The Sun.
London, England, 1828-02-08 00:00:00

tion, that it works mischief throughout the whole of its
proceedings. Let us see how it is composed. You take
in the first place three Judges from the Common Law
Covirts, and three Advocates, who might perhaps the clay be-
fore have beers pleading in the Courtbelow; but, as a matter
of course, not in any of the eases which formed the subject of
appeal, for that must amount to a disqualification. But
mark the consequence of this. In order to decide upon
the propriety of the judgments• of such- men as Lord
Stowell, Sir John Nicholl, and Sir Christopher Robinson,
man distinguished beyond all others for their profound
knowledge of the-questions .which Caine before them ; in
order, 1 say, to decide upon the appeal from the decision
sof these luminaries of the law, you array a number of
-Doctors, the first employed, as'a matter of course, in their
respective Courts ; because, as I have observed,, if they
pleaded in any of the causes, they cannot sit; atid this is
what is called thelighest Cent of Appeal: The effect, in
every point of view, is lust shout the same as if you were
about to take three junior barristers out of Westminster-
hall, in order to constitute them a Bench for the purpose
of sitting in Error. This is the species of correction
which the Court of Delegates presents as a Court of Ap-
peal from the Courts below, and these are the conse-
quences which result from Ecclesiastical appointments.._
And now I ask leave to say, speaking to you, Sir, whom
I have the pleasure on this occasion to address, that I
wish to be considered as making these observations free
from any thinFteordering, even the least, upon disrespect
to the honourable person with whom you are so traielv
umnected. I have always entertained for that distinguishe,J
individual the highest respect, both in public and in private
life ; and I may assert, with confidence, that no man esti-
mated more highly his actions as a prelate, or his liberal
endowments as a gentleinen.—( Hear, hear !)-s—l now come
to the Privy Council—that most important Court ; im-
portant, not only because it has the power to decide in all
cases of appeal referred to its consideration from our nume-
rous and exteesive Colonies, but because it is the standing
Council, we may say, for the Crown. From the lualitt,
of its members, and at the same time the Court of Appeal
as ilie last resort in all cases arising Cast of prizes—not to
speak of the immense interests at stake in Plantation
Appeals, the whale of the population of the almost un-
bounded territorial possessions of the East India Com-
pany, population of seventy or eighty millions of sords-:
and if you add to those situated i❑ the sea of the East
all who occupy the Archipelago of the Wests-sell cif
them, be it remembered, prone to litigation, fiery in
temperament, wealthy in means, and vehement in zeal—
you may conceive some faint idea of the nature and extent
of the subjects of contention which come before his Ma-
jesty's Privy Council. Litigious as the children of the
New World are proverbially known to be, with properties
eternally risked in desperate adventure, from Which, by
skill and boldness, those returns are produced which send
them home rich and affluent; all these, scattered and prone
to litigation, arc brought in all their multifarious objects
of contention before the appellant jurisdiction of the Privy
Council, This jurisdiction, difficult and delicate as it
would he at any tinie, has yet still greeter difficulties from
the difference between the law Of one Colony and that of
another. The Dutch leW is to be considered one day—
the ifindoo or Mahometan another—the Pundit, or me-
darn Hindoo, differing in every respect from the Law of
Getion, on another ; all these conic before the necessarily
ignorant Members of the Privy Council. 'to supply the '
wants of this necessary ignerance, its Members ouelit to
have time ; and net only time, but an exclusive and un-
ceasing devotion to the practice, as well as the principle,
of all the laws of all the Courts upon whose sentence they
Were called to decide. All these must, I know, prove in-
adequate to what is required; but because it would be inade-
quate, therefore its Members do nothing--(A laugh.) No-
thing do they ever attempt to supply as a remedy for this
unavoidable ignorance. To decide all the appeals fron► all
the Colonies of India and America we have the Members of
the Privy Council. Now let us just see what progress
they make in the task which has been assigned them.
The Privy Council meet only on certain stated days; o❑
the 30th of January, the 2d of February, Midsummer_day,
and one or two others. From a Return which I Lave ob-
tained, it appears that from the twelve years up to 1826,
they sat, upon the average, fur exactly nine days in the
year. Nine days in each year, to dispose of all the appeals
of all the Colonies of India and America.—(Hear, hear.)
Among these are to be included all the appeals from the
superior Courts Of Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta—Courts
in which an Honourable Baronet I ace opposite me (Sir
Hyde East, we believe) once presided—and from all the:in-
ferior Courts, in which are determined all the causes of
contention of natives as well as foreigners and English ;
for English subjects are as amenable to the Courts as the
natives. All these subjects of litigation, arising anion;
seventy millions of people, of whole caste and half
caste, English and Hindoos--all the causes from Ceylon,
the Mauritius, and the Cape—all the decisions of the
Courts of North America—are brought in tlint,c nine - cur,
before the Court of the Privy Council. But do these nine
days suffice for that purpose? No, they do not even half
suffice. The appeals entered in these twelve years—and I
do not at all marvel they were not more—for the whole

constitution of the Court, and its system of proceedings,
amounts to a plain denial of justice ; the marvel being ra-
ther that they were so,many ; the whole of appeals in these
twelve years entered for hearing were 467; but, with the
addition of 44 from India, 517. Of these, 243 appeals
have been disposed of in one way or other. In the 12
years, 129 have been heard, the remainder of the 242
have abated, or been compromised by the parties, from a
feeling of the ruin of delay. All except the 129 have been
dismissed for the want of prosecution. In each of the 12
years to which I have alluded there were, therefore, ten
hearings ; that is precisely one hearing and a ninth part of
a hearing in each day in which the Council sat. But let
us go a little further :—Of these 129 appeals which were
heard in the 12 years, the decisions in 56, or something
less than one-half, were wholly reversed.—(Hear.)—This
is a very large proportion. and it shows that the appeals
were not made to the Privy Council from any want of a
necessity fora revision of the decisions. It is true that part of
these were appeals from the decisions of a Noble Lieutenant-

