Chancellor's judicial and political functions. There is
something revolting to the feelings and common sense
of an Englishman in a political judge—a man essen-
tially a partisan, ascending and descending the tri-
bunal at the beck of a popular assembly, and selected
for his partialities as well as for his legal acumen. So
the first and most popular notion of the thing to be
done is to have an irremovable judge in the Court of
Chancery, and a removable Speaker in the House of
Lords. This idea, which finds favour with many who
are fortunately ignorant of the Chancery, is founded
on a very imperfect appreciation of the evils to be re-
moved ; and it is only by reviewing the manifold
duties of the Lord Chancellor, and by remembering
what takes place at every change of office, that is,
once every three or four years, that we see the
strength of the reasons fora fundamental alteration.
The Lord Chancellor may be said to preside over
the two highest courts of justice in this country, and
one Legislative Assembly. The Court of Chancery
is so far sufficient fur one man, that the arrears have
now accumulated beyond the probability of their
being discharged, by any one Chancellor, be he ever
so able, energetic, and young. Of course during
Lord Cottenham'e illness those arrears have increased,
and the only symptom of their ever being cleared in
his Lordship's time was the recent announcement that
he had just given a remarkably able judgment in
chambers. The number of suitors, and the amount of
property at stake, are beyond belief. We will not
venture to say how many millions the Suitors' Fund,
or the money actually in the hands of the Court, is
estimated at. The difficulties, the delays, and the
consequent expenses, are not only so great, but so
inevitable, that it is a common saying, that no pro-
perty less than 1,0001. is worth fighting for in Chan-
cery against a long purse, even with the best possible
opinions on your side. Notwithstanding the un-
doubted ability and character of the present Lord
Chancellor and his immediate predecessors, there has
been no very material improvement of late years, in
the progress of suits and the state of business, and
the ill-fame of the Court is at this moment almost as
flagrant as ever.
Without referring more particularly to the vast
amount of business devolving on the Lord Chancellor
in the care of wards and other matters of delicacy, or
matters of detail, we will pass on to the other Court
over which he presides—the House of Lords, as the
highest judicial tribunal of this country. But few peo-
ple—few even of the wretched suitors themselves, know
the thorough farce of an appeal to the House of
Lords. Every Tuesday and Thursday the Lord
Chancellor's own court is closed, and proceedings
there suspended. On those days he sits in the Lords
to hear appeals from his own judgments in his own
court. He sits there alone, yet not quite alone, for the
court must not sit unless two other Peers are present.
Those two other Peers, so necessary to the adminis-
tration of justice, are there by virtue of a rota. Two
Peers are summoned for one day, and the two Peers
next in the list for the next day, and so forth. If a
trial lasts several days two Peers attend at the open-
ing, and then retire ; two others attend at the next
stage, and then give place to others, till the judgment
is delivered, with the assistance of two Peers who
have not heard one syllable of the trial, and need not
have the least conception of what it is about. Be-
sides these two lay Peers, there is also a gratuitous
and occasional attendance of legal Peers, who are not
necessary to the constitution of the court, and who,
except in one memorable instance, have seldom put
the Lord Chancellor in a minority. In fact, there-
fore, the Lord Chancellor, really alone, hears the trial
over again, and sits in judgment on his own decision.
The presidency of this court takes from the Lord
Chancellor two days out of six in the spring and
summer terms. The enormous expense, delay, and
other inconvenience it inflicts on the suitors, it is need-
less to describe, for they are doomed men and have
prepared for the worst.
Besides these two judicial offices,—for we must
assign a plurality to offices when there is an appeal
from one to the other,—the Lord Chancellor presides
over the House of Lords in its legislative capacity ;
and, if his time and strength are not so severely taxed
as the Speaker's of the House of Commons, he has
often to spend on the woolsack many hours which he
might otherwise employ in rest, or in preparation.
In addition to the above three important functions,
the Lord Chancellor is also a member of the Cabinet,
and, as such, is required to assist at councils, and
give advice, at times possibly very inconvenient to the
Court which claims his first attentions.
In the event of a change of Ministry, or, as now, in
the event of resignation through illness, the Lord
Chancellor, after holding his office three or four
years, and after having acquainted himself with
a number of complicated causes in progress, is
suddenly lost to the Court and the suitors, and
his place is taken by a man who has all to begin over
again. Every suitor who now has some hopes of a
judgment, and who has reason to believe that matters
are really in train for a conclusion, finds himself
euddenly thrown back, and his hopes nipped in the
bud, by the advent of a man to whom he and his cause
are utterly unknown. In the rare case of a vacancy
through death or illness, of course this is inevitable,
and can only be met with patience ; but the state of