§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading, read.
THE LORD CHANCELLOR, in moving that the Bill be now read the second time, said, that the object of the measure was to remove the disqualification which the statute of 5 Geo. II., c. 18, imposed on attorneys, solicitors, and proctors to become justices of the peace for counties; with the proviso that they should not be capable of being appointed for the counties in which they carried on business. The Act repealed was intended, as stated in its Preamble, "to prevent persons of mean estate" occupying a seat on the bench of justices; but since it was passed, in the time of George II., circumstances had wholly changed, and nothing now need prevent the appointment of a class of men who were in many respects eminently qualified for the duties of the office.
§ LORD CHELMSFORDexpressed his high approbation of the Bill.
§ Motion agreed to; Bill read 2a accordingly, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Monday next.