§ SIR THOMAS GROVE (Wilts, Wilton)asked the First Lord of the Treasury, If it is true that the Lord Chancellor has recently refused to place on the Commission of the Peace for the County of Wilts certain owners of land resident near Hungerford, in the County of Berks, on the ground that, not being resident in Wiltshire, they were ineligible; if it is true that this refusal is based on two Acts of King Henry V.; and, if he is aware that many magistrates may be in consequence disqualified from acting in 1329 counties in which they are now doing their duty as Justices of the Peace?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Mr. W. H. SMITH) (Strand, Westminster)It is true that the Lord Chancellor has refused to place on the Commission of the Peace for the County of Wilts certain owners of land resident near Hunger-ford, and his refusal is based on the Acts quoted. But though the Lord Chancellor considers that those Acts are directory to him in the exercise of his discretion, he does not consider that they affect the jurisdiction of a magistrate when once placed on the Commission of the Peace.