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disturbance, but whose expulsion gives ease to the sufferer, are the immediate offspring of the most violent internal commotions.

Tempests dispel the noxious vapors of the atmosphere, and by preventing the stagnation of the ocean, prevent putrefaction. Our best culinary dishes are produced by violent ebullition; and our choicest wines by a process of strong fermentation, This parallel might be carried on much farther, but it is thought that enough has already been said to convince any unprejudiced person, that party, and of the most violent description too, is essentially necessary for the welfare of the community.

It is with pleasure I see the luxuriant and rapid growth of it lately in this city; and it is certain that the assiduity which has been employed in the culture of this most valuable plant, has not been in vain; and that it is here likely to take deep root, and to flourish.

To drop the metaphor: as good governments in general give encouragement to particular branches of business that are beneficial to the country, either in the form of drawbacks, bounties, or premiums; so, in conformity to such laudable examples, and urged to it by an ardent zeal for the good of this city, I would recommend, that a fund may be raised by subscription, or by any other mode that may be thought more eligible, (perhaps at a general meeting;) and that the same shall be impartially distributed in premiums to those whose conduct, or public productions, by their violence, petulance, absurdity, or scurrility, are best calculated to keep up a true and laudable spirit of faction; and from whose exertions the greatest good may be expected, as has already been proved. Indeed some efforts have been lately made here to keep up party spirit, that merit a handsome gratuity:-Remember

Ex privatis odiis, respublica crescit. And again, to shew the evil of quiet;

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FROM a very interesting work,

written by Count Romanzow, entitled, "State of the Commerce of the Russian Empire from 1802 to 1808, we learn that in 1803, the value of foreign commodities imported into Russia, amounted to 55 millions of rubles, and the exports to sixty-seven millions. The duties exceeded those of the preceding years by 110,000 rubles. In 1804, owing to the dif ficulties of commercial speculations, the imports were minus six, and the exports three, millions of rubles. Even then the balance in favour of Russia, which in 1803 had been 21,590,968 rubles, still amounted to 9,517,440. In 1805, notwithstanding the almost total stagnation of trade, the imports exceeded those of 1804 by six millions; and the exports by 134 millions; and the balance in favour of Russia was 25 millions of rubles. The number of ships which arrived at, and departed from, the Russian ports during that period, was as follows:

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Report by the Commissioners appointed under the Act, entitled, An Act concerning the Administration of Justice in Scotland, and concerning Appeals to the House of Lords,' pursuant to an Address of the Hon. House of Commons, dated the second June One thousand eight hundred and nine.

(Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed.)

(Concluded from p. 408.)

THE Commissioners now proceed to

state successively the subjects referred to each committee, the members of which it was composed, and the progress which they have respectively made in the business entrusted to them.

The first committee, consisting of the Lord President of the Court of Session, the Lord Justice Clerk, the Dean of Faculty, and Mr Robert Syme writer to the signet, with the Vice-Preses, was appointed to examine and report upon the forms of process as they are now in use in the Court of Session and Bill Chamber, .and any alterations or amendments of the same which might be recommended to attain the purposes of the commission. This committee held two long meetings; and by their direction a compilation has been made of all the forms of process in the Court of Session, from the earliest period of its establishment, with the variations which they have since undergone.

This collection is large, including many forms not now in use; it contains extracts from ancient manuscripts, or from law books of authority, from the acts of Parliament regulating the forms of the Court, and from the acts of sederunt upon the same subject, and is the only complete digest of the rules of Court, whether ancient or modern, that has ever been exhibited. It contains also two curious and ancient tracts concerning the manner of hold. ing Baron Courts in Scotland. HavJuly 1809.

ing thus paved the way, by obtaining a general view of the ancient and present constitution of the Court, a sketch of a report was drawn up, suggesting such alterations in the forms now in use, particularly in the mode of bringing parties to an issue on points of fact, as it was conceived would produce a salutary effect upon the judicial procedure of the Court. The

committee ordered the sketch to be printed and circulated, together with the collection of forms, not only among

all the members of the commission,

but among the Judges of the Court of Session, and referred the whole to the consideration of a general meeting.

Accordingly, at a general meeting, held on the 18th of February last, the sketch of the proposed regulations was made the subject of long and deliberate consideration; and the final resolution of the meeting was adjourned to the fourteenth of March, when the Judges of the Court of Session were invited to attend.

