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

BREACH OF PRIVILEGE.

the The
at t
eSn? SOLICITOR-GENERAL
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Bench
Gossett—Howard
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been taken into custody on the warrant of the Speaker,
issued by order of the House.
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proceedings lalsot.iuteh,we
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Stot°etkhde alelloaugsaei
Howard, who conducted those proceedings as the
attorney of Stockdale, should attend at the bar to be
examined. Howard had notice to that effect, but he
di I not attend or pay any respect to the notice. In
consequence of that contempt an order was made by
the House that he should be brought up in custody of
the Sergeant-at-Arms, and the Speaker's warrant was
issued accordinglyHe was taken into custody upon
that warrant, and subsequently he brought an action
against the Assistant-Sergeant and others of the
officers for excess m the execution of the warrant.
The sole complaint against the officers was, that they
bad been guilty of excess ; and upon that complaint the
House came to the decision that the officers be per-
mitted to appear and plead to the action. They pleaded
accordingly ; the case came on for trial in the Court of
Queen's Bench, merely on the general issue of the de-
nial of the fact. The jury were of opinion that the
officers had been guilty of excess, and found a verdict
against them for 1001 That the 1001. and the costs were
paid by the House. In the year 1843, Mr. Howard com-
menced the action in question against the sergeant, and
communication of the fact was made by the Sergeant-at-
Arms to the House. His (the Solicitor-General)
Honourable and Learned Friend the Attorney-General
moved that the notice which had been given should be
printed, and on the following day he proposed to the
House that the Sergeant-at-Arms should be at liberty
to plead to the action. That proposal gave rise to a con-
siderable debate. That debate was adjourned, and ulti-
mately the House came to the resolution that Sir W. Gos-
sett have leave to appear and defend the action brought
against him by Mr. T. B. Howard for trespass. After
that, the House agreed to another resolution, that Wil-
liam Bellamy have leave to defend the action brought
against him, and that the Attorney-General be directed
to defend Sir William :Gossett and William Bellamy.
Upon that authority several pleas syere put on the
record in the action of Howard aemstGessett; and,
stripping those pleas of their technicalities, the effect
was, that the imprisonment which had been com-
plained of was to be justified by the authority of the
aSnpde aokne r
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demurrer In tahno s
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ma se tnhte rteo wasok p.al
adceem
iunr demurrer,
Court of Queen's Bench, in the month of November
last. The Judges appeared to have entertained
very considerable doubt on the subject, for they took
time to consider their opinion, and did not deliver their
judgment until Thursday last. When they pronounced
judgment, the majority of the Judges were of opinion
that the pleas constituted no sufficient j▪
ustification
of the complaint contained in the plaintiff's declaration.
In that judgment, however, Mr. Justice Williams dif-
fered from the majority of the Judges. But:of course it
would be premature to discuss that part of the subject
further until the whole of the proceedings were before
dtheeciHainonused.idHnonwtevienr,
any
it would be right of him to say
that the Judges, one and all, had stated that their
way refer to any of the
privileges of this House, but to the fact. of the
Sergeant-at-Arms having exceeded the authority vested
in him by the House.—(Hear, hear.) Now he would
suggest that before the House took any proceedings in
reference to this subject, they should have before
them all the proceedings in reference to the trial,
and therefore he would move that copies of
the record and of the short-hand wri▪ ters' notes
should be laid before it. It would be necessary that the
House should proceed upon the matter as speedily as
possible, in order to come to a determinati▪
on. But in
the mean time he would state what the steps were
which the plaintiff could take. The plaintiff was
now at liberty to enter what was technically
called an interlocutory judgment, and then pro.