The Sun.
London, England, 1821-04-09 00:00:00

COURT OF CHANCE Y,

LINCOLN'e-INN HALL, TUESDAY, MARCH 27,1821.

13 THE MATTER OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE,
CAMBRIDGE.

LORD CHANCELLOR—in this matter of Queen's College,
Carnbeidge, I had proceeded so far the other day as to state the
opinion that I had formed with respect to the claim of Mr.
Mandell to be Master of the College, founded upon this alle-
ge Con, that if Deetor Godfrey was not to be considered
as a Fellow of the College then, that upon the first scru-
tiny, by reason of the nutriber of Fellows who- had voted
far him, Mr. Mandell ought to be considered as duly
elected ; and that depended, as you will remember, upon the
question, whether Mr. Barnes, being a Middlesex Fellow at
the nine. Doctor Godfrey was elected Fellow, the Statutes per-
DOcter Doctor,
to be a second Middlesex Fellow ; or
whether, is other eyrds, there could or could not be more than
one Middlesex Fellow upon the Foundation ? It appears to
inc that, according to the true intent and-meaning of the Sta-
tutes when they were originally made, there could be only one
..‘liddleeex Fellow ; but upon looking through the affidavits
which were filed in support of the fact, that there had been for a
long series of. years two Middlesex Fellows, and that there
wss al fer known to the College of praying for a Royal Dis-
nsation :Or a third Middlesex Fellow, that form suggesting
that the College could only have two Middlesex Fellows, it did
aopear to ale, that that long usage must, if possible, (provided
mean the Law would allow of :it) bajeferred to lawful
origin, and as the Crown could dispense with a Statute that
prohibited there being more than one Middlesex Fellow, so
apprt.tenti the Crown could, by a general dispensation, sanc-
tion the fact, that there should be always two Middlesex Fel-
-La es. and that usage having obtained for so long a period of
years, through-more than a century, and during' the whole of
:oat time every Fellow and every President of the College hav-
ia.e. ris it is supposed, forgotten the obligation of his oath, to
tie Statures duly observed, if he permitted it, -it did appear
to nie to be incumbent upon me, if possible, to refer it to a
lawful -orierin. I was, therefore, of opinion. that Mr. Godfrey
must be considered as lawhilly a Fellow in that view.
That only disposes of the question whether Mr. Mandell was
duly elected, and it remains now to be considered whether, sup-
posing Mr. Mandell not to be duly elected, Doctor Godfrey has
been duly elected, and. if duly elected, whether he continues to
be Master of the College under that election, or whether by the
operatihn of any Statute of the College or of Land, he is.no
hanger to be considered for any and for what reason Master of
the College ?
It becomes necessary, in discussing that question, again to
direct one's attention to the Statute which is styled "De Elec-
tione I'nesidentis." The form of election, with the qualifica-
tions of the Master, and what is to be done after he is elected
is set forth in the Statute in the following form of expression :
" Injungo vobis in virtuta Jests Christi et sub periculo, anim-
artun vestrarum ut viruni magis idoneum vestro judicio par-
tialitate remota in priesidentem hujus Collegii eligatis secun-
dum Deune qui sit yin providens discretus competenter litera-
tes is Universitate aliqua liujus regni Doctoratus titulo insig-
aitus vel ad minus in Bachalaureorum Theologim ordine co-
optatus in spiritualibus et temporalibus circumspectus honestate
morum preeclarus conversations laudabilis atque fainm redo-
lentis-qui et indium sciverit atque poterit negotia Collegii pro-
moyere dum tamen saceidos fuerit et expendere poterit anuatim
ad minus vigente libras." You see all the particulars of the
erealifications here required, except those which are last men-
tioned, namely, " dum tarnen sarerdos fuerit et expendere po-
tent anuatim adminus viginti libras," are qualifications with
respect to tht existence-of which the Founder charges the Fel-
Jews, by every obligation which he can impose on their con-
sciences, to judge for themselves, and I take notice now, that no
suggestion has been made to me in the course of communica-
tions upon this snbject, that there is any objection in matter of
liteeary qualification or in matter of moral or religious qualifi-
cation to any of the Gentlemen who have been candidates. It
is an admitted fact that each of them answers the description of
Sacerdos, though, at the time of the-election, none of them pro-
duced, or were called upon to produce their Letters of Ordina-
tion, and I mention that as a circumstance connected with an
observation that must be stated with respect to the last qua-
bilzation here mentioned, "et expendere poterit anuatim
ad minus viginti libras." There were four Candidates.—
With respect to Mr. Barnes, his qualification was shewn
:by Mr. Duherjois to the College. With respect to Mr.
Mandell, what he represented as his qualification was
inscribed upon a paper which he had in his pocket,
And which tie was ready to produce ; with respect to Doc-
tor Godfrey's qualification, there seems to have been some
misunderstanding, as I collect it from the matters contained in
the different affidavits whether that was called for, whether it
was refused to be produced, or whether on the one hand it was
not so called for, as to constitute every right on the part of any
person to say that he refused to produce it, or to state what it
was. One objection that was taken to the election was, that
the oualiticatioa of Mr. Mandell and the qualification of Doc-
tor Godfrey, were not shewn. Now, I have no difficulty in
saying, first, it would have been extremely convenient at these
elections, if the qualification was shewn, but I cannot go the
length of saying, that the election is a void election, merely be-
cause the quelification was not shear, if the qualification actually
ekisteel.

