Star.
London, England, 1804-12-25 00:00:00

INMUGgNCE.

COURT OF CHANCERY. Hte.a4.
Er PARTE L6111,211e
The Court was uncommonly crowded this morn-
ing, from the coniolity excited by this caufe.
This was a petition for an injunaion to preventthe
prefentation of the Rev. James Fcraer to the Bilhop
of London, by the Tru flees of the parifh of St. James's
Clerkenwell, and alfo to prevent the Bithop from
granting his licence to the raid Rev. Gentleman, who
had been a candidate for that Reftory. The Church-
wardens were alfo, on this application, made parties
before the Court. The Rpaory is worth about 7col.
per annum ; the right of chit:lion is its the parifhioners
and inhabitants fubjeft to the parochial rates. In
the precediag hearings on the bill and anfwer con
nefted with this petition, confiderable difficulties had
arifen, on the obfcurity of the terms parifhioners and
inhabitants, which have as many different meanings,
by the confirultion of the Courts, as any in the co-
pious vocabulary of Englilb Law ; and the affection ,
of Lord Coke will be recolletted, that for many itn-,
portant porpofes of law, a man refiding in Cornwall
may be an inhabitant of Northumberland. In a
decree of the Court of Exchequer, pronounced in the
year 1768, it was &reeled,' that perfons " paying to
the, rates and affiffnient.," fisould be permitted to
vote for the candidate for this Reftory. Another dif-
ficulty arnfe on the confiroftion of the decree, and if
involved this curious enquiry, whether a perfon not
paying, could in law be conlidered as paying for the
Poleofc d this eleaive franchift ?
lite ATTOILIIkY-GENERAL, and Meffis. RIC HALOS
and Tanwta, fox Mr. Lendon, and certain petition-
ing inhabitants; Mr. HART, for Mr. Foftet, and Mr.
"'moor for the Churchwardens, oppofed this injunc-
tion. They infiaed ftrongly on the decree in the
Court of Exchequer, which was intender'. tn fettle for
ever all differences in this parochial inftitution. The
decree Rated, that thole alone thould be deficits, who
were paying to the rates and affeffments; and it was
to be this day contended, contrary to the plain and \
obvious language of this decree, that perfons were to
be entitled to cleft, who never bad paid, and poffibly ,
never would pay loch rates and affeffinents. The
Churchwardens, inthis cafe, were the returning otfi•
cers : they met: a Teary was appointed in the ufual
form ; Mr. Fofter and Mr. Lendon appeared as candi-
dates ; fix geotlemen on each fide were appointed to
manage the affairs of the competitors, and (even or
eight regulations were made for the condo& of the
eleftion. All would have proceeded with perfe& cor-
refiners, if thefe gentlemen had condefcended to snake
the decree of the Court of Equity the foundation of
the rules they eftablifhed ; but idlead of this, in the
fccond article of the regulation, they formed a law
of their own, and thus attempted to controul the
principle laid down by that high authority. The re-
gulatipon objefted to was, that " thofe had the right
of cleaors who were aftelfed to the rates of the church
and poor to Lady Day, 1804." The decree in the
Exchequer does not extend the right to thofe who
were adeffid, and who might never pay ; put only
to chafe " paying to die rates and affellinents." The
quellion feemed to lie in a very narrow compafs ;
whatever might be the equivocal conftruaion of the
words parithioners and inhabitants, the term " pay-
ing" was as clear and precife as any word admitted
