HC Deb 17 March 1859 vol 153 cc298-9
MR. HADFIELD

, in moving an Address to the Crown for a Commission to Inquire into the Civil Laws of Jersey, said that a Commission had been appointed in 1846 to inquire into the criminal laws of the island, and an intimation had been given that a Commission would also be appointed to inquire into the civil laws, but the recommendations of that Commission had never been carried out, nor had the second Commission been appointed. Having received various petitions on the subject, he had put himself into communication with the Home Office, and he was happy to state that the Government had agreed to grant this Commission.

MR. WALPOLE

said, as this was a matter which had been brought under his notice in the course of last year, he hoped his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State would forgive him if he ventured to suggest the course which he thought the Government would do well to adopt in relation to it. The civil laws of Jersey were in a state that was anything but satisfactory, and the mode of procedure before the legal tribunals there had caused great discontent. If this Motion were to be acceded to be thought that there were other matters relating to prisons which might be inquired into at the same time. There was a Commission appointed to inquire into the criminal law of Jersey which had made a valuable Report. Some of their recommendations were acted upon and others not. Soon after that Commission had made its Report an intimation was made on the part of the right hon. Baronet the Member for Morpeth (Sir George Grey), then Home Secretary, that it would be advisable to issue a Commission to inquire into the civil laws. If it should be the desire of the Crown, to agree to this Motion he believed that it would produce a good effect, and would tend to the improvement of those laws. There were other matters mixed up in this inquiry which, at his request, the hon. Member for Sheffield had omitted. He must say he saw no objection to it in its present form. On the contrary, he thought very material advantages would arise from it. He should, therefore, strongly press his right hon. Friend to acquiesce in the Motion.

MR. SOTHERON ESTCOURT

said, that since he had been in office he had felt it to be his duty to look into the question referred to in the Motion, and had found from some correspondence he had had with persons living in the island that great confusion existed in the administration of the civil law in Jersey. He would not, therefore, oppose the Motion. With regard to the other matters in it he did not know much, but he was willing to abide by the view taken of it by the right hon. and learned Member for Cambridge.

Motion agreed to.

Address to Her Majesty— That She will be graciously pleased to issue a Royal Commission for the following purposes, namely—

  1. "1. To inquire into and report on the Civil, Municipal, and Ecclesiastical Laws and Customs now in force in Jersey, including the Laws relating to the tenure of land, trusts and uses, and also the rights of the Feudal Lords in the said island:
  2. "2. To inquire into and report on the constitution of the tribunals by which those Laws, customs, and rights are administered, and into the practice and forms of procedure used by them respectively:
  3. "3. To inquire into and report on all defects in and abuses of the said laws and customs in the constitution of said tribunals, and in their practice and form of procedure, and to suggest remedies for amending the same:
  4. "4. To inquire into the present state of Prisons in Jersey, and the mode of classifying Prisoners:
  5. "5. To inquire into and report on the administration of the several public Charities of the said island."