Star.
London, England, 1816-10-18 00:00:00

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!for the opinion, that I think there 'eight toter no ape
peal. Ido not want to give Nlegistrateemore po tee*
than they should have for the benefit of tire public;
but I look upon All appeals from the summery jurie.
diction of the Magistrates to the Sessions to he inju-
rious to the pithlie, and I could give some striking
instances to justify that opinion. Fur instance..
now, we have a tAir jurisdiction .over pay:re-bro.
kers. and we are obliged to keep them in feeder;
but as they are allowed an appeal to the Sessions,
from 9,ur decision, it is highly iojurious ea the public e
for in a vatiely ,f cases they go immediately to thee..
-Sessions we 4 an appeal, and then the poor person ia.•
whole favour perhaps we made the deci:.itee
be unable to support the iespoudent's pate tor want 4.
money ; mid in such case the intention of tlikLegise.
lature is rendered perfectly nugatory. might say,
the same thing with.regaed to en hingiod 'other ine.
stances, where this principle hay had iliis tendency.,,
You will, remember the Stage Coach Act, for preee
venting coach-owners from carrying more than ti
Calais ,number of people on the outside of their
, coaches. Wien that first came out, we had.enk,
a final jurisdiction Rivet; to us, and believe abieus
eight out of ten of thesconvictioes were gnashed upon
the appeal le the Sessions, for serve trilling defect. in
tem, when. the tact of thee‘offerice liastiog bevrecon).
mitred was obvious, se that the Act was runderel ,
nullity ; but thAve iscA the least hesitation in sayings_.
that se far 24 I have pointed out, the decteine olOn
appeal to the Sessionse isiolty.4o4 injurious, to eke
considerable degree. I &wield mention another thine •
which I thit.ls wouldte of great isei vice to the public/4,
I mean some alteration in those IAW6 which establisheit
the principle of !Smiting penehies within a maximal.
and A minimum. I *mild take the liberty of stegge44',
that instead cf hiving the pena ties limited lea.,
certain minimum, it would be AyviW Itto is ive it tet
the discretion of the Justice. to Jpporticifilwpenahr eie
the circurnstences of the ceee. Let the pen ilty, Wiens
please, be fired At a cousin mati:niime beyond &hick
; the Justices shall not en ; but do eut let it fee 'Aid,
1 that the Jestices shad not eejudge a penalty unde'r'i.
certain sum. I wish to Gob this was the principal
running through All the Acts of Parliament : fi • the
offender shall be fined .in a 'sum not exceeding the -
maxitnum ;" but do not limit the Justices to a nriniee
• mum ; that is LO say. lease: it to tl.e Justicis to ern,.
cise their own discretion,. to reduce the penalty down
even to a halfpenny, it you please, if trey see elute.
the case before them requires no heavier euilishrnene,,
We have a very considerable. Act of Perhanient tat
is often acted upon to the great oppression of the
lower orders of the people ; l mean the Act fixing
penalties to those people v;ho delve their carts with•
out number or name. Urn informations egainif
poor people offending against this Act, the Justices;:.
have no discretion in awarding the penally, etad the
offender is liable to the-penaLy. The offence -is &-
considerable one ; and though I. thinkait ought to-bte
suppressed entirely, and when detected ought -to:bat .
punished ; but the langnage.Of the-Act:of Perliarnenges
is this z• a the party sh ill be fined forty shillings. Neel..
Now, in sotne cases, SUCiI A penalty as this is to thy.
offender like the national debt: these poor devits
could not pay twenty, ten. or even five
This I think is in this respect a very oppreseive Act;
is is a more natural and just principle, with respect
to penalties, that these iects should run thus: ffeshall
forfeit any suet not exceeding so much." so as not to
prevent the Magistrate from putting a sum lees than
forty -shillings upon the offender, according to the
circumstances of the case; but in this very instance,
forty shillings is an immense sum for a poor miss
to pay.
Are you aware that within your district there' are
great many public-houses that either belong to
brewers, or are held as pruperty,or rented by themeor
on which they have mortgages believe the grea-
test part of them are uncle*: the thumb of the bsewers.
The object of the brewer is to employ his catritel,
and he will naturally purchase up ail thepublic.
; houses be can, ao that he :night supply them with his •

own beer. .• .
Have you ever heard that there is an aphis* ,
abroad, and prevalent in the community at. 4114 •
that those houses that belong to brewers ILve
ter chance of being licensed than those that ace
med free houses ?—1 am stare I cannot Ast‘Wer
question. That it is the brewer's interest to iiate biti
bowies in proi,er situations, is very obvious, and it is
natural lir,rn the respectabdity of the bowies he would
be most likely to possess, that such respectability end
fitness of situation would forward the lopewees claim
to a licence.

I.

Is it not the common practice of Justices alivaya to •
grant licences to the bootee that have been once 11.
sensed, and t 3 consider the licence as following the
property, as a matter of course?—You mean having
..1 claim to the licence again, notwithstanding whose
hands the house may be hi. Ido not think that nty
c vioague, to whom I have entirely tiorrendered this
duty, has ever been actually bound up by such an
idea; and 1 know.that there have been certain dis-
tricts -in which bowies have beep licensed for half a
century, -and in such casts eery tew• licences have
been taken away.
In point of fact, is there not 4 greater disposition
to favour those houses, both in -the granting of.
senses alt well as in renewing thi.m. that arc held by
opulent brewers,- than those. that are termed free
houses ?-IJpon my honour, that is nora thing whit
:aspect to which I can speak irain experience ; bur I
' should only consider, according to the events of hna -
man nature, that is likely to have-some little weight ; s
but upon my honour, I believe thacthe gentlem.uv
who does the bininess part of the licensing is as pus's,'
at air from any iiinproper feeling ,in the discharge or'
that duty.. • -
Do you consider thecpubWe-houses of the Metropo-
lis falling into the power-And being under the con,.
txoul of the brewer, is very injurioth to the public iii:
toot?—'?'here cannot beat doubt that evety tbeletat '
advance'towards a monopirly nauat be prejuilicjit,ii..
the pOlic.--(Ta cooll.inel) ;OP
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