THE COURT OF APPEAL. (Hansard, August 4th.)

Otago Witness, Issue 931, 2 October 1869, Page 18

THE COURT OF APPEAL. (Hansard, August 4th.)

H0T738 OF BEPKE3ENTATIVB3. Mr Traveks said that be asked the House to agree with him in the proposition that steps should be taken by the Government for facilitating the Administration of Justice by the Court of Appoal of New Zealand— on grounds which he would briefly state. The Court of Appeal was established for the purpose of enabling those litigants who might be dissatisfied vrith tho ordinary judgments of the Suoreme Court, to _ bring these judgments nnder tho rnview of the wholo of che Judges, and so to obtain decisions of a more authoritative character. From the peculiar circumstances in which tho »d ministration of justice was placed in this colony, our judical system was becoming Provincial, as well as all our other political nystems. Wo hud Judges who for ye-irs resided in particular Provinces, and to whom alone could be made an appeal upon any question which happened to bo brought under their consideration at niai prius, or otherwise, until some Btep had been taken in each particular case to justify an ultimate appoal to the Court appointed for that purpose. A feeling had grown amongst members of the profession— and, of course, that feeling could only exist on behalf of tho clients by whom they were employed— -that the administration of justice in that manner was not attended with those satisfactory results which ought to be looked for. It was, he might say, the universal wish of the profession that there should be, in the firat plaoo, a change in re- 1 gard to dealing with a large number of questions whioh must, if intended to be reviewed, now bo brought undor the consideration of tho Court of Appeal, but whiob, in oonaoquonoo of tho largo expenso involved, wore seldom so brought. In a largo number ' of oases mombora of the profession preferred Advising olionts to submit to decisions whioh they considered to bo not well founded, rather than to advise thoir clients to incur tho great i exponse neoeuiUted by a reference to the Court of Appeal, and aUo tho delay incident to such a reference, whioh might extend over any period from one month to twolvo months. The Court of Appoal, as would be gcnorally known by honourable members, sat out once a year, and utually in Wellington, and it then deoided upon such caaos on might be brought before it. But it mutt not bo taken as a measure of the desire of tho profession to avail thomsolres of tho power of review possessed by the Court, that npon each oooasionof ittsittinjt only a few cases werebrought under its cognizance. The great expotiee and the great dolay necessitated by inch an appeal, operated very largely in deterring ap* poala against decisions in whioh thoy could not enSrtly oononr, and as to which they would prefer hrving the decision of the highest court of judioatuiro in the ooloay.

