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April 5, 1856. j T H E LEADER 32?
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DEPENDENCE OF JUDGES ON" THE EX~ECUTIYE....
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THE RIGHT OP ELECTION IN FRANCE. The Imp...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Bousfield Ojt Capital Punishment. We Hav...
chiming' the announcement of peace . Can capital j > unishxnent survive the ghastly publication of this dramatised prize essay ?
April 5, 1856. J T H E Leader 32?
April 5 , 1856 . j T H E LEADER 32 ?
Dependence Of Judges On" The Ex~Ecutiye....
DEPENDENCE OF JUDGES ON" THE EX ~ ECUTIYE . Me . Roebuck did . a public service , though he did not accomplish it in the best manner , when he pointed out a dangerous encroachment that the Executive is making upon the principles of the English constitution . The words sound very like the hackneyed watchwords of Conservatism , "but they are literally true , and they concern the interests of the people of this country—especially of those who are not comprised in the influential classes . The Executive has accepted , we will not say sought , a power of determining the salaries of Judges , of holding the purse strings of the judicial mind . It is a disgrace to the House of Commons that any bill , giving such a , power to . the Executive , should have passed into law , —that it should at this day have been within the duties of the Secretary of the Treasury to give or to withhold money for Judges . Yet it is so in the case of County Court Judges . The Executive is empowered to give them salaries of £ 1 , 200 or £ 1 , 500 ; that is to say , the Executive holds in its hand £ -300 a-year to bestow to the Judge whom it may like . Attention has been called to the matter by Mr . Roebuck before Tuesday night , and Ministers see fit ; to give up this most unseemly and tin-English privilege . Mr . Tiios . James Arnold , one of the Metropolitan Magistrates , points oat another privilege which ought to be surrendered by the Executive . * The Home Office holds in its hands the
apbecome Judges , and they ought to be called District Judges in the first instance . But the Judges ought not to be removed , as these Magistrates are , at the pleasure of an Executive department ; and , in calling attention to the totally improper tenure which is given to the Police Magistracy , Mr . Arnold has done a public duty as an Englishman . It is of no use to say that , at the present day , the Home Offioe is not likely to exercise a tyrannical or corrupt authority . Who can say ? It is not a century since letters were opened by official spies at the Post-office . It may not be a century before we have some reconciled ally of Russia or Austria in the Home Office , seeking to extend amongst us at home , those principles of governing with which many of our magnates in both Houses of Parliament still sympathise " under the rose . " Mr . Arnold puts cases : — " Let me suppose that a person shall "be summoned "before a Magistrate for some particular offence ; that the Magistrate , upon the evidence laid before him , shall be clearly of opinion that the offence has been committed , and shall impose a fine upon the person charged ; that after the fine has been paid , the defendant shall so represent his case to the Secretary of State that the latter shall think the Magistrate had taken an erroneous view of the law , and direct Mm to repay the fine . Such an order would , I conceive , be very irregular and unconstitutional , and might perhaps be disregarded ; "but it would place the Magistrate in a very unpleasant situation . " A-gain , let me point out thatHuder the Act recently passed for the suppression of the Smoke Nuisance in the Metropolis , it is required that all proceedings before the Magistrate should lie initiated by the authority of one of the Secretaries of State , who is practically the Home Secretary . Every case is , of course , first investigated by him , or in his office , before » mr Twnn < w » Hn era n . vr = > inR +. it . tltecL SO that lie beCOmCS wb ¦ ¦
polntrnent and removal of the Police Magistrates , as they are called , . but the so-called Police Magistrate is a Judge in the true sense of the word . The . greater number of cases tried at the Criminal Courts are first tried at the Police Court , and thus , upon the District Judges are thrown the responsibility of selecting the cases for trial , sending only those which lead to the probability of a conviction . "Wehave , " aays Mr . Arnold , " an extensive penal jurisdiction , quite independent of sitch charges , with a power of imposing flues from a few shillings up to hundreds of pounds ; and in many cases , of inflicting lengthened imprisonment without fine . We may find it our duty to koup an accused person week aftor