Wilt respect to the ottastion, whether Mr. Mandell or Doc-
tor Godfrey wen T..lalified under the true intent and meaning

as it must betaken at this day and this hour " et expenders
poterit anuatim ad minus viginti libras," it was contended
upon Mr. King's Petition, that neither Mr. Mandell nor Doc-
tor Ckidfrey had a qualification to be elected ; that the only
qualification which would be a sufficient qualification, must in
the first place, be a qualification of this nature, that it must par-
take of the nature a rail estate ; that if it were personal pro-
perty it would not do ; and then it was further contended, that
this viginti libras must at this day, whatever the meaning of it
was in Queen Elizabeth's time, be looked at as meaning this
day, a sum equal to such au extent above the sum of viginti
libras,-as the sum which-at this day is represented as forming a
lualification to hild a Fellowship, exceeds the novem libras,
which was the original qualification ; and, if that doctrine can
be maintained witaout entering into particulars, I do not get
forward into any uncomfortable disclosure of circumstance,
when I say that neither Doctor Godfrey nor Mr. Mandell had
a qualification. If a qualification cannot consist but of per-
sonal property, then Ido not think I-get into an uncomfortable
disclosure with reference to MO ;Mandell, with reference to
whom, I desire to be understood to speak with great respect,
and the rather, because i find, by a letter I have had from him,
that he feels a little uneasy lest 1 should suppose he had been a
Rarty to the writing of that letter to which I referred on a
former day. I realiy have raasuch idea. I believe him to be a
man far toorespectable to have any concern in such a matter,
and I wish, if that could be communicated to him, it should be
distinctly understood by him, that I never had an apprehension
of the land. It will not, I say, be an uncomfortable disclosure
to observe, that there can be no doilbt, that his qualification is
wholly of a personal nature ; it is a larger qualification than
Doctor Godfrey's, -but it is purely and entirely of a personal
nature..
With respect to Doctor Godfrey's qualification, it is of a
special nature, and I shall state to you what it is, but the first
question to be disposed of here is, wnether it is inade out with

ieference• to this la‘st election, that the person tVlici • was to be
elected must have A qualification at this day as much beyond
the viginti libras, is the sum which now disqualifies a Fellow is
to c::ceed the novern libras„ beyond which-,--witiv-the exception
of some particular Fellows, mentioned in the oath, a Fellow
cannot hold his Fellowship ? There are in this boOk various
• interpretations of the statutes, as they are called, many in num-
ber, made at successive periods, the last of them being. in the
• year 1809, in which the Master and Fellows interpreting the
. statehs, and interpreting them, as I have no doubt they
honestly conceived, under the authority of that statute, which
is entitled " De Electione Prxsidentis" have stated, that by
reason of the increase of the value of money, the disqualifica-
tion of a FelTow shall not take place now, unless that which is
to disqualify amounts to. 1201. a year, thereby meaning to
mate, that the decem libras of Queeh Elizabeth's time is the
• 1201. a year of this. time ;or at least, that it is not acting without
a due regard to principle, and a fair interpretation of the sta-
tutes, to look at the novem libras, arid see what is 'to be the
qualification so as to keep up a proportipn between the novcrn
Libras and what was the qualification ok that day, and to say
that as the
.qualification of that day was decem, that as the ex-
' pcnditure under certain statutes shews what was to be the value
of a Fellowship at that 'day, that as much as the value of a
. Fellowship at that day exceeded the novern libras, in the same
proportion there ought to be at this day a calculation of the
• amount to disqualify, and without entering now into the
question whether there has or not been due authority for these
interpretations of the statutes, which have so augmented the
'disqualifying sum, and recollecting always that it is a very dif-
• erent question what a visitor is to do in the reasonable and fair
construction of statutes, and what he can permit under the rea-
sonable and fair 'construction of Statutes; that that is a very
different question from what a visitor can do where a statute
part of the law of the land attaches, as the 13th and 14th
Charles 11. does. Ido not believe, from all the information I
can get from either University, that what the Fellows have done
with respect to this matter ofq-Jalifihation would be disapproved
by any visitor, and it is but fair to say, that I do observe in that
book, that the Members of this College have been attentive in
what they were doing to point out why they thought a visitor
would approve what they had done in this respect. No one,
however, of these interpretations of the statutes touches the va-
. lification of the person who is to be elected Master—it raises
• the sum which is to disqualify a Fellow, but no one of them
seeks to raise the sum which is to form the codification of the