The Sun.
London, England, 1821-03-26 00:00:00

t When comes the lith chap. of the Statutes, entitled, De
vi-
tarda
apartialitate in electionibus Sociorum, and which is to
t this effect: " Omuem partialitatem partuarum ,extripare cu-
pientes in hoc ('ollegip, volumes quod hujus col-
legii ex singulis consitantats eligentur indifferentur,
ita qrsod numquam sent duo Socii ant duo Scholares ex ono
Conntatu, neque tres Socii aut tees Scholares ex aliquu una
DiOcesi," except the Diocese. of Lincoln, on account of its size,
' " preterquem ex Diocesi LinColideusi, ex qua prOpter sums) am-
phtudinem permittimus tres soeios simul eligt et haberi in hoe
• collegio, dum modo quilibetillorum trium natus sit in alio et alio
comitatu." The different counties of Englaul are those which
are hereafter enumerated, out of which Fellows alone are to be
elected, decreeing that no other distinalesee or name shall
be there, except under the special liileiTiienethose Counties
in England, inserted in- ene, present Statute, and then there are
enumerated the Counties of Norfolk, SuiliAlt, Essex, Cam-
, bridge, Iluutingdon Bedford, Buckingham, Northampton,
• Leicester, Lincoln, Kent., Middlesex (that is the County now-
under consideration), Sussex, Surrey, Hertford, Berks, Oxford,
Warwick, Stafford, Derby, Salop, Chester, Lancaster, Wor-
cester, Gloucester, Devon Cornwall, Wilts, Southampton,
Dorset, Somerset, Hereford, Wales, the County of . Notting-
' hans, York, Northumberland, Cumberland, -Westmoreland.
Then there is a proviso, in this Satute to this effect—" Proviso,
good ex siugulis his Dicecesibus nut cornitatibus, in quibus
collegiurn terms, ant prcedia' nut nunc habet, nut in pouterum
sit habituram, licebit unum alium socium, et unum Seholarem
tassumere peter ilium numerum sociortnu, et Scholarium so-
! perius praiscriptum modo annusredditus tarrarem, et prseatiorum
earum Dineeessum, ant comitaturn sUffieire peasant uni socii Co
modo alendo quo reliqui Socii benefieio ejusdern Collegii sus-
tentantor ;" so that it appears on certain terms it shall be law-
ful to have another Fellow and Scholar above those above pre=
Scribed, provided only that .the lands and rents ef• such Dio.
cese or County be. sufficient to maintain the said Fellow and
Scholar upon the foundation of the College. This Statute is
positive, that Middlesex shall have but one Fellow, except in
the excepted case, and it is not stated tame, that in the present
instance it is brought within the. excepted case.
With respect to the lands and rents maintaining another
Fellow, the concluding claiise in these Statutes is a clause
that has appeared to me to require a good deal Of consideration ;
and it is of this nature,_ 1 mean the el,ruse in the Statute under
the authority. of which the interpretation 'of the Statutes takes
place. It is us these wOrda " Nihil tam- perfecte et absolute
a quoquem tradi ac Statui queat, quod Versuturo callidum-que
ingenious non possit impie et perverse interpretari•" this could
not be addressed to Lawyers—" atque adsensum lunge diver-
sum trahere ideoestatuiams, quod nuilus hujus Collegii Se_
cius imo nee Presidensipse presumet quovis modo Stutnte hose
nostra vel eoram union aliquoLljuxta south ipsius sensum tor-
quere et interpretari, sed quicquiel ambigati in aliquopraidictoruns
statotorum post bac occurrent declarers sive interpretari vulu-
mus per Pmsidentem, et majorem partin Sociorum, saki tauten
quod fieri possit ab eisdem pra.,zidenti, et socius se:nper
:datum juxta sensum litnalem, et gram:natizalem eoeundem
declerentur et interpretentur, quas interpretatio7.ses perpetuum
robur et effect-urn aortiri volivnuts. Et per ludo ac Statute a -
preesidente et aociis hujus t~ollegii obsnvanda fore decrevimus.
Napa liceat Prasaidenti et Swiss huin Collegii. quovis modo
sus propria authoritate nova Statute condere his prteientibus
Statutes et ordinationibus jam editis contraria, et repugnantia
subpoena incurrendi rnenifestum peijurium ipso facto.
So that this; you see, gives theauthority to the President and
major part of the Fellows, to_interpret the Statutes, provided
only that' their interpretation does not go to found new Statutes,
but to a fair and honest interpretation of the Statutes in any
part of them, which might be ambiguous, not being in truth
the ordaining of new Statutes. It appears from the book
have in my hand, that from a very early period many interpre-
tations were made of the Statutes, some of which are interpre-
tations_ which I think all the world Would agree. did not. fall
within the Statute de Interpretation Stetutorum ; others of
them, it is not difficult to discover, were made hy'an authority
that a common understanding can easily see to besanctioned by
that Statute : but in a question which arises centuries after such
an interpretation is made, it is a very dangerous thing to say,
that no force shall be given to such interpretations, which it ap-
' pears might have been question Ni. at first, if practice has foi-
-1 lowed upon them, and they have been sanctioneu for centuries.
I have read to you the Statutes about the Counties from
which Fellows were to come—athen they gnais early as 1537, and •
make this interpretation :—ln this year it is declared that all
Wales shall be reputed for one English County,
.and all the
Dioceses of the same for one Diode of England. That appears
to -rne I think, obviously consistent with the Statute,—the City
of London to be part of the County of Middlesex, the County
of Ilallam to be part,of Derby, the County of Rutland to he
nart of NorthemAon ; the.Bishoprick of Durham to he part of
the County of Northumberland, and the County of Richmond
to be part of the County of York ; and we declare also, that the
Village ofßerwick shell be part of the County of Northumber-
land, as lokr as it shall be unde:rtire authority of the King of
England • and the Ville of Calais, and the land within the Eng-
lish pale ;aeyOrl the sea, shall be part of the County of Kent,
so long as the Same shall be under the dominion of the King of ,
Ertel-hold. We also aclare, that all and singular the above
Counties, having a particular Sheriff (Vice-Consstem) and other
liberties and franchises, though separated from the County
within the Realm of England, shall be reputed within this Col.
lege fur part of the County in which they are situated and not
for-any County of England. It would be somewhat diffieolt in
construing the Statutes to see how Durham should be made •
part of N-urthumberland, anti other. parts made parts of other
places that are named here. As far as this Statute goes to ordain
that certain places, which are Towns and Counties of themselves, •
shall be considered as part of the Counties at large, I do not
think that I should have had much difficulty originally in giving
my consent to this, for I believe that in most:Colleges, where
Fellows come from Counties, that they do so look upon places
which are Towns and Counties of themselves, and
_consider