MU T I Vrf *^^/ va Aj- * . fr ^»^ ^^ «^ »*— ' w w — » — — J ^ actuallj-the prosecutor . Here , then , we have an instance of a Magistrate , who has to adjudicate upon the merits of a case , holding his office at the will and pleasure of the prosecutor : —a state of things which , by way of parenthesis , I may say is , I believe , quite unparalleled in the whole range of our judicial institutions . " These cases might be easily multiplied , and they rest upon the fact that , in two instances , the Home Secretary has exercised his power of removing the Magistrates . When called to account by Lord Campbell , Lord Panmure said that " no Secretary of State would venture to exercise such a power in the face of Parliament and the public for any
week in confinement before we can decide whether or not the evidence will justify us in sending him for trial . We have also a large and constantly increasing summary jurisdiction in criminal matters , wherein a single Magistrate combines tho functions of both Jury and Judge . ^ Ye have also an extensive jurisdiction in civil matter *) , iu some instances arising from Local Acts and exclusivo in its nature , in others concurrent with that of tho County Courts , but which we are still constantly pressed to oxerciso , especially by tho pooror classes , by reason of tho heavy foes oxexacted iu those courts , " & c . Originally the Magistrates of the Police Court were paid by fees , and they acquired the sarcastic name of " trading 1 justices . " In 1792 the " trading justices " were multiplied from one to seven , Bow-stroct Ibeinff the oldest of our
motives of personal or party consideration . ' Yes , he would , if lie conscientiously thought that he ought to exercise the power of the Crown and Government , in a " paternal" fashion . We ought as little to tolerate the existence of this principle amongst our District Judges of town as we ought amongst our county Judges . It is the more important , since , by the substitution of Stipendiary Magistrates for the Aldermon in the City of London , Sir Geobgie Grey proposes to extend the ground over which the law will be administered by District Judges , holding their posts at tho pleasure of the Homo Office .
Police Courts ; but thoy "were still paid by fees , and no professional qualification was necessary . It was in 1839 that tho present system began . The duties of managing the Police wero transferred to two now Magistrates , called tho Commissioners of Police , and tho position of tho so-oallod Police Magistrate was materially altered . Property qualification was discontinuod ; tho qualification became so von years ' praotico at the bar ; the connection with tho Executive ) was abolished , tho powers of the Magistrates wore enlarged , and subsequent statutes havo , from tirao to time , referred to thorn important jurisdictions . Thoy havo now * A Utter to the RifflU Hon . Lord Panmwc , < foo . dsc , relating to tin : tenure , of ojjicc by the Afar / latratctt of the Metropolitan Police Courts . By Thoa . . Tamos Arnold , Esq ., one of tho Magistrates . London : James ltidgway , Piccadilly , I 860 .
The Right Op Election In France. The Imp...
THE RIGHT OP ELECTION IN FRANCE . The Imperial Court of Cassation has decided that no electoral bulletins can be legally issued without the authority of the Prefect , In otlicr words , thnt tho names of tho Government candidates only can be presented to the choice of tho electors . " This decision , " tho AssembUe Nationule bus said with perfect justice , " will uiark an epoch in the judicial annals of Franco . " " Nevertheless , " continues the Assemble Nationals , " the decision throws a strong light upon our political situation , and iu this sense wo record it without regret . " For these few words of reserved and cautious comment m > ou the recent decision of tho Couvt of Cassation , the Assembled Nationale has received a second olliciul " warning . " A second wavxu ' ng exposes a journal to tho risk of instant and unconditional suppression . In the face of this warning , it bocomes , as'l wo think , the duty of an independent English journal to invite attention to a easo so
