On this page
-
Text (3)
-
158 ' • ? H E IiBA-p-E R. T3Sfe. 360< gA...
-
FRAUDULENT TRUSTEES. Aftee-a rather long...
-
AN IDEAL SESSION. Srrt John Eaiidlis y W...
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
A Week Of Elections. Wegttelikr For Sout...
the 3 Juti < an \ d candidate , and when Ruxiaitd speaks ^ No-rth Leicestershire obeysotherwise , how did the Marquis of G-eanbt find himself a representative man , and how , in the names of 0-oscor . E , FjrjSlML . ind , and G-a & tree , is Edivaed 35 asil Earnha .: ne a member of Parliament ? The Southampton election resembled a battle on Scamander ' s flowery bank ; but the Greenwich day was aningloriousDonnybrook , at which the praise of a Portugal-street Thersites was sung by a Tipperary Pindak . Slug-, O Seven Dials !
how a candidate £ rom far , in a cbariot rolled along by four impatient steeds , dispensed large draughts of " joy-in-the-heart-of-maninspiring" beer ; and how the bilious minstrels , who , since -the pale-eyed morning broke , had been , imbibing unconstitutional gin , danced like mad Egyptians round the booth . But , from the Crimea came a warrior ; - —he unseated the taunting charioteer , whom ( politically ) black Death received , and him the white-armed maidens of Kent may mourn—but Codbington goes ; into Parliament .
158 ' • ? H E Iiba-P-E R. T3sfe. 360< Ga...
158 ' ? H E IiBA-p-E R . T 3 Sfe . 360 < gATTTTmA
Fraudulent Trustees. Aftee-A Rather Long...
FRAUDULENT TRUSTEES . Aftee-a rather long period of inaction , the veteran reformer is once more up and doing , —Hbnby Lord Brougham , true to his old vocation , is again bestirring himself among the dirty holes and corners of tlie law . His late letters to the Law Amendment Society , and to Lord Rabnob , are fresh manifestations of the extraordinary activity Which has animated this extraordinary man at every part of his eventful career ? there is the same
vigour of thought , the same uncompromising severity of expression , the same restless activity to amend abuses and sweep away humbugs and evil-doers from the earth . And certainly , if there are two subjects better calculated than any other to rouse the dormant fire of the old man eloquent , they must be those to which Lord Bbotjghare has lately been turning his attention—the Ticket-of-Leave Question and the Law respecting fraudulent Trustees .
One of these subjects is quite enough fora journalist to grapple with at one time . It may be within the compass of a Brougham to take them both together and , like Her-OXTLiss in his cradle , strangle a python with each hand . There may also be a kind of latent connexion between the two subjects ; for can we not draw comparisons between the rough villain wlio reeka with tobacco and . gin and throttles you in his hard grasp , or beats out your brains , with a bludgeon that he possess himself of your loose cash , and the sleek and well-dressed Mr . Gammon who
relieves you of your money in larger quantities , but by quieter means , and contents himself "with ruining your prospects and breaking your heart . But we refrain . We have at all times a prudent respect for legal questions . We well know that lawyers ( like all other technical persons ) uro very bigoted about their technicalities , and that an argument , ¦ when brought to bear upon one of these oxclusive subjects , will fail utterly in its purpose if it displays the slightest ignorance of any quirk or quiddit connectod with the matter . It appears to us , therefore , tlmt one legal question at . a time is quite as much a s we can undertake to grapple with , and the
question shall bo the law affecting fraudulent trustees . la his letter to Lord IUdnor , Lord J 3 bougham refers to this class of offenders m the following terms : . * i ' . ° , , ° * " atlQther fftilu . ro , or at Toast a postponement , to bo still moro regretted . The law respecting broach 11 Ii 1 S Ul th 0 8 am 0 etftt 0 As before , and Hablo to all the powerful objections so often urged , but now strengthened by tho aoonea of fraud , it may bo truly » ald of plunder , which have lately l » oon exhibited . How
often haves I besought the Lords , the highest court of judicature , seriously to consider the peculiarity , so discreditable to the law of England , of treating breach of trust as an excuse to the Avrong-do « r , while all other systems of jurisprudence regard it as an aggravation of his offence . Take the law of Scotland , for instance . The indictment sets forth that theft is a heinous crime , and severely punishable by the laws of all well-governed
realms , more especially if committed in breach of a trust . But in the well-governed realm of England there can be no criminal indictment at all , nothing beyond a civil suit , against a trustee who robs those for whom he is entrusted ; for by an absurd refinement , which prevents any court except the Court of Chancery from taking notice of the existence of the latter parties , he is not a criminal , but only a debtor , and only a debtor in what we are pleased to call equity . "
Yes , this is tlie precise state of the case : a fraudulent trustee , who derives Ms authority and ownership from the Court of Chancery , is held -to be answerable ouly to that court for his misdeeds , and as the only punishment iu the nature of a criminal punishment which the Cou . rt of Chancery administers is for contempt of its authority , the remedy of tke cestiios que trust , —which is good law-Prencli for the unfortunate persons whom he has cheated .,- —lies only against his estate . But if that is gone , if that is scattered to the
winds like the trust-moneys -which have been confide d to him , then there is neither remedy to be got nor punishment to be adjudged ; the legal robber is as free as air to go out into' th e highways and by-ways , foist his name ( if possible ) into another trust-deed , hold an equitable pistol at the head of new victims , and bid them stand and deliver fortune , haj ) - piness , and hope . lYoni the time when Trusts made their first a 2 ) pearance in . the English law , they have never been regarded with any great favour by the untechnical ; yet the scientific
