The Sun. — 1838-02-12 (London, England)

SCOTS LAW COURTS.  With reference to the Lord Advocate's Bill for Reforming the Practice in the Provincial Law, or Sheriff Courts of Scotland, we may mention, for the information of our English and Iriz,h readers, that every county in Scotland enjoys a separate independent Court for the trial of causes arising within their several jurisdictions, civil as well as criminal, on the beautiful but theoretical principle of bringing justice home to every man's door. In the civil department their jurisdiction is perfectly unlimited, excepting in certain questions of land rights, and the criminal jurisdiction of these Courts extends to all offences except the four pleas of the Crown, viz., treason, rape, murder, and fire-raising. These are reserved for higher tribunals. In this way there is a resident stipendiary Judge in every county in Scotland, called a Sheriff Substitute, paid by the Government ; and upwards of 30 Principal Sheriffs, all Barrister;, appointed and paid also by Government, and all resident in the city (yr Edinburgh, while we think five or six quite sufficient to do all the judicial business which they have occasion to perform. These principal Sheriffs, however, appoint their own Substitutes, but the country has to pay their salaries, and also the expence of their resident judicial establishments. We have therefore often wondered that such glaring absurdities should have been tolerated and maintained at the public expence, for nearly a century, in a country otherwise distinguished for intelligence and the excellence of its institutions, as the existence of Law Courts having power to determine civil causes of any pecuniary amount (it may be for a million of money) not only without the aid of a Jury, but actually with the principal Judges non-resident, and, Prodigious with, tongue-tied lawyers ! Yet, strange as it may appear, such is the true and undeniable state of the facts on which the Bill in question is founded. Hitherto, in these subordinate Courts, the pleadings have been conducted wholly in writing, at a great expense to the country, and without publication, or the slightest intelligible knowledge given to the public of their proceedings, and the principal Judges, with a single exception or two, have been non-resident ! Thus, as Bentham would have said, the sinister is substituted for the natural mode of procedure in Scotland, and the most vexatious causes may be quietly prosecuted by suitors, and the most oppressive conduct quietly exercised on the part of the Judges and lawyers, without the slightest spark of that wholesome control which public opinion generally exercises, and ought to exercise, over all the deliberations in the Courts of Law of every other civilized country. The principal aim of the present Bill appears to be the correction, in some degree, of these anomalies and flagrant abuses. Her Majesty's Advocate and the Attorney-General deserve great' praise for having introduced such a Bill to the notice of Parliament ; we hope it will pass this session into a law. The only thing we are disappointed at is, that it does not contain any adequate provision against the non-resiidnencciev lof causes,tl 'e u es sns ionrg aimh eaiti theye nh tarvced uncltw: °any sof e n.. Ti uo ;iced, in these Courts for the trial of criminal causes, in order to relieve the Judges of the unnatural and conflicting duties of determining the facts, as well as the law, in favour of one or other of the parties. But we have no doubt this must, and will, speedily follow, and that the present Bill is merely a preparatory measure to lead to that effect. As a matter of course the Provincial Bar of Scotland, or as the members of that Bar at present may more properly be termed the Dumb Lawyers in these Provincial Courts, are all up in arms (particularly in the North) against the measure, as an innovation o,tni their Ephesus,P,rveetat Pretty wealth in ntchl much danger;" gceoe anrns; el nevertheless e‘v:. ten ;nth:: eni they have " the. fear of change" before their eyes ; or, perr hey have iciraapfst,bliykewit'l:cehand trust the Learned Lord will persevere in 111,oispeBill with celerity for the public benefit, and the pleassssi%rnvge respectable portion of the profession will very soon perceive the practical working of the Bill to be as much in their favour, as it undoubtedly will be in favour of the publire;e.soid:ccitnhceiesiroanfsaitalhilyne sophism,obj principalec iol which strikes Sheriffs, iakv which dl equallyoonuegl namely, atatmo the proceedings cptorhrorecee'cle°t denid-n gs in the Court of Session, where the debates are conducted chiefly viva voce, and cannot, therefore, be exactly the same in causes which arc carried from thence for review to the House of Peers.