§ LORD CHELMSFORDpresented Bill to amend the Settled Estates Act, 1856. The noble and learned Lord stated that by the 21st section of that Act, it was provided that no leases of a settled estate should be authorized by the Court of Chancery in cases in which application had been made to Parliament for a private Bill to effect the same or a similar object, and such application had been refuted on the merits. The principal object of this amending Bill was to meet the case of Sir Thomas Wilson, 1323 which had been frequently under the notice of Parliament. Sir Thomas Wilson had made several applications to Parliament for such powers, and his Bills had once or twice received the sanction of one of the Houses of Parliament, and been favourably reported upon by the Judges. As they had all ultimately been rejected, however, he was precluded by the section to which he had referred from taking advantage of the Leases and Sales of Settled Estates Act. What he proposed to do by this Bill was, to provide that an application to Parliament should not be deemed to have been rejected on its merits or reported against by the Judges, if any other application for power to effect the same or a similar object should have passed either House of Parliament, or should have been approved by the Judges to whom such Bill might have been referred. On the second reading he would refer to the circumstances of Sir Thomas Wilson's case, in order to satisfy their Lordships that they ought to assent to this alteration of the law.
§ Bill read 1a [No. 150].