lawyers have -always regarded them with affection ; and we can scarcely wonder at this when we recognise in them the fruitful and inexhaustible source of three-fourths of the legal chains -which now enslave the soil of England , aiid nine-tenths of the litigation which has drained that soil to the enrichment of the lawyers . To borro-w a simile from the turf , they were got by Priestcraft out of Chicane . To what monkish brain w e are indebted for this subtle invention we know naot ; but it is certain that it is from the casuists of the Church that this scheme
for hiding the real ownership of the land originally emanated . It was part of the great system of expedients and dodges with which the most holy Catholic Church endeavoured to support that enormous scheme of aggrandizeoient whereby she hoped to absorb witliin herself not only all the power but all the wealth of Europe . "When the law against Mortmain interfered between the dying and penitent owner of lands and the crafty priest who made the cession of his property and the
spoliation of his heirs the sole condition of foi'giveness and salvation , some astute ecclesiastical brain discovered that there was a means of evading tho law , by convoying or devising the property to a layman to be field in trzistfor ihe Church . This was tho origin of trusteeships , and although wo are far from denying that it has afforded some protection to women and children , and has even protected spendthrifts against themselves , it must be confessed that this system has not a -very creditable parentage .
As there are low men who have not m some form or other been induced , at some period of their liven , to look into tho duties ot * trusteeship , with a view to making ; up their own minds as to whether or not they shall undoi'tako them , we do not think it necossary to enlargo upon , this branch of the question . Everybody knows that a trustee-Hlup ia a very peculiar and anomalous oifioe . You luivo the entire control of tho properly , ' and are expected not to touch a shilling ol
' it ; so that ( let us be just ) you have mucQ the cares of property , without any of its ad vantages . As at present constituted iT £ an onerous office , and too often a thankless one The honest trustee can get little at nothing for his labour , and only-the ro < m * can reap any profit . It is only fair , then , that ? the-lay is amended so as to bind trustees to their duty more strongly , it should also insist upon their being paid fox tlieir wori JNo man should be expected to give his labors
for nothing , and it is notorious that the under-payment of agents is one great souree ot embezzlement . It is one thing to undertake the offi . ee of trustee when your-old friend tells you that his daughter is going to be married , and the wedding-dresses are ordered and the bride-cake is baking , and tlie favours are being made ready for your button-hole , and it is quite another thing to execute the duties of that office
, when the husband is on one side , and the wife on the other , leseecliing you to befcray your trust , and to sow the seeds of a Chancery suit with the children . ia order _ that some temporary release from a pressing difficulty may be afforded ; or , nioie still , when the orphaned children are at your door , asking you what has become of property wasted through your criminal complaisance . These are the difficulties which
prudent men see in the distance , and which prevent them from accepting trusteeships ; and thus it is that , the good men refusing to do the work , it necessarily falls into weak or evil-doing hands . The law . therefore requires amendment on botTi sides . The trustee must be liable for his breach of trust to the last shilling of iis
property , and where fraud can be proved he must be liable to that condign punishment iu his' person which such a vile , criminal peculator deserves . On the otier hand , there should be a regular per-eeiifcage upon the management of trust-estates , fixed with , the same certainty as the leg-aey dufry or any other tax upon property , and payable to the trustee as remuneration for his labour .
Such a provision would take away the last , indeed the sole excuse that can l ) e urged in favour of fraudulent trustees . A suggestion has been thrown out in favour of having an official trustee , just as we already have an official assignee ; but we do not Tell see how that would be practicable . There is an intimacy necessary between the trustee and those for whom he stands legal sponsor , which no mere official personage could
acquire . As it is , the Lord Chancellor is trustee for all who have none and who require one , and in the case of orphan wards he exercises some portion of his duties personally , generally with great advantage to the wards ; but even here it is found necessary to delegate the details of the post to some other guardian , and then the Keeper of the Royal Conscience finds it necessary to . have recourse to some old and trusted friend of the family .
In proportion aa trust is reposed ia the wickedness of its fraudulent betrayal increased . Upon trustees do all the fortune and all tlie happiness of a family frequently depend , and if they betray the conttdence placed in them , they commit a crime which too often proves to be tantamount to a murder .
An Ideal Session. Srrt John Eaiidlis Y W...
AN IDEAL SESSION . Srrt John Eaiidlis y Wiivmot has drawn up tho prospectus of an idoal parliamentary session . * Like most ideals , it is strongly stamped with personal sympathies and antipathies ; it is tho creodof advanced Whii ^ ory , of that delicate and discriminating ' Liberal * .-t Letter to Lord Jirouijluciu on Ifm Lajidatlre . Inquire ,-mentaofthe Comhtrj tinwi ' on . I ? y Sir J . K . K "W »' 111 (> t ' Mart . Longman and Co .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 14, 1857, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14021857/page/14/
-