Practical Point.-Selections from Correspondence.

173

having met with its deserved fate, and been thrown out of the House, I beg to suggest to you that lists of the majority and minority who voted on that occasion, in the next Legal Observer, would be highly acceptable to most of your readers; and to some, not merely as a matter of curiosity, but with a view to future use; for I know, from undoubted authority,' that the promoters of the scheme have given out that they will persevere from Session to Session, and from Purliament to Parliament, until they have carried their point. This being the case, the opponents will know what they have to do. A correct report of the speeches would also be very desirable, for I am told they occupied nearly three hours; whereas I cannot find a London paper that allots scarcely more than a column to them. I extract the following from a letter, on which you may rely :-The most amusing part of the debate was the apparent security in which the promoters of the measure reposed, and their evi

to Sir Richard Birnie. Mr. Halls dismissed the complaint. I bowed, and was about to retire, when Sir Richard Birnie exclaimed, 'Stop him; shut the door; don't let that man escape. Where is the person that has got the information to lay against Mr. Smyth, for tampering with the due course of justice?' I insisted on being let go. A person named Wotton was keeping the door. I was repeatedly repulsed by him. He said, Why do you attempt to escape, when you know you cannot?' I said, 'Because they would say, I acquiesced, and was not a prisoner.' There was a long consultation between the magistrates, and ten or a dozen officers. Sir Richard said, This man is a pensioner, we must see and get his pension stopped a pretty man to be a pensioner, tampering with the due course of justice.' I was kept a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. Sir Richard Birnie went out at the back door. I was sitting down at the end of the office. Mr. Halls called out Mr. Smyth,' repeatedly. I said, 'I have nothing to say to Mr. Halls: Ident contempt of the strength of their oppodemand my liberty. The defendant Burchell then said, "If you will not come by fair means, I must take you by force.' He dragged me by the collar across the office, and Mr. Halls said, Mr. Smyth, I understood there was an information against you for obstructing the due course of justice, and, as you were present, I considered it my duty to detain you. Now that I have read the charge, I don't think I should be justified in detaining you any longer: you are discharged.' I said, 'You may depend on it, Mr. Halls, if there is any law in the country to which I can have recourse for redress for this outrage, I will have recourse to it.' Mr. Halls said, I might do as I thought proper."

Lord Tenterden, C. J.-I am of opinion that the justices could not detain a person known to them till some other person should make a charge. I think, before they detain a known person, they should have a charge made; therefore, unless you can show that Goddard's charge was made by him and received by the magistrates before Mr. Smyth was stopped, you cannot vary the case; and it is plain that you cannot, as they evidently detain Mr. Smyth till Goddard makes his charge, and then it is found not to be sufficient. I think that a magistrate is not justified in detaining a known person till a charge is made. The magistrate should have the charge actually made before he detains the party. Verdict-Guilty. Rex v. Birnie and others, 5 C. & P. 206. S. C. 1 Moody & Robinson, 160.

SELECTIONS

FROM CORRESPONDENCE.

No. XXIX.

GENERAL REGISTER.

To the Editor of the Legal Observer.
Sir,

The General Metropolitan Register scheme

nents. The London lawyers had set their hearts upon this object, and their chagrin seemed great."

J.

[We shall probably give the lists recommended by our correspondent, after ascertaining that those which have appeared are correct. ED.]

To the Editor of the Legal Observer.
Sir,

I was fortunately present in the House of Commons on the night when the decisive and triumphant blow was given to Mr. William Brougham's General Registry Bill. Both sides of the question were ably discussed, but it was quite evident where the argument lay. Mr. Pease (the member for South Durham), in an eloquent speech, stated, that although numerous and respectable petitions had been presented from all parts of the kingdom against the measure, yet he defied its supporters to prove that one town had raised a voice in its favor. This alone was sufficient to demonstrate the universal feeling which prevailed, not only amongst the "lawyers," but amongst landholders, and the nation at large He proceeded to shew that the costs of the attorney would be doubled by reason of the postage, journies, loss of time, &c. &c.; and he concluded with passing a high eulogium on all the country practitioners, who had displayed such disinterested conduct on this occasion.

The profession in general has reason to be grateful to you, Sir, for the determined and unremitting opposition which this bill has encountered through the medium of your valuable columns. W. W. Lincoln's Inn.

ON SUING IN FORMA PAUPERIS.

To the Editor of the Legal Observer.

Sir,

It has always appeared to me a very harsh interpretation of the stat. 11 Hen. 8. c. 12, to

174

Selections from Correspondence.-Parliamentary Returns.

require a person desirous of availing himself | able to sue for his remedy according to the

of the benefit of that statute, or in other words, to sue in forma pauperis, to swear that he is not worth five pounds: I will therefore, with your permission, shortly discuss this question, through the medium of your publication.

The statute of Henry, which is_intituled, "A Mean to help and speed poor Persons in their Suits," requires that "the poor person be not able to sue for his remedy after the course of the common law." Now in prac tice, the average amount of the plaintiff's costs in trying a cause in our courts of common law, may be estimated at thirty pounds. In equity, of course, the charges must far exceed this sum. It may then, with truth, be asserted, that every person who is so poor as not to be possessed of thirty pounds, or who cannot advance that sum without absolute ruin, is not able to sue for his remedy, according to the course of the common law; and, as I contend, consequently comes within the purview and strict letter of this most humane and charitable

statute.

course of the common law?" and how many,
then, are in this state of inability, who are not
yet reduced to a state of absolute pauperism,
every day's experience will inform us.
PHILO-PAUPeris.