Governor and Lord Chancellor in one colony.—(Hear, and a
laugh)—and some more were from a Worthy Captain, or
Major, I believe, sitting in his capacity of Judge-Advocate
in another Colony.—(Laughter.)---These things, however,
only tend to show how much more of necessity there
. .

existed than we were aware of for the union of the Civi]
and Military Functions in the same individual here.—

(Loud laughter.)—t.The Honourable and Learned Gentle-
man was proceeding with some further observations upon
Appeals, wren the Solicitor-General, we understood, was
observed to yawn, as if wearied.]—l see, said the Learned
Gentleman, thA my Honourable Friend opposite, is yawn-
ing already ; the subject is, doubtless, a tiresome one, and
dull, and perhaps tedious; but nothing I can say is likely to be
so tedious as the proceedings of which I speak. Of those
Appeals now before the Court, forty-eight have been pend-
ing for upwards of ten years, and one hundred and four
have been in a similar situation for more than five years.
This High Court of Appeal, called upon to consider cases
of so much importance, is, as is well known, composed of
Privy Councillors; but of these persons it has never been
my lot to see many who are lawyers in attendance. There

is only one Judge regular in his attendance; all the others,
with a solitary exception now and then, are laymen. The
Judge constantly present is the Master of the Rolls, and
with him I have sometinses seen the Judge Advocate and a
certain elderly Gentleman, who has at one time, I believe,
been an Ambassador somewhere or other—(A laugh)—
but who is now placed in the situation of a Lord of the
Admiralty; and equally fit to fill either situations with
credit, having been educated for both.—(Loud laughter.)
—This is the way In which this Court makes up for
its distance from the suitors ; and these are the per-
sons who are to compensate for its want of all learn-
ing, and the absence of long habits of practice. They
make, however, very short work of it sometimes—
(A laugh)—for I have known an Appeal in a
cause, involving property to the amount of 30,0001. a
a year, and which had been argued in the Courts below for
19 days, disposed of most unceremoniously, after little more
than five minutes' conversation ; and this, I beg the House
again to recollect, is the last Court of Appeal in the admi-
-snstration of justice to eighty millions of our fellow sub-
jects. And here I cannot avoid mentioning a case which
came under my immediate knowledge in the course of my
practice in this Court. The Queen of the Musnud died in
the year 1809, and as there was some dispute about the
succession, the India Company took possession of the coun-
try. Many Gentlemen of this House may not,
Which
aware that the Musnud is a place of considerable ' t impor -
perhaps, be
ant•e, containing more than 400,000 inhabitants, and
important from its being the country through
all Pilgrims pass on their way to Elisaum. On the death
of her Highness many claimantsnaippeeafroed ftohrethceosouccession,
doubly
and an appeal was consequentlylsl
oradlBlrs7
low
and entered in the year before thel belo
w
and
Council, where it is of course still pending. But look to the
en. nsequence. The east India Company, who have at all
tunes strewn an extremely tender care of the revenues of
those States, the succession to which is disputed, imme-
diately took possession of this kingdom by a process,
somewhat resembling that of a Sheriff's officer, and have
held it and its ever 'nee the death of its last
revenues sr
owner, or, at least, certainly ever since the lodging of the
appeal. This, however, is only one case out of many
which could be produced of the same nature, to chew the
working of the Present system of appeal to Privy Coun-
cil. It arnount6) in fact, to little less than a denial of

