LORD CAMPBELLgave notice of his intention to ask his noble and gallant Friend the Commander in Chief a question relative to the order issued from the Horse Guards, forbidding the presence of soldiers in courts of law or in the streets of assize towns during the holding of assizes. He by no means complained of his noble and gallant Friend, who, in issuing the order, had only followed a precedent which had been long established. It was formerly supposed that the Judges might be overawed at the sight of red coats in their courts, and orders had consequently been issued forbidding them to appear, not only in the courts, but in the streets, during the holding of the assizes. He had at different times received applications from various commanding officers to allow their men to appear in the streets at such times, and not only had he on all occasions cordially granted the application, but had invited their presence in the Courts, and he had had the satisfaction of finding a considerable number of them among the spectators. At Shrewsbury, the commanding officer who made the application, pointed out the great inconvenience which would arise from the confinement of the men who were at the time billeted in the different public-houses of the city, and who would have been obliged, had the order been stringently enforced, to remain in their bedrooms during the whole of the assizes. Their Lordships were aware that there was a law which required troops to be removed a distance of two or three miles from any town during a Parliamentary election, but no law existed requiring their removal during the holding of the 1553 assizes, nor did he see that any danger was to be apprehended either to the independence of the Judge or the due administration of justice by allowing the presence of the militia or troops of the line in the courts or in the streets of assize towns during the progress of the trials. He should, therefore, ask his noble and gallant Friend whether there was any necessity for issuing the order in question, and, if not, whether the practice would be discontinued?
THE LORD CHANCELLORwas extremely glad that his noble and learned Friend was about to put the question, for he had himself been struck, while a common-law Judge, with the absurdity of the regulation. The only exception to the rule that he recollected was at Chester, where the Judges lodged at the Castle, which, in point of fact, was the barracks, and the soldiers who remained there and who attended the court in considerable numbers were among the most orderly and attentive of the spectators.
LORD CAMPBELLobserved that, so far from there being any variance between the Judges and the soldiery, there really was an alliance between them, for some of his predecessors, Chief Justices of England, had commanded armies.
§ House adjourned to Monday next.