REMARKS ON THB DEBATES OF THE 4in AUGUST LAST, IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, ON THE COMPENSATION CLAUSES OF THB PROBATES AND ADMINISTRATIONS BILL. BT HENRY RAIKES, M.A., BARRI8TER-AT-LAW, AND REGISTRAR OF THE DIOCESE OF CHESTER. Tt'c avcurrriaei avrov LXI. ApiBfioi. 24. 9. LONDON : W. H. DALTON, BOOKSELLER TO THE QUEEN, 28, COCKSPUR STREET. 1857. Ex Libris C. K. OGDEN THOUGH it is a trite observation that the attack of those whose praise one would shudder at, is not altogether unwelcome, yet one may be excused a passing- wish to have had the opportunity of ex- planation, and of correcting- some peculiarly gross blunders perpetrated by the great northern champion of nonconformity and unaspirated vowels, and his little lieutenant. Thoug-h one mig-ht, as a matter of literary taste, have more toleration for the acid froth of dyspeptic insolvency, than for the sour dreg-s of sectarian vul- g-arity ; yet it did excite some surprise among- my friends how two persons so widely separated from me, both socially and professionally, should have so per- sonally attacked one who had at least never injured them, and whose constant local employment they relied on as their security for attacking* him as a sinecurist. Indeed, beyond making- a present of a seven and ninepenny search to a relation* of Mr. Roebuck's, * If I have wronged ray old correspondent, Mr. Falconer, in imputing to him the relationship in question, I beg his pardon for so offensive a mistake. A 2 who complained of the magnitude of the charge ; and of tendering 1 some assistance to Mr. Hadfield -in a useful practical measure, connected with testa- mentary law, which he brought forward some years ago, I really had had no previous collision with either of these gentlemen. But unfortunately, while good men forgive injuries, and great men forget them, there is a degree of wicked littleness that can neither forgive nor forget the most trifling favour. To an amiable legislator, like the Olywell Street Hadvocate, as his leader would deprecatingly term him, there would not be half the attraction in de- stroying an Institution however serviceable and useful, unless the destruction also entailed the ruin of private families, and a large amount of local distress, and domestic privation. Yet even on the subject of compensation to the officials, cashiered or ruined by the Testamentary Act, and which elicited such offensive and unpro- voked personalities from a certain class of speakers on the 4th of last month, there appears to have been a strange if not wilful misunderstanding. To men who have raked the retainers of rebellion from the scaffolds of their dupes or clients, it might well seem incredible that a gentleman might decline altogether a paltry compensation if involving the tenure of an office derogatory to his own antecedents, and injurious to the interests of the public. But though, as the father of ten children, on the eve of losing a practice of 5000 a year, by the Act of the Legislature, I can not pretend to be indifferent to the question of compensation I yet preferred to_ leave it, with a simple statement of the facts of tne case to the sense of justice of the House and of the Government : and what little time could be spared from the duties of my office, I gave to improve the Government scheme, and to render the practice of the new district Registries something- more than a shadow and a nullity. Though after having* filled the office I have done for twenty years, I have no great ambition to step down into one of their country clerkships. Had the object been to have slipped unnoticed into the general scheme of compensation, it would have been far more politic to have presented no petition, but to have canvassed members individually. Yet strange as it may seem to the worthy members for Sheffield, while I canvassed no private support, I was unwilling that the House or Government should be led into sanctioning a vote of remunera- tion, that in my case might surprise them in its amount ; but rather wished they might have the opportunity of fixing a lower scale of compensation for an exceptionally valuable office. This principle though new, and apparently unjust to the richer offices, is not without a peculiar sort of equity. For while a proper social usage requires a certain style of living and expenditure from official persons, an effi- cient income that decidedly exceeds that limit, may be supposed to operate proportionally as an insurance 6 ag*ainst legislative and other disasters, and to render the abolished functionary less dependent on com- pensation. But while the net income of this magnificent though now doomed office, perhaps too naturally excited the righteous indignation of less fortunate professionals, a few other figures might have shewn the scale on which the business was transacted, and proved not only that a large income arose from a large business, but that a wide circle also derived benefit and employment from this office. A hig-hly accomplished examiner, and 16 or 17 clerks of different grades, receive in salary and wages 2436. 