justice ; for the attempt to grant any thing but justice,
cheap, easy to be obtained, and speedy in its execution,
amounts, I assert again, to an 'absolute denial of that jes-
, tice. The way in which you remove the evils, resulting
from the distance, the expense is not by removing that
ignorance which prevails upon the subject of the Colonies,
by appointing separate Judges, whose attention may be
exclusively devoted to their affairs, but by placing the
whole of the property of se many millions in the hands of
men notoriously incompetent, and from absolute necessity
irretrievably negligent. I say then, in God's name, do not
any longer delay or hesitate as to the nature of the relief
you will affitrd these Colonists. Give them, I say, justice
cheap, speedy, and decisive, for I would say still more, that
the situation of India and of its people well deserves
'rota' attention. The itnprovetnent of its system of
justice must well repay yotir toil. By the continued
exclusion of natives horn jury- trials in civil causes,
you have done mtich to perpetuate a state of igno-
sstnee and misrule. I have yet to learn upon what
principle of wisdom or sound policy the natives are
excluded from those juries. In the Courts of the first in-
stance, as they may be called—in those Courts where the
facts are elicited, I cannot see the policy of the exclusion.
I knew that the natives have been proved to he as capable
of applying themselves to the elucidation of truth and the
establishment of fact, as any of their English contemners.
And I also know, that they have beets found, on many oc-
ssasions, most Useful and successful associates to out Indian
adventurers. Those who venture their fortunes abroad, set
out with an intention to make money well and safely for
the natiVes, if they can make it so—but at all events to
make money. They go out at the same time totally igno-
rant of the manners and customs of those with whom they
are brought into contact; and I cannot but think, that
those men arearery bad judges of their own interests, as well
as the interests of their country, Who seek to keep up arti-
ficial distinctions; and prevent the settler from availing him-
self, for their mutual advantage, of the skill and knowledge
of the natives. The efforts made by the Governor sf Cey-
lon, Sir Alexander Johnson, to introduce into that colony
the British system injustice, boldly and manfully supported
as those efforts were by the Government at home, have
been attended by the most signal success. In one of the
trials in that colony with a jury composed of twelve of the
inhabitants, eleven of thtm had determined upon their ver-
dict; but one, a young Brahmin, held out, and showed
such exquisite skill in the examination of evidence, and
such power in the detection of fact, that by dint of perse-
verance he eventually succeeded in bringing his eleven fellow-
jurors over to his opinion, after all the efforts of the Court
and of the Counsel had failed in the accomplishment of
that object. Thus by the introduction of the Trial by
Jury, which was new in the Colony in criminal cases,
and by an individual such as the one I have described having
been on the Jury, justice was done, and innocence pro-
tected. Nothing would be more calculated to conciliate
the minds of the natives of India, and to endear to them the
British Government, than to make them a part of the ad-
ministration of justice, to give them an interest in the ad-
ministration of justice in their country. The effect of
such a proceeding would be, that in India, as in Ceylon,
in the event of a rebellion, the great mass of the people, in-
stead of joining the rebels, would give all their aid and sup-
port to the Government. That, Sir, will be the course
pursued under such circumstances by the natives of India,
if you establish a good system of justice there—if you
establish a cheap system of justice there—if you establish a
system of justice there, in which the natives themselves
may participate, and in the administration of which they
will therefore feel personal pride and interest. Without
such a system all your army of Sepoys may one day
be unavailing to you. With such a system you will
have every heart in India with you ; you will gain
the affection—you will conciliate the good wishes—
you will cement the attachment of above sixty millions
of people ; while at present your only means of security
consists in an armed force;—an armed force, composed
too of the very persons whom you hesitate to bind to you.
I come now, Sir, to the last part of this subject—l mean
of this division of the subject; and I proceed to make a
few observations on the appointment of Justices of Peace
in this country, and on the character of their jurisdiction.
Sir, I do not beliese that any intention of doing wrong is
contemplated in the present mode in which that appoint-
ment takes places ; but I must say, that considering the
extraordinary strides which a knowledge of the principles of
society has been making in this country, considering the
daily and almost the hourly improvement which is going
on in that respect, it does appear to me to he very ex-
traordinary that it has not yet been thought worth while
to inquire whether some amendment might not be intro-
duced into this part of our system. In the first place,
Sir, it would be well worth while to inquire whether
Justices of the Peace ought to be appointed simply
by the Lord Lieutenant of every county. It is true
that it is the Lord Chancellor who issues the i;onitniaoon.
but it the Luta Llcutrodut wllO es the
viduals to be comprehended in it. Such a thing is hardly
ever known as any interference with respect to individuals
on the part of the Lord Chancellor. He looks to the
Lord Lieutenant, or rather to the Custos Rotulorum,
which the Lord Lieutenant most frequently is, for the
names of the proper persons. The Lord Lieutenant, there-
fore, as Custos Rotulorum, absolutely appoints all the Jus-
tices of the Peace in his county. He does more—he also
removes them from the commission at his sole pleasure.
It has been laid down as a rule by Lord Chancellors—it is
a rule from which Lord Eldon, when he was Lord Chan

cellor, declared he would never depart--tbaco;everun-
fit a man might be for the commission, however much
party and other undue motives (and God knows those mo-
tives are sufficiently numerous) might have influenced his
appointment, he would never strike hint out of the com-
mission, however unfit, or however corrupt lie might he,
until his conviction of some offence had been entered in a
Court of Record. Now, Sir, let the House consider, not
only the way in which Justices are sometimes appointed,
but the kind of Justices which are sometimes appointed. I
must fairly own, that I have long entertained, and that I
still entertain, a strong and decided opinion against the ap-
pointment of a Clerical Magistrate. My notion of such
an appointment is that it does harm to the individual in
both his capacities ; you spoil him as a Clergyman, and
you do not make him a good Justice of the Peace ; you
render him a tertium quid, divested of the good properties
of either of the characters which go to his composition.
He cannot possess all the activity which ought to dis-
tinguish the Magistrate, and he does possess all the lo-
cal prejudice, and the somewhat of narrow-minded-

ness, which result from his habits as a Clergyman.
What has been the consequence of the union of
the two offices in one person ? Why, that some of
the worst acts of subserviency to power, some of the
most striking instances of over-activity (and there is no
quality of a Magistrate more pernicious than over-activity)
have Leen exhibited by Clerical Magistrates. So well
known is this fact, that in some counties the Lord Lieu-

tenant very properly makes it a rule never to recommend a
Clergyman to be included in the commission—but that

rule is far from being general—although I am convinced
that a deviation from it is always attended with evil conse-
quences. The Magistrates, as I have already shown, are
appointed by the Lord Lieutenant of the county in which
they act, and are never removed by the Lord Chancellor,
however gross their conduct, unless their conviction of

some offence is entered in a Court of Record. Let us now
see what is the authority of men an appointed and so se-
cure. In the first place they have the privilege of granting
or witholding licence,. "'As we all know, it frequently lies
in the breast of two Justices of the Peace to give, or to re-
fuse a licence. It is in their power to give a licence to one
of the most unfit persons possible ; and it is in their power
to refuse a licence to one of the most fit persons possible.
It is in their power to continue a licence to some person
who has had it but a twelvemonth, and who, during that
twelvemonth has contrived to make his house a nuisance to
the whole neighbourhood, and it is in their power to take
away a licence from a house to which it has been attached
for a century ; and the enjoyment of which has
not only been attended by no evil, but has been
productive of great public convenience and be-
nefit. And all this, be it observed, they do without
even the shadow of controul. It is true that in the
case of alleged impropriety in the conduct of a Magistrate
in this respect, a mandamus may be moved for in the
Court of King's Bench, to compel him to grant a required
license. I remember once moving for one, and my motion
was granted. I believe my Hon. and Learned Friend, the
Solicitor-General, also made a similar motion. But I know
that great astonishment was expressed on the occasion;
and that the rule for a mandamus was afterwards discharg-
ed as a matter of course. What other controul is there
over the conduct of a Magistrate? I shall be told that he
may be proceeded against, either by a criminal information,
or by impeachment. As to the latter, no man of common
sense would think of impeachine. a Magistrate, any more
than he would think of impeaching a Minister.. Then, as
. .

