House of Lords Journal Volume 63: 12 September 1831

Die Lunæ, 12 °Septembris 1831.

DOMINI tam Spirituales quam Temporales præsentes fuerunt:

PRAYERS.

Dillon v. Sir W. Parker.

Ordered, That the Cause wherein John Joseph Dillon Esquire is Appellant, and Sir William Parker Baronet is Respondent, be further heard by Counsel at the Bar on Friday next, at Twelve o'Clock.

Harris v. Kemble et al.

After hearing Counsel further in the Cause wherein Henry Harris is Appellant, and Charles Kemble, and others, are Respondents: It is Ordered, That the further Hearing of the said Cause be put off to Monday next.

Ld. Segrave introduced.

William Fitzhardinge Berkeley Esquire, being, by Letters Patent bearing Date the 10th Day of September, in the Second Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, created Baron Segrave of Berkeley Castle, in the County of Gloucester, with Remainder to the Heirs Male of his Body, was (in his Robes) introduced between The Lord Ducie and The Lord Foley, (also in their Robes,) the Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod, and Clarenceux King of Arms, officiating for Garter King of Arms, preceding: His Lordship, on his Knee, presented his Patent to The Lord Chancellor at the Woolsack, who delivered it to the Clerk, and the same was read at the Table.

His Writ of Summons was also read as follows; (viz ^t.)

"William the Fourth, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith; To Our right trusty and wellbeloved William Fitzhardinge Berkeley of Berkeley Castle, in Our County of Gloucester, Chevalier, Greeting: Whereas Our Parliament, for arduous and urgent Affairs concerning Us, the State and Defence of Our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Church, is now met at Our City of Westminster; We, strictly enjoining, command you, under the Faith and Allegiance by which you are bound to Us, that, considering the Difficulty of the said Affairs and Dangers impending, all Excuses being laid aside, you be personally present at Our aforesaid Parliament with Us, and with the Prelates, Nobles and Peers of Our said Kingdom, to treat of the aforesaid Affairs and to give your Advice; and this you may in nowise omit, as you tender Us and Our Honour, and the Safety and Defence of the said Kingdom and Church, and the Dispatch of the said Affairs.

"Witness Ourself at Westminster, the Tenth Day of September, in the Second Year of Our Reign.

"Bathurst."

Then his Lordship, at the Table, took the Oaths, and also took and subscribed the Oath of Abjuration, pursuant to the Statutes; and was afterwards placed on the lower End of the Barons Bench.

Grieve v. Wilson.

Ordered, That the Cause wherein John Grieve is Appellant, and Thomas Wilson is Respondent, be further heard by One Counsel of a Side at the Bar on Friday next, at Two o'Clock.

Taylor v. Sir W. C. Fairlie et al. Appellant's Petition to revive Appeal, &c. referred to Appeal Comee.

Upon reading the Petition of William Taylor, Appellant in a Cause depending in this House, to which Sir William Cunningham Fairlie, and others, are Respondents; praying their Lordships, "That this Appeal may be revived, and that he may have Leave to lodge his Appeal Cases:"

It is Ordered, That the said Petition be referred to the Committee appointed to consider of the Causes in which Prints of the Appellants and Respondents Cases, now depending in this House in Matters of Appeals and Writs of Error, have not been delivered, pursuant to the Standing Orders of this House.

Bryden et al. v. Bryden et al. Appellants Petition for Time for their Case, referred to Appeal Comee.

Upon reading the Petition of William Alexander Bryden, and others, Appellants in a Cause depending in this House, to which Jessie Bryden, and others, are Respondents; praying their Lordships "to grant the Petitioners an Indulgence of a Fortnight or Three Weeks additional Time to lodge their Case:"

It is Ordered, That the said Petition be referred to the last-mentioned Committee.

Patison & Blincow v. Allan & Co. et al.

The House being informed, "That Alexander Allan and Company, and others, Respondents to the Appeal of John Patison junior and William Blincow, had not put in their Answer to the said Appeal, though duly served with the Order of this House for that Purpose:"

And thereupon an Affidavit of John Patison junior, Writer to the Signet in Edinburgh, of the due Service of the said Order, being read;

Ordered, That the said Respondents do put in their Answer to the said Appeal peremptorily in a Week.

Bankruptcy Court Bill.

Ordered, That the Bill, intituled, "An Act to establish a Court in Bankruptcy," be again re-committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Thursday next; and that the Lords be summoned.

Scott v. Allnutt & Mackenzie.