18s 2d a year. The stationery alone is 251. 17$ Qd. The stamps about 65,000 a year. And about 2700 Probates and Administrations, and a still larger number of office copies, annually issue from the Registry, representing- about six or seven millions of property annually transmitted through this office. It is due, not only to myself, but to the exemplary and venerable Prelate who appointed me in 1837, to take some notice of the vulgar personality that was heaped upon my appointment, and the nature of my office, even at the risk of an appearance of egotism most painful to myself. It is really rather hard not only to deprive a man of a practice 5000 a year, but to abuse him for telling the truth. And probably no other members but those for Sheffield would have stated what they might have known to be false of a brother professional whose necessary absence and unremitting* employ- ment they alone relied on for the impunity of their assertions. When my predecessor died in 1837, it was in the power of the then Bishop of Chester to have made any appointment he chose ; and, indeed, any appointment would have been better than none. For even twenty years ago, the stoppage of probates and administrations for a few weeks, would have closed mills in Lancashire, and locked the trade of Liverpool, not to mention the many cases of indi- vidual grievance that would have arisen. Three forms of appointment were open to the Bishop. He might have adopted the practice of earlier times, and appointed a non-professional relative as a sine- curist, with a solicitor as his deputy. Or he might, on the other hand, have succeeded in inducing some eminent counsel of the Civil or Common Law Bar to take the precarious office. But is it for a moment to be supposed that men of eminence in the profes- sion, like Dr. Lushington, or the late Sir John Jervis, the only common lawyer whose opinion on our practice was worth the paper it was written on, would have come down and buried themselves in a country town, would have given up their practice, their brilliant and ever brightening prospects, the eclat and ambition of London life, of Parliament and the Bench, to devote themselves to the monotonous rou- tine of an office, then of 3000 a year, which the next session might abolish, to have their incessant 8 devotion to their country duties, and every reduction of costs and improvement of practice they introduced, denounced as sinecurism by the Hadfields and Roe- bucks of the day ? The thing- was too absurd to be thought of. The only other course the Bishop adopted. He frankly and generously bestowed the valuable but precarious office on the son of an old friend, who, however humble his talents, had achieved a University and Circuit reputation for industry and method. From family connection he had been induced to study the Testamentary Law, and though his Sessions' practice perhaps did not ex- ceed the junior business, whose distribution caused such excitement on the Northern circuit on a certain notorious elevation to a silk gown, some six years later, yet he was at any rate free from official pre- judice, and the oppressive sense of previous deserts that will always interfere with the adaptation and usefulness of medieval appointments. The excellent Prelate in freely and fully giving me this appointment, only suggested three things : that I should discharge it always in person, that some of the charges should be reduced, and the number and remuneration of the clerks increased. It is needless to say, that all these suggestions have been religiously attended to. The former with a regularity that should call forth from myself the warmest gratitude for uninterrupted health, during the last twenty years; and the latter to an extent that would be gratifying, but for the altered prospects of the many clerks, whose services will here at least be no longer required. One word as to the age of the appointee of 1837. Any col- lege gyp, or law stationer's errand boy, could have taught Mr. Roebuck, that though a Queen's Counsel may be made, by a political job, without practice, yet that at least some degree of seniority is required to make a Master of Arts and Barrister at Law, not to mention some amount of learning, at least in the case of the former title. The income as was above stated, was not much above 3000 a year in 1837 ; and 3000 was sunk in stamps and other necessary expenses incidental to so great a business. But the activity and moderation of charges, with which the business was carried on, coupled with the increasing wealth and population of the two coun- ties, comprised in the jurisdiction, soon advanced the annual receipts. And this in spite of several great reductions in charges originating with ourselves, and of an Act of the Legislature some years after, which took away the discount formerly allowed on stamps, and obliged us to pay the value net for them. This act, which took away at one blow 700 a year, being clearly for the