THE STUDENTS BOX IN THE COURTS OF
JUSTICE.

To the Editor of the Legal Observer.
Sir,

On a student's entering an Inn of Court, he purchases a book, which he deems tolerably good authority, respecting usages, immuni ties, &c. and among other privileges, is expressly stated that of a seat in the box denominated "The Students." Now, Sir, my motive for troubling you is, to ascertain whe ther, as a matter of right, a student can enter this box, or whether he must obtain leave and license, on certain pecuniary conditions, from the inferior officers of the Court. If we really have anything like a claim, their conduct is There is indeed a subsequent act of parlia- outrageous. The other day I was making my ment, the 2 G. 2. c. 27, by which it is provided, way to the box, but was stopped, and told that that persons arrested on Exchequer writs for I had not entered my name at the beginning infractions of the custom laws, shall be ad- of the term, and paid the subscription, and mitted to make their defence to such actions consequently was not entitled to a seat. The in forma pauperis, on filing an affidavit that box was, in less than a quarter of an hour, they are not worth five pounds, besides their filled with reporters, who locked the door, wearing apparel. But this statute is clearly and admitted none but of their own choice. confined to the particular cases of arrests on Granting the box to be dedicated to our acthe custom laws by process from the Exche-commodation, I should say we have the power quer, and leaves the general remedial provi

sions of the former act in full force.

The question of ability, it is true, is left to the discretion of the Judges, who, it is presumed, can only exercise this discretionary power by satisfying themselves that the applicant for the gratuitous administration of justice is, in the language of the legislature,

66

not

of excluding those who intrude into it, although that privilege would by most be waived. As the system of exclusion is a matter of general complaint, it is quite time that the rights of the respective parties should be ascertained; for if the students have it, they should at the same time have uninterrupted enjoyment of it. STUDENS.

PARLIAMENTARY RETURNS.

ARTICLES OF CLERKSHIP.

Return of the Number of Articles of Clerkship of Attorneys, and of Assignments thereof, filed in His Majesty's Court of King's Bench, in each Year, from the first Day of Easter Term, 1819, to the first Day of Easter Term, 1833; distinguishing those of University Graduates.

Barristers called.-List of New Publications:-Bankruptcies superseded.

ATTORNEYS' CERTIFICATES.

Return of the Number of Certificates annually taken out by Attorneys and Solicitors practising in England and Wales, from the first day of Easter Term, 1819, to the first day of Easter Term, 1833; and the Gross Annual Amount of Stamp Duties paid during those periods upon such Certificates.

The Practice of the Law in all its Depart-Hawns, Joseph, Old Quebec Street, Oxford Street, Victuments, with a View of Rights, Injuries, and Remedies, as ameliorated by recent Statutes, Rules, and Decisions, and shewing the Practice in Arbitration before Justices in Courts of

THE STATE OF THE CRIMINAL
LAW.

It is a matter of curious speculation to watch the change which takes place in the public feeling on the same subject; for it is not confined to the vulgar, but is quite as perceptible in the best informed classes,-particularly if our legislators are to be considered in that rank. At one time it is the fashion to hold an opinion, which twenty years afterwards is considered absurd; one day, the current sets in strong this way; the next, it carries all before it in another: one generation discovers that the judgment of its predecessor was monstrous, and a succeeding one returns to the opinion of the first. There is, after all, but little novelty in politics and legislation; and if a man only steadily adhered to one opinion, and could live long enough, however mortifying it might be to him to find himself opposed to the world at one time, he might console himself with the certainty

We have now arrived at this stage of the question. For some years a great and very laudable disposition has existed to mitigate our criminal code-by far the most severe in Europe at the commencement of the present century; and in every recent session some crime has been exempted from the punishment of death. The principle now laid down is, that no crime unattended by violence should be capital; and the law has been made nearly consistent with this rule-the last great alteration on the subject being, the repeal of the punishment of death from forgery, except in some trifling instances. We must be careful, however, that we do not now run into the opposite extreme, and that from punishing too much we do not punish too little. We conceive that property should be reasonably protected; and until some more severe secondary punishment is fixed on than transportation for life, we confess that we are unwilling to go a step further in removing existing checks against crime. Indeed, we venture to prethat he would soon cease to be alone. dict, that the revolution in public feeling to This fluctuation of sentiment which we have alluded, will soon take may be peculiarly illustrated by a reference to the curplace. We have recently been told, from rent notions respecting our criminal code. the best authority on the subject, Mr. UnAt one time, nothing but death will do: der Secretary Lamb, that since forgery and the stealing a pound of bacon, and the mur-horse-stealing have ceased to be punished der of a father, are to be punished alike. Act after act is passed, written in blood; and the spare time of Parliament is occupied with nothing else but a new Draconic code. When this has lasted some time the feeling begins to change; the policy of the system is questioned; the old opinion loses ground; speeches are made; enquiries, granted at first with difficulty, are finally carried triumphantly; another train of common-place comes into vogue, and act after act is repealed,

NO, CL.

with death, they have increased to a very alarming extent; and it appears to us, that although we should give the mitigatory system a fair trial, we should throw down no other barrier for the protection of property until the result of the present alteration has been known.

Much information on the present subject is collected in a little work by Mr. Woolrych, which is written mainly with the

a The History and Results of the present N