The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-20 00:00:00

LAW REFORM.

Lord BROUGHAM could not help expressing his
pleasure at having given way to his Noble Friend, espe-
cially the Noble Lord connected with Yorkshire; and he
was rejoiced to find that the subject was likely to be taken
up with some prospect of utility. He had risen to
bring under their Lordships' notice that subject
of universal and enduring interest—the improve-
ment of the jurisprudence of the country. It was
now seventeen years since he had first brought this sub-
ject under the attention of Parliament in another House,
of which he was at that time a Member. The re-
sult of his motions in that place had been the ap-
pointment of two commissions, one for the im-
provement of real property law, and the other for
the improvement of the process of the courts of law.
The results of the reports of these two Com-
missions was the suggestion or the passing
of Acts for the amendment of the Civil Law
of the country. One of these laws was the improve-
ment of the law with respect to personal rights, which
were called in the language of the Courts the law of
real and personal actions. It was with a geat sense of
.obligation that he referred to the services of the eminent
men who had given their services on those commissions.
The other of these commissions had reference tothe real
property of the country. The utmost diligence had been
used on these commissions to ascertain the source of the
evils, and to devise the most efficient remedies. He
could not forget that on one of those commissions was
the distinguished man now the Chief Baron of the Ex-
chequer, and that with him were those eminent members
of the profession, Mr. Baron Alderson and Mr. Justice
Wightman. To the other were added those distinguished
conveyancers, Brodie, Tyrrell, Carr, Duval, and Du-
charest. Nor should he forget that to the real property
commission was added also the able assistance of his
Noble and Learned Friend behind him, who was after-
wards Attorney-General, and brought to his duties not
only the great labour, unsurpassed industry, and exten-
sive experience in the courts of law, but also those va-
rious and high talents which had given him so prominent
a place in his profession. In addition to these benefits
there was also a debt of gratitude due to his Noble and
Learned Friend, in that he had given his entire time to
the commission, and during the whole period of his at-
tendance on that commission had refused all remunera-

tion for his services from his clients or the public. The
result of these inquiries had been, that a great change
had taken place, not only as it regarded the law of real
property, but in the practice of the courts, and the law
of evidence. Those who considered that no improvement
had takes place in the law, would recollect the state it
was in, in 1828, at which time his late much-respected
friend Lord Eldon was at the head of the law of the
country. A great change had undoubtedly taken place
since that time. Great and salutary changes had been
brought into operation, so great, indeed, that were any
of the old lawyers to arise from their present re-
pose, where they lay undisturbed by the call of clients,
they would imagine they had been brought into
existence in a new world—(Hear, hear)—and
would be altogether unable to recognise the
present state of the law, so much did it differ from that
which they had formerly supported. Such a result must
have afforded the greatest satisfaction to those who sup-
ported not only amendment and improvement in the
law of the country, but the Legislature itself. Since
the 7th of February, 1828, of the many improvements
in the law then suggested, in fifty-eight instances im-
provements had been effected, and sixty-six carried into
effect as the law of the land. Not only in the matters
then suggested had improvements been effected, but
numbers of others incidentally introduced had also been
taken up, recommended by the Common Law Commis-
sion, and carried into effect by the Government. The
criminal law of this country was no longer as heretofore
in its general aspect the most cruel of all codes of civi-
lised countries, short of those who inflicted punishment
by torture. But in respect to capital punishments, it
had become the most humane in executing upon male-
factors the punishment of death for grave offences. It
was, in this respect, at the present time, the
most temperate, cautious, and abstinent of any
civilised code in the world at the present day. In the
measures of reform carried out the Court of Chancery
had not been excepted, where formerly the law's delay
had wrapped its suitors in its endless folds. The pro-
ceedings there had been reduced to within moderate
confines, moderate when compared with the time when
Lord Eldon presided over it. In other Courts impor-
tant improvements foul been effected in their proceed-
ings. He might therefore well say, that although much
might yet remain to be done, much in these two great
particulars had been effected, and many great evils had
been extirpated from our legal system.