It was moved, "That the Order made on Saturday last, "That the further Hearing of the Cause wherein James Scott is Appellant, and John Allnutt and Thomas Mackenzie are Respondents, be put off to Tuesday next," be now read."

The same was accordingly read by the Clerk.

Ordered, That the said Order be discharged.

Ordered, That the said Cause be further heard, by Counsel at the Bar, this Day, at Four o'Clock.

The House was adjourned during Pleasure.

The House was resumed.

Cuninghames' Petition referred to Judges in Scotland.

Upon reading the Petition of William Cuninghame Esquire, Heir of Entail in Possession of the Estate of Craigends, in the County of Renfrew, and of Alexander Cuninghame Esquire, his immediate younger Brother, next Heir in Succession under the said Entail; praying Leave to bring in a Bill, for the Purposes in the said Petition mentioned:

It is Ordered, That the Consideration of the said Petition be, and is hereby referred to The Lord President of the Court of Session in Scotland and Lord Moncreiff in Scotland, or, in their Absence or the Absence of either of them, to The Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland, and Lord Fullerton in Scotland, and that the said Judges, or any Two of them, are forthwith to summon all Parties before them who may be concerned in the Bill, and, after hearing all the Parties and perusing the Bill, are to report to the House the State of the Case, with their Opinion thereupon, under their Hands, and are to sign the said Bill.

Scott v. Allnutt & Mackenzie:

After hearing Counsel, as well on Saturday last as on this Day, upon the Petition and Appeal of James Scott, Accountant in Edinburgh, Trustee for The Right Honorable Alexander Lord Elibank and his Creditors, which Appeal, upon the Death of the said James Scott, was, by Order of this House of the 28th Day of June last, revived in the Name of William Ainslie Turner (the surviving Trustee assumed, with the said James Scott deceased, for Alexander Lord Elibank and Janet Lady Elibank his Wife, and certain Creditors of the said Alexander Lord Elibank;) complaining of an Interlocutor of the Lord Ordinary in Scotland, of the 29th of November 1825; also of an Interlocutor of the Lords of Session there, of the Second Division, of the 16th of November 1827; and also of Five Interlocutors of the said Lord Ordinary, of the 24th of November and the 18th of December 1827, and the 5th and 13th of February and the 5th of March 1828, in so far as the latter Interlocutor prefers, ordains and decerns in favor of John Allnutt; and praying, "That the same might be reversed, varied or altered, or that the Appellant might have such Remeid in the Premises, as to this House, in their Lordships great Wisdom, should seem meet;" as also upon the Answer of John Allnutt and Thomas Mackenzie put in to the said Appeal; and due Consideration had of what was offered on either Side in this Cause:

Interlocutors Affirmed.

It is Ordered and Adjudged, by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, That the said Petition and Appeal be, and is hereby dismissed this House, and that the Interlocutors therein complained of, be, and the same are hereby Affirmed.

The Earl of Shrewsbury's Petition claiming the Earldom of Waterford.

The Lord Melbourne (by His Majesty's Command) presented to the House, A Petition of John Earl of Shrewsbury to His Majesty, praying His Majesty, "That the Title, Dignity and Peerage of Earl of Waterford may be declared and adjudged to belong to and to be now vested in the Petitioner;" together with His Majesty's Reference thereof to this House, and the Report of The Attorney General thereunto annexed.

Which Petition and Reference were read by the Clerk, and are as follow; (viz ^t.)

"To The King's Most Excellent Majesty.

"The humble Petition of John Earl of Shrewsbury,

"Sheweth,

"That by Letters Patent dated at Westminster, 17th July (in the 24th Henry 6th) 1445, King Henry 6th, for the Reasons therein stated, granted to John then Earl of Shrewsbury and Wexford the Office of Seneschal (Lord High Steward) of Ireland, and also created him Earl of Waterford.

"Ipsum in Comitem Waterfordiæ unacum Stilo et Titulo ac Nomine et Honore eidem debitis, ordinamus, preficimus et creamus, &c. Habendum et tenendum predictum Comitatum Waterfordiæ, Stilum, Titulum, Nomen et Honorem Comitis Waterfordiæ, &c. &c., prefato Comiti et heredibus masculis de corpore suo exeuntibus, de nobis et heredibus nostris, per homagium, fidelitatem et servitium essendi, &c.

