§ MR. JOHN REDMOND (Waterford)I beg to ask Mr. Attorney General for Ireland whether his attention has been called to the provisions in the great Charter of Charles I. to the City of Water-ford, whereby it is secured to the mayor, sheriffs, and citizens of the county of the I city, for the time being, that no other! may he assigned to inquire into, hear, and determine, or to deliver the goal, or to discuss or order any other thing within the said city, except one or more justices of the fine bench or the other, or the Master of the Rolls, or one or more Barons of the Exchequer of the Kingdom of Ireland, and that any such commissions, writs, precepts, or mandates made otherwise or to other' persons shall be void and of no effect; and whether, under these 1597 circumstances, he will give directions that the mayor of the city be, in future included in the Commissions of Assize.
§ MR. ATKINSONMy attention hat been called to the Charter referred to, the passage from which is set out in the question with substantial accuracy. In the year 1887 the then Law Officers of the Crown in Ireland expressed the opinion that the privileges conferred by the Charter on the Mayor of Waterford were taken away by the thirty-second section of the Judicature (Ireland) Act, 1877, leaving the Crown free to omit the name of the mayor from the Commission of Assize. I concur in that opinion. The reply to the second part of the question is therefore in the negative.
§ MR. HEMPHILL (Tyrone, N.)Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that Lord Crewe, when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, had the Mayor of Waterford reinstated in the Commission?
§ MR. ATKINSONI do not see how that in any way arises out of the question on the Paper.