" At rabidsa tigres absunt, et smva leonum
Semina; nec miseros fallunt aconita legentes :
Nec rapit immensos orbes per humurn, neque tanto,
Squameus in spiram tractu se colligit anguis."
These successes ought to encourage them to proceed in the
improvement of the present system—not too fast, but at a
moderate and duly regulated speed. The past success that
had attended their efforts ought to encourage them to re-
newed efforts in the future. And therefore he, so en •
couraged, felt bound to go on—not to rush wholesale
and unadvisedly into alterations, but to carefully look at
all—to examine all, so as to see where so much had been
done, and what had been left undone. He would shortly
state, in a few words, what he thought ought to be done ;
and he would not point out one single defect without at
the same time pointing out a safe and easy remedy for
those defects. And first, with regard to the courts of
law, he could not but admit that since the year 1828
great and important and extensive reforms had taken
place in those courts. He could not but recollect that at
that time what he chiefly complained of was the different
amount of business in the different courts of common
law—that whilst the Court of Queen's Bench was over-
whelmed with work, and whilst the Court of Common
Pleas was sufficiently worked, the Court of Exchequer,
owing to a certain monopoly of the officers of the
Court, had scarcely anything to do. That defect had been
remedied. The monopoly of the officers had been abo-
lished, a great practical reform had taken place, and his
Noble and Learned Friend at present on the Woolsack
had accepted the office of Lord Chief Baron, had brought
his great talent and great experience to bear upon that
Court, which ever since that time had been as well em-
ployed as any other. The openingof the Court of Common
Pleas was another reform which had taken place in the
year 1832. That Court had been opened by a warrant
from the Crown, and not by an Act of Parliament.
There could be no doubt but an Act of Parliament
could have opened the Court, but, unhappily, it
was doubtful whether or not the Crown pos-
sessed the power. The opening of the Court
was opposed, and his Noble Friend and himself
had been of opinion that the warrant of the Crown
was of no effect unless authorised by an Act of Parlia-
ment, and therefore the Court was again closed; but he
hoped that the matter would be reconsidered, and that
the Legislature would supply the defect whieh alone
prevented the opening of the Court. Then again there
was Court, consisting of three judges, which had no
business, and which gave no satisfaction to suitors or to
the profession. That Court had been abolished. It had
been instituted in consequence of a simple notion then
prevailing that in the common law courts there could not
be more than twelve judges. His Noble and Learned
Friend on the Woolsack, not frightened at this super-
stition, had appointed three other judges, and there were
now fifteen judges of the courts of common law, and he
thought that many months would not elapse be-
fore they would find that these fifteen would not
be sufficient, and that it would be absolutely necessary
to make some other arrangement for an increase of the
judicial power. However, he would not allude further
to a subject which was still a matter for consideration.
Another subject of complaint at that time had been that
the commencement of the periods of the Trinity and
Easter terms were not fixed. That Malt had been re-
medied by a Bill which had been introduced by Sir
James Scarlet, when he was Attorney-General. Then
been
by important reform which had been effected,
The
had
by the abolition of the office of Welsh judge.
gentlemen who held the offices of Welsh judges
in
were,
during one half of the year, practising as barristersofthe
Westminster Ball, and during .the other
half
year going the circuit as judges, Theyof were
Members of the House of Commons manythem,
and of course voted according to their habitual
predilections, and yet in Wales they were judges in the
last resort in criminal cases, and subject to appeal in
civil cases also. These jurisdictions had since been en-
tirely . abolished. Another complaint which he had
made in the year 1828 had now, he must confess, ceased
to have much foundation, and the credit of the doing
away with this abuse was due to the present Govern-
ment. He had complained at that time of party-spirit
influencing the Lord Chancellor, in whom the nomination
of judges was vested, in appointing men to that high
judicial office. Such had been the practice at that time.
