ART. XI.-Seventeenth Report of the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the Duties, Salaries, and Emoluments of the Officers, Clerks, and Ministers of Justice of all Temporal and Ecclesiastical Courts in Ireland.-Courts of Quarter-Sessions, and of Assistant Barristers.-Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 14th March, 1828. TH HE office of Assistant Barrister is peculiar to the judicial institutions of Ireland. Those of England have nothing analogous to this creature of original Irish legislation. His jurisdiction and duties are twofold; and in both respects of great extent and no ordinary importance. In the one capacity, from which he takes his designation, he is the legal assistant to the justices at the court of Quarter Sessions; in practice, however, he is almost invariably elected and continued as their chairman. In the other, he sits as sole judge in a court of his own, to decide, in a summary way, or, at his discretion, with the aid of a jury, upon the several classes of civil cases, which successive statutes have transferred from the superior courts to his less costly and more expeditious adjudication. The leading particulars of the two jurisdictions, of which we now propose to offer some account, are clearly and accurately detailed in the Report before us; accompanied by some calm and judicious proposals of amendment. In the main, we feel disposed to take the Commissioners of Enquiry as our guides-reserving, however, to ourselves the privilege of using additional matter derived from other sources of information. Previous to the year 1787, the courts of Quarter Sessions in Ireland varied in no material respect from the tribunals that bear the same name in England. The jurisdiction of the court, and the constitution of the judicial bench, were similar. In Ireland, however, the powers of those courts were so feebly and irregularly administered, and their inadequacy for the punishment and suppression of crime so manifest, that the legislature of the country found it necessary to interpose with respect to particular districts in which violations of the peace more abounded; and, among other experimental changes, to reinforce the magisterial bench with a judicial ally. The immediate occasion of this determination was the alarming state of disturbance that distinguished some of the southern counties of Ireland during the year 1787; and accordingly in that year the Irish Parliament passed an act, enabling the Lord Lieutenant, * * 27 Geo. III. c. 40. with the advice of the Privy Council, to divide any counties of the kingdom into districts, in the manner pointed out by the act; and in the counties so divided, to establish a constabulary force for the preservation of the public peace: And, by the same act, it was farther provided, that in the counties so divided, general sessions of the peace should be holden eight times in the year at least; and that a barrister of six years' standing, (not being a member of Parliament,) should be appointed to act as a constant assistant to the justices constituting the Court. The provisions of this statute were immediately put in force in several of the disturbed counties; and the experience of a few years having proved the beneficial effects of the change, another act was passed by the Irish legislature in the year 1796,* extending the same system to all the other counties of the kingdom. Under this latter statute, every county of Ireland is now supplied with an Assistant Barrister, as a part of the judicial constitution of the court of Quarter Sessions. He is a magistrate of the county virtute officii; and, as already observed, is almost uniformly elected by the justices to be their chairman. The subject-matters of the jurisdiction of this court are too well known to require a particular enumeration. It is to be observed, however, that in Ireland, the accession of a professional lawyer to guide its proceedings, has had the effect of drawing within its ordinary cognizance a large class of cases of aggravated misdemeanours, which in England, though within the jurisdiction, are considered as too weighty to be determined at the Quarter Sessions, and are consequently sent for trial to the Assizes. The offences that form the principal business of the Irish courts of Quarter Sessions, are assaults and batteries, riots, rescues of cattle and goods distrained, and forcible entries upon land. They have also jurisdiction over all cases of simple larceny; and by a statute of 1829, are empowered to pass sentence of transportation for seven years in certain cases of violent assaults. The responsibility of conducting the administration of criminal justice in this court in a proper and legal form, devolves upon the Assistant Barrister as the chairman. He has to charge the grand and petty juries, to take accurate notes of the evidence, to pronounce the sentence of the court upon offenders; and in all cases of memorials to the Crown, praying for mercy, or complaining of any proceeding held in the court, the established usage of the government is to refer the *36 Geo. III. c. 25. * matter to the Assistant Barrister, and to act in conformity with his opinion upon the case. We pass on, for the present, to the other branch of the Assistant Barrister's functions, as sole judge of the Civil Bill Court; and as the expediency of cheapening and accelerating justice, by the creation of analogous tribunals in England, is now occupying the public attention, we shall offer no apology for explaining, in some detail, the machinery through which the objects of the institution are effected in Ireland. the 6 The Civil Bill (or Assistant Barrister's) Court, is emphatically poor man's court-a court for the recovery of small debts in a summary way;' and in tracing it back to the period of its first establishment in Ireland, there is something not incurious from the juxtaposition of dates. In the reign of Anne, as