Star.
London, England, 1810-08-09 00:00:00

itEPORT OT THE'

The Clerk of the King's Silver
The Clerk of the Junta, on an
average of two years . . .
The Clerk of the Essaigns . .
The Clerk of the Warrants, ln•

106,10
140 0 0

12 12 0
70 0 0

relments, and Estreats . .
The Clerk of the Juries . . .
The Clerk of the Errors in the

683 16 0
72 13 11

221 IS 3
12 12 •

Exchequer Chamber . . .
The Filacer for Surrey, Sussex,
and Kern, Hants, and Wilts,
Ditto, for Norfolk and Norwich
Stafford, Northampton, Salop,
Rutkuid and Monmouth,Lan-
caster, Chester, and Durham
Ditto, for Derby, Leicester,
Notts, and Warwick . . .
Ditto, for Cambridge and Hunt-
ingdon, Suffolk, and Lincoln
Ditto, for Essex and Herts .

2,633 16 7
171 4 0

125 0 0

45 4 0

6 5 00

11 5 0

90 0 0

6 0 0

Si S 0
42 10 0
54,40610 6

6 S 0

11 10 0
2739 0 1

OFFICES EXECUTED IN PERSON.

X 4,406 10 5
Three Prothonotaries, each 21.,647 13. 4d. in-

eluding £225 each, deducted in their return,
for Premiums on Life Insurance . . . .
The Register and Clerk of the Supersedcas • .
The Filacer for London and Middlesex, Bed-
ford, Berks, Bucks, Oxford, Cornwall, Glou-
cester, Hereford, and Worcester, including
£e429 ss. deducted in his return for Premium
on Insurance, and interest of purchase money
Ditto, for Sonsersetshire, Bristol, Dorset, Poole,
De. for Devon and Exeter, Cumberland, West-
moreland, Northumberland, and Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, Yorkshire, City of York, and
Kingston•upon-Hull . . . .....
Three Secondaries, including £l2O each, deduc-
ted in their Return for Interest of Purchase
Money and Premiums of Insurance . . . 1,410 0 0
sele,lo2 4

4,883 0 0

7 3 4

1,29! 5 0
31 14 11

64 10 1

And it further appears to your Majesty's Commis-
sioners, that the present charge upon the public re-
Venue, for the payment of the salaries of the Lord
Chief Justice, and the other Judges of the Court of
Common Pleas, may be considerably lessened (such
regard being had as aforesaid) if the number of Pro-
thonotaries and Secondaries were reduced to two
Prothonotaries and two Secondaries, who would be
fully sufficient to transact the business of that Court,
now performed by three Prothonotaries and three Se-
condaries, inasmuch as the business of similar offices
in the Court of King's Bench, the business of which
Court is much greater than that of the Court of Com-
mon Pleas, is transacted by four officers ; and if the
number oeProthonotaries and Secondaries should be
so reduced, as no consideration will be paid for these
offices after the sale of them shall be abolished, the
two Prothonotaries and two Secondaries would, as it
is apprehended, be sufficiently remunerated for their
additional. trouble, if they should respectively retain
not more than two-thirds of the fees of all those offi-
ces, and be accountable for the remainder.
And it further appears to your said Commissioners,
that the offices of Filacers for the several counties may
be well executed by one person ; and that he would
be sufficiently remunerated for executing the same, by
retaining a proportion of the fees of those offices, not
exceeding one-half of them ; and that he should be
accountable for the remainder.
And it farther appears to your said Commissioners,
that the several offices of Clerk of the Essoigns, Clerk
of the King's Silver, Clerk of the Warrants, Inrol-
ments and Estreats, Clerk of the Juries, Clerk of the
Jurata (whose office corresponds with that of Clerk of
Nisi Prins in the King's Bench), and the Clerk of the
Errors in the Exchequer Chamber, should be execu-
ted by the officers themselves, of which more than one
may be executed by one person-; and that they
should only receive a certain proportion of the fees of
those offices, and be accountable for the residue.
According to the information your Majesty's Com-
missioners have received from the examination of the
different officers of the Court of Common Pleas above
mentioned, including principals and deputies, the
whole amount of the fees annually received, on an
average of three years, ending at the period when the
accounts were last made up, was £12,102 4s. 2d.
fans which, by de4ucdng the fees receive{
10, one Prothonotary, being - £1,637 13 4
By one Secondary, being • 470 0 0
Half the fees received by all the Muer* 4 913 724
,Tha fees received by the Clerk of the King's
Silver, after payment of his Deputy - $2l 16 6
By the Clerk of the Jurata, after a like pay-
went

