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celled out, for the most part remain, under an entirely altered state of things; and divide the jurisdiction with Courts founded on an entirely different principle, adapted perhaps to the occasion that called them into existence, but equally unsuited to the exigencies of the present day.

Our metropolitan city, from which the stream of justice flows throughout the realm, has for the purposes of judicial administration within its own area, a disadvantage in some respects compared with many other districts, and is certainly without the advantages which its own resources naturally suggest. All the superior Courts are held in London, and there is no lack of Judges and Magistrates to perform all that is required on their part, without the aid of dilettante dispensers of justice; and the figures already given suffice to show that within the metropolitan area we could, if necessary, have the attendance every day in the year of sufficient persons, qualified for every grade of Jurymen, to meet every requirement; and at the same time limit the obligation of each individual's attendance to once in three years: and yet under the existing practice there is a sort of scramble connected with the whole machinery of our Courts; and whilst not without reason Judges and Jurymen are continually complaining of being put to inconvenience, there is a very considerable waste of available resources, causing most unnecessary and vexatious delay, inconvenience, and expense to the suitor.

Our chief metropolitan tribunals are at this day held in the same place, and with hardly better accommodation, than was accorded to them at the date of Magna Charta, when the Common Pleas was permanently fixed at Westminster Hall.

The demand for a fitting Palace of Justice for the metropolis has now been so long and so urgently pressed on the attention of the Legislature, that we may shortly expect to have an appropriate building provided, with ample accommodation for the holding of all our metropolitan tribunals; and with the concentration of the Courts themselves, there can be little

difficulty in so arranging for the conduct of their proceedings that the numerous inconveniences now felt by our Judges and Jurymen, the suitors and witnesses, and by both branches of the legal profession, may be got rid of.

Under the present regulations affecting the administration of justice in London, the area and districts of the metropolis greatly vary for different purposes. The Central Criminal Court district extends over an area of more than 700 square miles, including all Middlesex, and parts of Surrey, Kent, Essex, and Hertfordshire. The Bankruptcy Court district extends much further, including all places not within any of the appointed country districts, so that it at present includes the county of Northampton ; whilst for the purpose of Nisi Prius business the metropolis is subdivided into the "City" and the four districts formed by the adjacent counties; and for the purposes of the inferior courts, both civil and criminal, London is again arbitrarily divided into a number of districts of various areas, no one set of which agrees with another. Thus there are for the purposes of the County Court jurisdiction eight metropolitan districts, exclusive of the "City." There are eleven metropolitan Police Court districts, besides the "City;" and that ancient and privileged portion of the metropolis constitutes for most purposes a separate district, and, indeed, for all judicial purposes, instead of being treated as a portion of the metropolis, may be deemed altogether distinct from it.

With regard to the civil business, we have, at the present time, Courts of Nisi Prius held in Westminster Hall in and after every term by Judges of the Court of Queen's Bench for the County of Middlesex, and other Nisi Prius Courts for the same purpose by Common Pleas Judges and Barons of the Exchequer respectively; and immediately after the termination of the Middlesex sittings there are sittings also of each of the Courts at Guildhall, for the City of London. And we have also in a great degree, for the trial of Metropolitan cases, the Assizes held at Croydon or Kingston, Maidstone and Chelmsford, under

BB 2

the Commissions of Nisi Prius, issued every spring and

autumn.

In ancient times all issues in actions brought in the Superior Courts in the County of Middlesex were tried in Term, before the full Court, and were really trials at bar; and to remedy the inconvenience caused by this, as Middlesex came to include parts of the metropolis, it was provided, three centuries ago (18 Eliz. c. 12), that the two Chief Justices and Chief Baron should hold Nisi Prius sittings for their several Courts either during Term or the four days after. The Nisi Prius sittings for the City of London seem to have been held at Guildhall or St. Martin's-le-Grand, or some other place within the City, from a very early period, in compliance with an ancient civic privilege, that the citizens should not be required to plead in any case out of the bounds of the City.

