these tribunals. Let the names of the Judges be inserted in the Commissions of the Peace for their respective districts, and in all Commissions of Assize and of Oyer and Terminer; and finally, let the office be a stepping-stone to Westminster Hall. Do this, and we shall have efficient local tribunals." -- Here we suspect Mr. Miller has, as to one matter, hugely deceived himself. We, with him, sincerely hope that several of these Commissioners may be found willing to become County Court Judges, and thus increase the sphere of their usefulness, but we are by no means so sanguine on the subject. We, however, see nothing else for it see no other practical mode of getting rid of them and we therefore assent to what is proposed, convinced, as we have already said, that the pounds, shillings, and pence portion of the question ought not to be allowed to interfere with a plan which appears so desirable, and reconciled to the temporary burden attending it, by the fact that of these Commissioners there are several of nearly half a century's standing at the Bar, and twelve out of the seventeen who are upwards of thirty years' standing, and consequently that no better or more favourable opportunity of carrying it out is ever likely to present itself. This brings us to the concluding portion of Mr. Miller's scheme, viz., to the state of the finances of the Court, and the saving which he proposes to effect, and which he estimates at upwards of 60,000l. per annum, besides the abolition of fees to the amount of upwards of 30,0007. more. again we must recur to this gentleman's own words. He says, Here "As to the safety-the perfect safety of what I have suggested as regards the compensations and retiring pensions-of bringing all the balances into one general account, and out of that account purchasing those incumbrances, and which may possibly at the first blush appear to the Commissioners of Inquiry to be somewhat rash, no fear whatever needs be entertained; as, indeed, appears on the face of the annual returns made to Parliament by the Accountant. I have before me these returns for the years 1850, 1851, and 1852 (see House of Lords Sessional Papers, No. 32. 1851, No. 47. 1852, and No. 75. 1853), and I find that the net balances existing on the 1st day of January, 1851, 1852, and 1853, were respectively 1,495,650l. 16s. 5d., 1,402,4337. 17s. 11d., and 1,357,7381. 2s. 3d., and that while the payments out on the various accounts during those years- the payments by order of the Lord Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, Lords Justices, and Com-" missioners, and the sums paid as dividends, and for salaries, compensations, annuities, and expenses, amount to 947,0207. 11s. 4d., 897,4591. 3s. 8d., and 817,0291. 16s. 3d., the above net balances vary in but a trifling degree compared with the amount of these payments-vary only to the extent of 93,2167. 18s. 6d. in one year, and 44,6951. 15s. 8d. in the other; thus proving beyond dispute that such balances-balances closely approaching to a million and a half of money, are not only not required to meet the demands of creditors, or for the carrying on of the business of the Court, but, on the contrary, are both cumbrous and perplexing; proving, in short, so to speak, that more capital is employed in the concern than there is any occasion for. No doubt it may be said that all this is the suitors' money, and that the public has no right to lay violent hands on it; but experience having shown that the great bulk of this money is never likely to be wanted-never likely to be called for-that it can be beneficially and profitably employed in the way I have pointed out; that we are every year getting on from bad to worse; that the expenditure during the last year exceeded the income by upwards of 10,000l., having in the preceding year exceeded it by upwards of 14,000l.; that unless those compensations and retiring pensions, which are weighing down and ruining the finances of the establishment, are got rid of, matters must become still more embarrassed; and that, with such a margin as I propose to leave untouched, there is not the remotest chance of any deficit; I think Parliament would not hesitate, under these circumstances, to provide in the usual way against such a contingency in the event of its ever occurring. "That it would take a large sum, a very large sum, to purchase those compensations and pensions, there can be no doubt; but notwithstanding this a very large sum would also still remain. To purchase all that is contemplated under section 28. of my proposed bill would, I should say, take somewhere about 760,000%. (taking the lives at ten years' purchase); but this and the other deductions consequent on the reform I have suggested would still leave a balance of 547,4821. 10s. 2d. My proposition would result in this, Leaving a floating balance of no less than 547,4827. 