24 NOVEMBER 1860, Page 10

LAW AMENDMENT.

TICE meagre results of the last session of Parliament have only contributed to stir up the friends of Law Amendment to early exertion. The necessity of reform is now so apparent, as well to the commercial as the legal community, that we may fairly anti- cipate some real work from the coming session. But the altera- tions required by the progress of society, and the development of our commerce, will not be effected, unless very considerable deter- mination is manifested out of doors. Hitherto the work of amend- ment has been left to a few earnest thinkers and workers, disin- terestedly sacrificing their time and convenience for the benefit of their fellow subjects. At the head of these stands Lord Broug- ham, who, in a ripe old age, brings the energy of youth and no little of its enthusiasm to the task. With him stands associated the members of the Law Amendment Society, of which he is the president—a body of men who have done more than any other given number of men to expound the absurdities of our present system, and indicate out of their own experience the changes required for the future. The last session is evidence, were evidence necessary, of the value of an associated body of men able and willing to deal with a task in its nature repulsive to those who can do no more than desire reform. The Law Amendment Society does not despond ; on the contrary, it culls from the re- cords of the Parliament of 1860 many little items of progress, of which the unlearned world are ignorant. But the law reform- ers do more in their report read to the Society on Monday ; they issue a programme of amendments, and propose to devote the energies of the members in the present session to the promotion of certain measures, all of them capable of being appreciated by un- professional minds, and absolutely essential to the administration of justice. These subjects are soon stated. Two go to the interests of the commercial world, and two more touch the interests of all. " Bank- ruptcy" and Winding-up" have become terms associated in our minds with delay, uncertainty, and—costs. A longer delay in the settlement of the law of bankruptcy would tend to the demo- ralization of commerce ; for it is beginning to be difficult to draw the line between fraud at common law punishable as an offence, and the species of fraud which is covered by credit and discharged. by a civil procedure. One of the most valuable suggestions in the late bill of the Attorney-General was an attempt to remit a fraudulent bankrupt back to his position, and expose him to the investigation of criminal courts. It is no longer necessary for a. man, possessed of a certain amount of education and cunning,.to resort to the vulgar modes of felony ; it is only required of him that he shall appear to the world as a trader to reap all the ad- vantages of fraud. Credit enables a man to cover the most fraudulent designs with an apparent truthfulness of purpose, and to leave a court of bankruptcy, with a certificate which discharges him from all the obligations he has incurred, with no other than a merely civil penance. The truth is, we have con- fused ourselves in attempts to meet fraud at every point ; we have armed creditors with the power to subject all men alike to the same inconvenience of imprisonment as debtors, so that he who should be called a felon is shielded. by association with the

unfortunate; and the honest, but unfortunate man, is confounded with the scoundrel. Hence has arisen confusion of jurisdiction, until it is difficult for a man to say under what law he will be dealt with as a debtor, or whether he may have, as a creditor, to deal with his debtor. The last bill of Sir Richard Bethel was a masterpiece of legislative effort, but it possessed the fault of being too comprehensive, for had it been confined to clauses which set out the new principles he intended to introduce, it might have been acceptable to the House of Commons. That it was dealt with most unfairly, we believe; otherwise, the clausse which produced the opposition, which were announced in March, would not have been left for critical animadversion until July.

Equally important is the subject of bankruptcy of Companies, for our immense trade has rendered association as necessary as individual enterprise. Joint-stock companies will fail as well as persons and firms who trade, and a mode of distribution must be provided for them in jurisprudence. At present, it is difficult to conceive anything more ludicrous, if they were not so painful, than the plans by which shareholders are compelled to pay in full or in part towards the debts of the companies with which they were identified. From some is exacted "the last shilling and the last acre" of Lord Eldon ; from others some instalment is ac- cepted in full. But behind the injustice of assessment, lies also the evil of costs, which far exceed those of any other species of legal contests, and, perhaps, rival the expenses of Parliamentary Committees. No bankruptcy reform will be complete unless it is accompanied by an adequate measure of reform in the Winding- up Acts. The " confusion worse confounded " in our Statute-book is be- ginning to be intolerable. Were it to go on, every person should have a special pleader at his elbow in order to steer his way through this complex web of statutes, some of which are wholly, some partially, and some only practically repealed. So vast is the confusion, that there are bold minds who have actually contem- plated the labour of codification as the only remedy. Others, acting more wisely, and in accordance with English habits, look to the process of consolidation. In either case, the first step would be to make an expurgated edition of the Statute-book. That work ought to be at once commenced ; its delay would tend still more to render uncertain what ought to be the most certain agency existing, the potency of the law. But the measure to which we attach most importance is the foundation of a Department of Justice in our Executive Govern- ment. Some sad cases which have occurred within the last few years have brought disgrace on our Criminal Law. A solemn inquiry under the oaths of twelve sworn men was set aside, and a pardon granted to Smethurst, simply because Sir Benjamin Brodie, than whom no more competent witness could have been put into a witness box, was not satisfied with the scientific evidence against the accused. Again, in the case of Mr. Hatch, we had the spec- tacle of opposite verdicts ; the first establishing a criminal of- fence; the second establishing that the first verdict was obtained by perjury. We admit the dilemma of the advisers of the Crown, but the public can scarcely be satisfied that it is a proper pro- cedure to set aside both verdicts by pardons. Many other cases will occur to the minds of thoughtful readers. At the present hour, we have two barbarous murders undiscovered ; and, for lack of a directing mind, all efforts magisterial and very extra-magisterial, have been instituted, and have failed to satisfy justice. Our judicial system is turning itself inside out, and the exhibition of the poverty of resource is not calculated to assure us. What the age requires is, that the whole Department of Justice shall be committed to the respon- sible hands of a Minister of the Crown. In short, we want a Ministry of Justice and a Court of Criminal Appeal.