Star.
London, England, 1824-02-19 00:00:00

wpich was contrary to the established form of lair;
he (Mr. Cdrweri) would say ti at sneh* Judge would be
guilty of k legal murder... The situation of the Judges
in that islargi was indeed in ordinary cases liable to strong
objection. ir hef held their office in a great measure sub-
ject to the will of the Governor. If they demurred they
were not unfrequently dismissed; and a recent instance.
of -a Judge who was removed without the fotm.of a.
public trial, seemed to give a colour to the complaints
which were made upon this subject in the Waal—
Urlder all the circumstances he thought Were was am-
ple ground for inquiry into the subject helm e that
House, or that the matter should at least.become a sub-
ject of solemn argument before the Judges, until which
time he hoped the Right lion. Secretary (Mr. Peel)
would issue directions to suspend the bidding of. the:
I Court of Tynwald. This was, he repeated, a most.im-
portant question, which was not confined to those more
immediately concerned, but involved a question of vital
irnportaece to the corn munity at large. It had been
said, but he (Mr. Curwen) was bound to disbelieve the
asri.o tons that this anempt of the Duke of Athol to de-
prive the House of Keys of the rights which they had
so long enjoyed had proceeded from motives of private
vengeance and personal hostility to some of that body.
He (Mr. Curwen) however repeated, that fie could not
credit that assertion. The Duke of Athol might, how-
ever, have been deceived by the representation of others,
into the opinion that that body did not really possess
the right which they claimed, and which they had so
long postessed. If this were the case, it was but justice
to the puke to undeceive him, and it.surely was but
bare justice to the House of Keys, and to the people of
.the Isle of Man, to give them an opportunity of vindi-
cating their rights, if they had any; and if they had not,
it would at least be a satisfaction to them to know that
they had not been deprived of them without a hearing.
It was upon these grounds that he trusteclothe Right
Hon. Secretary would afford a mode by which the
question might be decided, and that he would, in the
meantime, direct the suspension of the Court of Tyn-
wald. The Honourable Member concluded by moving,
" lbat Jn humble Address be presented to his Majesty,.praying
that be would be gradously pleased to cause to be laid before this
Hopes. a Copy of the Instructions given to his Grace the Duke of
Atbral. Governor of the Isle of Maa, directing that the attenda;ee
of the House of Keys re the Criminal (bun of Tynwald for the
general gaol delivery, according to the ancient custom and usage of
that Island, should be discontinued. Also a oopy of the Memorial
transmitted to the Duke of Athol by the principal inhabitants of that
Island, for the purpose of being laid before his Majesty's Principal
Secretary of State for the Home Departtnent."
Mr. Secretary PEEL regretted that the affairs of die
Isle of Man had so seldom become a subject of di-cus-
sion is that House, as'to render him in a great tnissur e
ignorant of many of the topics alluded to in the course
of the Honourable Member's
speech. In what he had
to lay, however, he should consider himself under the
correction of the Hon.Gentleitan, Who was a Member of
the House of Keys,as well as of the Houseof Commons,
and would therefore give the House the Oenefit of -his
experience upon those topics with which he (Mr. Peel)
could not be expected to be as intimately acquainted as
the Hon. Member. He confessed that he had been taken
a little by surprise, as the Motion with which the Hon.
Member had just concluded was very different from what
he had been led to expect from the notice he had given.
That notice professed to call for a copy of the instruc-
tions given to the Duke of Athol to make alterations in
the Criminal Code of the Isle of Man ; and, upon read-
ing it, he (Mr. Peel) imagined that he was to be charged
with having issued wrong instructions. The motion of
the Honourable Member did not, however, he con-
ceived, imply any such thing. It stated, that in conse-
quence of instructions the Duke of Athol bad prevented
the exercise of a certain right claimed by the House of
Keys, and the only question was, whether they bad such
a right 'or not?- He (Mr. Peel) thought they had not.
It would in fact be an anomaly in criminal jurispru-
dence if the House of Commons, or legislative branch
of the Constitution were to form a constituent part of
the Court which administered justice upon the Tynwald
Mount, and thus assist in the execution of those laws
which they themselves had originally made, and of
which they were in the last resort the Judges of Ap-
peal... With respect to the argument which the Ho-
nourable Member drew from usage, he (Mr. Peel) did
not think he could derive much benefit from it, if it
should be found inconsistent with the Law and Constitu-
tion of the Island. It would be an infringement on the ad-
vantage of the Trial by Jury, if the democratical part of
the Constitution had the power of controuling its opera-
tions. As it was a question of law, however, the Governor,
before he applied for instructions on the subject, had
thought it his duty to submit the question to the At-
torney and Solicitor-General of the Island, and they
had given it as their opinion that no such usage as the
House of Keys pleaded had existed, and that the
Judges and the Jury were competent to execute their
respective functions without the aid of that body.
The Governor of the Isle of Man, upon receiving this
opinion of the Law Officers of the Island, had trans-
mitted it to him (Mr. Peel), stating the inconvenience
which resulted from the interference of the House of
Keys, and requesting instructions from Government.
Before he sent those instructions, he had felt it his duty
to submit the documents transmitted to him by the
Governor of the Isle of Man, to his Majesty's. Attorney
and Solicitor General, and they also fully coincided in
the opinion,laid down by the Attorney and Solicitor-
General of the Isle of Man, that no such usage or right
as that claimed by the House of Keys existed, and
that they did not legally form any part of the Court
of General Jail Delivery. If, therefore, he had erred,
he had done so with his Majesty's Attorney and Solicitor-
General, and if their opinion waserroneous, and the people
of the Isle of Man had really been deprived' of their an-
cient rights, there were the Judicial Courts, to which the
case might be referred with more propriety than to that
House. These werethe grounds upon which he should ob-
ject to the production of the papers called for by the Hon.
Gentleman. He would now shorty allude to the circum-
stance referred to by the Honourable Member, of the re-
moval of a Judge. The facts of that case were shortly
these, and as they were rather of 2 delicate nature, he
would not have alluded to them had he not been called
upon to do so by the observations of .the Honourable
Member. One of the parties to a suit, which had been
tried before the person alluded to, had accused him of
partiality and corruption, and upon investigation into
the charge, it was considered inconvenient that he any
luager continued in office. To prove that in the ap-
pointment of his successor, he (Mr. Peel) was actuated
by no political bias, he might mention that that succes-
aor was the son of the Honourable Gentleman himself
(Hear, hear).—As allusion had been made to the
Attorney-General of the Isle of Man, with whose legal
opinion the House of Keys appeared not very well satis-
fied, he fMr. Peel) was afraid they would find it diffi-
cult'to procure au Attorney-Genetal exactly to their