§ MR. WARRENsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the advisers of the Crown, in recommending a commutation of the sentence of death lately passed on Celestina Somner, at the Central Criminal Court, for the murder of her child, had obtained the Report and taken the opinion of the Judge by whom she had been tried; and, if so, whether there was any objection to laying them before the House?
§ SIR GEORGE GREYsaid, the Secretary of State was solely responsible for the advice given to Her Majesty on these matters, and it would be contrary to all precedent, unless very sufficient grounds could be shown to the contrary, that the opinions of Judges, confidentially communicated to the Secretary of State, should be laid before Parliament. No doubt it was usual, when petitions were presented stating facts which had not appeared on the trial, to refer those petitions to the Judge who tried the case. That course was taken in the present instance, but he did not feel himself justified in laying the opinion of the Judge before Parliament.