§ Lord John Russellsaid, that he had intended to move the further consideration of the report on this Bill to-night, in order to introduce some amendments, which he was about to propose to the House; but not being so entirely prepared to do so as he could have wished, he thought it better at once to postpone the further proceeding 678 with the Bill until Monday. At the same time, however, he wished to state the conclusion to which he had come on a proposition which had been made from, the other side of the House, on the subject of the appointment of Revising Barristers. The mode proposed by the Bill—that of vesting the appointment of these officers in the Crown—had been much objected to; and it had been suggested to him to propose some other method. With that view he had considered the question, and it seemed to him that it might be possible to concede to the proposition which had been made, by naming one chief and a certain number of other Revising Barristers in the present Bill, and vesting the appointment of them hereafter in the Lord Chancellor. The number of Revising Barristers at first proposed had been eight, but he now proposed that there should be eleven, including the chief, inasmuch as it had been considered that eight would not be sufficient for the performance of the duties, and that the public business might be therefore impeded, to the serious loss of bodies of constituents. With respect to the Chief Revising Barrister, he would propose the right hon. Sir Thos. Erskine, Chief Judge of the Court of Review, for that office; and notwithstanding the great difficulty there was in finding individuals sufficiently qualified who would be ready to leave their professional practice and prospects for the situation, he did hope that on Monday he would be enabled to propose the individuals to fill the other ten situations. The House would, however, be able to consider whether the general proposition he now made would be calculated to remove the objections which had been raised to the plan proposed by the Bill.
§ Lord Granville Somerset, having before expressed a strong opinion against the appointment of the revising barrister by the Secretary of State, felt bound now to express his concurrence in the mode of appointment proposed by the noble Lord. He still thought, however, that the number of barristers named by the noble Lord would be quite inadequate to the discharge of the very heavy duties which would be imposed on them. He felt quite sure that if the noble Lord would look at the mass of business which had been done by the revising barristers on former occasions he would see the necessity of enlarg- 679 ing his plan as far as regarded the number of barristers to be appointed.
§ Mr. W. Praedsaid, that, although he might not entirely agree in the plan of the noble Lord, yet, as the point had been conceded, he did not wish to offer any unnecessary opposition. He hoped that the appointments to the ten revising-barristerships would be as satisfactory as that which had been mentioned for the chief. Further consideration of the Report postponed.