The Lord Chancellor and the Master of the Rolls.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7182, 5 June 1891, Page 2

The Lord Chancellor and the Master of the Rolls.

The freedom of the criticism, called forth by the judgment of the Court of Appeal in the famous Clitheroe abduction case, is singularly like the criticism devoted to the three Judges, in various parts of New Zealand, in the Edwards case. It has been pointed out, from one end of the country to the other, that the former judgment put 3 an end to the authority of husbands over wives ; in consequence of which several Magistrates have refused to give separation orders, and one County Court Judge has done the same thing. The Lord Chancellor and Lord Essher, the Master of the Bolls, have both been bo galled by the criticisms, magisterial and journalistic, that they have thought proper to make an explanation in the Houbo of Lords. It is the most injudicial proceeding upon record. All that Lord Halsbury had to say was that the magistrates were perverse, and all that Lord Essher had to do was to declare that restitution of conjugal rights was just as strongly protected as ever ; but unfortunately they had not the faintest idea what conjugal rights meant. It is singular that at the opposite poles of the Empire, the highest judicial authority should be at the same time inspiring public opinion with a certain amount of distrust.