..should^bef greater^ facilities^ f or ftca}ryjngj TappealS before thathigibeat cburiytand that Wme alteraiioriisHbuKtt'be iriade i±i thejprae tied! of the Supreme* Court forthe'purpoße. 5 of v bringing imder the consideration of at least two Judges queßi ions* such as were, decided An banco, in England,* by two, or more Judges of j the particular Court in whichi those questions "came. , in,! this, colony, .if,, during the progress of a cause at nisi prim,, objection was taken,' for example, to tfle, ruling of the'Judgein regard to the admissibility of evidence, or on any of tih« other points likely to arise at trial, and it 1 became neceeisary/to ask for a review of suoh- ruling, the appeal was to the Judge whd, had given if. 1 ' There was a great deal of embarrassment oausedby thia necessity, for it would be very well understood by honourable' members— at, all event!, it was by members of the profession who, lad i had experience of such matters — that „t here, was, great difficulty in going before the Judge with whom the point had' been fully argued, perhaps, at nisiprins, and asking him, without the advice or assistance of any other Judge, to reverse a decision which he had publicly given. It was considered by the profession to be very desirable that there 'should be sittings in some one or more central plaoes,, for the hearing of all cases of importance which might be brought under the consideration of the Court in banco, and that two, or more Judges should be present to hear such esses. The profession considered, also, that the Court of Appeal should sir. more frequently than at present. Large and varied duties were imposed upon the Judges when sitting as the Court of .Appeal, which they were now unable to perform. For example, it was only when two or more of the Judges met, that rules could be made for regulating many matters which were, by Aots of the Assnembly, placed under the control of the Judges of the Supreme Court. Take the case of the Lunatics Act. Under that Act the Judges, when two or more of them met, were to make rules for regulating proceedings in lunacy. Those rules were to decide the form and mode of procedure before the Court in Chambers, and before the Registrars, as to the care of the property of the lunatics, &o. ..No such rules had yet been made, and_ their non- existence had been very severely felt in different parts of the country. In the lunatic asylum in the province of Canterbury there were no less than ninety- six persons who were lunatics, of whom thirty- four had relatives who were in a position to contribute towards the maintenance of those lunatics ; but the Registrar of the Court in that judio'al district was unable to perform his duty to the public for wont of the rules under the Act which should have been framed by the Judges. In one instance, in Canterbury, where the lunatic was himself possessed of a large property, there had been no legal means whatsoever of administering that property. The Judge of the district had certainly made some orders in reference to the property, hoping that these orders might be found to run in the name direction as the rules would when they were made by the Judjres. In various other cases of lunaoy much loss and inconvenience had been sustained, and a great destruction of property had followed, because of the absence of rules to enable the o»seB to be dealt with in accordance with the intention of the Act. The Judges, as ho had said, met only once a year at the Court of Appeal, when their duties were very arduous, bo that, during the limited timo for which they could remain together, they were not able to prepare rules in the various oases provided by tho Legislature. Whatever differences of opinion might exist M to tho expediency of the Divorce Act. that Act was now part of tho statuto law of the country. There woro already persons endeavouring to avail themselves of the provisions of tho Aot ; but a period of two years must necessarily elapse, in many oases, before the final decree could be pronounced, because of the Judges meeting only once a year. Under the Bankruptcy Act, though it was passed in 1867— thongh tho number of cases brought into the Supreme Court under it was very large indeed, and though tho interests of creditors .were involved to very considerable amounts — no rules for tho jraidanoo of thojCourt had yatbeen framed. There won no mo am by which proceedings or tho decision in any particular case under tho *ct oould bo Drought under tho review of tho Court of Appeal Whatever inconvenience or 'oas might bo sustained, consequent upon there beint* no rules nndor tho Aot, was duo to tho Judges meeting only onoo » year. It was undorstood that the Judge* would, whon they font mot as the Court of Appoal, have framed rules undor tho Baakrnptoy Act, but they could not do it without a copy of Don* and Macrae's work on Bankruptcy, which \m not proonrable in Wellington. He thought that all thooe connected with tho profession of tho law, and honourable members RononOly, would oonour with # him, that if oourti of judicature woro constituted for affording moro authoritative decision! than orald ordinarily be obtained npon question» which were litigated, it was most desirable that facilities for gottinj; to thoio courts •hould 1m given ; and that most certainly it should not bo, by ro«son of enormous oost or of prolonged dolay, put beyond th« mon of all but extremeb -wealthy ■niton to avail themselves of the opportunifcy of doing to. Tho average oott of bringing oatot under the oognuanoe of the Court of Appoal wai wry little under L 240 or L 250, an amount whioh placed appoal entirely oak of iht power of • large number of niton} whom*, if two Judges

