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the common law judges-should sit with him, or, in his absence, carry on the business of his Court. To this proposal it had been objected that to take the Master of the Rolls from his own court would be injurious to suitors. He (Lord John) had endeavoured to collect the opinions of competent persons upon this subject, and Lord Cottenham had objected to this part of the measure. After giving the outlines of several schemes, and specifying the objections to which they are severally liable, Lord John described his present plan, which was recommended, he said, by a concurrence of opinion in its favour. He proposed that two judges, to be called "Judges of Appeal," should sit with the Lord Chancellor, and in his absence hear and decide causes or appeals. The only objection offered to this scheme was, that it gave an additional judicial force to the Chancery Courts, at a considerable additional expense. The noble Lord, after stating the results of certain returns, showing the amount of business disposed of by the present judges of those courts, remarked that, although while all those judges attended their courts the existing force was sufficient, should illness interrupt their attendance, an arrear of business occurred, and the whole machinery became deranged. His plan would provide a remedy for this evil, for, while the business of the Lord Chancellor's Court would not be arrested in the event of his illness or absence, the Bill provided that, should the Master of the Rolls, or either of the ViceChancellors, be kept from his court by illness, the Lord Chancellor might make an arrangement by which one of the judges of VOL. XCIII.

appeal should sit in that court and prevent arrears. With respect to the political and other functions of the Lord Chancellor, he observed that, in these times, when there was so general a demand for law reform, the Lord Chancellor, holding the highest position connected with the law, should be enabled to give his mature and deliberate attention to plans of reform, which he was unable now to do in conjunction with his engagements in the Court of Chancery. It was desirable, likewise, that the Lord Chancellor should be able to give his mind to political questions in connection with the Executive Government. The expense attending this plan would not fall heavily upon the public. He proposed that the Lord Chan cellor, instead of 14,000l. a year, should receive 10,000l.; and the Master of the Rolls 60007., instead of 70001. There would, therefore, be a saving of 5000%. a year. The two new judges to be appointed by the Crown would receive the same salary as the Master of the Rolls, 6000l. a year, to be paid out of the Suitors' Fund. His plan would enable him to make a very desirable change in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, where, on various occasions, considerable difficulty had been experienced in obtaining a sufficient number of judges, four being a quorum. There was, moreover, a constitutional objection to the Crown's selecting a puisne judge to be a Privy Councillor, to qualify him for sitting upon the Judicial Committee. He proposed, therefore, that the two judges of appeal should be Privy Councillors, and members of the Committee, and that three, instead of four, should be a quorum. [N]

The plan thus propounded was discussed in a candid and able manner by the leading equity lawyers in the House. Mr. J. Stuart began by expressing some hesitation respecting the measure. He seemed distrustful of the novelty of the plan, and warned the House against the danger of pressing a measure of so much importance too hastily.

Mr. Bethell regarded this measure as an instalment of the reform that was wanted in the Court of Chancery, especially in conjunction with another Bill, which would relieve the Masters' office of great part of the pressure which now impeded its functions. The objection of Mr. Stuart was in the very spirit of Chancery delay. The scheme of the noble Lord was the result of the collective opinions of the most competent persons, and could not be termed ill-considered legislation. Mr. Bethell adverted to the evil effects of delay in the Court of Chancery, the causes of it, and the nature of the remedies, in order, he said, to show the great value of the measure now proposed, which, among other things, gave an appeal, not from a single mind to a single mind, but to a plurality of minds.

Mr. Walpole thought the measure, as far as he could follow it, deserved the approbation of the House and the public. Three important consequences would flow from it: first, all the courts would be sitting continuously; secondly, there would be a permanent Court of Appeal; and, thirdly, the Lord Chancellor, instead of being removed entirely from the Court of Chancery, would be continually refreshing himself by coming into the court and keeping up his familiarity with its practice.

After a few words from Mr. Ellice and Mr. Horsman,

M. Roundell Palmer said, the House was bound to acknowledge the great candour with which this whole subject had been considered by the noble Lord, whose plan he believed to be one that united a greater number of advantages than any other, while it was difficult to conceive a cheaper mode of securing its advantages. He thought the plan likely to meet with very general approbation; if it did not, he should despair of a remedy.

After a few words from Mr. Henley,

The Solicitor-General explained the difference between this Bill and the preceding, which was not a difference of principle. Mr. Bethell had referred to another Bill, which had been brought down from the other House, to enable Judges of the County Courts and Commissioners of Bankruptcy to take such references as the Lord Chancellor might make to them; and this measure would relieve the Masters' office, now choked with business. The House must not understand that this was the end-all of Chancery reforms. The preliminary step to such reforms, however, was to relieve the Lord Chancellor of his present weight of duty:

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The various Ministerial Bills, not abandoned or otherwise disposed of, were hurried through their final stages, and the 8th of August was fixed for the prorogation of Parliament. The ceremony was performed by Her Majesty in person, and was signalized by the circumstance that the House of Commons proceeded for the first time into the presence of their Sovereign from their new chamber, which, after several experimental sittings and many alterations, had been made ready for their occupation. The House, headed by the Speaker, and in more decorous order than had hitherto been observed, proceeded along the noble corridor that extends between the two Chambers, to the Bar of the House of Lords, when the Speaker addressed Her Majesty in these

terms:

64

Most Gracious SovereignWe, your Majesty's faithful Commons, attend your Majesty at the close of a laborious session; and, in tendering to your Majesty our last Bill of Supply for the service of the year, we have the satisfaction of stating to your Majesty, that, owing to the continued blessings of peace which Providence has vouchsafed to us, and the commercial and manufacturing prosperity of the country, the revenue has so far improved, as to enable us to make a considerable reduction in the public burdens. We have substituted a moderate duty on houses for the tax hitherto levied on windows, and we have thus carried into still further effect the work of sanitary reform which has distinguished the legislation of former sessions. Our attention has also been directed to various measures for the improved administration of justice. We have

modified the law of evidence so as to secure a more complete and satisfactory investigation of truth; we have simplified many of the details both of criminal and civil procedure; and we confidently hope that the important addition we have made to the judicial estalishment will so far facilitate the appellate jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery, as also of the Judicial Committee of your Majesty's Privy Council, that the expenses and delays which have hitherto been inseparable from their proceedings will, for the future, be materially diminished. The assumption of certain ecclesiastical titles conferred by a foreign power has been to us a subject of much anxious and patient deliberation. We approached this difficult and delicate question in the spirit in which your Majesty was graciously pleased to recommend it to our attention; and we trust that the measure which we have passed may be found effectual to prevent any further attempt to encroach on your Majesty's supremacy, without in any degree infringing on the great principle of religious liberty. It is unnecessary for me to advert to other measures of minor importance, but exerting a material influence on the condition of the industrious classes, which have been matured during the present session. When carefully reviewed, they will manifest our earnest desire to preserve the prerogatives of the Crown, and at the same time to promote the social improvement as well as the moral and physical welfare of all classes of your Majesty's subjects. I have now humbly to pray your Majesty's Royal Assent to the Bill entitled An Act to apply a Sum out of the Consolidated Fund to the Service

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of the Year,' and to appropriate the supplies we have granted in the present session of Parliament."

Several Bills having been handed in and received the Royal Assent in due form, the Queen read the following Speech, handed to her by the Lord Chancellor :

"My Lords and Gentlemen

"I am glad to be able to release you from your attendance in Parliament; and I thank you for the diligence with which you have performed your laborious duties.

"I continue to maintain the most friendly relations with Foreign Powers.

"I am happy to be able to congratulate you on the very consider able diminution which has taken place in the African and Brazilian slave trade. The exertions of my squadrons on the coasts of Africa and Brazil, assisted by the vigilance of the cruisers of France and of the United States, and aided by the co-operation of the Brazilian Government, have mainly contributed to this result.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons

"I thank you for the readiness with which you have granted the supplies necessary for the service of the year.

"My Lords and Gentlemen—

"It is satisfactory to observe that, notwithstanding very large reductions of taxes, the revenue for the past year considerably exceeded the public expenditure for the same period.

"I am rejoiced to find that you have thereby been enabled to relieve my people from an impost which restricted the enjoyment of

light and air in their dwellings. I trust that this enactment, with others to which your attention has been and will be directed, will contribute to the health and comfort of my subjects.

"I thank you for the assiduity with which you have applied yourselves to the consideration of a measure framed for the purpose of checking the undue assumption of ecclesiastical titles conferred by a foreign power. It gives me the highest satisfaction to find that, while repelling unfounded claims, you have maintained inviolate the great principles of religious liberty, so happily established among us.

"The attention you have bestowed on the administration of justice in the Courts of Law and Equity will, I trust, prove beneficial, and lead to further improvements.

"I have willingly given my consent to a Bill relating to the administration of the land revenues of the Crown, which will, I hope. conduce to the better management of that department, and at the same time tend to the promotion of works of public utility.

"It has been very gratifying to me, on an occasion which has brought many foreigners to this country, to observe the spirit of kindness and good-will which so generally prevailed. It is my anxious desire to promote among nations the cultivation of all those arts which are fostered by peace, and which in their turn contribute to maintain the peace of the world.

"In closing the present session, it is with feelings of gratitude to Almighty God that I acknow ledge the general spirit of loyalty and willing obedience to the law which animates my people. Such

a spirit is the best security at once for the progress and the stability of our free and happy institutions." Upon the whole, the session of 1851 cannot be described as one very fertile in legislative results or valuable accessions to the statute book. One subject, indeed, overshadowed all the rest, and absorbed the attention of the House of Commons almost from the commencement to the close. The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill was the great achievement of the session. Introduced in February, it occupied the Houses in a protracted warfare till the end of July. The opponents were, indeed, comparatively few in number, but they maintained the unequal contest with singular pertinacity. Whether the result, after all, was worthy of the time and labour expended on

it, may be still matter of controversy; but beyond all doubt, in devoting its attention so strenuously to this one subject, Parliament faithfully reflected the prevailing tone of public opinion. With this single exception, the Parliamentary transactions of 1851 will leave no signal trace on the records of history. But, if devoid of brilliancy on the one hand, they were unchequered by reverse or disaster on the other; and, though wanting in the interest which attaches to times of stirring change or political excitement, the period which they include may be described as signalized in no common degree by the blessings of successful industry, prosperity, and abundance; and by the virtues of loyalty, tranquillity, and contentment.

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