At this adjourned meeting, several of the Judges assisted and delivered their sentiments, and the written opinions of others were read by the clerk. After long deliberation, the matter was again adjourned until the 18th of March last, when the meeting finally resolved," That having fully inquired into the existing regulations for conducting processes before the Court of Session, the meeting is of opinion, that, with the exception of the alterations which may be necessary for the introduction of trial by jury in civil cases (if that measure shall be judged expedient) the present forms are now, or by authority of the Court itself, may be easily rendered fully adequate for the purposes of justice and dispatch of business, without parliamentary interference. And the meeting are further of opinion, that the late division of the Court has greatly and will still more relieve the Judges of that extreme pressure of business, which was the principal, if

not

not the sole cause of the delay hitherto complained of, and has therefore for the present removed the necessity of any further innovation upon the forms and constitution of the Court." After this subject had been discussed, and the foregoing resolution adopted, the same meeting having heard the opinion of the Judges, did resolve, That the part of the fifth section of the judicature act, which provides, that "Two Judges, one for each division, shall officiate each week in the outer-house," has in practice been found attended with great inconvenience and hinderance of business; and that the Commissioners ought to make an interim report, expressing it as their opinion, that a bill should be forthwith proposed to Parliament for repealing or altering that particular enactment of the statute, and providing, that, for the present, only a single Ordinary, to be taken from each division alternately, shall officiate in the outer-house, with power, however, to the whole Court, or a quorum of nine Judges, to be assembled by the Lord President, to restore the present mode of attendance by two Ordinaries in one week, in case it shall at any future time be judged expedient. A draught of such interim report has been prepared and laid before the general meeting held at Westminster on the sixth current, and is still under the consideration of the Commissioners. It contains the reasons upon which the meeting of the eighteenth of March grounded their resolutions, as well on the state of judicial forms in the Court of Session, as on the inconvenience supposed to arise from the present system of acting by double Ordinaries, and, if approved of by a general meeting of the Commission ers, will exhaust the subject referred to the first committee.

The second committee, consisting of the Lord Chief Baron, the Lord Advocate, the Solicitor-General, Mr. Warrender deputy-keeper of the Sig

net, with Sir Ilay Campbell VicePreses, were appointed to examine and report upon the fees, perquisites, and emoluments due to the present officers of the Court, and practitioners before the Court of Session (the Faculty of Advocates excepted) the mode of extracting decrees, or other proceedings, the alterations or amendments which might be introduced with advantage in these particulars, and the proper compensations to such individuals as might be found entitled to make claims on account of their perquisites and dues being altered or abolished, with power to call upon all parties concerned for returns, containing the information necessary to form a judgment on these various particulars. To this committee were afterwards added, the Dean of Faculty and Mr Robert Syme, in room of the Lord Advocate and Mr Solicitor, who were called to attend their duty in Parlia

ment.

The second committee, at their first meeting, on the 10th of December 1808, with a view to collect the information necessary to execute the charge entrusted to them, directed that the Principal and Deputy Clerks of Session, and Extractors, should be called upon for an aggregate account or abstract of their fees, for the last three years, shewing the average amount thereof for that period, and classing the same under the different heads whence they arose, together with statement of the authorities under which they were levied.

The Principal Clerks were also directed to furnish the form or schedule of an abridged extract or exemplification of a judgment of Court, modified according to the spirit of the judicature act; and two Principal and two Deputy Clerks of Session were appointed to attend the Committee, to give such explanations as might be required.

The following persons and bodies have been also called upon for infor

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summons by which the party is called into Court, and which ought to contain the plea of the pursuer or plaintiff; second, The inventory of writings produced; third, The defences, containing the plea of the defender; fourth, The answer to these defences, where sach is allowed; fifth, The condescendence or specification of facts required by the Judge from either party, with the other party's answer; sixth, The various interlocuters of Court, in regular dates; lastly, The final judgment, arranged in form of what is technically called the Grand Decerniture. And the Com

mation :-The Assistants of the Principal Deputy Clerks of Session, and the Collectors of Clerks' Dues; the Keeper of the Minute Book, Keepers of Inner and Outer-House Rolls, and Auditor of Court; the Principal and Deputy Clerks of the Bills; the Keeper of the Signet, or his Deputy, as representing the Clerks to the Signet; the Preses of the Society of Incorporated Agents or Solicitors before the Court, the Preses of the Society of Unincorporated Agents, and the Preses of the Body of Lawyers' First Clerks, which four bodies comprehend all the persons entitled to act as agents before the Court of Session.-mittee expressed their opinion, That The information was required as to the rate of fees and the authority ascertaining them, but not as to the average amount for three years, which it was neither necessary nor perhaps possible to ascertain; the average amount of receipts for three years were required from the macers, house-keepers, and door-keepers of the Court of Session.

