The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-06-23 00:00:00

CHURCH OF SCOTLAND,

' Mr. A. Jonns-ropi:eiWtedthat it had fallen to his duty to
introduce the subject he had then to bring before the house. It
was a question of great importance to the people of Scotland,
and had excited great attention there for many years past. A
committee had been appointed by the house last year to inquire
into the subject. The report of the committee was laid on the
table last year, and contained a great deal of very important in-
formation. That information bad been much wanted to enable
English and Irish Members to form a correct notion of what it
was that the people of Scotland complained of regarding the
constitution of the church of that country. Hon. members
might think he was going to iutroduce a motion calculated to
infringe on the principles of the church of England, but the con-
stitution of the church of Scotland was altogether different from
that of the church of England, and he considered himself as
proceeding upon sure grounds when he took his stand upon the
constitution of the church of Scotland. From the time of the
reformation the people of Scotland enjoyed the privilege of
choosing their own ministers ; and in 1649 Scotland succeeded
in securing to itself the invaluable principle that the state should
not interfere with the constitution of its church, however much
it might interfere in countenancing and supporting the esta-
blishment. He was afraid the subject was nut receiving that
attention from the house which the present state of the church
of Scotland merited.

Mr. POTTER said, he really thought the question too im-
portant to be discussed iu so thin a house ; therefore, he moved
that it be counted.

Strangers were ordered to withdraw; and there not being
forty members present, the huuse adjourned at a quarter-past
seven o'clock.

HOUSE OF LORDS, FRIDAY.

VISCOUNT DUNCANNON presented 'the report of the Irish
Commissioners of Education; together with the answers of the
Rev. W. B. Stoney, to queries put to him by the commission-
ers on the subject of education in Ireland.
Lord BROUGHAM presented a number of petitions from Scot-
land against any grant of public money for additional church
accommodation; fur the repeal of the tax on newspapers;
against imprisonment for debt; and from the radical society of
Glasgow praying for the removal of the bishops from the House
of Lords.
The Bishop of EXETER gave notice, that he would on Thurs-
day next, present a petition from the Rev. W. B. Stoney, com-
plaining of unfair and partial conduct of the commissioners of
ucation in Iretatitl.

'WILLS EXECUTION BILL.
Lord BR 0 UGIIA.tet. in rising to move the second-reading-of the
will's execution bill, stated briefly the object of the measure,
which was to simplify the law, and to give additional security
with reference to the devising of property-. By the law as it
at present stood, a will devising real property must be signed by
three witnesses, while a will devising personal property re-
quired nu witness Whatever. Now, it was proposed, that in all
cases, whether the reference to the devise of real or personal
property, there should be two attesting witnesses. It was thought
that the protection of the law in that respect should be extend-
ed to the latter as well as to the former descl iption nt property, in
order to prevent undue influence being exerted in eases %%hero
personal property was to be devised. At present an individual
might dispose of money to the amount of millions by a memsi-
randum without witnesses. He had only to say, ' I, John
Noakes, bequeath so and so;" and it became a legal instru-
ment. Such a state of thins as this certainly laid parties open
to the operation of interested and undue influence. Many in-
dividuals had expressed a strong desire that this should he al-
tered, and that the same security which was given to the devise
of real property should be extended to personal property. Ac-
cordingly, the bill provided that, as in the case of a real estate,
a personal estate should not pas, unless the instrument were
executed in the presence of two witnesses. It was further pro-
vided, to render the matter clear, that the will should be in wri-
ting, and signed by the testator, or by some person directed to
do so_by him, and that be should acknowledge the signature in
the presence of two witnesses. As the law now stood, in devis-
ing a real estate, though it was necessary that witnesses should
sign the instrument, still it was sufficient if the person making
the will signed it in the presence of one witness, who then also
signed. The second witness might afterwards sign, in the ab-
sence of a third : and a third in the absence of the two fat mer.
A wholesome addition was by the present bill made to the law
in this respect. It required that the witnesses who attested the
instrument should be present together when it was executed by
the testator. These were the chief points of the bill; but there
were several others which would require consideration in com-
mittee. There was a clause by which every will made by a sin-
gle man or woman should be revoked on marriage, except a
will made in exercise of a power of appointment. That was a
part of the bill which required serious consideration. As the
law now stood, marriage, and the birth of a child, revoked a
will made by the husband when single, and sometimes operated
in such a manner as the testator did not contemplate. A friend
of his own, while unmarried, made a will. He afterwards mar-
ried, and died leaving his wife enceinte. Some months after-
wards she was brought to bed, the will was revoked, and the

wholu estate, amounting to 1:50,0(10 or trio,ooo, immediatCy
came the property of the widow and child, without auy reter-
ence to the parties who were mentioned in the revoked instru-
ment. This therefoie was a part of the bill which required due
consideration. _ _

The debate was adjourned op account of no notice having
been given of the intention to move the second reading on that
day, Lord Brougham saying that, having opened his case, he
should not again trouble their lordships on this subject.
Lord BROUGHAM laid on the table the report of the select
committee on the patent laws' amendment bill. The committee
reported that they had proceeded in the discussion of the bill,
and proposed certain amendments, which they recommended to
their lordships' favourable consideration. He moved that the
bill with the amendments be printed, and referred back to the
committee who wished to hear evidence on the subjecb.
Agreed to.
The Earl of RODEN pesented a petition from the Rev. Sir
Harcourt Lees, in, which he stated he was ready to prove on
oath that a conspiracy existed in Ireland to overturn the pro-
testant religion in that country. The noble earl read the pets-
' Lion at length, and declared that he believed with the petitioner
in the existence of a conspiracy to overturn the protestant church
in Ireland—Adjoui tied.