§ MR. WATKIN WILLIAMSasked Mr. Attorney General, Whether the new Judge of the High Court of Justice, to be appointed under the Bill of the present Session, will be under an obligation to go Circuit; if so, whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government that the new Judge shall take his regular turn with the rest of Her Majesty's Judges in going Circuit upon all the Assizes; and, if not, whether such Judge will be entitled to receive the same salary as those Judges who will have to bear the expenses of the Circuits for the Spring and Summer Assizes, and whether such expenses are correctly estimated at about £500 per annum for each Judge?
THE ATTORNEY GENERALSection 37 of the Judicature Act of 1873 provides that Circuit business shall be done by the Judges of the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer Divisions; but that it shall be lawful for Her Majesty to include in any Commission of Assize if she think fit any Judge of the Chancery Division appointed after that Act. The Government propose no change in this law, and the new Judge, who is to be attached to the Chancery Division, will be appointed on this footing. Whether Judges of the Chancery Division will at any time be, under this power, included by the Crown in Commissions of Assizes is a matter which must depend upon the state and exigencies of business in the various Courts, and no answer can be given beforehand. The salary of the new Judge will be £5,000 a-year.