to the legal assistant-under-secretary at the Foreign Office.s ment of The attention of Parliament has been frequently Depart directed to the expediency of establishing a Department Public of Public Justice, to be presided over by a responsible Justice. minister having a seat in Parliament; and to the propriety, in connection therewith, of making better provision for drafting and superintending the progress of public Bills through Parliament, especially such Bills as may be introduced by the government. In the year 1854, a departmental committee of enquiry into the establishment of the Irish Office, in London and Dublin, adverting to the question of retaining a counsel for this office in London-a functionary hitherto chiefly occupied in drawing Bills for Parliament connected with Ireland, and assisting in the preparation of other government Bills-recommended the consolidation of the offices of counsel to the Irish Office, and of solicitor for Scotland, with that of the counsel at the Home Office, and the employment of the latter functionary to draw or arrange the Bills of the different public departments of the United Kingdom, receiving, when necessary, the assistance of the law officers in Parliament for the Scotch or Irish Bills. The office of counsel to the Irish Office was abolished, but no measures were taken to create the new consolidated office, as above recommended." In the session of 1855, the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Public Prosecutors reported to the House the opinions of Lord Brougham, of the lord advocate (Moncrieff), of Sir A. Cockburn (attorney-general), and of Mr. Waddington, under-secretary of the home department, in favour of the appointment of a responsible minister of justice, with a seat in Parliament." Murray's Handbook, pp. 94, 95. Hans. D. v. 213, p. 43. Com. Pap. 1877, v. 27, p. 1. Civ. Serv. Est. 1877-8, p. 164. Hans. D. v. 234, p. 1760. See Irish L. T. v. 6, p. 180. * Com. Pap. 1854, v. 27, pp. 115118. "Hans. D. v. 141, p. 1034. Sir H. Thring was appointed 'parliamentary counsel,' with a salary rising from 2,500l. to 3,000l. per ann. He was allowed a permanent assistant, who receives from 1,200l. to 2,000l. a year, and has as many clerks as may be necessary. Civ. Serv. Est. 1888-9, ▾ Com. Pap. 1854-5, v. 12, p. 291. Depart- By the Prosecution Offences Act, 1879, a director of public prosecutions was authorised to be appointed. On February 12, 1856, Mr. Joseph Napier, who was a member of the select committee above mentioned, moved a resolution in the House of Commons, to affirm that, 'as a measure of administrative reform, provision should be made for an efficient and responsible Department of Public Justice, with a view to secure the skilful preparation and proper structure of Parliamentary Bills, and promote the progressive amendment of the laws of the United Kingdom.' The government generally appeared to incline favourably to this proposition, but deprecated the hasty attempt to create a new cabinet minister with such extensive powers. Finally, Mr. Napier withdrew his motion, and moved another, omitting the words (in italics) concerning the Department of Public Justice, which was agreed to by the House without a division.w Shortly afterwards, the Statute Law Commissioners, in their second report, recommended the appointment of a responsible officer, with a staff of assistants, to report on every Bill introduced for the alteration of the law, and to assist in the proper framing of such Bills; and the government expressed their intention of giving effect to this recommendation.* On February 12, 1857, Mr. Napier moved an address to the Queen that she would be pleased to take into consideration, as an urgent measure of administrative reform, the formation of a separate and responsible Department for the Affairs of Public Justice. The government consented to this motion, but with an intimation that they would endeavour to carry it out, not by creating a new minister of justice, but rather by attaching the proposed new depart ment to some existing branch of the executive; and the address was agreed to. On February 16, the Queen's answer to the address was reported, that she would 'give directions that the subject may receive the attentive consideration which its importance demands.' z Mr. Napier was afterwards appointed chancellor of Ireland; and when he left the House of Commons no other member pressed this question upon the notice of government." p. 164. Ib. Sept. 11, 1869, p. 350. For functions of this office, see But it continued, as out success. heretofore, to be warmly advocated by Lord Brougham, though withIn the session of 1862, after a fruitless attempt to elicit a public statement of the intentions of government upon this subject, his lordship was privately informed by a leading member of the administration that nothing whatever had been concluded upon it. minister In September, 1872, Sir John Coleridge, M.P., then Proposed attorney-general, in an address before the Social of justice. Science Congress, dwelt upon the pressing need for the creation of a minister of justice. He pointed out the anomalous and unsatisfactory position of the attorneygeneral in the administration, and cited the opinion