He himself, when Lord Chancellor' had taken a different
course, and his Noble and Learned Friend had followed
the course which has himself had pursued, and
had, without the slightest regard to party con•

siderations, made recently an excellent appoint-
ment to the judicial bench in the person
of one of the most learned, most able, and most honour-
able men in 'Westminster Hall, but who was supposed,
indeed was well known, to be a political opponent of the
present Administration. He hoped that this example
would always live in the recollection of othcr Govern-
ments, and that it would be followed by the successors of
his Noble and Learned Friend. So far for the courts of
common law. As fur the courts of equity they were
making it the interest of the judge to decide on one side
of the question, by paying him 10,000/. a year instead
of 2,5001. a year, in peace or in war. He did not mean

to say that Sir William Scott, or any of his suc-
cessors, ever yielded to that temptation ; very
far from that ; but he would have them not
only free from guilt, but above suspicion ; but under
those circumstances it was likely that an uninterested
mind would imagine that things were not without their

influence. Dr. Lushington had now a fixed salary, and
he was no longer paid to the detriment of the country.
He was now paid 4,000/. a year, and was most properly
excluded from party conflicts and political controversies.
The objection to the Court of Delegates was a most just
one, as appeals were made from learned judges to un-
learned civilians. The Court of Delegates was abo-
lished and transferred to the Privy Council, which was
a remodelling ; and there an objection existed, as there
were three judges who, because they constituted a form,
were required to decide most important cases. That
was done away with ; and no one could doubt that a
great improvement had been made in that jurisdiction.
Bills were brought in and passed encouraging the set-
tling of courts of arbitration, according to the sugges-
tion of 1828, which had been greatly beneficial to suitors.
But he grieved to say that there was still an evil
which he rejoiced to find was sought to be
suppressed by the institution of county courts
of local judicature which would add to the benefits
of the suitor in this country. Out of 7,000 suits
which were brought into the Courts, 5,000 ceased
in consequence of the operation of the courts of recon-
cilement to which appeals might be made. This satis-
factory appeal was not compulsory, but optional, at least
compulsory, viz., when after a mutual trust a decision
had been accorded. He would now call attention and
solicit the most earnest attention of the landed interest,
on bath sides of the House, for there was not one por-
tion of the country which had so deep a stake in the law
of real property as they, and as to transfer and purchase
no class had so direct and directing an interest in the
amendment of the law as the landed proprietors. He,
therefore, felt confidence in the recollection that every
Noble Member he addressed, had more or less an in-
terest in the land, and consequently in the subject then
before them. The first amendment in the case affect-
ing real property was the abolition of the law
of fine and recovery. When he had occupied the
place of his Noble Friend on the Woolsack he had re-
medied that defect. Before that reform, the tenant en-
tail, if late in life, and wishing to settle his property upon
those near to him by ties of consanguinity, could not
do it. The delay, the enormous expense-of fine and
recovery, threatened and deterred him, No longer,
however, did such odious anomalies exist; by the inter-
position of the Legislature, that disgraceful tax upon
property was removed. He knew of many landholders
who at the time of the passing of that measure, which
abolished so monstrous an abuse, waited a year, and,
fortunately being in the prime of life, waited without
injury, and by that course saved themselves hundreds,
ay, thousands of pounds. Some silly and old-fangled
notions at first furiously opposed it. It was fancied that
property, like gravitation, must always be acting down-
wards, and, like that notion upon gravitation, it was an
absurd fallacy, for gravitation did not necessarily require
a tendency downwards except as it was impelled by
some collateral power. If a man died then, without
brothers or sisters, it was held impossible that his pro-
perty should ascend backwards up to his nearest rela-
tions, and it virtually descended to those of whom the
devisee was utterly regardless. But all these fantastic
absurdities had been overcome, and happily they had
become obsolete. The statute of limitations next sue •
ceeded, and by its great and invaluable requirements
had been made effectual in producing a reform more
complete, more salutary, than any which had yet cha-
racterised and purified our code. It was intended by
the Legislature to be a quiet enactment, to appease liti-
gation, to supply the defect of insufficient titles, and, in
the graphic words of one of their ablest brethren, Lord
Plunkett, when addressing the other House, " when
Time stood with his scythe mowing down the myriads
of his victims, politic humanity had put an hour-glass in
his other hand, by which he measured the duration and
