THE EARL OF ONSLOWasked Her Majesty's Government, Whether it is intended always to limit the duration of the Surrey Assizes to six days; and, why the county of Surrey should be the only one exempted from the statutory rule which allows suitors to name the county or place in which they propose that their actions shall be tried?
THE LORD CHANCELLORsaid, he could assure the noble Earl that Surrey was not excepted from the statutory rules referred to. Every suitor had a perfect right to name any county where his action might be tried; but, on the other hand, there was another right on the part of the Judge. If he found an action set down for trial in a county which had no connection with the case, he had power to send it back to the county to which it really belonged. This was obviously a very desirable power— parties might, for instance, be so ill-advised as to set down an action which belonged to Northumberland for hearing in Cornwall—it would, indeed, be an evil if the Judge had not power to send it to the county where it could properly be tried. What had been done with regard to Surrey was this—Before the Judicature Act passed and the present arrangements for continuous sittings in London and Middlesex were made, the practice was that all sittings in London or in Middlesex for the trial of jury cases came to an end towards the end of June, when the learned Judges went upon Circuit. From the time the Judges went on Circuit about the end of June until the following November there were no means of trying cases in London or Middlesex. The result of that was that where there was any case pressing for trial the plaintiff set it down for trial at Guildford or Croydon, or any other place near London, rather than have it thrown over till November. But one of the great objections to that practice was that in Croydon or Guildford 100, 200, or 300 cases, perhaps, were set down for trial that had nothing whatever to do with the county of Surrey, and which would have been tried in London if 257 there had been the means of trying them in London. That practice involved great expense in the sending down of witnesses. As a remedy, it was suggested that, Surrey being so very near London, the Surrey Assizes might be dispensed with altogether, and the Surrey cases and the Surrey prisoners be brought to London for the purpose of trial. The county of Surrey objected very much to that; and in consequence of that objection it was arranged that two of the learned Judges who were left for the continuous sittings in London and Middlesex should go down to Surrey and continue the Surrey Assizes for the purpose of trying the Surrey cases. That arrangement worked very well for some time. What had happened lately was this. There was a very considerable number of cases to be tried in London and Middlesex, and it occurred to some solicitors in London that they might get a trial of them by abstaining from putting them down for trial in the regular list and putting them down for trial in Surrey. The consequence was that very suddenly a considerable number of cases were put down for trial at Guildford or Croydon, which had no connection whatever with the county of Surrey. Of course, to the Lord Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Grove, the learned Judges who were to hold the Surrey Assizes, it was a matter of indifference whether they sat in London or at Croydon; but it was a serious matter that, by moving it to Croydon, London business should be taken out of its proper turn. The learned Judges had, therefore, announced that they would allow an adequate number of days for the disposal of the business connected with the County, and that they would hold themselves free as to the remainder of the cases.