No. XXXIIL] APPENDIX. 365 



CHANCERY REFORM. 



The present session of Parliament is passing away ; but the infirmities 

 of the Courts of Chancery remain. 



Our estimable Lord Chancellor, anxious to do good, has done much, 

 harm, by seeking to change the Court of Final Appeal, which has ever 

 commanded the confidence of the Bar, whilst he has neglected to reform 

 the Courts of Equity, in which the scandals occur that are so justly the 

 subject of universal complaint. 



The will of the Equity judge is absolute law, and great fear is inspired 

 when the opposing lawyer leads to the supposition that he has private 

 access to the judge. 



As the Equity judge is all-powerful, he must be held responsible for the 

 shortcomings of his chief clerks, for the misdeeds of his liquidators, and 

 for the cost-makings of the lawyers practising in his court. 



The Bar have a right to complain when they are not permitted to speak 

 upon briefs which have been prepared with anxious care and enormous 

 cost; suitors will complain when the judge refuses his attention to hear 

 the arguments : and both the Bar and the public marvel when the judge 

 sleeps during the statement of the case, and only wakes to give judgment 

 upon that of which he knows nothing. 



The public will no longer tolerate the fortunes of a suitor to be im- 

 perilled by the dictum of one man, subservient as it may be to prejudice, 

 to influence, to infirmity, or to temper. A twinge of the gout, a fit of sleep, 

 or an indiscretion in the diet of a judge, may make or mar the happiness 

 of a family for ever. 



It is cruel mockery in many cases to suggest an appeal. The costs 

 are ruinous, and the deposit of the money at issue in most cases imprac- 

 ticable. To appeal is to be hung first, to be tried afterwards. 



It is the duty of the Bar to ensure justice, and they now declare that 

 it is necessary for that object that every court should be presided over by 

 two judges, who, on failure of concurring in a decision, should call in a 

 third. Every judge should retain the vigour of youth to appreciate the 

 facts, and possess the maturity of age to adjudicate upon them ; all others 

 should retire from the bench. 



THE SLEEPING JUDGE. 



The Equity Bar has for some years past been placed in a painful 

 position by one of their esteemed judges being unable to keep awake on 

 the bench. 



Sooner or later the feebleness of age will overtake us all, but sound 

 sleep on the bench must be regarded as incompatible with judicial 

 functions. 



Suitors are frantic when they find that their case has never been 

 heard. The Bar do their best to make the judge hear, for when he awakes, 

 to their horror he decides upon a different state of facts, from only having 

 heard a part of the case. 



A growing discontent and distrust of the decisions of the Chancery 

 judges is observable amongst the public, as they allege that it is natural 

 that the infirmity of age should rest upon the vigour of youth ; and this 