10s. 2d., a balance perfectly sufficient for all purposes, and, what is more, perfectly free and unencumbered -for the stamp duties alone would be more than sufficient to cover the salaries of the reduced establishment, and the figures show that of this balance upwards of 300,000l. might be invested in stock." Mr. Miller submits his suggestions to the Commissioners of Inquiry, believing them to be "worthy of their consideration, and of being looked into and thoroughly investigated," and in this belief we heartily concur. We only regret that we are unable to give the details of his plan and the arguments in support of it at more length, but there is one observation which we cannot omit, and with it we must close. He says, "Moreover, as a precedent for what I am now suggesting, I may add that only a few years ago there were in Scotland, besides the Court of Session and the Court of Justiciary, a Court of Exchequer, a High Court of Admiralty, and a Consistorial Court, each of them with separate and independent Judges, the Court of Exchequer having a Chief and several Puisne Barons. The whole of these are now abolished, and the different jurisdictions have been transferred to the Judges of the Court of Session and to the Sheriffs." -- From the County Courts Commissioners we expect much. We expect that one of their recommendations will be, that in all matters of debt, be the amount whatsoever it may, the plaintiff shall have an option shall be at liberty, if he so think fit, to bring his action in the County Court; and that another recommendation will be, that, as regards debts and claims not exceeding 100%., it shall be imperative on him to do so. ART. VIII.-HISTORY OF JURISPRUDENCE. No. VII. CUMBERLAND: LOCKE. § 1. MR. HALLAM has characterised the three different schools which in the third quarter of the seventeenth century cultivated the science of Ethics. The theologians went no further then Revelation, or at least the positive Law of God, for moral distinctions. The Platonic philosophers sought them in eternal and immutable relations. Hobbes and Spinosa reduced them to selfish prudence. Richard Cumberland, Bishop of Peterborough, may be reckoned the founder of a fourth school,the Utilitarian school of modern times. His great work "De Legibus Naturæ Disquisitio Philosophica," was pub - For Nos. I. and II. see vol. xvi. pp. 59. and 268.; for No. III. see vol. xvii. p. 105.; for Nos. IV. and V. see vol. xviii. pp. 91. and 249.; for No. VI. see antè, p. 93. We purpose to continue this series of articles upon the Development of Jurisprudence. A great impulse has recently been given to Legal Reform in England. It may therefore prove not unacceptable to our readers to peruse an historical review of the great writers who have scientifically cultivated Law, comprising a sketch of its internal development. The next Number will contain a review of the legal works of Puffendorf and Leibnitz. lished in 1672.1 After briefly discussing former authors, he, upon diligent consideration of all those propositions which deserve to be ranked amongst the Laws of Nature, finds that they may be reduced to one universal law, from the just explication of which all the particular laws may be duly limited and illustrated. This general proposition may be briefly expressed: "The endeavour to the utmost of our power of promoting the common good of the whole system of rational agents, conduces as far as in us lies to the good of every part, in which our own happiness as that of a part is contained.2 Hobbes had maintained that the state of nature is a state of war of each against all; Cumberland's proposition is, that the state of nature with regard to man's actions, is a universal benevolence of each towards all. The general proof adduced by Cumberland in support of this proposition is, that the general prevalence of such a rule of action and of such dispositions tends in the highest degree to the happiness and well-being of all. But though Cumberland thus advances towards the doctrine of morals supported by modern divines, he nowhere supports his propositions by a reference to Revelation or to a future state. Grotius, Selden, and others had already investigated the Laws of Nature à posteriori, that is, by the testimony of authors and the consent of nations. Cumberland prefers at the outset to deduce the Laws of Nature as effects from the real causes in the constitution of Nature itself. The Platonic theory of innate moral ideas is not admitted by Cumberland. It is necessary to begin with what we learn by daily use and experience, assuming nothing but the physical laws of motion shown by mathematicians, and the derivation of all their operations from the will of a First Cause.1 These general moral Laws of Nature may be reduced to one, the pursuit of the common good of all rational agents, which tends to our own good as part of the whole; as its opposite tends not only to the misery of the whole system, but to our own.5 This scheme may at first sight appear to 1 Translated by Rev. John Maxwell. London: Phillips, 1727. Introduction, Sec. ix. Maxwell's Transl. p. 16. 3 Sec. xiv. p. 22. 4 De Legibus, Prolegomena. 5 Sec. 9. |