1931; 7

discharging the functions of them beyond the Mount
By assns of which dedo.cdons, after allowing such '
1
of the fees and salaries which hitherto have either alms as may be proper to be added to what the de-
been paid or received by their deputies, or for which pnties now receive, in order that a proper remunera-
.the said offices might have been executed by deputy, don may be made to the principals who shall execute
there probably would remain a sum of from 12 to , the functions of these offices after the sale of them
£15,000, or upwards, which might be annually ap- I shall be abolished, there will remain probably a sum
plied, in addition to the sums which are now account- iof not less than between iB5OOO and se6ooo per an-
ed for by various officers to the Lord Chief Justice num, applicable to the payment of the salaries of the
and other Judges of the Court of King's Bench, and Lord Chief Justice and the other Judges of the Court
in diminution of the charge upon the Public Reve- of Common Pleas; subject, however, to increase or
nue, for the payment of salaries of the Chief Justice diminution, as the business of the Court may vary.
and Judges of the said Court, subject, however, to in- It further appears to your Majesty's Commissioners;
crease and diminution, as the business of the Court that the remuneration to be made to the officers, both
may vary. of the Court of King's Bench and Common Pleas, who
In the Court of Common Pleas, it appears to your shall be accountableforany part of theirfees,should not
Majesty's Commissioners that the following persons be a fixed stipulated sum, but a certain proportion of
hold offices or appointments which have been consi- the gross amount of the fees they shall receive (after',
dered as saleable, and that the right of nomination to r deducting such sums as are payable thereout to the
such offices or appointments is as follows : Judges and other officers of the said Courts, and the
APPOINTED RV THE LORD UMW JUSTICE. Stamp duties), in order to insure a proper attention
The first and third Frothonotaries. to the discharge of their duties and the receipt of the
The Clerk of the King's Silver. fees, out of which proportion there should be dis-
The Clerk of the Jurata.
The Clerk of the Essoigns. charged and paid the salaries of clerks, and other
The Clerk of the Warrants, Enrolment., and Estreats. necessary expences of the said respective offices.
The Exigenter. As in putting the examples of the proportions of
The Clerk of the Supersedeas. the fees which certain officers might be allowed to re-
The Filacers.
The Clerk of the Errors in the Exchequer Chamber. ta=n, the calculation has proceeded on a consideration
RV THE LORD CHIEF JI.ISTPCI, ON THE NOMINATION or Tit of the net amount of the fees received by them, ac-
CUSTOS lIREVIUM. cording to which only it was possible to form an opi-
Tbe Second Prothonotary, and the Clerk of the Juries. . nion what sums of money might probably be applied
BY THE RESPECTIVE PROTKONOTARIES.
The three Secondaries. to lessen the charge on the public revenue, it may be
The net annual receipts of these officers, upon an proper to notice, that the same proportions cannot be
average of three years, ending at the periods when the observed in determining what part of the gross amount
accounts were last made up respectively, were as fol- of the said fees ought to be retained by those officers,
low • subject to the deduction of the property tax, and inasmuch as the amount of the salaries of clerks, and
to the allowances made to the several deputies by other necessary expences to be paid by the officers,
whom the duties of some of the offices were dis- when added to what may be a proper remuneration
charged, viz. for their services, would not leave the same propor-
OFFICES EXECUTED BY DEPUTY. tion of the gross amount of the fees to be retained
Receipt. Paid Deputy. and accounted for as in the examples above mention-
/ROB 9 4 £216 12 10 ed ; and that in determining what may be a proper
remuneration of the persons discharging the functions
of those offices or appointments, care should be taken
that the proportion of fees to be retained by them, on
that account, should not in any case be so great as to
enable them, by the assistance of others, to discharge
those functions, without being themselves constantly
and effectively attendant on their duties, otherwise
their attendance may become little more than formal,
and the charge on the Public Revenue will not be les-
