Star.
London, England, 1819-04-01 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

...,Latibre was given to bting in a Bill to authorise the raising
•Idoefey for supporting death IZospital.
hie. M. A. 1 AILOI: presented h Petition front the Grand
Janetion and V'irst 7)lnitilescx Water Caroyanies, praying tar
loan to prelent a Petition for a bill to enable them to supply
London and Weettuitoter tr.ore tlfectitally with Watzr, on a
p-incildt.which would 4<P:tit a fair competition.—The Petition
was brought up, read. and referred I) t Commi:tee.
The Sotatrrs of Lormott pre.;:ntil a Petr.ion front: the Lord
Yator, Alder:nen, and Common ( ouncil, of the City of Len-
doe, prniug the loose to take into consideration the heavy
tate: on Coals raid in the City of London.
Yr. Alderman A 001) said, that tite only tax 04 Coals paya-
ble to the Corporaslxt of Londeu ^ rz ICd. a thalciross, antbmat
was appropriated In such a way,-that if it seontioned tiU the year
WI, they would be eeituard to an annual expense of £ll f,OO,
out of the funds of the Corporation. It was a great
misrepresentntion to soy, that the ch.-ty on Coals in the ( ity of
London was bfreitZtai to the (:oryui.sti(.n.—The Pe:itioa was
read, and ordered to lie on the table, and to be printed.
:fir. LITTLETON presented a Petition from the Agricul-
twists of the County of Wot cestrr. praying that the House
w mid impout a duty on the Importation of Voragn Corn, el
racis an amount as would be equal to that of tithes and taxes
payaiqe by Agriculturists. He said that he tliouelst the Peti-
tior.ers were entitled either to a compliance with the prayer of
their :'etition, or that the duties imposed on the articles indis-
p:r.sthic to Agrieoltare should be rvealed. As the llouse had
*hewn a disposition not to foetid any in-asure on l'etiticen et
this kind, be should not now further press this matter utas the
Ifouse.—ThiPetition was read, sod ordered to fie on the table.

11:r. LYTTLET ON presented a Petitita signed by many re-
svotOle Aviculturists of Woreest=shise, praying for the repeal
d! the Tax OA Lisabandry Horses. He expressed himself eery
strongly as to the iztpolicy of this Tax, and begged the atten-
tion of the House to this Petition. The: Petition was brought
up, read, and ordered to lie on the table.
2'!r. S.INCLAIR presented a Petition from Thurso, prying
that no additional Doty r.-ight be laid on Cetus at the pit mouth.
8.31, and ordered to lie on the table.
The following Petitior.r. were then presented :—Frotn Stan:-
fn.li praying that if the In:ft:vent Debtors' Act were renewed,
it might be modified—from the Burgesses of Barnstaple, prtiy-
ins that they might have an opportunity-if justifying t'aemstlees
against the imputations east epon them by Coe Report of the
CAssmitter which Was appointed by the to er7 the metiss
of the last Election--front tLe l'arith of All-lianows, against
the London Clergy I.lill—nand front the Borough of Las: Loo,
in the Count, of Cornwall, for the Rape:! Or liqualization of the
Duty na Cuals.—These Petitions were severally brought up,
read, and ordered to lie on the table.
ICkitiNEDY brought in a Bill to rogu:ate the relief
granted to the Poor in :i:otlanci, war read a first rim:,
and ordered to be reads second time to-morrow.
On the Position Gata the l'nrisn of All-Hallows, apinst the
London Clergy belt); presented by Mr. Hat.vxv,
Sir J. GRAIIA SI said, he thought it necessary t obs:rve,
that snarly mis-statements had been it Lade by 'lw oppor.ents sif
thi, Bill. Wnether the statements in this Prtnion were true or
L.lie lit did not know.

