Star.
London, England, 1823-06-06 00:00:00

COURT Or CHANCERY.

Mr. DENMAN moved the resumption of the de-
bate on the motion for a Committee on the Court of
Chancery and Appellant Jurisdiction of the House of
Lords. Strangers were ordered to withdraw prepa-
ratory to a division ; but the Hon. Member rose to
state that the arguments of his Hon. and Learned
Fiend used last night remained still unanswered,
notwithstanding the speech ,of the Attorney-General
in reply thereto. The defence made last night for
the First Law Officer of the Crown was incomplete
until further information was offered to the House
on the points allud:d to by his Horhyriend the Mem-
ber for Durham. The speech of the Attorney-Gene-
ral had assumed that an imputation had been made
against the Lord Chancellor of England of personal
corruption. He would appeal to the House whether
any such charge had been made against that high of-
ficial character? On the contrary, his Honourable
and Learned Friend, when stating that case, though
full of great moment, and complaining of great failure
of justice and delay, had altogether abstained from
introducing any personal allusion. The arrears of
causes it n as said, were serious in the Court of Chan-
cery, and they were likely to increase rather than di-
minish. The mass of property now in the hands of
the Accountant-General amounted to 33 millions
sterling. Most of the Gentlemen who heard him
were, he doubted not, engaged either as a represen-
tative or a principal in one or more causes in Chan-
cery, which possibly might have been hanging over
them for eight or nine• years past ; and it was possible
that many on leaving this life might be obliged to
leave their families at the mercy of a suit in Chan-
cery. The subject of their consideration • was then
the cause-of posterity and their children. The cases
cited last night had been objected to as all corning
out of one office; but he thought that if seven or
eight cases of enormous, shameful, and miraculous
delay were adduced out of any one office, it ought to
'be considered sufficient to awaken alarm, and lead
men to interfere, lest they should be themselves so
long engaged in a Chancery suit, or in other words,
kept out of their property, as that old age, or even
death might deprive them of the power of enjoying
it. He contended the case of Harwood and Ware
was one on which it was impossible to allege with
truth that any surprise had been practised in citing
it on those who bad undertaken the defence of this
Court. It appeared, that though at the head of the
paper, and judgment had been prayed, that judg-
ment had been unaccountably postponed. Oa that
loccasion the attorney wrote to the Lord Chancellor,
to complain that for seven years those causes had

cons, admitted his many excellent qualit:et. Tier iris.
.
. •
' beigeollsratpdtheatpthafeee
head
adndoatbothvee
ptaopery
,Yelirceraneiat nerd; h(ir: Denman's) part, he would the be 1
.ast to brook..
to have lull mood; that he felt it impassible to meat
;soy soma upon one whom he so much revered. In.
the complaints and remonstrances of his clients, whose dependently of the marks of personal kindness be
circumstances were embarrassed by the delay of 20 had received at the hands of that learned Judge, be
years; that the young man for whose benefit the trust respected and admired him for his talents and his
had been raised was a child in the first act of this play, virtues. He was now at an advanced age of life, a '
namely', at the commencement of the suit; but that, great part of which had been spelt in the Strict, aai... .
like the boy in the drama, by a violation of all the gent, and conscientious discharge of the inrpottast
unities, he had now become a man ; in fact, this in-. duties of his high station: He was now at an AA 4 ,
font had become a greybeard, after being above 20 which he might say in the words of the p0et.....
years engaged in law and thus the party most imerestel 44 An age that melts with unperceived decay,
in the property, whilst waiting to have his right este-
0 And glides in modest innocence away;
" Whose peaceful day benevolence endears,
blished, had died of a broken heart—(Hear, hear).— " Whose night congratulating conwience cheers;
He could not help saying, that though he should de- 44 The gen'ral fav'rise as the gen'mlftiend ;
spise the man who would address, or the Judge who " Such age there is, and who shall wish its cod r
would attend to an anonymous letter in a case like He trusted it was needless to say, that he felt thee
this before him, he felt admiration for the spirit of most respect for this learned individual, who sot
the party who, though only the Attorney in this case, one of the first who professionally conferred a facto*
ha] addressed the Noble and Learned Lord in a let- on him by his notice of him professionally. natat
ter signed with his name. But what did the Noble reason was there to call upon him to hack himsellie
Lord do on that occasion ? Did he reprimand those this manner, to go from the Exchequer to the Rohl,;
who had taken this cause Born the head of the list? and from the Rolls to the Old Bailey? During air
Instead of calling such officers to account for their short vacation he acted in the Rolls as Demi
misconduct, the Lord Chancellor had called in the and thence was sent on the Circuit—(Cries of Hee,:
Attorney of the opposite party, and drawn up with hear). These were matters that called for remedy,
him the terms of that decree, which it had been well He was not disposed to think that the mind of tie
had it been pronounced two years and a half before. Chancellor was so doubting as some supposed. S 3
That Court might well be haunted by those living far as he had an opportunity of knowing what the
spectres in sable rags, whose wretchedness was only mind of that Learned Person was, on the first lola,
equalled by the patience with which they went down ing of any case he came to the same conclusion la.