sened in the degree in which it may be. At the same
time, it appears to your Majesty's Commissioners, that
the proportion of fees should be such as to induce
men of character, education, and ability (respect be-
ing had to the rank of such several Officers in the said
Courts, and to the nature of their duties) to undertake
the discharge of them; and, with that view, it may be
a matter proper to be considered, whether it may not
he fit to provide, that no person shall be appointed to
succeed on a vacancy, who shall not have been for a
certain number of years, a practising Barrister, At-
torney, Solicitor, or Officer of one of the said Courts,
or a Clerk to such Officer. But inasmuch as an in-
crease or diminution of business may hereafter cause
such- proportion of fees to exceed or fall short of a
proper remuneration to the said officers, it may he
rightNthat power should be given t 6 the Chief Jus-
tices dnd Judges of the said Courts respectively, with
the approbation of the Lord High Chancellor, or
Keeper of the Great Seal, for the time being, to in-
crease or diminish such proportion ; and that the
appointment or nomination to all such offices in the
said Courts, as are by law now saleable, and to which
the persons, having right of sale, have hitherto nomi-
nated or appointed, should, after the sale thereof shall
be abolished, be made by the Chief Justices of the said
Courts respectively, or the senior puisne Judge there-
of, during the vacancy of the said respective offices
of Chief Justice ; and that all such officers should be
obliged to keep books, and make in them regular and
true entries of all the fees they may receive, co be ve-
rified on oath before, and examined, signed, and al-
lowed, by one or more of the Judges of the said re-
spective Courts, within a certain time after the end of
every term, and to pay over the balances to such per-
sons as may be appointed to receive them.
And it further appears to your Majesty's Commis-
sioners, that some persons who have purchased their
offices in your Majesty's said Courts of King's Bench
and Common Pleas, have so done in the expectation
of being afterwards allowed to resign them in favour
of other persons, to be appointed in their places for
pecuniary considerations, and were it not on account
of such expectation, it is evident that after the avoid-
ance of their offices by death or otherwise, by the per.
sons who may be interested in the right of sale, the
charge upon the public revenue on account of the sa-
laries of the Lord Chief Justices and the other Judges
of the said Courts, would, upon the extinction from
time to time, of the lives of the persons who should
at the time f such avoidance be in possession of offi-
ces purchased by them, be lessened by the full amount
of the several annual sums for which their successors
may respectively be accountable; but unless the prac-
tice, which has in some instances obtained, of such
officers resigning, in favour of their saccesson, for
pecuniary considerations, be abolished within some
certain time, it will be impossible to ascertain the pe-
riod at which the full amount of the several annual
sums, for which all the said officers may be account-
able, can be applied to the lessening the charge on
the public revenue, as while such practice shall re-
main, the offices may be contini.', for an indefinite
time, to be exercised by persons who shall purchase
them.
But this inconvenience has occurred to your Ma-
jesty's Commissioners as being likely to arise from the
abolishing the above practice, viz. that the said offi-
cers may continue to hold their offices after they shall
from age, infirmity, or other causes, become unequal
to the active discharge of their duties ; but while they
may under such circumstances retire from their situa-
tions, receiving a pecuniary consideration for so do-
ing, younger and more active persons may be intro-
duced into their places, to the benefit of your Ma-
jesty's suitors, in the said Courts, as has happened on
former occasions.
This inconvenience, however, may be obviated by
authorising the Chief Justices, and when those offices
shall be vacant, the senior puisne Judges of the said
Courts respectively, to appoint assistant officers to
such persons as by the said Courts respectively shall
be deemed unequal to the perfect discharge of their
duties, and to appoipt 4 certain reasonable proportion
of the fees to which olicers shall be entitled to be paid
by the Principals to their assistant officers; and, to