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Leader (1850-1860), 5th April 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 327, Untitled Article

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      chiming' the announcement of peace . Can capital j > unishxnent survive the ghastly publication of this dramatised prize essay 1

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      DEPENDENCE OF JUDGES ON" THE EX ~ ECUTIYE . Me . Roebuck did a public service , though he did riot 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 , hut 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

      holdingthe 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 Arnoi * i > , one of the Metropolitan Magistrates , points oat another privilege wliich ought to be surrendered by the Executive ^ The Home Office holds in its hands the appointment and removal of the Police Magistrates , as they are called , . but the so-caUed 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 .

      ' We have , " aays Mr . Arnold , " an extensive penal jurisdiction , quite independent of such , 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 after week in , confinement before we can decide whether or not the evidence will justify us in sending him for trial , " We have al * o a large and constantly

      increasing summary jurisdiction in criminal matters , wherein a sinyle Magistrate combines tho functions of both Jury and Judge . " \ Ye have also an extensive jurisdiction in civil mutters , in soino instances arising from Local Acts and exclusive in its nature , in others concurrent with that of tho County Courts , but which we are still constantly pressed to oxercisoj , especially by tho pooror classes , by reason of tho heavy foes oxexacted in those courts , " &c .

      Originally the Magistrates of the Police Oourt were paid by fees , and they acquired the sarcastic name of "" trading 1 justices . " In 1792 the " trading justices " were multi plied from one to seven , 13 ow-stroet being the oldest of our 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

      were transferred to two now Magistrates , called tho Commissioners of Police , and tho position of tho so-oallod Polioo Magistrate was materially altorod . Property qualification was discontinued ¦ tho qualification became so von years ' praotieo at the bar ; the connection with tho Executive ) was abolished , tho powers of the Magistrates wore enlarged , and subsequent statutes have , from time to time , referred to thorn important jurisdictions . Thoy have now

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      become 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 bis case to the Secretary of State that the latter shall think the Magistrate had taken an erroneous view of the law , and direct liim to repay the fine . Such an order would , I conceive , be very irregular and unconstitutional , and might perhaps be disregarded j hiit it would place the Magistrate in a very unpleasant situation .

      " Again , let me point out that nuclei * the Act recently passed for the suppression of the Smoke Nuisance in the Metropolis ,, it is required that all proceedings before the Magistrate should be initiated by the authority of one of the Secretaries of State , who is praeiio&lly the Home Secretary . Every case is , of course , first investigated by him , or in his office , before any proceedings are instituted , SO that he becomes 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 out * judicial institutions . "

      These cases might be easily multiplied , and they rest upon the fact that , in two instances , the Home Secretary hasexercised 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 motives of personal or party consideration . " Yes , he would , if he 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 .

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      peculiarly illustrative of the present regime in France . The existing French Empire professes to exist " by the 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 conlrl imagine- eight millions of the intelligent adult population of Franc * stirred \ y $ a common , impulse , and in the fulness of their independence as citizens of a free state , on a given day affirming their acceptance ot a form of Government , proposed to them

      bv a saviour of his 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 shafts of discarded statesmen andtheimpotent 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 he , —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 stem and dull compression , a Governm « iat 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 Tb . opjl . o : ng 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 ehoice , 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

      THE RIGHT OP ELECTION IN FRANCE . The Imperial Court of Cassation has decided that no electoral bulletins can he legally issued without the authority of the Prefect . In other words , thnt tho names of the Government candidates only can be presented to the choice of tho electors . " This decision , " the Assemble Nationule has said with perfect justice , " will mark an epoch in the judicial annals of Franco . " '" Nevertheless , " continues the Assemble Nationals , " tho decision throws a strong light upon our political situation , and iu this sense we record it without regret . " For thuae few words of reserved and cautious comment upon the recent decision of tho Court of Cassation , the AssernbMe Nationals has received a second olliciul " warning . " A second wavxiing exposes u journal to the risk of instant , and unconditional suppression . In the face of this warning , it becomes , usjj wo think , tho duty of an independent English journal to invite attention to a ease so

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      April 5 , 1856 . J THE LEADES . 337

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      * A letter to the Riifht Hon . Lord Panmure , « &c . dsa relating to tkv , tenure , of qfficc by the Magistrate * of the Metropolitan Police Courts . By Thos . Jainos Arnold , Esq ., ono of tho MafflstroteB . London : James ltxdgway , Piccadilly , 1850 .

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      Unjust Dismissal op a Rope-maker from Devonpoet dockyard . —A short time ago , Richard Beal , a ropernaker in the dockyard at Devonport , was discharged for a very trivial and unintentional offence . One night , his wife being very ill , Seal remained with her until late the following morning , wlen he was obliged to leave horn « 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 . In consequence of so unusual a course he 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 ) , but he was not aware that such a proceeding was against the rules . The woman went to the foreman , to ask permission ; but , not fiuding lum , 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 , to liia 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 , hu states that he had been a ropemaker in Devonport Dockyard nearly iwenty years , during which his charaotor had been unexceptionable ; that he had been froqiieutly recommended by his officers for promotiun ; and that ho had a sick -wife and several children to support . His harsh sentence lias therefore beeu revoked , nnd he ia now reinstated in Dovonporfc Dockyard in his former capacity ,

      St . Aijbajn ' s Abbey . —A mooting was held at the Town-hall , St . Albau's , on Wednesday , to consider the proprioty of restoring the grand old ubboy ohurob . The Earl of Vorulam was in tho ohnir , and the speakers included -the Rev . Dr . Nicholson , tho Marquis of Salisbury , Lord Robert Grosvenor , M . P Archduaoon Grnnt , Mr . C . W . Pull or , liord Robort Cocil , Dr . Robinson , and othox's . Resolutions wore carried , not merely for tho restoration of the abbey , but for tho creation of a now bishopric for Hertfordfihiro , with St . Alban ' H aH its centre , tho present diecuss being , ia tho opinion of tho mooting , too Irugo , whilo tho bishop ' s ynlaco ia nituatod sonio fifty milee from St . Alban ' H , mnd tho cathedral is in a remote part of Koub . Nearly £ 4 , 300 were subscribed in th « room towards tho closured objeots .

      Lamdktii Pauibu and tum Metropolitan L . ocai Man-aciemknx Act . —A nuntioronsi meeting of the rate payers of Loreibotli wan held at the vostryhall or Wodnonday evening , Mr . Churohwnrdon Stratton ii tho chair , to express an opinion upon tho bill brough in by tho Altorhoy-Qenora . 1 to explain certain oliwisoi of tho Metropolitan Local Management Act . Rosolu tiona condemnatory of themccunire wero carried , an < n . petition to Parliament was resolved on .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 5, 1856, page 327, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2135/page/15/