The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-11 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF CO.`vi MONS, April 10.
`OUN VY COURTS EXTENSIOg BILL.

..e,ntinued front our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
. B. DENIaION had been a little surprised to see
. eid progress which had been made of late years
• new system of julicature ; and he could not help
urging the House to pause before they consented to the
proposed extension. Ono of his objections to the Bill
• • eves, that it would do away with a great part of the
beitetit of the existing Act. It was proposed to establish
a c Art of appeal, but if such a provision were assented
to, very few decisions in these courts would give satisfac-
tion. A. Bill of this nature was of too great a magni-
tude to be brought in by a private Member, and should,
he thought, have been introduced by the Government
113,. upon it: own responsibility. The country had not yet
heel sufficient experience of the working of the present
Act, and on that ground he should oppose any further
extension of it.
kdt Te Mr. MITCHELL supported the Bill, and said the delay
Lel he' aed expense consequent upon a trial in a superior court
was so great that solicitors were in the habit of telling
their clients that they had better be robbed of 100/. than
• • run the risk of a trial for that sum before a nisi prius
he.. Actions in those courts were seldom or never
teteil before two years,nd after getting a verdict some
leigel quibble might be started, and a new
trial obtained, and perhaps no definite result was ar-
t rived at until after the lapse of four or five
-rani. by which time the property in dispute might, to
use a vulgar expression, have eaten off its own head.
lode= a, so great was the dislike of parties to enter a , .
su-
lernar court, that in 99 oases out of 100 they settled their
dhe)n:es by arbitration.
• ell. HENLEY would vote against the second reading.
e. - ,If tee Bit were reseed, it would effectually destroy the
usefulness of the existing county courts, which were
noye working very well, fier if the judges had to deal
iarga sums and important points of law, they would
.. be omapelled to slur over all cases of a minor character.
h'hiemumber of debtors in the year 1845, before the
eeseser courts came into operations, was 2,047, in 1846,
• th h. year of the new Act, the number was 3,847, and
it had swelled. up to 8,784. This showed the
of the Bill; add he should not be disposed to
• r its extension.
ele COCKBURN gave his earnest support to the
readieg of this Bill. He could not see any ma-
:. fference between 204 and 50!., and whea he saw
tee:, eitsee courts had already worked well, he did not
• L'7P telly they Should not extend their jurisdiction. It
d that they were doing away with trial by jury.
este eatertained a deep sense of the good which trial
•h f :eery had done for this country in political cases, but
04 : , ! : of property and common law he thought
thett very frequently a single judge was a more
edieit tit tribunal.--(Hear, hear.) With juries which
.1- • caule es got in Westminster and Guildhall, and in many
'ef tie towns, acid a judge of the superior courts presid-
ine,'; he, thought that this country could present the finest
e tees ethereal iu the world; but the experience of many years
t ;hi him that tlast was not always the case with juries
elsieh were got at many of the assizes. They had a
r- example in the equity courts, where there were
• ,ies. An objection of this kind was disposed
c ~/ the proviso in the Bill, which gave a right
-peal to all who thought fit to claim it. There was
euint which appeared to have been passed over by
every Gentleman who had spoken -on the subjec:e and.
thet 'was, that with the exception of London and West-
minster, justice was only administered at intervals of
•• twice a year in the country. It was all very well for
Hen. Gentlemen to get up in the House and eulogise the
stets of the law in this country. True it was that it was
inipessible that the character of judges could stand higher
than the character of the English judges did; but when
they considered the number of the tribunals which existed,
the. prolixity of the pleadings, and the fact that the law
was a sealed boOk to the great mass of the people, he
tboeeht that was not a state of the law which called for
ce!oey—far from it. One of the signs of the times
wheel he hailed with great delight was, that the most
eminent lawyers were becoming gradually mere and
snore sensible of the many abuses in the law, and
were ashamed of them. This was why it was
thet they saw his Iloucurable and Learned Friend
.the Solicitoe-General, and even the Attorney-General,
coming forward as law reformers. He could only say
that he gave his earnest and cordial support to the
t• second reading of the Bill, which he considered was a
l• •
greet step in the direction of reform.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL thought that he
should be waatifig in his public duty if, regardless of all
imputhtions on his motives, he did not state that this Bill,
if passed, would entirely destroy the good working of
toe county courts. But first he would beg to say that,
in regard to the hints which had been thrown out by the
and Learned Gentleman the Member fur Ponte-
,,,
efract, that those reforms had long been under the
..jeter, ceesoleration of Government. Every argument which
oeet ,Attler been urged by the supportets of the Bill had been
efe4,,-deeented not to the sum of 50/eebut to the general ju-
s riAation of the superior courts`.: He did not wish to
see anything in imputation of the gentlemen connected
esh:l. the county courts, but he thought that the clause
." to the increase of salaries had much to do with
tbe introduction of this Bill. He did not state this
rashly, for he held in his hand a circular addressed by
. the ekrks of the county courts throughout the country
to the mayors in different parts of the kingdom,
eiag et short form of petition to be presented by them
• to :.i.e House praying that all officials should no