public good and right in principle, thoug'h carried too far, was not opposed on our part. But though it is an undoubted fact, that the income has risen from above 3000 a year in 1837 to above 5000 a year in 1857, it is neither my fault nor misfortune that Lancashire has been pros- 10 perous, that wealth and what is more important still the distribution of wealth has vastly increased. It has not been the least gratifying 1 characteristic of the income, that it has not arisen from the miserable fees of felony, or the more splendid Parliamentary penalties on infatuated speculations, but from a light enumerative duty, as it were, on the ever widening competence and property of the district; a very feeble type of the vast increase of revenue to the state collected in the form of the stamp duties. One would suppose such a picture of steady national prosperity, would have rather excited the gratitude than stirred up the bile of any one who did not hate his country, almost as intensely as he hated its God and its Church. As these remarks are avowedly confined to the pecuniary questions raised by the very personal debate of the 4th of August last, it is not my object to g"0 into the more technical merits or demerits of the late Act. The practical advantages are mainly confined to the substituting- of a single probate for the two or even three that the variety of jurisdiction too often entailed. Yet it must not be supposed that this change, though a great and creditable simplification is any g-ain to the public in expense ; for from the disproportionate rise in the scale of stamp duties for the larger amount of properties, the duty paid on the ag'greg'ate will far exceed the ag'greg'ate duty paid on the several probates. If a will is proved in Chester under 4000, and in 11 London under 6000, the respective duties of 60 and 100 amount to 160; but'when a probate is taken under 10,000 for the whole, the duty is 180, or 20 more; and so on for similar sums of increasing amount. Now I do not complain of this, but am rather glad that a support should be thus unintentionally given to the public revenue, losing, as it must, to an infinitely greater amount by the opening of common form practice to the whole of an immense profession, which, however generally respectable, must number within its ranks a larger number of exceptions than a small exclusive and nominated body like the Eegistrars and Proctors. While the far juster option given to prove in the local or central office will, in many smaller cases, tempt ignorant or dishonest executors to dispense with probate altogether, on the not unfounded idea of undiscovered impunity. Again, as to the economics of the new districts. It is rather absurd that when so much stuff has been talked for the last twenty years about the 300 or 3000 testamentary jurisdictions of which about forty only were in actual practice, independent of any larger office here in the Chester diocese two new testamentary offices are erected at Liverpool and Manchester. Now, though it may be fairly said, the importance of these localities justified a deviation from the general scheme of consolidation which it is presumed, as distinguished from strict centralization, was the principle of the measure ; yet, on the other hand, 12 there was in existence already at Chester both building 1 and organization quite adequate to the wants of that large and wealthy district. A quiet and somewhat decayed place, at an easy distance from the great haven and workshop of the empire, seemed more suitable for the calm deposit of titles and the methodical transaction of testamentary business, than those crowded marts, exposed as they are to popular commotion and destructive fires, and to whom the little increase of business though a serious loss to Chester will be but a paltry gain. Had things been left alone in this respect, not only would the great expense to the public have been saved of erecting* costly architectural absurdities in central situations in Liverpool and Manchester, but as far as I am individually concerned, there would have been no claim urged to compensation. On the contrary, I should have been prepared to pay a round annual sum to the fee fund for the satisfaction of retaining to Chester the important position of legal capital of North-Western England, which it has enjoyed for three centuries, and for the still dearer gratification of maintaining the many rela- tions of employment and mutual good offices that must now be dissolved for ever. Of all the parties to this long-expected, yet most needless change, the Government is the least to blame. For while the silly restlessness, the need of doing something so characteristic of an age of more activity than genius, which induces rival 13 factions to bid against each other in the novelty rather than value of their wares, almost necessitated some step or other in innovation, it has been highly creditable to ministers that both the country and the officials have been considered as much as they have been. In 1843, the