The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-19 00:00:00

THE SLAVE TRADE.

The NOBLE and LEARNED LORD also presented a
petition from the British Association for the Sup-
pression of the Slave Trade, complaining that Officers
of the British Army and Navy were engaged in that
trade ; and he gave notice that he would on Thursday,
submit a motion on the subject.
THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

Lord W HARN CLIFFE preSented a petition from
Leeds, complaining of the distressed state of the
country, and praying for relief.
The Earl of RADNOR wished to know whether
the Government intended to leave the country in its
present state, without lifting a hand tbr its relief?
Lord WiIARNCLIFFE said that there was
reason to hope that a revival of trade would at no
distant time afford relief.

The Earl of RADNOR said that the people had
good right to complain of the indifference of the Govern-
ment, who admitted that the country was suffering
under the most bitter distress, and made no attempt
whatever to lighten it.
LAW REFORM.

The LORD CHANCELLOR then said he had
laid on the table three Bills, of considerable import-
ance, in relation to the administration of the law. The
first was an Act for the better regulation of County
Courts, the second for the improvement of the
Courts of Bankruptcy, and the third for the regula-
tion of the Six &Jerks' Office. In reference to the
Bankruptcy Bill, he must say that, notwithstanding
the defalcations of some of the official assignees, the
appointment of those officers, under the Act
introduced by his Noble and Learned Lord (Lord
Brougham) had operated greatly to the advan-
tage of creditors. The first change which
he (the Lord t.hancellor) proposed, was to ex-
tend the jurisdiction of the Commissioners to one
hundred miles from London, instead of forty, which
was its present limit. It frequently happened that
the County Commissioners were parties to the case
upon which they had to decide. Very recently a
case came before him in which two of the local Com-
mis iioners were debtors, and two were creditors to the
estate, upon the affairs of which they were called to ad-
judicate. He proposed to bring all cases of bankruptcy,
within a hundred miles of London, under the juris-
diction of the Metropolitan Commissioners, and to
select, beyond that limit, five large towns, in each of
which there should constantly sit two Commissioners,
to adjudicate on the cases occurring in the surrounding
districts. The Noble and Learned Lord then read a
memorial presented to him, and signed by 6.50 mer-
chants, bankers, and traders of the City of London,
praying him to bring in a Bill based upon the prin-
ciples upon which his proposed measure was founded.
But the Memorialists also suggested an alteration of
the law in respect to imprisonment in execution. He
was not prepared to agree to the abolition of arrest
in execution, but he had not formed a decided opinion
on the subject, and he wished to keep it separate
from the clear and simple administrative measure
which he now proposed, which ought to be consi-
dered on its own merits, and not confused by the ad-
mixture of any doubtful question: The object of the
present measure was to extend to the provinces the
benefits of a system of which the advantages were as-
certained by experience in the metropolis. He had
also to submit to their Lordships a measure for amend-
ing the law in respect to lunacy, and all that he had said
with respect to bankruptcy applied to the present state
of the law in respect to commissions of lunacy. The ex-
penses of the present system were monstrous, and the
Commissioners had no power of remedying the abuse.
The fault was altogether in the mode of inquiry.
Amongst a number of cases which he remembered, there
was one, that of Francis Evans, in which the expenses
from the date of the inquisition to the issue of the order
of maintenance, covering a space of one year and five
months, were 5971., whilst the income was only 201.—(A
loud and very marked murmur pervaded the House.)
The Noble Lord went into a statement of the expenses
in other inquisitions, which he characterised as
equally monstrous and unnecessary. He proposed that
there should be two commissions. The inquiries which
they would have to conduct were, always simple, and
never required so much labour or so much discrimina-
tion as the commonest case of bankruptcy.' He further
proposed that the Commissioners should be added to the
I body ofinspectors, as constituted under the present law.
He had nest to bring their Lordships' attention to the
law respecting County Courts. He hud always been
adverse to the establishment of local courts. But in
every session of Parliament Bills were brought in to
establish local courts ; and it was most desirable that all
should be reduced under one law. The great evil of
local courts was, that with them you must have local
judges, and if they be judges without appeal, there
would be as great a diversity of law as there was of
locality. There was this, besides, to be guarded
against, that local judges must necessarily be
influenced by local connexions, and this was
glaringly manifested in the local courts of France,
a.- established by Napoleon.—(Hear, hear.) According
to our present law, the county clerk had jurisdiction in
eases of debt up to 40s. Considering the change in
the value of money, he would make no change in
the law, by raising the amount to 51. But he thought
that cases of debt up to 201. required, in the altered cir-
cumstances of the country, a more speedy adjudication
than the assizes afforded ; and he would provide for that
by the appointment of men well qualified and experienced
in Westminster Hall, who should make six or eight
circuits in the year, taking care that they should not