ler. Alderman WAITIIM.00; hoped th. Hoes.: would net
agree to pass the Bill to which this Petition related, merely on
the i'stama.tats of the Honourable Baronet. Almon every in-
ILIA:v.: is the Pariah had subscribed to the Petition now pre-
s..l.t.sl, ant th.: trut% of the statements might he hiquired into.
Itc. ruiLLlmoitv. gore notice, that he iv,tald to-morrow
rave far an account of all Ships or Vessels, and thCir Cargoes,
saiced for breach of the Customs or ]incise Laws, :And restored
sa:::: cundetnnation, by ceder of the Lords bf the 'freasuty.
Th.: raises of the delimiters at the Ballot of yesteiday were
ca l 4 ovvr, mtd they ware respectively ordered to attend the
Boliat toarnoaccete. .
. On es =al..* of lilt. BLI.;NETi $ Committee was ap-
poiitui to to.amine Ilse Journals of the House of Lords for
atly pr*treddcp relatiatecito i Ijill tot file regulation of Mint-
/.2 a-Sweepers.
:Ile adjourned D*bate cinch* Petition of James Then, Poh-
l:tan, relative ta a .rifesel to grant him a Licence, was p05t-
p3r...,1 to ble:td*v.
1441,
Y.:-. ?Alt NEI, moved for leave to bring iii a Bill to rego-
t:f Co 'r6 in Ireland.
'PORT he understood the object of the Bill
Coroner elected by each Barony ; but he did not
' remove the evil complained of.—The motion

irons rhe Lords requested that the house would
and W. )1. Pin, Esq. to give evidence
-dships' Committee on the beate :of Jails.
message an answ.,r was sent that the llou.se would
Acme:into- of its own.
the Committee ancintod toe:amine the Lords'
to the procezdings of their Lordships on the
•eapere Begulatlou Bill was pee:tilted and read.
NE:3: then said, that he would move for leave to
for the better regulation of Chimney Sweepers
Apprentices, in which he would *Mit the clauses which
the loss of the other Bill is, the Other 'louse. lie
leave to bring ir. the Bill, which was granted.
DU of Mr. WYNNE, it wai ordered that no
intervene it tween the Ballot to-osortow and the
bleutbera being called crier,
of Mr. BROUGUAM, there was ordered to
House, a Copy of the Digest of Legg; made
.e on the Education, of the Lower OtdertiXl4l g.
MILTON presented a Pritient Irma the !Royal
in Scotland, praying for a Rehm is the C.a..

stitution of that ilbrgh.—The Petition was brought up and read.
Mr. I ii; ME begged to call** attention of the 'louse to this
circumstance, that the Proiodi lor Mayer) "Of the Burgh of
Porres, ha 181? and 18j4, .did vociteilde to the'Srath, and wan
at the very same time, Provost of two other Birch*, viz. Nairn
-gad Co/ien. • The Act of Pallaiheat am this subject, though II 1
provided that cbe °mond. shosid Atet themselves, yet it
also provided that they shout be. clanged annually. The far-1
Our provishos of the Act wet hi full force; whiie the latter had
fallen into complete desuetude.
The Petition was ordered to lie on the table.