"By Letters Patent dated at Westminster the 25th Day of February, 26th Henry 6th, the said King Henry 6th granted to the same Earl, and the Heirs Male of his Body, the Earldom of Waterford, and the Office of Seneschal of Ireland, in the following Words:-

"Prefato Comiti et heredibus masculis de corpore suo exeuntibus, de nobis et heredibus nostris, per homagium, fidelitatem et servitium faciendum et exercendum Officiem Seneschalli terræ nostræ predictæ. Et ea occasione de gratia nostra ampliori concessimus eidem Comiti et heredibus suis prædictis Officium Senescalli terræ nostræ Hiberniæ, &c. &c.

"This Second Patent seems to have been issued to explain and amend the First as to the Descent of the Office of Seneschal, which by the First Patent might be concluded to have descended to the Heirs General, quod sit senescallus noster et hæredes sui sint Senescalli nostri," whereas this Patent distinctly limits the Descent of the Office of Seneschal to the Heirs Male of the Body by the Words "heredibus suis predictis."

"That your Petitioner is the Heir Male of the Body of the said John Earl of Shrewsbury so created Earl of Waterford as aforesaid, and as such Heir Male sits as Earl of Shrewsbury in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

"That in the Year 1612 Doubts were entertained whether the Irish Statute of Henry the 8th, Chapter 3, called the Absentee Act, did not take away the Dignity of the Earldom of Waterford, as well as the Lands and Territorial Rights of which the then Earl of Shrewsbury and Waterford was thereby deprived; and upon a Case referred to Sir Edward Coke and the Two other Chief Justices of that Day, those learned Judges gave it as their Opinion that the Operation of that Statute was to take away the Dignity of Earl of Waterford.

"Your Petitioner is advised that such Opinion was altogether erroneous, and was so considered by the Irish House of Peers; it was extra-judicial, and could have no greater Effect at any Time than that of Advice or Counsel to be adopted or rejected as His then Majesty might think proper. It does not appear to have been ever acted upon, but the contrary, as, upon the Restoration, King Charles the Second issued His Writ to all the Peers of Ireland, including those who had no Estates in Ireland, and amongst the latter to Francis the then and Eleventh Earl of Shrewsbury. This Writ is dated the 13th October, and contains Words to the Effect following, "quosdam Proceres et Magnates dicti Regni nostri Hibernie qui locum et vocem habent in Parliamentis dicti regni nostri Hibernie et modo infra Regnum Angliæ resident."

"That on the 14th of May 1661 it was ordered by the Irish House of Peers, that it be referred to the Committee of Privileges to consider whether the Peers of this Kingdom, having their Residence in England and no Estates here, may be allowed to send their Proxies into the Parliament of this Kingdom, and that the said Committee have Inspection into the Journals of former Parliaments, and report to this House what Precedents or Orders they find pro or con in this Case, and that they have Power to send for what Books or Records they shall think fit.

"That on the 11th Day of June 1661 the Committee of Privileges made their Report to this Effect: That their Opinion is, the Lords of England who were Peers of Ireland, and have no Estates in Ireland, should have Liberty to send their Proxies to this Parliament.

"It was thereupon ordered by the Irish House of Peers, "That Proxies of absent Peers of Ireland shall be allowed, notwithstanding that they have no Lands in this Kingdom at present."

"That on the 10th Day of July 1661 The Earl of Waterford and Wexford's Proxy, assigned to The Earl of Clanricard, was read and allowed; and it was ordered, "That wherever The Earl of Waterford, now to be introduced, should be placed, that there shall be a Saving unto the Right of Place of all Peers concerned; and that the same Saving be in the Case of The Viscount Valentia."

"That Charles the 12th Earl of Shrewsbury was, in the Year 1692, called over as One of the absent Peers of Ireland, as Earl of Waterford, and excused: he was also called over, in the Year 1698, as One of the absent Peers of Ireland, as Earl of Waterford, and also excused.

"That the said Charles 12th Earl of Shrewsbury was created Duke of Shrewsbury in the Year 1694; and in the Letters Patent creating him Duke of Shrewsbury he is styled Earl of Shrewsbury and Earl of Waterford. He was called over as is herein-before stated, in 1698, as One of the Peers of Ireland, as Earl of Waterford. He was afterwards Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and died in the Year 1717.

"That all the subsequent Earls of Shrewsbury have been Roman Catholics.

"That under the Circumstances herein-before stated, Your Petitioner is advised and submits, that he is entitled (as Heir Male of the Body of the said John Earl of Shrewsbury created Earl of Waterford as aforesaid) to the Dignity of Earl of Waterford; and his Pedigree and Descent being acknowledged as herein-before is mentioned,

"Your Petitioner prays Your Most Excellent Majesty, That the said Title, Dignity and Peerage of Earl of Waterford may be declared and adjudged to belong to and to be now vested in Your Petitioner.