to the grave robbed of all hope almost of seeing a which he finally came. On the question of Nolo.
period put to their sufferings, or removing their pro- ing the Queen's name from the Liturgy, it was welt
perty by a decree pronounced by the Lord Chancel- known that, from the very first, his opinion waits.*
for. The sight would naturally remind one of the the power existed, and upon that opinion he filially
admirable description given of such by Spenser;-- acted. Here was a question of the most imnortao
" Fun little knowest thou that hest nut tried, nature, one that required the most mature debtor*
" What hell it is in suing long to bide; Lion ; a subject with respect to which it might be
" To lose good days that might be better slant, said, Aurtc' dubitat gni nunrans dubitarii, but fa
"To waste long nights in pensive discontent ; seurper dubitat kit non dubilavit. The Chancellor
" To speed to-day, to be put back tomorrow;
4‘ To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow; gave his opinion without hesitation in favour of the
"To have thy prince's grace, yet want her peers; power, hut refused to t^ll his reasons. This did oot
" To have thy asking, yet wait many years; chew a doubting mind. Her claim to be tried as a
" To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares; • Queen of England ought to be tried, was rejected
" To eat thy bean through comfortless despairs;
immediately. If a specification of particulars was
" To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride to ronne,
" To spend, to give, to want, to be undonne."
required in her case, or if Mt. Lowe s office was to
To exemplify a case of peculiar hardship well known be searched for the charges against her and a list of
to the profession, he need only cite the case of the witnesses, there was no doubt at all in his mind.
S
Collis v. Port, where a question arose as to whether She was not to be allowed a list, either of times,as
' a debt was on a specialty or a simple contract ? that places, or persons. She was to be allowed no pook
ble means of guiding her course through a sea of se-
case was argued by, amongst a great many others,
cusation, exposed to all the winds of cAumny. Aim.
hancellor, en being applied to to give judgment in Sir Samuel Ronally, in 1817. Last year, the Lord
they case in which he saw no disposition to doubt,
'C
this case, had forgotten it altogether. hi last Hilary was that of literary property. It was now awes-
i Term the case was obliged to be argued again to re-
rained that there was no protection for literary pro-
fresh his Lordship's memory, at great'expense to the party but by the injunction of the Lord Chancellor.
The Statute upon the subject was quite nugatory,-
parties, whose patience bud been exhausted by this
same suit ever since the year 1792. It had been said Dr. Lawrence, a Gentleman of science, delivered
that there were now no arrears of causes in this Court, some lectures on the physiology of man. He found
that they were pirated, and afterwards published
an assertion which he thought mere quibbling, be-
by a bookseller, who was the client of his Learned
cause there were now more taint.: on the list than at
Friend (Mr. Wetherell). Nothing could be more
the time of passing the late Bill for facilitating the
unfair than the conduct of the bookseller. However,
business of this Court. Another case bad arisen as
to the right of two parties to a certain sum in the it was not animadverted on by the Lord Chancellor.
hands of certain bankers, when the opinion of the He said, " I doubt," and an injunction was refused,
Judges of Common Law was taken as to the right, on the ground that a libel might be found in some
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upon which they did no: hesitate to pronounce it their corner of the publication. Again, in Lord Byron .
opinion that the right was in one of the parties: the case, he entertained a doubt whether Cain was as
pious as Faradise Lost, and an injunction was is.
roord Chancellor, however, pronounced no decree,
apd soon after the bankers in whose hands the money' fused. The two cases were promptly decided by a
doubt of the Chancellor. This Was quite a new dos-
was lodged became bankrupts. The trustees, how-
trine. Until the present time no person was refined
ever, proved on the estate, and, re-investing the
an injunction on such allegations. He was far from
money in other banker.' hands, the case stood over
Jong enough to permit sufficient time to these bankers Imputing to improper motives the delay in Lord
o
in their turn to become insolvent, whereby the Portsmouth'sclaim-
case, but it naturally gave rise to su
picions. It afforded an unfortunate encouragement
ants, who had by this time had a second hearing,
and again established their right to the property, in to suppose that some bias existed. It appearate
him, that the House could not resist the case made
consequence of the opinion pronounced on this se-
out by his Learned Friend (Mr. Williams). It wa
cond occasion by the Common Law Judges, lost
arima facie case that could not be got over. The
even this shadow of a shade—(Hear, hear).—
circumstances were not less urgent than in 181$, lie
Were not these two cases sufficient to lead the House
to infer that an inquiry ought to be instituted into denied altogether that they must receive their io
structions from the House of Lords, though it was
these delays in the execution of justice? He had heart'
precisely the same accounts from numbers of his in consequence of instructions from that quarter the
personal friends at the Equity Bar, namely, that the Vice-Chancellor's Bill originated. The Court of
Chancery state of the case attempted to be made out was not
was greatly relieved, no doubt, by the ex-
.exaggerated;pedition of the Vice-Chancellor; but if he :scree
but that .the House of Commons in
moving for papers did not know how to get at the much given to doubting, the arrear would at de
necessary information—(Hear, hear). In the great present moment be most alarming. Instructiali
were given ha the House of Lords in consequence 4
Portsmouth case he thought that in 1814 enough had
the great arrear of Appeals; but it made no differ-
been discovered on affidavits which ought to have
once where a measure on this subject might originate.
