Lords Sitting of 1 June 1820

SMALL DEBTS RECOVERY BILL.
Lord Redesdalerose to introduce a bill for the recovery of small debts. In the last parliament a great number of petitions had been presented on this subject, and it was generally expected that some measure would be founded upon them. This expectation, he thought, ought to be realized as soon as possible. A good many years ago it had occurred to him to introduce a bill for the purpose of facilitating the recovery of small debts; but, from certain circumstances, no progress was then made in the measure. In framing the bill he was about to submit to their lordships, he had considered it advantageous that the persons performing the duties of judges and juries should not be confounded; that the juries should be of a limited number; and that the process of recovery should be plain and simple, and accompanied with as little expense as possible. The sum recoverable at present in the county courts did not exceed 40 s., and this he proposed to extend considerably. The judge might be appointed in the same way as the clerk of the county court, and approved by the chancellor, or two of the judges in Westminster-hall. But what struck him as most important was, that the duties of the judge and jurors should be completely separated, and that there should be no opportunity for the persons being at the same time suitors, judges, and jurors. The principle on which he wished to constitute the courts was, therefore, different from that

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of the Middlesex county court. After a I good deal of consideration, he had new-modelled the bill he formerly brought in, and the qualifications he now proposed for the jurymen was, that they should be I freeholders of 5l. a-year, copyholders of 10 l., or copyholders and freeholders together of 10 l.; or, if their lordships thought fit, also leaseholders renting to the amount of 50 l. a-year, who were frequently more respectable persons than freeholders or copyholders of small amount. With respect to the number of jurors, he would propose that four should be a quorum. The difference of counties in extent and population would render it difficult to make at first all the provisions in the bill which might be thought necessary, and much might properly be left respecting the periods and places for the sittings of the court to the local authorities. He proposed to extend the jurisdiction of the county courts to the recovery of 10 l., and to limit the proceedings and reduce the fees as low as possible. He had selected the previsions he had introduced from different acts of parliament, and particularly from that for regulating the county-court for Middlesex. In offering the bill, he rather wished to throw it on the table for their lordships consideration, than with any desire that it should be at present passed into a law, so far as that House was capable of passing it. But, in the mean time, it might have the effect of calling the attention of their lordships and the country to the establishment of courts for the recovery of small debts in every part of the kingdom, and to the means of assimilating these courts as much as possible to the courts in Westminster-hall, particularly with regard to the keeping separate the functions of judges and juries. On these grounds he would now move the first reading of a bill for the more convenient recovery of small debts in England and Wales. If their lordships agreed to this motion, he should then move the printing of the bill, and there he would rest the proceeding for the present. Their lordships would have time to consider the provisions, and to form an opinion as to how far it was practicable to accomplish the purpose of the bill, by establishing courts in the different counties of the kingdom. The number of the jury being reduced to four, and copyholders and leaseholders being qualified as well as. freeholders, would render the burthen of attendance on the
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courts very light. By giving the justices at the quarter-sessions the power of appointing the time and place for the sitting of the court, the difficulty which might arise in consequence of jurymen being called from distant parts of the country would be obviated.
The bill was read a first time.