to proceeding by criminal information—in the first place
it is necessary in order to obtain the rule, to support it by
affidavits, that the Magistrate in question has been influ-
enced by wilful and corrupt motives; that he has been
guilty of
ooff
thmeal
jvuerdeotpo
sagtion n
the
ea
subjectole Tanhdenuconleoom esththeealieged
medi-
tationfacts are made out as clearly as the light of Heaven, the
rule is discharged with costs. The difficulty of proving the
facts is rendered almost insuperable by this circumstance,
that all the Magistrate has to do, in order to defend him-
self from the consequences of not granting a licence, is to
adopt the short course of saying nothing—..of keeping his

own counsel---of abstaining from any statement of his rea-
sons. Let him only give no reason for his conduct, and
no power on earth can touch him. He may grant a li-
cence to a common _brothel, or he may refuse a licence to
one of the most respectable inns on the North road ; let
him Withhold. his reasons, and his conduct remains unques-
tioned ; although the only real motives by which he is ac-
tuated may be because he is in the habit of using the one
house, and becermse the landlord of the other has refused
to allow him to use it in the same way as the former.—
(A laugh.)—Unless, however, you can show that he has
himself stated his motives, you are prevented from institut-
ing an inquiry on the subject. Thus absolute is the autho-
rity of the Magistrates with regard to the existing system
of licensing. With the permission of the House, I will
read to it a letter that I received some time ago on the
subject' of the licensing system, from one of the most
worthy and learned individuals iu this country—a man of
large fortune, and of most pure and estimable charac-
ter.—[The Honourable and Learned Gentleman here
read, in a low tone of voice and rapidly, the letter he
alluded to, which pointed out the evils resulting to
private property, from time system of licensing, as
well as the evils endured by the public in conse-
quence of the monopolies to which it gave rise.]—It fre-
quently happens that where there is a powerful interest
connected with any particular house, the license to that
house is continued, although it is the resort of the most
abandoned of society; and a 'change is merely made in the
landlord ; and this on the principle that brick and mortar
cannot be guilty of an offence. Now, it is evident that
when bad company have flocked to a house, it is impos-
sible for any landlord, although he should be an angel, as
well as have one for his sign—(A laugh),—to induce'per-
sons of a different description immediately to resort to it.
Another vicious consequence of this system is, that it in-
duces so many questionable persons to take:means of having
themselves comprehended in the commission of the peace,
that respectable individuals, whose servie:es would be most
available to the public, are deterred from wishing to act as
Magistrates. The influence of the great brewers in the
licensing of houses is notorious to the whole world. Many
of the publicans who occupy houses which directly or in-
direotly are the property of these brewers, are familiarly
called "brewers' backs ;" and the porter which is sold in
such houses goes by the name of " justices' juice"—(A
laugh.)—The consequence of the monopoly of which the
system I have been describing is the parent, is, that there
are about 12 great brewers who serve the public at their
own prices, and with beer of whatever quality they think
proper to make it. When the Golden-lane Subscription
Brewery was established, for the purpose of entering into a
competition with the general brewers, the latter imme-
diately improved the quantity of their beer, and lowered the
price a penny a pot; thereby making a difference of a
million a year to the inhabitants of London and West-
minster. The advantage of the competition was therefore
evident. Nevertheless, time Golden-lane Subscription
Brewery were never able to procure a license, or to open a
house during the long period of eight years ; and at length
were borne down by the weight of this system of arbitrary
licensing. I have received a variety of other information
upon this subject, all of which leads to the same result.
That which I have already described is perhaps the most
crying evil connected with it ; but who does not know, as
I do, that licences are frequently granted, and frequently
refused, from election motives? When, some time ago, I
brought the Beer Bill into this House, I had of course
an extensive correspondence, on the subject ; and I was.
assured by many highly respectable persons, that the evil
of this system is by no means confined to the neigh-
bourhood of London. Nor is the licensing power
of the Magistracy' that in which alone great abuses
exist. , They prevail in all the cases in which their autho-
rity is exercised ; in the commitments for offences against
the Game Laws, and in the discharge of all their functions
—all affecting the lives and liberties of the subject; and
yet for their conduct in all of which they are not amenable
to any superior power, provided, as I have said before,
they only keep their own counsel, and abstain from stating
the reasons by which they have been actuated. There is
not a worse constituted tribunal on the face of the earlh
than that at which summary convictions on offences
against the Game Laws takes place before a bench of sport-
ing Magistrates. lam far from saying, that on such sub-
jects they are actuated by corrupt motives; but they are
undoubtedly actuated by their abhorrence of that caput lu-
pinum, or, as an Hon. Friend of mine called him, that fera
'infarct --a, poacher.—(A laugh.)—From their decisions on
