The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-18 00:00:00

Westminster, Mr. Jv.stice Erle, totally irrespective of
party feeling. `V :,l he sanction a different system in
Jersey ? where ;judges, according to Inglis, are thus
appointed :
The judg, is borne into the seat of justice on the
shoulders of: u party. It is scarcely necessary, I think,
for me to enlarge upon the bad effects of this system.
The bench, with one or two exceptions, is composed of
the most furious partisans ; the court of justice is too
often the arena for party feuds ; and it is not impossible,
by glancing the eye along the bench, and knowing who
are the parties to a suit, to guess with tolerable accuracy
what will be the issue.

" But this is not the only evil of the system. No qua-
lification is necessary for being elected to the office of
judge. A farmer, a shipowner, a merchant—anybody.
may be seated on the bench by the electors. No pre-
vious acquaintance with law or usage is required ; no
preparatory education, no education of any kind requi-
site. The electors, generally utterly uneducated them-
selves, and influenced by the most violent party spirit,
cannot be expected to fix upon the best qualified indi-
vidttals ; and thus the bench is alike disqualified by
party feeling, and by ignoravce, from exercising that
sound and unbiassed judgment which alone gives respect-
ability to a court of justice."
These are the men who have often to decide on
British property, amounting to thousands of pounds,
and on British liberty and life, infinitely more valu-
able than British property. The case of Mr. Wilson is
so recent as to be fresh in the memory of our readers ;
hie. that is by no means the only case. Inglis cites
the following instance of oppression which occurred
ten years ago :

"it is but lately that a girl was imprisoned, charged
with some inconsiderable offenoe, by the authority of
some police-officer. There she remained nine months,
at the eud of which time, upon the representation of
one of his Majesty's receivers-general (for be it recol-
lected, that the maintenance of prisoners forms a deduc-
tion from the King's revenues), the girl was brought up
for trial, or rather for accusation. There was no accuser
—no charge—the cause even of her imprisonment was
unknown, and she was discharged."
The English reader will naturally inquire into the
constitution and composition of courts which not
only refuse obedience to the Queen's writs, but set
her military governor at defiance. We are told by
one authority, Lecras on the laws of- Jersey, that
bailli and jurats are so unacquainted with their
duties,

" That they suspond their judgments in order to con-
sult a party on the framing of them, and alter and re-
voke them after they have been delivered, and that they
sometimes prepare these judgments before the trials are
heard, as was the case in the prosecution of the Crown
at the instance of the late Lieutenant-Governor, Major-
General Thornton, v. Le Breton, colonel of 4lilitia, when
one of the jurats, after the pleadings were closed, pro-
duced a judgment already written, which was adopted by
the bailiff and jurats, and rendered against the said
Lieutenant-Governor."

We are also told by the same authority, that per-
sons are seized without oath and warrant, and that
Dissenters, notwithstanding recent statutes in their
favour in England, labour under great disabilities in
the islands. Mr. Inglis thus shortly describes the
constitution of the Court, and the restrictions placed
upon the bar :
"Attached to the Royal Court are the King's two
officers, the Procureur du Roi and the King's Advocate,
who are appointed by the King ; several other officers,
and six advocates, who are in the nomination of the
bailly—an absurd and unjust nomination, both as regards
the public service and the manner of appointment.
There ought to be no restriction upon the bar, ex-
cepting that which depends upon competency ; and yet,
in this important particular, there is at present no regu-
lation. No coarse of education is necessary—no exami-
nation is required ; all is left to the judgment of the
bailly, who, possessed of such powers, and presiding over
a court comprised of men without legal education, ought
to be a man possessed of many acquirements, and distin-
guished by a sound and discriminating judgment."
In another passage he thus speaks
" So long as the present mode of constituting the
bench be maintained, the spirit of faction will continue
to exercise its despotism; and ignorance and partiality
will impede the course of justice. From the island legis-
lature nothing is to be hoped; it is in vain to imagine
that the twelve judges and the twelve rectors will accede
to any proposition for excluding themselves from the
legislative body."
Surely this is a system which cannot be allowed
to continue longer. 'We had intended to have made
some observations to-day on the folly of governing
these islands, in the nineteenth century, according to
the provisions of laws made in the twelfth and
fourteenth centuries ; but these observations, together
with some others in reference to the same subject,
must be reserved for another occasion.

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.
(From the Limerick Chronicle, Dec. 14.
The effective strength of the army in Ireland does not
amount to 26,000 men, as stated in the Dublin papers.
The entire force is only 21,000 men, artillery, cavalry, •
and infantry, of all arms.
This day three parties of the 30th Regiment, from
this:garrison, were detached on district duty—two officers
and 40 rank and file, to Newpurt (Tip.) ; an officer and
20 rank and file, to Castle Connell ; and an officer and
20 rank and file, to Cappainore—to assist the local ma-
gistrates and police in checking disturbance.
Head-quarters and five companies of the 6th Regiment,
with band and colours, under command of Lieutenant-
Colonel Michel, landed at Dublin on Thursday, from
Liverpool, by the Dee steamer, Lieutenant Driver, R.N.,
and marched to Richmond barracks.
Captain Greathed and Captain Brown's companies of
the Bth, from Bolton, have taken up the quarters of the
6th Regiment at Preston.
The 67th take up the quarters of the 56th in Dublin.
Captain Layard, M.P., has joined the 37th Regiment
at Portsmouth.
Captain O'llalloran's company, 69th, has joined head-
quarters at Templemore, from Cashel, having been re-
lieved by another company of the same regiment.
The last division of the 56th, ender Major Palmer, has
sailed from Dublin for Liverpool in the Rhadamanthus
steamer, Commander Laen, R.N.
The soldiers of the 65th Regiment were ordered out
of chapel, at Castlebar, last Sunday, when the priest
commenced reading Dr. WHale's bull against the Cha-
ritable Bequests Act.
Captain Mostyn's company, 54th. has marched from
Shannonbridge, to head-quarters, Mullingar.
Captain Palmer, 60:h Rifles, having been this day
week arrested at Fermoy, head-quarters of his battalion,
by the Sheriff of Cork, under an attachment in " W.
Mackinnon, M.P., v. the Executors of the late Lady
Palmer," counsel applied to the Master of the Rolls, on
Tuesday, for the officer's discharge. It appears the
order obtained by plaintiff to invest a large sum in the
cause had never been served on defendants or the so-