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

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Pittances that rendered it almost- impossible • for that
Court to get rid of them. ' • He' reeseinbered one
.circumstance, that occurred in the time •isf. Lord
Apsley ; it was an instance of ,a Peeress who ais
peered in Court, and, from the respect due to her
rank, was accommodated with a seat on the Bench.
After she had given the necessary evidence that Noble
Lord said he would net detain her longer. The Lady
replied that she wished to stay longer, for that she had
been there eighty-two years before-in the same cause
and she wished now to fee how the matter proceedeil,
Those delays were often unavoidable, both in the atf-',
ministrative and executive Winches* of the Court of'
Chancery. Lord Kenyon, whotad been practising all
his life in the Court of Chancerf,ifler he was advanced
to the office of Chief Justice, wis fh the habit of send-
ing suits to Chancery in cases of difficulty, and used
frequently to use the words, el What do •you do here,
e6i in pedant rem ?"—(A lass h.) Tne Noble Earl next, f
proceeded to vindicate the' lir% iii Chancery from
aspersions that had been theet elan them. He had
frequently sat together with thief is:elluity,' and-he felt
it to be a duty which he owed In the Nliisters.in,Chan-
cery to state that, during his 46 .yearCexperience, he
had never found a body of men who were more eapia-
bled performing their duty, or more' sealousin the
discharge. of it. Lie never. w bile hOlea'a ois the.benchi
knew of a Mister- of the Rolls reftssieg to sit for the
totate.ncellor, and he might mesons.e to call upon
his' le Friend Opposite (Lord Redesdale) to corm:
borate' hie assertion, that, in their younger days, they
had frequently advocated causes before the Master of
the Rolls till three or four in the morning, and often
until day-light. The idea of making the:Court of Ex-
chequer an effective Equity Court had led to several of
the more recent appointments which had taken place
in that Court. It had led many of the Puisne Judges
to the appointment of Chief Barons I.f Exchequer, and
if his (Lord Eldon's) efforts had not tailed, it would
'have led to the appointment of a Gentleman who then
sat at their Lordships table—(we understood the Noble
Earl to anode to Mr. Courts nay)—who, instead of be-
ing where be now was. would be much more suitably
placed as Baron in the Court of Exchequer, and of
whom he would take the liberty rf saying, that there
was net a more able and learned Gentleman at the bar,
or one better suited for that important office—(Hear).
The universal desire to throw, or as it had been el-
pressed, to heave, all kinds of property into Chancery.
had made that Court an efficiaa of litigation upon such
subjects, and he could &gum that he bad himself had'
more trouble with judgments connected with the admi-
nistration of railways. canal, and other property of that
.nature, than most of his predecessors had from the re-
gular and acknowledged business of the Collet. Another
cause of the delays which existed was the transfer to
the House of Lords in this country of the appeals which
used to be heard by the House of Lords in Ireland before
the Union; and he was sure that when the Noble and
Learned Lord upon the woolsack should have spent
forty years in his' present situation, he would discover
that, from the very inaccurate manner in which Irhb
pleadings were drawn, more troutile was produced in
deciding one Irish than furry Englials appeals. These
circumstances, with the increase of up; eels from S:ot-
land, had contributed in a west depiee to aggravate
'i.e tells of delay, and had also the effect.ot preventing
the Lord. Chancellor front sitting in his own Court as
often as was desirable; and he (Lord Eldon) would
take upon him to say, that any man who sat only three
days call)* sleek in the Court of Chancery was not fit
to exercise the appellate jurrsdict on in the House of
Lords. With regard to the present Bill, he thought it
ought not to be brought fora and until the House was
.somewhat better acquainted with the ulterior measures
which were to be adopted. Hr thought that before
they proceeded to appoint a new Judge, they ought to
ascertain and define the name et his duties. With re.
gard to taking the equitable jurisdiction of the Court of
Exchequer, nothiiig could be more injurious. It. in
, oint of fact. could not be done. Fur the last fifty
years it was understood to be part of the duty of the
Lord Chancellor to take care that there should be placed
in that Court a Judge acquainted with the practice of
the Courts of Equity. The first instance of a separate
equitable jurisdiction having been conferred upon a
Judge of that Court was the case of tie Lord Chief
Baron Richards; and the ground upon which it had
been done was, that the other Judges of that Court
were so much engaged with business of another
kind, that it was not possible for them sufficiently
as attend to the equitable part cf their jurisdiction.,--
Of the' consequences of taking away this jurisdiction
he had already expressed his ' pinion ; and the Learned
p-rson oho at present presided in that Court had in
fact that morning presented to him (Lord Eldon) a
written statement of the formidable consequences which
would follow from such a proceeding. The Chief Baron
asserted that the very threat to put an end to the ecriii-
table jurisdiction of that Court bad, in fact, pit an end
to it, as the persons who- practised to that Court had
deteimined to bring no more business of that kind into
the Court, and the Chief Baron himself had expressed
[ hi., detrzmination to clear off the remanets, but not to
proceed with any new causes of that sort. The come-
quence of that would be that the Court of Exchequer,
' continuing to possess an equitable jurisdiction in Crown
cases, would soon cease to have upon its bench any
Judge acquainted with the principles or practice of
1 Equity. He (Lord Eldon) had no objection to the
4ppointenent of a new Judge, but he objected to his
being appointed upon the plan suggested by this Bill.
He did not mean to insinuate that the persons engaged
in'bringing forward this measure were influenced by any
improper motives. But he could not help asking why
it was brought forward at the dawn of the long vaca-
tion, at a period when the Courts of Justice were going
to.suspend their functions? It was known to some of
their Lordships that the Master of the Rolls, by the
constitution of his office, had no jurisdiction in bank-
ruptcy, and the new Judge to be appointed under this
Bill, being placed upon the same footing as the Master
of the-Rolls, could not afford any relief to the Lord
Chancellor in this important and extensive department:
And here he could not help doing justice to the ability
which was usually displayed by the Commissioners' of
.Bankrupts in London. The case of the country Com-
missioners was ,clifferent. When be was Lord Chan-
cellor he had frequent applications from Noble Lords
and others, requesting that particular persons may be
allowed to perform the functions of Commissioners of
Binkrupt io the country, but he had invariably reftued
to appoint any until he was satisfied of their respecta-
bility, and when be bad any doubts upon the point he
. • . ..