"And Your Petitioner will ever pray, &c.

"Shrewsbury."

Whitehall, 10th Sept ^r 1831.

"His Majesty is pleased to refer this Petition to Mr. Attorney General to consider thereof, and report his Opinion what may be properly done therein, whereupon His Majesty's further Pleasure will be declared.

"Melbourne."

Whitehall, 10th Sept ^r 1831.

"His Majesty, being moved upon this Petition, is graciously pleased to refer the same, together with the Report of The Attorney General hereunto annexed, to The Right Honourable The House of Peers, to examine the Allegations thereof, as to what relates to the Petitioner's Title therein mentioned, and inform His Majesty how the same shall appear to their Lordships.

"Melbourne."

Ordered, That the said Petition, with His Majesty's Reference thereof to this House, and the Report of The Attorney General thereunto annexed, be referred to the Lords Committees for Privileges; whose Lordships, having considered thereof, and heard such Persons concerning the same as they shall think fit, are to report their Opinion thereupon to the House.

Molasses, Petition from Caithness against Use of, in Distilleries, &c.

Upon reading the Petition of the Freeholders, Justices of the Peace, Commissioners of Supply and Heritors of the County of Caithness, whose Names are thereunto subscribed; praying their Lordships "not to allow the Measure for permitting the Use of Molasses in the Distilleries and Breweries of the United Kingdom, so prejudicial to the Agricultural and Landed Interests of the Country, to pass into a Law:"

It is Ordered, That the said Petition do lie on the Table.

M. of Bute's Estate Bill Specially reported.

The Earl of Shaftesbury reported from the Lords Committees appointed to consider of the Bill, intituled, "An Act for effectuating a Partition of Estates belonging to The Most Honorable John Crichton Stuart Marquess of Bute and Earl of Dumfries and The Most Honorable Maria Marchioness of Bute and Countess of Dumfries, and their Trustees, and to The Right Honorable Lady Susan North, and to The Right Honorable Lady Georgina North; and for other Purposes;" "That the Committee had met, and considered the said Bill, and examined the Allegations thereof, which were found to be true; and that all the Parties concerned in the Consequences of the Bill had consented thereto in the Manner required by the Standing Orders of this House, except The Right Reverend John Lord Bishop of Lincoln, (One of the Trustees under the Deed of Settlement of the 19th of December 1827, recited in the Bill, (the same being the Appointment and Release of The Marchioness of Bute's Share of the North Estates,) who was proved, by the Affidavit of Two Persons, to be particularly engaged with a Visitation of his Diocese, and in the Discharge of his other Episcopal Duties in the See of Lincoln, and to be unable personally to attend this Committee without an inconvenient Interruption to his said Episcopal Duties; but that his Lordship doth consent to this Bill, and did sign a Copy thereof on the 10th Day of this instant September, at his Episcopal Palace at Buckden, in the County of Huntingdon, in the Presence of the Deponents; which Copy of the Bill was produced to the Committee; and that the Committee had gone through the Bill, and directed him to report the same to their Lordships, with some Amendments."

Which Report, being read by the Clerk, was agreed to by the House.

Then the Amendments made by the Committee to the said Bill, being read Twice by the Clerk, were agreed to by the House.

Ordered, That the said Bill, with the Amendments, be ingrossed.

Public Works Bill.

Ordered, That the Bill, intituled, "An Act to amend several Acts passed for authorizing the Issue of Exchequer Bills and the Advance of Money for carrying on Public Works and Fisheries, and Employment of the Poor; and to authorize a further Issue of Exchequer Bills for the Purposes of the said Acts," be read a Second Time on Friday next; and that the Lords be summoned.

Hackney Coaches Bill.

Ordered, That the Bill, intituled, "An Act to amend the Laws relating to Hackney Carriages, and to Waggons, Carts and Drays, used in the Metropolis; and to place the Collection of the Duties on Hackney Carriages and on Hawkers and Pedlars in England under the Commissioners of Stamps," be read a Second Time To-morrow.

Land Tax Double Assessments Bill.

Ordered, That the Bill, intituled, "An Act to explain and amend Two Acts of the Thirty-fourth and Thirtyeighth Years of His Majesty King George the Third, so far as the same relate to Double Assessments of the Land Tax," be read a Second Time To-morrow.

Adjourn.

Dominus Cancellarius declaravit præsens Parliamentum continuandum esse usque ad et in diem Martis, decimum tertium diem instantis Septembris, horâ decimâ Auroræ, Dominis sic decernentibus.