Lord Dynevorpresented a Petition from certain Freeholders, and other inhabitants of the County of Carmarthen, against the proposed alteration of the Welsh Judicature.
§ Lord Cawdorsaid, he would take that opportunity of alluding to a subject which concerned himself personally. Since his arrival in London, he had seen some observations in the last number of a Review, of considerable circulation, with reference to a statement contained in a letter which he had written to the noble Lord on the Woolsack. The noble Lord then proceeded to explain the circumstance to which he alluded, but in so low a tone that he could with difficulty be heard. As far as we could collect, the matter stood thus:—He had written to the Lord Chancellor to inform him that no money had been paid into the hands of the Accountant General of the Exchequer, under the provisions of an Act which had been passed for the purpose of improving the Courts of Judicature of Wales. His ground for making that statement was, that he had moved for a Return of the money which had been paid under those circumstances, and the Return, when presented, was nil. It appeared, that since the Return was made, one solitary sum had been paid into the Accountant-General's office. The Reviewer having knowledge of that fact, had accused him of being incorrect and uncandid, and remarked, 'this is a specimen of the fairness and accuracy of Lord Cawdor.' He trusted that the explanation which he had offered would satisfy their 925 Lordships that he had neglected no means within his power to obtain correct, information. The mistake arose from the Return not being correct.
§ The Earl of Eldonsaid, that no person who was acquainted with the noble Lord's fairness and integrity upon all occasions could for a moment suppose that he had entertained any wish to deceive. His object in rising was to call the attention of their Lordships seriously to what were called the Improvements of the Welsh Judicature. He was the rather induced to do so, because he had had very great experience with respect to the administration of justice in this country. He believed, then, that it would be a very great grievance to the inhabitants of Wales to take away from them their Equity Courts. He would mention some facts which would make their Lordships understand how he came to entertain that opinion. The inhabitants of Wales had, if they chose to avail themselves of it, the opportunity of coming to the Court of Chancery of England and instituting their suits there. It would, he believed, be found on examination, that during the twenty-five years in which he had had the honour to hold the Great Seal, the inhabitants of Wales had not thought it expedient to apply very frequently to the English Court of Chancery. They also had the opportunity of appealing to their Lordships if they thought the decisions of their own Courts wrong; and he thought it would be expedient to have an Account laid before their Lordships of the number of Appeals which had proceeded from the Welsh Courts of Equity. How many Appeals did their Lordships suppose there had been in the course of twenty-five years? He spoke from memory which, perhaps, was not so good as it had been some years since, but he recollected only one appeal during that time, and on that occasion the judgment of the Court below was affirmed. As temporary Chancellor for the county of Durham for a short period, he had obtained some experience on the matter, and he was persuaded, that to destroy the Equity Courts of Wales, and of the counties of Chester and Durham, would be productive of great mischief.