§ Mr. RENDALLasked the Prime Minister whether his attention has been directed to the fact that on 14th February, on the hearing of the case of Smith v. the Lion Brewery Company, the House of Lords was constituted of four Law Lords, and their Lordships being equally divided in opinion, the decision of the lower court stood, and the parties to the case were thus put to useless expense; and whether he will consider the desirability of legislation requiring the House of Lords to be constituted of an uneven number of judges, so as to avoid the waste of the time of the judges and the money of the public?
§ The PRIME MINISTERI am informed by the Lord Chancellor that the effect of the equal division of opinion in the House of Lords in the case of Smith v. the Lion Brewery Company was that the decision of the Court of Appeal stood affirmed. Accordingly the parties were not put to any useless expense, for the decision was 367 effective. It is a very rare occurrence, for the House of Lords to be evenly divided in opinion, though it has occasionally occurred there as well as in other courts, and it is not thought necessary to take any legislative step.