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of practice; at present I know they are the only persons to do it, and upon whom Parliament has imposed the duty by giving the power. For the most part they have been willing to do what they can in performance of that duty, but it takes them away from their more proper business.

"I believe," he continued, "that you cannot work out a system of safe and rational law-reform without an authority of the kind of a Secretary of State for the affairs of Justice, who should have a superintendence over all the Courts, and every branch of the law; for everything connected with the law requires to be subjected to proper inquiry and authority, and everything which ought to be laid before Parliament should be laid before it regularly and officially, in order that it may usefully consider what may from time to time be proper to be done, and how best to do it. It is often necessary to distinguish and consider what ought never to be tried without enactment, and what ought rather to be attempted by cautious and vigilantly superintended experiment. Those who consider this subject most attentively will be best aware how difficult it is to make laws or establish rules of practice, how much information is required, and what precautions are to be used, and how necessary it is that Parliament should be constantly supplied with the fullest and most accurate information upon all those subjects which are required for making and improving laws upon a steady and safe principle. I conceive that Parliament has great need of the assistance of competent persons, whose whole attention should be devoted to this subject."

Lord Langdale felt so strongly the necessity of having a Minister of Justice, that I cannot do better than lay before the reader the heads of a paper he sketched on the subject shortly before his death:

LORD KEEPER, MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND LEGISLATION.

1. To keep, use, and apply, the Great Seal.

2. To act as President of the Council in all matters not judicial.

3. To exercise a constant and vigilant superintendence over the state of the law, and the proceedings of the Courts; and for that purpose to maintain a constant correspondence with all Judges, Justices, and Officers of Justice, in relation to their several offices, duties, and acts.

4. To analyze, arrange, and register all letters and applications of an official character, or which relate to matters within the competency of the Lord Keeper.

5. To inquire into and ascertain the merits of all complaints made of neglect or irregularity in the administration of justice, and make such representation, or report thereon, as the occasion may require, for the redress of any grievance.

6. To superintend, and give provisional and temporary sanction to the general orders from time to time made by Courts of Justice, for the regulation of practice and pleading, for the alteration of fees, and for the employment and duties of ministerial officers.

7. To report quarterly to the Queen the state of the administration of Civil and Criminal Justice; the proceedings of the several Courts; the business therein.

transacted; the new regulations made; any inconveniences which have occurred in the administration; what remedies have been suggested, and ought to be applied.

8. To execute all inquiries into the state of the law, or of any particular parts thereof, on the requisition of Government or of either House of Parliament.

9. To prepare all Bills brought into either House of Parliament with the sanction of Government; and to annex to the draft of every such Bill a statement of the reasons on which it is founded and intended to be promoted.

10. To prepare, or state his opinion upon, all Bills which may be referred to him for either of those purposes by either House of Parliament.

11. To regulate and fix the assizes and the rotation of Judges to attend the same, and also to inquire into and report upon the expediency of issuing Special Commissions when required. 3 & 4 Gul. IV. c. 71.

12. To keep a registry and account of all persons confined in prison, for debt or offences, before and after judgment or trial, with a short summary of each case.

13. To direct the Attorney or Solicitor-General to prosecute such offences as are to be prosecuted by the Government, and to file such informations in Courts of Equity, as he shall think fit to direct.

14. To give his advice to the Government on all applications for rank at the bar, or for offices in the Courts of Law and Equity.

15. To advise the Government upon, and be responsible for all legal appointments.

16. To inquire into and report upon the claims of Judges and Ministerial Officers of Justice, in consequence of infirmity or long service.

17. After communication with the Judges of the several Courts, and in concurrence with the Master of the Rolls, to make regulations for the preservation and use of the Records of the several Courts of Justice.

18. To receive and submit to the Queen all petitions for pardon and commutation of punishment.

19. After communication and consultation with the Judges, and with the Treasurers of the Inns of Court, to prepare and submit to Parliament such rules as he may think proper for the admission and discipline of barristers.

20. After communication and consultation with the Judges and the Chairman of the Incorporated Law Society, to prepare and submit to Parliament such rules and regulations as he may think proper for the admission and discipline of attorneys and solicitors. 1 Vict. c. 56.

21. To keep and make up an account of all the expenses incurred by the Government in the affairs of justice and legislation, and to prepare the estimates thereof for the future.

22. To keep a registry of all the acts and proceedings of the office.

CHAPTER XVI.

ILLNESS OF THE LORD CHANCELLOR.-SPEECH OF LORD LANGDALE ON
THE SUBJECT.-THE CHANCELLORSHIP PRESSED ON LORD LANGDALE.
-DECLINED BY HIM.-BECOMES DEPUTY SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF
LORDS. MEMOIR OF LORD COTTENHAM.-
-THE GREAT SEAL AGAIN
PUT IN COMMISSION. LORD LANDGALE CHIEF LORD COMMISSIONER.
-RECORD OF THE SITTINGS OF THE COMMISSIONERS. - THE NEW
CHANCELLOR.

ON the 28th June, 1849, Lord Brougham, in offering an explanation to the House of Peers, of his reasons for moving for an account of the number of causes then standing ready for hearing in the Court of Chancery, said he hoped that the Lord Chancellor, whose indisposition he sincerely lamented, would not attend a day sooner than his friends and medical attendants thought advisable in his Court, where no inconvenience had accrued from his absence.

Lord Langdale, however, felt that great inconvenience had arisen, and immediately answered:

"I cannot concur with my noble and learned friend in thinking that no inconvenience whatever arises from the absence of the Lord Chancellor from the Court of Chancery, from this House, and from the council of her Majesty. But as to the Court of Chancery, I believe that the inconvenience is much less than it is sometimes represented to be; and probably it is (from the state of

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