fpxiid thfofe' f- year^fie^^ejVM^at}ttlmoßt iWeryljaa'e brought" before such; a court could be dispose of at one. quarter, the dqsthehad *stal'eclV ?HV«did3io? sSytoktfi^was advjs,able|,the Courtlofy.AppealfßliouldAFbe done away, with on ,the, ( jCpntraify,rthe % thought that it should becpmeya.court'of, last resort and that 1 then its'- sittiug once a year, would b'equite. sufficient. "He 'hadl" thought it his duty to bring the matter (before the House, as he had, done ; but. he did not wish to press his resolution. He had desired ra their to urge the matter on the consideration of the Government j and he felt sure that if the Government would enquire into it, they would find it to be a matter of very urgent necessity, and that it was desirable that, at; the earliest possible opportunity, steps should be taken to place l the matter upon'amore satisfactory footing' than' that upon which it was at present.', „ - , ' ■ ■ iMr Fox thought 'it could not be doubted that th«> honourable member for Christchurch had made, out a case which was quite sufficient to' justify him in bringing the subject under the notice of the House. But he did not understand that, the honour- ' able member, in what he had done, had been acting hi concurrence with the' Judges ; and of course, before the Government' oould take action,' it would he necessary that it should have communication with the- Judges. If the honourable member, instead of putting' affirmatively, " that steps should be taken, would move to the eifeot " that it is expedient that the Government should take into consideration the propriety," and so on, the Government would accept the proposal, and he (Mr Pox) would second it. Mr Tbavers : Certainly, I shall be glad to do so. Leave to amend the motion was given. Motion made, and question proposed, "That it is desirable the Government should take into consideration the expediency of taking measures for facilitating the administration of justice by the Court of Appoal of New Zealand." — (Mr Travers. ) Mr Stafford was very glad that the honourable member for Ohristchurch had brought this subject forward, and that the honourable member at the head of the Government had recognised the importance of some steps being taken to apply a remedy to the existing state of things. He (Mr Stafford) thought that the honourable member for Christchurch might have gone further than he had done. What was at the root of the deficiencies of the judicial system was the isolation of the Judges throughout the year. New Zealand would never have a Supreme Court doing its work in the best way possible, nor a bar working up to the standard to whioh it should work, so long as the Judges remained isolated. He was quite aware of the difficulties in the way of getting rid of the existing system. They were difficulties that existed not only as to judicial but as to political and administrative matters. They were difficulties of so long standing, as connected with the colony, that it was hard indeed to say how they could be overcome ; but they acted in the direction of preventing that excellence which those who respected the Supremo Court, us they all must desire to do, would like to see that Court come up to ; and to that excellence which those who believed the members of the bar to be a useful body, or, at least, a necessary evil, would aho desire them to attain. It was quite true that very great delay had taken place in the Judges giving effect to tho legislation of the Assembly, tie might mention, as an instance, the Matrimonial Causes and Divorce Act. It was many months before tho general rules which were necensary to the operation of that Act could bo obtained from the Judges. The Judges could not get together to consider the rules ou that and other important subjects. Such inconvenience would continue so long as the Judges were isolated for the greater part of the year. He should like to see the Judges living in one place. Ho did not caw where It might be, whether it was Dunodin, Auckland, or Wellington, and ho should like to see them going dr. cnit, as they did in other places. They should then really have a Supreme Court, whioh they had not mow got, and they should have a very largely improved bar. He hoped the consideration -which the honourable member at the head of the Government proponed to give to the question might be a step in tho right direotion in improving the gene* ral efficiency of tho Court. Motion agreed to.

7At a meeting Jof tho Acclimatisation 8o« ciety of Southland, hold on tho 16th mat, a lotter ww read from the Colonial Secretary, stating that the General Government had at prcsont no funds available for the introduotion of salmon from British Columbia. The matter was accordingly allowed to stand over, and it was agreed to communicate with tho Government of Otago to asoertain if they would be willing to co-operato with the Society In obtaining another shipment of ova from Great Britain.

Tho Waikouaiti Herald draws attention to tho mineral wealth of that dutriot Tho Pleasant River distriot alone, it taye, contain* valuable deposits of ooal, alum, and oopper, specimens of whioh. hare at different periodi been dUoorered. Mr Neilson has for some time back been testing a warn of ooal on bis property, the results of whioh havo been very encouraging. The existenoe of oopper ore near Mount Royal has also been proved beyond doubt, and some very promising soft stone, impregnated with ooppor, has been obtained; oontaining a fair percentage.