JB/109/158/001

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King's Bench thus overloaded; why was there so great a disproportion
between the business of that Court, and the Court of Exchequer
and Common Pleas? The Court of Exchequer had little
business since the Bill for authorizing the Chief Baron of
that Court to sit alone and determine Equity causes. The Puisne
Barons had almost nothing to do – they had as little to do as
the Barons of Scotland. Why was the business of the Exchequer
so little, whilst the business of the King's Bench was so
great? The principal reason was this – the number of Attorneys
of in the Exchequer were very limited, the amount
in Clerks and Assistants was but 16; if they threw open that
Court to the Attorneys they would give the Barons something
to do. If such a measure would be found to interfere with
the private rights of the officers of the Exchequer, they would
be fairly entitled to compensation. – One cause of the arrear
was a limitation on the number of days during which the
Chief Justice might sit at Nisi Pruis in Middlesex – an enactment
which had been adopted on account of the fear which
the City of London had that is business might be neglected. He
thought there could be no objection to a repeal of this Act. The
ordinary business of the Court in Term time, might as well
be transacted by 3 as by 4 Judges, which it consisted, as it so often
did, of motions of course. In point of fact, a great deal of
that business was transacted while one Judge only was
present. during that time therefore, one Judge might sit
at Nisi Pruis. As to the business which was at present accumulated
in the Court of King's Bench, it consisted in
great part of trifling causes. It was known that at the
time when Acts were passed to restrain Actions below 40
shillings, that sum of 40 shillings was equal to 10£, perhaps
to 20£. The greatest number of the new causes in
the Court of King's Bench were for damages under 20£. The
actions in such cases, were no remedies, for if the plaintiff
recovered the full damages, he never put a shilling in his
pocket. For all such causes he wished to see a more summary
and general remedy provided, and he opposed this
measure, chiefly to compel the Attorney General to use the influence
of his high station to procure the adoption of a
more extensive measure which might relieve all the
Courts from a species of business which was of no advantage
to the suitors, and which threw discredit on the
administration of justice.
Mr Warren

Identifier: | JB/109/158/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 109.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	109	Main Headings	Parliamentary Reform
Folio number	158	Info in main headings field
Image	001	Titles
Category	Collectanea	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	G2
Penner		Watermarks
Marginals		Paper Producer
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year
Notes public		ID Number	35813
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