The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-05-21
England's Highest Court.

The average Briton is curiously igno-
rant of the extent of his rights and
privileges
Admission to the House of Lords,
when sitting as law court, is a case
in point. Every subject of her majes-
ty has an entrance of right into the
law courts of the realm, the House of
Lords, the highest court in the land,
included. u
And so if an ordinary member Of the
public wants to hear a case argued be-
fore that august tribunal he has but to
walk boldly up the steps which lead
from Westminster Hall to the "Octa-
gon,' or outer lobby, taking care not
to allow himself to be overawed by the
policemen on duty; thence right-h hand
turn takes him into what is variously
called ''the gilded chamber" and IAN
other place"
Truth to tell, the proceedings in a
law case before the House of Lords are.
to laymen, decidedly dull. So that the
average Briton is wise in his day and
generation in not availing himself of
his undoubted privilege of looking on
In the first place, there is none of the
pomp usually attached to a court Of
| law.
The lords do not wear either wig or
gown, and one sees only three or four
somnolent old gentlemen, who always
look as if their very heads were being
bored off by the arguments of learned
counsel. After you have listened for
an hour to the droning, melancholy
voices of the learned counsel you be-
gin to sympathize with the Judges.
icsa oi,
The proceedings take place at the bot
tom of the huge and very much gilded
chamber, which seems to put on its
most glorious-British-ccnstitution ap-
pearance for the occasion.
The President of the court has snec-
ial seat in the center of the floor. fac
ing the cross benches. AS for the un-
fortunate counsel, they are huddled to-
gether in a little compartment few
feet square, for all the world like. the
dock of a criminal court. They look
astonishingly cheerful under the cir
cumstances, and even laugh in a hollow.
mirthless way at what pass for jokes
in the House of Lords.
Q. C.s don their full buttoned wigs
to address the Lords Gin the lower
courts they wear the ordinary tall wig),
and the juniors do nothing but chew
quill pens and look wise The public
are not provided with seats, the theory
being. no doubt, that they are so in
tensely interested that they do not
wish to sit down.
Originally every peer who was a
member of the Upper House had a right
to sit and hear appeals, but immeni-
orial custom has confined the privilege
| if such it be-to the law lords. These
include besides the Lord Chancellor and
ex-Chancellors. peers who have been
distinguished lawyers and the lords of
appeal in ordinary, who owe their iudic-
ial existence to the judicature Act of
1873 and are paid the handsome sal
airy of 10000 a year. It is the lords of
appeal who usually constitute the court.
There are five Lords of Appeal in or
binary. First comes Lord Macnagh-
ten. a sound lawyer, ex-varsity oars
man. and the Chairman of the Coun-
Gil of legal education. Then there is
Lord Morris, an Irishman. with a most
delightful brogue. Near him sits that
very wideawake Scotch Judge. Lord
Shand. His lordship may be known
by his benevolent expression. which re-
minds one irresistibly of the late Mr..
Pickwick and his little black skull cap.
Then there are Lord Davey (once Sir
Horace Davey) and Lord Watson. both
Judges of ability.
Arguing case before the House Of
Lords is said to be most trying, even
to men of long experience in lower
courts. On the face of it, there does
not appear to be anything to make men
nervous, and certainly the distinguished
counsel who are to be heard there seem
to be ve.y much at home.-Lordon Mail.
If there is any person to whom you
feel dislike, that is the person of whom
you ought never to speak.-Cecil.