SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE BILL. (Hansard, 31 July 1873)

§ LORD CAIRNS
said, he was sorry to find that he had been misunderstood in the reference he made the other evening to the appointment of Mr. Mountague Bernard to the Privy Council. He was made to insinuate that Mr. Bernard was appointed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council with the object of influencing the decision in the Bennett ease. He had never contemplated any such insinuation. What he did say was that a feeling existed out-of-doors that a Court might be constituted for particular cases, but that he knew that every effort was made to secure the best tribunal in every case.

§ THE MARQUESS OF RIPON
was glad that the noble and learned Lord had taken the earliest opportunity of removing a misapprehension which his remarks should not have occasioned, and which if allowed to continue might have produced evil consequences. For himself, he had not at all misapprehended the noble and learned Lord. He (the Marquess of Ripon) knew that the greatest possible care was always taken to have the best men sitting on the Judicial Committee. Mr. Bernard was summoned on quite different grounds from those suggested. Knowing the importance of the Bennett case, he (the Lord President) took the unusual course of inviting the attendance of every legal Member of' the Judicial Committee whom age or infirmity had not incapacitated.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR
was also glad that the subject was introduced. He had enjoyed the friendship of Mr. Bernard for a great many years, and he knew that although the right hon. Gentleman had never the opportunity of enjoying considerable practice, yet he was not entirely without that kind of experience. In point of general ability and attainment, no man could possibly stand higher, and there were some branches of jurisprudence in which he had few equals and no superior, which might make his presence upon the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council 1308 not seldom eminently useful. With respect to the particular appeal, to which reference had been made, he had received a letter from Mr. Bernard; who stated that he had never been in the habit of speaking or writing on theological subjects; and that with respect to the particular questions involved in Mr. Bennett's case, he had never, to his knowledge, expressed any opinion before that appeal was heard.