peculiarly illustrative of the present regime in France . The existing French Empire professes to exist " by tlie Grace of God and by the national , will . " It is not our business to account for the former of these assumptions , but the latter demands explanation . The national will is supposed to be represented by the eight million votes that ratified the proclamation of the Empire . If we could imagine- eight millions of the intelligent adult population of Franc * stirred bj r a common , impulse , and in the fulness of their independence as citizens of a free state , on a given day affirming their acceptance of a form of Government , proposed to them bv a saviour of bis country ; assuredly no government has ever ruled by a securer title , or reposed on a broader or more durable foundation . Such a government might well defy the puny sliafts of discarded statesmen ancltheimpotent malice of baffled factions . Upon such a Government an atmosphere of liberty would confer new strength continually . Now such a Government the present French Empire assumes to be , —such its satellites and sycophants at home and abroad describe it to be . And yet it is notorious that its system of Government even after four years , continues one of stern and dull compression , aGovernm « nt of police spies , of prisons , of proscriptions , of silence , of darkness . How can we explain this anomaly ? Surely , if that Government be one of universal national acceptance , repression is not merely an injustice , it is an absurdity . Perhaps the Court of Cassation , under the presidency of the Senator Tropjl . o : n g has furnished us with an a fortiori which will go far to solve the enigma . If , after four years' secure and absolute possession of the Government , at a time of profound quiet , it is decided that none but the nominees of the Government may present their names to the electors , under what conditions of free choice , we may ask , were the eight million votes recorded just after the coup-d' & at , when all France was in a state of siege 1 ¦
Unjust Dismissal op a Rope-maker from Devonpoet dockyard . —A short time ago , Richard B eal , a ropeniaker in the dockyard at Devonport , was discharged for a very trivial and unintentional offence . One night , his wife being very ill , Beal remained with her until late the following morning , when he was obliged to leave horno without his "breakfast , and proceed to hi & business at the dockyard with much haste . He also had to assist in rowing a boat towai'ds the yard , -upwards of two miles . Iu consequence of so unusual a course lie was seized , after beginning his work , with a feeling of faintness , followed by an attack of diarrhoea . He therefore aBked one of the twinespinners to send a "boy for a small quantity of rum ( equal to about a wine-glass full ) , tmt he was not aware that such a proceeding was against the rules . The woman went to the foreman , to ask permission ; but ,
not fiuding him , she herself directed the boy to pro cure it . The boy , mistaking the message , brought half-a-piut . This circumstance being afterwards reported to tho Lords Oommiasioners of the Admiralty , Beal , bo his great surprise , was abruptly dismissed from the service . However , he drew up and presented a petition to Sir James Plumridge , the Admiral Superintendent , in which , besides the foregoing facts , ho states that he had been a ropemaker in Devonport Dockyard nearly twenty years , during which his charaotor had been unexceptionable ; that he had been froqiiently recommended by his officers for promotiun ; and that ho had a sick wife and several children to support . His harsh sentence has therefore been revoked , nnd he is now reinstated in Dovonport Dockyard , in his former capacity , St . Aijbajn ' s Abbey . —A mooting was held at the Town-hall , St . Albau ' s , on Wednesday , to consider old
the propriety of restoring the grand aDDoy onuruu . Tho Earl of Vorulam was in tho chair , and the speakers included the Rev . Dr . Nicholson , tho Marquis of Salisbury , Lord Robert Grosvenor , BLP ., Arcbdoaoon Grant , Mr . C . W . Pull or , I ^ ord Itobort Cocil , Dr . Robinson , nnd others . Resolutions wore oarriod , not merely for the restoration of the abbey , but ; for tho creation of a now bishopric for Hertfordfihiro , with St . Alban ' H aH its centre , tho present diocdsh being , in tho opinion of tho mooting , too liwgo , whilo tho binhop ' s ynlaco is situated flomo fifty miles from St . Alban ' s , nnd tho cathedral ia in a remote parti of Konb . Nearly £ 4 , 300 wero ( subscribed in the room towards tho desired objeots . LAMDKT 1 I PaHISI-3 AND TUM METROPOLITAN L . OCAT-. Man-aciemknx Act . —A numerous meeting of the ratepayers of Lnmbotli was held at the vestry-hall on Wednesday evening , Mr . Churohwm'don Stratton iii | tho chair , to express an opinion upon tho bill brought in by tho Altorhoy-Qenora . 1 to explain certain clauses of tho Metropolitan Local Manftgoment Act . Resolutions condemnatory of the measure wero carried , and a petition to Parliament wftfl resolved on .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 5, 1856, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05041856/page/15/
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