extended the power

regard to the Nisi The 18 Eliz. c. 12

Various statutes have from time to time of the Judges of Westminster Hall with Prius sittings for London and Middlesex. enabled two of the puisne Judges of any of the Courts to sit in lieu of the Chief. The 12 Geo. I. c. 31, extended the time of the sittings after Term to eight days, and the 24 Geo. II. c. 18, to fourteen; and the Common Law Procedure Act, 1854, enables any one of the Judges of the Superior Courts to sit at Nisi Prius for either of the three Courts; but it is not usual for any of the Judges at these sittings to try cases, except arising in his own Court. With the exception of Crown Office cases, which are always tried in the Court of Queen's Bench, and Revenue cases, which properly belong to the Court of Exchequer, the cases tried at these Nisi Prius sittings of the three Superior Courts are of the same character, and the only recognised classification is that into Special Jury Cases and Common Jury Cases.

The Nisi Prius sittings of London and Middlesex are under the present system held at stated times, fixed by the Judges, there being usually sixteen separate sittings for Middlesex, and

twelve for London; in all twenty-eight distinct sittings, occupying about 130 days in the year. For the purpose of a Nisi Prius trial in London or Middlesex, notice of trial must be given for the first day of one of the twenty-eight appointed sittings. There may be no prospect of an actual trial at the sittings for which notice is given; but if the suitor does not give ten days' notice before the first day of the sittings, he is too late. There is always, therefore, a sort of scramble to be in time for the most important sittings, those held after Term. A variety of circumstances generally concur to bring into the cause list for London and Middlesex a number of cases which are in no way connected with the metropolis; and whilst the civil business of most of the circuits is decreasing, so that in some counties not half a dozen cases are entered for trial at the assizes in the year, the Nisi Prius business at Westminster and Guildhall exceeds that of all the circuits taken together, and almost every list necessarily contains a large number of remanets from the previous sittings.

Whatever may be said for or against country suitors being allowed to try their cases in London, it is clear that the formal regulations as to Nisi Prius business at Westminster and Guildhall do not give the London suitor the advantages he ought to possess. Again, the metropolis, for the purpose of the County Courts, is divided into eight districts; but the exemption claimed by the "City" from the operation of this General Act, has had the effect of keeping up several courts within the privileged district. Thus there is the Lord Mayor's Court, presided over by the Recorder, with an unlimited jurisdiction, both legal and equitable, for cases which are within the City boundaries, and peculiar modes of procedure, in part derived from the ancient customs of the City of London, and in part from recent Acts of Parliament, and possessing the very peculiar power of proceeding by what is called foreign

attachment.

There is also a Small Debts Court for the "City," in part de

rived out of the two ancient Sheriffs' Courts, the jurisdiction being defined by a succession of local and personal Acts passed from time to time at the instance of the Corporation of London, with a view to graft on their older tribunal the improvements in procedure, &c., established throughout the country by the General County Courts Acts, in lieu of permitting the general provisions of the County Courts Acts to avail within the "City." That the result of all this is, with regard to the recovery of debts, &c., under £50 within the "City," has been to create great confusion and injustice, is only what was to be expected.

By ancient custom of the City of London there is a Court of Hustings and a Court belonging to each of the Sheriffs' Compter, with a peculiar civil jurisdiction; but this jurisdiction is, by virtue of the recent local statutes which have been already referred to, now in abeyance. The Lord Mayor of London is by ancient custom said to have a peculiar civil jurisdiction over disputes between citizen and citizen, sitting as a Court of Conscience. The Court of Aldermen have a jurisdiction over disputes between broker and principal, and also an ancient jurisdiction over questions affecting the estates of citizens' orphans; but this jurisdiction is now in a great degree gone into disuse.

These ancient Courts of the City of London are very fully described in the reports, &c., of the Royal Commissioners appointed, in 1853, to inquire into the constitution, &c., of the Corporation of London, and the Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1861, on "the Government and Taxation of the Metropolis;" and to those reports, and the printed minutes of evidence in the Appendix, the reader is referred for more detailed information on the subject.*

Report of H.M.'s Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Constitution of the Corporation of London, &c., 1853, Minutes of Evidence, pp. 181-192; and Report of the Committee of the House of Commons on the Government and Taxation of the Metropolis, Minutes of Evidence, pp. 170-179. The Courts of the City of London are also described in the author's work on the Laws and Customs of the City of London, ch. xiii.

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