rapidity of the strokes." But that remedy had been un-
happily unsuccessful; the scythe had too often prevailed
over the sand, and another more effectual measure must
be sought. Instances had frequently occurred of a tenancy,
in tail enduring for 250 years, and then the old title re-
vived, and, though subject to devise, embarrassment,
mortgage, or exchange, and thus treated as a fee simple,
up suddenly started an adverse, an unexpected claimant,
and ousted the possessor from his inheritance. But the
great misfortune to be dreaded in this state of the law
was that a deed of conveyance might have been signed
and lying by for a number of years, and then up started
against the present owner some fatal objection that
never till then had been dreamed of. The Commission
of which he had been speaking having removed all the
chances of those objections, he did think that on that
account alone its labours had proved of great value. But
between the Ecclesiastical Commission and the commis-
' sion on real property some slight difference existed, but
it was only as to a question of time, of twenty,
or thirty, or forty years.—(Hear, hear.) But
now all reversions were effectually barred, and all
real actions, with one exception, were swept away by
the Commissioners' report. But now, as he had said he
would, he would show their Lordships what remained to
be done. He had shown that the descent of property,
and the right to the possession of property, and the title,
had all been made clear and distinct, and, therefore,
property had in reality been made more valuable than
ever. But then there was the question of the transfer
of property. Nothing could be conceived worso than
the position of a person who wished to convey real
estates, or an estate held by fee simple, or by leasehold,
or for a term of years; and there was, also, the question
of the conveyance of property held in perpetuity, which
was one of great importance. Before the report of this
Commission, in every deed of sale or transfer there was
such an endless prolixity of statement in the preamble,
the recital, and all other parts of it, that it was impos-
sible it could be correct. To those who possessed large
estates, perhaps the expense of those deeds would
be no object ; but in the transfer of a small
estate the expense was so great that the owner could
not afford it; and the expense of transferring one acre
was as great as that of conveying one thousand. It was
not the mere expense of the parchment; it was the ex-
pense of the draftsmen; and the words were so nume-
rous that the chances of error were very great indeed;
and he questioned whether any person who signed one
of these documents ever read it, or did more than sign
his name and acknowledge the deed as his. Indeed, he
knew one conveyancer, a very respectable man, in whose
deeds many mistakes were discovered long after he had
died.—(Laughter.) In another case, that where a large
property in Oxfordshire was bequeathed, owing to the
omission of a single line, litigation ensued; the matter
was brought before the Court of Queen's Bench; the
Court of Queen's Bench decided in one way; the Court
of Common Pleas another, and ultimately the house
of Lords decided with the Court of Common Pleas.
Thus mistakes had occurred which might have
been fatal to the claims of the rightful owner.
Why should not these matters be made plain,
and reduced to as narrow a compass as possible? It
would benefit not only the landed but the commercial
interest, for when a merchant gave 20,0001. for an es-
state, he would, of course, desire its being fully secured
to him. Why should not the Legislature facilitate the
sale and transfer of land, and prevent the possibility of
a badtitle through legal informality? Why should they
not protect the buyer from the effects of technical flaws,
by consolidating the law upon this subject into one
short deed? And the Bill he proposed to bring in had a
copy of that deed—four lines, and no more, which he
judged fully sufficient to answer all the purposes, and
hich had been entirely approved of by four of the most
able conveyancers in the country. An Act of Parlia-
ment in two pages would, he trusted, be passed, enact-
ing that whenever used this form of conveyance would
be guaranteed as to its entire sufficiency, and that all
had been done which the law required. Of course, if
there were persons who preferred a more ample and
complex form of conveyance, who would rather see
their titles on ten sheets of parchment than on a single
page, they would be at liberty to hazard it. If a man
preferred a large form, wordy and involved, let him try
it, and God speed him—let him trust to the lawyers and
to the courts of law. The Bill he proposed con-
tained the very form which would be necessary
and the enacting words, both in case of sales and in
case of lease. When he saw the small amount of rent,
and the small value of annual payments frequently
made, he thought it was of still more importance to the
poor than to the rich that there should be a clear and
secure form.—(Hear, hear.) A defect had grown up in
our laws from the separation of law and equity. The
matter required some explanation. When
is peeras9n_
mortgaged any real property he did it, generaly p k
evens 1,000
ing, on a term of years, 500 or sometimes
years. The object of the term was, tist.
