CAPTAIN JERVISsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been drawn to a late decision of the Court of Queen's Bench, in which it was laid down that a Borough having a separate Commission of the. Peace, but not having a separate Court of Quarter Sessions, does not come within the meaning of the words "town corporate," in the Act 9 Geo. IV. c. 61, s. 1, in consequence of which decision it appears that all licences which have been granted by the justices of boroughs included in that description are rendered invalid; and whether he will introduce a Clause into the Municipal Corporations Act Amendment Bill to rectify this defect in the existing Law?
SIR GEORGE LEWISsaid, the practice with regard to licences in boroughs not having a Court of Quarter Sessions had been governed by a decision of the Common Pleas, according to which the Borough Magistrates had the power of granting those licences. In consequence of the recent decision in the Court of Queen's Bench the construction of the law must now be admitted to be different from what it had heretofore been assumed to be, and, as inconvenience might arise, a remedy was required. He should, therefore, ask the House to discharge the Order of the Municipal Corporations Act Amendment Bill, which stood on the paper for that night, and ask leave to bring in a Bill under the same title, in which a Clause would be inserted to meet the case.