_
BREAM OF PRIVILEGE. .
Lord ALTHORP, referring to the case of Thos.
Stinton,the soldier who had been taken into custody
while withinn-the precincts of the House, rose to move
,that the minutes of the Court Martial be printed.—
He observed that it appeared from those minutes that
the Court Martial had found Stinton guilty of all the
charges on which he was tried, except that of steal-
ing the piece of cloth. He had therefore been toured
guilty on the charge of absence from parade. He
moved that the minutes be printed
Mr. 13ECKET said he had no objection to the mo-
tion, and was quite ready to second it. But he was
quite sure, when this matter was fully investigated,
that it would be found there had been no breach of
the privileges of the House. Stinton had certainly
been found guilty of being absent from parade.—
The excuse which he made was the production of a
warrant to attend the Committee of the House—
which warrant was dated on Thursday, and the day
of his absence was Snterday. Of cenr:,e the Court
had no means of knowing whether an obedience to
this warrant required the soldier's absence on the Sa-
turday, and they had therefore no option but to find
him guilty on that charge.
Mr. TIE NEY—When the last discussion on this
subject terminated, he thought there was nothing in
the case which required to be taken'notice of. But
what was now said by the Right Honourable Gen-
deman made him change' his opinion. It appeared
that the justification pleaded by the man was the
warrant of the House. But the Right Hon. Gentle- ,
man said this warrant was dated on Thursday, and
how were the Court to know that it was any excuse
for the man's absence on Saturday ? To this he re•
plied, that it was the duty of the Court Martial to
have inquired, and, if they had made the proper in-
quiry, they could soon have ascertained whether it
was Gr was not an excuse. The neglect of this, he
mainteined, was a breach of the privileges of the
House. He did not say that it was such an offence
against tloir privileges as ought to be visited with
severity. Put :t ought to be distinctly underst9nd,
that the House was feelingly alive to any infringe-
' mcnt on its privilege;. In any future case, a soldier
summoned to attend the House might recollect the
cae of Stanton, and think that if he obeyed the sum-
moes he might be punished for his absence.
Lord F. 111:NTINCIC wished that the Right Hon.
Gentleman iMr. Tierney! should be aware that this
mar. had been distinctly told, that if he was obliged
to attend the Reuse. of Commons, he had only to
give uutice of it to his serieant, and that it was the
negket of this notice which had occasioned his being
tried by a Court Kartial.
Colonel F/AP.P.Y observed, that the man ought to,
have asked leave to attend the Ilouse--(Hear, hertr.)
Mr. TIE.P.::EY was astonished to heir any Mem-
ber ttlk of leas e being asked to obey the summons of
this House--(lfear, hear, hear.)—.lie insisted, in the
broadest terms, that any soldier in his Majesty's ser-
vice having received the .warrant of this House, re-
quiring his attendance, might say to his officer that
.he would.obey it, whether that racer gave him leave
to do so or not--( Hear, hear.) •
Colonel BARRY and Mr. BECKET explained.—
They admitted, that if the man had been refused
leave to attend, hemight have come without it. lint
the offence of this man was, that he had not given a
notice, which he was ordered to give.
Mr. BROUGHAM said, he understood it to be
said, that the man should have asked leave to attend
the summons of the House—(Hear, hear.) Against
this doctrine he must enter his protest—Oear,-hear.)
When any man, whether a soldier or not, was sum-
moned by the warrant of the House, it was his duty
to attend, without askingeleave of any 111411.
Mr. WINNE said, that notlerel could be more
clear than the position of his Learned Friend (Mr.
Brougham), but at thesume time he must say, that
there might be that attention to other duties which
would require the person summoned not to ate: leave,
bat to give notice that he had been summoned—
( hear, her.) The confusion on this point had arisen.
from using the phrase •e ask leave." This man was
not required to ask leave, bet simply to give a notice.
Mr. BECKET—The men had been distinctly told
that, it was only uecessary• for him to give notice
when his absence was eecessary, in ohedience to the
summons of the House. _. • . _• • . _ _

.... _ _
Mr. W. Vi INNL said, there could be no doubt
that the principle was that which had just been stated
by the Honourable and Learned Getttlem.ch. On the
other hand he must say, that a soldier so summoned
ought not to ask leave, but to- g.ive notice th•it tie had
received such a summons, and intended to obey it.
_ _

Mr. BIiOtTGIIAM perfectly agreed with the Ho-
nourahle Gentleman that there could be no impro-
priety in a soldier so summoned giving notice-of the
circtimetarice. His objection was to his" asking leave."
Sir J: SIACKTNTOSH was persuaded that • there
had been no intention of infringing the privileges of
the House. ' The expression of a asking leave" had.
originated on the other side of the House. and it WAS
highly necessary to protest against such doctrine as
it implied.
Mr. BENN}T, as the subject was under diccus-
sion, wished to correct a mistake that had crept into
the public reports of his remarks on Friday evening.
He had been represented to say " that it was proba-
ble the soldier solicited the Court-martial beCause he
would have been flogged without it." The word he
had used was 4, punished," not "Aoggfd.". He knew
very well that a Commanding Officer had not the
power to order a soldier to be togged Without a
Court-martial.

The Minutes were then ordered to be printed.

Mr. BOS'
to move
Acts of '

