§ MR. STUART WORTLEYsaid, he had a question to ask the noble Lord the Member for the City of London with regard to the administration of justice in this country. The House would remember that at an early part of the Session a witness was committed to the custody of the Sergeant at Arms for refusing to take an oath before one of the Committees of that House; and upon that occasion he took the opportunity of calling attention to the anomalous state of the law upon the subject, reminding the House that by the present state of the law Quakers, Moravians, Separatists, or persons who had been members of those creeds, were exempted from taking the oaths, and allowed to give evidence upon affirmation; but that other persons, although they might entertain conscientious objections on the subject, were not allowed to substitute an affirmation for an oath. He had then suggested that power should be given to the tribunals of this country to allow an affirmation to be substituted for an oath where it appeared to them that the refusal to take the oath proceeded from conscientious motives. Since that time the Common Law Commissioners had in their second Report recommended that very measure, together with several other important changes in procedure. There had been also last night, as he saw by the public papers, 384 an interesting conversation upon the subject in another place, when two of the highest legal authorities in the country gave their sanction to this proceeding, and he feared that this would give rise to more frequent refusals to take the oath than had been hitherto met with. He understood it was the intention of the Government to bring in a Bill to carry out all the propositions of the Common Law Commissioners; but among those propositions were some which would doubtless lead to considerable discussion, whereas this simple change of the law with regard to oaths would not, he believed, meet with opposition from any quarter. He begged, therefore, to ask whether the Government would take into consideration the propriety of introducing a Bill immediately for the purpose of making this change separately, without waiting for the adoption of the other recommendations of the Common Law Commissioners?
§ LORD JOHN RUSSELLsaid, that he could not, on the instant, state what course the Government would pursue on this question; but the suggestion of the right hon. and learned Gentleman (Mr. S. Wortley) should receive their consideration.
§ Motion agreed to.
§ House at its rising to adjourn till Monday next.