COUNTY COURT.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 9, 17 June 1843, Page 4

COUNTY COURT.

To the Editor of ihe Southern Cross. Sib,— -The evils resulting to a small community, from any defect in the system of jurisprudence are many and manifold, and when once discovered to exist, should be altered, or remedied with the least possible delay ; these premises I think nobody will deny, but unfortunately we are at present in an awkward situation with regard to the redressing of existing evils, and cannot anticipate an earlier period than the end of this year before a new Governor may be ex. pected ; when a Legislative Council will of course, be called together for the purpose of framing such enactments as may be required ; and I hope and trust, for th° reversal of some of tha old ones, amongst these, ttxe first and foremost in importance, not only to the community at large, but to the welfare of the whole colony, is the " County Court Ordinance," which is in reality, a complete incubus on the colonists. It debars the poor man of justice — "he higher classes of their time and money — aad is ruining the mechanic by it.s expensive- process, and tardy manner of meting out its decisions. ' To illustrate what I have here asserted, a few facts will be necessary, and I must premise that a debt that amounts to five shillings is as expensive to recover as twenty pounds •, in the first placp, a person is compelled, if he wishes to recover his money, to employ ajlawyer, as the proceedings are bo complicated, that he cannot do it hiniielf, and he finds a bill like the following handed him after his unit lihs nnseeH the Ordeal :— ~

We have got the unfortunate debtor thus far, and now have to take him to the merciful clutches of the bheiiif: taking out execution 155. ; Bail.ff in charge 6«. per day. Now supposing any sum from ss. to £20 to be due to a poor nan, how is he possibly to it, eeeing such a roll of charges hanging in **•' terrorem over him, should he lose his case ? — Or take the more plain and palpable -circumstance ; he goes to a lawyer and states his case ; the man's very appearance betrays his want of money, and his case will not be undei taken unless the lawyer is secure of his fees ; here, I maintain, the poor man cannot have ju.tice, from a defect in the law ; its remedy I will endeavour to point out. in its proper place. The higher classes of shopkeepers and merchants, are too iiudent to risk between six and seven pounds in recovering small debts ; and therefore lose their money a.together, the natural consequence of which is ; tint it makes them hard-hearted and callous to the wants of the suffering poor, whom they will no longer trust, while the poor man considers himsejf trampled on, and goaded to mischief by his more wealthy neighbour. The merchant, shopkeeper, and mechanic's time, all valuable to its individual possessor : is encroached on also, by this noxious Courts for supposing only one case to be on the list, or one thousand, it is all the same. Thirtj-six " good men and true" are summoned as Jurors, to decide whether Tom has robbed Bill of five shillings ; or, whether Tom has robbed anything at all ; the loss of time is here not the only grievance. In Auckland there is no public tlock to regulate the time, and every man's watch is his own peculiar regulator, the consequence is obvious— no two watches are alike — some get to court by their watches at a quarter before ten, others again, ac ten ; — .some past ten , — but all are wrong except one particular watch that nobody ever saw (and therefore every body ought to see) and are fined indiscriminately fiv<3 pounds, whether he be a gentleman, a merchant, a shopkeeper or a mechanic ; now, it is obvious that if a gentleman, or merchant, is fined five pounds, the shopkeeper and mechanic should be fined in proportion only, while, if the latter are fined five pounds, the former should be filled ten ; the delinquency is greater in the educated man, whose time, although valuable to him, is not like that of the industrious mechanic, who is working hard to earn bread for the support of his family. This evil has been above twelve months in existence, which is, of course, long enough for the system to have been ■ tried ; and I now fearlessly maintain, that it is found \ wanting. i The remedy which suggests itself to me for this evil, is by adopting a simple Court of Bequests, with the usual small scale of fees, as imposed by shni!»r - courts in England, that debts should be recoverable under .£2O ; that no lawyers should be admitted to practise in it ; there shoukl be no appearance days ; the court should sit on the first Monday in every month, and its decision for that amount should be final. The court should again sit, every second Monday in each month, at which other Buits and debts from £20 to *£"50 should be adjudicated, but in this department, the Commissioner should have the assistance of two Assessors, who should be paid for their attendance, and should be selected at random from among the respectable portion of the inhabitants. Two guineas a day might ' be given them for their attendance. Lawyers at this court should be allowed to practise, aud the fees might be as they are n iw, or lets. From this court there should be no appeal, if the Commissioner and both Assessors agreed in their verdict ; but if the Commissioner disagreed with the AsEessors, or one of the Assessors disagretd with the Commissioner, the party losing his case should have an appeal, if dissatisfied with the decision, to the Supreme Court. Actions for damages, where they were laid at fifty pounds, should be tried in this court ; but all criminal cases should go to the Supreme Court — before a jury— and in which court only should a jury be empanneHed. Another essential alteration which the present state of the colony calls for, is that this _ court, or rather the Judge or Commissioner of thU' court, should not