greatest
he woul4

oil that .
jecticatab,
been lab
Law of

thought was a mistake. It mnst.certaim`y be advan-
twalobuilsadis rembecoomeve fahboromiettheeaidStaututleAsitttbdesnoseruAde.cts
did. not wish for any innovation. But he was
tressised to find that those Crientlemen of the learned
ion whom he ljtad consulted on this subject
Were *verse to the tiesubre which he now wished to
propose. Yet he thiught be must certainly have the
support of those who -bad expressed an opinion that
the Court of Session could not decide that any Act
I of the Scotch Parliament bad fallen into desuetude
I without the authority of Parli.tmcnt. In a very valu-
able collection, now deposited in the British Museum,
he meant in the Harleian Collection, there was a very
curious paper on this subject. In the year 16:4,
Lord Bahnerino was brought to trial under certain
Statutes passed in the reign of Henry abomina-
Me Statutes which declare that the speaking only
against the person or government of the Kiiig is high
treason. On the one side five of the most eminent
and skilful Counsel cf the day were retained, and on
the other, a celebrated Lawyer, who published a very
able legal book. The case was most elaborately
entered into ; and after a very minute investigation,
it was d by the Lord Advocate that no prescrip-
tion eoatre run against a statutory law. That a sta-
tutory law coals& at no time be repealed, but by a
judicial decision, and that no decision would be good
Against an existing Statute relative to high treason.
lie (Mr. Boswell) must admit that it was not usual
tOr the Court of Parliament to repeal Acts ; but- in
the reign of lIL the Parliament repealed all
the Acts passed under James U. In the present
state of the law in Scotland, it was not only neces-
sary, but very proper that the Judges should have a
power of deciding what laws had fallen into desue-
tude; for what ease could be done, whea there was
no interference of the Legislature, and yet Statutes
were allowed to remain on the Statute-bock totally
at variance with the present state of society ? lie
wished such, however, to be gradually done away
with. klis object in asking for leave to bring in the
i3ill this evening was to take only one step of those
which would be. necessary. The Statutes of Scot-
land might, he thought, be divided into four classes :
1. Those which were altoetlnT obsolete. 9. Those
which were partly dead, and partly operative, 2.
Those which were at prerent in force : and 4. Those
which were of a very objecdonable nature. By one
of these Statutes it was provided, that the punish-
ment should he inflicted for sending a challenge, whe-
ther a duel followed upon it or not; and that if a duel
did take place. both parties, if they survived, should
be executed, the challenger being put to some more
ignominious death, at the discretion of the King. In
one of the Statutes against monopolies it was enacted,
that no butcher should hold above an acre of land for
grazing. Ile might easily quote other laws of an
equally absurd and inapplicable description, but
should conclude at present by moving for leave to
bring-in a Bill to repeuLecrtain parts of the Law of
Scotland relative to duck

Mr. 'l'. MACKENZIE thought some of the Ho-
nourable Gantlematt's observations calculated to pro-
duce a wrong impression with regard to the proceed-
ings cethe Court of Session, and the present state of
Scottish jurisprudence. The practice of regarding
some Statutes as fallen into desuetude, and no longer
obligatory on the subject, was dictated by the first
principles of the LaW of Scotland. • Ile was not de-1
sirous of opposing the motion, but must protest
against the doctrine, that established contrary use
could not outweigh an unrepealed enactment. These'
partial repeals operated as ez post Ado laws, and
might serve to revive other Statutes which were at
this moment sunk in oblivion. Whether the princi-
ple of desuetude was originally good or bad, it was'
now too late to inquire; it was a principle interwoven
with the whole theory and practice of the law, and
could not be abrogated without producing the most
injurious effects—(Near hear).
Lord ARCHIBALD HAMILTON considered the
course now pursued as extremely inconvenient, ;
with reference to the general object in contempla-
tion. The Honourable Gentleman proposed to re-
peal one or two particular Statutes; and leave to
any other Honourable Member the task of proposing
the repeal of others equally obnoxious. The effect
must in the mean time be. to give new valiay to all
those which, though fallen into desuetude, had not
hitherto been repealed. He mask these observations
in order to guard himself against the charge of incon-
sistencv—a charge which he thought might fairly be
brought against the Honourable Member himself
who made this motion, and who, although he had
spoken in favour of, had voted against the motion of
his Right Honourable Friend (Sir J. Newport) a few
nights ago. He should not be much surprised, there-
fore, to find the Honourable Member voting against
his own ntotitoon the present occassion.
Mr. BOSW ELL explained. His reason for voting
agaipst the Right Honourable Baronet's motion was
-not itk object,' bur the words in which it was framed.
Lord BINNING observed, that had the motion
been of a general nature he should have wished it to
he postponed, but he felt no objection to the particu-
lar question before the House. He did nut mean to
pledge himself to the support of the measure.
Mr. BROUGHAM thought the repeal of Acts
fallen Rao desuetude unnecessary ; the question whe-
ther a Statute was so fallen was as fairly within the
jurisdiction of the Court of Session, as the question
wliether one man was the heir of another ?

The motion was agreed to.
EX OFFICIO INFORMATION.

On the motion of Sir C. HAWKINS, there was
ordered. to be -laid before the house a copy of the
Verdict of Acquittal entered on the Trial of the Lx
Officio Information filed by .his Majesty's Attorney-
Getteral onthe422d of April, 1907.

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