all points there is, as 1 have already remarked, no effectual
appeal. And let it be considered that they can sentence to
almost unlimited imprisonment, and to transportation for
seven and fourteen years. I have shuddered to see the way
in which these extensive powers are sometimes exercised
by a jurisdiction not responsible for its acts. It is said that
the Magistracy ought not. to be responsible, because it is
not paid' but we ought not to forget that even gold itself
May be bought at too dear a rate. Mark the difference of
responsibility between a Court of Quarter Session and one
of the superior Courts of the kingdom. In the Court of
King's Bench, the name of the Judge who pronounces the
judgment is known and stated. It is Lord Tenterden, or it
is Mr. Justice Bayley. In the other case, it is merely the
Quarter Session. The names of the individual Magistrates
composing it are not known, or not published. It is a fluctu-
ating body. If the same individuals always sat in the
Court, there might be some approach to responsibility.—
At present there is none ; and where there is no responsi-
bility, injustice will occasionally be committed, as long as
men are men. It would be some correction of the evil, if
the number of Magistrates was fixed and limited ; if they
were always responsible for their acts ; and if they were
more easily removable on proof of their misconduct. Then
comes the question of pay. We are told that we cannot
hold them responsible, because they volunteer their ser-
vices, and receive no remuneration for them. But although
they receive no money, they may frequently have money's
worth. Cheap justice, Sir, is a very good thing ; but
costly justice is much better than cheap injustice.—(Hear.)
If I saw clearly the means by which the Magistrates could
be paid, and by which, therefore, a more correct discharge
of the Magisterial duties might be insured, I would cer-
tainly prefer paying them in money to allowing them to
receive money's worth by jobs, and other violations of
their duty. I have heard of a Justice of the Peace in the
country, who, having a clerk whose emoluments he wished
to increase, appointed him a Surveyor of Weights and
Measures, with a salary of a guinea and a half a week.—
This person appointed a deputy, to whom he gave five
shillings and sixpence a week, and who did all the
duty. These circumstances came under the conside-
ration of the Magistrates. Notwithstanding, when,
after a strenuous opposition, and among others, on the
part of the' gentleman who communicated the occur-
rence to me, it was decided by a considerable majority,
not only not to remove the first appointed person, who
it was proved was doing nothing, but to swear-in the other
as his assistant ! My friend is not entirely without sus-
picion that this person, having so small a remuneration as
ss. 6d. a-week, may be tempted to increase it by some un-
derstanding with the people whose weights and measures it
is his duty to superintend. The operation of pecuniary
motives in matters connected with the Magistracy, is more
extensive than may at first sight appear. There is the
Bill which was introduced by the Right Hon. Gentleman
opposite for paying the expences of witnesses and prose-
cutors out of the county rates. It is scarcely doubtful,
that that Bill has greatly increased the number of com-
mitments, and has been the cause of many persons having
been brought to trial who ought to have been dischar-
ged by the Magistrates. Nor is this a trifling evil.—
People do not come out of gaol as they enter it. A boy
may enter a gaol merely as a robber of an orchard ; he may
come out of it " fit for"—l will not say "treasons"—
but "stratagems 'and spoils." Many are the induce-
ments to these commitments. The Justices think they
gain credit by them. They have the glory of being consi-
dered by the Lord Judge, and by the Sheriff at the Assizes,
as very active and valuable Magistrates. "Heis a mon-
strous good Magistrate; no man commits so many persons."
Then there is the less glory which they acquire among their
neighbours; into whose pockets they are the means of put-
ting money, by making them prosecutors and witnesses in
petty criminal cases. The reputation of activity is very
seducing to a Magistrate. I knew a town which has the
singular misfortune of being composed of one-half Scotch
and the other half Irish ; it is their practice to fight regu-
larly upon every market day, and to make extra exertions
at fair ti
gistrates of that town is, at seasons of popular excitement,
mes•—(A laugh.) Now, the practice of the Ma-
-Ito have a punch-bowl full of assault warrants placed before
them on the table, the whole of which they never fail t.,
get through in the course of the day. The Irishmen are
sure to swear one-half of the warrants against the Scotch,
and the Scotch set to and finish the remainder against the
Irish—one side of the street against the other side. Even
handed justice, of course, demands that what- has been
granted to the one party, should not be denied to the other,
and 'thus is the bowl emptied, and the fees supply the
liquor for refilling it.—(A laugh.) The tax-gatherer is not
more universal in his interference with private life than is
the Justice of the Peace. Whether sitting in the parlour
and filling up summary convictions, by virtue of what was
called Mr. Nicholas Calvert's Act, " Si quid in its est
glories toilet ;" or sharing in the lesser glories of the Ses-
sions, or committing offenders against the Game Laws, he
has the same irresponsible power, he is never ostensibly or
knowingly before the public and amenable to public opi-
nion, as are the other Judges ; yet, upon the other Judges
is all responSibility heaped, notwithstanding that their ap-