into the Englifh language; and yet, at the late eke- ,
lion, perfuns were admitted to vote, who had never'
paid loch rates and affeffments—and in confequence
of this, and other afts of violation of the eleaive fran-
chife, Mr. Lendon, who had the greater number of
legitimate votes, was excluded from this lucrative
fituation, where al(o he had an opportunity of exer-
cifing his talents as a Chriflian preacher, in a way
likely to render them extenfively conducive to public
inftruftion, and private happinefsit. hiss payme ditionnt of
the rates was the _fine gun non ; was hc con
precedent in the caufe. It was quite enough for them
to thew this tingle particular ; becaufe, at the fame
time, they made it very evident that Mr. Faller was
attempted to be eletted contrary to the ezifting law;
that the elation was void rib bistro; and in this petty
parochial diaria, an edia was attempted to be pro-
" mulgatcd, paramount to the law of thel and.
St,
I ORD CM ANC! LLOIL" The decree is difficult to
85 •
79 be underflood, becade there are no words in legal
7.t language which hear a greater variety of conftruc-
-67 tins
th nthatauntett:lA :heel
cpaafrei.it
Eiovneerrys
peals:
oinnhbaybiltaawnts.L's
fup
5,.1 The ATTOZSMF YGF SWIM, Meets. RlOllllO5 and
- - TKOWER, laid, the difficulty was here 'effected, from
poled to attend the church, and indeed was bound
to attend there—thofe who retitle in the neighbour-
-95 hood can alone fulfil this duty. The words parifhio-
-94 nor and inhabitant mull, therefore, be winch cell&
Bted with regard to the right of elation—for thole
9
78 alone could bc benefited h v the difcharge of the faded
34 funftions who attended to receive the leff9ns of the
incumbent. If it were trite that all aide proceed-
' ings were illegal, the aft of a certain portion of the
par ifhionets in the eleftion of Mr. Foßeri could by
no means bind the reit ; it might even happen that
ne halie duly ed a makletifted —ty of
for a the legitite voters. and yet
not gremata proportion of per.
lons of this tail &let i,it ion, teeing the ir regularity and
the indecency of the p.c.:ceding:, would naturally
confider the whole a. will aid
void, and would not
fauflion the meature, by giving arty vote whatever.
By the regulation whit li had been adverted to, all
were admitted to vote vs Ito had not legally been dif-
charged from paying rates, and were not in the with
books marked " poor." It was quite unnece6ary to
dilate on a fubjeft fo obvious in dell. which, the
moment it was mentioned, mull be familiar to die
commonest unsierdanding.
hlcffis.Prcoor, ROW ILLY, HART, and Cooke, firp•
ported the injunaion for the Trotted, Churchwar-
dens, and Mr. Foam They contended, that the
prayer of the petition could trot be granted, it the
ellablithed praftice of the Court.' thould, on the
preterit occafion. be prelerted. This application did
not call upoq the Court to fettle what is the right of
eleflion ; it invited it to declare, it the right of eke-
lion be precitely as tie Exchequer had decreed ; hut
if his blajeity's Exchequer had not rem,,ved this
doubt, the Court ••: Chancery would not fay it was
to rem.wed. It v.s laid, tijat the rules entered into
at tae late (le n- 7., %sc. c tiii,volive ct the decree of
5768 : and it was added, the Churchwardens had
,:d n , i tin, ..11.1 tr..: t.,•urt ss 45 117 1 yr.d to ,rrant
- • ~rde:, wait retpeC to ?Lc v-:cs
,u. phis was for the 9, it tune
Court to cundutt a (crawly under

