§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Bill be now read a second time."—(Mr. Attorney General.)
§ MR. BRADLAUGH (Northampton)said, he did not wish to delay the Bill; but he desired to point out that Lay Lords, besides the Law Lords, could exercise—as one Lay Lord had recently exercised—the right to sit as Judges in the Court of Appeal. He did not propose that the point should be dealt with now; but he thought the Appellate Court should be specifically confined to the Law Lords, and that Lay Lords should not be able to give judgments. In the case of "Clark v. Bradlaugh," Lord Denman sat and delivered a judgment which the rest of the House was obliged to disregard, and that gave rise to scandal at the time.
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir RICHARD WEBSTER) (Isle of Wight)said, he hoped the hon. Member would not attach any importance to the fact that a layman sat on a particular occasion. With that exception, so far as he was aware, there had been no case in modern times in which other than Law Lords had taken any effective part in 211 judgments delivered in the House of Lords, or in the consideration thereof.
§ MR. CONYBEARE (Cornwall, Camborne)said, he remembered the case cited by the hon. Member, and it created a great scandal.
§ Question put, and agreed to.
§ Bill read a second time, and committed for Monday next.