pointment takes place with every security for their inte•
grity. They are men learned in the eyes of the profesiion,
and necessarily few- in -number as to the high station
they occupy among the ranks of the profession. They
are responsible before the- public and to the Law ;
and yet, with all these. chances in favour of the
due administratioc of justice, there is an appeal from
every one act- to a tribanal above. From the de-
cision of the Magistrates, on the contrary, although
they have to deal with sonic of the most import-
ant interests in the country, there is no appeal ; they
are not even removable from office except their conviction
of some offence is entered is a Court of Record ; or unless
they voluntarily state their misdeeds to the Court of King's
Leach. I am new about to enter on the consideration of the
administration of justice in those Courts, in which it has
been my fortune to practise during my professional life.—
The first consideration to which I wish to advert, is the
inconvenient differences of the modes in which property is
held. Is it fitting or consistent with substantial justice, that
merely crossing the river, or the distance of a few miles,
should make so great an alteration in the law in that
respect ? The next subject to which I shall call the atten-
tion of the House, is the situation of copyhoid property in
this country. Before I enter upon this subject, I would
observe that a great improvement has been introduced into
the nature of this property by a measure carried through
Parliament by my Honourable Friend the Member for
Durham (Mr. M. A. Taylor.)—There are some Manors
in this country, respecting which it is necessary that the
wills disposing of them should be renewed at the end
of every second or third year. To some Manors again,
the eldest daughter succeeds to the exclusion of the
male heir. In others again, Manors are distributed
in co-parcenary. With respect to other 31anors,
they are so' entailed that one-half of them went in
dower to the exclusion of the heir-apparent There is no
end, in short, to the variety of modes by which mano-
rial holdings are entailed. There was a similar evil in the
mode by which in London, and some other parts of the
country, the property of the debtor was made subject to
the process of the creditor in a different way to the prac-
tice in other parts. There was not in this, or in other re-
spects, that uniform system throughout the country which
prevailed in France and throughout Scotland. Thus eter-
nal changes in the nature of property only served as a
trap to the unwary, and the object of the Legislature should
be to reduce it to one uniform and consistent system, as
far as the establishment of that system was practicable.--
At present the impediments to the transfer of property—
the obstacles in the right adjustment of property were,
even to the most circumspect, almost insurmountable. In
reference to copyhold property, this grievance was also to
be complained of in addition to what I have already
stated—namely, that in raising money upon it, money can-
not be procured to the amount of the full value of the se-
curities which that property afforded. If a man were to
go to the possessor of a copyhold estate, who wanted to
borrow money from him—the possessor of the copyhold
would stand in a worse condition than the holder of any
other species of property ; and for this reason, because the
copyhold estate would not be subject, after his death, to his
bond- debts. Other descriptions of property were not liable,
to the simple contract debts, but here the bond-debts were
not recoverable. This tended very much to the de-
preciation of this species of property, for the purpose
of obtaining money, as I have said, to the amount of
the securities which the property could properly bear.—
Passing from the consideration of this species of property,
which bears all the inconvenient characteristics Of the
feudal times, and which requires'ample and thorough re-
vision, I come next to the consideration of a position laid
down by Mr. Justice Blackstone, and strenuously main-
tained by all upholders of our judicial'ifystem, from his
time downwards, that the Crown and the subject come
into our courts on perfectly equal terms. Mr. Justice
Blackstone considers this one of the noblest features which
characterise the institutions of this land of liberty; and,
no doubt, so it ought to be considered, if it were not, as
it was, a legal fiction. That it is but a legal fiction, lam
prepared to shew—first, from the fact, that when the
Crown and the subject come into court, even when it is
pretended they appear as equals, no such equality, in re-
ality, exists. Secondly, there are many occasions, in which
their adverse interests come into court, when it cannot be

pretended, fora minute, that any terms of equality are

preserved, either in form or in practice, between the Crown
and the subject. The indulgence and favourable conside-
ration of the claims of the subject by the Crown, when-
ever its interests and those of the subject come into col-
lision, have been matter of eulogy with Mr. Justice
Blackstone, and those, who, like him, have lauded
the theory of our judicial system. Now, how was
this great favour and indulgence shown' I speak
here from what has occurred within my own experi-
ence. The highest remedy which is within the attainment
of the subject for obtaining possession or restitution from
the Clown is by petition de droit, or petition of right. It
is presumed by Sir William Blackstone, that " though no
action will lie against the King, yet the law bath furnished
the subject with a decent and respectful mode of removing
that invasion by informing the King of the true state of
the matter in dispute ; and as the law presumes that to
know of any injury, and to redress it, are inseparable in
the royal breast, it then issues as of course in the King's
own name, his orders to his judges to do justice to the party
aggrieved. The Learned Judge proceeds to state that the
inconvenience of a mischief that is barely possible, is well
recompensed by the peace and security of the Government,
in the person of the Chief Magistrate being set out of coer-
cion. Now, giving credit to the Crown for the disposition
towards the subject which Sir William Blackstone eulo-
gizes, it remained to consider in what did this grace and
favour consist. They solely rested in the breast of the
King's Attorney-General, and it was entirely; a matter of
consideration whether or not the Attorney-General should
subscribe his fiat, that a commission should issue to try the
truth of the suggestion. The Learned Gentleman pro-
ceeded to detail the circumstances of a case in which the
Attorney-General refused his fat--a necessary step in the
proceeding, without which the subject had no remedy.--
The ground on which the refusal was made was, that
the tenant in possession, to whom a grant had been
made by the Crown, was not in possession more than
for five years, and that an action of ejectment should
be brought in the first instance. The right of the first
grantee, for whom he (Mr. Brougham) was concerned,
was established as clearly to his satisfaction, and to that
of the Learned Counsel who were concerned with
him, as it was possible for a case of pedigree, on paper, to
be established ; but the refusal of the fiat, by the Attorney--
General prevented the petition of right from coming to ad-
judication, or a full investigation. Ido not now (said Mr.
Brougham) contend for the merits of the case in which I
was engaged; in the pedigree on which the right rested
there might be an instance of illegitimacy, or same other
invalidating circumstance, but that has nothing to do with
the matter of which I now complain. What I complain
of is, that whilst there exists this power by the Attoiney-
General—whose conduct I do not blame, as it may proceed
from the most conscientious motives—to defeat and frus-
trate the mode of redress pointed out to the subject, it is
a mockery and an insult to talk of the Crown and the sub-
ject standing upon equal terms in a doubtful and litigated
case relating to their respective rights. So much for cases
in which it was pretended that there was an equality sub-
sisting between the Crown and the subject--but where, in
reality, no such equality did exist. There was another
class of cases in which it could not be even pretended that
this equality existed. A suit, the parties who were the
plaintiffs to which resided in Cornwall, was removed into
the Court of King's Bench, where a trial at Bar was prayed
on the part of the Crown. The witnesses were all brought up
to town, and great expellee entered into—hut the Attorney-
General removed the case from the neighbourhood of the
place where the parties resided and were known, and by a
mere suggestion to the Court of King's Bench removed the
case to London. The inordinate expences to which the
subjects were put was a crying grievance. In the case of
to pay his costs but a peculiarity obseived on the part of
the Crown' was, that the Crown was above receiving—it
was also above paying costs.—(A laugh.
a plaintiff, and nonsuited, he was compelled
a subject being
)....-The Hon. and
Learned Gentleman proceeded next to advert to a cross-ex-
amination, conducted by himself in the Court of Exchequer,
out of which a strong suspicion of perjury arose--he failed
in the suit; but another similar was tried, in which the
same witnesses were examined ; and whether the suspicion
that his cross. examination had raised in the minds of the
Jury was converted into certainty, or through whatever
other cause, his Learned Friend (Mr. Serjeant Jones) suc-
ceeded. In consequence of this a prosecution for perjury
was instituted against the pull" whose evidence appeared
to be impugned on the trial. Out of this proceeding grew
to
eighteen indictments, which Were removed by certiorari
into the Court of King's Bench, where they were
be tried on application, by Special Juries. The first of
these cases was tried, and the accused party was convicted
of perjury; but the remaining seventeen indictments failed
in consequence of the Attorney-General having refused his
warrant to pray a tales. The consequence was,
that the
parties having lost thousands of pounds-in expences, and
having hundreds of witnesses in attendance
to give their
testimony, justice failed. Such an expenditure worked
no tat a
absolute ruin. It was not to be expected, after such a rui-
nous couldln'oerwksehuirite;famrmoreerosver,when they knew not
be prepared again
to prosecutes loss, h
but that might terminate in a like 'unfortunate result._
This case was attended with another sad circumstance
-W ;,
namely, Mead, the false witness, 'who bad beep convicted,

