§ LORD CHELMSFORDpresented a petition from the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of Carlisle complaining of the difficulties entailed by the unsatisfactory state of the law affecting the commencement of legal proceedings, where the subject matter of dispute lay partly in England and partly in Scotland. The inconveniences were particularly felt in all questions connected with the railway companies the lines of which extended into both countries. The petition prayed that a law should be passed rendering valid legal service in either kingdom.
THE LORD CHANCELLORsaid, the rule of international law was that the plaintiff should follow the defendant into the jurisdiction where the cause of action arose. That had been so far altered with respect to Scotland and Ireland, that in cases of real estate the plaintiff could bring the defendant within the jurisdiction he lived in, and also with regard to cases respecting stocks in the public funds. The question was a difficult one, owing to the difference between the two legal systems and the jealousy of the Courts as to any encroachments upon their respective jurisdictions; but it was of so much importance that if his noble and learned Friend would give his assistance, he (the Lord Chancellor) would not despair of finding some remedy.
§ House adjourned at half past Five o'clock, till to-morrow, half past Ten o'clock.