The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-05-31 00:00:00

table.
Lord STANLEY presented a Petition from the
Tow hip of Salford against the Poor's Relief Bill.
—GIP upon the tank.
Thf Inland Navigation (Iceland) Bill went through
a Committee, and the Report was ordered to be re-
ceived to-morrow.
Thi House also went into a Committee upon the
Irish Insolvency Court Bill, and the Report was or-
dered to be received to-morrow.
The Report of the Irish Stamp Act was received,
and a Bill ordered to be brought in founded thereon.
Mr. WARRE wished to make an observation to the
House relative to the Extra Post Bill. That measure
was read a first time at one o'clock in the morning,
anal ordered fur a second reading on this day. As the
Bill had not been printed, and as certain correspond-
ence of the Post Office, which hail been orderid three
weeks ago, was not before the House, he slion!d move
that the Order of the Day for the second re in: be
now read for the sake of being postpone.; moil it was
printed, so that the Holm might undersiand o hat was
the intention of its provisions.
Mr. LUSIIINOTON said, that it was usual to read
such Bills a first time without discussi:n, and to bring
on a second reading at a time when the House was in
a sta:c to discuss them fully. If the Honourable lien-
detain would attrod his motion so as to appoint Mon-
day next for the second reading, In the meantime the
Bill could be printed.
After a few words from Lord STAN LET.
Alr. WARRE consented, and the second reading was
accordingly postponed to Monday, and the Bill or-
dered to be printed.
STATE OF TIIE COURTS OF CHANCERY.
Mr. M. A. TAYLOR, in pursuance to the notice
w!fich he hid given, rose to call the attention of the
House to the state of the business of the Courts of
Chancery awl the ilouse of Lords. The appeal list of
the latter Court was in a state the moat surprising anal
astonishing. Its state could neither be concealed nor
dispsistd. To the suitor it was Tuitions, and it sent
to strip the Court itself of all its utility., He would
assert that all these evils arose out of the di fects of
the system. Ile did nut mean to find fault a ith
individuals composing the Apprilant Jurisdiction, but
their habits of life and education were widely changed
since its original appointment. The lion. Member
then eroded to what be dial in It, I I relating to this
subject. Ile then failed in his eseetions at that pe-
riod, hecansr he eras oppose(' by the then Minister.—
lie dial then succeed in obtaining the appointment of
a Co.utnittee t., inquire into the state of the busitte,c
before those Courts, and what was somewhat reenact,
able, it we, only carried by the casting vote of the
Spea.:er. The Report whirls that Commietre mad-,
stated, that there were at that time three hundred and
thirty Appeals pcnding in the House of lairds, and
calculating from the business that had been elisposcel
of for the three or four preceding years, these rase`
could not he heard in less than 111 years. The Reoort
also 'tit eel, that the Court of Chancery was consi:le r-
ably in arrear with the hu•iness before it, and Ow
there were ISO fresh cis. s, and 34 Appeals itet'ore tt
After this had been done, however, the liou,e
to stop the inquiries of the I witinitter, and to put an
end to its existence, a itleotit doing any thing to re-
medy the evils which it bail discovered and reported
upon. The consequence was, that the Vice Chancel-
lor's Court was subsequently erected, and the Alyeals
bad, from that time to the present, increased from
to 116. The lion. Member then remarked upon the
great inconvenience anal injury arising from Appeals,
and the delay which prevented their being heard. No
one could get an Appeal down in less than a year,
anal all the other forms and delays would occupy ten
years before an ultimate decision could be obtained.—
There was no corporal punishment equal in severity
to this torture of the mind inflicted upon suitors in
such cases. With respect to the Vice-Chancellor, he
did not mean to say that much business of a particu-
lar nature had not been done by that able Judge, but
all the important cases had been left untouched by
him, whilst the Appeals had multiplied to such an in-
jurious extent. 1 his arose from the natural desire of
all persons to have the decision of the highest tribu-
nal, and the first legal authority. If by any means
a person had grounds for commencing a suit
agai•.st him for property to the value of 3 or 4,9001.,
he would rather give it up at once than that it
sh,iuld go into that Court. It was not to the dis-
tinguished and able judicial characters who presided
in the Courts from which Appeals could be wade to
the Lord Chancellor that he meant to impute the
least blame ; it was against the system that he Waged
war, and he contended that it was one which was not
only discreditable but disgraceful to the country.
With respect to the House of Lords and its appellant
jurisdiction, he objected strongly that the jurisdiction
should be exercised by the same great officer who
held the seal. It was making him at once a politi-
cian and a judge. His attention must be so much oc
eupied by the wide range of judicial functions with
which he was invested, that be ought never to travel
out of Court. His whole mind ought to be given op
o it. But what was the state of that great officer's
occupations at present? He was obliged to attend
Cabinet Councils; he was Speaker of the House of
Lor:s, at; i he was compelled to hear banktaptcy cases.

