§ The EARL of ABERDEENsaid, he had 1562 a question to put to the noble Marquess opposite (the Marquess of Lansdowne), connected with the appellate jurisdiction of that House; and he did so at the request of a noble and learned Friend, who was unfortunately now unavoidably absent, and whose opinion on this subject appeared to have been misunderstood. He (the Earl of Aberdeen) understood that there had been communications going on between Her Majesty's Government and the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland, with respect to the propriety of obtaining the assistance of a Scotch assessor in the hearing of appeal cases from that country. Now, his noble and learned Friend had been represented as expressing his approbation of that proposal, whereas all those who had heard the speech of his noble and learned Friend were aware that his opinions were directly the reverse of that. His noble and learned Friend had said, that this question had often been considered by Lord Eldon and his successors, and that they had invariably come to the conclusion that the proposal was impracticable. His noble and learned Friend was anxious to have this mistake corrected; and he (the Earl of Aberdeen) wished to know from the noble Marquess whether such communications as he had referred to had taken place, and whether the Government had arrived at any decision on the subject?
§ The MARQUESS of LANSDOWNE(who was very indistinctly heard) was understood to reply that some correspondence of the nature stated by the noble Earl had taken place; but the Government had come to no determination on the matter.