ter e,er be paid by tees, but by salaries. It was
Fee v evident that the, question of salaries was at
the bottom of the introduction of this measure.
" • - The :heasure was so sweeping in its character that it
crbuld net only take away the jurisdiction of the supe-.
roe courts over sums between 201. and 50/., but would
reeethdi every local court which existed in the kingdom
fee the recovery of small debts. eThe Bill allowed
' the plaintiff and defendant to be sworn
wad examined, and he would ask the sup-
' -"erieters of the Bill if they were prepared to introduce
"I"tifri.riinciple into the superior courts? Lawyers know
treh%l-ii* instances where such a privilege had been al-
l' '-: the plaintiff and defendant had sworn point blank
" • heireetha at each other, and there could be no doubt that the
of this measure, if passed, would bo to encou-
rage the crime of perjury. But there was an-
, other objection to the Bill. The fact of having a
,hhjtedeee.veleo resided in the district and a local jury would
ko open to the suspicion that partialities might be shown
- The, decision of cases. He considered that the Bill
:e Atte Tull of objections, and would be fraught with great
:-htlitto2er It' pot into operation, and begged of the House
see teinause beforeit,eave an assent to the second reading.
er? AGLIONBY gave his cordial support to the
and bore testimony, in his own person, to the grie-
aons,effecte of the present system of adjudication.
MULLINGS could not understand the course
which,was .taken by the Government with re-
, geed to, this Bill. 'He bad not been converted by
ttie erguirients Which had been used by the Learned
A'eorhey-General. Ho should give his cordial support
!tle it, for ho considered, that it was a Bill which, with
- rof..Tenee to the movements of reform which were abroad
• frie this day, was a Step in the right direction. He
thought it Would confer a benefit upon the public at
large.
Mr. HUME wished to remind the Attorney-General
that he had not answered a question put to him, whether
ehe would advise a client of his to go into the superior
flour's br the recovery of a sum cf a smaller amount
than 100/. He (Mr. flume) should support the Bill' be-
cause he thought it would do more for the public in the
saving of time, trouble, and expense in law proceedings,
edhan any:Other measure. He was astonished at the Go-
, „..,4iefnment . opposing themselves :to such a measure as
„ the present. He hoped that the House would overrule
101 the technical objections ,which had been raised
..itpast it,
„ 7%.. FITZROY replied. He was quite ready to submit
. hia Bill to all the suggestions which had been thrown out
during the present discussion; all he asked the House
,I,vaa to confirm the principle of the Bill by passing the
gcteohd tread inc.
Genera He could not allow the Attorney-
s slighting remark with referenoeoto the feeling
of thi
"Iv mintr •
on this Bill. There was no doubt but
a§ ,e subject on which the country at large felt*
very strongly and ho was convinced that in bringing
' frirArd thia
lee :exeieee tneasure he was .acting in accordance with
, 11,3 i-rhea d wishes of the country.
,s- • sense then divided, when there appeared—
., , .EPretbe second reading of the Bill ... 144
Against it
ItleihritY tot the second •
reading —6777
see re=entering the gallery we found
HUME inquiroirneetwhether, after this ,deneonstra-
, . ee lite feelib,i.
persevere on this subject, the
1: .4' ernment would
G. GREY
saw that , their opposition to it?
~ •se tb. oppose • the, i_e_7 hosuld certainly feel it his
tint
he
could
noth
srt:te
wethtiat salaries proposed by the
pr
opposition it
eda.meet with from the GovernMent
„etILIC LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS BILL.
House should go into
.h,*:W.A.RT. moved that ths.
cell-1.41.w on this Bill;
.
,)'onel SIRTIIOR,P thought 'the poorer classes had
rates enough; without imposhag.freah ones for
• eta, eurpose of recreation and entertainment. - This Bill
veleiel he partial in its. operation; it would be bene-
tet .tt.to
,People residing in, and ift the vicinity of, loge
`ttierlisebut the people residing in the agricultural die-
.' t'fi' ',hew-Meld not be in a situation to avail therosetves
He objected to the principle of the Bill
n w how far it might go, and he would move
• tholiouse resolve itself into a Committee on this
I"l`ththi6) thlY six months, and he would take the sense of
`eat us. on that question.
• '''''''NENVI)EGATR granted that it was most desira-
;,.; that the means of 'information should be supplied to
• 'roPlet but he thought it most unwise to tax the
:1107iPtni"rneidnabe°r:l'eceg-hsss" or° counties for purposes not
• . Pill, believing necessity He would, there`ore, oppose
that it to introduce
was undesirable
*,coil a measure at a time
Svteed se extensively, anwdhen agricultural distress pre-
ng towards the town:
di hich-disttess was rapidly
, el" re STANFORD thoughi
.44e..ratepayers in a borough sh was objectionable that,
xtotice of. the intention . d have only ten days
poses of the Rik. as wasevY a rate for the pur-
He did not, however, object hiThrit)"d by
aue spirit or principle
the Bill.
c.€ the Bill. He thought it was
ht that the
did not provide that the librarieevearnsdigmuseums to
the penblic for any
boereetbd under it were to be open to
atte° he
tested periods: When the Bill went into
shenld'move an atnendrnent, that every rect°o"l ;vicar, or'
eineumbetit of a parish in which it was sou • 14' o intro-
; attee it, should lee an ex •offi'cie member of the committee
or 'council of any public library or museum established
'miler the Bill. •

MIME supported the Bill.
Mr. LAW objected to the principle of the Bill, because
,it ;axed the more influential inhabittnts of a borough fur
•the establishment of a library fur the benefit of the less
intluential inhabitant; to bc phiend under the control
sof .the town Couneits.---(dear, hear.) He thought it
srni time enough- to go into Committee on such

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LONDON,