Constitutional Whig

In a debate which arose in the British House of Commons, during the last session, on the Delays in Court of Chancery, some curious facts were detailed. We select the following. Mr. Williams said "the Court of Chancery was so odious a dungeon that he who was once immured seldom escaped without loss of comfort, fortune and life." He further declared that "in England 93 lawyers out of 100 were utterly ignorant of the principles on which real property was transferred." "It is this uncertainty, (said the same commoner,) which fills the insatiate maw of Chancery with so many dainty morsels, and occasions such delightful pickings for the Chancery Lawyers." These assertions he illustrated by references to many cases before the Chancellor.

Dr. Lushington stated a case, in his own knowledge and practice, where "one of the most honest and respectable solicitors in London had found it impossible, with safety to his client, to compress the abstract of a Title to an estate in less than eight hundred sheets of paper."

Mr. Taylor mentioned "an amicable suit instituted in Chancery which was not determined under thirty eight years." "In this debate Mr. Brougham mentioned that a commission appointed by the House, on the abuses of Public charities, had made reports which were contained in some 12 or 13 rather unsightly and decidedly bulky Folios."