Star.
London, England, 1829-05-22 00:00:00

CHANCINT BILL

The LORD CHANCELLOR moved the third reading of the
MI for facilitating suits and other proceedings in Equity.
The Earl of ELDON rose, and spoke at some length.
The Noble Earl, after having read the principal clauses
of the Bill, alluded to one cheese of considerable ins •
pot tance respecting the often' !unctions of the Master
.of the Rolls. It might be Within their Lordships
knowledge that the Master of the Rolls had no jurisdic-
tion in matters of bankruptcy; this belonged entirely
to the High Court of Chancery. It was the object,
however, of this clause to alter the law in that point;
and having said so much, he begged leave to call their
Lordships' attention for a few moments to that clause,
as imposing new duties upon the Master of the Rolls,
while he (the Earl of Eldon) conceived that that person's
duties were already of a nature which required all his
time, and attention. Since the Bill was first brought
into the House he had thought it his duty to abstain as,
much as possible from any observations which might
appear to throw any objections to the passing of-,the
measure. But this claus-, 'which had been introduced;
since the Bill was first brought before Parliament, he
considered as one of consi-ierable importance. and, alit
imposed duties upon the Master of the Rolls *hid' he
thought would much better have been left in the hands
of those on whom they had hitherto devolved, he felt
himself called upon to object to that clause. That
Learned Judge had invited him (the Earl of Eldon) to
,visit him in his sick room. and had authorised him to
state that b.-had determined not to take neon himself
any more duties than those which already appertained'
40 his office; and he could take upon hog self to say,
that the Master ot the Rolls had, in accordance. with the
present duties of his office, quite enough to do without
the addition of any other dirties. He bad no objection
Many other part of. the Bill than that to which' be had
Jest alluded. The Noble and Learned -Lord bn the
Woolsack had. on the second reading oft the Bill, with
great ability and eloquence, entered into a minute de-
sail of whatever belohged 'to the Court of Chancery,
historical as well as judicial. It was moat important for
their Lordships to deliberate upon and decide whether
justice could or could not be more speedily and satisfac.
gorily executed in the Court rit Chancery than it had been,
bind he thought the public were indebted to the Noble and'
Learned Lord on the Woolsack for having brought for!
ward the Bill. With reference to its getiel al character,
it was incumbent on the House to consider whether the
duties of the Lord Chancellor, in the House and out of
it, could be at present adequately performed—whether.
the btisitieis of the Woolsack and that of the Coot of
:Chancery. which he had performed f.•r 25 years, could
be attended to with that attention which matters ofsuch.
importance demUnded? The Noble and Learned Lord
,stated clearly and accurately the complaints of the de-
►l.ys in the Court of Chancery. and which had existed
in the times of his most distinguised predecessors, from
the days of Lord Bacon down to the present time. But
this he would undertake to say, chat were the . parties.
who made those complaints a little more cotiversant'
with tie business of that office, they would find that
such delayi were frequently. if not always, unavoidable,
and it was strange that those complainants had never
been able to. suggest any means for potting an end to
the evils of which. they complained. Their Liodships
.knew that the judicial as well as the administ•ative
functi ns of that Court were very heavy. particularly
'the latter, and he was sure the Noble and Learned Lord
'on the Woolsack woald.be•ar him not is this assertion.
In the case of an esecutor, fur instance, who had to ad-
minister a personal property, when the party before in
possession of it had died in debt. and which happened
to be charged with simp'e contract debts, and. as was
frequently the case, with judgmei t debts, the executor.
in such an instance, becoming the trustee for adminis-
tering the estate, naturally resorted to the Court of
Chancery to relieve him►elf from responsibility, and in-
sure his creditors justice. He wasaibliged, for his cosh
comfort and security, to have such a Bill passed. In
One case within his own experience the claims of up-
wards of one hundred creditors were to be investigated
by the Court before the estate could be distributed. He
(Lord Eldon) had received upon that occasion a hun-
dred letters, abusing him grossly for the delay which
unavoidably took place, the greater part of whom were
from persons in such a situation in life as not to render
them objects of judicial resentment. Such occurrences
were not veryfrequent. and delays were, in all such
casts, unavoidable. He would take, for instance, the
case of the late Marquis Queensberry. That Noble Lord
had, in his life time, made a great many leases on hi.
estates. The first question war, whether those leases
bad not made the land subject to alienation ? After this
was decided other difficulties appeared, whether those
leases were good or not? And all these questions had
to be decided by the Court of Scotland before the Court
of Chancery had the power to distribute one shilling of
the property. No person could possibly undertake to
be responsible for the administration of an estate that
had not been wcuad Op, frequently for a century, and
the CoallecinanC. was, dm such estates were always
ilitostitt into the Oath of Chancery; and under
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