of one of the most eminent of his predecessors in office, upon this subject. At length, in 1879, by the Prosecution of Offences Act (42 & 43 Vict. c. 22), a director of public prosecutions was appointed, who was empowered, under the direction of the attorney-general, to institute criminal proceedings against offenders. Subsequently regulations for the guidance of this officer were issued by the attorney-general, the lord chancellor, and the home secretary. Opinions in favour of the appointment of a responsible minister of justice, who should have a seat in the House of Commons, were expressed by leading members of the House of Commons before the commissioners appointed to enquire into the administrative departments of the courts of justice, and embodied in their second report, presented to Parliament in 1874, but admitted to be beyond the scope of their enquiry.o b Hans. D. v. 168, pp. 131, 214. Lord Brougham's letter to Earl of Radnor, Law Mag. N.S. v. 14, p. 64. See an article in Ib. v. 21, pp. 33-41, pointing out the necessity for the appointment of a board of able and experienced lawyers to superintend the legislation in both Houses of Parliament, and suggesting the principal duties to be required of them. • Com. Pap. 1874, v. 24, p. 583. Also Mr. Childers' and Mr. Stansfeld's evid. before the Legal Dpts. Comn". in favour of a minister of justice; and Ld. Selborne's evid. adverse thereto, pp. 497 n. 513. Com. Pap. 1875, v. 30. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. This functionary is an officer of some eminence in the government, and is frequently a cabinet minister. He holds his office by letters patent, and, if a peer, takes precedence according to his rank in the peerage; if not, he takes precedence next after the chancellor of the exchequer. In ancient times this office was one of considerable importance, but within the last century it has become practically a sinecure, the duties attaching thereto being few and unimportant. It is now regarded as a political appointment, and is usually filled by a leading statesman, not necessarily a lawyer, whose time is at the service of the government for the consideration of larger questions which do not come immediately within the province of other departments, for the preparation of measures of legislation, and the advocacy of the same through Parliament, of one or other House of which he is expected to be a member. The salary is 2,000l. per annum, which was fixed by royal sign manual warrant in 1841, and is paid out of the revenues of the duchy.d The Right Hon. Spencer Perceval was appointed to this office in 1807; and when he became first minister of the crown, in 1809, he continued to hold the chancellorship of the duchy of Lancaster conjointly with the two superior offices of first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. This is the only instance on record of the three offices being held by one individual. Mr. Nicholas Vansittart, upon his resignation of the office of chancellor of the exchequer, in 1823, was appointed chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, as a reward for past services, and not as a member of the administration. He continued to hold the office under the Canning and Goderich ministries, but when the Duke of d Haydn's Book of Dignities, p. 189. Murray's Handbook, p. 210; Hans. D. v. 196, p. 875; v. 197, p. 540. Wellington became premier, in 1828, was requested to resign (receiving a pension) in order that the post might be conferred upon one of the new ministers.f The clerk of the council of the duchy of Lancaster is the permanent head of the Duchy Office, and, with the assistance of a small staff of clerks and officers, he conducts the whole business therein." The Local Government Board. Board. Prior to the year 1871, before the Local Government Poor-law Board was established, the Poor Law Board exercised the important functions of legislation pertaining to the poor of England and Wales. This latter board took its origin from the statute 4 Its origin. & 5 William IV. c. 76, to control and render uniform the administration of poor relief in England and Wales, under which commissioners were appointed to carry out the important duties then for the first time entrusted to a central authority. These commissioners were not authorised to sit in the House of Commons, but were required to report their proceedings periodically to the secretary of state for the home department, and through him, annually, to Parliament. The commission was appointed only for a limited period; it was continued by several Acts, and would have expired in 1847. The magnitude of the interests concerned, the numerous details connected therewith, and the difficult task imposed upon the home secretary in explaining and defending the same in Parliament, led, on a renewal of the commission, to its erection into a separate and independent board, presided over by a responsible minister who was eligible to a seat in the House of Commons. This change was effected by the statute 10 & 11 Vict. c. Of whom 109, which reorganised the board, making it to consist composed, Wellington Desp. 3rd S. v. 4, pp. 187, 203, 473. Min. of Evid. Legal Dpts. Com". p. 508. Com. Pap. 1875, v. 30. |