travel elsewhere ; we have now a sufficiency of buaU ness to occupy a court hers in the administration of justice every month ; bat at present, the long internal which exists at times between one sitting and another, and the loss sustained by appearance days, enable , " fraudulent debtors to escape from their creditors with impunity." If the Bay of Islands and Hoki« anga have a population sufficient to warrant the formation of a court there, it would be no more than justice to them to establish one, instead of the foolish and false policy of robbing Peter to pay Paul ; in other words : dividing justice between the two places and satisfying neither. At the first glance o/ such a scheme as is here/proposed, the lawyers will be up in arms at discarding cbetn from court, and making them lose their fees ; but of two evils, where cne must be endured, I would choose the least j and let the pc >ple have their own money as well as justice ; instead of their not getting one, and the lawyers the other. Besides, it appears to me, to be not very dignified to see gentlemen learned in the law, pleading for a poor man for the recovery of some mere baga'elle, and pocketing, whether he loses or gains the case, some three or four pounds ; the respectability of the bar would be increased by their practising only for sums above twenty pounds. ; "Wi h regard to the scale of fees for the recovery of gums under ,£2o, there would jbe so many more cases brought into court, for turns varying from 2s. Cd, to c£2 in consequence of the teduudon t that the court itself would realise more than it does at present. The persons who were appointed as Commissioners of such Court of Rt quests, might be the same highly respectable persons who now fill the t-ffice of " County Judges ;" their salary might Le the same, and lam sure if those gentlemen thought the title of •' Commissioner" was not so dignified as '* County Judge," they would still sacrifice something for the good of the community. The fee of Two Guineas to each A>«essor would be little enough per day while on such service, and would still be a remuneration to them, for their ticuble and loss of time. Tne evil here complained o', is apparent to every one, and something must be done ( whenever the Council meets again, to remedj it : a&the matter has now assumed a tangible shape. I hope some other person will give us some ideas on the subject, so that when the due time arrives, a proper application may be made concerning it, either by petition, or representation to the New Governor in Council. I am, Mr. Editor, Your obedient servant, M. A-uckiand, June 15, 1843.

£ a. d Ljlter to defendant giving notice of action 5 o Instructions to sue 60 Warrant to sue 2o Entering plaint 5 o Summons to appear, and paid 10 o Bill of ccsts to endorse 2 o Attending Sheriff's office with ittnamons .. 3 0 Copy ami service thereat ... 2 o .Affidavit of service oath* and paid .. .. 5 o Filing affidavit 1 and paid 5 0 Appearance before Judge, and paid .. ..1 0 0 Sntf ring-cause ... .. ... 1 o Instructions for Brief 10 o Drawing Brief .. 10 o Copying same 5 0 Attendance at Court .. .. , 10 o Bill of Costs 1 0 Copy and service thereat . . . . . . „ 4 0 Appointment for Taxation .. . . .. 2 o Attending Taxation 4 O Total £? 12 0