might be satisfied, and the purposes o
there ought to be
be the case, and properly speaking atthtehe transaction
there-
fore, accomplished. In the course of Tame years this might
this was very o
then a surrendefrteoef
etheegleteertema. byTitiehetemrmortgwaasge,e.
himfor some
to the mortgagor was kept alive by
outstanding ; or it might be that the term surren-
deredrimt
wmasigehot supposedsubeehtbing,
it
waft:
ideal,
nominal,purpose of hi his own.sp
ec
traTl—hebutet
a potent agent, often capable of creating mischief or de-
struction. This spectral creature of the imagination
was sometimes thought harmless—but it was not
so in many instances, which must be familiar
to his Noble and Learned Friends. Supposing
the term out. The burrower wishes to borrow more
' money and creates another term, and he does not tell
the person of dium he borrows that there is another
term outstanding. The second termor has only the lift,
interest—because the other term gives the legal
estate. The borrower borrows a third sum. That
very often happened, fur generally speaking a man who
once borrowed nau3t borrow again. lie went to the
third lender who knew nothing of what had passed. lle
did not know that the borrower had not given him the
legal estate as well as the others. He lent the money,
hut found there was an intermediate term, or not find-
ing it thought there might be, for he saw the borrower
go a fourth time to a lender. He becomes startled and
goes to the first tumor, from whom he gets possession.
In this manner he, as lawyers technically and expres-
sively say, squeezes out the middle lender, and the
middle lender, though his title was older, so lost his
money and security. In fact, both were as effec-
tually squeezed out of him by this process
as the breath, by any other, could be squeezed
out of his body. And all this was done by a legal spectre,
and apinst the law 313113/101, 44 qul prior tempore potius

jure," by substituting a flaw or fiction. Now,-/et it be
supposed that the third lender was secure in-hislitle, he
was exposed to numeropsisks. He must be ayurchaser
without notice to be se.4lKetlfrom iacmnbranc,e. Notice
might be actual or constructive. For instatee"the notice
might be served on a man's attorney Or; even upon his
attorney's agent, or through a Chancery imit, of which
the mortgagee bad never beard. Again the courts of
law might presume that the term had been surrendered.
He knew an experienced conveyancer who was con-
cerned in a case where one of his clients was obliged to
seek through four different diocesan courts, at an ex-
pense of upwards of 4001., for a surrender of the term
in order to complete his title. Surely this required an
immediate and an effectual remedy. This fictitious
term ought to be quashed. The Bill he was
about to bring in would remove this great scandal to the
law. A Learned Friend of his was about to introduce a
Bill for the general registration of deeds, and nothing
could be more desirable. A case had recently happened
where it was supposed the will had been burnt with the
mansion, and where, if so, the property would
have consequently gone to the heir-at-law. In
breaking up an old chaise, after the fire, an old
writing-desk was found, and out of this writing-desk
tumbled the will by which the whole fortune, 30,0001.