led any Judge to interfere then and there, if that dis-
He did not see how the motion could be rejected be
graceful marriage which took place should not be
the Gentlemen of that House, all of whom, as Ili
alone sufficient to awaken just suspicions of those
asillhi
transactions which were then disclosed to the Noble their constituents, were deeply interested ii
and Learned Lord. All that surprised him was, that decisions of the Court of Chancery. Inquiry walla
when that disgraceful marriage had been consum-
for u
from any suspicion.ry, even to clear the reputation of the Maned'
mated,
mated, and the Noble Lord entrapped or rather kid- . •
napped into that dacgerous union, it was wonderful Mr. W. CQURTENAY laboured under some dio
that the crimes which were practised had not been advantages in rising on the present occasion, flan
the circumstance of his being .one of the officered
consummated by a conclusion which all had a right
the . Court of Chancery, who had been impliestal
to es: act would take place, and that a son had been
sta.,
born, who, while he was a little Lord Portsmouth, almost by name in the alleged abuses in that Co
would have as much of the present Lord's blood in Mr. M. A. TAYLOR begged to say, that in elik
his veins, or be as little a kin to him as any Hon. had fallen from him on the preceding night 6a
•
Gentleman in that House. All must have felt with made no allusion to the Honourable and
deep regret the delay which had taken place to put Gentleman, who was not a blaster in Chancery at&
that Nobleman under that sort of controul and care period to which he had referred.
which suited his unhappy case—a caution, which if Mr. W. COURTENAY resumed.—lt had boa
stated that the public complained of all &earwigs
it bad occurred in time, would have saved moiety
from the demoralizing effects of those details which of that Court, and consequently be was
were unfit even to meet the practised ears of profes-
hended in the charge. The question on whid=
sional men. What was the state of that unhappy had now to decide was this—had a case Wass&
out w
Nobleman from the time of his being taken down hich called on the House to institute the per
permed-11Z to Scotland ; ever since which he had been hauled posed enquiry? It had been said no
about from one place to another, and by one pa bad been intended on the Lord Chancellor, bit
ca
or another, in order to try to get hold of his i
ever the Honourable and Learned Gentians
Tint there were good grounds for assuming the writ ilk
had
.just sat down had found it, since it cum Ea
de lunatic* inquirendo he thought was obvious before his hands it had been converted into a mostilitatt
his Hon. and Learned Friend then employed had and personal attack on that Noble Lord. hinny*
spoken twenty minutes, although twenty-six hours thy of remark that the attack was.not coofisal $
of law argument had been finally exhausted on the dilatoriness, but that distinguished individaall.
subject. He could assure the House that nothing was accused of erroneous judgment, and want &W.
farther from his intention than to inculpate or tra- ledge—(Hear).—The Learned Gentlemanseel.lll/
duce any of the Judges concerned personally. An dissent from this, but if such charges ware .li't ill'
allusion had last night been made by an Honourable, tended to be preferred, what was meant by dig .
and Learned Friend of his to the case of the Chief marks on the Portsmouth case, and those re .
Baron, whose long illness it was said should have oc. rams entertained by the Lord Chan,c elloi oak
casioned his being placed on a retired alliwance, jest of literary property ? The Attorney-G
instead of his duties being performed by Mr. Baronibeeu said to have •ingeoiously imagined that lie
Graham—who, his Learned Friend said, from his sonakattack had been made on the Noble lib ,001
great age; was not qualified to undertake such heavy .
I what were the expressions used by the Hsea_
alalat
ad such constant labour. His Learned Friend had
not said one.word.against the character, and Learned Gentleman who had brought' foilaP
the good. [the present motion? Had he not called the
ness, or the great merits of the venerable Judge; slot
he , mentioned in a Earticolar case, a surrelltitillor.
had, as all who knew that amiable individual mutt, I cree, and had it not been said with reaped Pi"'

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