Lord Hewart and the Cabinet The House of Lords' debate
on Lord Hewart's attack on the Bill for the creation of two new judges and the appointment of a vice-president of the Court of Appeal ended as satisfactorily as it well could have; but that does not dispel the conviction that the debate should never have been necessary. What is obvious is that normal personal contacts, or contacts of normal cordiality, between the heads of the legal system of this country were lacking, and consequently misunderstandings which five minutes' private conversation would have obviated were made the subject of a by no means edifying debate in the House of Lords. When Lord Hewart complained with some justice that a Royal Commission on legal delays had been appointed, and a Bill increasing the number of judges drafted, without any consultation with him, Lord Sankey rejoied that the Lord Chief Justice had not of late shown himself so ready to co-operate in these matters as to suggest that a request for his co-operation would be welcomed ; and that indication that per- sonalities have played not much less part in this con- troversy than principles was strengthened by Lord Hewart's interjection while Lord Hailsham was speaking : " If you had been treated as I have been treated during the last three years—."
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