a year, fell to the devisee, quite another person. The
only opponents to a proper system of registration were
the attorneys of Yorkshire, where the registration was
monopolized. At the time of the Reform Bill they pla-
carded the towns in that shire with Bills callingupon the
landed interest to resist the Bill, which threatened to in-
vade their rights, and which would expose their private
legal transactions to the public gaze, although it was
expressly provided that nobody could see any re-
gistered document without being authorised by
the party who was interested in it. He would
bring in a Bill on that measure, but one considera-
tion—one duty—deterred him : he felt that they
must enlighten and improve the minds of the landed
interest, fur the purpose of exciting them to a rebellion
to emancipate themselves from the penal statutes under
which they at present laboured. Unless they did that,
he thought that he should, by introducing such a Bill,
run the risk of losing the others. He hoped that their
Lordships would not think that his opinion in favour of
registration was in any way weakened ; but if it were put
in the same boat with the rest, he thought that the felon
of the crew might injure the rest. That was the reason
he did not bring in that measure. The reports of the
Common Law Commissioners alluded to the new rules
fur the practice of these courts, and that at once did away
with a very large number of the objections urged in
February, 1828. With respect to the law of evidence,
much remained still to be done ; but the principal objec-
tion urged in 1828 had been removed by the Lord Chief
Justice's Bill, where evidence of any kind is not refused
on account of discredit. That Bill contained important
improvements on the law of evidence, and the great
improvement way, with respect to the length of time
during which church-rates would suffer from the Sta-
tute of Limitation. The limitation as to bonds
was also removed by a late statute. The law
of evidence had been much improved, as now
an eldest sea, being in person a remainder
in estate tail to any man, may necessarily be examined.
No interest, however great, weuld now be sufficient to
exclude any man's evidence. They examined a de-
fendant in Chancery, and why should they not do the
same in the courts of law under a due restriction? He
now would wish to call the attention of their Lordships
to two great improvements—one in the civil and the
other in the criminal jurisprudence. In Scotland, if a
man possess a right by marriage or in any other way to
a property that may come in question, he may institute
an action for the purpose of having it declared whether
he had such a right or not. Not so in England, for no
man can tell whether he have property existing in
Scotland or in England, because there was no
means of bringing a declaratory action. The
criminal part was that to which he wished
to call the attention of the Noble Lord on
the woolsack. The Lord Chief Justice felt a deal of
inconvenience at not being able to send more frequent
commissions of oyer and terminer to the several counties
in England. The Central Criminal Court made it im-
possible that any person should be imprisoned for any
felony beyond a few months ; but if he happen to be
tried out of that district he may be imprisoned for
several months. Why should that be ? Because there
were not justices enough. But if they would create suf-
ficient justices, they might send offenders from the coun-
ties where the offences were committed to counties where
the justices were, and they would enable the Government
to send judges four times instead of twice a year, to all
the counties in England. Hitherto they had been deal-
ing with the rights of property, real and personal, and the
actions and remedies consequent upon such cases ; but
the most important of all these were the matters which
may affect property, or the rights, not of property, but
of real estates. In this country there were many per-
sons, and some of them of the highest rank in circum-
stances, whom no one can declare to be married or not.
Was not such practices shameful, and contrary to all
humanity? and hence arose a conflict between the laws
of Holland and England, which was quite disgraceful.
Lord Hardwick's Act was most inconsistent in itself ; it
required that no person shall marry under twenty-one
years of age without the consent of his parents, but with
banns they were allowed. It was most inconsistent,
for they might go to Birmingham, where four
hundred banns are proclaimed every morning or
they might go to Scotland for 51., and come back
married, and the marriage was as good, according to
the customs of the country, as any marriage in the
world. That law was made to check the poor man
from carrying away a rich heiress. But they go off to
Scotland, if they even get a few pounds, so that the
law is perfectly inoperative for the purpose for which it
was intended. But be (Lord Brougham) proposed that
they should require a twelve months' residence in Scot-
land, before the divorce of an English marriage could
be given, and three weeks' residence in Scotland before
a Gretna-green marriage could be considered good.
It was also necessary that the forms should be
according to the customs of England, but they
were different in all countries ; and how could
they tell whether marriages contracted in England
Scotland or even in the East Indies were lawful. He
hoped that they would quiet the minds of the people on
that subject. Before concluding he would just state that
there was no law more satisfactory than that respecting
the debtor and creditor, whereby imprisonment was
never inflicted for debt but in cases where fraud was in-
tended or for wilful extravagance. He hoped that
the Members of both Houses of Parliament
would no longer consider the freedom from arrest
as their prerogative, or the privilege of their situation.
