§ Mr. Gillon,in moving for leave to bring in a Bill to regulate the Landlords' Right of Hypothec, observed, that the law of Hypothec was familiar to hon. Members from Scotland, and also the case which had drawn the public attention particularly to that law, and to its inadequacy to the existing state of the country. The law had worked well in remote periods, when agriculture was comparatively in its infancy, but was found, in its present shape, unsuited to what he was happy to say was the greatly increased commerce and improved agriculture of that part of the kingdom. The effect of the law had undoubtedly been to create a confidence and mutual security between the landlord and tenant highly advantageous to the interests of both. Since the decision of the case, however, to which he had alluded, purchasers found themselves in a state of insecurity—an insecurity which must either continue, or the sales must be effected in a manner detrimental to the interests of all parties, and which would operate as an indirect tax on grain. The object, therefore, was, 189 to frame a law which, while it should maintain that wholesome confidence which had existed between the landlord and tenant, should afford to the purchasers of farm produce that reasonable security to which they were entitled. The Lord Chancellor, before whom the case had come to which he had alluded, had brought in, in another place, a bill to amend the law of Hypothec, but numerous petitions had been presented from almost every agricultural county in Scotland, representing that change as too sudden and sweeping. Lord Belhaven had subsequently introduced a bill on this subject, but, from the sudden dissolution of Parliament, that bill had dropped. He had in some points followed the bill of that noble Lord; in another he adopted a different course—he had substituted intimation in place of registration, as therein proposed. The reasons for this change, which he had adopted after anxious inquiry among the parties interested on both sides, were threefold. First, it appeared to him hard to force the tenant to go to market when he might dispose of his produce without leaving his farm. Secondly, that it opened a wide door for fraud to the tenant, by making the sales and registrations in a distant part of the country; and, thirdly, that, this register would be held merely as a catalogue of names of tenants whose credit was doubtful. He had been assured of the valuable advice and assistance of that noble Lord in promoting a wholesome modification of the law. His object was, that ample time should be afforded for the consideration of his proposition by every class of persons in Scotland who were to be affected by its operation. He had ventured, as a landholder of Scotland, and of course deeply interested in the security of that class, to propose a measure which he hoped would be found, at the same time, not incompatible with the interests of others.
§ Leave given, and Bill ordered to be brought in.