The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-12-29 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

in turn, where would he the " oneness of opinion,"
upon the advantage of which such stress has been
laid ? Besides, it is very doubtful whether, for the
performance of the kind of business laid down as
the particular department of the unpaid magistracy,
some of whom are representatives of constituencies,
these gentlemen are the least questionable parties.
Partiality in the decision of certain cases has been
alleged against the magistrates under the old regime;
and, whether the charge is true or false, human
nature is not greatly changed since that old regime
gave way before the lights of the present age.
The appointment of an additional magistrate,
with whatever division of duties may be deter-
mined upon, retaining at the same time the present
central locality for the administration of justice,
whilst it fails to meet the evils of our present diffi-
culty, fully admits the principle upon which we
have based our advocacy of a division of the town
into separate magisterial districts. It takes for
granted all the facts which we have urged upon
the public;—that the business coming before the
stipendiary is already too much for one man satis-
factorily to perform ;—that the long detention
caused to prosecutors, defendants, police, and wit-
nesses is becoming a serious evil;—that in conse-
quence of such detention the ends of justice are
often defeated ; and that the absence of a large
number of the police from their beats for some
hours every day, to attend upon the Court, leaves
a great portion of the town, during that time, un-
protected. But when we have admitted all this,
why should we hesitate to make at once such a
change as will meet all the evils of our present sys-
tem ? What should we have said of the wisdom
of the authorities of London, if, when they had
already d clared that a separate magistrate was
required for the City, for Marylebone, for Lambeth,
for Southwark, for Finsbury, and other divisions,
they were to decide that the whole should sit in
Saint Paul's Church Yard, or in the Mansion
House ? We should certa-nly say that the arrange-
ment was a very absurd one for a large metropolis.
And Liverpool is fast becoming such a metropolis.
The appointment of a second magistrate, with the
retention of the present Sessions House as a cen-
tral place of sitting, is only the postponement of a
radical and thorough cure for an evil which we
virtually admit.

At the same time the plea of cheapness urged in
behalf of the retention of the present central court
is quite a delusive one, and is very unworthy of us.
Suppose another stipendiary appointed, to sit in the
Crown Court whilst Mr. Rushton sits in the Nisi
Prius, or vice versa. Each of those functionaries,
we presume, will require a law-clerk to sit under
him. If the criminal business is divided, each will
require an intelligent bridewell keeper to advise him
of the character of the offenders coming before him.
Mr. Ellis cannot divide himself in two ; nor can
Mr. Parkinson. If the list of offenders is merely to
be divided to suit the day's convenience, we shall
have police and witnesses continually required in
both courts at the same time. In short, the diffi-
culties are so evidently great—the complication so
intricate—that we feel it suite unnecessary to go
into any lengthened arguments against the proposi-
tion. It is a most inefficient substitute for an ar-
rangement which is quite within our reach. It re-
moves none of the difficulties of which the public
have had occasion enough to complain, except
merely that of unnecessary detention. We shall
have, under its operation, still too far to travel in
search of justice. Our shipping interest and our
merchants will still prefer to submit to imposition,
when they might successfully protect themselves, if
they could do so without inordinate loss of time.
We have a section of policemen at present occu-
pying ground south of Wellington-road and the
Prince's Park, a mile and a half from a bridewell,
and two miles and a half from the central court.
Our eastern divisions are little better situated. Our
northern divisions have to travel a mile and a half
to Vauxhall-road bridewell with every prisoner, and
two miles and a half to prosecute. Such a system
cannot work well ; and nothing but a division of
the business of the bench, and a separation of the
courts in which that business is carried on, will re-
move the difficulty.
We have a few more remarks to offer previously
to the next meeting of the Council; but they will
keep.. They are important.

Since writing the above, we perceive that the
following memoaial has been adopted by a number
of influential parties, and «ill lie for signature at the
Standard, Courier, and Mail offices, and at other
place, ;

` TO THE WORSHIPFUL THE MAYOR AND MEMBERS

OF THE TOWN COUNCIL OF LIVERPOOL

Merchants,

"The Memorial of the undersigned
Tradesmen, and other Inhabitants of Liverpool,

" Sheweth,

" That your Memorialists perceive that at the next
meeting of the Town Council, a motion is to be brought
forward for increasing the salary of the Stipendiary Ma-
gistrate. ,

" That it has long been their opinion, and that of many
of their fellow-townsmen, that a better arrangement of
the Magisterial business of the Borough than that now in
operation might he come to, by which the administration
of justice might be rendered more efficacious and public
convenience promoted ; and looking at the great increase
about to take place in such business, in part to be created
by the coming into operation of the new Sanatory Bill,
and in part by the vast extension going on in our Docks
and in the inhabited area of the Town, they conceive the
present a favourable opportunity of snaking such an ar-
rangement, which they consider will not be effected
merely by the increase of Mr. Rushton's Salary.

" At the same time, your Memorialists leave the nature
and, details of such arrangements to the wisdom of your
Council, satisfied that you will bestow upon their consi-
deration your earnest attention, and consult to the utmost
of your power the promotion of public justice and mo-
rality within the Borough, and the interests and conve-
nience of the Constituencies.

"And your Memorialists have the honour to remain,