in a moment of temporary excitement Cu some alight ;vie
tation, took a gtni and shot: Laves, who was party in the
suit originally. instituted. Mead was.subsequently, tried
and sentenced to two yeari'imprisonment for manslaughter.
The complicated injustice, which the whole history of this
case afforded, was almost without parallel. It
.warranted
and sustained the propriety of the position, thatsin instane
ces where the Crown andethe subject came into collision, it
could not be pretended that they met on equal terms. It
was idle to talk of our excellent institutions—it would be
far more meritorious in us to apply ourselves to the task of
making them admirable and excellent: It would more coos
tribute to create respect abroad, and establish security
at home, so as to keep pace with at least, if not to surpass,
the judicial institutions of other countries. To.accomplish
this desirable end, it was necessary to apply ourselves to
remove some of the many anomalies which belong to the
feudal system, and which have been too strictly transmitted
down and adopted by us. To accomplish .this end, it
would be necessary to promote, as much as possible,
the diminution of unnecessary litigation. With this vied
—to discourage proceedings by unnecessary suits, and one
mode of preventing this would be to adopt the principle of
the Declaratory Bill which prevailed in Scotland, the ob-
ject of which was, to obviate prospective suits by calling c
upon all persons who had any claim to property to put for-
ward that claim within a certain time. Another course
to be recommended was, the abolition of all actions which
merely brought profit to the Court, or to the practitioners
of the Court, by the parties standing in the same relation
to one another, as if application had been made to the
Court in such cases. Another mode of obviating unne-
cessary and vexatious litigation would be, to prevent
cases from being removed from a cheaper and more expe-
ditious Court, to a worse and more expensive, and more
dilatory one. Again—all obsolete proceedings insti-
toted only for purposes of vexatious delay should
be discouraged. All those obsolete proceedings, which
are but traps for the unwary and tools for the litigious,
should be abolished. The Learned Gentleman next sug-
gested an alteration in the law respecting actions on bills
of exchange, with a view of rendering resistance to actions
of this kind less frequent and vexatious. The whole of
the respective contingent remainder., so intricate and
scarcely intelligible to many who were members of the legal
profession,es well as to those who were not members of it,
should he materially simplified. Then, with respect to
levying fines and suffering recoveries, I would propose to
abolish that proceeding altogether. I know not that this
abolition would be quite acceptable.to conveyancers, but 0
greater absurdity was not to be found in the law—a more
useless remnant of the abuses of feudal practices did not
exist than what was understood by levying fines and suf-
fering recovery. The heir who was tenant in fee-simple
could dispose of the estate vested in him, while the heir
who was tenant in tail was obliged to have recourse to the
levying of fines and suffering a recovery, which was only a
fiction, enabling him to pass the estate from him as if he
held it in fee-simple. Let it not he understood, that in
any change which might be introduced for the abolition of
these fines and recoveries, I intend to interfere in any way
with the law of entail. No such thing. But this absurd mode
by which fines were levied, and recoveries suffered,
would by no means tend to any such interference with
it. There was a sufficient line of demarcation already
drawn between the aristocratical and commercial classes
of this community, which preserved to the hereditary aris-
tocracy of the country its legitimate weight and authority,
at the same time that ample opportunities were afforded for
the purchase of land by those who were enabled by a course
of successful industry to expend the fruits of that indastry
in purchasing it. 1 would not disturb that well-balanced
relation now subsisting in'England between these classes ;
but the abolition of useless forms, of levying fines and suf-
fering recoveries, of complicated trusts introduced into con-
tingent remainders, will not disturb it. The principle to
be observed in all legislation was an intermediate one,
which, without too much encouraging too great entail on
the one hand, should prevent too great alienation on the
other.—(Hear, hear. )—The Hon. and Learned Gentleman
proceeded to state, in whatever measures he proposed to
introduce, he would not interfere with those regulations
by which dower was properly secured, and by which en-
tails were settled. His grand object was to cut off those
fanciful trusts which were retained, and unnecessarily in-
troduced into wills and other legal deeds, for no object that
he could discover but to puzzle the unlearned.; and what, in
his opinion,was worse, to defeat the interests of justice,. and be
attended with consequences frequently the very reverse of
what was contemplated by those making bequests by will. Hit
object in this, and throughout most of the improvements
he proposed, was more to simplify than to alter the exist-
ing law. I would wish to extend -the Statute of Uses, and
to take away all equitable jurisdiction in tent cases. Our
ancestors had taken the greetest pains to effect this latter
