HL Deb 30 July 1832 vol 14 cc900-1
The Earl of Eldon

, wished to call the attention of his noble and learned friend on the Woolsack, to the Bills at present in progress through Parliament, for making essential changes in the law of real property, and to suggest to his noble and learned friend, who had sanctioned the introduction of them, whether it would not be expedient to refrain from proceeding any further with the Bills in the present Session. The Bills proposed to make most extensive and essential changes in the law. They were founded on the Reports of the Commissioners on the law of real property, but recollecting what these Reports were, and the great importance of the alterations, he thought that time ought to be given to consider the subject till the next Session; and his advice would be to every proprietor of land in Parliament, to take home with him an eminent lawyer and an able solicitor, in order to ascertain what was to become of his property under the provisions of these Bills, if they should pass into laws. There was no man possessed of real property who had not a deep interest in these Bills; and he could take upon him to say, from his own information and his own experience, that it was of the last importance to all landholders deeply to consider them, and he hoped his noble and learned friend would see the expediency of acceding to his proposition.

The Lord Chancellor

agreed with his noble and learned friend, that the subject of these Bills was one of great importance; and that what his noble and learned friend called the changes made by these Bills would be considerable. These changes, however, he considered as great improvements, and he hoped that by the time his noble and learned friend should have fully examined them, he also would be of opinion that they were great improvements. At the same time, looking to the great skill, the great learning, and the great experience of his noble and learned friend, he certainly did feel inclined to accede to his proposition, and hoped that, on fuller consideration, his noble and learned friend would come to the same conclusion as he had come to. The subject, no doubt, deserved the fullest consideration, and his noble and learned friend's saying that the Bills ought to be more fully considered, would with him be a sufficient reason for assenting to his proposition. There was one of the Bills—that relating to Fines and Recoveries—which he intended, at any rate, to have postponed, as an important alteration had been suggested, which it might be desirable to adopt. But as his noble and learned friend, of whose knowledge of the subject, and of whose experience he was fully aware, had suggested that the whole should stand over for fuller consideration, he would agree to drop the whole of the four Bills till the next Session.