He would defy any individual to Will all them duties,
and not to create delay in the business of the Court
of Chancery. The Hon. Member then alluded to the
sums of money paid into the latter Court, aad stated
that in MS it amounted to 33,000,0001. besides the
property in the Master's offices. What was the state
of business when the Great Seal was in Commission?
tie wu old enough to remember when Lord Lough-
borough was Commissioner, and at that period there
was never one cause behind. The mamma of that
was, that other business did not then interfere with
the proceedings of the Court. The Hon. Member
then repeated his objections to the additional Courts,
and said that if there should be but one Judge in the
high Court, there should be one Judge without sp..
peal. There should be no appeal but to the Hasse of
Lords. The principal object he bad is view was to
consolidate the different Cures. Hs wished also that
the Lord High Chancellor's salary should be mini&
cent, so that be should be attended with the highest
honours ; but he bad the greatest objection to that
salary being paid by fees. The emoluments of the
Masters in Chancery ought also to be fixed, and the
system of fees to he abolished altogether. Ha ap-
plied the same observation to the Registrar's Ole*.
According to the present system, if an estate of
the value of 10,0(101. came to be litigated in
Chancery, 6,11001. of it would be expended upoll
the proceedings. All he asked Ministers to do sow,
was to say that they would take this subject into thsit
consideration early in the next Session. What be
should wish then to be ts.one was, that the Court of
Equity should be in some ergree assimilated to
the Court of Exchequer. Ile should propose that there
be four Judges to assist the Lord Chancellor, and that
,his salary sl.ould be fixed, an.l •he amount to be est.-
seated by the income which that great officer bad d -
Aired during the last ,ix or se ie:4 rests. There slimed
be as appeal but to the House of Lords, which shou'.d
be the only Appellant jurisdiction. The four Judges
would have plenty to do with thee/birdie of the bu-
siness, and to regtilv.te the proceedings of the Court
in the Masters' offices, and elsewhere. He would have
this door, because they hail it before their eyes, t
when Ilse Seal was in Cominksion, business went c't
well, there was nu delay, and no appeals. He knew
hut of one appeal daring the whole period. He won;
leave to the ( It incellor all matters of moment, an I
should decide Nato all differences of opinion whir's
might occur among the other Judges. The Lord Chau-
calor shon:d cot he Speaher of the House of Lords ;
because while that regulation existed, there was no
appeal at all. At the tnost it was only an appeal
from Vote Lord Chancellor in his Court, with his on-
dress uig, to the Lord Chancellor in the House of
Lords with his full-bottomed one. It was, in fact, an
appeal from wig to nig.—(A laugh.)—lt was Mts.,
that at the present moment lam d Reilesdale did attend
voluntarily to assist in hecing appeal caus:s in the
House of Lords, and the public were very much to-
deltted to him for it. But they ought not to consider
th!• gratuitous exertions which that Noble
the
the ge
principles of the system. Ile was aware that objec-
tions would ter made to his proposition, but whatever
fate the motion which he meant to submit might have,
he coold only say that he should never desert his th-
jeet. hether he itas supported by the public at
hr:!e, !iv the House, ..r liv the profession, hr knew he
Amid upon a rock formed by the statements he ha I
made, that no talent could contravene. lie t
by moving, "That this !louse early in the neat Si
%ion do la ar into it> serious consideration, the state
the High Cowt of Chaucery, of the appellant ..t•
risalietioo of the douse of Lords, with a view to adopt
such measures as may tend in future to accelerate the
bashers. of those Courts."
A Mr.s.sge from On Lords announced their Lord-
shio6' assent to the Jurors' Attendance Bill and other
hills.
1 he question being then put from the Chair, upon
sir. M. A. Tay Loa's motion,
Lind LONDONDERRY said, though Parliament
sometimes pledged itself as to the course it would take
in a sulisetpient Session, it should never do so wi,hout
great caution ; and lie thought they should hesitate to
do so in the present 1.3.4 e, because the Resolution
countenanced the opinion that there was something
wrong in the Court of Chancery, and that a practical
remedy had been proposed. Ile was not at that time
capable of forming an opinion o6n the sweeping remedy
which ha.' been proposed, which opened the view of
a haze kW of judicial reform. As far as the appeal
lin,ittess of the House of Lords was concerned, he
understood that the establislintent of the Vice Chan-
cellor's Court had been very successful. As to the
original business of all the Courts, he understood it
was never less in arrear than at present. Ile sug-
geve i that it would be more advisable for the Hun.
Gentleman to withdraw his motion, especially, as
much information on the subject, which had been
moved f by the Hon. Member for Wareham (Mr.
Caleraft), was not yet on the Table of the Rouse. If
the Hon. Gentleman persisted in his motion, he (Lor.l
1.) should move the prelim!, tF:estion.
Mr. M. A. TAYLOR declined to withdraw his
motion.
The previous question was then moved.
The AT FOR\ EYMENERAL said, that as the ob-
ject of the motion went to atilihilate the Court of
Chancery, the House would not expect him at the
present moment to meet it in detail. Its adoption he
thought would be an imputation upon the Noble and
Learned person at the head of tile Court. The Hon.
Mover must certainly be mistaken in his numerical
calculation of the arrears of business, for it was a fact
that no cause which had been set down last 'Perm re-
mained undispoeed of ; and there was no arrears of
Bankrupt Petitions. As for Appeals, there always
would be Appeals as long as they were allowed. The
Hon. Member bad taken two extreme cases, and bad
argued upon them generally ; but the Hun. Member
was probably not aware that Appeals had been beard
upon cases decided only last year. The latieensberrr
:sacs could be mentioned as iustatices. Lord Maosfiell