object. The Courts of equity were constantly obliged to
send these cases to be tried by the Courts of Law, in order
to get the opinion of the Judges on the case. Another
source of evil arises from the practice of the Equity. Courts
with respect to agreements for leases. A man may be pos-
sessed of a written agreement fora lease of'lo years, but this
is not held to be equivalent to a lease e and although he has
a right to go into the Coate of Chancery upon his agree-
ment, his claims are not recognized by the Courts ef Law.
If an injunction be granted, the expenses are multiplied.
Why should not an agreement be 'just as good as a lease,
salve exceptione? 1 would allow the legatee to sue the
administrator or executor, and the mortgagor to sue in his
own name, although the mortgagee be in possession. In
cases involving matters of account the Law Courts have
not tools to work with, and it is only by Means of the .ap-
pendage of the Master in Chancery that the Chancery Court
can decide them. I wish the Court of King's Bench to he
supplied with an adequate set of Auditors and Examiners
to enable the Court to settle all matters of long accounts,
of the weakness or
strength instead of by reference. It would be most desirable
to establish a Court of Arbitration before which persons
might come without Counsel and without Attorneys, to
state
s. wouldinformed
be the cheapest t
o be
refor-
mation ever made in this conntry. It would take away all
trifling disputes about words, and oust theequitable juris-
diction in nine cases in ten in which it is- now necessary.
Thus the Court of Equity would be left to its ordinary
their
case,
jurisdiction in matters of account in long trusts, and in
such cases as those of infants and idiots. No man ought to be
their asnudi t
driven to two suits or actions for the same remedy. • Why
should not the jury that tries the question, of right, at once
assess the amount of damages. Mr. Tennyson's •Bill gives
no power in this case. It is . only recommendatory, and
its recommendations are not always attended to, fbr it is
not the interest of Attorneys to attend to them; When the
number of suits are reduced, the 'question will he, how
those that are brought can be terminated in the shortest
time, with the utmost certainty; at the least 'POSsible' ex-
pellee? This leads me to consider the principles which
ought to guide the law in affording relief. On this head,
I may quote the Scriptures for advice and as an authority
—" Agree with thy adversary quickly, whilst thou. art in
the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver
thee to the Judge, and the Judge deliver thee to the officer,
and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee. thou
shalt by no means come out thence till thou hest paid the
Uttermost farthing." God knows, this latter partsis appli-
cable enough-6 the English law.—(A laugh.)—ltis true
that in our Courts the parties are allowed to impetrie, but
this is after the arrest, and when it is too late. The prin-
ciple laid. down in the Scriptures ought .to be 'observed
before the arrest. Whatever tends to bring parties to their
senses, and to a consciousness of their reel strength or
weakness, ought to be observed. The seeming interest of
parties, in many'cases, is different from the interests of jus-
tice, although their real interests will be found the -eaUle. If
parties are litigious, their objects are different from these of
the Judge,who ought, however, to make both sides come out
with the whole case, 0,5,04 possible- A hint of what
the evidence is, might shorten a cause very materially. Ia
SCotland, no man- can' prOduce in Court a: Written instru-
Ment unless he has 'thews' it,' before trial, 'to his adversary,.
I was once engaged in a cause where the sum.in'clisPute
was only 201.,• and the costs amounted to 75/. One of
the parties unexpectedly. produced a receipt for the sum
claimed, -and thus obtained the verdict. ln Scotland, the.
.
action could not havebee
m
been maintained, for the receipt
mist .
have been shown to the adversary before trial. Tare u
all -
greatest .
eeeourageenent ought, i
tlilea,sto he given. to
It's allow • allowed, in certain cases, to pay money
compromises. ,
into Court; but when parties have their passions raised,
and their feelings inflamed, the earliest opportunities ought
to be given to them to cool. But our lawallows ofcotel
promises only in cases of contracts. Not only Might:Money
to be paid into Court in cases of contracts, brit motley
ought to be paid in tender of amends. , thls is allowed,in
cases of Justices and Excise-officers, and some others,
by
the Act of Geo. 11. Why should we never think of adopt-.
ing these plans, so useful in foreign Courts, and io
evidently
founded upon sound principles, and so, highly beneficial to .
all persons, except those of the professiMi of which thave
the honour to be a member? I
.supper. I
niey 64't.'
sidercd 'ass peaking disinterested,
Few persons mektes
More by law 'than I do; and if abesee in the:
tinue, I shall have a large share of gains.: be Nun..
try Courts ought, to be revised. A.;.great objet;t,. ought; .
to be, to keep out of Court all actions Which, do Jails
really require to be brought into Court, and in banish.
these suits which- do no 'good but 'to affiai's- at 2 ,
law. • Hew 'often have I traced I>anttr4iciee
insolvencies to a lawsuit which. has rnittecl tie, no
feinunate' parties. This reminds me "of
story' 'of the ran who in*. itui4 by, on