Excerpt from Letter to Sir Edward Burtenshaw Sugden, Solicitor-General of England: On Causes of Appeal to House of Lords, Acts of Sederunt, System of Written and Printed Pleadings and Fees in Court of Session, and Restoring the Benefits of Jury Trial in Civil Causes to the Provincial Courts of Scotland

Not fond, at any time, of attributing bad motives, but we daily observe, that habit and feelings of convenience sway the mos: upright men. The Bench thus readily obtain, without labour, a printed huge memorial of the reported cases from the year 1532 to the present time; and the Bar is afforded an opportu nity of displaying talent and legal learning. Neither, how ever, feel the ruinous expense which is thus occasioned. -the expenses of Revised Cases, including fees of Counsel; Fees' Fund, and Lords' Clerks, and Clerks of Court, and printing, are from £30 to £100, according to the length, on each side. A viva 'ooce pleading, with. Two, counsel on each side, would 'cost from £7. 78. To £12. 123. On each side for doing the same business. Printed Cases are unknown in England, '(except in the House of Peers, and then chief ly in appeals from Scotland.) The English Judges seem better acquainted with the law than the Judges in Scotland, and are content with viva voce pleadings and those, we think, will best satisfy the parties that they have been fullv heard, at least the blame would then be attributed to the Coun 891, and not the Bench. Nor would the viva voce pleadings of the greatest ornaments of the Bar be lost, as our Reporters have now given a new feature to reporting, and would readily pre serve such pleadings in their monthly record, without charging the litigants one farthing. With deference, we consider the frequency now of ordering Cases to be prepared and printed a great abuse, and it should be altogether prevented by the Le. Gislature. Such cases imply a standing reproach to the state of the law, and a practical proof of its uncertainty. In every case where printed Cases are ordered, it should be imperative on the Judges to report copies of them to the Government and the Legislature, in order that the law may be declared, and such-expense in every case in future prevented. As regards the Bench and Bar, the partiality which exists for ordering Cases, and the expense to litigants thus occasioned, seem to warrant the denunciation of the greatest of all judges.

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