Star.
London, England, 1823-07-11 00:00:00

sions, though they went against them, so great was
their confidence in his integrity and his honour ; his
experience, acuteness, and great legal knowledge;
they knew, that whilst the present Lord Chancellor
of Great Britain watched over them, the Courts below
must be honest, whether they were so inclined or not;
for they well knew, that if they acted otherwise, the
Lord Chancellor was ready, and would not fail to
pounce down upon them, and punish them for their
faults. This he never failed to do, for he was no re-
specter of persons.- Talk of comments on Judges as'
made in the House of Commons, why, he had heard
Lord Eldon make such comments,and throw out such
reproofs against Judges, from his place in the House of
Lords, as he (Mr. Brougham) would have trembled to
have uttered in his place in the House of Commons.—
Under these circumstances, he must oppose the pre-
sent
Bill, because he thought sufficient time had not
been given for its consideration. Next, because he
could not agree to havejourneymen Lord Chancellors,
journeymen Speakers, and,, for anything he knew,
journeymen Vice-Chancellors, and journeymen Nlas-
ters-crf the Rolls ; and, above all, because the Scotch
people and the Scotch Bar, would not be satisfied at
being deprived of the able superintendance and guar-
dianship of the present Lord Chancellor, whilst he
retained the high situation he now held. (Hear, hear.)
'she ATTORNEY-GENERAL defended the Bill,
and at the same time could not avoid observing, that
-the attack which his Hon. and Learned Friend had
turned aside to make upon the Noble and Learned
Lord at the head of the profession, was uncalled for
on the present occasion. His Hon. and Learned
Friend had wished to impress on the minds of the
Members of that House, that the political avocations
of the present Chancellor interfered v ith'his attend-
ance in the Court of Chancery; such, however, was
not the case; on the contrary, if his Hon. Friend
would condescend to make inquiry, he would find
that no Chancellor ever devoted more time to the
duties of his Court than the present Lord Chancellor
did. As to the proposed arrangement, it was not in-
tended to be a permanent one ; but was only adopted,
if adopted it should be, to get rid of the present ar-
rear of business. As to the business of Scotch Ap-
peals, be was persuaded that the revision of the Jury
Courts of Scotland would greatly lighten, if it did
not entirely do away, the necessity of appeal, and he
was inclined to believe that the right of appeal might
soon he taken away entirely, without operating at all
•to the disadvantage of the people of Scotland.
Mr. Secretary CANNING said, that there could
be no doubt of the existence of certain evils as con.
lnected with the official character of the present ad-1
ministration of the Lord Chancellor's duties, although
doubts might exist with reference to the mode in
which such evils were to be remedied by the Bill
before the House. The Appellate Jurisdiction de-
manded a person of high talent, long experience, and
the capability of strict and almost undivided attetoo
tion ; and the question was, whether such a person I
was likely to be provided by the present Bill ? Sup-
posing the Bill to be adopted, ought the HOuse to
seize the present occasion, which appeared to him an
improper one, of manifesting its jealousy with regard
to the appointment of a new official personage? The
best opportunity for such expression of opinion would',
be, after the substitute had been appointed, and the ,
plan had been put into some sort of operation, to dis-
cuss the subject when it should conic before the House
in the shape of a question of salary. This would be
quite conformable to the practice of the House. He
held in his hand the votes of the House for several
years, by which it appeared that the policy of parti-
cular offices had been discussed after the erection of
such offices, when the proposition of salary wasl
brought under consideration. It had been done is
the case of Lord Shaftesbury. Formerly, indeed, the
vote for salary used to be prospective, but by the im-
proved mode of doing business it had been made re-
trospective. The proposition for the salary was now
included in the estimates. The question, therefore,
would come before the House at an early period of
the ensuing Session. He did not intend to pass any
opinion on the merit of the proposed alteration, as a
fitter occasion would present itself, when the machi-
fiery of the Bill had been put into operation, and
something like experiment afforded to the House as
a foundation for its decisions—(Hear).
. Mr. ABERCROMBY said, this was the first and
only opportunity the House bad had of discussing this
subject, and it ought not to be allowed to pass over
in silence now. This was a Bill-of the utmost im-
portance to Scotland ; and what he complained of
was, that no opportunity bad been given to discuss it
fully. Enquiry into the proceedings in. the Court of
Chancery must take place. The Public had taken it
up, and he did not know whether his Hon. Friend,
the Member for Lincoln, would bring the subject
forward again next Session; but if he did not, some
other person must, for the public voice would 'not
suffer it to rest where it was at present. With respect
to the plan of a Deputy for the Chancellor in the
House of Lords, one absurdity must attendit, and
that was, that in many cases, the Deputy of the Lord
Chancellor would be called on to judge of and decide,
perhaps to reverse, the decisions of his master.
Mr. J. WILLIAMS was not so much displeased
with the proceeding as his Hon. and Learned Friend.
The Bill seemed to be neither directly good nor bad.
It might do some good, it would not do much harm,
and there was an end. He would not object to it.
Besides, he hailed it as an admission obtained from
the Committee of Peers, that there- was some defect,
and that some remedy must be applied. He valued
it, therefore, because it 'was one step towards ap-
proaching the greater mischief, the- whole subject, of
which it formed almost an insignificant fraction—he
meant the Court of Chancery itself. Early in the next
Session of Parliament he would again call the atten-
tion of the House to the delays in this Court, and the
eauses thereof.
Mr. PEEL said, he had rather prefer delivering
his opinion when the measure should be fully before
dm Home in the ensuing Session.
'sr. WETHERELL said, that though the House
dim* bad a right to alter its own appellate juris-
Shidaa, yet if there was anything wrong in-it there
was a sower in the House of Commons to inquire
Into it. • He hoped that the introduction of Jury
into Scotland would have the effect of diminishing
die number of appeals from that country, and then
the Lord Chancellor would be able to deal with the
Ifsele.of them, after the present great arrear had
been goi rid of. As to the whole of the new plan,
he should withhold his opinion for the present; but,