far stronger government of Sir Bobert Peel was committed to a measure so sweeping and inconsiderate, that attached as most of our body were to his policy and party, we had no hesitation in offering it the most earnest and active opposition in our power such as it would have been neither right nor wise to have given to the late measure. Though to move, as it were, the previous question, one might congratulate the public on the peace and security of our Indian Empire, that afforded the opportunity for abolishing institutions coeval with the Monarchy, which had been accepted by the [Reformers of the 16th century, and spared by the Long Parliament of the 17th 5 though it evinces a noble confidence in the resources of the country to tamper with the collection of a revenue which, always steadily increasing, is alone paid net into the hands of Government ; yet, considering the general ignorance and prejudice that prevailed on the subject, we should be thankful it is no worse. But now that the eclat of a great change has been enjoyed, that the measure has done duty in the Queen's speech, and the Law Lords have chatted their little irrelevancies on its theoretical points, it becomes a matter of practical moment to provide for 14 the working- of it. It would be highly desirable at the earliest moment in the next session to pass some useful working-curate sort of bill, suspending- alike the useless destruction and unpopular compensation of the late Act ; only providing 1 that the one prac- tical reform comprised in it should be carried out, and that any Diocesan or Prerogative Probate should cover all effects in England and Wales, only requiring a Prerogative Probate in the case of funded property, if thought desirable by the Bank of England. Thus leisure would be afforded for the extensive architectural demands of the Act, and some rules laid down for practice, both in town and country, that is really left to conjecture in the mere sketch of the late enactment. Or the Compensation Question itself might be settled by allowing the present officials, say seven or ten years of grace, which would secure the business being well done, and the measure removed for the time, and might be taken as a not unfair scheme of compensation for eventual abolition. On the eve of a compulsory retirement from a monotonous though lucrative office, it may not be of much consequence to myself how far the privilege of vote and speech is abused in Parliament ; but for the country at large it becomes a matter of serious consideration, whether it will permit every useful and absent public officer to be made the butt of any demagogue who has a personal or sectarian spite to gratify. 15 Had I appointed a deputy, lived in Belgravia, visited the Continent, cut down the number and pay of my clerks, made no provision for the increasing 1 business, either by supply of stamps or additional buildings, I should have been pretty sure of the indulgence or connivance that worthless or unprin- cipled men rarely refuse to similar characters. Or again, had I yielded to the whispers of ambition, and obtained the Parliamentary position that has during the last ten years been twice within my reach, I should have obtained from fear of reply the respect that no conscientious discharge of duty would have won. Most reluctantly have I deviated from natural tastes and accustomed habits, to write about myself j and at some inconvenience have spared a morning- from probates and administrations, and the ^interests of widows and ^orphans as Mr. Hadfield hath it, to notice an unprovoked attack in the terms it merited. But if my past employment has not been satis- factory to the members for Sheffield, I flatter myself my future leisure will be still less so. For though a successor drawn from the smoking room of the Reform Club, would probably afford abundant employment in reusing his grants, and advising on his blunders to ^nf^ex-ofcjiial, who had breathed Testamentary Law for years j yet it may be hoped that some of the many able men,, released by the late Act from routine employment and local notability, may meet their foes and slanderers in the A 000019712 9 16 press, and on the hustings. While I can promise those respectable members of Parliament who were not satisfied with ruining- an absent man, without useful life and disinterested appoint- funds nor energy shall be wanting- to give the townsmen of ElKott and Montgomery an opportunity of comparing 1 the law of Mr. Boe- buck and the English of Mr. Hadfield, with those of another candidate. Mr. H^dfield, on a recent occasion, boasted of belorfging'to.a^Church that feared no loss. Probably as a classical scholar, he had a sly reference to the traveller in Horace, whose unencumbered condition enal)led him to sing among bandits. But though it is of course vain to despoil a man of the religion he neither professes nor values, he may probably regret the loss of a seat, and its privilege of abusing at once the Queen's subjects and the Queen's English. ^ ' ""' THE END. -bi