HL Deb 11 March 1847 vol 90 c1136
LORD BROUGHAM

then moved for a copy of the committal, and the examination upon which the committal was made, of four boys named Jones, Cook, Rogers and Langdon, who had been committed for trial by a magistrate in Middlesex for a felony. The felony consisted in having in a frolic taken a cap from the head of one of their comrades, a boy 10 years of age, and thrown it into a field; and the worthy magistrate, before whom the case was brought, thought he could not do better, in order to show how active he was in the discharge of his duty, than commit them for felony. They had been two or three weeks in prison when the case came on for trial, and the grand jury threw out the bill with indignation. He (Lord Brougham) would like to know the name of the magistrate; he was certainly unfit for his office if he was in the habit of exercising his discretion in such an injudicious manner as this.—Return ordered.