now, the great mass of the Irish poor were Roman Catholics; and we find this attention to their civil wants commencing under the auspices of the framers of the celebrated act to prevent the 'further growth of Popery.' That statute is the 2d of Anne, chap. 6; and the 2d of Anne, chap. 18, for the ease of the 'subject in recovering small debts, dues, and demands, in a cheap and summary way,' (as expressed in its brief preamble,) laid the foundation of the present institution. It provided, that demands, of the nature and amount therein specified, should be recoverable in a summary way before the going judges of assize. The form of proceeding was to be by civil bill, (of which more hereafter,) and the jurisdiction was in no case to extend beyond L.10; but the experience of above forty years caused it to be confirmed and enlarged; and by a statute of the 1st Geo. II., the jurisdiction was extended to L.20 in particular cases. Thus enlarged, it continued to be exercised, without further alteration, so long as the trial of causes by civil bill remained a part of the circuit-business of the judges of assize; but in process of time, the business of the Courts of Assize and Ñisi-Prius increased with increase of property and population. Suits by 'civil bill also increased. In many counties the civil bills to be heard and determined constituted the chief part of the business ' of the judge presiding in the civil court. Under these circum'stances, it was not unusual for the business of the assizes to be so protracted as to occupy the whole period of what remained ' of a vacation, and in some instances to require the assistance ' of a third judge. Other indispensable duties of office made it impossible for judges to enlarge the time of circuit in propor * Report, pp. 17, 18. tion to the increased accumulation of business. This inadequacy of time was necessarily productive of hurry, irregularity, and consequent confusion; and the administration of justice, 'thus impeded, suffered in its effects as well as dignity.' To remedy these, and other inconveniences, and to revive, as far as might be, the ancient principle of bringing justice home to 'the door of every cottage in the kingdom,' the institution was altogether remodelled in the year 1796, by the act of the Irish legislature, already referred to, (36th George III. c. 25,) which created a new court, and a separate judicial officer, for the trial of civil bills in every county. This statute is the foundation of the jurisdiction in its present form; subsequent acts of Parliament have materially extended it—but it would be needless for our present purpose to specify the respective dates of the several enactments. It is sufficient to say, that, taken altogether, they form an original and peculiar code, which we shall endeavour to compress into an intelligible outline. The Civil Bill Court is a court of record. The Assistant Barrister, who presides in it as sole judge, must be a practising barrister of at least six years' standing. He is nominated by the Lord Lieutenant, and holds his office during the pleasure of the Crown. His emoluments are derived, in part, from a fixed salary of L.400 a-year, late Irish currency, and partly from fees, that vary in the aggregate amount according to the number of cases brought before him. The clerk of the peace acts as the register, and the sheriff as the general ministerial officer of the court. In addition to the inherent power of a court of record to enforce order and respect, the Assistant is expressly empowered by the statute, to punish any violation or neglect of duty in those officers by fine, and any misconduct on the part of the attorneys practising in the court by fine and suspension. In pursuance of the act of 1796, every county of Ireland* has been divided into two districts, called divisions, in each of which general Quarter Sessions of the peace, for the transaction of criminal business, are held four times a-year. The Civil Bill Court sits in each division at the same quarterly periods, either before or after the dispatch of the crown business. The object of the division of counties was to approximate the seats of justice to the homes of the inhabitants; and, accordingly, no person can be sued by civil bill, except in the division in which he resides. * There are different arrangements for the counties of Dublin and Cork, but the particulars are not material to be explained. The following are the several cases in which this court has jurisdiction: All actions of debt, on bond, bill, or specialty, for pay-) Actions of debt against parties duly summoned to attend Secondly, Where the tenant overholds the demised premises after the determination of his interest Thirdly, Where an arrear of one full year's rent shall be due to the landlord. Actions of replevin, where the annual amount of the reserved rent, in respect of which the distress has been made, does not exceed . L.20 0 Q 5 0 0 50 0 Q 1 0 0 Amount of rent reser ved unlimit ed. Limited to cases where the rent reserved shall not exceed L.50 per an num. 10 0 0 The cases thus enumerated form the subject-matter of the ordinary business of the Civil Bill Court. There are, however, several others of occasional occurrence, over which various statutes have from time to time given this court a jurisdiction; and, finally, it is to the Assistant Barrister that the late act for regulating the registry of freeholds has committed the new and important duty of deciding claims within his county to the elective franchise. Cheap and speedy justice is the object of this jurisdiction, and the nature of the machinery through which it is thought to be attained, will appear from the following short history of a supposed cause in the Civil Bill Court. A party, having to commence an action in this court, first obtains two blank forms of a Summons, technically called a Civil Bill, or Process. These forms are on sale in every market-town, |