After information upon these subjects had been received, the committee proceeded to consider the most important and most urgent question before them, the present form of extracts, the alteration of which is pointed out as a principal object of the Commission. On this important subject, after considering a very long return by the Clerks of Session, with annexed abstracts, the committee, on the 1st of March 1809, agreed to make an interim report to the Commissioners, to the following effect :First, That the present form of extract, including the written pleadings in the cause, be, in future, abolished, without prejudice to the Clerks of Session giving extracts or certified copies of all or any part of the proceedings, to any party requiring the same, at his own expense. Secondly, That the form or extract, in future, shall, in ordinary causes, originating in the Outer House, contain only, first, The

nothing else should, on any pretext, be included in an extract, unless upon the proper charge of the person requiring insertion thereof. No report has, however, been made by this committee to any general meeting, because the following important subjects, although often and carefully considered, have not yet received their final de

termination.

In the first place. It appears from the report of the various parties concerned, supported by the various evidence referred to, that a very large annual sum will be necessary to indemnify the Principal and Deputy Clerks of Session and Extractors, for the loss of income which they must necessarily sustain by the abolition of the present mode of extracting decrees, which is, in fact, their principal source of income. It is difficult to say how such a sum is to be raised, even supposing (if the appointments of the clerks should be thought exorbitant) that the full indemnification shall be restricted to the lives of the present incumbents, as it seems hard and unjust that a charge hitherto defrayed at the expense of the litigants themselves, should be entirely thrown upon the public at large. The committee were, therefore, desirous to examine the merits of several plans proposed for defraying these indemnifica

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tions, either by substitution of other dues of Court, or by a general tax upon litigation. And this being a matter of no small delicacy and importance, they did not consider, that their duty would be fully discharged until they should be enabled to report thereon, as well as upon the proposed alteration in the form of abstracts.The reports of the other officers of Court, &c. although of subordinate importance, must also receive serious consideration before the committee can be considered as having acquitted themselves of the business intrusted to them. But, as the information has been fully obtained, there can be no doubt that they will speedily be able to make an ample report to the Commissioners upon this, as well as other points.

The third committee, consisting of the Lord Justice Clerk, Baron Norton, the Hon. Henry Erskine, and Adam Rolland, Esq. Advocates, together with the Vice-Preses Sir Ilay Campbell, were directed to report upon the form of procedure, and fees exigible in the trial of civil questions before the Circuit Courts of Justiciary, and in the Commissary, Admiralty, Sheriff, Burgh, and Baron Courts, and other courts of inferior jurisdiction in Scotland. This committee, having met on the 13th of December 1808, did, with a view to obtain the necessary documents to ground their report, direct the Clerk of Commission to call upon, first, the Sheriff-Depute of the shire of Mid-Lothian, requiring him to call a meeting of the Sheriffs of Scotland, and procure a re port on the general nature of the proceedings in Sheriff Courts presently in use, with any alterations or improvements which their experience might enable them to recommend; secondly, on the Commissaries of Edinburgh; thirdly, on the Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, both to the same effect. Each Circuit Clerk of Justiciary, each Sheriff Clerk, the

Clerk of each Commissariat, the Clerk of each Royal Burgh, have also been required to give in a return of the annual amount of fees, perquisites, and emoluments received by them, their Deputies and Substitutes, arising from litigation before their respective courts, separated into the heads under which they arise, and shewing by whom, and under what authority they are levied and received.

The committee did not think it necessary to call upon the clerks, or even the judges of these subordinate Courts, to make any report on their forms, being satisfied that the report of the Sheriffs would be so full and satisfactory as to enable the committes to form a general estimate of the state of all inferior jurisdictions, and to suggest any improvements necessary in their form of procedure. The persons thus called upon for information are considerably upwards of an hundred, and returns have been made by many of them to the clerk; but from distance, indisposition, and a variety of other causes, several of them have not returned any information, and some returns which have been received are, in various respects, imperfect, and require explanation.

When all the information required shall have been obtained, it will be still necessary to arrange, methodise, and make an abstract of its import, so as to render it subservient to the proposed purpose of reformation. This third committee has therefore been able, as yet, to proceed no farther in discharge of their duty, than by taking the necessary steps to obtain the information they required, by urging returns from the persons who have not yet made any, and explanations of that which they have received.

The separate branches of the duty of Commissioners, delegated to the three committees, being, first, the regulations of the forms of process before the Court of Session; secondly, the abolition of extracted decrees and

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