them as part of the Counties at•large. I am rather old now ;
but if my memory does not mislead me, I owe my Fellowship
to that construction, and therefore, perhaps, I may be a little
Partial to that construction ; but take it as you will, this decla-
ration, which makes London part of Middlesex, does not in-
crease the number of Fellows who are to be taken from the
County, and, therdore, it must be upon some other authority
that the College can have two Fellows for the County of Mid-.
dlesex.

The Statutes then proceed in various_parti of them to give a
construction to the &cern libras, which is the qualification to
hold a fellowship; I think it is to be collected from what has
been done in the College; and looking to the qualification for
the Fellowship, that it could not be the intention of the Founder
of the College, if the value of money altered as much as it
has done, that he who had novem Libras, •should quit his Fel-
lowship for the Decem Libras e in other words, I think that
under whatever advice the College has proceeded, it has been
Under this impression, that the disqualification was to bear
somewhat of a proportion to the qualification, or that there should
be a proportion between the novem Libras and 'the Decem
Libras. Whether that has been decided upon proper au-
thority 'or not, by the construction of the Statute De Inter; re-
tatione, we know it is an interpretation so frequently put upon
Statutes, that I do not think any person would ea:4 be brought
to quarrel with it, or give a disaffirmation to it, were it in his
power so to do. Therefore, it appears to me, that the ques-
tion which arises here is this—namely, whether the different in-
terpretations of the Statute, which have raised the Decent Libras
to 4:121) at least, the qualification of the person to be .elected
Master of the College, in order to keep up that proportion be-
tweeu their ranks, wnich the Statute unquestionably meditated;
or on the other hand, there being no interpretation of the
Statutes requiting the qualification 'of the Master, that is a
thing which remains to be done-by proper authority, but not
effecting the chhstroet,lo.n. tif: the viguifi hbras, as Nag as. there
has been no proper authority applied to a change of the Statute
on that subject,—whether that in point of law, is to be the'true
construction of .the:case. I throw this out that. you may see
the view I take of the question, though I do not mean to give
any positive opinion upon it to4lay.
c have thengot to the question, whether Mr. Godfrey is,
-or is not a member of the College, and whether what Mr..
Mandell says be of sufficient force to vacate his election, on
the ground that his vote ought not to be reckoned among the
immber lylio voted, and therefore, that he ought not to be con-
sidered as duly elected. I. must own, that I ,have not been
ahle.to find any authority in the Statutes, or any written in-
Strunient or dw:unient, purporting to change the ordinance of
the Statute upon the force of it, to warruot me to say, that
there should be but one Fellow for Midelasex ; but reading the
affidavits laid before me, and particularly that of Mr. Godfrey,
and of Mr. Gorhani, stating what actually has existed in' this
College for two Centuries at least, and attending to the pas-
shges in another affidavit which has been filed with respect to
the reputation of the College, -confirmed by. the statement of
the erecting of two fellowships, and attendlog to that paper,
praying for the dispensation for the election of a third Fellow;
and adinitting,.as I do, the authority. of the position laid down
by Mr. Hart to the fullest extent, that usage cannot sanction
a violation of the Statutes, I have put to myself- the question
in another way,--whether, admitting that ttsage cannot justify ,
or sanction the .violation of the Statute, usage is- not to be
taken withreseAct to this 'subject; as matter of evidence of
tht; existence of an original lawful authority; as well as it is
taken to be evidence of the existence of lawful authority in
other matters ; and therefore, if there has been usage to the ex-
'tent which has been proved by thes4 affidavits to have taken
elite ; it is :neeeaSary for the to say, or it is fit for me to say,
that is the best way for ine.tei put it, that that which has
Prevailed for so many years.hai all been wrong, when it might
he'all right; if you take the evidence as being; evidence of a dis-
pensation of its being once sanctioned, and I own that the
conclusion that I come to upon this subject is, that 1 cannot
impute to the Fellows of this College, either to those who now
exist, or those *IA formerly existed, or to the Presidents of the