2.1 t it • 0

10 t.ll

and 1, .!the cl,
can%

- .
itc own rnakets.,. Thit.ohieition to 0 eon*** woe
lethe length of the time; and the magnitude - the &-
pence they neceffarily involved. What weir l uireti
in the prefent intlance ?It was, that avertable* fluid
be iffued for this examination, where the mafter
would be able to allow one hour eiery alternate day, .
or three hours in the revolution of a whole week; to
be applied to this fcrutiny. The prayer. mon be
fruitlefs, becaufe the compliance with it mull be
wholly nugatory; enders the Gentlemen concerned
in this application could procraftinate life to the an-
tediluvian age, neither the candidates nor eleao
ave
rs.
the truflees, Charchwardens, or Whops, could h
any pciffible intereft in the refult. the Petitiooer
ere
teeming to anticipate the abfurdity of their own prayea
then implored, that if the Court lhould not grant
fcrutiny, it would, at leaft,leclare the elation void X
and at Taft, if neither the me or the other lhould be
conceded, a further humble petition is placed at the
foodlool of the Court, viz. that new trudees might
be appointed. This is the only relief which the Court
has in its power to grant, if they might, indeed, call
that a relief which mutt place the parifhirtners in a
fituation of continual warfare. The queftion was
put on the other fide on a very narrow ground; they
Mould difpute every inch of that ground, and lhould
contend that the regulations In minutely detailed, and
fo loudly proclaimed, were not incontinent with the
decree in the Exchequer ; but if they were, or were
not, it was not within the jurifdiaion of the Lord
Chancellor to interpofe undr the form in which th
application was prefented before hint. A then Rate-
ment of feels would illuftrate the argument. It was
left to the Rev. Gentlemen, Melria. Fatter and Len-
don, to determine the mode of eleAion, For this
purpofe, a vary was regularly appointed, and fix
Gentlemen on each fide were nominated to condnft
the butinen for the refpenive candidates. Under there
Committees the eleftion proceeded ; there formed the
regulations complained of, and uner loch diration
the particulate were printtd, and difiributed through-
out the parifh. The eletion commenced on the seth,
and terminated on the Both of July. There was no
ohjeAion fuggefled on the part of the regulators, and
the cleClian was permitted to proceed without the
fmalleft interruption.— After the majority had been
declared by the proper officers to be in favour of Mr.
Feder, a fcrutiny was demanded, and Rill no objec-
tion was urged againft the regulations. Mr. New-
come was the only Churchwarden plant, and he
acceded to the propofal of a fcrutiny ; but this content
was afterwards refeinded on the firongett ground that
could poffibly be adduced, viz. that whatever might
be the refult of fuch fcrutiny, Mr. Lendon, who sta•
plied for it, would not be bound by it. A bond was
to be entered ioto of moot. on each fide, the parilla
was to be thrown into a flame, and no potGble ad-
vantage was to accrue from :his enormous expences
and general confufion. Would his Lordthip endure
parties to come before him under fuchcircumtlanetsf
Was not the objet to let afsde the eleflion pr far at
atlas, by every pot ible expedient ? The only queftios
before the Court was, whether, under the eftabllnsed
principles of its jurifdillion, there canted any ground
for it to inter pole for the purpofe of vacating e elec-
tion, becaufe votes had been received,
of eleven which ought
not to have been admitted. Upwards hun-
dred had voted for Mr. Foller ; upwards of a thou-
land for Mr. Lendon. Two books had been opened.
the one coroprifing the acknowledged votes, the other
the doubtful ones; and if all the contributors to the
poll from the doubtful book were rejeBed on both
fades, Mr. Fritter would Rill have a contiderable ma-
jority. What ground could there cull tben, either
from the general principles adopted by the Court, or
from the particular fituation of there parties, to ine
duce it to grant this injunetion?
Loan CisaiscaLtraa—" The motiott befOre the
Court is to retrain perfons polretling a legal ettatc in
the ezercire of certain rotations incident to It, and
to rennin the Bithop of London from granting
licence to a party Rated to be duly elated to the rec.
'tory of St. James's, Clerkenwell. I give no opinion
whether the Churchwardens are or are not, neceffary
parties; but the motion having been .ferved
excurupon
, them, at leaft, fupplies them with a fufficient e
:or having appeared before the Court. On them I
, than only ray, and perhaps fume apology Mould be
required of me for lo (peaking, that they will go out
of Court without being at all affected by what has
paged here. Two objeas are particularly neceffar
for the confederation of the Court ; firft. what as
the rights of the parilibiotters Ur queftion ; nest, whs
has been the condua of the parifirioners in s
he fur
pofedexercife.of chafe rights ? and it is the more re,
quifite to form a deliberate opinion, on eccount
1 the judgment delivered by my Lord Hardwick.
a hailer occafion, which bleb/en reported in the s.
' Vefey and in Atkins." ( Here his Lorattip exdplo enter
ited
foam doybt of the accuracy of the report. an-
' ed much at large Into the nature and eircomftances
of the cafe on which the opinion had
as been given : 1.
diflinguifhed the law and the ufage.e, explained
that cafe, in order to (hew how much, and in wl
form, a continued ufage might be feppored a ti
confetti, by which the law was over-ruled.) "The
tree places the right of eleftion in perfons paying i
rates and afreffinents, and in a tirii!t fenfe this tea
to mean, exclufively, thole 'rho have paid. but it
popular fettle, or in ordinary parlance, it may
reCtly imply thole liable to pay : the meaning, ti
of the Couit of Exchequer ia this decree mud
maim ely weighed. It mutt be greatly lamented
all who regard the intereas of religiim. that the Mt
flee. of the Gtifyiel of the Church of England thou)
be e e
wes to a canvas in theft popu
the year
elation'
but here have no option. In
right of elation was put chafed by the patina, an
are not now to confider whether this right be it
mull proper hands, but whether the right, whei
it may be p!aced, is fitly exercifed? It is not, how
the lefs certain, on this aceouni, that the doArins.
Cliriitian peace. is on Inch occations abandoned, that
thole whir arc to teas.h gentlenefs and humanity,
love and harmony, on the moll enlightened prinei•
plea of mi- ral limb, nr: under inch melancholy cir-
cumfiances inniii.liced t , efcrt that law of chat hat
it
is their fa:niii d•lty to sdocurcAte. I sins aware of
miniz:ous didicul• ie. which mutt attend my decilion
in thi, AiLair, but 1 will slit-charge the tatk .impored
t:p.,n nic on the tenth day of next month to the bee
01 soy ability."

Ix
The fn'rt interval which remained before the ter-
minA;ion of the duties of the Court for the holidays,
WA% applied to the Bankrupt petitions in the cafes of
ex tat se Ilennet, on whish the decifion was poepowsd,