The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-02-12 00:00:00

further

Mr. ENVART seconded the motion.
Lord JoUN RUSSELL was favourable to the abolition of
the punishment of death in certain cases, and would therefore
make no opposition to the introduction of the hill ; but in
the declared object of extending that abolition to all cases he
could not concur.
Leave was then given to introduce the bill.

Mr. EWART wished to represent to the house the injustice
of the distinctive duties now pressing on the agricultural pro-
duce of the East Indies, on their manufacturing produce, and
on their inter-colonial trade.

Mr. F. MAULE moved to bring in a bill on the subject of
county courts. He noticed the evil of separate acts for the
recovery of small debts in separate districts, leading to differ-
ent practices in different places. His first proposal would be
to extend the jurisdiction of the county courts to a larger
sum than at present; he would suggest £3O. He would
make them ambulatory within their own districts. He would
have a judge for each, to be appointed by the Government at
a fixed salary. He would abolish all written pleadings, and
make a summons the only process. On any amount under
£5 the judge might decide without a jury ; on a larger amount
a jury might be demandable by leither party. The parties
themselves should be examinable, and no witness should be
incompetent on the score of interest. He would give to the
court a jurisdiction also in the recovery of small tenements.'
The patronage of the Government under snch a system would
doubtless be cnsiderable ; but in fact it existed already, for
the Chancellor 't,t, present appointed the judge under every
one of the local ac!s. It was not in contemplation to take
away the jurisdiction of Hundred Courts or Courts of Re-
quests; though he certainly did believe that the County
Courts would soon withdraw-their business from them. The
judge was not to practise at the bar ; and his salary was to
be at first £BOO, and to increase, as business should increase,
until it reached a maximum of £1`,500. An analogous mea-
sure had been introduced into Scotland with the best effect.
Mr. O'CoNNELL considered the chief defect of the bill to
be, that it did not combine the criminal with the civil juris-
diction. It constituted a paralytic judge, alive on the civil
side, but dead on the criminal. The courts of the present
magistrates were certainly not the courts of the poor man.
He should be very sorry to see any of the patronage given to
judges, except the Chancellor, who was a responsible mi-
nister of the crown. It would destroy the political indepen-
dence of the junior bar to put their promotion in the hands
of the Lord Chief Justice.

Mr. CRESSWELL apprehended great dissatisfaction to
suitors if they were forced into a court from which there
would be no appeal ; and great expense to them if appeals
were allowed, into which they could be inveigled by low
practicioners. He vindicated the bar from the imputation
that they would be corrupted by patronage in the hands of
the judges. The judges had now for some years the appoint-
ment of the revising barristers ; but no decline of indepen-
dence had followed.
Mr. Fox MAULE deemed it best to abstain for the present
from giving compulsory jurisdiction for a higher amount
than £2O. The county courts had already, and would still
possess. power to decide upon larger amodnts, where both
the parties consented.

Leave having been given for this bill, Mr. Fox MAULS
moved the introduction of another connected with it, and
enabling the Chancellor to direct the reference to county
courts of that business in bankruptcy which, in the country,
is now devolved upon local commissioners. The same sort
of reference might be made in country cases of insolvency.
And the county court might also with advantage take the
busirless of lunacy in the country. The number of judges to
be proposed in the former bill, which would probably be
about 25, might be expected to suffice for the whole business
committed to them by both bills ; but, lest they should be
unable to transact it at all, he had inserted in this second
bill a power to the Chancellor of increasing their number.—
Leave was given to bring in the bill.
On the motion of Mr. EMERSON TENNENT, the house
went into committee on the laws affecting the copyright of
designs ; and he then proposed an extension of the term of
three months, the present limit of protection, to a term of
twelve months. After some discussion, the chairman was
instructed to move the house for leave to bring in a bill in
accordance with Mr. E. Tennent's propoSal, which was
done, and leave granted.
Mr. DIVETT asked leave to bring in a bill for allowing
Jews to make the declaration contained in the acts of 1 and
2 Victoria, chap. 5 and 15, on admission to corporate offices.
He thought it but just to put the Jews on the same footing
with the Quakers and the Moravians.

Sir ROBERT INGLIS resisted this motion. He believed
there was only one individual whom such a bill would bene-
fit—namely, Mr. David Salomans, who had petitioned the
house upon the subject. His own objection was, that this
concession would be used as an argument for ulterior mea-
sures. The Jews were not to be considered as a peculiar
sect, but as a separate nation ; and they had, therefore, no
claim to municipal or political franchises in England.
Mr. W ARBURTON said, that Sir Robert. Inglis, if he
treated them as aliens, ought to bring in a bill for excluding
them from property in land. No evil was stated which their
admission would involve. Gentlemen had complained last
year of Mehemet Ali for his alleged persecution of the Jews,
but really their own civil persecution of that people was just
as bad.

Mr. GLADSTONE said Mr. Warburton had illustrated Sir
R. Inglis's objection, in arguing that because Jews are per-
mitted to enjoy the privilege of holding land, therefore Jews
must be admitted to ulterior privileges. He would not,
however, resist the introduction of the bill.
Mr. DIVETT said a few words in reply, and leave was given
to introduce the bill.—Adjourned.