While arrest was law, it was quite fit that they should
be free from arrest, because they might be imprisoned
from factious purposes, or from the oppression of the
Crown. The law makers should not be law breakers;
but admitting that they ought to be free from arrest,
why should they net have the privilege of paying their
debts?—why should the Members of the Houses of
Commons and Lords be the only persons in the com-
munity exempt from the payment of debts? That was
a question which he wished to have answered, and
which he would enable the Houses of Parliament to
answer before he was much older. Let them see a Bill
passed to make the Members of the I-louses
of Parliament liable to the payment of their
debts out of their property, and to be punished for frau-
dulently making away with it. Let them not be re-
duced to such a deplorable state, that a man seeking
for a 301. debt, could not get thirty pence. Was it fit
that they should continue the representatives of the
Commons in one House, or hereditary justices in the
other ? How could a lord condemn a man for having
defrauded his creditors, when he himself was doing the
same every day ? They might have the courage to re-
fuse this Bill, but that courage would ooze out by de-
grees, and he believed that that man would not have to
live very long, who would survive to see that courage.
A bankrupt, according to Mr. Smith's Bill, could not
sit in the House of Commons, but there was no law at
present declaring that an insolvent man was not fit to
make laws which he himself could not obey.
He had now done. Some, if not all of these Bills, would
not pass. lie had no manner of doubt that he would live
to see the whole of them pass. lie hoped and trusted
that he should live to see the Registry Bill pass, and to
see a criminal code enacted ; and that, in addition to the
benefits which this Parliament and Government had con-
ferred upon the country, a digest of the laws would
follow, which would be an appropriate sequel.—(Hear,
hear.) If so, he should rest in peace and content from
his labours, satisfied with having had a hand, however.
feeble—a share, however humble—in erectina
column to the glories of the Bre
gnisnl2l
Legislaturepositeorder
—(Hear, hear)—a column of t
solid sense of the community,adornedexperience, and
all
the
various originating in the virtues,t
branches,
eh
various fruits of all the venous which compose
alike. --(near, hear.) And if he
of this community
to aid the Ministers of the
should have the happess
that great work, he had no wish that any
and constitute and represent al_lclasse and all interests
Crown in doing and exp
CAMPBELL said he should have been happy to
naLmoerdbut theirs should appear upon the column.
enter into sll the topics which his Noble and Learned
Friend had so ably introduced, if the hour of the night
were not so discouraging, and the state of the House itself
so formidable. Not even the eloquence of his Noble and
Learned Friend, who had the happiness to make the
driest of all subjects the most amusing—(A laugh)—nor
even the importance of the subjects themselves, had been
able to detain more Noble Lords than himself (Lord
Campbell) upon that (the Opposition) side, and the
Noble President of the Council on the other. The other
Ministers of the Crown had retired to deliberate over
the affairs of the State—or perhaps to join at the re-
freshment table, where his Noble and Learned Friend on
the Woolsack was doubtless in haste, to join them.

The LORD CHANCELLOR—No, I'm not—(A
laugh.) _

Lord CAMPBELL hoped that his Noble and Learned
Friend would outlive the passing of these Bills. Indeed
his Noble Friend seemed to have nine lives, like a cat,
and perhaps brought in these nine Bills tonight as the
auspicious number.—(A laugh.) There was one of these
Bills which he should most decidedly support, and that
was the Registry Bill, which was the one of the nine
with which his Noble Friend was not now prepared to
go on. When he (Lord Campbell) was a Member of the
other House, there was a Committee of the House of
Commons to inquire into the subject, and they were
almost unanimous in reporting in favour of a general
register. But the object was defeated by the intrigues
of the country attorneys, who were still powerful enough
to obstruct the measure. When he (Lord Campbell) had
the honour of being appointed Solicitor-General to his
Majesty King William the Fourth, the only stiptpatioa
made with him was, that he should not, for a time at
least, or until the prejudice against a central register
had passed away, renew his attempt to pass a Bill for
that purpose. He must, observe, however, that there
was a sort of poetic justice in the case. His Noble and
Learned Friend had prevented him from carrying on
his Bill, and now his Noble and Learned Friend, y 9 lit
unable to proceed with his own.—(A laugh)st : lie A,A