§ MR. CLANCY (Dublin Co., N.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether, in the case of the appointment of two brothers as Justices of the Peace in Ireland, the later appointed is required to give an undertaking that he will not perform any Magisterial functions at the same time, in the same Court, with the earlier appointed; whether Warren St. Leger Woods, Justice of the Peace for the County of Dublin, was required to give such an undertaking on his appointment about five years ago; if so, whether Warren St. Leger Woods has, nevertheless, violated that undertaking by habitually sitting with his brother, James Hamilton Woods, at the Balbriggan Road Sessions; and, if he has done so, whether the Government propose to 1112 take any, and what, notice of his conduct?
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Colonel KING-HARMAN) (Kent, Isle of Thanet)(who replied) said: The extent of the undertaking referred to appears to be discretionary with the Lord Chancellor for the time being. The undertaking given by the gentleman named was confined to Potty Sessions. He was not required to give any with respect to Road Sessions.
§ MR. CLANCYasked, was he to understand that the Lord Chancellor or the Lord Lieutenant required such an undertaking from some magistrates and not from others?
§ COLONEL KING-HARMANsaid, that was not what he intended to convey. The Lord Lieutenant had nothing to do with the matter. It entirely rested with the Lord Chancellor to require an undertaking from members of the same family or gentlemen living in the same house, or landlords and their agents appointed as magistrates for the same district, not to sit on the same Bench; but that applied only to Potty Sessions, and not to Road Sessions.
§ MR. CLANCYasked, was it the practice of Lord Chancellors in Ireland to get such an undertaking from some magistrates and not from others; and also, whether this Warren St. Leger Woods had also sat at Petty Sessions with his brother?
§ COLONEL KING-HARMANsaid, he understood that Mr. Woods had not sat at Petty Sessions in connection with his brother. He believed that, as a rule, the Lord Chancellor required an undertaking that gentlemen such as he had mentioned should not sit together at Petty Sessions.
§ MR. CLANCYasked, was the right hon. and gallant Member aware this was an important matter connected with the administration of justice in Ireland —that several years ago Lord Naas, then Chief Secretary for Ireland, issued a Minute that no magistrate should sit on the Bench with his brother?
§ COLONEL KING-HARMANreplied, he was not aware that any Chief Secretary had issued a Minute controlling the Lord Chancellor in the matter.
§ [No reply.]